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 Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:27 pm
Gods, damn it!
The orange lioness was heavy with child. Well, probably children. She had never had her own cubs before, but the pride that she hailed from certainly had their share of births, so she knew a bit about what was happening. And she was not please, not at all. She thought that she had done her best after that one night, but obviously the gods were not with her on that. So here she was, feeling quite heavy, and not too well, either.
And she was all alone.
The lioness growled as she felt another stab of pain. This much be the labor pains, meaning that the cubs could come any time. And she had to deal with this all alone. She was angry, but the anger was at herself for doing this. Thick tears fell down her cheeks as she gave up on walking, crashing right underneath a large fern plant. At least it was soft, and kept her a bit hidden from things. Though, perhaps not too well, with her bright orange coat. She panted as another wave of pain came over her. Damn it all to hell...
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:40 pm
Barafu had been wandering for ages. After the 'bounty' put on her head from her family, she had left herself to the shadows, barely speaking to any soul that she saw. She never was one to talk much, but when your old pride wanted your head, what was the point?
Today she had wandered into the jungle, unsure as of what lived here, but assumed that it could be a temporary home, what with all the leaves and brush, somewhere simple to hide. So it came as quite a surprise when not sooner after she had reached the depths she heard a growling. Not too unsettled by it, she took a step away from where she thought it was coming from, and nearly ran into her sister.
Her 'beloved' younger sister, one that she had not seen since she was an adolescent.
She bounced back, a strange noise emitting from her throat. A surge of fear enveloped her, knowing that there would only be one reason to see her sister. That indeed, they had sent her own sister after her. Probably to somehow bring her back home for trial, and eventually death. Betraying your family was quite the deed, as was heresy against everything that your pride believed in.
One extra look made her notice that her sister was in her own troubles though, and the deep bond that they shared as sisters overflowed her, pushing away the fear.
"Zuri...? What....what is wrong?" She was unsure as to how her sister would react, but she never thought that she would be able to forgive herself if she ignored her and walked off. Never.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:45 pm
Zuri's eyes widened as she heard a voice she hadn't heard in at least two years. No....no, it couldn't be. Not when Zuri was at the lowest she had been. She slowly, ever so slowly, lifted her head to the voice, to the face....only for the confirmation that it indeed was her sister, the sister she had spent the past year looking for. Her stomache lurched, though she couldn't tell if it was a kick or her actually feeling ill. Whatever it was, it threw her off of her mindset.
The orange lioness' golden eyes swelled with tears, embarassed and ashamed that she met the sister she loved like this. She was a mess! "No...." stammered out out of her mouth, the only thing that manages to get out before she fell into a fit of sobs, her body shaking. She herself had fallen to betrayal of the beliefs that the two of them were raised on; a pregnancy with no mate, no real love. She had fallen into a sinking sadness, and went with impulses to release it; and here she was, with the consequences of those impulses.
"Please...don't....don't look at me."
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:52 pm
Bara could only smile at her younger sister. What had she gotten herself into? Obviously it was a complete mess, but that was one thing that shouldn't be brought up at this point in time. For now, they should both focus on Zuri, and on what she was carrying inside of her. She ignored the wet face of her sister, nuzzling her, purring lightly. "Calm down, Zuri....let us worry about this at a later date." She sat herself down, drawing her head back away from Zuri to give her a stern look. Zuri should know that what was in the past could wait 'til later, and they needed to focus on the present.
"You are obviously heavy. We need to move you to a better..." but she wasn't able to finish as her orange sister gave out a gasp. One after another, and more tears would fall down her face. Well, seems like they were too late to move. At least they weren't out in the open.
"Lay down," the lioness demanded, nearly pushing her sister down as she stood over her. She had watched a few births in her time, and would only pray that nothing serious would happen with this. Gods, please let the gods be with them at this strained time.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 3:00 pm
Zuri was about to protest at her sister when the pain came suddenly again, and with a much higher degree of pain involved. The gasp alerted her sister, and Zuri just wanted to hide. She was too ashamed to deal with this, but it was obvious that she couldn't move now, even if every inch of her body wanted her to. As Bara pushed her onto the soft ground of the jungle, she closed her eyes and prayed that it would be over soon.
A large wave of pain came over her, and she bit her tongue as her body told her to push, push! And so she went with her impulses, the ones that would get her out of this predicament. It took a time, and it hurt, hurt in it's own way, but the first child made it's way out into the world.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 3:03 pm
Bara snatched the little cub, cleaning it enough to open it's airways. The cub stirred, and it seemed healthy enough. So good so far.... She hoped that this would continue as smoothly as it seemed, though she doubted that Zuri thought of it as 'smoothly'. With a humored smile, she nudged the cub next to her mother's side, to keep warm. She would have to keep an eye on any other cubs that would come, along with Zuri, making sure that she was alright, and as well as not accidentally kicking the cubs with her labor pains. Whew, well, even if they didn't end up sticking together as a family again, she knew that she would at least be grateful for Bara showing up at this important moment.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 3:09 pm
The pain seemed to disappear when the first cub came out, and it was an overjoying feeling. A mixture of...something of hers along with the release of the pain was incredible. She pushed herself up enough to see the cub, and leaned over to give her a good grooming, cleaning her of the bits of sac left from when she was still unborn. It wasn't the best feeling, but she certainly felt grateful that she had a gorgeous cub. And a daughter at that. She was ready to finish grooming her when the pain returned again. Another one? She gave off a soft growl as the pain pushed her back o nto the floor, her legs tense as the next cub wriggled it's way into the world.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 3:12 pm
Bara mimiced what she had done with the first cub, though she was a bit taken aback that this one certainly looked more like her mother then the first cub. She wasn't sure where all the white had come from, but it must have come from the father. Her heart sored lightly as she nudged to cub next to her sister, the two of them near their mother's side. She couldn't quite tell if they were cold or not, so she kept her eye moreso on them then their mother, who seemed to be handling it quite well.
Were there any more to come? She knew of the possibiliy of a large litter, but her sister didn't seem large enough for a huge litter. But one never knew; kids seemed to be sneaky little things.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 3:20 pm
Zuri's eyes fell upon another daughter, one that looks a lot like herself. She didn't get a moment to groom her, though, as the pain never left, and instead, intensified. She was all out of tears, and instead clentched her teeth together to keep from crying out. She wanted to seem strong, as she normally did, in this moment that was obviously full of pain and vulnerability.
A sharp pain in her side distracted her, though, and she didn't realize that as soon as the pain intesified, it disappeared. And the last two cubs were born, nearly one after the other. They wriggled around aimlessly, looking for their mother, or perhaps just another warm body. Zuri was too tired to get up, and instead she wriggled closer to them, using her paw to gently push them closer to her to clean them of the mess that was evident of a birth.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 3:25 pm
With the way that Zuri was moving, she assumed that the birthing was complete. She stepped out of the way of the mother and her children, which were humoringly enough all female, and let them bond together. She laid close enough to help 'wrap' the children up between her and Zuri, though, wanting to make sure that they were well protected, as all 5 of them were quite vulnerable at the moment.
Barafu smiled at her younger sister, happy for her even though she looked exhausted, and certainly not near her best. But this would be a big moment for her....for the both of them. Hopefully, for a time, they could put aside their differences and work everything out when they had time, and when the cubs wouldn't need to be doted over every moment of the day and night.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 4:03 pm
(( ;O I'm presuming I'm allowed to post~ XD;; ))
A warcry. That's what the noise that came out of the newborn could have been called with her little limbs pushing out everywhere around her to invade the spaces of all and any nearby which, in her luck, was her sisters. She just didn't know them as such yet, so that didn't matter to her yet.
There was just something invasive to the poor child about the sudden lack of warmth and, furthermore, the thing that was attacking her FACE.
Pressing her little paws against it, she tried to push whatever it was away, whining pathetically before it seemed to stop, probably moving on to another child that was in paws reach of her. For her, however, that didn't matter.
At least she'd defeated whatever demon had been assaulting her face.
Only when the warmth seemed to return, what came of two large bodies and three more little ones, to encase her again did her helpless flailing cease, bringing her to investigate the area around her blindly, in hopes that she'd find something of curiousity.
And with a sadly empty stomach, that would have been everything.
With a helpless mewl, it seemed as though instincts took over with her, driving her first to feed and then, once the frustrating victory had been confirmed, to curl up and sleep it off, curled happily against her mother's side.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 4:21 pm
Zuri's heart fluttered as she saw her cub wriggling around. What should she do? Should she let her be, or help pick her up away from what she was pushing off? She drew back a bit, nervously looking up at her sister for guidance, as she used to do when the two of them were younger. It seemed that Bara wasn't concerned though, and so she turned back to watch her daughter, who was nuzzling her side now. Oh, duh! The lioness shifted her weight to ease the little cub's search for food, when she noticed that her youngest seemed to mimic her sister, at least in the way of finding food. Well, at least they had their appetites!
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 4:24 pm
The youngest cub wriggled, mewing quietly as she felt the pressure of something small against her. What was that? She was determined to find out, but she didn't get very far before she felt a surge of momement. Something big and warm moved, but it also set in her instincts of 'hungry!' off. She mewled more, quite loud for a newborn, before finding her mother's side. The warmth soothed her more then the nourishment she was finding, and she soon fell asleep, looking as if she was hogging a lot of her mother's side. Hopefully she would learn how to share, though. Or this would be quite interesting for the four sisters.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 4:28 pm
It was dark and wet and suddenly very, very cold. After something rough and large batted a few times against her helpless, writhing body the first painful breath entered her body and she shuddered with the sweet mix of pleasure it brought. After a few moments choking on her own breath, she managed a soft mewl--so soft it was barely audible--that one might later look back on and say had been the first indication of the way she'd spend the rest of her life.
And then she was warm again, compaired the total chil before, but cold for where she'd been... not that she could remember much. In fact, the 'memory' of ever having been warm was slipping fast from her mind, as was the memory of the thing that had opened her airways. Memory was a slippering thing in one so young, and she wormed her way closer to the thing that was warmn in the now, even as more wriggly things began to press up against her. And she was tired. So tired that she found a place amongst the other wriggly things that she could feel, but not hear or see, and as one near her grew still she did too, falling intoa slumber that would further erase this moment from her mind.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 4:52 pm
Zuri smiled at her child, the one that had a striking resemblence to the orange lioness. She seemed to fidget and move only after the others settled down, but perhaps that was for the best, because she certainly didn't seem like a very pushy cub. Zuri lowered her head down closer to nudge her a bit closer to her body, wanting to keep them warm and close to her. Though they were in the jungle, and not, say, in the cold mountains, any bit of cold wouldn't be good for them, and she was determined to be a good mother, even if that meant stumbling along the way. Besides, how could she abandon what she herself had made? She wasn't too thrilled with having cubs, but she was responsible enough to take care of them. And she did love them, deep in her heart, though it might take a while to actually say it to Barafu.
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