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 Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 4:55 am
It was Muscar who first noticed Gliri going into labor. He was the one who noticed her contractions beginning, and somehow differentiated between them and the spasms of pain that came from her illness. It was the regularity, he thought, which had made them seem somehow different, though in later days he would not be able to say for certain if that was really it.
When they had been cubs sometimes they had been known to share feelings in brief flashes, but it had only happened on rare occasions. Most of the time their minds and their feelings were separate things, and although they had a great deal of sympathy and empathy for each other, they had long since agreed there was nothing supernatural about it. It was simply the logical result of spending so much time in each other's company.
However, the thought did cross Muscar's mind in later days that he might, perhaps, have sensed it in some other way. Because he definitely wasn't counting between her moans. He was too distracted being concerned for her. So perhaps it had been something else. If that was the case, it didn't bear thinking about. Muscar could only take so much strangeness in his life, and he was young yet. His threshold for strange was limited more than it might be if he'd been an older lion.
Whatever happened, it was Muscardini who first realized that his fever-ridden sister was going into labor and helped her back to their den in hopes that she could give birth in peace and safety. At least, as much peace and safety as could be assured, given the dangerous nature of having cubs.
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Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 8:06 am
Gliri was not in much of a condition to distinguish between the different types of pain and discomfort she felt. Most of the time, it seemed, she was just being burned alive. In her lucid moments she remembered Muscar telling her that was just the fever, and that he wouldn't let her be burned alive. She thought that might be part of the reason she spent so much time being wet.
Being in the water made it a little easier on her, though when her fur was sodden she felt too weighted down to move. It didn't come as much of a surprise, therefore, when her brother maneuvered her onto his back with practiced motions and half-dragged, half-carried her back to their den. She moaned a little as she was taken away from the cooling pool, but she didn't struggle. Her limbs were too wet for that, though she imagined she was giving off steam as her super-heated body caused the water to evaporate.
Back in the den, Gliri slumped to the ground and gradually became aware of shooting pains in her abdomen that she at first mistook for hunger pangs. Trapped in her own mind and plagued by delusions much of the time, Gliri still was able to note, if not remark upon, the oddness of feeling hunger. She hadn't felt hungry in ages it seemed. A part of her also knew it was not good for her cubs if she didn't eat, but that was when she was able to remember that she was pregnant. It couldn't be hunger, the small, sane portion of her brain decided. It wasn't in her belly anyway, but more toward her spine.
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Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 8:12 am
Muscar's heart ached for his sister, his gut wrenching when she moaned. He knew there was nothing he could do for her but what he was doing, and that was little enough. The prospect of being the only one who was fully 'there' for the duration of this birth frightened him. He knew nothing about assisting in a birth, and he was desperately afraid someone or several someones would end up dead as a result of his ignorance and inexperience.
"Gliri," he whispered, trying to shift her gently into what he hoped was a more comfortable position. "I need you here with me. You have to wake up and be yourself for just a little bit. Please!"
It seemed like it had been so long since he'd had his sister with him the way he was used to her being. She'd been ill almost since the beginning of the pregnancy, and her illness had taken its toll. Looking at her, she was barely larger than an adolescent lioness would be anyway, and that was made smaller by the way her skin clung to her bones without any sort of insulating fat. She had burned off nearly all of that in her fevers, in spite of his best efforts to keep her fed.
Muscardini knew he was failing her, and he couldn't help it. He couldn't help her. He bent over her and licked her cheek affectionately, pulling his emotions sharply under his control once more. If he was going to be the only one who could think clearly, then he had to think clearly. He would not let this birth kill his twin. He'd rather die, himself.
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Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 8:28 am
Muscar's voice penetrated the haze in which Gliri had existed for some time. She could tell that he was speaking to her and that he was upset. He always sounded upset. Or tired. Not that she blamed him. She was making him do so much work and worrying, it's a wonder they were both still making it through. He had to hunt for her and bring her to water and protect her and put up with her. He'd probably been suffering with pregnancy as much as she was, though in different ways, perhaps. Her thoughts wandered.
Unaware that she was doing it, Gliri dropped her jaw and let the tip of her tongue protrude over her bottom incisors. At once she began to pant, trying desperately to cool herself without the aid of the pool. Although she didn't realize it, her altered breathing would probably come in useful in the labor process, too, though she knew little enough about that. She was losing her connection to the real world rapidly.
Even though her grip on consciousness was tenuous, Gliri could feel her brother's barbed tongue rasp over her cheek and she rolled her head toward him. She didn't think she could take care of herself in this situation, and so he would have to do it. He always took care of her. He would take care of everything. That was good. She hurt so much, and she was so hot.
"Butterflies," she wheezed, and then shook her head in frustration.
"No paws. Tails quickly hoof sun. Antelopes racing pool trees." She had no idea what she was saying, or that what she was saying would not make any sense to anyone listening. As far as she was concerned, she was trying to tell Muscar that she loved him and needed him and that she was very, very thirsty.
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Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 7:54 am
Muscar could feel the heat radiating off his sister's body and wondered if maybe he had made a mistake in taking her away from the pool. Obviously she couldn't give birth in the water, but it definitely would have been easier to keep her cool and hydrated if they'd remained where they were. That was a problem Muscar had no idea how to address. On one paw, it seemed like there was no time to bring Gliri back to the pool, but on the other hand the fact that she was panting was definitely not a good sign.
He hoped, briefly, that when Gliri began to speak she would offer him some sort of assurance that she was there and that they'd get through this ordeal together. That hope was quickly destroyed as his sister began to spew nonsense with no sign of realizing how little sense she made. He couldn't make heads or tails of her words, which appeared to be totally random without regard for grammar or anything like that. More than anything which had happened so far, this unnerved Muscar. She'd been delirious before, but never like this.
"Gliri, don't do this to me," he said. This time he wasn't begging, he was just speaking. Begging would take him too close to panic, and he knew that he couldn't afford to panic now. His sister needed him. Her cubs would need him, too, come to think of it. It amazed him that he had barely spared a thought for the end result of all this, but he didn't think too much on it, given the immediacy of his current predicament.
"I think there's something you're supposed to do with breathing that's supposed to help," he told Gliri, hoping some of it got through.
"And I know you're supposed to push. I haven't the faintest idea what you're supposed to push with, but I know there's pushing involved, so get to it." A bleak attempt at humor.
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Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 8:05 am
Although her brother may have doubted it, there was a part of Gliri which could hear him speaking. Comprehension was a little beyond her at the moment, but just hearing his voice was soothing, and the fact that he didn't sound afraid or worried anymore made helped. She knew there was much to be worried about, though she couldn't pin any one reason down.
"Undue messages clubbed past right starting," she babbled, panting between words.
Gliri's speech didn't last long, as she cut herself off with a shriek of pain when her innards contracted with a vengeance. It felt like the cubs inside her were trying to explode out of her. One word from Muscar's one-sided conversation made its way into her subconsciousness and she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. Then, with her claws flexing in and out and her head hanging limply, she pushed.
Nothing happened except that she hurt more. Even from her distant mental status she could make the connection between pushing and an increase in pain. It didn't give her much incentive to continue with the exercise, except maybe her body was trying to trick her. Or maybe it was her mind trying to trick her. She was definitely being tormented, however, and the only party she knew she could trust beyond a shadow of a doubt was her brother, and her brother said she had to push.
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Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 8:11 am
"That's it!" Muscar exclaimed, watching Gliri's diminished muscles moving along her sides and flanks as she pushed. It would seem that she knew unconsciously how and where to push, which was good, because Muscar truly hadn't a clue.
"You can do this, Gliri. Look how smart you are. You knew just what to do," he said.
It was difficult to make himself keep speaking against the background of her agonized cries, which alternated between shrieks, moans, whimpers, and even grunts. All of them rent his heart horribly. He hated to see and hear how his sister was suffering, and if there had been any way to exchange their positions, he would have. Even if it would have required him to somehow give birth from his male body, which he had no doubt would be a fatal activity.
As he continued to talk, not always making a great deal of sense himself, Muscar happened to notice that something was, indeed, coming out. He was reluctant to invade his sister's privacy by looking, but he couldn't afford to be squeamish now. He was the only one who could help. So he looked, and what he saw frightened him. There was blood. A lot of very dark blood, which looked to his hunter's eye like the kind which came from damaged organs.
"Gliri," he gasped, interrupting himself. He didn't know what to do. "Take it easy. Relax. You don't have to work so hard."
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Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 8:25 am
Hyenas! It had to be hyenas! Gliri's eyes grew wide with both fear and pain when she realized what was causing her pain. The pain in her abdomen came from the crushing weight of a pack of hyenas piled on top of her and tearing at her with their claws and teeth. Their jaws could snap the strongest bones, and she knew that if any of them managed to get a proper grip on her spine she would lose the use of anything beyond that point.
She struggled to throw them off, sobbing in ragged breaths. When she could gather enough air to do it, she cried out for her brother. Her own voice came back to her as the eerie laughter of the hyenas attacking her. How had they found her? Muscar had been right there with her a few moments ago. Something must have happened to him. Gods! The hyenas must have killed him first, or wounded him so gravely he couldn't get to her. There was no way he would have allowed hyenas to get to her otherwise.
"Muscar!" she wept. "Muscar!"
And then she smelled blood and she knew. But then she didn't know. Was that her blood or Muscar's? Or maybe both. They were both going to die, unless they were already dead. But she couldn't be dead, because she hurt entirely too much and she didn't think she'd done anything evil enough so far in life to deserve to be tortured in death. Unless leading an uneventful life was something which warranted posthumous torment. That was an unpleasant thought.
"Muscar?" she called, not really expecting a response. If he didn't respond, she resolved to give up her struggle and just let them kill her or tear her apart, or whatever was going on.
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Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 4:18 pm
Muscar closed his eyes momentarily against the sight before him. He didn't want to see his sister bleeding out with no sign of producing any cubs. It would break his heart. But the thing was, even though his eyes were closed he couldn't pretend nothing was happening. He could hear her tortured cries and smell her blood and fear. The fact that she was afraid was what spurred him to open his eyes and continue his reassurances that he was there, even though he was now positive she didn't hear him.
"Gliri, I'm here. I'm doing what I can. I won't let anything happen to you." That last part was more or less a blatant lie, but there was no way on this earth or any other that he would tell his sister he felt completely helpless and that she was in the paws of the gods. That wouldn't reassure her. It didn't reassure him.
What would reassure him would be if she would seem to recognize her surroundings again, or respond to his words. Better still, if the bleeding would lessen he would be reassured. Or if something would happen. Some proof that this difficult pregnancy and this horrific birth would not be fruitless.
As if his thoughts held power, something did happen. Something which might have been a cub began to emerge from beneath Gliri's tail. Muscar wasn't sure if there was anything he could do to help at this point, and so he just stayed with his sister, licking her face and murmuring reassurances as she labored.
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 2:05 pm
Gliri's sides heaved and her insides ached and everything was red and smelled of blood. Bad things were going to happen, she just knew it. And it might not be hyenas. Maybe there was something worse out there. Something she'd never before encountered, but was now coming for her. A combination of those enormous snakes which crushed their victims and those flies which laid eggs inside people which hatched into maggots that ate their way out and...she shrieked with fear and pain at the thought. Her body convulsed.
She screwed her courage to the sticking point and looked over her shoulder. There, beside her tail, was a pair of the larvae. They were far larger than she'd expected them to be, and she wasn't sure whether she ought to be grateful there were only two or terrified that so few of them could do so much damage. They were covered in blood and something else. Weakly, she tried to squirm away from the little monsters.
"Don't let them get to me," she begged, though she wasn't sure who she was asking to protect her. She was positive her brother must be dead by now. "They'll burrow inside and eat the cubs."
It didn't cross her mind that perhaps those might be her cubs back there. As far as she was concerned, they were all at risk and it was her job to protect them. It was only fear for her cubs and a certainty that her brother was dead that lent her the strength to climb to her feet and stagger away. She wasn't moving fast enough, but it was all she could manage just to take a few shaky steps. A few more steps and she collapsed again with a despairing moan.
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 2:28 pm
For several moments Muscar was transfixed by the sight of two wriggling cubs. He even smiled.
"Look at them, Gliri. They're beautiful." Or they would be. They were covered in blood and other fluids he couldn't identify, which he assumed was normal for newborns, but neither seemed to have anything wrong with them.
She did turn to look at the pair of cubs, which initially gave him hope that she might be returning to the realm of the sane, but then she seemed to panic upon seeing them, which dashed those hopes pretty thoroughly on the rocks of reality. He cast a brief look at the cubs, whose sexes were still mysteries to him, and went to impede his sister's abortive attempt to flee.
"Hey, Gliri, stay here. Look at your cubs," he urged, looking back at them once more.
He managed to turn her about and redirect her before trotting back to the cubs and giving them a few hard licks, which almost immediately started them making noise. Apparently they'd only been silent because they couldn't get air into their lungs while covered in the goop. It didn't taste much good, but he finished licking them while Gliri expelled the afterbirth in a rush.
"Gliri," he said. "Please."
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 3:03 pm
Even though she couldn't propel herself any further, being made to turn and look at the squirming masses on the ground before her was enough to send Gliri into a stationary panic. She whimpered and wept and closed her eyes against the sight of the grubs which she was certain meant her death. She quite firmly did not wish to go any closer to them.
When she sneaked a look from beneath eyelids that she opened barely a slit and recognized Muscar's form approaching the two monsters she uttered a strangled cry, trying to warn him away. It was with a sense of both horror and wonder that she watched him lick them tenderly and somehow turn them from horrific creatures into tiny cubs.
Cubs. Were those her cubs? Had she had cubs? How had she missed that? Having cubs was supposed to be a fairly memorable experience. She was certain she'd heard that. Her expression became one of bemusement and she looked at the trio with a slight frown. It didn't last very long, at any rate, because her pain and weariness and blood loss soon overcame her and the fever returned.
"Water?" she asked, wishing she could conjure up some response to the cubs. Maybe being near them would be enough, but she couldn't even drag herself toward them any more.
"Please water."
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Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 7:33 am
Muscar thought briefly that Gliri saw the cubs for what they were, instead of whatever she'd thought they were when she was attempting to flee from them, but then she returned to panting and asked for water. Her thoughts, he could only assume, were not on the cubs. One had a dark coat with a paler underbelly and the other was uniformly grey. They would be a fine-looking pair when they grew up, he thought.
He stepped away from them and went to her side. Even without touching her, he could feel the heat radiating from her body. The fever which gripped her still hadn't broken, and the birth had only weakened her. He needed to feed her and get her to water.
"Water," he agreed.
The cubs...were probably hungry, but his sister was so weak he couldn't believe she'd be able to nurse them without doing serious harm to herself. And that was assuming she would even permit them to nurse. He wasn't sure she even recognized them as her cubs. He wondered if she even knew she'd given birth, or if she would remember any of this.
As he pondered that possibility, something occurred to him which simultaneously made him feel like an ogre but struck him as being the only sensible way to proceed. Gliri couldn't handle cubs. She was too sick and weak. It would take all of her energy to keep herself alive, and the cubs' needs could only drain her much-depleted reserves further. The only thing to do was to remove the cubs, find them a new home.
He couldn't set out immediately. Gliri would need help and care while she recovered. Of course, the cubs would have to stay for a few days, or else they would be too weak to survive, but if it came to a choice between his sister and her children, he would choose to preserve Gliri's life over theirs. He would have to decide what to tell Gliri when the time came, he decided, looking over the sandy ground to the north. He was reasonably sure there was a pride in that direction.
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