Cha Cha Slide (aw) }{ BABIES EVERYWHERE

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

This was really fucking inconvenient. Clarimonde said she wasn't expecting her children for another few weeks, but she had clearly been wrong. I smirked at the thought of the husky being incorrect. She'd deny it until the end times, no doubt. I sat my ears back in discomfort. I suppose I should be grateful. I didn't really want Paradox, Ayita, or Midge touching me when I went to lay in such a vulnerable state. I would like to have my mate with me, but I dismissed the thought quickly. Clarimonde was spitting orders out to our lead medic and herbalist, so soon their sidekicks would get summoned, one of which Val was. As selfish as I pretended to be, I knew Clarimonde needed all the help she could get. It was clear in her eyes, and the way she aggressively took control. Having already miscarried her first two, there was no doubt the fear washing through her. I sympathized. I already loved my children and they were not even born yet. I couldn't imagine them dying. Mahal was not a small male, he was almost as large as Bidziil, if not equal. We came from large genes on both sides of our family tree, so the agony the woman was trying to hide was justified. Her fear was justified, as was that physical pain making her shutter. I heard her demands to avoid poppy seeds get thrown at Ayita before her legs gave out under her in front of the scarlet dog. She moaned out more, something about this being risky enough for her children without the added threat of drugs, then groaned pitifully. The judgmental side of me scoffed at her, but I pushed it away.

My own electrical shocks were growing unbearable, and I was not about to birth children much too big for me.

I turned to the trees and made my way to be swallowed by shadows. I overheard Midge barking her disagreement over the poppy seed matter, only to be silenced harshly by Clarimonde's disapproving snarl. Ayita was silent for a moment in response before agreeing with the husky. I closed my mind to their affairs, not wanting to hear my brother speak. There was bound to be terror in his voice and I wasn't sure I'd be able to handle it in my hormonal, agonized state. I might stumbled in the flow of emotions caused by his pain. I didn't blame him for his fears he had been showing these past few weeks. Clarimonde was small and her body had already proven it wasn't able to handle folami-sized children. The first time it had been merciful, if it could be called that, and aborted two dead puppies. This time it was not quite as early--the threat to his mate was very real. I did not deserve their attention, I could do this on my own. What I lacked in experience and knowledge that Clarimonde had, I had in undeniable strength. I would be okay.

This is what I told myself as I ignored the electricity in my veins and started to run towards the unclaimed lands.

[I L Y I C H]

Of course I wasn't exactly handling this well. When did I ever handle anything well? But I had a mask for such occasions. A readily built thing that just wouldn't fit over my damn face this time around. Panic was bounding across every hair and I'd started to wear a trail into the grass. Clari might think she was being clever hiding it but I could see the pain in the creases of her jaws. Michael had come over when it had first started, and was still sitting next to me. So it just left the two of us sitting in the center of camp, watching in general panic as Clarimonde rushed this way and that. Lindsay had given up chasing after her twenty minutes ago, relegated to laying along side Michael with her tongue hanging out. Nothing the three of us did could truthfully calm Clari down in any way shape or form. There was no point in trying. Comforting wasn't something that ever really did well for my mate.

So I'd just panic all of in my corner while she panicked off in hers. It would be okay. Paradox and Ayita had already said it was okay. It was gonna be okay. Right? I was a large folami and she was tiny. It had been the downfall last time and our children were early weren't they? But not horrifically early. Michael had said that much. But Paradox was calling for his medics now and Michael left me before I noticed he'd gotten up to go. I myself stood rapidly, half falling into Lindsay when she herself got up. For her part the collie did catch me, trying to shrug me off but half folding under my much greater weight anyway. Shuffling awkwardly along in this way until I'd gotten back to my paws and Lindsay had escaped to trot rapidly to Ayita's side.

Right. Had to go to Clari. Had to be a good husband. A good father. Oh shit fuck I was going to be a father. Which just made my panicked half steps increase in rhythm until I was rushing drunkenly after Lindsay. In the end it was Val who stopped me by no fault of his own. My own stupid rambling pace had set me into the smaller gray man. He was standing still after all, looking towards the entrance to camp with one ear slightly back. Me running into him was a wee bit of a distraction. Val's sapphire eyes shot up and sideways in surprise and a momentary blip of fear though he washed that out quick enough. Silver face pinching up slightly Val took a step to the side before unceremoniously shoving me forward. He was getting way more aggressive lately, I blamed Alonda.

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

Scared. I wasn't scared. Not even close. I was completely and utterly terrified. Horrified. Words I didn't even know I knew rushed forward to describe the sheer terror rising bile in my throat. There was nothing I could do but put my faith in our herbalists and medics. Paradox and Ayita were good teachers, and I had faith in their students. And in Michael. My eyes fell to the husky in a state of panic. They could handle this for me, all of them patient in my need to control. Because they knew, I knew they did. This need to grasp at a sense of control was only a mask, the only one I really had. I had my brain and with it I could make anything so. I had to believe that, it was the only hope I had to be a mother, to be a parent alongside my mate. I didn't want to die for my children, but I would. I wanted to watch them grow, though. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to them, but I had told Logan that should push come to shove, I expect to have these children torn from me. He had been hesitant, no doubt fearing what the sight would do to Mahal, but he had eventually relented. I would not survive another spawn of mine dying at birth, so why test fate. Let them live even if I must die. He had agreed, and I found myself snapping my attention to him with the thought. He was avoiding my eyes but I could feel the heat rising from him as he laid on paw on my forehead. He would stand true to his promise, a man of his word. I relaxed, if only slightly, knowing I had at least one dog on my side.

A full hour of sheer agony had passed before my legs had eventually given out beneath me. Somewhere in the back of my mind I had been aware of Lindsay tailing after me in an attempt to calm me, but she had seen logic and taken rest beside Mahal and Michael after forty minutes of failed attempts. I was fortunate, such a short labor. Ayita's had taken somewhere around seven hours before Kamautu had pushed his way into the world. I smiled through my pain at the thought of birth. It was a miraculous process and, though I would not know for sure until they entered, I felt it in my gut that it was going to be okay. That isn't to say I wasn't feeling death at the edges of my vision, I simply dismissed it with my will. Not today. A sound mind can overcome many things, death included.

I could sense Midge's discomfort as the pain surged through my body with a severe jerk of my muscles. The girl was a good herbalist, but she had never come to terms with even good things require pain. If I was being brutally honest, she relied too heavily on poppy seeds, much too weak to the feelings of agony. It was a problem I had discussed with Ayita several times, but our lead herbalist seemed indifferent to the matter. She claimed that harassing Midge for her issues would solve nothing. The scarlet woman was much too reserved, in my opinion. Still, I understood the need to remain on good terms with her pupils. She would reprimand when need be, but her students had to trust her. If Midge felt Ayita was too unwilling to use the herbs available, she may go off on her own way, uneducated and mislead.

The mind is an amazing power. Lost in my thoughts, I had shuddered through the birth of a little girl. Midge had pulled the child aside and was grooming her fur the 'wrong' way, breathing air into her lungs and warming her on the sun-baked soil. I watched guardedly for only a moment, heart beating much too fast in my fear. What if Midge, with her lack of experience, left fluid in my daughter's nose or throat? Perhaps she handled her too roughly and, with the early birth, her bones are brittle and break beneath the rasps? I opened my mouth to demand Mahal take the girl from the herbalist, but all that pressed past my throat was an agonized wail. Something was wrong. I curled into a tight ball before stretching out into a long line, unable to push away the nausea rising in my stomach with the electrical shots of pain roaring through my boiling blood. No, nothing was wrong, I knew what was happening--the next child was bigger than the first.

I reached a paw out quickly towards Mahal, begging with panicked eyes that he hold it. I needed to know he was there, as my father had said my mother had done. He said she had found comfort in his contact as my siblings tried to push their way into the world. Maybe it would work for me, too. I would like to feel his love one last time if Logan had to hold his promise, if this child was truly too large for my anatomy. I was prepared, but I wanted Mahal to meet my eyes, as I tried to hide away the pain and leave only love. Because I did love him, more than I had ever had words to admit. I didn't want him to see me break apart, to see blood where-ever our second child stepped in life. I was ready to die.

Blackness.

OOC//: Clari went unconscious due to pain levels--up to you if it is before or right after Zenny is born. I don't know if I will do it from her viewpoint next post (like, she only blacks out for the final moments) or if I will have her unconscious for several posts and do it from someone elses point of view.

[I L Y I C H]

Mahal and Clarimonde were in some state. Anxiety flung about them both with violence, and while Clari was trying to hide it Mahal was all but shaking apart. Midge and the girl had their argument, and while Ayita agreed quietly with Clarimonde Paradox all but snarled. The man took his duties very seriously, and frankly I wouldn't doubt his disliking Midge for some reason or another. He usually found a reason for everyone but a small hand full. Her usage of poppyseed alone was dangerous, especially to a medic like our duty leader. "You numb her up and we've got no way of knowing whats going on." Ebony face turning sharply to glare down at the over-medicating herbalist Paradox gave up his annoyance just as abruptly to turn back to our patient.

Leaning forward slightly I took a small cautious step around, positioning myself along side my old mentor should he need my help. Paradox himself was settled neatly once again at Clarimonde's hip. Blue eyes traveling to Ayita I offered something of a weak question in my gaze. This labor was not taking as long a it might otherwise, but it seemed a far bit more painful then any I had witnessed. A fair bit more vicious. Even Carska's hard pregnancy hadn't lead to this much obvious agony. Clarimonde was after all much like our alpha and where the commander would snip and snarl despite her pain so would the husky. Yet she did not and had not spoken for some time. Anxiety leveled clearly in my mind.

I did not have long to dwell on my worries however, as Clarimonde shuddered and gave birth to the first. According to Paradox the first of two. Midge grasped ahold of her as was her due, preforming her duties. Mahal for his part leaned forward, his ocher eyes flicking with something akin to his normal constant stream of worries and anxieties. Never the less the prince restrained himself until duties were done to all but claim the babe. A daughter, and a neat little replica of her mother settled smoothly against the father's leg as Mahal began to pass his own tongue over the child. It would due to pass her to her mother, but Clarimonde was in no state to receive that gift. I stood from my sitting position, sharply, as Mahal too snapped to attention, his own fears racketing back up. A paw was flung outward, a paw that Mahal grasped onto without second thought, confusion and terror clear in his gaze.

Oh we all knew of Clarimonde's family history. What this labor could possibly do to her. No one wanted to speak the word kill, but it hovered in the air about us. Mahal's body just as thickly stiffened as his mates did. In less then a second both of them were all but blacked out and Paradox was fighting to restrain his laughter despite the situation at hand. My glance went waved away as the medic shook one ebony paw in the air, not doing a thing to restrain his cackling now. Ah. This was why. The second child was in the world and all but squirming on the warm ground. Leaning forward and to the side I grasped the child carefully, drawing it to my chest to dry it's fur and warm it's body. Tongue set neatly against it the boy began all but wailing the second I touched him.

Fear whispered about in my mind as I watched, blue eyes narrowed. What were any of us to do should this be Clarimonde's last? Her breath was still active and Paradox had sucked in enough air at this point to check on her. Checking allowed him to calm down long enough to be sure. The man nodded smartly, before shuffling backwards with a small grin. Still laughing to himself, I assumed, over poor Mahal. Honestly. I for one wasn't at all surprised or amused by my old friend's reaction. He thought his mate was going to die, and sometimes the brain knows a better way then any to stop the panic and fear from rushing in to destroy it. With the ebony man pressed awkwardly against Clarimonde's shoulder Paradox had to half shove his snout under him to grasp the daughter, bringing her about and setting her gently against the mother's stomach. I myself stood to bring the ginger backed boy to the same place.

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

I had been in labor a fair bit longer than Clarimonde had. Prior to my leaving, the contractions had began several hours before. My little girl had entered the world neatly, not a sound passing her lips but breathing strong and quick to find milk once I did all the necessary procedure I had seen during my mother's own litter. The little female looked much like her father, dark gray and a runner's build, though followed my larger size. I smiled knowing the woman would stand over Val when she was of age, and he would just have to deal with the fact that he was the still the woman of the family.

Watching from the cover of shadows, I let little Daenerys suckle as I watched my brother fall limp quickly after Clarimonde's shuddering ceased. I choked on a laugh, using the humor to cover the very real chance Clarimonde was dead. Turning golden-brown eyes to the lead medic and herbalist, I saw one was laughing and the other smiling gently. I couldn't help the uncharacteristic euphoria that past into my smile. I honestly didn't care too greatly for the husky, though I couldn't say I disliked her either, but my brother had found a real love and he deserved it. I didn't wish to see him live through the sorrow of his mate's death, or the stress of raising their newborns alone. I looked down at my own daughter, wondering absently what Val would have done should I have died in the birthing process.

I shook away the thought, knowing it silly. I could handle such a normal event without risk.

Turning my attention back to the camp, I watched Midge glare awkwardly at the lead doctors before weaving her way out of the clearing. I could imagine her frustration. I had heard Paradox's snapping towards her, but like a good nurse she had ignored the tone until the danger had passed. I didn't understand the girl's severe apprehension towards pain, but I did comprehend the annoyance at being scolded. I had never been one who handled criticism well, and with my time back in Vea Apxn I had seen that same quality strong in the chubby woman. I blinked after her, wondering if she was personally addicted to the drug or if it really was just a hate of pain in the simplest forms. I shrugged, not caring enough to investigate further. Logan had allowed space for the unconscious pair and their hungry young, but he laid not even a bound away, observing the children with care. No doubt the boy would serve as a sort of calm model for the children beside their otherwise psychotic parents. With his history with my brother, and continuing strong bond with both ebony and husky, I imagined he'd play as much an uncle as I would be an aunt by obligation. Ayita moved away for a moment and came back with some moist moss, which she placed gently near the snout of the new parents for when they woke. She left once more and returned after a few minutes with a thick leaf-wrap. I couldn't help to be curious where she was storing all her medicines, but she was always careful to keep it from non-herbalist eyes so that children don't find it. I couldn't see either child, Clarimonde's back facing me, so I wasn't sure how many the pair had had. Not that that was what sat at the forefront of my mind for the time being, anyway. The little girl pulled away from her nursing to pay at my stomach, drawing my attention back to the most important aspect of the situation. Clarimonde had no more need for my mate, and it was time for father to meet daughter.

I reached around behind me to grab at another little girl, a sweep of pain piercing my heart as I did so. As much as I tried to convince myself I had carried her home due to the respect of a burial, I knew it was more selfish than that. I wanted someone to mourn with me--or for me. I could not bring myself to even let my brain know how heavy my heart was for the still-born. She looked like her grandfather, the same pitch black fur the monster held, but I loved her all the same. I couldn't understand how I had let myself get to a point where I could love something based solely on instinct, but there was no denying the maternal pull at my heartstrings as I let the girl hang limp from my jaws.

I picked up my other daughter to sway beside the sister she'd never know. If not for the truth of the situation, I would have laughed through their scruffs as Daenerys huffed in defiance and pushed at her sister as their pelts brushed. It was similar to how my parents had described me upon birth--bitter, or perhaps just intolerant, to the world. The bitter had come later with experience, I reminded myself, as I made my way from the shadows and approached the medic, placing the two children down in silence at his back paws.

OOC//: Personal note; borage leaves (blue) helps milk production (chewed and eaten), fennel (thin, pine-like stalks) helps pain in hips (stalks are broken and juice squeezed into patient's mouth), Feverfew (small white flowers with lots of ridgy leaves) reduces fevers and pain (eaten), raspberry leaves (dark, ridged leaves) ease pain, stops bleeding during birth (eaten)

[I L Y I C H]

With the situation finished and the pair placed against their mother's belly I had far less to worry about. Face turned back towards the entrance to camp now, I took little time in notching Alonda as she returned to us. To me. While I could understand her need to leave, to do this on her own, I couldn't help the certain level of jealousy that bit up at my heels. I'd wanted to see them too, the moment they came into the world. Partially narrowed sapphire eyes caught the sight of two bundles gripped like crystals between their mother's fangs. A gray and a black, both darker then Alonda herself. Worry etched into me at the expression int hose tawny eyes, however, and the haggard way the woman walked. Weight on her shoulders was never a good sign, she usually shrugged it off so simply. Paws quick and careful I moved towards the woman, nose forward and twitching.

Pain pierced my heart, and I was certain it etched across my face the moment I came close enough to see one chest rise and the other not move at all. Ears back I let out a low cautious whine as I stepped close. Not wanting to draw the attention of the pack I smoothed out my coat careful and sat. Alonda stood tower tall over me anyway, it made little difference. Leaning forward to brush my snout against her grey cheek I kept my eyes focused on the bundles. "You are a stubborn monster" I barely breathed the words, careful to avoid breathing across the children. It meant little to me that one was alive and one was dead. I would not disturb either of them. Loss crumpled my shoulders, however. Loss and baiter regret. We would never know our second daughter. Never play with her or chastise her silly mistakes. Never know of her make believe stories or laughter. It made my heart throb at the thought, and one could only imagine what Alonda had trapped inside her head now.

A mothers love was, after all, one of the greatest forces in nature.

As it were, a mothers love broke boundaries, and stubbornness was a family trait. Carska slipped along my side, fur brushing and I'd have jumped if my being wasn't so focused on not nudging my daughters. Clarimonde's blood was still on my muzzle, and I didn't want to brush it across the soft clean down of their bodies. My alpha stepped into her daughters side; those knowing tawny eyes that Alonda's own had been crafted from focused on our children. She didn't say anything, having noticed her daughter return after checking on Clarimonde. I'd heard the paw steps coming towards us, but not fully focused on them. Standing careful beside us, Carska watched Alonda's face for a long moment before blinking and parting her jaws.

"You're first brother never opened his eyes, either." Soft words brushed into the air, a kindred sorrow deep in the words. Surprise eked into me, despite my focus. I'd not known the first litter had been five and not four. It was a well guarded thing, apparently, and by the hurt in my own chest I could imagine why. Carska had shared her pain with no one but her mate, and had not wanted to. But she shared it with us now, golden eyes soft on our cubs. Her granddaughters. Taking a step to the side, brushing my fur against Alonda's I watched in silence as the older woman dipped her clean muzzle to brush her snout as lightly as she could should Alonda allow it. Aiming for warm flanks, to be as unobtrusive as possible. "Now you've had a place to lay. Off with you. Don't step on your brother." A small smile curved across her lips as she spoke, stepping away before pausing once more. "Take time to say goodbye. You'll regret it if you don't." The words almost sounded like an after thought as the alpha moved away, but there was guilt and pain deep in there. Lost but visible.