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 Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 10:12 pm
"Well, they have to come from somewhere...you can't make something out of nothing." With a shrug, Dafina gnawed at one of the thinner rib bones, jaws searching for a weak spot to crack for the marrow. She wasn't so sure it would be 'fixed' so easily, but it couldn't hurt--and bones were nice to chew on.
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Some time later, several questions were answered. Why Dafina's stomach was bulging, where eggs came from, and how many curses a mare could fling at a stallion during the process of labor. Coat slicked with sweat and ribs still rising and falling rapidly with the effort, the lioness mare curled protectively around a pair of still-soft eggs. Smaller than most and new to giving birth, her labor had taken many long, difficult hours, and she wanted a meal and a nap. Eyes glancing towards where she'd last seen Myrrith, she nodded slightly. "They're here."
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Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 10:38 pm
One slightly quivering muzzle was followed by two round emerald eyes as the buck poked his nose out from behind a tree. The screaming and cursing had stopped, so that was probably a good sign.... if Dafina hadn't managed to scare the fur off every prey animal for leagues with her expletives, he'd eat his own antlers. Sober faced, he edged out from behind the trunk and minced on golden hooves towards the mare, nostrils flared.
The past day had been rather too educational for his liking, though he imagined it had been even less enjoyable for .... the thought didn't even sit right in his mind, not yet. Mate? Is this how he himself and his sibling had happened, unplanned, unexpected?
They? Oh.. the eggs, of course. Myrrith approached Dafina and the two ovoids with trepidation. They looked both too small to hold a Kirin and at the same time, far too large to have been produced by such a petite mare. He sniffed; they smelt strange too, not like anything else he could remember.
"Now ... what do we do?" With a slight shake of his head, the buck cast a glance around at the terrain. For better or worse, this was likely to be their home for some time now.
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 12:26 am
A pang of guilt struck Dafina as she saw Myrrith peer out from behind the tree almost timidly, and her ears flattened against her head in remorse. She hadn't meant any of the vile things she'd said, but she'd been vicious with her words in her labor-induced pains. With a soft snort, she bumped his nose with her muzzle in silent apology. "We wait for them to hatch. They can't stay this way forever." Glancing back at the eggs, a sense of awe washed over her. They had created these...these eggs, that would hatch and become kirin. In a way, it was a difficult concept to fully imagine.
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 1:24 am
With a soft snort of agreement, Myrrith gently licked one of Dafina's ears and tried to look like he knew what he was doing. Failing miserably of course, but it was better than staring dumbly at the two shiny eggs nestled against the mare's flank.
"Are... they going to hatch soon? Should I watch them?" Myrrith looked as though he was seriously considering getting down on his knees to watch the eggs at ground level. The fact that there was something, hopefully, alive inside those eggs hadn't even sunk in yet. "Do you have to feed them? What if they get wet?" Questions unanswered buzzed about in the buck's mind, a hundred things he hadn't even thought of yesterday now seemed terribly important to know.
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 11:01 am
"I don't know." It was a difficult admission to make for Dafina, as proud as she was. She knew that she didn't know everything, but telling another this? It was like pulling scales. At least...Myrrith was trusted, moreso than most. "But...I know we're not leaving them alone. It's not safe." Especially for us, her mind finished. Others didn't always make the distinction between Pryrin and Kirkani--especially when the line grew blurred.
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 11:41 pm
That put Myrrith right on his rump, quite literally. The buck blinked in confusion, looking between Dafina and the two eggs. Dafina.... not know? Dafina knew almost everything worth knowing! Wasn't she the mastermind huntress? He nibbled his lip nervously; world turned upside-down, grass pulled from under his hooves all in the space of a day.
Stay together. He nodded, that was always a good plan when uncertainty struck. A quick glance around assessed their situation. It wasn't a very remarkable stretch of forest, the usual large trees, dense canopy of branches overhead, and plenty of underbrush. It would have to serve.
At least they weren't far from a good stream, fish and water wouldn't be a problem. As for other game, well, only time would tell what was around and dumb or unlucky enough to be eaten. With a mental snap Myrrith blinked and rose. "I'm going to go see if anything's still living nearby, if we're staying here, best to know the terrain." That had been one of Dafina's first lessons; know your terrain, and you have the home advantage. Chasing things down at random led to broken bones or worse when you eventually stumbled into a hidden ditch or off a cliff.
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Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2009 9:00 pm
Waiting silently as Myrrith sorted himself out, Dafina's tail curled around the pair of eggs. The maternal feelings were strange and unusual to her, making her want to do little else but guard her clutch fiercely. "Yes," she responded, nodding her agreement after he spoke. It was a good idea--it would make for safer hunts, and if anyone had been drawn to her loud...vocalizations...they would be forewarned. "Let me know if there are...others nearby?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:54 pm
"I will." Myrrith trotted back to where the forest thinned a bit, taking off under trees was possible but generally very rough on one's feathers, and he had no wish to damage his wings in a non-emergency situation. With a bunching of his hind legs and a leap, the buck took wing, flying over the immediate area in an expanding spiral.
This stretch of forest looked much like any other. There were mountains, barely discernible, in the distance, wrapped in dark banks of foreboding clouds. Sunwards, there was more forest, and the other side, the distant beach and ocean. The river glittered like a ribbon below, winding its meandering way through the forest.
He glided downwards, spying motion in one of the moss covered trees. Avians... brown fluffy things with dark wings, long necks and curved beaks. They squacked at Myrrith, beaks gaping wide as he circled the nest. Pfft. All feathers, no meat. Hardly worth bothering with. He drifted down further, hooves barely clearing the treetops. There was little to see up here of any significance, so the buck landed and continued his spiraling patrol on hoof.
The signs of animals were myriad and many. Long leg paths ran through the glades to and from the river, while smaller animals left their traces in the moist earth. Myrrith marked off all the places he scented anything bigger than a Keshi with his own scent, establishing a ring of territory around Dafina's chosen nesting site. As he had suspected, there were no fresh traces more than half a day old, and no sign at all of other Kirin. With a soft snort he trotted back towards the nest. Whatever hunting would be done, would have to be outside their temporary home.
Myrrith nickered a greeting as he approached Dafina, possessiveness written in every line of her body. "There's not much to see," the golden coated buck shook his head. "Only sizable creature I saw was a stringy looking avian. Everything else is either hiding or gone." His stomach rumbled, reminding him he hadn't eaten anything since the day before, neither had the mare.
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Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:13 pm
"Then we can rest." Closing her eyes, Dafina let the ghost of a smile slip onto her features. Perhaps they wouldn't feast on red meat this day, but there was always fish--something that Myrrith was better at catching than the lioness mare was. A basket of antlers was more effective than a spear of horn, in the river. With enough of a meal to take the edge off of their hunger, they'd be able to sleep well enough.
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Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:02 am
Myrrith nodded, stealing a glance at the two eggs again. Did one move? No, it was probably his imagination, or wishful thinking. Dafina didn't look like she was about to go anywhere, and it seemed safe enough to leave for a while. "I'm going to go see what I can catch in the river, shouldn't be gone long."
The buck turned tailwards and loped down a forest trail, his ears and nose guiding him towards the stream. With any luck, he'd have some nice fat fish for both of them to eat before the sun sank beneath the horizon.
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