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 Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 9:08 pm
The screams had reached a crescendo and Omi had gone rigid, squeezing Kendall's hand so hard he thought he heard something pop in it. And then she'd fallen back (thankfully, still breathing).
There had been silence, for a second everything was still, and then a tiny wail rang up from beyond the barrier of blankets Omi's still-bent knees had created between her upper half and lower half.
It was over. There was a baby.
"Is it okay?" he asked when Raven didn't immediately say anything and moved to see for himself.
History, they said, had a way of repeating itself. Kendall might have found it funny to know that Youko, long long ago, had moved with the same gusto to see him and Raven on the day of their birth before they'd been cleaned up.
It was not the sight of the blood, however, that did him in as it was the blood AND the baby itself. He saw tiny gore-grimed tentacles and that was enough. What the ********> was the last thing to pass through his mind. The adrenaline, the panic, the pain, the surge of relief all collided head-on in his brain, creating an explosion so overwhelming that it knocked him momentarily out of consciousness.
And, also exactly as Youko had done, he sagged to the floor in a heap.
Like father, like son....
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Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:46 pm
Omi collapsed back against the bed, eyes closed as she felt her body start to NOT hurt for the first time in hours. She couldn't ever remember feeling like this before, just so absolutely exhausted and sore. "Baby?" she murmured, eyes flicking half open to stare at the wall... and at the heap of Kendall on the floor. What had happened to him?
"The baby's okay," Raven said in a rush from the end of the bed, grabbing one of the fluffy, unused towels. "I have to clean him up, okay? Just sit tight." Damn Kendall and his easy way out. She wanted to scream or something, but couldn't... she didn't want to upset Omi. This tore it though. The Fa'e were BY FAR the strangest things she'd ever encountered in Gaia, and that was saying a lot. In the back of her mind also was the innate knowledge that this would NEVER happen to her. Ever. She'd make sure of it.
"It's a little boy!" she announced, trying to keep Omi from seeing the baby just yet. Wrapping him up, she got the... the... legs? Tentacles? Whatever they were, they were IN the towel, and the baby seemed perfectly content to just leave it at that. A tiny wail came from him though, and after Raven got him cleaned up, she moved to hand him to Omi.
The Fa'e girl didn't hear anything else after that. Not Raven telling her that he seemed healthy... not Kendall groaning from where he'd collapsed. Her world narrowed down to the tiny creature in her arms that had come from her body. This was the tiny life that had been keeping her awake at night and had made it impossible to see her feet for the last months. Her had her markings... and that made her pause, looking at the pale skin-toned hand that was her own. She hadn't noticed when she had reached for him or toyed with one tiny hand. From the look of the colouring of the... fin? Fin, yes, that's what it was. On top of his head.... her wings were likely gone as well. He had Rune's skintone, somewhat. She idly wondered if he were somewhere right now and flipping out over having normal skin. It made her giggle.
Raven, for her part, was holding herself together, but stiffened when she heard that noise from Omi. Was that a good giggle? Was she happy with the baby? Or had she completely cracked from the strain?
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Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:55 pm
The world slowly reformed from the smear of colors and sounds it had become as Kendall collected himself off of the floor. The world he awoke to was, at least, much more agreeable than the one he'd momentarily left behind. No more pain and screaming.
As he hoisted himself up, using Omi's bedcovers for leverage to pull himself back onto the mattress, he allowed himself to watch Omi holding her baby (who was, thankfully, obscured by the towel he'd been wrapped in). Crushed hand, tentacles, or no, just for a second, watching the picture mother and child painted together made all of it worth it.
With the way he and Raven likewise seemed in disarray and exhaust, nearly as bad as Omi, one would think having the baby had been a three-way effort.
He felt himself give a chuff of laughter, moreso a reaction of nerves than of humor as he pulled his eyes away to Raven. "You all right...?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:07 pm
Raven sat on the floor, legs askew as her hands folded tightly in her lap. She nodded once, but didn't take her eyes off the bundle in her sister's arms. What the hell did you say at a moment like this? I'm great, Ken. My nephew is a squid.
"He's beautiful," Omi whispered, toying with that tiny hand. At that moment, the baby decided that the towel was not all that comfy and a single sucker-covered appeandage slid out to wind around Omi's wrist. She startled, then looked down and let her hand slide against the smooth skin. This hadn't been expected. Neither she nor Rune had anything like this... then again, she'd turned out almost Japanese in appearance while neither of her parents had anything of the sort. Maybe that's... just the way it was. Either way, she seemed to take it in stride much better than Raven or Kendall had, and turned her gaze back to the almost sleeping face. The baby let out a yawn then and Omi blinked. Teeth. He had teeth already.
It was a good thing her 'attributes' weren't really going to be good for breastfeeding or she'd be scared as hell. "He's going to need to eat," she murmured, looking to Raven and Kendall helplessly.
"I'll see if dad has anything left," Raven said quickly, getting to her feet and grabbing one of the discarded towels to try and clean herself up as she headed for the steps.
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Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:37 pm
Beautiful was not the first thing that came to Kendall's mind as the broken smile he'd been sporting slipped back into a look of extreme unease at the sight of the tentacle's re-emergence.
He had HOPED that had just been a final trick of his brain amidst the sea of other things going on. But....apparently not.
And then Raven was gone, leaving him alone with the unsettling scene.
"So....um...." he faltered, looking for something to say, his eyes locked on the tiny tentacle that clung to and caressed Omi's wrist. ".....was this Rune guy big into animes or something?"
UGHHHH he was not allowed to speak anymore. Ever. Especially not after freshly-waking.
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Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:51 pm
"Huh?" Omi blinked up at him in confusion, her brain not registering the question... or the innuendo. Normally, she likely would have been on top of it and replied with an equally scathing response. Now, however, she just turned her attention back to the squirming infant and shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe."
Raven was gone for perhaps five minutes total, then returned with a filled baby bottle. "Dad still had formula around, and it's no where near expired yet." She handed the bottle to Omi, then stepped back near Kendall. There was a particularly odd scent about her... almost reminiscent of the rum that Youko kept squirreled away in the upper cabinets of the kitchen.
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Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 3:13 pm
The fumes from the alcohol, light as they were, were enough of a distraction to drag his eyes away from Omi and the blooper she held to her lovingly and blink at his sister.
He didn't blame her. God NO he didn't blame her. With the way a copious amount of vodka had been able to shave the edge off of what had been a horrible night, it seemed like the most logical thing in the world after this particular incident. The look he gave her could have been construed for either a disapproving Have you been drinking? or an annoyed Where did he hide it and why aren't you sharing?
Somewhere in the distance, a siren whined.
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Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 3:30 pm
She didn't even look at him. Swallowing hard, she tried to think of something to say to Omi or to him, or to anyone at the moment, but came up blank. As the drone of the siren started to work her way into her consciousness, however, the sudden light of recognition flashed in her eyes and her ears pricked up. "Ambulance..." she breathed, relief flooding over her. Within a few minutes, this would no longer be her problem and she wouldn't have to worry about it. The professionals could figure out wtf had just happened and deal with it. "I'll go make sure they know where we are."
Bolting down the stairs two at a time, the foxcoon headed out onto the front lawn to flag down the rumbling ambulance as it FINALLY made its way up the street. Better late than never.
Omi was exhausted. It never occurred to her that this wasn't completely over... that there was more to childbirth than just 'here ya go, there's a baby'. She honestly didn't understand at first just what the paramedics would do now. The hard part was already over with.
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Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 3:35 pm
((Thank you to those who have been reading! May I proudly present... Levon.  Congrats Baniru! biggrin ))
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