Bearclaw Valley la bien qui fait mal

@Astara if that's okay? <3

The pups were due any day now - Evien had been keeping check - and he was preparing for them. He'd found some borage to give to Leila to help her produce enough milk, and was waiting til about now to give them to her, so she would be better equipped to handle the pups drinking. If she was experiencing nausea, it'd be likely to help with that, as well.

The medic approached the densite respectfully, quiet and slow, not wanting to startle the dark wolf. The borage held tight in his jaws, he settled down a few lengths away, green eyes staring at the entrance and a soft woof escaping his maw for her attention.

miserable and marinating in her own stewing unhappiness, all it took for astara rise from her tormented rest was the soft boof of a wolf outside. furious and with no quarter given, the dark shadows of the denmouth suddenly stirred.

out came astara; round belly swinging and her teeth snapping -- a hideous snarl parted her gibbering jaws as she swung blindly for the wolf that dared approach, having no concept of evien's kindness and only aware in that moment, of a painful and irate instinct that told her any wolf near her densite was to be swiftly and cruelly corrected.

Well, that was rude. Evien barely managed to avoid sharp teeth, stepping backward and abandoning the herbs on the ground. "Hey, woah, stop!" he yelped, suddenly alarmed at the attack. Because while he knew how to care for ailments during pregnancy, or to help puppies after birth in theory, he had never truly been around a pregnant woman. Not one this far along. 

"I'm helping," he urged, gesturing toward the borage leaves on the ground. "The pups are due soon, right? I just wanted to check up."

while the wraith looked the part of murder-machine come down to give evien his reckoning, her onslaught ceased the moment he dropped his bundle and stepped back.

scuttling backwards back into the mouth of the den, astara glared at him from the shade, the glint of her hard melonii gaze unforgiving. she followed his gesture to the token of herbs strewn across the ground, and only lifted her lips as a show of teeth in response.

"Listen," the boy continued, gathering the herbs back up and scooting forward on his belly, testing the limits of how close the dark woman would let him get. "I won't hurt you, I promise." He nudged the borage forward, recalling that Leila had wanted him to explain the first time he'd treated her. "These are borage leaves. They'll help you produce milk for the pups." Green eyes traveled back up to meet purple. "And if you're nauseous? That'll help too. A lot of mothers get nauseous during this time, when they're going to give birth."

the nightshade's form only half-broke from the den, her eyes keen and narrowed in scrutiny as evien pulled forward on his belly. she did not recognize whatever plants it was that comprised of the bolus; her eyes blazed with mistrust.

he would not even earn a sniff -- not until he demonstrated whatever it was was safe to eat, and not one that would put her life at risk.

It would seem that he had to work a little harder for this one. Evien leaned in and picked up a stalk of borage for himself, cringing inwardly at the fact that he was wasting it, and chewed it before swallowing. Bitter, yes, but totally harmless in such a low dose. 

"Do you trust me now?" he asked, forest eyes searching her purple.

trust.

perhaps evien's mistake was thinking astara was capable of such a metric in the first place. her entire life had been one long convoluted twist after the other -- if she trusted a single soul now, she was stupid.

astara studied him blandly, noticing he cringed as he masticated the strange vegetation. by her decree, there was little incentivizing her to eat the bolus at all. yet she had learned in her short time with the medic he was persistent -- gingerly she pulled the construction of plant-matter towards her, giving it a sniff -- did he truly want her to eat all of that, now? yuck.

Evien cleared his throat, noticing her hesitation. "It certainly doesn't taste good," he said with a soft chuckle. "But, if you want, I can catch you a fish that you can eat it with. That way, it won't be as bad." He wished he had honey to offer, as the sweetness would cancel out the bitter entirely, but a fish was about as good as he could offer right now. 

"I'm here to help, Leila. Nothing that I do is going to be to harm any Ursus wolf," he assured. Any wolf at all, really, but absolutely not an Ursus wolf. This was his home. "All that I am here to do is to help you."

her muzzle crinkled at the odor the bolus instilled. if there was any appetite roiling in her gut, it was certainly stilled now.

she met his gaze at the mention of fish; somehow, pairing the two hardly seemed like cuisine delicacy, but if there was anything astara could stomach washing down her gullet, it was the crisp and salty taste of meat.

appeased, she rolled the bolus between her paws and gave it a gentle nibble. it would certainly be better served washed down with pike or rivertrout.

Oh, so he would need to go catch a fish for her, then. So picky. Evien rolled his eyes with a small smile and stood up straighter. The stream wasn't too far away; he could get her something and bring it back in less than an hour. Evien dipped his head to her and turned to head off, calling a soft, "Be right back, over his shoulder as he left. 

He would return soon, a trout held between his jaws. It was not large, but would do as a light meal for one wolf. The medic would place the trout at the entrance of the den and stepped back.

despite the eye roll in her direction, astara allowed an extremely rare smile to press her features. as evien turned, he was bid a fond farewell by wave of her tail in game interest.

he returned eventually; astara had passed the time by considering hiding the bolus somewhere. deciding that would be on the edge of cruelty after the lengths evien was going to make sure his packmate was simply healthy, astara instead held the bolus in her paws until a fish was supplanted in front of her.

humoring the healer, astara ate both; but not without grimaces of extreme disgust.

she would humor him a while longer, before he was eventually shown the door. for now astara was content with company less intense than her lover -- for however long it would last.

edit 6/26 - im going to wrap up astara's old threads, i think this is a good place to fade, it should still count for any healing threads you need. lmk if youd like this reopened. <3