Noctisardor Bypass bittersweet
you're the unbreakable heart
948 Posts
Ooc — Iris
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#1
Birth 
Laurel had tucked herself away from @Mahler in recent days, for he was a reminder that she would never matter more than everyone else to him; and she longed to matter more than anything to someone again so much. It was hard to avoid him, for he cared and worried much. It was bittersweet, the way she saw that he cared. A glimpse into when she had just met him, and she had thought that maybe a life of peace was possible; she hadn't thought of love, then. It was only since the heat had clouded their heads both that Laurel's heart had grown so conflicted. She longed back to the time when she had just come to Rivenwood.

When she still had hope.

Laurel was on her way to take a drink at Birdsong Lagoon when she felt the sudden twinges of pain. She recognised them right away, being a third time mother, and instantly she turned away from the lake again to head back to her hidden den. It was too late, though; she lay on the ground in the open fields east of the rendezvous site and her ears pinned back in pain as she started to go into labour.

---

After a few hours in which no one happened upon her, there were two children -- One was a dark blob, unremarkable in every way; @Abel Redleaf . Laurel's eyes lit up as she lay eyes on @Indra III ; a little ginger blob at this time, no more. But she knew it, she felt it in her heart. It was her Indra. She was back.

She would be loved unconditionally again.

And perhaps, with that, Laurel could learn to love others again, too.

A fresh summer breeze accompanied Laurel as she started to lick clean Indra (and later Abel) to place them at her side, while she presumed Mahler would not be long in being by her side to help bring them someplace more sheltered.
352 Posts
Ooc — Talamasca
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#2
Couched neatly against the beige fur of Laurel's belly, the bundle of ginger barely stirred. It was as if she was still within the womb, oblivious to the change in her circumstances. The birth sac had been removed without issue and her body cleansed of any resulting mess, thanks to her mother's careful cleaning. As the summer wind came to caress her for good measure, she finally did raise her little head - grasping at tufts of mother's fur with her little goldfish mouth.
Hearthwood
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91 Posts
Ooc — Y2K9
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#3
He was not as quiet as his sister had been. His cries filled the world the moment he entered it. Open ears were spared at first. The sac that encased him—that trapped him a bit too long—muffled the noise. When he was released so too were his cries. He was silenced only by the milk provided by his mother and the warmth of his sister.
2,664 Posts
Ooc — ebony
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#4
so sorry for the wait!

when mahler was not with wylla or phaedra, putting a patrol around rivenwood with druid or astraeus, he sought after laurel with the helpless devotion of a doktor who has had several doors slammed into his face. but she was far more than a patient. 
what she was exactly mahler denied to determine for himself.
but this summertime she would be a mother, and the gargoyle was fixated upon making himself useful with nearness. laurel would sequester herself away, and he would be forced to search for her through all of rivenwood. it reminded him of the stone, shale-scattered shelves where agana had given birth to astraeus.
laurel had hidden herself for long weeks from mahler, since she had returned to the bypass.
mahler followed tealwater creek from his pharmacy, a mouthful of verdant leaves and brown bolus tucked into his cheeks. he meant to seek for laurel again, offer once more the care she had refused through her pregnancy.
mahler did not expect to find laurel in the emerald grass, with dawnleaf against her backdrop. he did not expect the scent of blood and of birth and of milk, here in the open and not within a den. 
the midwife was galvanized at once. he set down his burden and drew closer at once. 
two children lay against her side. laurel first was given the bulk of his ministrations. he searched for the fever that sometimes follows upon the heels of labour, for the greenish rot of infection in the birth water. mahler did not dare give more than a surreptitious glance toward the blood, noting only that there was not a worrisome abundance.
"vell done, laurel," he said softly, wonderingly. "i vill help you take them to your den."
guardianship was mahler's lot. he would not be turned away, not in this.
the lavender eyes were soft with an affectionate support when they met her own.
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you're the unbreakable heart
948 Posts
Ooc — Iris
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#5
From the moment she cleaned Abel, Laurel regretted it; he was loud and dark, and she wondered if he would be anything like her third child. Laurel pushed the thoughts away as she tried to guide him towards her stomach, hoping that he would take to drinking, at least, so that he would quiet himself at least until full. Hopefully by then, sleep would grab him.

Mahler arrived just as she had put him at her stomach. She barely had any time to lay back and admire Indra's calm and beautiful. Mahler, she said, feeling unsure towards him still -- it showed in her voice -- unsure what she was to him or what he would or would not do for her. He offered to help her carry them and though she rather enjoy a moment without Abel's cries, Laurel nodded to accept the offer.

You take Abel - the dark one. Laurel got to her feet and she said, I'll take Indra. She leaned down to pick the child up, and started heading towards the western frays of Dawnleaf, where the den was that they were supposed to be birthed in.
2,664 Posts
Ooc — ebony
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#6
mahler said nothing, only took the child gently into his jaws and followed. 
he had the distinct feeling he had interrupted laurel in some silent communion — of course he had.
abel, a boy. wintersbane's son, he expected.
and indra —
mahler was suddenly flushed with a chill. indra was the name of the sister who had been killed by the ursus wolf merrick.
indra — she had given this child the name of her passed sister?
an homage he could not question, and yet.
mahler followed, laying abel where she indicated and standing back, all in the same attentive wordlessness.
"i am going to leave now. i vill be back in some hours, vonce i have put together some medicines for after birth."
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you're the unbreakable heart
948 Posts
Ooc — Iris
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#7
Mahler took Abel without question, and Laurel took little Indra III in her mouth. They walked in silence to the western edges of Dawnleaf, where Laurel moved to the den that she had created for herself there. Just a dirt den in the middle of the forest, but it was good enough for her little family.

Laurel settled in the den and, after putting Indra attentively at her side, she instructed Mahler to bring Abel to her side as well. Thank you, she said, a little awkwardly — stuck between too formal and cordial and a streak of odd uncharacteristic warmth — and she nodded at Mahler when he said he would return with food in a while. Laurel felt a mixed feeling to her gut, but she pushed it away for now. Once Mahler had left, she could relax better and she sighed as she settled beside her two children. Abel kept screaming, but she knew that he would eventually decide to eat and sleep, and then she too could rest at last.