< its how it breaks >

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On toward a temporary second home, to the abode that inhabited her son and his contagious ailments. If bespoke masks were fabricated here she would be undoubtedly covering her face each time she visited her sick child, worrying she would be piggybacking any transmittable diseases onto the rest of her brood. They now didn't necessitate the goodness that leaked from her teats, and so their natural immunity gained from her and her milk would now slowly dwindle. She needed to take certain precautions during these extra delicate times. 

Never would the unstable woman abandon her kin, and she made the journey twice a day to and fro each confined den to revisit if his health bettered or worsened. Providing parcelled meals on each occasion. Her mass echoed this continuous, taxing commitment. Her sides fell away under the heavy pelt she always carried, hoping this veiled her underweight form to the eyes of those that would take advantage of her during her ongoing obligation.

A leg of a deer, snatched and seized from the pack's healthy caches, was her choice to gift her son today. She could see the mouth up ahead, the one that sat agape on the woodlands floor. The pit and sanctuary for her little boy. Though she wasn't aware this was where Nightwalkers rotting prisoners were once kept. Was she a terrible mother depositing him in such? Maybe. But, oh, she loved him so.

'Oh, my bubbins?', she cooed out cheerfully to her pale son.

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The pale boy had been inhabiting the pit for some time now. His mother's reasoning was in part lost due to his young fragile mind, but she still visited never truly leaving him alone. Part of him wondered of his siblings and where they now resided. Even with @Famine's chewing he still desired the company of those he had only ever known. Perhaps this pit had served him well though. It seemed with each passing day his strength grew, meager as it may be. He was free to eat his share and thanks to @Err even his health seemed to improve. 

The young boy had managed to dig some dirt free from a minor ledge to construct a somewhat sheltered cover for him to sleep beneath, but more often than not he spent his time inspecting parts of the pit. Today he had found some kind of beetle skittering along the dirt floor, seemingly unbothered by his presence as he scratched at a balding patch of skin beneath his jaw. Idly he wondered its purpose in the world though eventually chalked it up to food. Surely his brother had eaten more than a few so he too tried pawing the damn thing down for a bite, but the stupid shell on its back allowed it to skitter on unbothered by his weak attempts.

A frown tugged his lips as Pest flopped back on his rear letting the creature go by until a more welcoming voice graced his ears. A dirty tail beat against the earth as a sickened gaze quickly found his mother looming at the edge and eagerly he would hobble to meet her from below. “Mama!” The sudden strain on his voice led to a short coughing fit, though he managed to recover swiftly.

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In a world of unfamiliarities, little would she know what was incorrect or correct as a mother. She felt she had done well, given the circumstances of her life before, unconsciously being blind to the proper ways in this realm. She fed herself, groomed herself, fed her children and now instinct compelled her to exclude her sick child from the rest of the litter. In a pit though? That might be something others frown upon, at such an extravagance. 

Her blue irises full of dote and adoration looked down at her boy, as he peered up longingly at her. 'How are you feeling today, my smoosh? You want some supper?. Her voice is exaggerated, high-pitched with baby tones. One she would likely adopt to address her brood, even as her children grew into adults. Never straying from her true lunacy, no matter how much she had socially adapted in her months here.

The succulent leg she'd scavenged for him was then tossed into his hole, away so that it wouldn't land on him of course, and close enough for him to not need to use so much energy to get to it.

She wondered if he was growing bored, and perhaps she ought to bring a pet, like a bird she could snap their wings so they couldn't fly out of the pit.

'Mama bring a friend for you, boo?'   

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Pest shied his gaze away as he really thought about how he had been. Nothing had really changed since she last visited. His body ached, his nose ran, and he was itchy and tired. Symptoms he had known in every memory he presently held. The only difference is now he held scabs and balding patches from where he gnawed or scratched too often. “I'm okay.” There had been worse days surely. Days where he couldn't even stand and his breath came labored. The funny rodent sometimes brought plants that helped, even if they tasted bad.

Wanting food, on the other hand, was an understatement.

Since moving to the pit he had been promised meals of his own where @Famine had once stolen his, but retaining it was still questionable. His stomach gnawed at his flesh in protest, but he never risked gorging himself in fear of expelling it all. Still, he would nod to her question as he found his mother's gaze once more with a beat to his tail. She tossed her offering and he would watch it land before hurrying with an awkward gait to sniff and bite at the meat. 

The boy held his prize close as he laid down, an arm draped over the leg while he dug in though he still listened for Eris's words. “Hhe ahthurs aan come?” He spoke into his meal as he gnawed, excited at the idea of seeing his siblings, though he silently hoped it wouldn't be until he had his share of meat. Conquest could be rough and Famine was a thief, but they never really harmed him. Not intentionally.

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Her heart would perpetually bleed every time she saw her son, full of ailments and discomfort. She felt helpless and this was the best she could offer on the medic's professional advice. She heard his small voice tell a lie, he wasn't okay. But perhaps he grew unbothered by the illnesses that he would become increasingly accustomed to as he matured and aged. It was a part of his life now as much as the ink on her tongue. 

She laid down, paws flinging over the edge and she pressed her head onto them to peer over at him, watching him dine. She would stay here until nightfall now, singing nonsense lullabies to ease him into a slumber when he'd ask.

She shook her head, 'No, my little vole', she cooed another name in homage to his digging, 'This is just your home. Not for long though, I promise', and it wouldn't be. The pups were all growing at considerable rates and it wouldn't be long until he would find his own route to leave the pit once and for all, but she would help him when that time came. In the meantime, a notice would be required to let the rest of the pack know of his array of diseases should he not ever recover in his hospital quarters. 'But mama can bring you a different friend, instead of your siblings?'. The rat seemed to not catch any of his illnesses, so her thought process was to find something that could at least give him some company and not grow insane as she once had in solitary confinement.

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Immediately the boy's ears would fall flat out of disappointment from his mom's response. He didn't want to be down here he had decided. Sometimes it was nice not being gnawed at when he ached and actually receiving his share of food was great, but he didn't hate his siblings despite the torment they unwillingly brought. Even he had fun sometimes despite being rough-handled. Still...“What kind of friend?” He had stopped his gnawing now, red already gleaming around his maw against his pale furs as he looked expectantly towards his mama. Maybe...another friend would not be so bad.

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Her head pushed further down into the pit, her own ears flattening when she could see his heart shatter a little from her bad news. She wanted to break her own rules and fall into the hole, to pull him close and envelope her body around him in a motherly embrace that could rid any of his worries and pains. 

But she couldn't. A gentle whine slipped from her maw though. 

Her ears perked when he showed a small interest in her suggestion, there was perhaps hope to brighten his spirits. She hummed with a thought or two, 'Something fluffy to cuddle while mummy can't join you?', she cooed to her boy. Already coming up with a plan of what to retrieve and steal for her child.

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Pestilence wasn't sure he was exactly a "cuddle boy" but, well, it wasn't like he had anything else going for him at the moment. Someone to play with would be nice though, or something. He had collected a small array of items for himself in his time alone. Rocks and sticks mostly, but they were things he could gnaw and kick when his joints didn't ache with the pain he had grown so accustomed to.

Unfortunately, his spurts of play never lasted long. He tired quickly and would find himself dragging his paws to keep up with whatever his imagination had conjured before resorting to rolling around in the dust of his hollow. Still gnawing at his meal he'd look up and nod, “Okay.”

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Watching him enjoy his meal, she thought the boney leg would at least occupy him for the time being to distract him from whatever itches that needed his attention. She could see small patches of dried blood where he'd reached over to alleviate himself of some of the itchiness. 

'Mummy's going to find Err now, I'll be back soon with him', she needn't tell him why, but her ailed pup would already associate the rodent as the medic who frequently turned up to offer another unpleasant potion of kind for him to forcibly consume, or a lotion that could either smell beautiful one day or pungent the next. All were treatments that would fail in some way or another, only lessening the pain or keeping a sniffle at bay for a small amount of time.

Before she rose to leave, her paw met her lips and then she extended it in his direction, blowing him a little kiss before taking her leave.

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She was right, he didn’t need to be told. He knew by now what it meant to have rat visits. The small creature was an unlikely ally considering rats were sometimes a meal he found in the pit depending on his luck, but this one in particular he knew better than to bite. He had helped scratch his itch and even with disgusting tasting things that he was sure made him only want to vomit, the rat had managed to keep some of his ailments at bay.

All things considered, Pestilence couldn’t say he was exactly excited to see Err considering treatment could be hit or miss, but it was…something he supposed. He almost would rather be left alone in his hole. It could be lonely but he knew what to expect and didn’t feel awful being seen as there was no one to witness him suffer aside from his visiting mama. He didn’t voice this however as she made her declaration and turned to leave. Instead, he would only nod into his meal as he resumed his idle chewing.

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