asmoses quickly assimilates to all the newness until what had first been foreign: the sweep of his mother's tongue over his back and head, the feel of his sister beside him in, the plush warmth of miriam's belly, the sensation of suckling and of fullness — was what had always been. if there had been anything before, it was already gone.
asmoses fell asleep mid-suckle; snoozing lightly, lulled into slumber quickly by a full belly and the heat. a few droplets of mothersmilk dribble onto the top of his head and he starts awake with a soft chirrup.
the shock of sudden existence slowly dissipated over the hours following their birth. liliana held close to her mother's store, remained plastered at her brother's side, and bathed in their communal warmth. she did not know anything yet, but the hormones flooding her tiny body with calm indicated that she was doing something right.
sensitive to his touch, liliana could feel asmoses stir. a moment of protest was held with her head swaying to either side, but she soon came to a quiet. her heartbeat was loud in closed ears, similar to the rhythmic thump felt in the womb.
she opened her mouth to suckle once more, this time taking both teat and twin's paw with expected inefficiency.
asmoses, hours newly born, does not comprehend the world around him. blind and deaf he vaguely knows the weak sense of taste — he knows in the way the heart knows to beat, that it is good. that he likes it. that it will nurture him. he knows his sister and mother: by the sense of touch which is currently his strongest sense. his lips smack against a tuft of his amma's fur, mistaking it for the teat he fell asleep suckling. his task is abruptly stilled and he freezes as he tries to process the sensation of his paw being suckled — though presently he isn't aware of limbs beyond they are awkward and useless extensions of his newborn self. confused, asmoses lets out a chirrup that lengthens into a cry to express his confusion; loud to any adult with ears but nothing but soundless vibrations along his vocal chords; a push of air into and from his lungs. what is eating me? he tries and fails to ask, unable to conceive that the culprit is liliana and that she wasn't trying to eat him.
liliana continued suckling without knowledge of the distress being caused. her infantile thoughts revolved only around self-soothing, something then accomplished through her brother's sacrifice. moments later, should she have not already been moved, the maiden released her grip on asmoses's paw and instead focused on the teat.
the sensation ceases as quickly as it began. vaguely aware of his spit and mothermilk soaked paw he shifts with a small grunt; army crawling awkwardly, for a few seconds before the effort proves too tiresome. he gurgles and coos and presses leathery nose to his mother's belly once more, liliana's suckle on his paw and his dislike of it already forgiven and forgotten. he smacks his lips again; heavy head lifting and falling back down like a tired bobble-head as he searches blindly for a teat of his own.