Sun Mote Copse (M) Some things Change

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?