Luce breathed, her chest softly rising and falling with every misbegotten breath she drew. She was a slender, curvaceous being and the swell of pregnancy did not suit her. Her back ached, her body quaked and as she grew more and more swollen the pains only grew worse until eventually she had been forced to rely on the rest of Tortuga to bring her food. Pregnancy did not suit the dame at all. Her nostrils flared, her claws scraped the stones of her den, her heavy belly rose and fell. She was close to giving birth, it wouldn't be long now. Luce had already set her sights on taking care of her whelps alone. She had traveled clear to Valhalla to tell Neo, throwing her own pride away to speak with him and he repaid her with disrespect. She wasn't worth his time and Luce would harden her heart to everyone save the life that grew within her. She would smother her pups in affection and love. She would cherish them as the precious creatures they were. If Neo had no time for her, or her precious litter then so be it. Luce had never needed anyone before and she would need no one now. Luce blinked, looking for her beloved Seraphine, the tiny child had become her daughter, a part of her litter, hopefully her litter would be small enough that Seraphine could still readily nurse. She called the tiny pup too her, smiling gently, and bathing the child with a delicate kiss. Suddenly a horrendous pain wracked her mid-section and Luce groaned, a cry of agony as her womb contracted violently, attempting to push out the life within her womb. For minutes, hours, days? She writhed across the stones, nostrils flaring, claws flailing mouth falling open in cries of pain and agony. Her muscles spasmed violently and she grinded her teeth together, forcing her heavy abdomen to push, she panted violently, chest rising and falling with great and heady breaths. With one last final cry of pain, the first would fall from her womb. She would careen her bodice around, fighting the heavy contractions that rocked her, grey with black markings and stunning magenta eyes, her tongue would cleanse him, cleaning him of filth and debris before she would nudge him towards her underbelly smiling when he found one of her nipples. "Jacques..." She breathed through her pain. Another cry, another scream, another agony induced contraction and the second would fall. Over heated and exhausted she would attend to her second pup. Guiding her to an unoccupied nipple, she would cleanse her fur, tans and browns, her stunning blue eyes and a few black markings. "Silana." A horrific cry would rip from her throat as another contraction rippled through her and a few more desperate pushes and the final pup would fall, the pain receding as her exhausted bodice slumped to the floor. her chest heaved with effort, but she forced her torso to contract, guiding the third and final pup to her waiting abdomen. White, off grey and one of her eyes and one of Neo's. She guided him to her. "Aeron." She breathed, bathing all three pups with her tongue. They would imprint upon her and only her, she would be certain. Her gaze shifted to Seraphine, a tired smile spreading across her maw. "Come Seraphine, come meet you siblings." Once her four pups were tucked against her abdomen her tail would flicker, pulling them in tightly to her body. She curled into her litter, bathing them in affection and sweet kisses, she loved them all unconditionally. Speech,

He came into this world knowing nothing at all. Yet there were constants even then, even at birth. The wriggling frames of his siblings - although, he didn't know them as siblings quite yet, he knew that they were always there, always close, and even after being cast out of the warmth that he had dwelled in since creation, they were still on both sides of him. The other, was something more of a divine presence, someone or something that had always been there. No doubt that he would forget as he started learning, but as an unborn he had awaited his birth surrounded by her heartbeat, her breathing, her voice. He knew instantly, as he was being bathed by her tongue and pushed toward a source of both food and heat - that he was safe so long as she were near.

The pressure was what he felt first. It woke the tiny creature from his slumber and began to push him, pull him, force him out. There was discomfort, but it was minor - until the child's skin felt air for the first time, and his lungs caught it with a wet gasp; as his body connected to the den floor it felt like he had been falling through the cold forever, as the child had no sense of time. No perspective. Through his first gasp the bundle of wet parts squawked and squeaked. He felt a warm sensation upon his body that was comforting, because it meant the wetness would be gone, the cold would be banished. And then the pulling again - this time only nudges, not the bulging contortion of muscles; and he obeyed the feeling just as he was compelled to obey the initial spasms. The child burrowed his face in to the fuzz of his mother, unaware of how important these first few moments were. While this would go down in his mother's history as the most important day in her life (presumably), little Jacques was blissfully unaware. He would not remember his first breath, or the feeling of warm milk as he finally latched upon a teat and began to drink.

She had been sleeping, dozed off while Luce was resting. She could not quite call her mother yet, it was too soon for that still. With each passing day thugh she foud herself wanting to call her mom, feeling like she had become her new one. Caring for her like her other mom did. She had eve given the pup a name, Seraphine. It was pretty, just like mother had told her before the fire. She was a very pretty and happy pup. Seraphine had lifted her head off her paws, looking to Luce as she breathed heavily. Before she had dozed off she told the pup that she would be having brothers and sisters soon, and it made the girl get excited, with her other mother she was the only one. Her voice calling hr made the pup push herself up and make her way over, smiling as Luce gave her a kiss but she jumped when she had groaned. To her, it seemed to go on forever. Her new mom seemed to be in a lot of pain, her body trembling and nose flaring. One by one she watched three little things come from Luce, all of interesting colors and patterns in their fur. Jacques, Silana, and Aeron. When Luce had looked to Seraphine with a smile and told her to come beet her siblings, the pup gave a small nod of her head but before she went over she had turned and went out the den. A moment later she was back with some moss, soaked in water, from when she had collected it before her nap. Claws clicked against the ground as she made her way over, setting the moss down by Luce's head and turned to the pups with a smile, her stump of a tail wiggling. They are all pretty. She grinned, a sof whine coming from her as Luce pulled her in close with the three pups. I got you water mama Luce, in case your thirsty. She looked up with a smile, before turning her head down to look at the pups, laying her here carefully over them. I will protect them from big bad monsters! "normal, talk, think, you"

It was cold, that was the first thing she felt but the whelp did not cry out, no whimper escaped her jaws as she slid from her mother and into this cruel new world. She felt the slithering of another form and the feeling of damp fur on damp fur. A scream flooded her senses and head jerked back violently at the sound but she made no attempt to mirror the noise. Though her jaws parted and worked, loosing the joint as she searched for something, she made no attempt to try out her vocal cords. Instead little body wiggled and she almost toppled a few times before finally latching onto that something that she had been searching for. Unaware of the fact she was laying atop her brother Aeron or that her hind leg was smushed into her brother Jacques face. All she could think about was the life giving, warm milk that flowed from the nipple she had latched to. Some instinct far beyond her conscious mind had told her that this was what she needed and she planned to stay here until she was so full she could burst.

Luce instinctively coiled her bodice around her pups, including the slightly scarred visage of the daughter she had adopted, for all intents and purposes, Seraphine was hers. She was grow up bathed in love and affection, she would never feel the sting of loneliness again, she would be raised as one of Luce's own. No more and no less. She was perfect and Luce would be damned before she thought any different. She was exhausted, sleepy and she wished for nothing more than to dream, her thoughts coiling around this litter without fear, but she could do no such thing, not until she assured Seraphine that she was ok. Languidly she lapped at the water Seraphine had brought her, before nuzzling the youth affectionately. Undying love she felt for all of her children, it was instinctual, natural, she would never love anything more than the children encased within her heavy embrace. Crystalline blues would seek Seraphine and gently she offered the pup a kiss. "Thank you love, that tastes wonderful." Her voice was slightly erratic and sleepy but she made no move to release any of her children. She would sleep coiled around them if it killed her. Speech,