It had been some time since Aurum had been able to access his lion body, essentially trapped within his tigon form for the entire duration of his pregnancy. It hadn't been so bad, once he had learned why he hadn't been able to shift, but he had admittedly missed his old body. He missed the massive height, the impressive power, and the huge wings that stretched across his bag, providing both intimidation and easy travel across the skies. It had definitely been rough, getting around not only with a cub swollen belly, but on the drenched, musky swamp ground. It was what had partially motivated him to stop patrolling around as much while pregnant, both worried for his children's safety as well as his poor nerves from stepping into puddles of muck that were far deeper than he had ever expected them to be. Thankfully, however, this was all in the past. Mostly in the past, anyways. Aurum would still need to shift into his tigon body pretty regularly, just to make sure that his children were fed, but the majority of the time? He was back in his comfort zone once again.

The proxy could practically feel the bounce in his step as he left his home that morning, gently nudging the door shut behind him before stepping off the porch and into the cool morning air. It felt amazing, stretching the long, sharp claws of his paws apart again, and shaking out his long, auburn colored mane. After a few minutes of becoming reacquainted with his birth body, the angel thought he was finally ready, taking a few steps back before he charged forward. After he had gained enough speed, he threw himself into the air, wings spread and catching upon the wind easily. A pleased whoop left his lungs, his enthusiasm only growing as he looped around and dipped in the air, weeks upon weeks of disuse being cleared away like dust. He did this for several minutes, just enjoying the feeling of the wind in his fur and the ground far beneath his paws. Eventually he decided to cool it, coming back down for a landing near the middle of camp, his wings folding back into their usual resting positions at his sides. Despite this, he couldn't help the grin that remained on his muzzle, his mane fluffy and blown out from the high winds, and his one blue eye sparkling with happiness.

[div style="text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; text-shadow: 0px 0px 2px #1B1B2F; font-size: 24px;"][color=#44437F]— AURUM

IT'S ONLY JUST BEGUN YOU'LL FIND US CHASING THE SUN

Oh.
That was the first thought that came to Feza's mind. The hypsilophodon had been cooped up in her home for a few days. Thinking about things, the good festive things. Sometimes her thoughts flowed better in her normal body, but this one she was in currently was so much better. She really was beginning to forget why she even switched back other than to keep this body from getting too exhausted. The few times she'd seen Aurum lately, he'd been in a different body. It'd been hard for the Guardsman to even recognize him until she'd heard him speak. A different body that wasn't a lion. It had brought relief to her just as the hellhound body had.

Now he was back to normal, and Feza could feel the bubbling in her chest return. As much as she tried, leophobia still claimed her mind. The usual jagged thoughts that wracked the Guardsman's mind only grew worse as she came walking over. Feza could at least be pleasant, swallowing the lump in her throat. Get over herself, truly, was what she found herself thinking. Her antennae wriggled a little at the comment of children. Children? Feza hadn't even known that the tigon had been pregnant. It was truly debatable if Feza even knew childbirth existed. "Y-yea, seems like you're, uh, you're having a pretty good time bein' back to normal," the hypsilophodon clucked.

Aurum was still grinning even as he stood back on solid ground, soft pants leaving his body from the sheer effort of throwing himself upwards and looping around in the air. When Caustic approached him, the proxy didn't even have it in him to be suspicious, just grinning lopsidedly before he responded, "I am in a good mood. I feel really great... and the kids are doing fine. I mean, they're getting into trouble, but... that's to be expected from new little ones, honestly." His tail was twitching and lashing behind him as he spoke, as if the angel was simply aching to return to the sky once again.

He almost might've, if Feza hadn't chosen to approach in her hypsi body. Blinking over at her, Aurum felt his mood sour slightly as he noticed the nervous tone in her voice. He had known ever since their very first incident when Feza had broken down that she was scared of him in this body, but he had no idea how to alleviate her discomfort. He felt most comfortable in his birth body, and he wasn't about to stick around in his tigon one just for her sake. Rolling his shoulders, the lion tried to push those thoughts from his mind before he responded, "I am! Obviously I was glad to stay in my tigon body for the kids, but now that they've been born... it feels great to be back in my birth body again. It feels natural... are you doing alright?" He tilted his head to one side, figuring he might as well ask. He doubted he would get an honest answer out of her, but he could at least make an effort.

[div style="text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; text-shadow: 0px 0px 2px #1B1B2F; font-size: 24px;"][color=#44437F]— AURUM

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[div style="width: 300px; max-height: 100px; height: overflow; overflow: scroll; padding-bottom: 5px; margin-top: -5px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 8pt; color: #152232; letter-spacing: 0px; text-align: justify;"]He kept fancying that Ivan was absorbed in something — something inward and important — that he was striving toward some goal, perhaps very hard to attain.

Could he be blamed, really, for the pounding of his heart as he pressed his skinny body close to the ground as he saw Aurum's shadow on the ground? He thought it was some freakishly large hawk swooping down to grab young kittens. He knew he was getting into trouble by being out so much, his parents must wonder what he's doing most of the time.

But it wasn't a hawk at all. It was Aurum, in a fresh new body. At least, to Ivan it was. He couldn't remember a time when he wasn't pregnant. Once again, he was reminded of his former gripes about shapeshifting abilities. Ivan pouted alone for a moment, digging his claws into the ground. Why couldn't someone like Alice get the ability to have a new body, because her birth one was so broken? Why did it have to be for people who only wanted to use it to make babies?

Well I know what I'm going to do. Ivan told himself. He knew he was starting to cross over into childish pouting territory and he was ashamed of himself. I'm not going to have babies. Too much work anyway.

He finally dragged himself over, naturally finding himself magnetized to Caustic. Ivan promised himself  that he wouldn't come here to make a fuss over his own opinions on the matter. "And by the sound of it, I don't think Ric is that someone." He tacked on to Alaric's blunt quip, finding it quite amusing.

The appearance of two more on the scene only made Aurum's grin grow wider, the male slowly shaking out the red and gold feathers of his large wings. It wasn't that he wanted to show off to a larger audience. Rather, he just wanted to make sure that everyone would know that it was him in this body, rather than anybody else. He had been in his tigon body for quite a long time, and most would need to know who he was, considering he was who people would need to go to if Leroy was incapacitated or busy. Besides, perhaps it would make a little bit more sense now for Moth and Selby's children to consider him their uncle. He was fairly sure of the fact that Ivan hadn't really been too confused about the whole thing – the boy didn't seem overwhelming concerned with gender roles, at least not yet – but the others had been a little bit confused. The different in species between he and Moth probably wouldn't ever make a lot of sense, even when he tried to explain to them the adoption argument, but they seemed to accept their relations as fact, more or less.

Glancing over at Alaric, Aurum allowed himself a snort, figuring that the other was lightly teasing despite the monotone way that he spoke. Perhaps he was just growing used to Alaric's speech patterns, now that the male had been around a few days. Either way, the proxy allowed himself a firm nod before he responded, "I am. Navigating the swamp without the ability to fly was beginning to get on my nerves a little bit. Plus, it's definitely a relief to no longer constantly have to watch my belly. Now I have to watch the little rascals that are out in the real world, but... I can deal." Looking in the direction of Ivan next, the angel allowed himself a smile, always amused by his nephew's dry way of adding to things. Ivan might've been considered odd to some – and Aurum couldn't always argue otherwise – but he was family. Tail flicking from side to side behind him, he allowed himself to sit, a soft hum leaving his muzzle, "I dunno, Alaric seems plenty happy to me. You just can't always tell thanks to the stony face." He let the light joke out in Alaric's direction, feeling carefree as he interacted with his fellow tanglers.

[div style="text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; text-shadow: 0px 0px 2px #1B1B2F; font-size: 24px;"][color=#44437F]— AURUM