Blackfeather Woods [m]ama's gonna make all of your nightmares come true

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The participants have indicated the following reason(s) for this warning: Gross things ahead. Proceed with caution.

Eventually, Maegi knew she would have to face the pain. All other women did, and now, as it shot through her, wave after cramping wave of agony. . .she was fully aware that it was her time. She circled the center of Spiderlings' Glen for a time, then flopped back down, then was up and circling again— On and on she went, for what could have been simply minutes or, gods, it could have been days.

But they were almost here. Her boys. Mou's children. The excitement of them trumped anything and everything else; even as she cried out, even as her muscles trembled and her body ached, the joy was there, a haze above it all.

She felt a contraction more excruciating than all before it and lurched halfway to her paws, caught in an awkward semi-squat, slightly laying upon the ground, her hind legs splayed behind her. With a grunt of effort, teeth gritted, Maegi got into better position to birth children (or something of the sort, she assumed, based on the way her discomfort eased when she did it) and fucking pushed.

She pushed, shrieked, and felt suddenly lighter, turning to look behind her with an expectant gasp that died into a soundless void of horror between her lips.

Not a pup, alive or dead. Nor yet a bat, a spider, a bird like Blue, who sat among the branches above her head, staring with much concern. Nothing of this world—well, somewhat. Nothing that she'd ever want to call hers.

Her 'baby boy' was a runny pile of feces, and amid the waste were a mass of long, pale worms, ghostly cousins of things you'd find after a rainstorm.

Maegi gagged, stumbling backward, only to double over in further pain. 'Contraction' after 'contraction' came, somehow even more intense than before. She shook like a leaf, trying not to stare at what had left her body moments before, hoping against all hope that this was the true labor, and that had just been an anomaly—

Excrement splattered out behind her, weak of constitution and tinged slightly with blood. And worms, more worms. Somewhere, within the chorus of voices she heard in her ears, she caught the barest sound of Peryite, pride in voice—

Your twin boys, born of pestilence! Aren't they beautiful, Maegi, my daughter, my princess?

She began to sob, tears streaming down her face, vomiting up the thin, formless contents of an empty, aching stomach. . .

The companion to an empty, aching womb.

It was the shrieking that had her moving. She grabbed herbs and poppy and few wads of moss that had been soaking up rainwater and set off to do her job, her heart racing. She just knew that she could prove herself useful here, she would help Maegi give birth to her children, no matter what. 

She absolutely wasn't prepared for the horror she walked into. She froze and stared at the runny puddle of worms and feces, the sight causing her stomach to roll. She stared at it, fearing it more than anything else though she knew it couldn't hurt her. Surely that wasn't... Maegi's pups? She blinked slowly and turned to look at her leader, seeing the tears running down her face "Oh Maegi.." her voice broke as she set down the herbs, she couldn't help the watering of her gaze. They weren't close by any means but a woman could always share and feel another woman's pain. "Don't look" she said and thought it disgusted her she stepped closer to the puddle of disease and blocked it from view, slowly approaching the devastated woman "May I clean you up?" she whispered her voice gentle and filled with pain, pain she felt for this woman. She had never experienced pregnancy but she had seen pups been born dead, seen them live a week or two and die. She'd even had one child under her care grow increasingly sicker until she broke the news he would die and he did, curled against her because his mother hadn't wanted to face it. Nothing was more painful than this. She grabbed a wet moss ball and stepped forward, hoping to clean the vomit from around Maegi's maw if allowed.

Sleep did not come to him willingly so he had been fighting for it, forcing himself to self-medicate and learn to drift in the fade of the poppies. At the very least he would be still for a while instead of roaming the dark woods, and that was as close to sleep as Titmouse had found in weeks; still he managed to sleep an hour per night, or two or three, but never enough, and never to dream.

He thought his waking life was a dream, most days. There were faces he did not know. Snippets of conversation he could not decipher. There was Maegi too — this beacon in the dark, growing bigger as the days wore on, with him watching. Titmouse guarded her without knowing he was doing it. He was never far from her. Always watching, awake but not alert.

When she began her fight against her body, he was there. When it was her voice to fill the void in the branches where once the crows sat, guardians of the forest with their many eyes, Titmouse was there instead — and when she shrieked, fought, he lurked just out of her range of attention without intervention. He wanted to go to her and to ease her suffering, but the man's limbs would not obey him; his dose of poppy was too strong this time, so he drifted mentally and rooted to the spot.

He listened as she began the process of birth — but even in his poor state the cryptid could see something was wrong, he could smell it, a sickness ripe within the girl he loved. Something he put there, or something that had been festering a while; soon the air was flooded with the scent of feces and blood, which roused him from his drifting, ghostly existence. He crept from the dark and sought out Maegi as she delivered one would-be child, and another, but they were not children — they were nothing but excrement, rancid, red, and alive.

Without the aid of the poppies, Titmouse wouldn't have been able to handle the sight of Maegi's suffering. With their effects dulling his system he could be of no help, but he tried — stumbling towards her, seeking to press his nose upon her cheek; he crumpled to the earth beside her, pressed close, ignoring the bloodied mess that had sprung from her — and the pestilence that thrived where their children ought to be.

He was oblivious to the other woman. Lilah's words drifted to his ears but he had no words, no ability to speak, and could not help anyone. But when she stepped towards his love's face Titmouse raised his head and flashed his teeth at her, hissing a silent warning between his teeth that she should back away. He was here, he would comfort her until the disease had worked its way from her womb.

possible cameo? Idk

The cries drew her forth - shadow amongst shadows, Wound-binder with medicines clutched in her jaws. 

She was not alone in her endeavors, the newer girl (as she herself was still rather recently inducted into the ranks) was here with a similar purpose. Istoira could hear her soothing words as she drew near and her heart lurched - the rust of blood and the stench of feces, of sickness, the sobs of her Nona could only mean a false pregnancy. 

She'd midwifed before, seen twisted and malformed creatures slither from the womb but a false pregnancy she had seen but once - the woman had perished before her 'delivery'. She'd not experienced the horrorific effects of such a birth with her own eyes and even now, she wasn't sure she wanted to. 

It was loyalty that drew her to sit by the side of the den as a silent watcher in Mou's place - ears twitching back to catch the hiss he sent in the Toma's direction. 

Leave them be, she wanted to snap herself, this is a scene meant for their grief alone. 

Istoira even felt like an intruder, yet she settled unobtrusively nearby - in case Maegi needed medical assistance. 

of course she wasn't going to ignore maegi's cry, to pay no heed to such a disruption of the wood's uneasy peace would be to go against everything that rooted her here. almost like a robot the pale woman shifts without a flicker of doubt in the correct direction and sets off with brisk movements. it was no secret that maegi had been expecting, she was no fool and although she hadn't pushed it she had observed like a ghost betwixt the trees, silent and unnoticed. she's uneasy, moonshadow's birth had almost completely derailed her and yet here she went all over again, ready to enforce whatever pain it may cause her because- well it was the leader of her woods and well, perhaps in tundra's own weird way she had allowed a fondness to blossom there for the younger girl and maybe tender emotions wouldn't be the way she'd express it but loyalty had always seemed much more worthwhile to her anyway.

yet something's undoubtedly wrong before she even reaches the annoyingly far scene, the ravens are the first thing she's aware of and even bertók seems to grow agitated as they near. up above the rest writhe and swoop through the sky- caws of distress leaking from blackened beaks as with an odd feeling of dread the ghostly soldier picked up the pace- inhaling sharply against the suffocatingly tense air.

the smell, that's the first thing to assault her senses and dark eyes narrow as shapes come into sight. feces, blood and something....something sour. it's almost funny in some twisted way how this, this horror leaves her with less of a lingering dread than the shameful fear at the idea of witnessing another birth. yet that does not stop the ache for her nona for this is a tragedy, this she knows before even arriving. her steps slow, face blank as ever as she moves without even registering those present until she's near mou where he's wrapped protectively around the girl. searching eyes rake once over the feces and she inhales sharply at the worms wriggling within the runny substance. a growl is bit back lest she startle someone but rounded ears do pin back against her head. this is sickness.

she didn't want to intrude on her leader and she'd be quick to leave but first she had to see to it that she would be okay, they could not let sickness claim these woods. "is anyone here a healer?" she launches right into it, voice sharp. "if you are, all i need to know is if this is something that needs to be treated or could be of harm to anyone else?" her eyes rake over mou and both other women present. "if there's nothing that can be done or you're not a healer then go" maybe she's in no place to make orders but she too would heed her own words- it wouldn't be fair to tell others they couldn't be here and she herself remain. of course this didn't include mou but she didn't feel the need to specify that for no way would the pale boy leave her side.

"don't let anything happen to her" is all she'd breathe, loud enough only for him to hear- silently begging that he remain focused enough on the present to be of real help to her. then she'd stay only to hear if there was a healer present who knew any specifics and on the off chance maegi requested anything of her, otherwise her own paws would prepare to steer her from the scene to patrol from a much better distance where bertók had remained, concerningly reluctant to follow closer to the gathering.

Lilah, poor Lilah, was the first to arrive, to behold the ugliness of the scene. She sniffled, nodding at the woman's question—but then stiffened, involuntarily, as the woman came close. Her muscles were bunched tight, jaw clenched so hard she thought her teeth would shatter. Pain and upset still rolled in her abdomen, doubling her over still. And then. . .

Mou, she croaked, throat hoarse from vomiting. At his hiss, she flinched, shaking her head— No, it's okay; she just wants to help. . . And then words left her entirely as she disintegrated into more tears, half-collapsing against her mate, her love, her best friend.

Istoira came, but Maegi barely noticed her. Tundra, too—and her words cut through the fog in her brain like a knife, cold and sharp, piercing, painful.

Healer. Harm. Go.

It was all wrong. It was all so wrong.

My babies, Maegi moaned, lips so grotesquely twisted in a frown it was almost comical, clownlike. Lilah. My babies. . .are my babies going to be all right? Only the midwife could tell her what was true. Everyone else could only offer comfort but Lilah. . .Lilah had the truth.

Her eyes had swung over to the man before he even warned her off. She had made a mistake in her moment of fear and had overstepped, she realised this and immediately tucked her tail and stepped away. She could be of use still, so instead of wallowing she inspected the putrid pile of squirming pallid shapes realising they were worms. She'd seen these before...they could be fatal and they were contagious. There was no sign of the pups and she looked over at Maegi as she pondered over what this could possibly be. The worms wouldn't have came out if she had been pregnant, they'd have moved to infect the womb. A woman she had yet to meet spoke up asking for a healer "I am...I need wild garlic" she said softly looking very grim "it's roundworm. Its contagious and can be fatal. We could all have it. Garlic expels the worms" she explained what they were her purple gaze going from the unknown woman to Maegi as she was asked a question that had her heart breaking. "Those weren't your babies Miss...You weren't pregnant" she said it without sugar coating, there wasnt any sense in it though her voice shook with grief. "It's a good thing Miss...those works would have hurt them" she tried to make it at least slightly better and probably failed. She backed away from them "Sir..would you bring her to my den, or summon me whenever you are ready? I'm going to find the herbs to make this better" she waited for his response and if given, she would turn and hurry off. 

Last post from me hopefully! I am dowm for a few healing threads if anyone needs them!

He was there for Maegi, but there were too many others and he felt crowded, disoriented from his mental sickness - and he wished for them to leave, so he bore his teeth and hissed soundlessly, until the woman spoke. She tried to temper him, and he took it as admonishment; it wounded him deeply to be corrected in such a way. He lingered in silence thereafter, a protective sickle of white beside the scarred woman while the healer tended to her; but soon there would be quiet again, and given the first opportunity Titmouse would remove himself to drift again.

skipping istoira under the assumption it's a cameo? if that's an issue let me know. last post from me

her gaze would linger on mou for a few moments, not really sure what to feel about him. concern maybe but it wasn't an emotion she was really acquainted with and she didn't really know what exactly even had her pondering it. he hadn't actually done anything except act clearly unhappy about the crowd which was like understandable and yet, something seemed off maybe. then again this whole situation was just extremely off so maybe it was just those vibes influencing her judgement. 

shaking her head she'd glance back to the festering piles of liquid, fighting back a grimace as maegi called them her..babies? what the fuck. she just really didn't know how to react to that at all and had to blink at the scarred woman for a few moments, definitely feeling the beginnings of concern now. she didn't know how to deal with this, it was completely out of her range of skills- any superiors she'd known would've just snarled at her to get over it but tundra knew that was wrong but still, knew nothing else. there was no other way she could even think to go about it so she just fell mute, tail tip twitching but otherwise managing to look a whole lot calmer then she felt; on the outside she just looked pretty darn stony. 

she felt her muscles relax slightly with pure relief when one of the fae's she wasn't too familiar with spoke up, confirming she was a healer and was quick to indentify the illness as roundworm. at the mention of it being both contagious and sometimes fatal tundra would take a few quick steps back; definitely not wanting it near her. would maegi be okay? she wanted to ask but the healer seemed so busy and so for now she simply settled with a murmured; "thank you" after a last look at mou, hoping he'd cooperate somewhat- tundra would turn and stick to her word by leaving. honestly she couldn't get away quick enough, not wanting to see the stupefied look in her leader's mismatched gaze that was honestly worse to see than any of the sickness she seemed so freakishly fond of.

They all left, eventually. Even Mou. Soon, she was alone, staring at the fecal matter that remained. So not all, then. Her children had stayed.

"Those aren't your babies, miss. You weren't pregnant."

She's wrong, Peryite had intoned, right on the heels of Lilah's diagnosis. Those are your sons, princes of pestilence. She cannot see them for what they truly are—but we can, my dear. We can.

Lilah said she would make it better, but Lilah couldn't make it better. No one could. Only Maegi would know the truth, only Maegi would—could—carry this burden. And she felt a sudden surge of joy as she realized the blessing that had been bestowed upon her by Peryite. A twisted blessing. . .but a blessing, nonetheless.

She fell prostrate, laughing quietly with relief, the stomach pains still there, but abating. The labor was ending. A new chapter had begun.

Peryite, ñuha āeksio, ñuha Jaes, she whispered into the dirt, her body trembling all over. Kirimvose syt se irudy emā maghatan nyke. Kirimvose syt ñuha trēsi. Kesan manaeragon zirȳ naejot dohaeragon ao hae nyke dohaeragon ao. Kesan manaeragon zirȳ naejot jorrāelagon ao hae Avy jorrāelan.

Maegi lay on her side, the ruined cheek facing upward, the fiery eye scorching the tops of the trees.

Kirimvose, she breathed, and then fell silent for a very long time.