Shroud of the Lost will you hose me down with holy water if i get too hot

Birthing thread for Brielle, all welcome with a heads up to @Adelard, @Apolline, @Augustin and @Adora.

Woya had created a private hell for herself, and she did her best to keep it that way. The children were allowed to venture and lead the way without expectations of being considerate of their mother's pregnancy. She told herself she didn't want it to hold them back, but the truth was she struggled to accept her own reality. Because this time, the karma was sure to catch up. This time, there was no way she could be so lucky as to survive labor again. It felt as certain down in her bones as the love for her family, and so Woya did everything she could to ignore it.

She didn't seek out a den, didn't try to spin even a frail web of safety, carrying on as though she weren't swelling with new life. Even when the contractions set in, no longer false but strong, rhythmic, painful. She tried to get to water, but her legs gave out as another wave of agony radiated from her gut.

"Fuck," she hissed, and tried to stand, but her body didn't want to allow it.

(This post was last modified: May 29, 2023, 08:04 PM by Woya.)

Adelard had not been far from Woya when everything had begun to unfold. Since their departure from Sanguine Cove, he had fallen back into survival mode. All the things he had learned during his time before Relic Lore were now not only for everyday leisure. Scavenging, game tracking, fishing, hunting... It was all out of necessity.

While New Eden was a decent place so far, the Gerau had his reservations. But, wherever Woya and the children wandered, he followed dutifully behind them. In the Shroud of the Lost, their little family found some sort of sanctuary, but Adelard held his tongue. At this point, he had pinned it all on luck for them to have come so far.

After the morning mist had settled, the masked wolf found himself on the banks of Fisher's Split. Flirting with the shallow pools and the water's edge, he kept one ear back. Just in case Woya needed him.

heat stroke, bring the fire
ADELARD GERAU
black smoke, I take it higher

basically a cameo unless she is summoned by call!

Adora wanted happiness. Instead she found...whatever this was. A disjointed wayward family. Her mother's bloated sides on her thin frame. Their wayward father returned only to give more children. Would they know him better? She tried her best to hide the negative things away from her parents. It resulted in wandering further, in seeing the sights from high peaks and only coming back down when she knew she might be thought after. It made her creep away from nearly all and dreamed of a life of lavish things. Was happiness a lavish thing? Maybe it was, if she wished it for all. It was a thing she considered as she laid in a meadow. One that bloomed and blossomed with life. Flowers wild like weeds, swayed over her with the tall grasses. Oblivious to her mother miles away bringing new siblings hearthside, to her father fishing for the children he might know better. Her eyes closed and the sun shined strong. No pain reached here. ”Speech"

yellowicous-stock @DA, iMouritsa @DA, Moonglowlilly @DA & elysgraphic @DA

ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ || ᴛʜᴇᴍᴇ

It took a few steadying breaths, but Woya was able to force herself up onto her paws once more and continue, step by shaky step. Stubborn as always, but now that the moment was here so was the full force of her fears. As much as she tried to ignore them, they crowded around her will, doing every they could to shout it down.

She began to smell moving water, but that wasn't the only thing in the air. Lard.

"Shit," another serpentine cuss, and she lunged into the cover of nearby brush, pressing herself down into the musty earth and leaf litter beneath. Fine, so she was about to die. Her family didn't need to bear witness to that, he didn't need to sit through that with her-

Another hard contraction, one that stole her breath away and almost forced the thin wolf to cry out. She remembered the overwhelming scent of blood, the panic in Leviticus' eyes, how quickly her strength had seeped away. How absolutely powerless she had been. Now there was no medic, no pack, no first timer's luck.

Woya closed her eyes, grit her fangs, and braced for the worst to come again.

Instead, a single child effortlessly entered the world. The now experienced mother moved quickly, determined to at least see the whelp through as much of its birth as possible, but as the mucus was cleaned away and her daughter began to cry Woya was stunned to realize that the contractions were not continuing, and while greatly tired she was not utterly disabled. It was... over? Sandy eyes blinked down at the pup now nursing without issue, oblivious to all the anxieties that had surrounded her creation, and tears of relief began to flow from them.

"Babe! Lard!"

For a time, all Adelard did was stare at the water's rippling surface. He forced what remorse he had for Huddy, Aubine, and the other wolves who had left Fools Gold Chasm. There were too many to name at this point, and he and his family were the last of them. If anything, he knew by now, when it came to everything that had come to pass... he wouldn't have been here if it had not happened at all. For the sake of Woya's love, he would have gone through it all again if he had to.

His other ear turned to the side while the other turned forward.

"Babe! Lard!"

Well, that was perfect timing.

Adelard did not have to think twice as he spun about, hind paws splashing in the shallows as he sprinted up the banks. At the base of seemingly every tree, he searched for her. His nose dropped to the ground, sifting through the scents stamped into the earth until he found hers. Within moments of following Woya's recent path, the smell of birth wafted his way. A cub's cry broke the silence as if to further confirm his curiosity. His footsteps slowed as he saw the tiniest glimpses of silvery fur through the greenery. It was time and now the culmination of their heat-of-the-moment reunion had come.

His whiskers twitched, anxiety gnawing at his every nerve. He knew he should have been smarter than to give in to the temptation that one heated spring evening. Without a pack, he could only hope the Fates were kind enough to give them only what they could handle.

"Woy-a?" his voice trembled.

heat stroke, bring the fire
ADELARD GERAU
black smoke, I take it higher

She heard his voice, and the anxiety in it had her wriggling forward a touch, eager to show him that everything was alright. More than alright. Woya couldn't imagine them having been any luckier. Her pale muzzle peaked past the brush that cloaked her, a toothy smile adorning it while her sweeping tail jostled branches and brambles alike.

"It's done," she assured, bright honey eyes peering out from shadows. Their daughter had not liked the movement, but had stubbornly maintained her proper place at her mother's stomach regardless, suckling as though starved. It didn't worry Woya, she was clearly not malnourished. The solitary pup born to them was robustly healthy, and already proving her strength.

"Look at her," she turned her head, nosing a branch out of the way to reveal the newborn.

"She's absolutely perfect."

Their eyes met in the gaps between the leaves. The sound of her tail sweeping across the ground was an unmistakable sound. A tall ear turned to one side, wondering briefly if any of their older children would appear.

"Look at her," Woya moved, unveiling a single cub. "She's absolutely perfect."

Adelard's heart fluttered—a girl.

He inched closer, his lumbering form awkward with such painstaking movements. His tail wagged as he reclined forward, settling onto his stomach. A low whine sounded from him, wordless for once. Pride began to swell in his chest, taken with his mate and their newest addition. His brow quirked, curious more than anything. "Just the one?"

heat stroke, bring the fire
ADELARD GERAU
black smoke, I take it higher