New Life (RavenShard, Armageddon, ANY/ALL)

[nightblood]

The sounds of twilight was growing out in the forest. Birds were waking, greeting the faint sun rays with their songs. Little prey animals were stirring, ready for a day of gathering food, hoping not to become food to a predator. With the usual sounds of morning, there was another sound. Something new had come to the forest, something it hadn't heard for what seemed like ages. The pitiful cries of new born pups came from under a weeping willow tree.

The tree, it seemed, was mimicking NightBlood's groggy attitude that morning. The leaves, heavy and leaning even lower to the ground than normal, dripped morning dew as the sun began to rise. There was a gently flowing mist in the area as the dew was evaporating with the growing heat. It was testimony to NightBlood's evaporated energy, for now eight pups squealed at their mother's side as they nursed. She had gotten a whopping two hours of sleep after giving birth to these annoying creatures, surprised that they let her sleep that long.

With the rising sun, it seemed that the pups had found new invigoration and had began to suckle as the light began to rise in the east. A particularly hard scratch by one of the tiny claws had woken her up. It didn't hurt or draw blood, but it was hard to ignore. After all, all she had felt for the past few hours was pressure. The little heathens had nearly killed her. Of course, she had almost killed one of them as well. The last one had seemed so still that she had placed it in the pile of two other stillborns. It was only when RavenShard was about to bury them when she noticed the cries from somewhere in that area. Counting the live pups, she could only conclude that one of the stillborns was playing dead.

As the tiny demons pawed and bit at her side, the Beta could only make herself focus on what was to come that morning. It was inevitable that either RavenShard would announce the birth to someone and the news would spread like wildfire to the rest of the pack, or someone would hear the tiny voices and come to investigate. Either way, she would probably have visitors soon. The Beta wasn't exactly looking forward to it. Only Armageddon and Mortil would probably lift her spirits. Probably Crow as well.

Blood unwillingly glanced down at the litter of annoyances. The sight only brought one happy bit of news to her- she was thin again. And by 'thin', she didn't mean her usual chiseled, well muscled stomach. She was THIN. It was as if the pups had stolen her stomach muscles for their own greedy use. Oh well. At least now she kind of looked like a real female. The pups at her side made it kind of obvious.

Another thing came to mind as she looked over the pile of fur. It had been Anek who arrived first, as well he should, and had given each pup a name before venturing off to work on his training without so much as a "How are you?". NightBlood had suggested it. At least at the moment, she really didn't want anything to do with the puffs of fluff. ... But they were kind of cute.

[Nightshade]

((UIN RP))

This morning was absolutely groggy. Uin felt like the very leaves wanted to poke her eyes out or something, her eyelids felt heavy and she was walking lazily. She had barely slept, for unknown reasons, probably the evil sound of the woods. All night she could swear that some yips and yaps echoed through the woods, they were not close by at all, it was like the an echo.

Her ears twitched as the yips came again. They felt far, very far yet she heard them close. She grunted what on earth where they. She stopped to think, snapping a twig as she did. She groaned and turned to look at the sky. What could bring that noise, she closed her eyes in thought. Then it came to her, the Beta, NighBlood! Could she have possibly already have given birth? She shook her head and shifted her footing excitedly.

How could she have been to stupid! Those pups, NightBlood's pups those had to be the origin of the racket. She shook of her tiredness, excited to see the little devils already. Changing her pace to a quick trot. She mainly used her hearing to be able to get through the thicket of woods, searching, trying to pin point the exact spot the pups and their probably tired mother were.

With a new purpose, to bother NightBlood and her pups for a while, she quickly found her way through. Slowing down when they were so close she could almost see them. She stopped at the edge of the trees, making sure NighBlood saw her before she got a bit closer. She gave NighBlood a friendly smile, probably knowing that she didn't want to be bothered but she couldn't resist seeing the pups first. She took a step forward and stopped, giving the female some space.

-"Morning" she said with another friendly smile.

Uin nodded and turned to the pups, looking at them with eyes filled with joy. They were so beautiful and noisy and NightBlood looked so thin she wanted to laugh. After a few minutes of gawking she turned to NightBlood.

-"They're adorable" she said with a toothy grin.

[Brink]

Apus quickly darted through the thicket, doing his best to stay hidden. Traveling was difficult though, with his fur constantly getting caught in the thick bramble. Something was different about Arnlan. Something he couldn’t explain. Everything was just changing. Tension was running high. That was obviously clear. But he didn’t know why… and wanted to. He had never really been a curious one, but this seemed rather important, so knowing why Arnlan was changing would probably important too. So, after thinking it over a bit, he decided that his father would fine by himself just for a second. Ap had promised himself that he wouldn’t be long.

After checking to make sure that Austrinus was fine, he set out. Discretion was key, since letting people know that his father still had some time left seemed… wrong, in a way. The scent might be noticeable, but the chance seemed worth taking. Time passed too quickly, even though everything else seemed still… almost dead. It was certainly a chilling thought. However, there was also life. And he followed the scent of it towards RavenShard’s den. Once he approached it, the slow canine was unsure of what he would do. Maybe, after missing the pack meeting and hunt, he’d be unwelcome. The thought almost kept him from continuing on, but he had come this far…

With caution, the large wolf moved forward, stopping just outside of the den, as if an invisible line had been drawn there. One in which passing over meant some horrible punishment… “B-b-b-eta N-n-n-i-i-g-g-ghtblood… T-t-hey’re… b-b-beautiful” was all Apus managed to stutter, mainly because he didn’t know what else to say to the new mother. His only other action was to give her a big, goofy smile...

------------

Will swam quickly to get there, battle icy water and strong currents. There, being the den… the one with the puppies. The truth was he hadn’t known which one that was, so he had traveled up and down the river to find it. As long as the trip might take, it would definitely be worth it… as long as he didn’t get eaten... The horrifying notion of being fed to hungry devil-puppies entered his for a fraction of a second, but then dispersed when the otter forced himself to think happy thoughts.

News had reached him through a series of friends (mainly small woodland creatures, like birds and squirrels). Some she-wolf had puppies or something, was what Will had been told. A wolf that looked like a dude… That sounded like NightBlood to him.

And that was how he had ended up at RavenShard’s den.

Now, he had no clue what to do, much like Apus. After their last encounter, which had ended in yelling and tears, their friendship seemed to be over. And since they had not seen each other since then, (probably because Will had left Arnlan’s territory) Nightblood might not want to talk to him... that caused more horrifying thoughts. Finally, after some indecision, Will had completed his plan of action. He scuttled under the big shaggy beast standing at the edge of her cave, and decided that he would stay there for a while, since the wolf didn’t seem to mind. Also, he knew that entering the cave could be conceived as a threat to the newborns whelps by their mother, even if Will was only an otter…

[Shantik]

Oh, how much pity NightBlood would need for her next visitor. Most certainly not someone she might like to see. The gray wolf, small in stature, paused about a quarter mile from the new mother, stopping in his tracks, blue intersecting lines across his pelt almost seming to move even as he'd halted. Like his namesake. Mirage.

Yes, yes, curse his soul to the pits of hell, but he caught her scent. And her pups. Alas. May life spare you some ridicule, Night.

Mirage whipped about, a spark of mischeif gleaming in his remaining midnight eye, a wicked grin splitting his lips as he sped off in her direction. It didn't take very long for him to get there, and he gave a dip of his head in greeting to Uin, whom he recognized, before sitting apart. "Oh, my dear NightBlood... looking a bit under the weather, there." He chuckled wickedly, flicking his tail in mass amusement. "You can fend off a full-grown angry bear, but pups can sap your energy this much?" Sigh... Mirage, you evil, evil excuse for a wolf...

[Blackfeathr]

Armageddon had a night of fitful and uncomfortable sleep, his languished body strewn across the root-cracked rocks of RavenShard's den.
He had spent the night outside of her den while NightBlood birthed the pups. He wouldn't leave her for a second, but he was sure that seeing all that blood and liquid would cause him to pass out. NightBlood was some kind of angel, going through that. He wouldn't wish he was a female for a thousand caribous killed for him.

The squealing of pups woke him up from unsettling dreams mottled with images of his father and Anek and Sallin. He got up, stretched, cracking his neck as well as all the other ligaments on his body. He slept on rocks, why would he expect anything else.

Stepping off of the rocks, he walked to the mouth of the den with a slight gimp. Others had joined the spectacle, two wolves he didn't know, and an otter. He groggily scrutinized the lot of them, then shifted his gaze to NightBlood and her suckling brood.
"...Night?" Armageddon all but whispered into the mouth of the den. He slowly padded down to the cold floor, treading carefully toward her.
Glancing from the pups to her with uncertainty, he flicked his tongue out to lick her cheek.
"Are you okay?"
He looked to the pups and smiled, fighting back the frown that was really there.
---

RavenShard was sprawled over several bushels of dried herbs in the back corner of her cave, snoring lightly. The high pitched squeals alerted her, and she scrambled up, blinking bemusedly at the light pouring in through the mouth of the den.
"Wha... who rearranged my duck collection!" She squawked as she looked confusedly at the suckling pups. Slowly the events began to come back to her in her half-asleep state. She had spent almost all night getting NightBlood through her labor, utilizing almost all of her crystal elixir stores to keep her as pain-free as possible. When all was said and done, she did the unhappy task of burying the stillborns in the back, taking back one who had some sort of death wish of being buried alive.
She frowned at her cave floor, tainted with browned blood and fragments of placenta. It'll take weeks for this to be cleaned up. But looking at the pups, a smile grew on her face. It was worth it. Helping birth Arnlans most powerful warriors that would most likely go down in history was a reward in itself.
What was she thinking? RavenShard was a monk, not a warmonger! She'd had her head in the Arnlanian clouds too long.

[nightblood]

"Morning"

"Mmmmph?" was the only response NightBlood could give. She blinked, attempting in vain to get used to the light streaming into the cave.

"They're adorable"

The Beta barely had the energy to figure out the best answer. So she questioned instead. "Thanks? Urg... my head." Blood raised her throbbing cranium and squinted at the figure at the mouth of the cave. "Hey, Uin."

A rustling sound announced the next arrival. This wolf, however, was unknown to NightBlood, though she relaxed as she caught his scent, heavy with the tell-tale Arnlanian smells.

“B-b-b-eta N-n-n-i-i-g-g-ghtblood… T-t-hey’re… b-b-beautiful.”

In her moody state, Night had to control her tongue to keep it from mocking this wolf's stutter. At least he knew who she was.

"Thank you...?"

If the wolf filled in the blank, she barely caught it. Her focus now shifted to a friend she hadn't seen since before her pregnancy. Her mood suddenly brightened, shown as her tail thumped on the ground weakly. She pulled her ears back and pulled her head forward, not sure what to say to the otter, but needing to rekindle their relationship just the same. Their last encounter was not so happy, as she had been torn between her own wants and her duty to her pack. Obviously, her choice now showed, but, in the end, she felt it would be worth it.

The next sound was not so pleasing.

"Oh, my dear NightBlood... looking a bit under the weather, there. You can fend off a full-grown angry bear, but pups can sap your energy this much?"

"I'd like to see you try it," she snarled at the gray-and-blue wolf.

Another claw pierced her flesh and the Beta let out a sharp yap, searching for the fluffy culprit, but unable to find it. Sighing, she let her gaze fall to the ground. The pain, she deduced, was certainly not going to end here.

"...Night?"

Then again...

"Are you okay?"

Her tail wagged a bit more furiously this time, but still with little energy. She returned his lick a few times before settling down.

"I'm okay. Just really, really tired."

"Wha... who rearranged my duck collection!"

The Beta could hardly suppress her laughter. After all that pain, it was exactly what she needed.