Blackfeather Woods [m] blackreach

Mature Content Warning

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The participants have indicated the following reason(s) for this warning: Childbirth mentioned.

Wolfskull was no place for children, but it was the place that she ended up in her time of need, oblivious to the history of the space. It didn't feel wrong to be here. The stone was cool to the touch; the deep shadows were a comfort to the frenzied woman as she sought solace within them, and as she felt the throbbing pain of one contraction relenting to another, Parvati knew she couldn't go anywhere else. This was how it was meant to be. The cave would be her fortress and her blood would be an offering to the forces within it — for Parvati would give everything for these children, everything.

She willed herself to stay focused as she crossed through the atrium of the cave, and when she could go no further she let herself collapse rear-end-first to the dirt. She felt them inside of her body. Little creatures kicking, twisting, eager to escape the confines of her womb. Parvati was manic with the pain and made mute out of fear, and did not call for help. Instead she began to brace herself against the dirt, and did not linger long upon her haunches as the quickening of her womb forced her up again. A contraction coursed through her body and she grit her teeth against the urge to gasp and crow. It would be hours before the first babe would make an appearance — if she could survive it all.

The woman was panting and pacing within irregular intervals, pressing her sides against the cold stone walls as she passed them or pausing to breathe — trying to remember what she'd seen in her past life among the women, and what she had told Cassiopeia during her own tribulation — and then, frantic, she recalled something older, something she should not have knowledge of yet somehow -- perhaps by the will of the gods she thought had abandoned her -- Parvati felt deep in her soul.

She began to claw at the earth; thinly at first, shaking so much that her blunt claws did not produce straight lines. As she paced and as she focused her mind on this new task (meant to keep her mind off the pain but, it was growing insurmountable) she got better and better. The woman roamed in a circle around the edge of the cave and scrawled shape after shape, correcting some as she passed over them a second time or a third or a fourth; until around her there were strange glyphs — ancient sigils of importance to her own people, meant to protect her.

As Parvati came to the center she staggered and braced against the cavern floor — feeling something warm and slick leaving her body, hearing the whispered thump as it landed in dust. Instinct won out at that point. She turned to examine the lump and with some cleaning, the face of her first-born gleamed bright: a pale child, radiant despite the darkness of the cave. With tender kisses she cleansed its face of blood and dust — but this was not over.

The pains rebounded through her and Parvati thought, 'I cannot do this again. One is enough—' but nothing came of her pleading except pain and worry. It felt as if she was being torn in half from the inside-out: she felt much the same as the first birth, but this one was difficult. Different because it wasn't just one child, but two, racing to reach the world outside of her. Parvati knew that there was something wrong with painful clarity — and in her need, she shrieked for help, the sound of her voice carrying from the cave: @Maegi, @Tundra -- @Ramsay --

Yet the sound of her voice thinned, lost to the wood, and as Parvati gasped for breath she felt release — her body relaxing just enough to allow one body, then another, to pass through her and to the floor. She wasn't sure how she felt in those first few moments where pain no longer ruled her. There was a swooning calm flooding her every sense, and she moved as if in a dream to gather these bundles — cleaning them with tired kisses, pressing them to her belly and realizing at some point she'd sprawled upon the cavern floor and in her frenzy, obscured many of her scrawlings.

Parvati rested, then. Her breath slowly lost its panicked beat - and alongside her wriggled her babes, around which she wrapped one of her shivering limbs. 'My babies—' she thought as she fought to stay coherent, '—I love you with everything I have.'

@Anansi, @Sakhmet, @Sobek.
June 15th 2019 (forward-dated)

OOC: Replies from the kids are optional; there's no time limit and no posting order, so feel free to post when you're available & if you're interested in doing so! This is only open to individuals who have been tagged; if you'd like to join please ask first so it doesn't get too busy.

It was wrong to be descending into the depths of Wolfskull, heeding Parvati's cries of labor. She shouldn't be down here. To birth children in a place that had seen so much pain, terror, death? Maegi remembered all the bones she and Ramsay had cleared from this place and shivered, fur standing on end. It didn't help that with each step underground, it grew cooler, quieter. . .darker.

And the voices grew, too. The daedra, gone quiet the last few days, began to chatter.

She's not what she seems.

She's fooling you.

 

She's using you

She's an imposter

She's a liar

There lay Parvati, cleaning her children. Three of them, two dark and sleek, like Ramsay. The other ghostly pale, like—

You.

Maegi drew close with quiet steps, brow furrowed slightly. She wanted the voices to stop; she wanted to enjoy this moment for what it was—the birth of her brother's children. But as she stared at the pale pup, they grew louder and louder, drowning out all other thoughts. One louder than the rest. . .Sheogorath?

She stole your babies.

No, she breathed, thinking of Nirgali and Ninazu, decomposing, receding. No, she—

She poisoned your womb and took your brother's seed. These Meloniis were meant to grow within you.

That can't be true, Maegi mouthed, still with her gaze trained hard on the white pup.

She's not to be trusted.
She's not what she seems.

She's fooling you.

She's using you

She's an imposter

Stop, she demanded, teeth gritted, voice firm and echoing off the walls of the cave. The voices did not cease but softened, falling into a quiet roar while she padded toward Parvati. Her eyes glowed, one the tongue of fire, the other its deep blue heart. She folded herself down, close to the woman, watching the children.

Congratulations, she said woodenly, not meeting the woman's eyes. And the daedra continued to talk.

His body was a wet wedge of clay upon the floor, sitting and collecting dust where he'd landed. Limbs tucked in close to a small, soft belly; eyes shut, ears slick and curled against his tiny head, while breath pulsed in and out of his nose - that roman nose, so very much like his mother's. There was no fanfare to welcome him earthside, only the darkness of the cave and the imperceptible smell of dry dust, like an old library. The sour notes of afterbirth and the metallic scent of blood mixed in there too, gradually, though his nubile senses would not recall these aspects. The world was dark — but it was warm too. Something touched him, dragging the loaf of his body from one shadow to another only to press him close, to cling, and the babe peeped a tiny sound as he nested against his tired mother.

There were all sorts of sensations around her on this day that she wouldn't remember. The way the earth felt for the first time or the touch of the cool air on her pudgy form. There was something that she might always remember though. Her mother pulling her close into warmth. It was as though the sensation was what truly made her alive. She, poorly, attempted to squirm more as she was moved from one place to another. A few soft cries escaped her before she settled down again with the unspoken instinctual promise of a meal and warmth awaiting her.

Wolfskull was Ramsay's most frequent haunt in Blackfeather Woods; he would almost call it his sleeping place if he didn't often just sleep wherever there was shelter. To have it invaded was uncomfortable, but he kept himself in check because the wolves within were Parvati, the woman he had impregnated without knowing what he was doing, and Maegi, his dear sister. He could hardly afford to alienate either of them by chasing them from the cavern.

Especially since Parvati was in labour, delivering his pups. Pups he didn't want, but he had them now all the same. Living, breathing pups. Real pups. Not like those... things Maegi doted on.

(He was concerned for his sister's well-being, but at the same time, had chosen to retreat from all of that, partly out of fear of being infected himself and partly because he didn't want to be accountable for impregnating a woman when his sister was suffering so.)

But he lingered outside the cave, ears pricked for good or bad news, standing sentinel out of a sense of duty more than anything. His children... he would do better for them than Potema had done for him, but he couldn't say he felt any attachment to them right now as he stared out into the woods, standing guard over his family within.

Mostly just a cameo.

Shuffled unwillingly to the front car of an uncomfortably cramped rollercoaster, the palest of the trio born that day endured a plethora of forgettable sensations with the tolerance of a saint. He remained eerily quiet as he was cleaned; though couldn't be called sluggish as his limbs flapped healthily, and his body reacted blindly to being touched. He gave no signs of any abnormalities, like tremors and such, but aside from several infantile grunts as he adjusted to the Outside - the specter was mute. Such a thing may have been cause for concern if he did not greedily latch on to the nearest provided nipple, and suckle until he was unconscious.

Fun fact: he was noisier in his sleep.

Closing up here!

She was so weak — so tired, — but the babes were important. They needed her, and so she would be present even if she was only half-awake from the toil of their birth. Parvati held them close, inviting them to perch at her belly until she felt them nipping at her, gorging on the colostrum that ran thick from her body. Her mind swam — but she thought that a spirit had entered the cavern, she heard it speak through the fog of her exhaustion, congratulating her -- and as Parvati drifted off to sleep, she felt the spirit take shape beside her, except it was cold, not the inviting warmth of a sister as she might've expected. Parvati murmured something in her native language but it was lost within the dark of the cave as she slipped off to a necessary slumber.