Sawtooth Spire himmelssturz
2,664 Posts
Ooc — ebony
Master Guardian
Midwife
Sitter
Offline
#1
Private 
whenever u have time! <3

spring brought with it many deluges, and mahler found himself caught in one such. he stood alongside the swollen waters of windholme, ankle-deep and gleeful as he snapped toward leaping fish with no real intent on procuring one. three pups in sagtannet now, and @Nyx would bring more earthside. it fed his core tenet that the children were the lifeblood of any pack, and in that regard, the spire had done well for itself.
[Image: 2711649b07fc604164cb120b1b417fa3cf47bccc_00.gif]
340 Posts
Ooc — Rebel
Offline
#2
always got time 4 u

A month had ticked by smoothly and swiftly, and Nyx' pregnancy progressed with remarkable ease in comparison to her first. Things were vastly different now, though. Back then she'd been clouded with uncertainty, with confusion for what she felt for Lycaon and an obvious reluctance to bear young she hadn't wanted. The babes that grew within her womb now, however, had been planned - past experience heightened the extreme love she already harboured for them.

She'd been lounging in the midday Spring sunshine when Mahler aarrived on the scene. Yellow eyes followed his movement toward the water, where he stepped jovially into the shallows to better investigate the fish that dwelled there. Nyx smirked, amused, as his intrusion made them leap and writhe in the air. "I always knew you were a natural repellent," she called out in a tease, as she wondered what brought him from Wylla's side that day.

2,664 Posts
Ooc — ebony
Master Guardian
Midwife
Sitter
Offline
#3
mahler glanced up from his diversion, the amused but cool planes of his face thawing beneath the warmth of nyx' voice. "ja, you have got me," the gargoyle grunted in return. he looked back at the water, then opted to pull himself from it, shaking out his pelt before approaching the woman.
"pregnancy agrees vith you," mahler noted, settling alongside her. "you are like a buttered biscuit." mouth twitched, lilac eyes twinkled, but he kept carefully deadpan. "i must redeem my repellence."
[Image: 2711649b07fc604164cb120b1b417fa3cf47bccc_00.gif]
340 Posts
Ooc — Rebel
Offline
#4
She stayed put as Mahler paused to acknowledge her, and regarded him with a backward flick of a raven-tipped lobe and the curve of an amused smirk. He veered in her direction and Nyx, welcoming him to her with a lazy flop of her peppered plume, found herself quietly contemplating his comment.

Pregnancy suited her, apparently. Her mind reeled at the statement, paranoia gripping her chest tightly. Was that a suggestion that he might know more about the outcome of her first? Nyx studied the dark leader's features for a silent moment before she let herself settle, and chose to play along.

"I know," she lifted her muzzle, feigning arrogance, "how is fatherhood treating you? Bored, yet?"

2,664 Posts
Ooc — ebony
Master Guardian
Midwife
Sitter
Offline
#5
"tired, more like," he chuffed in answer. "they grow like little veeds." he was far from bored, though if he was weary, wylla was exhausted by the active pair of little wolves.
no word of strife between nyx and wylla had come to mahler; he therefore had allowed himself to relax with the knowledge such could shift at any moment.
"are you ready to be mother?" he remembered only vaguely the first time nyx had been with child, and she spoke not of them. so then, would he follow suit.
[Image: 2711649b07fc604164cb120b1b417fa3cf47bccc_00.gif]
340 Posts
Ooc — Rebel
Offline
#6
She snorted with laughter at his response, and shot him a mischievous wide-eyed glance. "Just as tiring as making them," the tawny she-wolf teased, keen to pull the wool over Mahler's eyes to mask the very real fear she harboured for the future.

Nyx so longed for her litter, felt what she assumed to be a strong maternal instinct before her season arrived - one that intensified as her flanks began to swell. She loved them long before she and Mahler had come together, but she worried that those feelings would turn in a far darker direction as the weeks went by. What if she turned on them, like she had her first brood? The anxiety remained, and her refusal to discuss it meant that it would continue to fester.

"Absolutely," she answered brightly, "you'll be there with me, right? To make sure everything goes fine?"

2,664 Posts
Ooc — ebony
Master Guardian
Midwife
Sitter
Offline
#7
"i vill," he assured, though a wan look passed over his countenance as he tilted his head. "but i vill ask first," he chuckled, showing nyx the healing scars where wylla had slashed his face from eye-base to mouth. mahler did not mind, however; he passed his lavender eyes over the woman beside him, thoughtful.
"are you vorried, nyx?" the gargoyle inquired. she had birthed before, and usually second-and subsequent mothers were less likely to ask for a midwife. he wondered what had transpired, or if she feared his large frame translating to their newborns.
[Image: 2711649b07fc604164cb120b1b417fa3cf47bccc_00.gif]
340 Posts
Ooc — Rebel
Offline
#8
Nyx grinned, amused at Mahler's presentation of marks left by another's fangs. It was something she fully expected of the foul-tempered Wylla; "you're lucky you didn't lose your nose!"

She supposed even the most mild-mannered wolfess could turn hostile in the presence of new babes, and her expression faded to one of quiet contemplation as she cast her gaze out over the nearby waters. Nyx herself had felt that fury before, though it had not been lended to a desire to protect cubs - only herself.

Her mouth dried at the memory, and the peppered Ostrega blinked back toward her leader at his question. She rolled a shoulder, awkward. "A little," she answered after a moment of hesitation. The fear that he would see through her ruse was forever at the forefront of her mind, "I guess... well, I know you won't let anyone harm them." 

That was the lie she'd perfected: that someone else had slaughtered her pups. It was one she clung to, though really it translated into something far darker.

You won't let me hurt them.
2,664 Posts
Ooc — ebony
Master Guardian
Midwife
Sitter
Offline
#9
"or you." it was a somber statement, for now mahler did wonder. but it was not to those dreaded things that his mind wandered. it was to nyx herself, who had let him know her in more ways than one but kept herself veiled these long years.
did she only desire motherhood? what else was within her heart?
but mahler shut the door upon that, at least for now. "do you have names chosen?" the gargoyle asked instead, wanting their interlude to be one of warmth, not prying.
[Image: 2711649b07fc604164cb120b1b417fa3cf47bccc_00.gif]
340 Posts
Ooc — Rebel
Offline
#10
Truthfully, Nyx hadn't considered what harm might come to her when the time came to whelp. Was this what it meant to love? That she did not care to think of what might come for her, only for her babes? She pondered this for a silent moment, yellow gaze soft on Mahler in quiet gratitude for his thoughts of her.

"I've tried to think," she shared when he asked her of names, and she canted a raven-tipped lobe curiously atop her crown, "but I'm not sure of anything." Although she'd confessed to having yearned for daughters, the only name Nyx had considered had been for a boy - for the one who lived.

She would not share that with Mahler, however. She shook it from her mind, cast it away, for still she felt unworthy to think of the child she'd failed to feel for those years ago. "What about you?" Mahler had expressed that he wished for involvement in her litter's upbringing, so it only seemed appropriate that he should have some say in the naming of them. "Any ideas?"
2,664 Posts
Ooc — ebony
Master Guardian
Midwife
Sitter
Offline
#11
"strong, earthy names. of course," he said by way of teasing. "heavy mouthfuls." though he did not think any little beings from powerful, elegant nyx would be loamy peasants such as himself, he wanted to see her reaction all the same.
for a long moment mahler idly watched the water, lavender eyes following a toad that had emerged early to find the river still brackish and tinged in snowmelt. "we could give them a theme," he suggested. "fish. rock. stick." utterly monotone, but his gaze crinkled at the edges with a hidden grin.
[Image: 2711649b07fc604164cb120b1b417fa3cf47bccc_00.gif]
340 Posts
Ooc — Rebel
Offline
#12
The only name she was certain that her children would carry was one of her own: Ostrega. It hadn't ever meant anything to her, not really, for it belonged to a father she'd never known and had never truly cared to know. Her mother had been determined to bestow it on her cubs and Nyx never questioned it, figuring it must've been important enough for her to fuel such insistence.

It was just a name, she felt, but one that'd always bound her to what faraway family she had. One that would bind her pups too, no matter the distance.

She shot Mahler a sideways glance, a silenot scowl to accompany the amused las of her peppered tail. "I think I much prefer "Dirt" and "Mud" to your suggestions," she quipped in return, smoothly playing along.

2,664 Posts
Ooc — ebony
Master Guardian
Midwife
Sitter
Offline
#13
"then ve have an accord," mahler rejoined warmly, enjoying the twist of her features. "and vhen they grow up, they can be mud man and dirt voman." at length his features broke with the pleasure of it; he turned his gaze upon nyx and sought the edge of her muzzle with his affectionate kiss.
"vhatever you call them, they vill be healthy. and lovely." he meant to impress upon the woman his reticence at becoming too involved; she would set the boundaries of his involvement and he would follow them. it was his respect for her that oft drove his tongue.
[Image: 2711649b07fc604164cb120b1b417fa3cf47bccc_00.gif]
340 Posts
Ooc — Rebel
Offline
#14
Nyx exhaled through flared nostrils, a huffed sigh in response to accompany the playful roll of hawkish eyes. "Oh yeah," she crooned, sinking dramatically onto her side to roll in Mahler's direction so that she could outstretched her forelimbs in attempt to shove at him; "they're perfect."

She accepted his affection but felt too awkward to return it. Mahler's tone changed as he spoke again, she noted, and her expression shifted to one of warmth. A smile bloomed on her muzzle and her peppered tail thumped the ground, as butterflies took flight in her chest. Nyx was excited for this litter, which was a pleasant change compared to the dread she felt for her first. 

"Lovely," she repeated with a wrinkle of her nose after a beat, having never imagined anything to come from her womb could be described as such. "Solid, perhaps. Strong. Fierce," a low rumble and a curl of her lip to display fangs that might portray this. "My lion cubs."

2,664 Posts
Ooc — ebony
Master Guardian
Midwife
Sitter
Offline
#15
he laughed softly as nyx plied him with her soft toes, allowing his large body to be buffeted. he liked to see the pleasure unfurl across her face. it was sun through a misted sky. she gave him a bit of hope, he supposed. mahler was summarily unable to see the great things he had accomplished in his life, and so looked for a prism through which he might feel.
it was the role nyx had taken.
"lion cubs," he repeated, enjoying the ferocity of the concept. "little cats raised to fullness on a mountain."
[Image: 2711649b07fc604164cb120b1b417fa3cf47bccc_00.gif]
340 Posts
Ooc — Rebel
Offline
#16
"Lion cubs of Sagtannet," she announced proudly as she pulled herself onto her belly once more, yellow gaze alight with all that she felt for the life that grew within her. Nyx was fearful, of course, considering the trauma she'd been through before, but she was thankful that all the prior preparation meant she could enjoy her pregnancy. After a quiet moment of contemplation, the golden Ostrega thought to add: "of Diaspora."

She smiled then, a hopeful one that curved on her muzzle as she lifted her eyes to seek the dark leader's reaction. Stigmata's legacy may have died along with him, but something of his dream lived on in what remained of his comrades.
2,664 Posts
Ooc — ebony
Master Guardian
Midwife
Sitter
Offline
#17
"of diaspora," he repeated, a true glow coming to his lips now. they could not forget the beginnings that had given them their future, and it was a testament to the foundations of their impending parenthood that they could stand so strongly now.
"vhat are you craving? tell me. i vill get it for you," the gargoyle murmured, tensing as if to rise but not yet lifting himself from alongside nyx.
[Image: 2711649b07fc604164cb120b1b417fa3cf47bccc_00.gif]
340 Posts
Ooc — Rebel
Offline
#18
She grinned at him, a beam of pride at having brought forth a glimmer of joy in his face. Diaspora and its meaning had faded following Stigmata's passing, but Nyx had been glad to be a part of it. Despite the dispersal of Ketzia and her brood that followed, the disappearance of the fallen General's offspring by Takiyok, what was left of Diaspora had managed to keep itself afloat.

Because they had Mahler, she decided, and Nyx' expression softened the longer she looked at him. He was a good wolf; the decision to have him sire her brood was perhaps the best one she'd ever made.

"Hmm," she contemplated aloud when he asked what he could fetch for her and her heart crooned, just you. Just for a little while longer. Nyx inhaled deep, casting the affection she felt for her companion away; to feel anything beyond comradery for him was out of the question, and went against everything they'd agreed on. "Think you'll have any luck finding something sweet?" Nyx asked with a lopsided smile, figuring that plucking fruit would return him to her sooner than the hunt might.

2,664 Posts
Ooc — ebony
Master Guardian
Midwife
Sitter
Offline
#19
GOD i know i answered this SORRY

"i think i vill be able to do that," mahler murmured, gathering himself up with a rather boyish glance of intrigue. "i vill be back." though reluctant to leave the comfort of their lie-in, the gargoyle set off to locate something that might appeal to nyx' taste.
he returned with a bitten half-branch of early berries, some tart, but others brisk with sweet juice. lying it down, mahler licked a bit of the fruit from his jaws. "i hope this suffices."
[Image: 2711649b07fc604164cb120b1b417fa3cf47bccc_00.gif]