Baby Blue

[The Gourmand]

March 28th, Midday

The Gourmand had a relatively routine start to his day. As the Dawnseekers were beginning to fall back into reality, it was clear there was work to be done. He had taken it upon himself to oversee the collection of lumber, stone and various other resources that would be required for the construction of their village. The Gourmand, to the surprise of absolutely nobody, was a bit of a hardass; he pushed them for speed. Any task performed under his watch was just as much a workout as it was anything else. Although, to the sea beast’s credit, it wasn’t because he necessarily wanted to see the others suffer: he knew time could very well be of the essence, and they would need a proper home-base as soon as possible. The sooner everyone had proper housing and warmth, the sooner they could all enjoy some comfort.

However, it was a surprise to see, as the morning went on, that the warlord slowly became more and more quiet. He sank in his seat. His breathing took on the deep and controlled rhythm that anyone who spent time near him in the medical bay would know was indicative of him being in pain. In fact, a more and more uncomfortable expression made itself known. The Gourmand seemed distracted by some sort of mounting realization. Though, he said nothing to the effect of what might have been wrong when he retreated silently into the barn.

~*~

A couple hours had passed. Upon entering the barn and pulling himself out from his pod, the Gourmand vehemently made a request for privacy. No one was prepared to deny him, especially considering he seemed to be genuinely concerned over something. He was allowed a corner to himself and an impromptu veil of curtains was hung. After that, the time that passed only consisted of deep, trance-like breathing, occasionally accented by a pained shutter and shuffling of his body.

It was around midday when things changed. It sounded as if he arose from his spot. Whatever it was, it passed. Crawling a short distance, he took a hand to the veil and began to pull it away. The Gourmand hadn’t leaned himself upright entirely and lay somewhat on his side, with one arm propping him up. He seemed tired: too tired to immediately haul himself back into his pod.

There was something new sitting in the tangled ends of his tentacles; ten brightly-colored, soft-ball sized orbs. A sweet powdery scent was immediately present, mixed over a metallic coppery smell. The hard-shelled eggs became more and more visible as the tendrils slithered away.

[Shani]

While she was technically no longer a medic, having been promoted to one of the Dawnseekers leaders, it was hard to break old habits. Thus, when the Gourmand had entered the barn, she didn't need to see to tell he was showing signs of pain and distress.

Honoring his request to be left alone, the lioness nestled herself a few tail lengths away from the curtained corner the sea beast was occupying. The coppery smell caused her brows to furrow in concern, her ears twitching at each sound for a little while, before she became lost in her thoughts. When the sound of the curtain being moved caught her attention, she rose to her paws.

Taking several tentative steps forward, a new smell caught her attention, one she couldn't quite pinpoint, but held some semblance of familiarity from days long past. The smell reminded her somewhat of when Kanzi had been but a tiny bean, nestled into their mother's belly.
She was well aware of where babies came from, however she had never heard of males of any species being the ones to give birth. So to say she was surprised, as well as somewhat confused, would be an understatement. Still, now wasn't the time to ask about that.

"Sir," she asked, still keeping a relatively safe distance away, in case he still didn't want to be disturbed, "Are you alright? Do you need anything?"

[Mushu]

"Well isn't this a fine mess..." Mushu said to himself. "I go to find Mulan, end up finding loverboy Shang, thinking he knew where she was, Now where am I?!?" Mushu had stowed away to get to Canada so he could meet up with Mulan. However slept through the meeting.... Instead of being intelligent and waiting to see if he would meet her again, he decided to go it alone. His choice led him to a barn in which a ...lion? Was talking to a giant fish that had supposed left a few orbs laying on the ground... At this point Mushu thought he had been on something. Cause that's not something you see everyday.

One thought was to ask the talking lion/lioness where Mulan was... Then it became apparent that he would probably be better suited to hiding out. No one but Mulan is supposed to even know he exists after all. He is her guardian. As he sat contemplating his situation. A round orb of sorts rolled out of the barn. Maybe the lioness didn't see this one go off? Mushu chose to follow and grab the orb.
"Well ain't this something..." He said looking at the orb. "I should return it, but I can't let them see me..." So he thought of the greatest idea ever. "I'll have Mulan return it when I find her. Until then Lil guy...girl... Orb, you are with big daddy Mushu." He felt the spring of fatherhood hit him all at once and was enamored. "I am gonna name you Ru. Let's go find auntie Mulan." And so Mushu continues to head to where more people are to find Mulan. Where ever she may be. With Ru in tow.

[Rapunzel]

Rapunzel sat next to Shani absent mindedly petting along her neck and back. The lost princess may be intimidated by the Gourmand. But he was still a comrade, so she too had been concerned that something was wrong. She had been the one to set up his little corner with the curtains.

Rapunzel's legs were extended straight out from her, and she kept tapping them together, slippers mostly silent. The constant tap, tap, tap while she fidgeted worried about the Gourmand might have been a little annoying to Shani, but Rapunzel couldn't help it.

She looked up when the Gourmand pushed aside the curtains with a small rustle. She perked up and then went with Shani to see if the Gourmand needed anything. Her hands were clasped anxiously in front of her, and then blinked when she noticed the brightly colored orbs.

"Gourmand... what are those?"

[Marahute]

While the injuries Marahute had sustained from her battle with Perthmail were more or less fully healed at this point the giant eagle knew that it was probably a wise idea to continue allowing the medics to check her over every now and then to ensure that no lasting damage had been done.

Thus she lumbered into the barn, keeping her huge wings tucked close against her body. Crimson eyes quickly picked out Shani and Rapunzel as well as The Gourmand and Marahute blinked. She still wasn't sure whether or not she personally trusted The Gourmand but she wasn't going to raise a fuss about his presence, especially as her keen nose picked up the familiar coppery scent of blood coming from his direction.

Rapunzel's query about something drew Marahute's crimson gaze away from The Gourmand himself and down to a pile of ten soft-ball sized orbs. While each orb was vastly different from the rest there was no mistaking what they were; Eggs. Marahute blinked again before shuffling closer, leaning down to investigate the clutch before she set about collecting the softest materials she could find to construct a proper nest around the brightly coloured orbs then settled herself on top of them as her mothering instincts set in, completely ignoring the fact that this was very likely an incredibly rude action.

[Daniel (Tiny)]

“Those are some weird looking eggs” Tiny Dan only managed to catch a glimpse of the clutch before the great eagle settled upon them. The feline gives a tilt of his head, looking towards Gourmand then to the nest with confusion trying to put this whole thing together other then a soft hmmmm sound the cat remains quiet as he sits on the bale of hay/straw

[Dhall]

“Oh, would you all— Marahute! Shoo! Get off of the man, would you? He’s aquatic, that doesn’t mean he won’t need some air.”

Dhall grunts softly as she shoos at the massive bird with her free hand, other hand juggling a few supplies, “You all act as though you’ve never heard of someone reproducing before. Don’t your species have babies, too? That, and—“

Molten eyes shift to the smaller feline, a frown turning slightly on warm lips. The burning incense stick between her lips twitches with the expression, only to shift again as she speaks.

“It’s usually not wise to tell someone who’s just produced that their young looks ‘weird’. Especially if they’ve got a mouth that could swallow you whole.”

With warnings and shooing aside, Dhall carefully approaches, offering what seems to be some damp cloth, and three gumball-sized spheres of herbs in a bowl.

“Eat these, if you can. I’d suggest swallowing them whole, I hear they taste..” a snort of amusement, “Well, vile. But they’re not poison, I promise. Forge Enchantments aren’t really taste-tested. It’ll relieve pain and return some of your energy, and in about an hour or so, Help your body absorb the nutrients it needs from a good meal. Rag’s for head, wrists, whatever you need it for. Nothing special, just cold.”

Despite her lack of medical training or tendencies, it seems one of their newly appointed council members has... some sort of history as a midwife.

[The Gourmand]

The Gourmand’s breath had shallowed into something a bit more normal. When he’d opened the curtains, he was still coming out of his “trance”. Having more or less returned to his normal state of mind, tendrils curled tight, venomous tips spiraling around each-other as he felt downy feathers brushing near his rear end.

“ H S S S S S S S S ”

The vaguely crocodile-like hiss was a warning clear as day. His instincts regarding his own offspring weren’t completely nonexistent after all.

The Gourmand soon relaxed and adjusted himself to lean on his elbows when the eagle was shooed off. Red eyes took turns looking at Shani, Rapunzel, Dan and Dhall. He seemed to look at Dhall the longest, since she gave the impression she actually knew what she was doing, although he didn’t yet touch anything she offered to him. He turned his head to look back in the direction of the eggs, but really could see nothing, there being too much... him in the way. A fist lightly hit the wooden floor.

“Ten.”

He couldn’t see them, but the Gourmand knew how many. While not as painful as mammalian birth, it was certainly painful enough that he was easily able to keep track of how many eggs he produced. He took an exasperated breath.

“Just a hair more than average,” he commented.

Apparently he’d done this before. Taking another breath, his back hit the barn wall and he leaned into it as comfortably as he could. He was quiet for a few moments. To an extent, he almost felt backed into that corner, and the eyes on him put him on edge. But on the other hand, this was the Gourmand.

“Water.  Cushions,” he made a request that sounded more like a demand, “If you’re quite finished gawking.”

[Shani]

Eggs. Well that... kind of explained things, at least a little bit. Shani knew that birds lay eggs, apparently so did sea creatures.
It seemed she was not the only one concerned about what was going on, a small crowd had trickled in, her ears twitching at the sounds of everyone's voices.

Perhaps it was her medic habits still lingering, but she couldn't help but feel a twinge of annoyance. Birthing was a difficult and painful process, and they were all staring and prodding like this was a show. She was about to open her mouth and tell anyone that didn't have medical training to clear off, but it seemed Dhall had beat her to the punch.
It also seemed she had come prepared, to which the lioness gave a thankful nod in her direction.

Her ears then swiveled back in the direction of the Gourmand as he spoke, clearly annoyed with the attention.
She couldn't really blame him.

“Water. Cushions-”

Ah. There we go, that was what she had been waiting for, some way to help.
"I can get the Cushions," she piped up, quickly turning and padding away. She didn't need to go far, and in only a few moments, she had a rather impressive pile of cushions, blankets, and other soft fabric type things, all wrapped in a larger blanket that she half carried, half dragged alongside her.
She may have stashed some things away for when they finally had proper cabins, but right now the Gourmand needed them more.

As she trotted back to the corner of the barn, Shani felt something small and round roll up and bump her paws.
Tilting her head, she let go of the corners of the blanket and bent down, carefully sniffing at it.
It was one of the eggs.
Concern twisted in her stomach, and it was like a maternal switch had been flipped. 
As gently as she could, Shani picked up the egg, making sure not to clench her jaw, or move her mouth in any way that might cause the egg to crack.
Then, slowly, she made her way over to the Gourmand, ears back in a sign of non-agression, simply trying to find the rest of the clutch and return the little wanderer.

[Naiche]

What had been a relatively quiet morning was ruined by the sound of chittering animals and the loud hiss of the Gourmand. Naiche had only been with the group for a few days now but he had made it a point to make himself as useful but non-invasive as possible. So when all the commotion roused him from his pile of snow he was pretty promptly up on his feet leaving Atka's side just for the moment as he went to check on the conversation starter.

Large paws had led him into the building where he could already see a crowd forming. His honey colored hues examined the situation with interest. The Gourmand had laid eggs? That was odd. He didn't think that could be possible... But then again the spirits had turned him into a wolfdog for the things he had done so who was he to determine what was and wasn't possibly be it by magic or physical limits.

He shook his head mostly at himself. He needed to stop these predetermined ideals of what the world was meant to be. Anything could change at the drop of a hat. He sighed heavily before he braced against the floor, digging claws down just enough to secure his grip only to shake his pelt out roughly freeing himself of the cold and snow that had clung to his feathery coat. He sighed roughly letting himself 'sit' quietly in the back of the crowd.

His gaze had shifted around the room, looking over each member. It had stopped on Shani who had been in the process of dropping the blanket full of cushions. Who was discarding them in favor of the egg that had rolled away from it's father which she promptly tried to return. A small tug was felt at the corner on his lips, Shani was a good kid from what Naiche had heard but to see her in action was something entirely different. As she made her approach toward the Gorumand, Naiche made his approach for the blanket bundle which he quickly ceased up in his jaws and made his own slow nonaggressive approach over to the Commanding Officer.

"Here." He announced though he kept his posture friendly as he settled the blankets and cushions near the huge seacreature before respectfully backing off to give him room. He remembered very clearly how the people back in his tribe were after having kids of their own. They weren't always in the beast of moods and while his mom usually handled such things he liked to help when he could. This reminded him of it friendly so he reclined to sitting off to the side watching but not being prying, if the Gourmand wanted anything else Naiche wouldn't hesitate to nab it for him.