Redsand Canyon Stars are born in litters.

She knew she was in the home stretch, though she slept so frequently now that time lost all meaning to Towhee. When she woke to dull cramps in her midsection, she honestly couldn’t remember if perhaps the time had come. Her instincts whispered not yet, so she pushed onto her feet and waddled to the threshold of the den, then through it.

Towhee actually felt markedly better today and decided to stretch her legs with a slow walk. She didn’t intend to go far, though after milling around the married housing, she still felt surprisingly restive. Her feet hurt a bit and she still felt the occasional cramp, yet she felt suddenly compelled to head toward the trees on the far side of the sparring pit.

It took her a while to reach them. As soon as she stepped into the shade, she made her way toward the stream there. Towhee dropped down into an ungainly crouch to lap at the water. After taking care of her thirst, she carefully pushed upright again and told herself to head back home now and rest.

Instead, she began wandering deeper into the woods.

where had she gone? his heart fluttered, he was on constantly alert lately. to find her missing from both the den and even the sparring pit only heightened this.

so he followed on quick limbs to where her trail led. into the forest, along the creek.

he tried to reason with himself. that she needed only a drink, that maybe she had a craving. still he could not stop the pinch of concern on his features.

he would make sure to round into her line of sight, even if it meant standing in the water. then signed for her.

-towhee?-

She wandered away from the stream and came across a particularly cozy thicket. She paused beside it, assessing herself and the surrounding brambles before deciding to push into it. Branches and leaves scraped her swollen sides but she managed to wriggle into the enclosed space. Slowly, she made an about face, peering through the foliage back the way she had come… and spotting Maxim there.

Oh, hey, Towhee said casually, as if crossing paths deep in the forest was usual for them. I was just… She shrugged. Actually, she didn’t know what she was doing or why. She pushed her head out of the thicket’s entrance as she eventually said, Meandering. No need for your face to look like that, she added, teasing.

no need for your face to look like that, and yet he found it hard to drop the look. are you sure you do not need me to get something? he found it very hard to see why she might be sticking her head into brambles if not on the search for something.

carefully, he peered around her and to where she had been before. trying to reason that surely she hadn't gone so far just to meander.

She made a dismissive gesture, then paused to really give his question some consideration. Did she need anything? Actually, some food sounded really good right about now. Towhee opened her mouth to say as much when she clapped it shut again, eyes resting heavily on her partner’s face. An odd realization came over her.

Some food would probably be good, but later, Towhee replied. Right now, there’s only one thing I really need. She paused, a bit of a coy look on her face, though she didn’t let it hang with Maxim looking so concerned. You, she stated simply as she simultaneously climbed back out of the thicket, her fur now full of sticks and leaves.

She waddled up to him and slid her snout against his. It wasn’t a romantic touch, but still intimate. Towhee realized she may not be in love with Maxim, yet she loved him all the same. Over these past few months, they’d really solidified their bond. And just now, she felt particularly connected to him, especially when his babies chose that moment to begin moving riotously inside her.

wha— the concern slid off of his features, replaced by something soft as she approached. muzzles against one another in a tender moment. it too dawned on him that they may not have been in love, but he cared for her greatly. with each passing day he was tethered tighter to her — and grateful for it.

he hoped it showed in all he tried to do for her.

i am grateful you have given me new life, towhee.

he hoped she did not pull away too far just yet when he had such paralyzingly kind things to tell her.

His lips moved and she drew back to read them, smirking a little at his phrasing. Are you referring to yourself, she wondered, arching to look at her extremely rotund flank, or these guys? They’re— Towhee meant to tell him they were on the move if he wanted to feel them when she realized she could see them kicking through her skin.

Okay, now that’s just creepy, Towhee said, voice gone a bit thready. She faced Maxim again, wondering if he’d seen it too. They’re definitely on the move, she finished her earlier sentence, grimacing suddenly as discomfort turned into pain. Fuck, she said on a shivering exhale, it feels like they’re further back now and literally kicking me in the asshole.

wahh tiny post before workout ;; i'll be around more this evening!

both, he had meant to say before she so ceremoniously declared their creepiness. not to mention their, ah, positioning. he may have not witnessed what exactly she had, but his eyes grew a bit wide for it all the same.

does walking feel better or worse?

Oooh, have a fun workout! :D

She missed Maxim’s question entirely, focusing on the shuddering along her flanks and the absolutely excruciating booty daggers that followed. They caused Towhee to inhale sharply and let out a wholly uncharacteristic whimper.

Fuck me, she whispered through clenched teeth, this is almost as bad as labor. I should probably try to head back to the pad. Her eyes flicked to her partner’s face, her own drawn into tight lines, though the tension relaxed somewhat as the pain began to fade.

She couldn’t exactly hustle, though she picked up her feet and began to move northward, back in the direction of Mereo’s housing. Towhee tried to pace herself and do some breathing exercises as she went, so she didn’t notice the sky over the treetops beginning to darken ominously. And, of course, she didn’t hear the distant rumble of thunder.

But when lightning threw the woods into sharp relief, Towhee paused to look upward. The world had grown very dim and a strong wind began to pick up, rustling through the leaves overhead. The first of what would likely be many raindrops splattered right in her eye, causing her to grunt and lower her head, marching onward toward shelter.

<33

he worried. deeply and horribly and his heart hammered in his chest for it all. plenty of women in mereo had been pregnant now but he had not paid them any mind except for towhee.

she carried the most precious life of all, in his eyes. entirely biased as all fathers might be.

but the weather had other plans for their return to the den it seemed. the thunder creeping into a hammering sound and the lightning brightening the woods.

-we can stop somewhere closer, towhee- he offered in a speaking and signing manner, not even sure if either would be noticed by her desire to march onward. regardless of whatever decision she made, he would be glued to her side.

could he...feel them too now...?

This time, he signed as well as spoke, so Towhee caught the movement out of the corner of her eye and stopped to catch her partner’s words. He told her they could stop and find shelter closer at hand. Suddenly, she wanted nothing more than to turn around again and locate the thicket she’d found. She even arched her head, gazing back in its direction.

While she stood there, deliberating, Maxim stepped closer, his taut flank pressing against her swelling side. He probably felt it when the kicking began again, only Towhee was beginning to realize what she was feeling wasn’t quickening. As pain seared through her abdomen and she practically ground her teeth to dust, she suddenly realized she was having contractions.

It was like the knowledge actually hit her upside the head. Feeling a bit woozy, she suddenly sank to the ground, panting, right as the rain really picked up and began pelting down from the darkling skies. Thunder clapped, the noise of it lost to her but the vibrations shivering through the earth beneath her, a strange and powerful echo of her labor pains.

it happened too fast. he had not learned enough, prepared enough for this. she sunk down to the ground and the roar of thunder dared to challenge her labor pains. there was a desire to stay strong over her, standing over the figure of her birthing form to guard her and whatever may come.

but he knew it would not be ideal. surely she would need to move and shift during these things, he could not simple stand like a gargoyle on the tower of towhee.

so if she did not send him off or meet him with teeth, he hunkered down next to her.

until he knew for certain how this would go, there was very little he felt he could do besides be here for her.

Maxim hunkered down beside her and Towhee leaned into him slightly, trying to bear through the current wave of pain. It crescendoed on a ragged gasp. The moment it subsided, she began to climb back to her feet, determined to at least get out of the rain.

She made it to the edge of the trees and saw the sparring pit ahead, eyes slitted against the torrential downpour. She felt another rumble of thunder beneath her paws as she strode toward it, preparing to cross it to get to the married housing on the far side.

The soil at the arena was packed down by the passage of many feet. The rain made it muddy and slick. Halfway across, Towhee’s right foreleg slipped. She pitched forward, saved from faceplanting only by the weight in her midsection. She managed to overcorrect and sway backward instead, dropping onto a haunch just in time for a fresh contraction.

That fresh contraction was the last nudge required by Towhee's first passenger. As she swayed, overcorrected, and then roosted on her rear end, there was a gush of something between her thighs and sluicing free on that wave of fluids was a small bundle of mud-colored fur.

All that jostling around was enough to slip not one, but both babies from the warmth of the womb and into the cruel world. Jack plopped out swiftly after his sister, landing on top of her and immediately beginning to squirm. Mud and dirt collected on his body – that would be a nice mouthful for mom when she began to clean them off. Jack did not cease his wiggling.

How dare Towhee evict them like that? They were perfect tenants. They always paid on time, never made too much noise, only threw parties on the weekends. Now, Jack was transient. A dirty little wet blob of puppy and womb juice. Happy birthday, little man – enjoy life. One stubby arm pushed at Leona with the same force as a blade of grass.

he would have tried to assist her with her fall, but he too was at risk for eating mud in the spar pit. then there was suddenly something — somethings — where that had been only muck before.

were those...?

he had become a father in the spar pit. two crude little things covered in the muck of the rain soaked ground and...other things. blood, juices.

-towhee!- signed and yelled. simply struck with awe as another rumble of thunder roared overhead.

She screamed, the sound drowned out by a roll of thunder. Not one but two puppies came tearing out of her body in quick succession. For a split second, Towhee was sure she would not survive the agony of it. But within seconds of the latter pup’s unceremonious expulsion, she knew relief. Her labor was over just as startlingly as it had begun.

Towhee was left to blink down at the two newborns through the rainfall, before Maxim’s motioning caught her eye. -You grab one, I’ll get the other,- she signed at him sloppily, her legs feeling queerly jellylike.

Snatching up the secondborn, Towhee hastened toward their den, leaving behind a puddle of blood that quickly washed away. Despite feeling very shaky, she made it there without further incident and ducked inside, sighing in relief around the puppy’s midriff.

Gently, she stepped to the bedding and flopped down on it, mindless of her soaking pelt as she began to clean and dry what turned out to be a baby boy. She nudged him in the direction of a teat as soon as he was tended, then collected the firstborn from her hovering partner and repeated her ministrations.

Aside from its sudden onset—and, well, giving birth in a sparring pit—the delivery had gone more or less fine. Towhee kept prodding the babies with her nose, not quite believing they were here, before finally glancing over at her mate. Water dripped from the tip of her snout, which she flicked to avoid dampening the freshly bathed pups.

I think we have a boy and a girl, she said.

Something of equal mass collided with her, head-first. That is to say, something sat on her face and then with a few flailing kicks, rolled off of her and in to the mud.

The child coughed and began their protest; that was when the sky flared with lighning, and through the thunder's rumble there were voices. It was all noise. Even through the babe's wetted ears (lined with mud now to top it all off) that rumble could be felt, and it was terrifying.

What came next defied all reason. It was useful, then, that these babies were so new to the world that reason and logic didn't exist yet. The ground was there, and then it wasn't. Somehow they were hoisted out of the muck and carried away.

The storm became a distant thing, although the memory of it would persist a while yet.

Once scooped up in his mother’s mouth, they were at least getting close to being on the right track. Jack was still covered in dirt and other things. The movement was really something, wild, bouncy. The young boy might have screamed, if he knew how. There were quite a few grunts and squeaks of protest. Hunger was setting in. 

Jack peeped as he was hoisted. He could feel himself withering, starving. Oh, cruel world… Another feeble cry from his mouth. The young pup wanted a refund. He wanted it all to go back.

two. two children, she scooped up one and he found another in his own care. carefully he offered a few licks to it before he scooped up dear leona between his jaws, carrying them with a quickness to his steps. eager to get everybody back to the den.

when they did arrive, he happily set down the child in his care along towhee's side. who could then make the grand announcement.

a boy and a girl.

he was still mostly wet, but he settled down near the edge of the bed, back to the mouth of the den.

two...two! he beamed, eyes warm and full of nothing but love and pride!

The adoration on her partner’s face mirrored her own, she was sure. She smiled tiredly at Maxim before returning her attention to their son and daughter. They were fussing a bit and she wondered, as always, if they were very noisy. She encouraged them to suckle, then soothed them with slow, soft passes of her tongue along their backs.

Eventually, she looked up at Maxim again to say, I’m going to shut my eyes for a bit. It went without saying that he would keep watch while she and the babies took some time to recover from the birth, so she murmured, Don’t forget to think of some middle names, and let her chin sink to her forelegs, eyes drifting closed.

last from me i think <3

i will, he whispered as she closed her eyes for slumber. he could very much imagine how exhausted she was. even if the children had seem to come so...freely! he had seen the pain she had been in, felt the way they stretched her sides with kicks and shoves.

he would offer a press of his nose to her crown, a quick nose over of the children.

he found find himself sleeping protectively near the mouth of the den, already running rampant with a protective paranoia streak.