Pregante

[Shani]

Shani slowly paced back and forth across the forest floor. Anxiety growing ever steady as the minutes ticked by. She had asked Nevada, Kiara, and Boso to meet her somewhere private, away from the camp, that she had something important to tell them, but she didn't give any more details than that.

She had no idea how they were going to take the news, or even how she was going to give them the news. Kiara would probably stand by her regardless, she hoped, but she wasn't sure how Nev or Boso would react. Would they be angry? Worried? Would they shout at her and tell her what a huge mistake she made? She was well aware the whole situation had come about from a stupid decision made on hormonal grief.

The sounds of footsteps made her stop pacing, her ears twitching to the direction of the sound.

[Boso]

The trees and bushes began to shake, and antlers furred with soft, downy velvet pushed through the leafage. Boso stepped out into the clearing and shook the leaves from his fur.

Upon seeing the look on Shani's face, he blinked uncertainly. Something was wrong.  

"Um, what's going on?"

[Kiara]

In the wake of the fiasco of the day before, being called to a private meeting filled Kiara's chest with a modicum of hesitancy. The liger girl followed Boso's trail in silence, her eyes fixed on the disappearing tuft of his tail between the foliage. Pressing through herself Kiara found them standing in a clearing large enough for... Whatever it was her ladyfriend had in mind for this gathering.

"Shani?" Kiara's voice was beseeching as she stood half-enclosed in the branches of the bushes she'd pushed through, asking a silent question.

[Nevada]

Large paws carried Nevada through the dense undergrowth of the forest with practised silence. He'd been more than a little surprised to receive a message that Shani had asked him, Boso and Kiara, to meet her somewhere private. As he made his way towards the meeting spot he found himself wondering what reason she might have for calling such a secretive meeting all of a sudden.

He wasn't surprised to see that he was the last one to arrive at the small clearing - He'd been pretty out of sorts ever since the chaos that had unfolded in Africa and was only just beginning to find his paws again. Nevada stopped beside Kiara and cleared his throat to announce his presence, his bright green gaze settling on Shani though he missed the fact that her belly seemed to be rounder than usual.

"Sorry I'm late..." Nevada apologised as he settled down on his haunches next to Kiara.

[Shani]

Boso and Kiara had arrived one after the other, both voices carrying tones of worry and hesitation. Shani let out a short breath, dipping her head at them both,
"Thanks for-"

Nevada's voice broke through her quiet welcome, her ear flicking in his direction and she gave another small nod.
"You're fine."
There was an uncomfortable pause, she could feel their eyes on her, waiting for an explanation as to why they were out here. She knew there was no reason to beat around the bush here. She had to tell them.

"I need your guys' help," she shuffled her paws, ears flat against her head.
"I'm... pregnant."

[Boso]

There was a stunned silence. Then a wide-eyed Boso spoke in a cracked adolescent voice. "That's impossible," he said disbelievingly, struggling to process what he thought he heard Shani say. He must have heard her wrong. He had to have heard her wrong...

Boso stared at Shani dumbly for a time. Then the full horror of understanding dawned on him. He looked cornered, as though he were facing a pack of hungry wolves. Then fear gave way to anger, and he pointed an accusing antler at Kiara. "YOU." It was not a question. 

"D-oh! Nice going, Kiara!"

[Kiara]

Kiara's face froze in a smile that was too tight to show anything but blank surprise, eyes too wide for anything but knee-jerk terror.

"What." she managed to squeak.

Then Boso turned on her, his tone accusatory. For a moment Kiara cowered back a little, grin stretching fearfully to bare teeth in the instinctive fear of oh shit what did I do. There was no way -- they'd only been fooling around a bit! Surely it couldn't have happened so quickly!!

Of course, then Kiara promptly remembered that she lacked a few crucial baby-making tools. Somehow she doubted being half-shifter would somehow bypass the rules of basic biology.

... Hopefully. She really didn't need another reason to corner Nevada for schooling on what exactly her body could and couldn't do.

"Wh- - WHAT THE HELL, BOSO." Fur floofed in a fluster Kiara found herself kicked right off of her usual game, muzzle wrinkling as she gestured towards her own lower body. Was her voice a little louder than usual?? She couldn't tell at the moment. "DO YOU SEE BABY-MAKERS ON THIS UNDERCARRIAGE."

[Nevada]

When Shani announced that she needed Boso, Kiara and his's help, the last thing Nevada was expecting his daughter-in-law to announce was that she was expecting cubs of her own.

Nevada blinked once, then twice in total silence as he processed the information that Shani was expecting little ones. For a split second he also almost assumed that Kiara was responsible for the pregnancy - before remembering that the half-shifter had no means of impregnating anyone.

Realising that his unusual silence was probably unsettling Shani (who couldn't see that he was simply mentally processing the news), Nevada shifted and cleared his throat a little awkwardly.

"Um... Congratulations?"

He debated inquiring about who had fathered the cubs but decided against doing so for now.

[Shani]

On the one hand, letting the secret out felt like a weight had lifted off her shoulders. Unfortunately it was simultaneously replaced with a feeling a dread dripping down her spine as there was nothing but stunned silence. She could only assume they were staring at her in shock.



Shani’s ears were flat against her skull, her head hung low as she anxiously waited for anyone to say something. There were a couple of shocked mutters from her brother and girlfriend, then to her surprise,

"D-oh! Nice going, Kiara!"

Ears pricked at Boso’s outburst, dread being replaced somewhat by a flicker of amusement at her brother’s lack of thinking.

Which was only furthered by Kiara’s response,

"Wh- - WHAT THE HELL, BOSO. DO YOU SEE BABY-MAKERS ON THIS UNDERCARRIAGE."

This time, Shani could not stifle her laughter.

“This is our strange dumb family, but we love them,” she muttered between giggles, more so to herself, but also to the little ones that would soon have to deal with their family’s oddball behavior.

[Jasper]

Blackness clouded the edges of his vision despite how bright the day was. Every step stung through his paw pads and up his legs. His chest felt like it was full of liquid, and the agony it caused radiated throughout his back. His legs felt like lead and his head was cloudy and when he breathed in his gut twisted with more illness.

With every pounding thud within his head he stumbled forward. His weight barely supported by his legs and the closer he came to what he was looking for.

One paw was set forward then the next until his body collapsed against the earth, exhaustion riddling his frame. He heaved with desperation, pressing his head against the fresh moss under foot. He breathed in it's scent as the faintest noise of arguing reached his ears. He was almost there, that voice had to be his son. The yell had to be his daughter. The chattering had to be them.

Claws dug into the ground and with every fiber in his worn body he lifted himself once more on trembling appendages.

Not long now, just hold on a little longer, he pleaded with himself.

Again he walked forward, every step had his body shaking but as he cleared the line of bushes he felt as though he could finally breath clearly. As though a weight had been lifted from his back much like the rocks that had tried to crush him. Their scents grazed his nose and while they were only blurry figures in vision he knew it was them.

A small smile lifted the dry corners of his mouth and he heaved a great choking breath. "I found you." He croaked though his blood matted maw. His tears began to race down his cheeks, unable to contain his happiness, his relief.

"I found you."