Perfection from Nose to Tail

Briar chuckled softly at the thought of her father trying to run off with one of their pups. Even without those distinctive Fatalis markings across the boy's eye she still felt like they had to pat down her father to make sure he wasn't trying to escape with one of the pups every time he came to visit. If there was one thing that he had always obsessed over and loved more than anything else it was tiny pups. With one of those tiny pups now peacefully resting at her belly, it was high time to bring one of his brothers or sisters into the world to join him. She reclined back into Artorias once more as the contractions began to make themselves known again, making the muscles across her side squeeze and ripple with gradual, building strength. She let out long breaths through her teeth as each contraction passed, panting lightly and continuing to hold tight to Artorias' foreleg as time went on.

Gwynevere still prompted her to push once the next pup was ready for it, but she hardly even needed her sister-in-law's prompting any more. She knew well what feeling she was waiting for now. With whines and grunts of effort, she did as she was told and began to push through each of the strong contractions as her body continued to work the next pup free. It took a bit more effort than the first now that her initial energy was beginning to be sapped away, but luckily these first two were far from the largest pups she had ever delivered and after a few more strong, straining pushes she finally had that momentary relief she was working toward. With a heavy sigh she relaxed back into Art again to catch her breath a bit while Gwyn immediately went to work cleaning up their newest pup. Only a few moments later she heard the cries she was waiting with bated breath to hear and she grinned as they were told it was another boy. She lifted her head with a bit of effort to see their boy and was happy to see that some more of her tan coloring had made its way to their children. It seemed to be a less dominate trait than Art's blue and black so she'd take any little hint of it she could–even if the tans on this boy were capped by black on his head and limbs. She noticed that he was nearly the exact same size as his brother as she got them nestled in together at her belly, but she knew that the size they were as pups could be deceptive so only time would tell if that remained true.

She gasped softly as another, sudden contraction caught her off guard in the middle of her fawning over their first borns. It seemed that her labor was running in full force now as the rest of their pups eagerly wanted to make their debut. Wincing, Briar settled back into Art and grit her teeth through the initial contraction and only once it passed was she able to breathe a bit and brace herself for another pup. With her paw wrapped around Art's foreleg, she squeezed his limb through each contraction and the pain that came with them, her panting becoming more labored as time went on. It was always hard to tell just how much time passed between each pup as she got lost in a haze of labor and focused instead on the steady breathing and pushing that she was coached through by Gwyn, but eventually that pain reached its peak as their third pup entered the world. There was hardly any time at all before loud, squealing cries filled the bedroom the moment that Gwyn got the little pup's face and mouth cleaned off. Briar gave a tired chuckle at that, glad to hear such a spirited entrance from what she expected to be their middle child–and their first girl as her sister-in-law soon told them. She adored all of her children, but of course she had a little bit of a soft spot for her girls so she was eager to turn her head to look at their newest girl as she was put beside her brothers. A perfect blending of the two of them with her dark, blue-black coat and markings that mimicked her own in the turquoise-hue that was faded out across her form, she was absolutely beautiful and immediately captured her heart.

"How many more do you think there are, Gwyn?" she questioned breathlessly as she rested her head back down again. She already knew that they were likely expecting as many as they had in their first litter, but she wasn't sure if Gwyn would be able to get a better read on it now that a few were here with them. "At least two more... perhaps three," was Gwyn's response after gently feeling across her lower belly for a brief moment. Briar made a soft chuckle with a glance up at Art, giving him a mostly teasing glare for filling her with so many pups yet again. "I think another dose of herbs would be nice if that's okay," she added, turning her gaze back to her healer in the brief moments between their pups being born.

"Artorias & Briar Carpathius"