RE: Winter makes a comeback! A cold snap drops a dusting of snow across Relic Lore, killing early spring flowers.
Despite the dark Archer's best efforts within the past few days, no amount of grooming or words of encouragement could ease the restlessness that plagued the piebald woman during those pale moonlit hours. Alternating between heavy panting that quickly made the cramped quarters too warm to bare and slipping outside into the cold to pace no more than a few feet from the selected birthing den's entrance while the heavens above opened up to leave a fine dusting of fresh snow on the ground, it could easily be said the first time mother was all out miserable.
It was during one of these stretches of pacing the first twinge of pain rippled across the dappled woman's abdomen, the sensation immediately warranting a low whine to escape her inky lips and ears to press against her skull while ebony limbs halted their movement so smoldering amber irises could focus their gaze on the affected area. An expression of complete perplexity adorning her facial features. Well, that was new. Enoki thought silently, an anxious whine rather than one caused by pain falling from her lips as the pacing resumed, eventually slipping back into the warmth of the den to busy herself with rearranging the multitude of shed fur, moss and other various soft materials she had managed to find for the umpteenth time this week. It had to be organized just right and something deep inside was telling her that tonight it was paramount everything was perfect.
For hours the woman dutifully kept herself busy between nesting, pacing and panting while the snow continued to fall. The same twinge she had felt earlier now occurring more frequently and packing a stronger punch, enough so that Enoki could neither stand nor lay for longer than a minute at a time and gradually the pain only became worse until laying was the only option despite how awfully uncomfortable it was. Whimpering was a constant noise from the woman now, her head shifted her focus from the curved bulge of her side that undulated with the movement of the lives within her womb and toward the entrance of the den, hoping to catch sight of Nicolo's silhouette passing by outside. "Nico.." She calls out weakly, the pain of her contractions strangling the power her words would typically hold.
Yet a couple more hours will come to pass before the first time mother is greeted with two black bundles of joy, the sounds of their cries instinctively causing the mother to clean the remnants of their birth from their fur and gently nudge them to her side where a teet awaited each of them to feast. Pride swelled within her chest, but the moment could not be entirely enjoyed for long as a wave of utter exhaustion hit the magpie like a wrecking ball. Outside she could hear the shuffling of paws from the curious members that had gathered, no doubt drew to her hiding place by the wafting smell of afterbirth.