Neverwinter Forest against warmth embrace

miriam's scent was of lilac and milk; feminine, fitting of her nature. and asmoses smelled similar, though he could be differentiated by the softer, more subtle rhythm of his heartbeat. liliana rested against his side and breathed herself awake, leaving the dreamscape with a wide-mouthed yawn. 

she crawled slowly upward, onto amma's side, and began to drink. what more was there to do? liliana could not wish for anything but what she had, and was quite content with its bounty.

He crept towards the den entrance with ninja skill, crafty and curious. Whatever lay inside, he wanted a peek. Fuck all else, he was going in. Well- not completely, rather he poked his little head around the edge of an entrance, staring in with wide ruby-sapphire eyes. There slept a grey woman, with two ugly little things attached to her side. They were not old enough to have opened eyes or perked ears, still dull in appearance and rather gross. He still remembered drinking from Cupid, though those memories would soon become hazy... so was this their father? Had he looked like this at some point? He cringed at the thought, but found himself humming curiously while he stared. Careless as to their tired nature, not understanding what birth was or how it sucked the energy out of the parent, he proceeded to sing quietly. hum-dah-hum, hmm, hum, lala, hooo is you? He sang, placing one paw at the entrance now, yet still hesitant to enter. Something told him it was forbidden land, just like the world beyond the forest. whe' youuu come fwum, He hummed, wiggling on his feet as he began to dance in front of the sleeping audience.

i'm gonna keep posting until an adult joins, then she's skippable.

something strange happened. suddenly, there was another unfamiliar scent mixed with those of her family. she adjusted quickly to the change, opening her mouth to release a high-pitched cry. another moment of drinking passed before she'd had her fill and turned to slowly begin crawling toward the smell's source.

ooOooOoo, cmere baby!! He crowed excitedly, scampering inside the den now to meet her as she let out a high-pitched noise. Goodbye self-restraint! If he thought he'd been in trouble after heading to Firefly Glen, he'd have a real punch coming this time. lalala, you wanan sing too?~ He sang, skipping in front of the ugly little thing that crawled slowly towards him. Maybe he could get her to sing again, he thought. eeeee, He cried in imitation, baby cmon!! we godda, hmmm, dah lala!! He sniffed the air once more, smelling milk that reminded him of Cupid. Would these kids be like him someday? Would they be singing songs too, he wondered?

keeping her head high was exceedingly difficult. she grew tired after short distance and collapsed, releasing another set of whines. resting against the ground, she could feel caerus's movements and tried again to source them.

another whine, and this time her mouth remained opened to search for a teat. whether a pebble or one of her older brother's toes, liliana was satisfied to have found something worth hanging onto. she mewled happily as she suckled, forming her own sort of song.

OH! He exclaimed as the little creature wrapped around his toe with her mouth. It was a weird feeling, like she was trying to drink from his feet, and he winced slightly. no, noo milk, no dwink heyuh~ He sang, cringing. He didn't like this at all... but she was singing now. Maybe she just needed his toe juice to find her voice, he considered. It wasn't a great song- it didn't even have words, but he knew he'd been like that before, and so he'd shrug it off. She was a beginner. One day she might be the master that he was. He continued his off-tune rattle, nooo milk, i'm not your da', lala la~ as he began to shake his paw slightly against the ground, hoping she would lose her grip and separate.

She slept peacefully, children beside herself, and felt exhausted after the previous day of energy draining and prayers to their health. Awoken, Miriam was startled by her daughters high-pitched cry, and looked over to see a larger pup, not of her own, crept forward. He was brown unlike the trio's gray, but smelled of Neverwinter. A pup, she did not know of.

Knowing he was harmless, but the maiden bent over to pick up her daughter, and draw her back to her brother who warmly was by her belly. A paw, laid a barrier between the older pup, and her own as Miriam curiously looked at him, "Who are you?" They spoke gibberish, but enough to converse. Just a small child, who barely got off their mothers milk. She did not know many within the Pack, much less the children beside her own.. 

Where did they come from?

A small smile, a calm toward the small intruder in her den.

Suddenly the cloudy woman was awake, leaning over to grab the little maggot off the ground and place her beside the other. She asked who he was, and suddenly Caerus was placed on the spot- but he then felt he was perhaps not in trouble after all as a smile graced her features, and so he introduced i'm caewus, proudly puffing out his chest. dad's son. who is you? He returned, quirking a brow at the strange wolf. you it's dad? He wondered, motioning towards the baby which suckled at its mother once again.

A lisp, "Caewus?" however a pup so small, certain words couldn't be pronounced.. Perhaps he meant, "Caerus?" the maiden clarified in wonder. Even more-so a mystery when no name was presented who the birth-giver was, but she should remember, not much should be expected from such a young one. So she only nodded with a lopsided smile, as he asked questions back.

"I am their Amma," Miriam clarified, "it is a term in my land, that we call our birth mothers." She was no father, and wondered why the child called her a dad, then a mom. She knew the land preferred their parents to be different terms then her own, but in the Orchid, they are called Amma. The older ladies, are known as the mothers, and the younger, are the sisters. Everyone, is together, as how she wished to be.

At her speaking of Caerus, he nods agreeably, mm-hm. She says she's their amma, birth mother, whatever that meant. His brow furrowed. am-ma? mudder? He imitated dumbly, head tilting to the side. whuz dat? He had two dads, both of whom he called dad- and never had he had the need to call someone mama. To him, every parent was dad, regardless of what gender they smelled like- and so this was confusing to him, to learn it was not the way he had perceived it to be.

She too grew confused, as how did he not know what a 'mudder' was? Mimicing the pup Miriam tilted her head as she wondered curiously, and bent her head down for a closer look at the small, brown one. "They are the female," using her free paw, the maiden pointed near herself "I am female, their Amma," her paw bent toward him, gently to the little mark on his forehead, "you are male. The male, is the dad."

fee-male He imitated, male, he murmured to himself. bud i'm male? why? i'm not dad, He explained, as if she genuinely couldn't tell. Hey, he didn't know what the requirements were. and why is you female- er, amma? my dad isn'd amma... This was all rather confusing- for the both of them, surely.

She tried to clarify, "the male of the duo are known as dad's," her paw gently wisked back to herself, "but the females are known as Amma's, mothers." She simply repeated the previous statement, and looked over toward her two, "to them, I am female, their Amma. It is my birth, to be female, and their birth, to be their Amma." A loving look, hopefully now Liliana had calmed herself, but dear Asmoses remained asleep near her teat.

Then back toward Caerus, who seemed just as confused as she was. Miriam wasn't sure how they didn't have an mother.. Perhaps, two fathers? Was he adopted then? It rarely happened in the Orchid, but there was times of two, of the same gender connecting in marriage. Rare occurance, but as the Goddess accepted all, it was not frowned upon. It was her only conclusion, that the wispful woman could think of.

um, He mumbled awkwardly in response. He was wholly stumped and confused. Was he just dumb? No, that couldn't be it... maybe she was just confused. He had learned he was male, whatever that meant- he wasn't sure. okay, He mumbled this time, accepting defeat. There was no way he was going to understand this, especially not if she simply repeated herself without adding much new information. When she spoke of a duo, he knew his duo was Mal and Cupid- both males, dads. But here he only saw one, who was supposedly female, amma. S-so, whez' my amma? 'N' um, whez they dad? He questioned, quirking his brow once again.

I'm just going to assume nothing spectacularly unexpected happens in other threads. XD

He'd been out hunting when he'd crossed paths with Caerus' scent. Cupid didn't seem to be following. Okay, Caerus wasn't quite as helpless as he was before, but that didn't mean he could be totally unescorted this far from the den.  So, instead of showing up at Miriam's den with food, he showed up as just himself, creeping forward at first just in case as he followed the scent... Which went right into the den from the direction of it. Oh geez.

Mal was going to call out -- but then he heard Caerus talking but garbled kid-voice at a distance wasn't very good for giving him context. Uh. Mal moved forward a bit more quickly, poking his head inside, confused but upbeat, Caerus? What're you doing way over here? He looked between the pair four of them but it seemed everything was ok? Hell, he was still gonna ask, Everything all good? More to Miriam than Caerus for that question, probably. He was more confused than worried because his only experience had been with Cupid, who he still suspected would eat someone alive if they ambled into his den uninvited. Some part of him wanted to just yank Caerus out by his tail before something happened but at the same time it seemed so civil so far, so that'd be like... mega overreaction.

"I do not know, but they must be somewhere." Miriam could only continue her helpless smile, as she truly did not know where either parents would be. All she had caught was his name, Caerus,, and he did not have a mother, perhaps? Only a father? It was a truly questionable transition, but at the same time.. The maiden should've dwelve into business that is not her's, but she was concerned for the confused pup, and curious as well. A greed of knowledge.

Her white stars looked toward the the larger figure, Mal. There was very few times she would properly talk to him, and majority would be him bringing over the food, while he helplessly attempted a conversation. However, Miriam was still stuck on what to say to him, the sire of her dear kids. A mistake that was not supposed to happen, for he wasn't her husband, nor' lover. It was a shame that her children below, would be out of wedlocke. But that didn't mean she loved them any less, and could only pray the Goddess will continue giving her honest love and protection. She simply could only nod to his question, as all was fine.

"He is there.. father." Hesitant, but she spoke to the chocolate one. There was a similarity, they were all gray, except for little Caerus.

I do not know, but they must be somewhere.

The voice that interrupted was a welcome distraction from the confusion going on. Da!! He shouted, scrambling towards Mal with an eager smile on his features. I found dis place, and meed amma, and I sing fo' liddle baby, He explained, tail wagging. When the woman spoke again, he turned bright eyes back to her. Y-yeah. Das my fadder... my dad. He explained, gaze flickering happily between the two of them. He had no idea that Miriam meant that Mal was the father to her own litter- to Caerus he was his father, period, end of story.

Man it was awkward to come in in the middle of a conversation. That was also because he'd said nothing about any of the litters he'd fathered to anyone else -- well, Aibreann know about Cupid, though he wasn't sure if the reverse was true. It only now became kind of a realization that maybe he should have done that before. Oops? Little late now. Well. She still wasn't talking to him, seemed like, but hey, a nod at least!

But Caerus was here, so he kind of needed to make sure his son didn't get into crazy amounts of trouble or something. But it didn't seem like he was in trouble to start so... He couldn't really be too mad with Caerus, really? Mal still kind of expected some angry shoe to drop though -- he'd still be as positive as possible despite that, Oh, did you? he said as he nuzzled the boy's head, Singing to them sounds nice -- I'm sure they'll love hearing you sing to them until they're big enough to come out to play. Momentary slightly-serious moment though, But look, Caerus, if you want to come over and be the really cool big brother, you gotta do what Miriam says when you're here, okay? She's the boss, so you gotta ask her if it's a good time to visit and stuff. He looked over to her again, wanting some sort of affirmation from her that it sounded good to her. But then that brought up another thought and his eyes snapped back to Caerus, Does your dad know you went for a walk? From his tone, it was probably obvious he was expecting a sheepish 'no,' and since it was Mal talking, it wasn't like he was super angry or anything. He was certainly not a disciplinarian when it came to his son -- he was the one who showed up and brought food and games.

Mal hadn't 100% addressed the fact that yeah, these were the boy's half siblings. He just wanted to make sure that the whole thing was gonna be fun for Caerus. It wasn't like Cupid or Miriam seemed to want him around much (though Miriam was probably now winning the battle of who didn't want him the most) so it wasn't like he was ruining some relationship there. In his world, everyone could just be happy together.

'Big brother?' she thought, absentmindly nodding while pondering his words. Miriam did not mind others coming in the den, especially pups for potential playmates for her own children, however.. Was this child, not simply another? She did not think to ask if the man, had other children, or even a mate at the matter. The thought never occured, as it's unheard in her culture to have multiple kids with multiple woman, unless one is deceased.

Perhaps the maiden was over thinking it all, and it was a play on words for Caerus to take care of the twins like a brother would do. She wished to ask, but of course hesitation clogged the words. She barely spoke to Mal, and wished not more confusion upon the child even more so, "you're welcome to come back and visit them, Caerus."

wuz nice, He murmured quietly after dad, watching on with wide eyes as Mal gave his little speech. He spoke of Miriam- who Caerus assumed was Amma, and so he paid her a glance before looking back to Mal. oh... okay. Kinda sorta went through one ear and out the other, just like anyone's lectures on not sticking his nose where he wasn't supposed to. Like Miriam, he assumed big brother was a casual term here, rather than how literal it was. Dad's next question had him flattening his ears to his skull in shame. um, He began awkwardly, nob-budyouknow i'm here, da' Came the defensive rush of words. Sheepish grin as his ears perked again. so id's okay, He declared with a wag of his tail, not waiting for dad's opinion on the matter. The voice of Miriam came then, and he turned back towards her, tail still wagging. okay!! dank you mee-rum.

And Mal hadn't realized the confusion nor the way things were interpreted. He hadn't lied, he hadn't even tried to lie. He was just not very good at realizing how others might read the situation. To him, it was all literal. And since it didn't come up again he rather felt like the whole thing had calmed down. Look, he wasn't super smart, ok?

Being pissed at Caerus was impossible so Mal didn't even try. He was gonna be trouble later, wasn't he? Yeah but if he doesn't know he's gonna be really worried. So we probably have to go back soon. One of us should be with you when you go on a trip, okay? Or someone at least. Maybe Simmik or one of the two sisters. Aibreann maybe? Speaking of, had she stopped by to see Miriam yet? He'd probably have a higher chance of figuring that out directly from Aibreann herself. 

But back to the new mother, he looked back to her, I wasn't planning to be by here until later. Do you want me to get you anything? Special requests? A sort of cheeky smile there, but honest and happy. He figured she'd just shake her head and say nothing.

Miriam was never entirely sure what to do with children, and now having her own, she knew it was better to adapt quickly. She could only nod to the chocolate-candied boy as he argued back toward Mal that all was fine. It was a wonder if her own kids would be the same, and would hope not. How would she do discipline..? There was so much to learn- but no one to ask.

The maiden, avoiding Mal's eye contact and remaining silent, only shook her head, not requiring anything special.

Once again- oh um... okay da. But Caerus thought for a moment, and his head tilted in question, as Mal asked Miriam something and she shook her head. A moment of quiet and then he interrupted, nudging Mal's leg as if to grab his attention back. da, I have kwes-ton. He stared up with wide ruby-sapphire eyes, thinking back to what Miriam had told him. mee-rum says der's male and fee-male.. amma and dad and um i wuz wonderin' where is my amma? cuz i have da and da... and where's meerum babies da? The words came out in a rather curious and disorganized rush, and then he was quiet, wondering what dad would say.

Mal thought they were about to get out of here -- which would probably be good, he needed to talk to Cupid sooner rather than later probably. Not a goddamn clue what he'd say but he should say something. He wished he had a better idea of what Miriam really wanted him to do but she was still mum on the whole thing. But nope, not quite, kid has a question! Well, okay, two. And one he didn't know how to answer, as he was just thinking. That was two questions. First one is kind of complicated, okay? 

He thought a moment, then made an attempt to explain, Most of the time boys are males and girls are females. But once in a while you meet someone who smells like a girl -- a female -- and they say they're a boy, or I guess probably the other way around too, a male who says they're a girl. I don't know why it happens, but sometimes it does. But you should call people what they want to be called because that's the right thing to do, okay? But that's why you have two dads, because that's how Cupid is. Does that make sense? He added in Cupid's name mostly for Miriam's benefit since he was pretty sure they didn't know each other. Mal did hope he explained it in a reasonable way -- it was all just to his understanding -- but he definitely didn't want to somehow mess up Caerus' opinion of Cupid.

She wondered if her twins would have a lisp like little Cupid does, and smiled to herself thinking of how they would grow. She wondered how kind they would be, or brave, but she hoped to lure the darkness away, and have them remain innocent for as long as she was around. Of course, Miriam would need to let them spread their wings, just as the Orchid does for their own young. She wondered, if this is how her own Amma felt, when she had left. The worry and fear to what they would become, and where they would go upon growing days...

Her thoughts were snapped back at Mal's explanation, which confused the maiden. She had never heard of someone acting like the other gender- perhaps a bit more feminine, or masculine, but not the identity altogether. Cupid- however they were, was a female, but acted as a male. It was questionable, to someone never met someone with those traits. She had questions, a thirst of knowledge, but refrained. Perhaps it would be rude, to ask why they are what they are.

So, she continued listening in silence to the two.