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 Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 3:56 pm
 It was a gentle afternoon, with the sun just past its zenith, and gentle clouds dappling the expanse of the azure heavens above. Soft light cascaded down over the lands of the Kusini, washing everything in a gentle afternoon light. It was a peaceful day, with cubs playing in the grasses with one another or mates spending a lazy day curled up by the river. At least, most of the lands were peaceful, with one little exception - at the den of Syeira and Uumi, there was a bit a problem. Syeira, pregnant and due any day now, was doing typically what she was known for at a time like this.
With a little groan, Syeira rolled over on her side. The den was cool and shaded, the hard, packed earth beneath her chill to the touch, and the light didn’t make it any further than the mouth of the den – and she was still hot. She shut her eyes as she felt the cubs in her belly wiggle, a look of pure irritation plastered on her pretty face. To tell the truth, she was ready to these little things to be out of her stomach so that she could finally enjoy a good night of sleep without feeling completely and utterly shitty.
“Uumi,” she called rather suddenly, opening her eyes and dragging her bloated form to the edge of the den, “Uumi, what are you doing?” Her tone was one that demanded she be answered, and if he didn’t come along soon, he’d probably regret it terribly. She had a bad temper sometimes, and it wasn’t aided by the little squirming cubs in her belly.
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Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:12 am
"What is it that you need?" He tried to keep his tone even and caring, tried not to sound like he'd rather be waiting out of harms way. She must have been having a big litter... he wondered if she had acted this way when it had been just Taabu. He wondered how much longer he'd have to put up with this...
No. Try for her... really try. "Do you need me to get er... anything?" He was about to say another mother but that would imply that he wanted to leave and let the other mother handle Sye's birthing, whenever it was to happen. "More bedding, perhaps?" Actually going to get things would be grand... he could keep away from Sye's incredible temper while still performing good deeds for his beloved.
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Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:01 pm
She furrowed her brows slightly as she realized Uumi had been just on the outside of the den. Was he trying to stay away from her? She huffed slightly in her irritation, flickering her tail behind her rather violently. It wasn’t that she didn’t know she was being grouchy and moody, but it was that she particularly didn’t care a whole lot. He had gotten her pregnant and as far as she was concerned, he should share her pain. Of course, this was nothing compared to what would be coming soon, but at least then it would be over. Of course, then he’d just be grumpy that he had some more kids to deal with.
“No, I don’t want any more bedding,” she hissed in irritation, glaring up at him with those icy little eyes. “More bedding would just make it hotter in here, and it’s almost unbearable as it is,” she said with a small huff, glancing away from her lover. Of course, it really wasn’t all that hot. After a moment though, she glanced back up at him, “I would like some food though, if you think you can manage to bring me something small?” The way she said it, however, left very little room for question. She wanted food, and he’d better hop to it.
After everything was said and done, she’d appreciate all his effort much later. Right now, as far as she was concerned, he might as well just be a servant for her pleasure.
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Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 3:13 pm
He winced. He didn't think it was so hot in the den... but he was smart enough not to tell her that. Hunt? She wanted him to hunt! She knew what a terrible...
He let the thought float off. Maybe someone near by head food? Oh he was such a b*****d, not even willing to make the effort in getting her fresh caught food. He supposed he should though.. "Yes of course." He said with a bit of a sneer in his voice that he couldn't help. Ah, Uumi didn't like the tables being turned, did he? Did not like that Syeira was being the grouchy, mean one! He could not handle that. "Right away." He said, this time more caring, praying she hadn't registered his tone before.
"I'll go now." And he turned to leave, as quick as he could. With his luck she'd go into labor while he was gone and blame it on him when he got back and be super pissed he hadn't been there the moment it started!
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 1:40 pm
Oh, that all too grouchy tone in Uumi’s voice was hardly covered up, at least for the one female in the world that knew him well enough to probably hear it in her sleep. Regardless, she knew deep down, in the pit of her conscience, that Uumi was doing very well to be behaving so properly. She had been like this for days, and had been grumpy even longer, and she was aware of what type of toll that put on someone. For someone like Uumi, she was surprised he hadn’t high-tailed it back to the pridelands yet. She’d give him a little credit, at least in her head, she wasn’t about to praise him while she was yelling at him too.
“Good,” she muttered, curling up grumpily on the bedding she had already had him fix and rearrange multiple times. She needed some sleep, and the promise of food when she woke up was enough to send her into a few good dreams. At least, they were good dreams when they started. By the end of them, she was having a stabbing pain in her gut - a pain that didn’t go away when she finally woke up from her happy slumber.
“Great,” she whined quietly, flopping slowly onto her side. It had only been an hour or so, but Uumi was still gone getting food, and she was starting to go into labor. Where was he when she needed him? Damn it.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 1:44 pm
Uumi was having the most terrible time trying to catch anything. Mainly he had gone for rabbits... but god he had nothing and he feared for his life if he came back empty pawed. Finally he had ran into some of the huntresses of the pride and had gotten a share after explaining about his mate. It was easy to tell it was nothing he'd caught but he hoped Sye wouldn't care.
After a long time of moving back he slipped into the den, dragging the bloody leg with him. "Here." He grunted, setting it down and wheezing as he tried to catch his breath.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 1:55 pm
Syeira slowly opened her eyes as she heard the familiar dragging sound of a carcass – well, she knew Uumi hadn’t taken that down himself, but she supposed that at least bringing it to her counted for something. However, her hard breathing and unpleasant face were enough to say that she didn’t particularly care much about eating anything at the moment. She had sent him on a rather needless run, now, but she hardly cared. With the pain coursing through her tired body, she couldn’t have cared if he’d had to do it three times over. This was his fault, alright.
“Good, I was beginning to think that you were going to miss this,” she said quietly, in between little pants of air. She frowned and shut her eyes, bracing herself against a rather unpleasant surge of pain. At least, in this condition, she didn’t have the energy or the time to yell at him for anything – even though she wanted to more than ever.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:00 pm
He stared at her, mouth slightly open and he supressed the snarl that wanted to crawl there. Well. He shouldn't be expecting a thank you anyways... and god now he felt like puking. He'd watched this once and he didn't like watching Sye give birth... though if he remembered correctly it had been the most amazing thing he'd ever seen before.
He slipped forward and paced slightly, bouncing from one paw to the other as he stood 'still'. "What can I do?" He asked anxiously.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:06 pm
She frowned up at him as she heard his words, opening her eyes against slowly. “You can stop fidgeting for one,” she said grumpily, laying her head calmly on her paws as she began waiting out this easy pre-birth section of the delivery. She sighed softly as yet another contraction began to overwhelm her, tensing up and trying her hardest not to succumb to the yells that were building up in her throat. She liked to give birth peacefully, and yelling just wasn’t going to cut it. She didn’t feel like having a dozen lions run to the den to see what was the matter.
“Actually,” she said after a minute, flickering her tail behind her in an attempt to give herself something to do, “will you sit down with me?” It was a rather random request, a very sudden mood chance from her previous grumpiness and bad moods. She was feeling bad, and she wanted him to sit down and comfort her, no matter if birthings made him want to be sick or not.
As another contraction wracked her body, she tensed up and clenched her teeth until it subsided. Well, she knew enough to know that they’d be coming any minute now. Life was about to change, again.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:17 pm
He stiffened and frowned. Had she ever thought that maybe she wasn't the only one feeling the effects of birth... even if she carried the bigger burden? He had half the mind to go sit far away from her... near the entrance.
But then the random request came and he voice was kinder and Uumi sighed, he hated Sye so moody. It was tiring. "Yes." He said simply, sitting down and trying not to stare at her too much. He winced as the contraction came and his body eased as hers did. "A big litter?" He asked slowly, hoping the answer would be 'no' but for some reason he didn't think so. She was about the same size she was last time...
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:45 pm
She frowned and shifted her head to snuggle it up closer to his body, trying to push the pain out of her mind. Sadly, that didn’t work very well at all, and she still ended up clenching her teeth and digging her claws into the dirt floor of their rather spacious den. It was all she could do to answer his question, forcing her eyes open though not having the effort to make them look up at him. “I think it’s probably not as big as last time,” she said quietly through panting breaths, “but it’s still pretty large.” Well, that was sort of answering his question, but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly how many she was having.
As soon as she had gotten the words out of her mouth, however, she squeezed her eyes shut more tightly and dug her claws deeply into the floor of the cave. Her jaws clenched so tightly that she was sure that her teeth were going to break, but regardless, she still had enough of her mind functioning to realize that the first cub was about to make an appearance into the world.
After a little pushing, and a lot of small, breathy grunts, a beautiful little girl lay curled against the ground, subject to Syeira’s immediate cleaning. She was dark, with the an almost black base coat like Syeira’s late mother, Ari, and a darker stripe that Syeira believed directly originated from Uumi. Beside her shut little eyes were splashes of Uumi’s red, done in a combination of her parent’s eyes marks.
“That’s one,” she said quietly, shutting her eyes again as she braced herself against the next batch of pain, “one beautiful little girl.” She smiled weakly, proud of that first tiny form, but in too much pain to do much else other than pull her against her side and let her find her way to suckling.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:51 pm
His breathing deepened and his eyes were wide, staring at Syeira. He watched as the little sac of life came into view and as Syeira cleaned their first little girl. That made five little girls... didn't it? He was thinking about it in his head, pressing his body close to Sye and not saying anything. He couldn't offer much and he knew this was all he could do.
The little girl seemed less like a mix of he and Sye and more like a mixture of... 'past' colors. He could see her mother in the little girl.. and the red that struck out so vibrantly. "Yes." He choked out, watching. He was always terrified of the small newborns, he was so afraid he'd hurt them.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:11 pm
Syeira, honestly, didn’t have time to think about how many girls or boys they already had. Her mind was doing good just functioning at the moment – any sort of calculations, no matter how small, would be beyond her. However, if she had been in her right mind, she would have given Uumi a good knock about for his current thoughts. The beautiful little girl at her side made five girls, not four. It was just like Uumi to forget how many children he had, wasn’t it?
She hissed softly under her breath as her claws shot out once again to dig into the earth, though she tried to keep more still so as not to upset the little girl beside her. After a few moments and another strain of panting breaths, a second little girl lay curled up beside Syeira, who cleaned her just as adamantly as she had the first. This second little girl had very few traits of her father in her, but was more or less the perfect Kusini colored cub. With the darker, rich brown of Syeira’s father Asi as a base coat and a rich tone similar to Syeira’s own blonde, she looked more like Syeira’s family than any of the other children had. The dotted eyes that she shared with the current king only added to the affect.
“Another beautiful little girl,” she whispered as she pulled her closer to her side.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:16 pm
Uumi blinked. Another girl. Sye was good at making girls. Well actually... he was good at making girls. "She looks like Tamu." He said before he could help himself and then frowned. He hoped she didn't turn out like Tamu... or his own son. His poor children... he's glad Sye didn't ever get that Kusini psycho gene. What a bad father and mate he was, thinking these thoughts! At least he was learning not to say them any longer though.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:39 pm
It was very good that Uumi had learned not to say those ridiculous and often mean thoughts of his out loud, especially with Syeira in her current condition. It was very likely that he would have earned himself a good, hard smack with her in such a temper, and every ounce of the pain she was dealing with would have gone into it. Then that would have upset her mewling cubs and made her contractions worse, and she would have been in an even worse mood. It was a good thing that Uumi was learning, if very slowly.
“She does,” she said quietly, smiling weakly through bleary eyes as she chanced another look at the two little girls curled up next to her heaving frame. Well, with all of them counted so far, that put them up to nine and there were still more to come. Somehow, she found it rather ironic that Uumi had wanted a very small family but somehow managed to end up with a very big one.
She frowned and squeezed her eyes shut tightly again, burying her head against Uumi’s soft underbelly as she attempted to block out the pain that was sweeping over her already tired body once more. However, after a few more minutes of this odd new stance, she had shifted to commence cleaning a third little girl. Her base coat was the pretty cream of Syeira, though a slightly different shade, but she was marked by the bright red of her father on her legs and face.
“Three little girls,” she said with a small laugh, though it was fairly weak. She tucked the tiny form against her side with a paw, letting the babe gather warmth and milk with her sisters. Her eyes turned wearily back onto her mate, head tilting slowly, “I think.. maybe only a couple more.” At least, she hoped so – she was already tired beyond reason.
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