[PRP] Mother Knows [Peep x Stillborn]

[Chrystali]

He came quietly and slowly in the night, after the chores were done and the children were asleep. His head, usually held high, was instead lowered and straight, some lump on the back of it. There was another form behind him, the pace of the follower being the reason for his own slow steps. Stillborn crept into the familiar lands, and by the dim light of the moon, he approached where he knew she'd be sleeping.

"Mother," he said, but his voice was odd, as if he was holding something between his teeth. When the light was clearer upon him, he bowed his head and let go of his small package that was indeed between his teeth -- a sister to the three lumps on his back. Behind him, an exhausted but steady doe, likely the mother due to the baby fat around her middle.

"Mother," he repeated, softly and clear, "I need your help."

Ruriska

:'D

 

[Ruriska]

Even in her dreams, Peep sensed the approach, with the instincts of a Mother. She rose quickly from her slumber and had already pushed herself up to her side before she realized she was even awake. When Stillborn reached her, before he could even ask for help, she was standing. Sometimes Peep wondered if she ever properly slept at all. There was always some sense wide awake, keeping watch on the foals that were always in her presence.

"Of course," she said softly. She touched her nose to his, as if willing away his exhaustion and then dropped it to the foal, snuffling along the little form, questing for anything wrong. All was well. "Come now. Lie down, Stillborn. Let me see the others."

She moved with gentle assurance, around him and to the doe. "My darling. You must be tired. We will watch over them. There is food and water aplenty here. Please rest."

Chrystali

<3

 

[Chrystali]

His head dipped slightly to touch her nose back; a gentle submissive affection to her, and only her. Once Peep was addressing the tired green doe, he twisted his neck and started to gently remove the three sleeping forms on his back, not a single one waking.

Jade Fire, for her part, had to take a moment to soak in that this was Stillborn's mother. This sweet, maternal Acha that exuded warmth and welcome had blood ties to one of the most ornery and standoffish males she'd met. Bowing her head, she smiled tiredly in gratitude. "Thank you, Matron. I am Jade Fire, and I will speak with you on what brings us here when the sun is not sleeping. For now, I will gratefully partake in your offer and say that Still needs to speak with you."

The male Acha went rigid. "You are not my mother to speak for me," he snarled softly over a sleeping baby's back.

"No, but I am their mother, and you've taken on an important role as their father." Her reply was gentle, matter-of-fact, making the Acha blanch. "We can revisit the facts of it later if you'd like, but we're in this together, Still. Thank you for bringing me here." Dipping her head lower to Peep, she slowly turned around and meandered towards the scent of food she could pick up, leaving the two to their silence.

Still ground his sharp teeth before he carefully removed the last baby from his back, a Kiokote that was colored like his mother. The Acha was quiet, staring at the small pile of babies; his expression was set, having made a decision before bringing them to his mother, it seemed. Bowing his head, he gently licked one of the Kimeti foals that squirmed in their sleep, nosing them until they fell into peaceful slumber again.

His eyes turned up to Peep, his head still held low, almost between sullen and waiting for a reprimand he knew would never come, not from her. "I don't know where to start," he finally said, ears to the side.

Ruriska

<333333333!!!

 

[Ruriska]

Peep soaked in all the information Jade Fire and Stillborn’s interaction offered, quietly putting the pieces together. The whole story wouldn’t be made clear until her son had said his piece but she was content to wait until the moment was right.

“There are many more on our lands who will offer assistance, if you require,” she told the Kimeti with one final smile, before the doe had ambled off to relax after what must have been a tiring process.

Left alone with Stillborn and the still sleeping youngsters, Peep ignored her son for a moment and instead nuzzled the rest of the foals, checking them over quickly, efficiently and ever so gently. They all seemed content to remain fast asleep, probably as tired from dropping out of their sacs and eggs as their mother had been.

"Well," she said finally, "the best place to start would be at the start." She pressed her cheek to Still’s, willing his head up and proud. "They are beautiful." Even if they were not his by blood, it mattered not. They were family.

Chrystali

 

[Chrystali]

And he watched her quietly, unblinking, not in a patient way (though he had patience with his mother if none else), but in the skulking way of the wolf, an uncertainty palpable around him. When Peep did speak, Still was unsurprised but still comforted for it. His chin was lifted with her gentle insistence, his bright eyes flitting down to the sleeping children that were far too large to be his. Slim ears pushed back in one last resistance of what long road lay before him before he settled back into his alert upright pose, mindful of his wards and the grounds around them. They were all his to protect, after all.

"The start is..." he spoke as if chewing the words, finding the last one extra sinewy, "...complicated."

Not that he wouldn't try. His jaw set and clenched as he mulled the words, lupine tail fluffing with unspoken memories before settling to a slow sway. The Acha, for all his knowledge of the Club and his tumultuous coming to being, possessed not an inkling of delicacy for the matter.

"There's a male." Obviously. These children didn't spawn themselves. "He skirted our borders and I had ... quarrel with him." His lips peeled back briefly from his teeth, a memory of alert stares and rigid spines. It made him feel a little unsettled to remember how ready he'd been to try and rip Cursed's throat back then. Was it really that long ago, though? "With distance, my quarrel became less so. He helped me when I picked a fight I couldn't win."

Honesty. Always with her. But what happened after, he'd gloss over, for both their sanity. "Since then he's taken with the idea that I belong to him." The absence of rejecting the notion was heavier than his words.

He looked at his mother, jaw still set. He wasn't done, but he gave pause, in case he wasn't filling in the gaps, or if Peep needed a moment to do so herself.

Ruriska

time is getting away from me <_>

 

[Ruriska]

The endless patience Peep waited and listened, letting him say as much or as little as he wanted without pressure or interruption. The tiny Acha settled on the ground beside the sleeping foals (her grandchildren in name, if not by blood) and provided extra warmth, her head tilted up to watch her son.

When he paused, it was obvious there was more and the parts that he had told her had pieces missing. That was fine. She would never expect her children to tell her everything, not if they thought it best not to and she mulled over what she had heard so far.

There was the very heavy implication, considering the offspring she was currently laying beside, that this mystery buck was far more than just a friend to her son, though how much Stillborn understood of that Peep wasn’t sure.

“I see,” she said, “keep going.” Any comments could wait until the end.

Chrystali

worst reply /cries

 

[Chrystali]

She sharp-toothed Acha gave pause, his eyes scouring the ground by his hooves for an answer once more. It wasn't that he didn't want to tell his mother, it's just that he didn't know how to speak of what was on his mind in a way that made sense. It didn't make sense, not even to him. "He wants us to be mates." The quizzical tone in his words was touchable. Mumbling - but not inaudibly - he shook his head, "Two males...what's the point."

Still glanced to his patient mother. "He has a sickness. One that comes and goes with the moon." His eyes then fell to the children, so helpless to what they had inherited. "He doesn't want to be around them, for their safety, and I..."

He looked moodily towards the green doe that was nestled a fair distance away, watching, but not close enough to hear. "I'll raise them as my own." In saying so, they obviously weren't his; but also in saying so, he was diverting his real topic of consternation - the male in question - back to the children. He could scarcely handle either at once, but both seemed to overwhelm him.

Ruriska

HELLO...IT'S ME