Sun Mote Copse (M) Some things Change

Reyson was new to this area. And as with all things new. He was determined to learn the lay of the land. It was not just up to @Towhee to keep the borders upkept. It was now his too. He had only been around for a few days but he stood on the edge looking out a over the land beyond and within the confines of the border.

He sniffed at the border and looked around for @Meadow eager to share the view with her. And help her get as settled ashe could.

Her disbelief bordering on denial lasted a day or two, until what began as a mild backache became far more severe, the agony hitting her in waves. Towhee couldn’t deny it anymore. She wasn’t born yesterday. She was going to give birth today, though, because this was definitely labor.

She wandered around the copse, muttering to herself as the contractions slowly intensified. She had maybe a few more hours to wrap her head around what was happening. Towhee couldn’t stop thinking about the timing. Regardless of her feelings about rearing another litter, why had these little assholes waited until after Meerkat’s family left?

I don’t know you, she grumbled, wincing through the booty daggers, yet. But I already know you’re fucking turds. There better not be more than two of you, I swear to fucking fuck…

She should go to The Taigh, ask @Towhee Jr, @Seal or even Meadow to hold her hand and help her through this. Instead, she restlessly shuffled along the borderlines. It was a dangerous place to be vulnerable, though Towhee was already playing with fire, wasn’t she? This back labor hurt more than anything else in her life and she was fucking old. Who knew if she or her babies would even survive this?

When her orange eyes spotted a figure along the borderline, Towhee felt a flood of relief… and then another kind of flood entirely. With a sharp cry, she squatted and, for lack of a better word, shat out a puppy. Quickly, she righted herself, snatched the babe off the ground and began shuffling toward Reyson without even bothering to severe the umbilical.

When she closed the distance, Towhee set the squirmy little thing gently at her feet. She glanced at Reyson, then nipped the umbilicus and pulled the caul off the newborn. With effortlessness borne from years of experience, she dried and fluffed the child—a boy—and then looked up at her old friend.

Hey, Towhee said, slightly out of breath, you still afraid of babies?

Reyson hadn't seen much of Towhee yet. But it was only a few days really that he had been here. And he knew she was trying like crazy to keep the borders up to snuff, if she hadn't changed and he doubted very much that she had changed that much.

Reyson's ears stood on end, tattered pieces and all. He flipped his head around, ice eyes going wide at what just transpired before his eyes.

Holy Jesus fuck.

He was used to a lot of things. But this was entirely new to him.

A soft chuckle. Not so much anymore, naw.

He then turned that chuckle into a laugh. Jesus Towhee. What a way to greet us.

I welcome the others to barge in anytime if they want!

Best housewarming gift ever, Towhee insisted, still panting slightly.

She slung herself to the ground then, drawing the newborn close against her chest and taking a good look at him. The black and orange streaks along his tiny spine were familiar, though as she nosed him onto his back, she blinked down at a surprisingly pale underside. It was as if she’d printed another carbon copy, only the printer had run out of ink halfway through.

Fuckin’ turd, she murmured, affection thickening her voice despite everything.

She glanced at her own flank, staring at the fleshy pink cord still trailing from unmentionable places. Just as Towhee wondered if there might be other pups, her back seized and she screamed her way through delivering the placenta. The sight of it reminded her of her recent miscarriages, so she tossed it away with a grunt.

Facing forward, she shifted her weight with a grimace, glancing down at her newborn son before looking up at Reyson. The late August heat pressed down on them, the dying grass brittle beneath her weight. She knew she should grab the child and get him to The Taigh or to some other shady spot, at the very least.

But, I need a minute. She licked her lips. Fucking dammit, I was not expecting that. I’m so old. Eyes cutting down to the little bundle of joy—his arrival a bittersweet echo of the daughter who’d just departed—she lovingly seethed, You hear that, you little buttshit?

Reyson chuckled. Aye I suppose. Do you want me fetch Meadow? Or you good?

He looked over the little one. Averting his eyes as Towhee took care of the things she needed to do. Though he felt his muscles tighten at each scream. He remembered that from Meadow. Though he was fairly certain this little baby was not as big as his.

Take one and then if you want I can help you back. I think I could probably carry you both.

He gave a soft snort of a laugh. Well this little one will keep you young.

He couldn't quite hide the amusement in his eyes. The affectionate, yet rather awful names she called her little spawns. He really couldn't quite get over how often her children looked like her. He wondered and marveled at it.

He looks strong and healthy.

She missed his question about Meadow in her distraction. Towhee managed to catch the rest of Reyson’s words, a little puff of laughter escaping her at the mental image he evoked. He made an observation about the puppy which brought her orange gaze back to the little boy, bright with a spicy flavor of unconditional love.

Yeah, she could only agree, he does, before pausing and muttering, What the fuck… under her breath.

She couldn’t help but stare at his white fur. It must’ve come from her side somewhere. Towhee thought about Casanova but quickly banished the thought of him. She didn’t even know his real name. She hadn’t seen him since and she hoped she never would. She—they—didn’t need him.

Her forelegs tightened around the little piece of shit, nose touching his pale belly. He cooed and squirmed, then presumably began mewling. He was probably hungry, Towhee realized, looking to Reyson for confirmation that the baby was likely making noise.

Do me a favor? Will you carry him to The Taigh for me? I’ll be right behind you, I just need to grab a drink and maybe a dip on the way. Yeeting all your bodily fluids in the summer sun kinda parches you.

hope you don't mind me tossing jr in here! i can delete/can be a cameo if needed! <3

ghost's behavior was alarming to jr; an insistent pecking at her head, swooping down and clipping her ear with an urgency. she lets out a uneven huff and follows after him, her nose wrinkling at the smell: her mother and reyson and something else. metallic; blood and something else.

something that jr couldn't place.

her heart beats an uneven, erratic rhythm against her chest; a strangled half noise leaving her lips as her gaze notes her mother curled 'round a small squirming thing.

a pup, she realized with a start.

a sibling!

Towhee miss3d the question and Reyson didn't get a chance to repeat it before towhee was asking him for some help.

Towhee seemed surprised by the white tuft on the babe. But Reyson had learned with his own kids. Colors mixed in strange ways. And sometimes they came out with great great grandpa whatsits coloring.

A nod when she glanced up. That baby was caterwhaulin in a big way. He had a healthy set of lungs.

He laughed and nodded. Bending his head to lift the little ball of fluff. But he stopped to look at towhee and speak so she could see his face.

You did good Towhee. I'll keep him warm til you get a bath.

Then he lifted the tiny bundle gently, cradling him as he had learned over the course of a season or two.

While Reyson stepped closer to gather the child, Towhee gingerly pushed herself upright, starting with her anterior. Then she lifted her posterior with a grunt and a wince. Not only was she sore, she swore she could feel her insides sloshing around a bit. She didn’t know which was more off-putting, the smell of blood or the sensation of it coating the backs of her thighs.

Fortunately, her comrade didn’t hold it against her when she said she needed a bath. After assessing herself, she looked up to him to catch his comments, only for her orange eyes to skitter just over his shoulder to see Towhee Jr standing there. Their faces probably looked more similar than ever as they gawked back and forth.

-“Come here,”- she insisted with slightly jerky motions, speaking aloud for Reyson’s benefit, -“meet your little brother. Do you remember the story of Meerkat’s birth? Well, this little asshat just pulled the same damn thing.”-

And he’d stolen their colors, at least partially. Towhee’s eyes flicked between her two youngest children, thinking, What a little copycat. Despite all her epithets—and her shock at his existence—she already accepted and loved him fiercely. She wondered if Jr would feel the same or whether this might be more of an unpleasant surprise for her.

a little brother.

a surprise little brother.

jr, would she have had the gift of gab, would've been stunned speechless. as it is, her paws are frozen, numb, stuck in thick mental sludge that she is trying desperately to force herself out of.

slowly, step by step, she makes her way towards reyson, who is cradling her newborn sibling to inspect him.

he looks like them: like towhee and herself but with white on him. actually, she thinks he looks a bit like a fat squirming potato ( but that was neither here nor there ).

she turns back to her mother then, struggling to process like a windows '98 processor. too shocked to form much of an opinion on how she feels about her baby brother.

-what's his name?- she signs, asking the first question that comes to her mind.

Reyson shifted so the babe was still cradled but Towhee Jr had easier access go her new little brother.

He didn't move and he wanted to laugh, but now was not a good time. So he held it in. And he tried not to intrude on the little family despite he was smack dab in the middle holding the baby.

She looked closely at the side of her daughter’s face, suddenly remembering their exchange from ages ago. It made hope flicker in her chest, though presenting Jr with a surprise baby brother was a lot different than hypothetical jokes. Towhee noted, somewhat ruefully, that Phox hadn’t given Jr any cousins, at least as far as she knew.

-“I was thinking Shitfromabutt,”- she answered without hesitation, lips twitching into a hopeful smile. -“What do you think? About the name but also the kid himself?”- Towhee couldn’t resist asking, a quick glance reminding her that the baby was crying from likely hunger.

She stepped forward to lick his little face, hoping it provided the little turd some comfort. Towhee then turned, motioning for both Jr and Reyson to come with her as she started heading toward The Taigh.

-“Reyson’s going to carry him to The Taigh. Can you go with him and keep an eye on the little goober for me? I just want to give myself a quick rinse,”- she said, pointing at Ray’s Beach as they prepared to cross, -“and then I’ll be right there to shut his little pie hole.”-

-i think that is not a proper name,- jr tries to hide her smile behind a frown but fails. -well, he's a surprise for sure. but he is my baby brother and i will protect him with my life.- it is fierce her ptero, the signing belaying the passionate words. it is perhaps sudden, this fierce protectiveness but given towhee jr's entire personality and nature it does not surprise her.

she nods when her mother tells her to accompany reyson; another glimpse is given to the man cradling her squalling baby brother that she can ( perhaps blissfully ) not hear.

-see you soon. maybe when he's feeding we can discuss an actual name for him?-

Just one post from me!

Seal would be at the Taigh, sorting through some dried bergamot blossoms, when Junior and Reyson arrived holding the diminuative newborn known as shitfromabutt.

Her would fall on the floor.

“IS THAT A BABY?!” she would have hollered. Thankfully, her more reasonable  cohorts would have probably provided an explanation just as Towhee joined them.

Seal took her medical studies so seriously that the idea of, both, not knowing you were pregnant and casually shitting out a baby would have mortified her.

However, the yearling quickly put herself to work to help her Grandmother and new family member settle in.

Reyson had to quickly lay the child down before his laughter shook his large frame. Yes it is. I will let your grandma tell you his name though.

He shook his head and waited patiently for Towhee to return from her bath and the like. He kept the baby warm as he promised, curling his larger frame around the babe. He sucked at his leg and such. But eh he'd deal with it.

There was no sign for the, Pshawww, that escaped Towhee just then, though she hoped Jr understood anyway. Hopefully the beaming smile and the way she affectionately chucked her daughter’s chin were clear enough, anyhow.

She watched as Reyson retreated, Jr flanking him as they headed for The Taigh. Towhee then made a beeline toward the nearby water, gasping softly as the cold liquid enveloped her. It stung on her nethers, though soon the temperature coaxed her body into a pleasant state of numbness.

She let herself soak for exactly two minutes, then rose and gave herself a perfunctory grooming. Towhee then hastened toward the cottage, eyes brightening when she saw Seal was there too.

Feeding her son was her first priority, though Towhee asked her daughter and granddaughter to help her dry her coat first. Being gently rubbed down with soft animal skins was rather pleasant, especially after the day she’d had.

Finally, Towhee gently took her son from Reyson’s care and settled on a fresh hide Seal had spread on the floor. She tucked the pale newborn to her belly. He latched right away and she could only hope that his fierce suckling might coax out her milk.

When she saw white fluid dribble from his mouth, Towhee let out a sigh of relief. She watched him for a while, eyelids growing heavy, then thought to look up and acknowledge the little audience standing around them. She knew she didn’t even need to ask; they would happily keep an eye on him while she rested her eyes.

-“I’ve been told that he needs a pRoPeR nAmE,”- Towhee said, smirking faintly at Jr. -“Well, as the saying goes, you are what you eat. Welcome to the world, Titty,”- she announced, then closed her eyes and rested her chin atop his wee head.

whatever anticipation jr had held at reading her brother's name is deflated with the same disappointment and muted shock of a punctured balloon.

titty.

her mother smirks and her and jr dead pans, letting out a low snort and roll of her eyes.

-welcome to the world titty,- she signs, the her mother seemed content to rest and her brother couldn't see ... and she wasn't sure if reyson could read ptero.

quietly, so as to not disturb anyone, she slips away, peering at ghost who takes to the skies overhead.