Hushed Willows I've got three candidates for the zoo...

The three youngest Marauder's had yet to be seen by anyone. If they struggled no actually knew about it and as preoccupied as the Alpha had been lately with his own issues he realized that he hadn't been by the see if they even lived still. Ironically the thought crossed his mind given that Amara had actually put teeth to her little girl. Such things had not come to permanently harm the cub, however, and Stark would never know of such things. The Alpha had caught a hare and not unlike his frequent trips to Octavia's den he made his way to @Amara to drop the hare outside the fringes of her den. He could smell the sweet, heady scent of milk, hear the squirming and nosing about of the puppies. 

He only knew what he'd experienced with Tambourine in his infancy and couldn't remember when his eyes had opened. Maybe it was before he'd gotten there, or maybe it was after Warbone had left - the timeline blurred then. If @Eros, @Kavos, or @Prialux had any semblance of awareness they might have noticed the dark Alpha chuff for attention, hopeful to see the little brood if Amara bid him permission.

She's always welcome to shoo him off but Stark is slightly less than thoughtful right now!

she spared them little glances as the days went by, silently listening to their heartbeats as they went about their business; drawing milk from her breast and snuffling about. the brood was a quiet trio, besides the common cry of bowel release that had once or twice reminded her she had more than one job to do; the children were repetitively calm. yet still, she refused to acknowledge them as her's. they had incubated within her, true, but never would they ever truly be her's by her will. they were her punishment, despite her transgressions having being done what seemed so long ago. how could she forget? weeks into their lives, and the small yet resentful woman had not even bothered to name them. perhaps it was not even the fact that her life would never return to it's former state, but the fact that the essence of Kierkegaard lived within each one, three more monsters mixed in with her failed genes. it was, in all ways, a complete and utter abomination and amara would not have it, them, smothering her life to the brink of extinction. she did not deserve it. they did not deserve it.

however presently, she lay in the same spot she had at their birth, on her side and limp within the dark corners of the hollowed out alcove of a den. they suckled on end, and she became exasperated rather quickly than she had before. her patience had grown thin within the last few nights, though now her underside had begun to ache; unfamiliar with the sensation of three ravenous beings chomping away at her for dear life. "go, get away," the woman scowled, nudging the brood away from her already swollen teats. they seemed to be constantly at her side, to the point where the only distance she could get was when she pried their sleeping forms away from her abdomen. such needy things, children were. she could have pushed them further, had Stark not have interrupted her current resentment session. 

frankly, she did not care who came to gaze upon the children as if they were a glorious creation sent from god himself; she knew that simply wasn't it. in any case, the woman felt no need to protect what wasn't her's, therefore the primaral maternal instinct had been decimated to almost null, following the very contemplation of ending her daughter's staggering life. as stark made himself known, she simply gave a nod of her head before slipping out and away from the den, leaving the care of children she did not want in the hands of a man she did not really know. the mother broke at a run.

Since birth, his time had been spent at his mother's side, right along with his siblings. Always was he nursing when awake, pulling from the woman's breast as much nutriment as she could provide. It was natural, and the only thing that he was certain of how to do. At times, there was resistance, but rare was it for the moments to end without him having latched onto her. The fact that she despised each and every one of them was something that he could not yet understand, for limited was his perception of everything in life. The boy understood that he needed to nurse, as well as that sleep was necessary, but there was nothing he knew beyond those two things. His world was dull, lacking anything and everything that might someday bring him joy, and he was perfectly fine with that. To miss and desire something that one could not even imagine was an impossible scenario, and so he'd naught a care in the world.

Dozing soundly, his mouth had been wrapped around a nipple still, sleep having dragged him under whilst he'd been feeding. Yet, there came a rude awakening when Amara had shoved him and his siblings away from her. Roused from his slumber, he'd cried out and raised his small, wobbling head, letting his distress be heard by all that were able. No sooner had he done so and his chin was back atop his paws, the weight having been too much for him to keep suspended for any longer. The change had not stopped his whining, and so wail the boy had, ignorant to the commotion that he was making.

Stark might have gotten tipped off by the sharp way that Amara regarded her children if he'd arrived only members earlier, instead, he was still in his muddled, muffled mentality. He was a touch dazed, if you wanted to call it, although he would never have admitted such a thing. It wasn't that he intended to sleep away his life but he had to get rested or else he would have been worthless to anyone else. Nevermind that he was already out of it, and that was only going to make things even worse in the long run. 

He was watching anxiously to see if Amara would just take the hare or if she would allow him to stay for a moment, to inspect the newest Marauder's and see what they looked like. For a moment he held his breath, his blue eyes the slightest touch clouded. She nodded and then moved closer to him and it seemed for a moment he was being given permission to investigate the children. No sooner had she made it level with him than Amara took off - running from her children and the densite. There was a second or two of panic, the male unsure of what to do in the situation he'd never been faced with before. 

What he knew of from Tambourine was he couldn't keep his temperature regulated and being left alone was dangerous for the young children. "Amara!" Stark barked out her name, the sound louder than he'd intended and he stole a nervous glance at the children only to hear one of them start wailing. This wasn't his fault - they couldn't even hear yet but he didn't realize that. The only thing he could imagine was perhaps calling for Harlyn - she was the only experienced mother in the pack after all that might tend to the children and maybe he could find out why Amara had ran or maybe she'd intercept the woman. The dark Alpha had no idea what was the better option.  His dark snout pressed over each cub for a brief moment before he tried to arrange them gently together and then took after the mother. If it proved to be a lost cause, well...he'd try and figure that out too. "Amara stop!"

Harlyn had meant to check on the mother when first she had come to the pack. She had meant to especially after the woman had given birth. And yet, her attention had been on her own children. With Larkspur's return (and obvious detachment), Harlyn had been as attentive a mother as her still healing body would allow. Her sickness had now fully passed, and she felt more herself than ever. What Larkspur needed now was time, and Harlyn was willing to give it to her.

Which gave her the perfect opportunity to finally make good on her committment as a healer for the pack and visit the fabled Amara and her brood. And though the moment was opportune for Harlyn, it became quite apparent as she approached that the mother was rather... without.

Harlyn's ears perked as she heard Stark's commanding bark. Her head tilted slightly as her brow furrowed, wondering. She knew little of where Amara had come from or what circumstances had lead to the conception of her litter, otherwise she might have been better prepared to comprehend what was happening now. But alas, all she knew of the situation was the sudden shout of Amara stop! from their alpha - a command that made her blood run cold. She urged her paws to hasten, fearful of what might be happening to illicit such a command. All she could think was that perhaps the woman had fallen into a dark place in her mind, being a new mother, alone without a mate. How terrible that feeling would be. What terrible things would one do to themselves to escape such a fate?

But when she arrived, it was to see the young, sandy female sprinting off into the trees while Stark stood at the mouth of the now abandoned den. Harlyn slowed to a stop, staring at the brush as it trembled from the force of Amara leaping past before turning her gaze upon Stark. "What is happening?" she asked, bewildered while her ears perked and tilted, her motherly instincts already seeking to know the health of the pups Amara had left behind.

Rapid growth and even rapider development of senses was Prialux's world. In a matter of days she had developed the ability to properly taste the milk she ingested. Her nose was strong now, and she could detect scents that wafted in from even beyond the mouth of the den. She could already distinguish Amara from Eros and Kavos by scent, although there were too many new scents most of the time for her to concentrate on just one, so her abilities were still significantly limited by inexperience and youth. She was growing more and more tactile and more accurate at pinpointing where a touch was coming from, if only a little. The nonexistence of sounds was changing, too, and though it would be weeks still before her ears popped properly and enabled her hearing, already there were extremely muffled hints of noise.

She was still blind as a bat, however, and still easily disoriented. She was just attaching herself to Amara's belly when she was rudely jostled and left to fall halfway to the floor of the den. The impact was minimal, her having been lifted only about three inches, but it was enough to jar Prialux and wrench forth a squeak followed by a series of yelps and whines. The rush of Amara's scent clouded the den momentarily, but then other scents, new scents, began to fill the air. Even as she cried and curled around her battered forelimb, which she'd landed on, Prialux's nose worked furiously to take in these new identities, whether or not she could truly process them beyond their mere smells yet.

Physically, Kavos was making leaps and bounds with each day that passed. With the aide of his mother’s milk her was transforming slowly, evolving from his infancy to a being that was slightly less helpless. He was able to scoot about with ease, his legs growing stronger as he began to wander farther and farther from his mother and siblings. Selfishly, he only cared for their presence when he needed it most. Whether it was for food or warmth he would be at their sides, gaining whatever advantage he needed in that moment and would wander away once all was content in his world once more.

He had already filled himself by the time the madness had ensued. Though he could not see or hear what was unfolding around him, he sensed something odd in the air. Pausing in mid waddle, he attempted to decipher just what was going on. As he attempted to make some sense of it all, for what sense his young mind could grasp, he was moved suddenly next to his siblings and nudged.  

He was displeased by this and huffed instantly, pushing every which way in an attempt to get away from his siblings. He wasn’t sure just who he hit in the process, but he did land some blows as he attempted to escape.

sorry if i'm skipping anyone! also, i'm going to play her out of this thread for the time being so you guys can carry on as normal :)

 

her legs did not slow as her name was called out, instead, pushing her father and faster away from the rest. what they thought of her, she had no care. amara did not ask to be a mother, not by will but an idiotic mistake. something that she was sure none of the marauders keep wolves would even being to understand. guilt. when it seemed Stark would not slow his attempts at returning her to the den, an exasperated cry escaped her. "j-just l-leave me be!" and she continued to run, staggering every other step. what was the use of her laying within the den with no other purpose other than to wallow in self pity and listen to the angry shrieks of his children as they clambered over each other in the fight for her milk. she wanted no part in it. and upon seeing how other pack mates had fluttered to care for her children in her fleeing absence; could she dare suggest it to become a more permanent setup? there were other, much more eligable females seeking children to care for, could she simply not pass them off? it would be better for all invloved if she did. she was no mother, unlike others who were born through and through for the role. how could she be asked to care for three children she felt no maternal instinct for? at least one of her children had already expressed the same resentment she gave, back to her; driving her further away from any attatchment she could ever feel towards them. they did not want her, she did not want them. it was a fact she was willing to accept regardless of how heartless it might have seemed. 

For a split second he looked at @Harlyn, glad he'd been able to summon her by thoughts alone apparently as he considered what to do. "She ran off - can you watch them?" He asked quickly before sprinting after the creamy mother. She clearly wanted her space but Stark knew enough to know that a child so young was vulnerable. "They need you!" Stark called back, growling lowly. For a wolf who had recently given birth Amara had more energy than he thought possible. 

She broke the cover of trees and Stark lost sight of her, enough that he decided to double back and approach the den. He was panting, frowning as he saw Harlyn and the children. "I don't know what's wrong with her." He admitted, nosing over the nearest puppy. "Are they okay?" 

Stark had little time to explain, but what he said was enough for the moment. Harlyn felt her heart clench with concern as she watched Stark take off after Amara. It cleared away the moment she heard a whine of protest from the den and her dutiful nature took over. The druid turned towards the whimpering pups and moved to take their mother's place.

They were unhappy and squirming, and the mother wasted no time positioning herself beside them. It felt in a way quite natural, though the moment she had them corralled against her, she began to recognize how strange this was to be nestled in someone else's den beside someone else's infants. They were so young and tiny as hers had once been. She nuzzled them against her belly even though she had no milk to give to them - a fact that she found herself instantly regretting although it was beyond her control.

Harlyn was attempting to calm them when Stark appeared again. She looked up as he approached, noting the distress upon his face. Amara was not in sight. "They're fine for now," Harlyn assured him, "They're just upset to have been roused, I'm sure. What happened? Did she say anything?" She did not know the tawny beauty at all and had heard little of her circumstances before coming to the Keep, so this was as bewildering to her as anything else that might have happened (though she was at least glad that the Amara no! hadn't been said to deter the woman from harming her brood).

When Kavos' chubby paw hit her in the temple, Prialux's cries ceased immediately. Her head was filled with static fuzz, and if she could see, her vision would be black. She swooned and collapsed the half-inch to the floor, and the impact of that jarred her awake once more. Her fainting spell, though brief, was the first of many lessons that would require reiteration, but would ultimately remain with her throughout life: the head was a vulnerable place to hit.

Prialux sucked in a breath of air and prepared herself to wail again, but just then, someone settled near her and pulled her close. It was a sense of love she'd never really felt from Amara that silenced her, and in her silence, she fell into a restless sleep, none the wiser to the mother who'd fled.

Not entirely sure what the post order is anymore, so I’m just gonna toss this in here. :x

Several times had the boy been smacked—on his side and rump, primarily—by his brother, which had contributed greatly to his whining. Distress turned into frustration with each blow that had hit him during Kavos’ attempted escape, for he was unable to prevent the touches from coming. They were bothersome, but not really painful, and he’d tried to turn and find the source. But, before he’d the chance to do so, he’d been relocated. It wasn’t far at all, but, to him, it'd felt like an entirely different world.

Eros knew, to a certain extent, what his mother felt like. He knew what to expect from her, though her habit of pushing him away was often forgotten. When a new mass had filled her space, there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that insisted this isn’t right, but it’d been ignored. For even if the new body was different, it still offered warmth; more so than his mother ever could, too. Nudged against her, he’d not fought back, but had instead quieted down and eventually surrendered to the call of sleep.

Something had changed suddenly, emerging from the darkness like a shining beacon. It was a feeling that he had never truly felt before and one that halted any attempts in his escaping. The feeling was ignited when he was pulled with his siblings to Haryln’s side and as this feeling overcame him he instinctively pushed himself close to the softness of her underbelly.

Once the child was settled, he succumbed to the temptations of sleep easily, curling alongside his siblings he felt, for the first time in his life, lulled.

Stark was panting, but for the most part, Harlyn seemed to have everything under control. He gave a shake of his head, frowning as he watched the mother tend to the three little pups while their own mother was somewhere else - who knew where. Who knew why. Stark didn't understand it, his mother had adored her children and perhaps he had been fortunate in that regard. Maybe it wasn't always like that. Resentfulness to your young made no sense to him though. "I brought her something to eat, she just....bolted." He explained lamely. He reached over to gently run his tongue across the nearest puppy's back, looking down at Kavos though he didn't know the child's name. 

"Does that happen, sometimes? Mothers just panic?" Perhaps it was a more reasonable response than Stark had considered before. Maybe it wasn't as infrequent. Stark wondered if he had made the wrong choice then in letting Amara come there. It wasn't possible to have the puppies without the mother though, and he wouldn't condemn the children. "Do you think talking to her might help?" He asked hopefully. "Octavia wasn't like this, I don't even know what to do." Octavia wouldn't have let anything happen to Tambourine - she'd made that abundantly clear.  

One by one, Amara's pups snuggled tightly against her and settled into sleep with contented mewls and steady breaths. And just like that, Harlyn loved them. They weren't hers, but she loved them so desperately that she felt her heart aching as though she missed them when they were right next to her. She wanted them sleeping beside her every night, and playing within the reach of her arms every day. She swallowed hard the lump that had risen quite suddenly and unexpectedly in her throat as she gazed at them. Three little angels, no less perfect than the three she had born of her own blood. And they would never call her "mother".

And here she was, discussing with Stark that their mother didn't seem to want them.

"I have never felt the need to run," Harlyn replied mournfully, still gazing at the little wolves at her side, "But being a mother can be a very stressful, very overwhelming thing. Perhaps it has gotten the best of her." The druid paused, pondering. "But it would be murder at this point for her to abandon her children. I do not believe you would have allowed a murderer amongst us. She will be back."

"I think it clear that she needs support in this, however," Harlyn added after a beat, "We must watch after her. Help her, when we can. Help her children in her stead if she proves herself unable to do so." There was longing in the druid's throat as she said it. She didn't wish for the pups to be without their mother, for that was a hard truth to live with, one she would not wish on anyone. But in a hypothetical future, she saw herself being the one they curled up against at night, and she could not deny the way her heart yearned for it.

Stark relaxed marginally once he saw the children were settled and Harlyn was tending to them. Of all the Marauder's they were the two with the most recent experience with children but he had become more involved with Tambourine after his birth. He had been able to see by that point, and hear, and this was a whole other level of concern for the dark Alpha. In this matter he took to Harlyn's knowledge, letting her guide him. 

"If she abandons them again, we will step in." He said firmly. He had a big enough heart to take the children in, it was most of what had guided his choice when it came to Amara - she was so heavy with children, with no mate, and he saw in her the things that had originally made him so protective of Octavia. "How much longer will they need her milk?" He asked curiously - it was the minimum that Amara would have to tend to them, if she truly wished herself to be free of the young she had spawned. 

Harlyn felt a cold chill in her stomach at Stark's words. She agreed full-heartedly with him that the pups needed to be removed from Amara's care if she tried to leave them again, but it did not diminish the fact that it struck Harlyn as a terrible thing for a mother to lose her children - Even if that mother did not particularly want them in the first place.

"They are just over a week old, are they not?" Harlyn replied, not waiting for his response, "In a few more days, they will be ready to begin trying regurgitated meat. From there, the weaning process will begin and should all go well, they will be off of her milk in a few more weeks. Mine were about a month and a half old before they no longer needed my milk, though Pippin would not let go for another week after his siblings did." 

She leaned down to nudge the lightest of the three gently, breathing in his scent fondly. Her heart ached desperately for her smallest son. If only he had never grown larger than the size of these three babes and could never have left her side. Where was Mordecai so that they could make more of these miraculous creatures?

Longing stirred in her, and she lifted her eyes to Stark.

Watching Harlyn stirred in him deep feelings of his own. Missing the moments he'd curled with Octavia the same way, of how she'd smelled with the sweet scent of milk still on her - how Tambourine had grown and grown before his very eyes. He had never considered fatherhood to be a trait he liked, but, he did find himself enjoying the life he'd laid out for himself most of the time. "Soon, then." Stark said with approval lacing his words. It would be food for the children given that Amara seemed to be struggling - once they were eating meat the rest of the rest of the pack could step in and help where Amara had not been able to. 

"You are a wonderful mother, Harlyn." Stark said with a quiet little sigh - he loved the idea of having more children around the Keep, but, when faced with the struggle of Amara perhaps abandoning them early...it did not bode well with the dark Alpha.