BABY MINE / BIRTHING

[michael t.]

Michael had known that the time of his sister's birthing was approaching quickly. It wasn't hard to figure out, considering how much her stomach had swelled and how she could barely really move anymore, at least not for long periods of time. She would often complain to him about how the children kicked and fussed within her, and would pout as she recounted exactly how horrible it was having to deal with little horns jabbing at her. He tried to support her in the ways that he knew how, but pregnancy was hardly anywhere near his area of expertise, so often that just meant bringing her whatever foods she wanted and nodding his head along whenever she found herself going on some random rant about a new way that pregnancy was scary or hard. The bobcat often found himself silently thanking every god he could think of in his head that he would never have to deal with getting pregnant, considering he was enough of a dramatic even without a bunch of hormones and creatures constantly punching at your insides. The whole of The Typhoon would probably end up throwing him out with how much of a fuss he would cause.

Roan had also been well aware of just how quickly the big day was approaching. After all, the winged apprentice had always been fairly observant, and that wasn't even mentioning the fact of how overwhelmingly excited he was for his new siblings to be in the world. Ever since his mama had first told him she was pregnant, he had been over the moon, thinking of all the different things that he could teach them, and all the different games that they could play. Plus they were super lucky, since he had already asked a ton of the important questions during his own kithood, which meant he would have the answers for them as well. He was so excited that it never even occurred to him to wonder why he had never had siblings before, considering the fact that felines such as his mother very rarely had litters that consisted of only one child. He knew nothing of the dark and sad memories that surrounded his own birth, only able to remember as far back as when he had first opened his eyes, and had been welcomed to a warm world that was full of friendly faces and family. He had never had to worry about death, or mourning, or wondering what his siblings would have been like, because his mama had spared him of all of that.

The day was only just barely beginning to leave the qualification of night when Michael left his hut, stretching out his short legs and staring up into the multicolored sky. The sun would be rising soon, and he had spent the night curled up beside Trevor, strange nightmares of his own childhood plaguing him. They had been happening more and more often as Roxie's pregnancy became more and more prominent, mainly because her presence served as a grim reminder of how his own mother had rejected him. It was an unfortunate history that both he and Roxie shared. He hadn't wanted to be up so early, but it seemed as though the world had other plans for him today. Sighing, he glanced back up at his own hut for a moment before he closed his door, figuring he'd let Trevor get a few more hours of sleep. He then made his way towards Roxie's home, thinking that he would visit her and see how she was doing. After all, her sleep schedule had also been effected as of late by the babies, so there was a chance that she was already up too.

However, when Michael arrived at Roxie and Roan's place, he was startled to be greeted by the scent of Roxie. Not the usual scent that surrounded the house, however. A scent leading away from her home. It was a little faded at this point, but that only stoked his concern further, wondering what the hell his sister could've been leaving the house for in the middle of the night. Chest clenching, the bobcat turned to follow the scent – only to be interrupted by a small, worried voice, "Hola... are you going to get mama? Can I come along? When I woke up, she was gone, and usually she'll at least say goodbye if she's going somewhere..." It was none other than Roan, the small winged boy sitting in the doorway of his home with a frown on his face. He was flanked by Kal and Brunhild, the two reptiles glaring daggers at Michael. The bobcat found himself shifting uncertainly from paw to paw before he spoke, sighing in defeat, "I... I suppose you can come along, but if we hear anything dangerous, you're runnin' back here, okay? Rox'd have my head if you get hurt..." Roan grinned broadly at Michael, nodding his head in an affirmative before he hopped out of the doorway and followed after his uncle, Kal and Brunhild following behind obediently.

The pair walked mostly in silent as they followed Roxie's scent, Roan staying extremely close to Michael's side – even though Michael was fairly sure Kal and Brunhild made for far better protection than he did. Eventually they reached the edge of the rainforest, and Michael felt his frown grow, his confusion growing in tandem. He had no idea why she would come all the way out here, but he wasn't left with much time to ponder, since Roan was pushing urgently at his legs, squeaking softly, "C'mon, come on! We gotta find mama!" Michael just sighed and nodded, before glancing back at Kal and Brunhild. Kal just let out a grunt before he settled at the edge of the rainforest, the male clearly knowing he was far too large to follow much longer. Roan just gave the reptile a nod before they continued walking, followed now only by Brunhild as they delved deeper and deeper into the rainforest, the sounds of the chirps and grunts of creatures all around mixing with their footsteps and the clink of Michael's jewelry.

Eventually, they reached the tree. The towering structure of wood in front of them was daunting, and for a moment both shrank back, Michael's gaze darting around on the hunt for any signs of danger. He paused his search when a new scent reached his nose, one that made his blood run cold. There was the fresh scent of Roxie, along with the smell of blood. Heart sinking, Michael found himself mumbling to Roan, his claws digging down into the soft earth, "Roan, you remember what I told you. You should go ba-" He wasn't able to finish, however, because Roan had already taken off, the apprentice scrambling upwards towards the inside of the structure as he wailed, "Mama! Mama, mama! Plesse be okay, mama!" Michael cursed as he hurriedly followed along, pulling himself up and rushing closer and closer to the scent of Roxie and blood. Brunhild made an attempt to follow along, but it was difficult for her to pull herself up, the female forced to just sit and wait with a frustrated grunt as both felines darted inside of the tree.

When they finally made it inside of the tree, Michael was honestly expecting the worst. He was horrified that Roan was going to be hurt, or he and the boy were about to be traumatized by the sight of something awful having happened to Roxie. However, that was far from the case, as they soon both saw. Both Roan and Michael froze when they saw Roxie, as well as the five little cubs now curled up at her side. Michael stood frozen in the opening, while Roan quickly rushed forward, pressing his nose into his mother's cheek as he spoke rapidly, "Mama... mama, we found you! We found you, and you're okay... you're okay and you had the cubs! Are these my little hermanos?" He stared at the cubs in wide eyed delight, staying pressed against his mother's front as he looked each of them over, oohing and ahing at their many different pelt colors and tiny wings and horns. They looked like he had as a newborn, albeit with different patterns and a bit of a size difference thanks to their different species. Even so, they definitely looked as though they were his siblings.

It took a moment before Michael was finally broken from his trance, his head quickly shaking before he looked over the newborn children, seemingly dazzled by their mere presence. His chest clenched a little bit as he took a step closer, taking in their little faces and soft fur. They were adorable, and so very small, and fragile. He felt extremely out of place, as if a thug like him should be nowhere near such delicate little creatures. He swallowed the sudden lump that had taken up residence in his chest before he spoke, his voice hoarse, "I... congratulations, Rox... s-sorry the kid's all the way out here. He wouldn't let me go lookin' for you without 'im..." He found himself hesitating, as if he didn't even know what to possibly say. He didn't get any closer to the mother or her children, instead just mumbling uncertainly, "Should I... do you want me to go and get someone? I smell blood... is blood normal?" He could go and get Ahab, or Goldie, or anybody else who might be better equipped to deal with this. At the moment he just felt out of place, despite how delighted for his sister he really was on the inside.

[glow=#75603C,1,000]" oh, it's a setup, no, no, we won't fall. "[/glow]