Whitebark Stream two, again [birthing thread]

FORWARD-DATED TO MARCH 23 (TOMORROW) @Kavik  @Alsek 

The pains had started the day before. Actually, if Grezig were honest with herself, they had started about an hour after her… interaction with Kavik. They had been light at first, just a slight poking sensation in her uterine area. She had assumed, at first, that they were the feelings of her pups moving around. It made sense, seeing as how they were supposed to be born at the end of the week, by her calculations. It was hard to remember, though, exactly how long she’d been pregnant at this point. And she’d only done this once before. By no means did she consider herself an expert in pregnancy and childbirth. 

Over the course of the next few days, though, the pains had worsened. They had become sharper and harder to ignore. She had lain down, and then gotten up and shuffled around her den, trying to do anything to quell the pain. Something was wrong. She knew that now, and while she didn’t claim to be an expert, she was aware that stress could take its toll on a pregnancy. She worried. She sprawled out uncomfortably in her den and tried to sleep, tried to calm down, tried to suppress her fear, as well as the anger she still felt for Kavik. She needed to be at peace now, or risk harming or—gods forbid—losing her children.

…

She awoke suddenly at the feeling of sharp, awful pain in her uterus, as if she were being stabbed. With the sudden feeling as if she needed to shit, she stood on shaky legs and squatted, knowing she wouldn’t reach the outside of the den fast enough. She’d clean up afterwards. She groaned, strained, pushed, grunted… and what came out instead of shit was… a pup. Screaming its tiny head off. 

Grezig was shocked, but her instincts kicked in quickly. She turned and began licking it. She didn’t need to check if it was breathing—that was for sure—but she still needed to clear the birthing sac away. She tasted blood in her mouth as she cleaned the pup, a boy. “Alsek,” she muttered, even though saying the name of Kavik’s father caused her anger to flare up again. They had agreed, and she would not go back on her word even if he had. 

She felt another contraction come on, squatted, and delivered the second pup. She turned toward it and began to lick away the birthing sac and fluid, nudging it with her nose to get it to react.

It remained silent.

“Shit.”

Grezig continued to lick and nudge, clearing any obtrusion away from its nose and mouth. It was so small… so small… Too small. A runt. Compared to its much larger brother this little girl was a mouse. A dead mouse. Grezig whined, licking and nudging. She felt another contraction but tried to ignore it, focusing on this little girl…

She squeezed her eyes shut, squatted, and delivered. She could tell from the smell that it was the placenta. There were no more. There was just the boy, and a stillbirth. 

“Fuck.” Her mind went white. She shut down her brain.

She turned to Alsek blindly, pushing him against her, suddenly fiercely protective of him. He would live. He had to. He was all she—

A cry pierced the air and Grezig felt herself breathe again. The ringing in her ears stopped. She turned to the oh-so-small girl, nuzzled her up against herself and her brother. “Pele,” she said. And laughed quietly. The name had come from her time visiting Tizir, her first daughter. Tizir had told her of the goddess, Pele. The goddess of volcanoes: lava and fire. How fitting that the daughter named after a volcano would lie dormant for so long, and then suddenly explode into being. “Do not make that a habit,” she warned the tiny child, who was now suckling a teat next to her much larger brother. 

Two. Just like last time. And they both looked like their father. Grezig sighed resignedly. “So be it,” she said, and then laid back, allowing her children to continue drinking, and fell asleep.

Silence, darkness, warmth, wetness. A feeling of being jostled by a much larger entity. The sudden absence of that entity. Being alone in a vast space, seemingly built for someone much larger than her. 

Cold. Cold air hitting her fur. The sound of her cries caught in her throat. Taking her first breath, but shallowly. A warm, wet something roughly jostling her body. The smell of comfort and safety. If it smelled so comforting, why was it so insistently pushing her around? Was it the same entity that had been with her before?

Left alone. Whatever warm and wet being that had been bothering her was suddenly gone. Cold again. Cold and wet and miserable and… hungry.

What was this new sensation overwhelming everything else? She was starving. She was going to die if she didn’t get something inside her stomach right this second. She—

A loud piercing cry, one she could not hear, though she felt it release from her throat. And suddenly she was being nudged again, pushed, shoved. She would be crushed before she ever got to eat and—what was this? It smelled of food. She latched onto it with toothless mouth and sucked and sucked. Sustenance. 

Sleep.

Alsek wriggled his way through the birth canal and onto the den floor, where he proceeded to scream and writhe through the resulting frustration of his trauma. There were things far less bearable than birth, but he was a newborn with no real point of reference. Can you blame him?

He was pleased to find the scent of milk wafting quickly toward his pugged nose. For a moment, Alsek struggled to crawl, but was soon lifted and tucked neatly beside his mother. He latched furiously to the nipple and drank himself into a stupor, resulting in his first food coma.

Just an acknowledgement from Artyom, yaaaaay puppies!   <3

He had wanted to check in on Grezig sooner, but with Dawn having delivered their pups on the eve of Kavik's return, the new father had been loathe to leave his mate and offspring unless he truly needed to. 

He did feel guilty, however, and it was on day three that Artyom tore himself away to check in with his comrade. It would be good for the sterling leader to have some time alone with their newborns, he decided, while he dealt with the world beyond the whelping hollow.

On arrival (with a peace offering of plump rabbit within his jaws) to that of the tawny Grezig, however, the fresh scent of birthgiving stopped the leader in his tracks. Artyom pricked each of his ears forward and stared ahead for a moment, unwilling to venture any closer to a protective new parent's space as he lowered his gift to the snowy earth. He lifted his head and looked around for @Kavik, made to exchange a warm glance with him should he look his way, and moved off to leave the group at peace.

Despite Grezig's angry declaration regarding the children, Kavik had camped out near her den. Not too close, though; he didn't want to anger her further, but he just couldn't stay away, not with the birth of his children so close. He knew from experience with how swollen she had been and with how much time that had passed that she was close to giving birth, and he was not going to let her down again. 

He had taken over a spot near a grouping of trees where he could still see the entrance to Grezig's den, and he spent most of his time posted against the white trunks, gaze trained on that very spot. The only times he left were to get food for Grezig, which he always left just outside the entrance, and the few times he pulled himself away to feed himself. 

He had only slept for at most an hour at a time, waking each time and taking in all the sounds a scents to see if anything had changed. He had already been awake when the familiar scent of birth drifted by on the breeze, instantly pulling him to his feet. He trotted forward, stopping himself before getting too close. He knew she wouldn't let him inside with how angry she was, and he refused to upset her while she was in such a vulnerable state. So he collapsed back down the ground, his eyes glued to the den entrance as he wondered how many children were inside with here and if they were okay. Memories of Alessia and Rosalie's difficult births assaulted his mind. He had to battle with himself to keep from running inside and checking on things. He accepted this consequence, though. But it wouldn't stop him from guarding the den and bringing her food. She could be mad all she wanted, but he was going to protect his family. 

Kavik rested his head on his paws, releasing a long, heavy sigh. His gaze still scanned the area and his ears still listened for even the slightest sound. So when he heard the leader's approach, he lifted his head and watched silently as he paused and dropped his mouthful. He would have picked up on the scent as well. Kavik met his gaze when it found him and dipped his head in greeting. He knew what it meant for the Alpha to leave his own newborn pups, and he was grateful that he had left to bring Grezig something to eat. After a few moments, he rested his head once more on his paws and listened to the comforting sounds of pups occasionally drifting from the den.