bitches and peaches,

It had only been a few days since the arrival of Elsyium young, and Violet was unfortunately one of those new babes. She let everyone know after all, for the young one would never stop screaming. It was like she knew if anyone paid attention to any of her other siblings, she would remove herself from the teat and absolutely start SCREECHING to be returned or given some sort of affection. She couldn't even see or hear, but was a terror the moment she was born.

And right now she was screaming too. When was she not?

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The boy had been doing what he did best: exploring and staying as far away from water as he possibly could. But, his peace and quiet was quickly crushed by very loud and obnoxious screaming. With ears pinned forward, he would run over to the... think that was screaming. This was nothing but a bundle of fur and Akira really didn't know what to do with it. So, with one shaking paw, he would reach over to poke the thing, head cocked to the side in curiosity. Was this a baby? It was so small and... annoying. 

His ears pinned back as he lowered his head to the ground, looking at the small fluff. "You're really loud, can you stop?" He asked, not knowing that the small pup might not be able to understand him.

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It had been five minutes. Maybe even less - she was so thirsty she had to go get a drink, and finally picked the quietest moment her litter had enjoyed thus far before gently, ever so quietly picking herself up to pad silently toward the lake's edge.

Bliss; a moment of peace. Not that she resented her pups for their discontent, as even Valeska could agree that the general unfairness of the world was something to be lamented, though they could at least have waited until they stubbed their first toe or eaten bad meat before raising such a noise. She sighed, closing her eyes against the sun, letting the blessed sound of birdsong fill her ears with -

Distantly, a child's wail.

She opened her eyes, looking up toward the heavens as if in prayer, before quickly lapping up a few more licks of water and turning back toward the coolness of the den.

Akira had already arrived, staring down at the offending creature with an expression of confusion and distaste - the High Priestess grinned, announcing her presence with a light chuckle.

“I have tried asking her that myself,” she admitted candidly, moving to lay back down beside her children. “It does not appear to work. Is this your first time seeing an infant?”

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Violet paused. She couldn't see, she couldn't smell, but it was like she just knew as her head wobbly faced toward the direction of Akira. Words mumbled and movements around, but nothing that the young one could know.

But the world willed it and she full throttled raised her voice even more, almost out of pure spite. A spite she had no idea just yet and soon the world would know even more, and even worse.

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The boy didn't understand why the nugget was crying, ears pinning back against his head at the sound. He was about to smack the child on the head when he heard the chuckle of his mother, turning to look at her with a warm smile. "Hi mama!" He would turn back to the child, cocking his head to the side and no longer aiming to smack the thing. "An infant? Why is its so small?" He didn't understand that all wolves, including himself, were that small at some point. "And why is it so loud? Where did it even come from?" He was pretty sure that not a few weeks ago, he didn't hear these screams before.

He sniffed at the child, wrinkling his nose slightly. It smelled like a wolf, but it certainly didn't sound like one. He was even more confused now than he was a few moments ago.

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Praise the gods, she had not seen him about to rattle Violet's questionable brains.

Instead, ignorant to his premeditated attack, she smiled warmly and reached out to draw him in close, nuzzling the boy affectionately as he loudly questioned the wriggling thing that laid beside her stomach and screamed. Already Valeska was growing deaf to her ceaseless cries, ears flattening back almost habitually as she began to casually explain how nature, perceived through the eyes of a religious woman, worked.

“She is small because she is new, and she came from me,” she said matter-of-factly, motioning toward her torso. In all fairness, the concept of creating life inside oneself was still a miracle she often pondered upon, wondering exactly how and when the spark of self occurred in the process.

“Violet is loud because she is hungry - or cold, or tired, or possibly has the aching stomach,” she continued in her thick accent. “But she and her littermates, they are not ordinary. You see, for Amaranth and I to have children, we had to pray to the gods very hard; most pups are given freely, but for us wives, we had to employ the aid of the gods themselves.”

The little wolf closed her eyes, thinking back on the dark, holy, bloodstained ritual that had taken place in Northfall with its leader, lost in the haze of soft moonlight and bitter-tasting roots that had altered the very world around them. She had never felt so close to the Five as she had in that evening, the eldritch pulsing of the air beating like drums in her ears as they chanted and danced in the snow, sparkling like so many thousands of diamonds.

“We journeyed west, where stone land meets the ocean, and Amara summoned Houtu herself for guidance,” she went on. “The great All-Mother herself directed us to the leader of Northfall, and through our shared faith, were eventually blessed with children of our own.”

She wasn't sure at what age she should introduce Akira to the concept of spirit roots, but he still seemed a bit... young. She withheld that information for now.

“I suppose you could say our children are made of magic!”

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Thankfully his mother didn't see him about to smack his sister, though he didn't know that it likely would have killed the tiny creature. As his mother talked about the furry nuggets coming from her, the boy got really confused, moving to sniff his mother. How did it come from her? "Did it come from your mouth?" He would try to sniff at her maw, curious as to how she did that. Mother must be magic!

With a curious look, he would listen to what his mother had to say, cocking his head to the side slightly. So he was right about the magic! "Can I do this too?" He didn't entirely understand how baby making worked.

The child would look over at the fur nuggets, thinking for a moment before speaking. "Does this make me an older brother?" He knew that he wasn't blood related, but to him, Valeska was still his mother.

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Oh dear. Akira was asking some particularly hard questions now, and she hadn't exactly prepared a thesis for such an event. Smiling nervously, she struggled to find an answer that was both age-appropriate and also in line with the - and we will be honest - strange mystic bullshit that occurred.

“No, I did not vomit up my children,” she said with a laugh, shuddering inwardly at the thought. “I, ah, grew them in my stomach, and they came from me... like a dream. I looked back, and suddenly there they were.”

He was a little young for the gory details. Besides, it wasn't exactly a lie; honest to gods, the whole thing felt like a blur, and despite the process taking an entire day, it still felt like a single instant.

Valeska flushed beneath her fur at his next question. Her knee-jerk response would be to say most likely not, but given the gods' intervention to allow herself and Amaranth to have children borne of their own souls - she didn't know anymore. Still, better to set expectations in a reasonable place before giving him hopes that may or may not come to fruition.

“As a... gentleman, you are a part of the magic,” she stated mystically, looking toward the sky for emphasis. “The gods created you to play a special role in their creation, but it is often the woman's duty to carry them. We are made... differently.”

She struggled.

“Even for our children, a man was present; yet it was our shared faith, our firm belief, and the will of Houtu and the Five themselves that allowed us to create life in the way that we have. With the gods, the impossible may become reality. Always remember this.”

Akira looked at her with such wide, questioning eyes, it was difficult to know when to stop her steamroll of an explanation.

“Of course you are their brother! And I will trust you to help me take care of them - there is no telling what trouble they will get into once they are moving. Ah! And as you train with Mordecai, perhaps you may pass on your knowledge to them too, no? Er... but gently.”

It would give him something to do.

“Funny little things, are they not? I did not ever imagine myself to be a parent...”

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He listened to his mother like there was nothing else going on in the world. Everything she talked about was new and interesting to him. As she talked about the children forming in her stomach, he would attempt to sniff at her stomach, confused by how they came out. "In your stomach? But, how did they come out? I don't see any wounds or scars." Like his own. He was smart enough to at least know that if something came bursting out of someone's stomach, that it would make a wound at least. All Akira was imagining was an Alien type situation. And he hadn't even seen the movie!

Quickly though, his attention moved to the next topic, his role in creating children. His tail began slapping against the ground as he bounced up and down slightly, excited. "I wanna help make children! How can I help?" He was so oblivious as to what 'making children' actually meant. But now he was determined to do so. Gods help this child. 

Turning his attention back to the small bundles, he would lower himself slightly to the ground to be closer to them, watching the squirming nugget closely. "Do they grow quickly?" He wanted to play with them and show them around, but they were way too small for that right now. He certainly didn't know how to handle them carefully. After all, he did almost smack the shit out of his younger sister almost moments ago.

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As awkward and painful as their conversation was proving to be, Valeska steeled herself with the knowledge that such things were but a preliminary trial to the endless mewling questions of not one, but five small children in the very near future, and it was a task that must be borne with grace and dignity.

Parenting was a great deal more difficult than she had ever imagined.

“It, ah,” she faltered, sucking in her stomach as he leaned forward for a curious sniff. “The... gods... they work in mysterious ways. They, in their infinite power, allowed my pups to safely leave my body, and now here they are. It is a miracle. Spiritual. Magic.”

Was he too young to talk about blood and guts and placentas?

She looked into his wide, innocent, sparkling green-and-blue child eyes, and came to the conclusion that he absolutely was. Given his close inspection of her torso just a few moments prior, the thought of him going near her nether regions was enough to make the decision for her. Maybe when he was a little older, and a little less... intensely curious.

Oh, gods. The Five were surely laughing at her now as she stumbled her way through this terrible series of questions, and she hoped that her version of The Way Things Were did not count as a sinful lie. Surely they must understand the trials of raising a small entity!

“You will be able to help one day, when you are older, and have fallen in love with someone very special,” she said glibly, plowing ahead with a frenetic confidence. “Only when you fall in love will the gods allow you the opportunity to create life with another! Prayer also helps too. Yes, falling in love and- and prayer.”

Valeska dare not tell him.

She daren't.

Akira shifted gears (mercifully) to observe Violet and her whimpering, wriggling form, ever the scientist; she marveled at his intellectual curiosity and how he fought to understand the world around him, even at the expense of everyone's comfort. “You know,” the little wolf mused, “It has been so long since I have seen an infant, I do not remember. I have been told that 'time flies' as they grow, so I anticipate it will not be long before they are eating meat and chasing you about.”

She quirked a brow, shifting her gaze to the brown pup.

“Speaking of growth - have you trained with Mordecai yet?”

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Violet's existence denied peace.

If she was not getting attention with every second of the day, and even just lightly, looking at her siblings, it was like she knew ; and she would scream. The young pup would throw her arms and wiggle and move, roaring as she did until somehow one way or another, managed to squirm onto her back.. Which only resulted to more frustrated screaming on her end.

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He listened but didn't really comprehend what his mother said, instead he was much more interested in the child that was wiggling around. He saw as she somehow got turned onto her back, moving to try to bump her with his nose. He wasn't sure how exactly to flip her around without crushing her, but booping her over and over with his snout would do the trick eventually.. right? 

Much like before though, his attention quickly shifted back to his mother, shaking his head slightly. "Not yet, I want to. I'mma go find him!" And with that, the squirrel brained child started to exit the den, his head held high as he went to go find his new teacher if not stopped by his mother.

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She swore under her breath, looking at the small, squirming body that howled petulantly next to her. Her other pups remained unusually quiet, possibly remaining still on instinct to avoid whatever beast nearby was about to consume them (Violet-shaped as it was). Still - this was everything she had ever wanted.

Smiling wanly, the pale wolf used a forepaw to scoop her screaming child back over onto her stomach, pushing her firmly and insistently back toward her belly. It was always so difficult to understand what troubled the little silver-gold pup; it seemed that anything could set her off. With a resigned sigh, she turned her attention back to Akira, who was contemplating touching noses with Valeska's tiny she-devil.

“It is important to begin your spiritual curriculum-” she started, noting his eyes had wandered back toward the cave's mouth.

“You must learn the mystic meanings behind the everyday, and how faith can be an even greater weapon than raw strength alone-” Akira had already stood up, turning his body away.

“You haven't even learned your first prayer-” her voice was growing shrill, his gangly form bounding away with an urgency.

“HOUTU IS ALWAYS WATCHING-”

He was gone.

Valeska sighed, muttered something unintelligible, and resumed her attempts at coaxing Violet back to a fretful sleep.

 

{Exit}

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