Greatwater Lake everything seems o[m]inous

Mature Content Warning

This thread has been marked as mature. By reading and/or participating in this thread, you acknowledge that you are of age or have permission from your parents to do so.

The participants have indicated the following reason(s) for this warning: birth!

i know this is a little early, but i was excited & with my schedule being a little crazy, this is the only time i have. open to the newborns of course, as well as those tagged!

@Khaba provided for her, as did @Selena. sometimes as she prowled outside of the den that khaba had built, she could find traces of @Tarantula lurking in the dark — or the halfbreed who nested not far off, among the trees (@Nazli); but more often than anything, she was alone, and eating.

perhaps it was the stress of recent visits that upset the balance of her body; the worry that khaba would be taken from her during this time of need, or that the lakeside was not as protected as she thought. perhaps it was for no reason other than timing, that she felt the first pained contraction. it had begun hours previous - and zharille, not being a vocal sort or open to weakness, did not share when the sensations grew.

now though, she paced outside of the den. the piles of bones and chewed fish-heads did not entertain her. she sulked without being attentive to her surroundings, and bent submissively towards the earth, which was unlike the typical pride she carried upon her land. as the contractions grew closer together and more intense, she felt her legs buckle - but still, she would not be exposed here, and crawled slowly towards the den mouth.

she had barely entered it before the first body slid out of her. zharille felt a brief relief and a flood of chemicals within her body that granted temporary euphoria - but it wasn't enough, and soon a second, and a third, came to strike the earth. she turned to the bundles and instinctively pulled them to her chest, cleaning them as a means of distraction — and finally, the last.

four. four large, healthy bodies against her belly in the dark.

Change had come about. Khaba sensed it. 

It wasn't until he'd reached the den's mouth that he knew the truth of this change. Zharille had given birth already by the time he arrived. There was an intrusive smell filling the den, but that didn't stop him from rushing inside.

To the new mother he went, curiously sniffing around her, even giving a small congradulatory kiss to her cheek; but he did not yet get close toward the new babes coddled against her belly, knowing the fury and protectiveness that came with being a mother.

She had kept to herself, more out of fear than anything. There was less to do in this place — no schedules to keep, no tasks necessary for her, no expectations. It started as a flight of fancy and became a steadily growing vacation from the mesa, but with a dark undercurrent; Nazli did not feel welcome here exactly, but couldn't go anywhere else.
Rather, she didn't feel safe to go anywhere, and didn't know where else to run.
Khaba had become busy — and in seeking out his companionship, Nazli found his trail leading towards the heavy scent of the large woman. The girl was nervous to approach the space and felt anxiety prickling the back of her neck.
I could fetch something for the pain? She half-whispered towards the den mouth, hoping Khaba would hear her; but the slightest shifting of any body there, man or woman or child, made Nazli shrink back again and keep her distance.

short one bc i realized its very hard to write a paragraph about a small potato

one of these small, wriggling bodies nestled closely to the warmth of a mother and siblings she could only smell and feel. her first breath was to catch the scent of the one that brought life to her. she rested quietly now, only occasionally whining when her wriggling inevitably made her topple away from the warmth she sought.

Liezhal Bint-Zharille was a good sport about her birth. In fact, she seemed downright amenable to the process -- helplessly stunned into a senseless sort of awe throughout all the contractions, first breaths, cleaning, et cetera -- right up until instinct drove her to feed. This was when she began to quickly learn the essential three W’s of infancy: writhing, wriggling, and whinging.

(Of course, two of those things are the same act, but no one has ever said that being a baby is efficient.)

Soothed almost at once by the taste of milk, Liezhal hunkered down amongst her siblings into a fitful first sleep out in the new world.

She really didn't have to do much of anything, and yet here she was. Meant to be fawned over and called a miracle, simply for being. The new life found herself amongst the comfort of warm bodies and immediately felt a sense of calm. Miho stretched her new limbs, rolling here and there until she finally settled. It was a big day, and she was already spent.

Still open to Drusk! Wanted to get a reaction up from mom.

the newborns would be fascinating to any new mother with more than a single braincell, but to zharille she found them to be squirming masses she did not fully understand. they moved and rolled and made noise, all within her space. she was tired and sore, and parts of her ached deeply in ways she had never felt.

khaba came; she flashed her teeth. the mongrel appeared nearby next, and she rumbled a more distinct warning and instinctively moved to shelter those little masses, unsure why she should protect them, but intent to keep the den safe.

when the coyote vanished from sight and scent line, zharille calmed some. she sank back among the babies as they fed, sniffing some, licking others.

looming over each of them, she rumbled sounds that khaba might hear - and they might feel through the guttural vibration of her chest; names, for each of them. racharra, to the first, miho... liezal, and to the boy, drusssk. a dull, tired stare shifted from them to khaba.

she motioned to herself next, delirous; zharille. drawling her name, a late introduction of them all.

A flash of her teeth told him not to come closer to the children, and so he would not. But he stayed by her side nonetheless, unwilling to leave. 

Each child was explored by his eyes, tail wagging in slow motion. 

And when Zharille glanced up towards him, he loomed a bit closer, looking to each as she hummed a name. It surprised him, but he welcomed it with a low rumble of his own. 

She'd even given her name! So, it was only fair he gave his. 

Gesturing to himself with a small snort, he offered it. Khaba. Then on to watch with a keen stare. 

This family was now his to protect, and he would do this by any means necessary.

the now-named firstborn nestled closely against zharille as racharra suckled the milk she provided. her whining calmed then, having found what she was looking for in all of her squirming and bumping into her siblings.

deaf and blind, racharra could only rely on the little senses a newborn could feel, but not fully understand. 
the rumbling of her mother's voice, though unintelligible, the hesitant footsteps of something much bigger than herself lumbering towards her; a familiar scent of someone that wasn't mother. 
it was all just a cacophony of new sensations the pup would have to learn to adapt as time progressed. 

of course, she couldn't do much other than remain close to the body, and after a full meal even less so, until finally being able to move and learn more about the world she'd been brought into.

Nazli shrank away quickly when the woman made her rumbling, and heard no sound from Khaba, so it seemed she was not needed. It was better this way - she could go and hide out somewhere by the lake, and leave the new family to their own devices. If the woman's attention was on her newborns then it would be off of the displaced girl, and she felt somehow lighter for it.
Still, there was a sense that she was unwanted beyond her capabilities, and that burned her to the core, being someone so focused on acts of service. Nazli crept away, crestfallen.

Drusk is going to be PPC for now, as that's what the player would like! So I'll skip him and close out the thread. Welcome to the world / the pack!

the woman rumbled a new note, though what it meant was anyone's guess. it was clear now by her introduction she could communicate the way that khaba did, only differently, and with her own choosing. these were her only words, and likely would be the only thing she would speak during her duration within the wilds; come next spring, if she could raise more little beasts, perhaps her voice would return.

for now, she found herself sequestered within her den with the little bundles of life squirming, or eating, or sleeping against her. it was not a feeling she enjoyed; and when they got too pushy with their needs, she'd warn them in the way she knew how: growling, flashing her teeth - failing for the first little while to understand they were blind, deaf, and immature.

and eventually she would sleep, too. when the adrenaline wore off, and zharille's body finally forced her to shut down and rest.