[B] A Little Whoopsie (Apple-Dragon x Distant Thunder)

[Tiarana]

[imgright]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... uncert.png[/imgright]A slender - mostly - Acha buck lay draped across a rock, sighing dramatically every few minutes and flopping his head around to check if anyone was there. He was, frankly, quite perplexed by his situation. His belly had swollen like a doe's, he felt... incredibly strange to say the least, and he had the strangest craving for salty ocean fish. The saltier the better. He had no idea what normally transpired when a kin was pregnant but he knew he would never tease a doe about the subject ever again.

Apple-Dragon thought back to how he ended up in this situation. He was a fool, certainly. He had doubted the abilities of the transformation flower, and so - best friend in tow - he had set out to find one for himself and prove it was nonsense. Well, one thing lead to another, and it turned out the stories weren't nonsense. And now he was out a best friend, at least temporarily, because he had no idea how to even explain to the other buck that he - they - were now fathers.

Apple-Dragon sighed again and rolled onto his side, trying to find the least uncomfortable position. At least he knew that eggs dropped anonymously in the Swamp would be nurtured by the Motherfather - he was one such egg. But he didn't want to leave his brood with nothing, either. The brief time that the eggs were growing in his...belly? made him feel an odd closeness to them. It was a bit of a dilemma, the Acha (who had somehow failed to hear about legendary blessings) felt.

[Maxx]

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... uncert.png[/imgleft]Distant Thunder, having had a little jaunt down the beach not long ago to fish, had heard a sigh or two. By the third time he'd passed by the area, he had grown suspicious of the copious sighing, debating in his thick head whether or not it was someone in need of help, or a haunting luring him to a sudden death.

Then again, he had been blessed by the Motherfather, and perhaps would be more resistent to a sudden death. It would be shameful to leave someone in need of help alone.

Once he entered the clearing, he found himself faced with the vision of an Acha dashed across a rock! By the Motherfather's beard, he had failed them! The body was a warm, brilliant orange-red - the fall was fresh, and the stomach had shifted so awkwardly upon impact. Alas that he was too occupied with fish to come to the rescue! The sighs of a dying breath.

Distant Thunder bellowed with despair, dropping his fish, "oh, had I found you sooner! Forgive me for losing one of your children, Motherfather!" and wept loudly, for he was an emotional fellow.

@Tiarana gallop gallop

[Tiarana]

"What, who, where??" Apple-Dragon sat bolt upright on the rock, so startled by the Kiokote's sudden entrance that he completely forgot he had been quite alone until moments ago.

"... Wait, are you talking about me?" He groaned and sank back onto the rock, scowling. "I almost laid an egg! Can't you see I'm in a delicate state right now?" His expression softened. The Kiokote was wailing quite dramatically. "As you can see, I'm quite alive."

@Maxx

[Maxx]

“Oh, you’re alive!”

He sobered up with vast relief. It was good to know he hadn’t let the Motherfather down so direly, until the egg mention, wherein he started up and peered closer at the misleadingly laid-about Acha.

“Are you in labour,” he said in renewed urgency and alarm, “you ought to get off the rock then, wouldn’t want the eggs to smash.

“Worry not, for I have seen many of my own children being born. I can help.”

To be honest, he wasn’t sure just how much he could help. So far they mostly slid out of their own volition, but he was extremely good at shouting encouragement and he would happily offer his yelling to this Acha.

“COME FORTH BABIES,” he commanded, “COME!”

Maybe he should have yelled that after the Acha came down from the rock.

[Tiarana]

This overdramatic Kiokote seemed like a fun guy, actually. Apple-Dragon hopped off the rock and made a great show of trying to lay his eggs, but nothing happened. "I don't know much about laying eggs, but I guess they don't just pop out on command, huh? Say, what's that you have there?" He eyeballed the bundle of fish in an unsubtle way.

@Maxx

[Maxx]

Thunder's face changed in various interesting ways when the Acha attempted to lay eggs, but he did not falter with a few shouts of encouragement. The failure to produce any made him wonder if they were indeed pregnant. But the tingly Swamp-sense was always on the mark.

"Oh, today's dinner from the sea," he nodded, "but they certainly are briny...you can have one, if you'd like, but in your state you might get the runs.

"Alongside the...blockage."

@Tiarana 8D;;

[Tiarana]

"That's a risk I'll just have to take!" The acha chortled with glee and pulled one of the fish from the bundle. "I have been craving this all day, you know. Something about the salt, I guess?" He ripped a piece off his fish in decidedly undainty fashion. "Thank you very much for this meal. Aaah, I feel alive again."

@Maxx

[Maxx]

With his glowing eyes, he watched the Acha chipperly tuck into the fish. His Motherfather-blessed glowing eyes watched the Acha finish it.

"Anything else you want, besides a...fish...?"
Hint hint.

@Tiarana

[Tiarana]

Apple-Dragon's face fell when he remembered his prior problems. "Well, uh...I don't know if you can really help me with this, but...I-plan-to-drop-these-eggs-in-the-swamp-somewhere-but-I-feel-bad-about-just-leaving-them-with-nothing-I-guess!" The explanation came out in a rush. Actually talking about the matter was rather difficult and he felt silly sharing his problems with a stranger.

@Maxx

[Maxx]

"Back in the plains many raised our children," Thunder mused, "but in the Swamp kin pop them out and wander away and no one seems to be any worse for wear.

"The Motherfather seems to have her ways," he said breezily and evocatively, "but She could assist a little, through...another party.

"What would you want to leave them with?"

@Tiarana

[Tiarana]

"err...well...," Apple-Dragon thought about the question. He hadn't gotten so far as deciding what he wanted to leave to his offspring. His own parent(s) certainly hadn't left him with anything but his one sibling. "I guess, something like a small token of my love or something? A...a smooch on their little eggshells? What do other kin do?"

@Maxx *shuffles through tabs* oh right

[Maxx]

Thunder was unduly excited that he was getting to make some suggestions on what one could wish for from the Motherfather. “You certainly could give them a little smooch when they’re born, but...think...loftier!”

Thinking very hard in his thick skull, he said, “to always feel loved, or to always find love, or...oh well certainly health and happiness is the old gambit but that might be overused.

“Up to you.”

@Tiarana

[Tiarana]

"Oooh, I didn't know those were options!" Apple-Dragon tilted his head in thought. "Maybe...hmmm...I want them to be able to find the best of friends no matter where they go."

@Maxx

[Maxx]

"Sounds good," Thunder said, "a charming sentiment."

He then braced himself against the ground, raised his head to the skies and yelled:

"HEAR YOUR CHILDREN, O' MOTHERFATHER!

"A TENDER HEART HOLDS A TENDER WISH!

"LET THEIR OFFSPRING FIND THE BEST OF FRIENDS, NO MATTER WHERE THEY GO, SO THEY MAY NEVER FEEL ALONE!

If the Motherfather hadn't heard that, probably someone down the beach had. Thunder had embellished the wish a little, but he felt like it was a good addition, tail mildly wagging as he turned back to the Acha.

"They could probably still do with the smooch when they're born.

"The Motherfather works in Her mysterious ways."

@Tiarana

[Tiarana]

Apple-Dragon was a bit skeptical that the Kiokote shouting at the top of his lungs was actually accomplishing anything, but it made him feel better if nothing else. He wiggled up and down with gratitude. "Thank you sir! I will be sure to give them many smooches!"

@Maxx