Lately, Seven had seemed a bit odd. Her appetite had increase, but grown more erratic. She had gone through several bouts of extreme moodiness, and she had slept decidedly more in the last few days. The oddities had been enough to keep Devin from putting her back into the ring, and now, staring down at the three tiny, completely unexpected balls of fur squirming in the stall bedding, he was glad it had. It all made sense now.
He stood, speechless at the stall door, unable even to open it while Seven watched him expectantly from within. She had hidden the pregnancy well, barely showing any signs of the impending surprise until she had actually birthed them overnight in the stall. Devin could only stare.
At length, he let himself into the stall and knelt down in the bedding. Seven promptly rose and, abandoning her new puppies in the center, padded over to greet him. "Well, you've really done it now, haven't you, girl?" He murmured as his hand caressed her head. The Mokai's tail wagged happily as she tilted her head to tickle his hand with her ears. "Where in the world did you get these from?"
He wondered if they had been sired by another fighter. That seemed the most likely, although how, he still couldn't guess. Seemingly having remembered her pups, Seven made her way back into the middle and nosed one over to him. It was an earthy brown-gray in color and the largest of the lot. Devin assumed it was the first-born.
"Number Eight," Seven told him, even though she knew he wouldn't understand. Undeterred, she nudged the darkest cub over, and then the orange one. "Nine, ten." And she looked up at him curiously, as if to say, "Look what I found!"
For indeed, the russet female had little understanding of reproduction and births and pregnancies. All she knew was that the little buggers had come out, and were now taking up valuable stall space. Not that she minded. Instinct told her that she was supposed to care for the little creatures, so she would - for as long as was necessary. Then, who knew. Once they stopped really needing her, she would stop needing them and move on with her life as if nothing had happened.
Devin shifted to regard the puppies closer, taking in their gray and brown tones and wondering whose Mokai could possibly be the father. He reached out to pick them up gently, grip tender against their wriggling bodies. Bringing them close, he cuddled them to his chest, smiling as their baby fur tickled his chin. "I guess this was bound to happen at one point or another, hm?" He said, glancing over at Seven, who had settled down in the bedding and was leaning against him adoringly. "We'll raise these puppies right." He added, making a promise both to himself and to Seven.
Setting the pups back down into the bedding, he watched as they nestled down together, looking for warmth. They were such precious little lives, so pure and unspoiled by the world of greed around them. And yet, soon, too soon, they would become embroiled in it.
If only they could stay. If only he could keep them safe and offer them a haven from which they could be shielded from the world. But he couldn't. He just didn't have the means to raise and house three more Mokai on the income of Seven alone. "You know they'll have to go, once they're old enough, right?" He said aloud, stroking the fighter while she craned her head to catch his words. "I can't afford to keep them all here."
Not that Seven really cared. There wasn't much of an emotional connection between her and the pups, just an instinctive one that told her she had to take care of them, at least for the next nine or ten weeks. After that, she almost expected them to go.
Devin was, of course, another matter. He seemed to be much more readily attached to creatures than Seven deemed healthy. Of course, he wasn't the one consistently fighting in the ring, so maybe it just mattered less that he formed bonds.
He reached out to pet the puppies again, reveling at the softness of their baby fur. "Which means that... I shouldn't really name them, I guess," he said wistfully. Not that not naming had done him any good the last time around. Seven had exactly been named, and she had stayed behind. But that was... different, he supposed.
He glanced over at the new mother. Far from being wary of his touching her newborn pups, she had fallen into a light snooze with her head turned toward the wall. Devin smiled, amused. He had never thought Seven would make a motivational mother.
"But we'll at least give them something to refer to by." Seven had known he would relent. Still, references weren't names, and if only he could understand her, then he would have realized that she'd already given them nicknames. Silly Devin.
"This one, then," he said, reaching for the largest pup. She had Seven's markings all over, but the colors must have come from the father, whoever he was. "The oldest, right? So she'll be mommy's little Princess." Seven gave him an odd look. Princess? She doubted it.
Oblivious to the Mokai's expression, Devin reached for the next pup, the darkest one. Out of the three, she seemed to have inherited the most of her mother's fluff, with a forelock that even seemed to mimic Seven's. "Well this one is... this one is Puff." Seven offered a look of complete apathy.
"Which means this one..." Devin reached for the orange pup, the littlest out of the three. He seemed to squirm slightly under the sudden attention. "The baby." And the only boy, it seemed. "Kid."
Seven nosed at the three puppies, which scrambled to place themselves nearer to their mother's warmth. Devin smiled. At the very least, she seemed like a popular enough mother. He patted her and rose from the bedding. "You get some rest, then," he said, shutting the door as he let himself out. "Training will have to start again soon."
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