Blackfeather Woods It's beyond me. Help me, mommy!

Mature Content Warning

This thread has been marked as mature. By reading and/or participating in this thread, you acknowledge that you are of age or have permission from your parents to do so.

The participants have indicated the following reason(s) for this warning: attempted abortion - I have never had an abortion. Most of what is depicted here is based on what I found on the internet. If you find a problem with how I have written it, feel free to message me.

It was when she weaved through the tunnels of Mephala's Web that she knew for sure. One tunnel had proved more difficult than usual for her to slip through, and she had been faced with that obstacle only once before.

She was pregnant.

She should have expected it, honestly, but she had been so caught up in denying that fate for herself that she ignored all of the glaring warning signs. Her vomit was just her revulsions, her aches and pains were from her stress and excess movements. But her teats and body swelled as the days went by, and now she felt herself be too fat to squeeze through a simple tunnel.

She was quick to find the herbs after backpedalling. Blue Vervain and Hoary Vervain. In small doses they were enough to help lactation, but a larger dose could abort unwanted pregnancies. That's what Mother had told her so long ago, but the information never had to be used. Not until now. She laughed. What would Mother think of them now? She had sex with @Cicero — she was a brother-fucker. Oh, sure, it wasn't willing, but she had let it happen, didn't she?

Potema breathed, taking the herbs from the herbstore to the pool. She didn't know what would happen in an abortion. Most wolves...didn't have one. Either because they didn't have the knowledge of how to, or they were reluctant to risk it. She knew that the babies would have to come out through her, but would there be pain? She pondered it, staring at the innocent-looking leaves near her paws the whole time.

Another exhale of air, and she gobbles them up in one quick motion. The process of ingesting it is swift, and now...she waits. Waits for pain, for something to move, something to happen. It is a slow, excrutiating process. She walks around to pass the time, but when it becomes clear that nothing was happening at the moment, she continues with her day. She did consume it after all. Perhaps it would take a while for the herbs to act on her womb.

It was not until she woke up the next day that she felt something. Her stomach cramped, a knot tied in her intestines and inner workings. She rose from her place near @Atli and exited the den once more. She did not feel sick, not like that first night of vomiting. Potema paced the Glen, circling the depression time and time again. It only grew worst, her stomach's churning crumpling her to the ground. She felt something dribbling down her thigh at a faster and faster rate, and when she turned to see it, she saw a scarlet path cutting through her legs.

The white witch groaned, her cramps intensifying. It was somewhat reminiscent of giving birth, without the pressure of a child's head making way through her. There was no expected release or end; she was to be subjected to this misery until her body thought it was done. She simply rolled and twisted in the dirt, unsure what else to do with herself as her body attempted to expel her incest-born spawn.

She hadn't been sleeping well at all lately. There was something... off. The affections of her mother, while still there, had turned more to the male inside their den than (she found) to her. Which was crazy, she meant, for her daughter had returned from supposed death! Why was she not being smothered in the desirable stuff one called love? She hadn't come home for herself, after all - oh no, it was much more exciting outside of their borders. She had missed her family, and to fail them in any way would result in her spiritual death.

When mother rose far earlier than the insomniac of the family, Koume grew suspicious. She knew not why, but the feeling of wanting to follow her grew and grew and she simply had to listen. Rising herself, her think legs found their way around the other forms and out of the den. What she saw wasn't pleasant. The foul smell of blood, something she thought she had grown used to, hung in the air like a blanket of thick smoke and the firstborn grew concerned. Mother? Mom, are you okay?! She called out, keeping her distance. What if it was infectious? Dangerous?

She walked in circles, a low whine exiting her throat. She continued to move, if only to distract her body fom the pain. She shifted her path, creating beaten paths of her movements, twisting and turning in the dirt. But with her cramps (contractions?) mounting, she had to stop more. She would stop and lap incessently at her groin, the fur there stained red and sopping.

It was during one of these intervals that she heard a voice, worried and frightened, call out for her. Her head shot up, blood no doubt staining her mouth. Koume! She was startled. She had hoped to go through this alone, that it would be quick and painless, and that no one would know of what transpired between her and her brother. But now her first daughter was there, being privy to this botched abortion. I... She didn't know what to say, but another contraction luckily paused her...thought perhaps 'luckily' is not the right word. Her body seems to clench, bringing her towards her core. She cries out loud, and writhes in pain once more, words no longer at the forefront of her mind.

She pulled her nose up at the sight - not that the scent was the most pleasant. A strange mix of crimson rivers and shame, seemingly spilling from between her mother's legs. She knew naught what was happening, only that blood was most always bad and that her mother was a 100% certainly dying. Was it an intruder?! She questioned, lingering nearby, grey ears swiveling. The scent of blood was too prominent to smell anything else, but she tried, disgusting herself in the process.

When the supposed attacker did not come, she turned to her mother once again. Are you... dying? You've not been acting like yourself...

Kotake sensed her sisters distress, and at once heads toward its direction. Her sisters words are ones she mutely echoes, though she knows it is not death. Her mother has not been herself; in her silent observations, she had intended to find out why this was. But Koume was wise to ask, Kotake felt—this day she learned that it was not always wise to wait. As far her mother being attacked, Kotake moved around and also tried to sniff where she had come from. There's no other smell but for mothers, she murmured, her bi-colored eyes shifting to the blood that had been spilled. Had she done this... to herself?

She looked up to one daughter, then the second. She hadn't seen much of Kotake; she was a simple shadow to her brighter sister's flame. She had left most of the tending to Kotake when she was busy; she was the healer between all of her children so far. But Kotake rarely spoke; it was up to Koume to speak for her.

An intruder... In a way it was an intruder, an intruder in her body, someone who broke through her defenses and cursed her with bastard, inborn children. No... Was all she could groan. The blood that had flown from her had been too much, and she was dizzy, nearly delirious with stress and bloodloss. They're not coming out... She moaned, the agony both in her body and in her mind. She curled up, tucking herself away, smearing more of the blood on herself. They're not out...

The glowing green and blue orbs of her sister were hard to miss and she felt safer already with her by her side. As much as they had grown up to be different, they still cared about the same and one another. She loved her sister dearly, though would perhaps never say this out loud. Love could be taken advantage up - be used against her on her quest to conquer the world.

Panicked, she sought for something - anything - to be wrong, but she could see nothing but the oozing blood that stained Blackfeather's grounds. What is not, mother? She tried to stay calm, get anything that made sense out of her mother, but quickly looked at Kotake for help. She could not heal mother on her own, she needed her.

Pregnancy was not something Kotake had experience in. Whatever her mother spoke of, she did not know. If the sickness was not coming out, Kotake knew what to gather to help her mother expel what was inside. What poison have you ingested, she demanded, stepping in front of Koume to comfort and take over, both. She observed @Cicero in the shadows—the poisons he used—and she had heard of her mothers talent for healing, and had learned from Potema herself how to cure some of these afflictions that could be caused by poison. Not all had remedies. She did not think that it was her uncle that had done this to her mother—how very wrong she was!—but perhaps her mother had made an error in her recent exhausted state of eating something she should not. She looked to Koume. Grab cobwebs. Do you know what marigold looks like? Goosegrass? That, at least, could be used to stop the bleeding that was occurring. If her sister did not know, Kotake herself would go and find it—but she wanted to remain long enough to hear the poison that ailed her mother. She could think of none that caused such bleeding...

@Koume @Kotake feel free to skip Potema she's practically useless lol

Her daughter is speaking to her, but she cannot determine which one it is. She merely blinks, the stress weighing her body down in finality. It wants to sleep. It wants to relax. She feels week, useless, incoherent. Vaermina clings to her and pulls her into her realm slowly, the darkness encroaching onto her vision. Nothing, is all she says. She practically faints, her words no more than mindless babble that slowly fades away as her conciousness leaves her. She is exhausted and blood deprived, and can do nothing to help herself by speaking to her daughters. She sleeps.

Though not familiar with many herbs, the name "marigold" did ring a bell. No longer fearsome, no longer panicked, Koume turned into her emotionless, unsympathetic self. Cobwebs. marigold. Got it. She repeated, leaving the goosegrass to be found by her twin sister since she had no idea where it would grow or how it would look. She grabbed a stick and collected some cobwebs, finding it a little weird to carry the sticky, icky substance in her mouth. This did take her some time, but the way back to their gathering was far faster. She was only gone for a bit more to collect the marigold then, having collected all her sister had asked.

Given everyone was back, she asked; Can you heal her, sister?

one-post cameo!

Cicero lurked from the shadows, watched from afar as she took the plants. He knew what she was going to do, and he watched. He understood. Cicero did not think he would be allowed to be a father to his children — the beast's children — regardless and perhaps it was better they never set foot upon these lands. The thought of mating with his sister revulsed Cicero, particularly because he knew she had not been on board with it. He knew little of the risks of incest, though he knew that with Damien, these kind of problems had never been an issue.

He watched as her children flocked to her side and Cicero turned away again, as quickly as he had come and observed, making his way into the darker parts of the woods with a regretful frown on his face.

Their mother says nothing—it is a lie. Kotake does not know if her mother must expel the contents of her stomach, but knows enough to heal what is visible. So her sister collects the first things she asks for, and when she firstly collects the cobwebs Kotake uses them to attempt to staunch the bleeding. It is an awkward, difficult thing... she does not truly understand it, or if what she will do will work.

And then she utilizes the marigold. When Koume is there, she instructs, watch her, before going to a cache and finding the goosegrass. It takes her a short time to return, but their mother is still breathing.

What must she do with these things?

Oh, yes.

And so with the marigold and goosegrass combined, Kotake applies them unto her mother, forcing herself in the spaces she must go to with a half-conscious Potema mumbling things that did not make sense to her. She looks to Koume once finished, calm even still. I believe so, but how could she be certain? Kotake was no expert, yet. She moved beside Koume, who would surely see that she was shaken.

BEING VAGUE BECAUSE I TOTALLY AM THE WORST MEDIC EVER. If this PP isn't okay let me know!