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Seconds before morning came, the birds started to chirp. Curled up below them, a dark-flanked kiokote groaned.

The dawn light approached. The birds grew louder. In response, the kin, too, groaned with more volume and much more irritation.

But the day went on and everything continued to wake up.

With a huff, Night in the Woods pulled herself up to standing. She hadn't been feeling right lately. Ungainly. Bloated. That buck must have done something to her, maybe the evil eye or something, and that had not been a part of their agreement. If she hadn't felt so unusually slow she would track him down and show the nasty end of her antlers.

Instead, she would hunt. Her stomach felt like a gaping hole and that would not do. Every other unkind thought would have to wait for now.

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Once Forgotten had been at Rise & Shine helping prepare for the day when he’d got that little tingle in his hooves that told him he had somewhere to be. So he’d quickly said his goodbyes, asked Cue if she wanted to come with him (that had been a big no) and then grabbed something to go.

He made good speed and luckily for the cranky doe, he had brought breakfast. A large juicy fresh roasted leg. He wasn’t entirely sure what kind of meat it was. He wasn’t very good for the whole ‘preparation’ process of the whole thing and preferred to linger when things were getting nicely cooked and juicy.

The meat was a little bit on the cold side now and he had slobbered heavily on the bone, unavoidable after being subjected to that absolutely delicious smell, but it would still make a good meal for a pregnant doe. A doe whom he was just now approaching, with a muffled ‘HEWWO’, his head dancing merrily with rainbow lights, grinning around the bone.

@Gl!tch~

A kiokote of her disposition usually would have taken the approach of a stranger as an opportunity. To flirt, to banter, to lure. But she didn't want to see anyone right now, especially another buck. Ugh.

The lights, though. She couldn't help being hypnotized by that. It reminded her of the sorts of things she saw after licking colorful frogs, but she hadn't done any such thing in some time.

She supposed if any buck had to bother her right here, right now, at least he seemed interesting. Or something interesting happened around him.

And Night in the Woods didn't miss the wonderful-smelling meat in his jaw.

"Hello," she greeted, throat a bit hoarse from so long without calling to another kin. "Are you here to share or tease a poor, starving doe?"

@Ruriska

“Mmhmm,” Once Forgotten answered, his response to her distracted as he searched around for a suitable spot to place the meat. Eating dirt and leaves as an extra side with your main was normal in the swamp but he still wanted to keep the fresh cooked meat somewhat clean for her. He eventually found a drooping fern and gently placed the prize down upon it.

With his mouth now free, he could step back and actually have a conversation. “Of course. This is all for you.” His chest puffed proudly. What stallion didn’t get a kick out of providing for a pregnant doe? Back on the plains that would have been his life. A herd and family that needed him.

Well, he had that now too. Just not as many females as was normal. Not that he had eyes for anyone but Cue. And she could very well provide for herself.

“You’ll need all the extra protein you can get now,” he added, hinting at her current state of pregnancy with brows raised.

@Gl!tch~

Night in the Woods considered the buck with her many eyes. She had to admit that he was pretty charming, all things considered, and he did bring food. And her annoyance with the world was settling the more she inhaled through her nose.

She had to admit... The doe did love an opportunity to play fun and flirty, and whatever this morning was turned out to be strangely perfect for that. When did strangers just appear with food, prancing in as if summoned from a passing thought?

And the food smelled divine. Night in the Woods, like much of her family, had never partaken in cooked meat. She would have thought herself caught up in a half-dream, with the impossible odds and the strange lights following the buck, but the way she found her senses overwhelmed...never happened in even her most vivid dreams.

Though, she still felt so hungry she might keel over. So that might be a part of it, too. The desperation to eat. Maybe that's why she could change her tune so quick. At least for now.

"Well, thank you, kind stranger-" she began stepping over, sauntering in a way just so, before stopping and considering his last statement.

The kiokote cocked her head, though still a little more cutely than she would if she wasn't playing around. "Why would I need that much more meat? It's not that close to the cold season, is it? Or did I sleep longer than I thought..."

She continued inching over to the food.

@Ruriska Night in the Woods's hot and cold game is absolutely wild

Once Forgotten watched approvingly as she approached, eyeing the sway of her walk with what could have been mistaken for lustful interest but was actually accompanied by the thought, ah she’s developing that unmistakable pregnancy waddle. She seemed like a rather sweet doe.

He chuckled, sidestepping just a little to give her space to approach the juicy smelling meal. “Oh, you know,” he replied with a wink. But wait - a niggling little thought said in his mind - what if she doesn’t know.

“You know,” he said again, a little more heavily, as if saying ‘you know’ would force her to know despite how vague it was. But he loathed to say more because if she didn’t know would that spoil the surprise? Then again, the sooner you knew, the sooner you could start planning.

And it was kind of his job.

“You know,” he repeated once more, like a parrot who’d learnt a single thing and wouldn’t stop. Then his voice dropped, lowered intimately, just for her, “the babies”. 

@Gl!tch~ and forgotten has maximum oblivious skills hah

"The what," she intoned over the meat she had started to gnaw on.

But that was too quiet. A whisper, a hiss, the kind of thing you say more to yourself than anyone else.

So, she tried again, louder. "The what?" she asked, an actual question this time, food dropping to the ground.

But even then... "The what?" A yell, her attitude turning from groggy and nauseous while trying to hold herself together to confused to horrified then to just plain offended.

"I didn't agree to babies!"

@Ruriska My name is Night in the Woods and I am yelling at customer service. I didn't order this, I want a full refund

That was not the reaction Once Forgotten had been expecting and he flinched every time she said what in increasing levels of anger. It seemed he had spilled the beans and absolutely ruined the surprise.

All the better for it, he thought wryly. She didn’t seem like the doe who handled surprises very well. Her expression was giving away the many emotions rampaging through her and none of them were very good.

“Well,” he said, once she’d given him a moment to reply, his smile rueful. “You sort of did? Agree that is. I presume there was a, ah... buck. You know. Or a doe turned buck. I hear they can do that sort of thing these days.”

The Swamp was a magical place but almost all of the time there was a second somebody involved in the baby making process.

“Either way, you must have met someone and gotten... close.”

He cleared his throat.

“You seem distressed. Perhaps you should sit down?” He suggested helpfully.


@Gl!tch~ once forgotten would like to inform night in the woods that she did in fact place this order and he has the receipts to prove it

She huffed. "No I don't want to sit down."

And yet her behind ended up on the ground anyway, with her legs tucked comfortably.

The doe's face twisted up as if she had tasted something a bit too fermented.

"Well. I hate this. If what you say is true."

Like she had any reason to doubt a random buck with lights dancing around his face. Either this was a dream and it hopefully was all nonsense, or it was very, very real.

"So, is this all you were here for? To come ruin my day with bad news? I don't know how you live with yourself."

She continued to eat the meat, as if that might make it a little clear that she was teasing. If she was teasing? Her mood bounced all over the place too much to tell.

"You at least owe me your name for all the trouble you're causing me."

Names were powerful. Easy to curse. The buck at fault certainly was going to have his own name cursed until oblivion. She probably wouldn't use this one's name for dark desires. Maybe? Maybe. It was a hard maybe right now.

Between the meat and the unfortunate news, who was to say.

@Ruriska After two months (sorry sorry sorry) this was very fun to write

He was glad when she sat down. Anger was a lot more manageable coming from someone that was now sitting down and thus shorter than you. It was why he found cranky little foals so cute.

This was a good lesson, he supposed. The MotherFather had sent him to her for a reason. He wasn’t going to be getting happy parents-to-be for every blessing, there had to be some difficult ones sprinkled between them and he would simply have to deal with it.

“I live with myself quite well, thank you,” he huffed. “And you were better off finding out now rather than later. It’s going to happen whether you like it or not.”

At least she was eating, apparently not so annoyed that she couldn’t accept his gift, which gave him some hope.

“My name is Once Forgotten and I am here to help you. I will bless your unborn foals in the name of the Swamp. Give them a good start to life.” MotherFather knew they were going to need it. “Do you have any requests? I usually bless for good health to start with but I can ask for other things too. Even-tempers perhaps?"

( @Gl!tch~ i love her)