Verdigris Ravine [M] Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Mature Content Warning

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The participants have indicated the following reason(s) for this warning: Birthing stuff.

No posting/birthing order. IDK what y'alls baby names are so I'm tagging your other accounts @Taggak @Greyfalcon @Andanari

After settling @Towhee near water and snapping some final threat to @Zoug, presumably, S'ari stumbled away to her birthing den. By this time, the contractions were coming faster. This whole thing had probably been helped along by the trauma of watching Towhee birth her dead sunlings. It had caused some instinct in her body to react, to give birth also. She just prayed to all the gods and beings and fairy creatures that her children came out alive and whole.

It took another hour or so, and then the first one came. She licked and licked it until it cried, and then, the coppery taste of blood on her tongue, she birthed the second. It was painful, but she kept quiet, as all female animals did in birth, so that predators would not find her or the babes. She licked this one, too, until it cried, then she pressed it to her belly beside the first. Finally, the last one came, and this one was licked and licked, as well, until its tiny cries filled her ears, and she pushed it to her belly.

Then there was a final push, and with the scent of blood and offal in her nose, she knew this to be the afterbirth, which she ate to give her strength. Then she collapsed tiredly and let her babes suckle, and fell asleep. Honestly, it had all happened much faster than she'd expected, for which she was grateful, and her pups seemed healthy. That was all she could ask for. As she drifted off, she thought of Towhee, wondering if news of her own healthy birth would bring the woman solace or sorrow...

She had been comfortable, oblivious to the world outside. Taking comfort from the small nest of siblings inside.

It was with a great harrowing fear that she couldn't name and would soon forgot that she was tightened and then pushed. The first brush of cold air on her face stole her minute breath. So she didn't cry at first.

 Not until the warmth h of her mother's tongue soothed away the fears of the day. The red sands that lay beneath her a cushioning pillow. And warm underbelly thick with the scent of milk. 

It was with determination she both suckled and then fell asleep. Wrapped in her mother's love. A safety she could feel.

Im here! It only took all of less than 5 to ten minutes for approval. :D

The child had known nothing, a world of dark and warmth…. No sun, no moon, no stars. Only the feeling of a warm void remained, then suddenly…. She noticed the feeling of warmth almost suddenly gone! She no longer had another being beside her, all of a sudden un explainable things happen, and she’s brought out unto the sand. She suddenly feels her wet fur, now covered in a rough, grainy texture. Sand. This was not like the warm open suite she just came from…. No no.

She breathed, feeling a strong but gentle tounge licking her clean. Warm again, the scent of mommy filling her nose, she found her way to a lovely milky thing to suck on. Happily next to her baby sister. And embraced by her mother sun. She was happy.

Amidst death, there breathes a sliver of life.

The last born sunling is quiet upon her arrival to the waking world, almost ghostly so. It is not until her mother's tongue cleans the birthing sack from her nose that she finally peeps a tiny cry. 

The scent of milk propels her stubby legs into action and soon she is strengthened by colostrum and suckling instinctively beside the others.

@Zoug @Candle @Towhee @Koa @Hazelnut -- will leave open for another week in case anyone wants to reply, then I will close.

When she awoke some time later--minutes, hours?--she snuffled at her little sunlings to ensure their health, and then she released a weak howl, to let the others know that she and they were safe. She gazed down at her children and thought briefly of their father, such as he was. Probably, he would never know his children. She did not care. He had given her a gift and she was grateful to him, wherever he was. And the Tribe would grow with them.

She named them, then: Andanari; Chisa; Ki'ra. Three tiny daughters. She hoped Candle had birthed a son or two or the Tribe would be overrun with girls. She chuckled at the thought, giving each of her children a quick kiss on their tiny heads, then she put her own head back down and drowsed.

zoug was not far from s'ari. he still did not care for the wolf within their borders, but neither she nor the sharp words they had shared would keep the clan male from her densite.

he kept his polite distance, of course, large ears wavering for any sounds of distress, a hare lying limply at his paws.

when none came, zoug sat, keeping his vigil.

and when she called, he was on his feet, and carried his prey up toward the entrance.

a snuffle, a grunt of support and approval, to let the mother know he was close, to take the scents of healthy pups. they had been born so close to his own that in his chest bloomed a paternal protectiveness.

zoug lay the hare where s'ari could reach and padded away, intending to visit candle before he set off on yet another hunt that still kept him in earshot..

Ko'a had been blissfully unaware of Towhee's explosive mess she had left in the home of Tribe. She had been too busy dragging her latest catch back to the birthing den of Candle. A large rattle snake, fat with some kind of dinner which only meant capturing two birds with one stone! 

Yet many things caught her in her tracks: Zoug's call of a visitor, the scent of something quite awfully foul, as well as the scent of birth which filled the air again. Ko'a, with still the snake in her grasp, followed her way to Candle and her pups of four. She would settle the snake down at the den mouth, peering within to woof a quiet greeting to the woman. 

It is cousin's turn now. She whispers, to not disturb the puppies and then sets off after her kin. Now she pokes her head into the birthing quarters of her cousin, sniffing the hare left by Zoug and scooting it closer. Is cousin well? Does this one need bring anything?

S'ari is well, she rasped, voice raw from the labor of childbirth. She needs nothing. She smiled at her cousin, and also at Zoug before he left, and then she lay her head down with her children at her belly and slept.