InsaneJournal

Regan: well it's all a crying shame
[OOC: Cobra and Sweeny played by and © to MaxKhaos; Regan is played by me and is my own character. RP arrangement edited for clarity.]

From where she lay sprawled on the worn musty mattress, Regan growled, in pain and frustration, and some fear. Her hackles prickled. She didn't quite know what was up, but she didn't like this one bit.

Just recently she had started feeling strange, though she couldn't quite point to why exactly in her head. She hadn't felt like going out, or stretching her legs, bounding across the sun-warmed, rain-dampened fields. The world was well into spring now and the air was warm and full of the green smell that promised new life. By all rights she should be out there in the sun, reveling in her own strength and beauty, bewitching her prized mate all over again with the way her red-gold coat shone in the sun, and the swift graceful movement of her legs as she ran. She had been anticipating this, eagerly, sick of the cold and of the hungry time that was winter. But no, something compelled her to just lie here.

Worst of all, her belly was swelling. At first she had thought it was her own imagination, but as the days wore on it not only became apparent from the increased weight of it, but to her own consternation the results were clearly visible to boot. That silly little rat and that fat ugly terrier, no doubt they laughed at her behind her back. She could hardly repress a snarl at the thought of it.

She had designated a particular corner of the bed as her own, and she was lying there now. Nosing at her now clearly rounded belly, bulging like a paunch from her slender frame, she felt some sense of revulsion. She had deliberately avoided considering the possibility that somehow she had life growing within her, but it seemed more and more sure by the day.

Cobra. She snarled to herself, this time in pure frustration. She had wanted to possess him, and if bearing his litter was what it took to be his queen always then that was what she must do. But nobody had told her it was going to be quite so inconvenient.

Cobra had been hoping that his mate was pregnant. The only issue he had was the possibility of some of the pups being from that… other dog. But as time had gone by and it became more and more apparent that his wish had come true, the other dog’s image had faded from the alpha male’s mind. This was his alpha female and his royal pups. Although he had been out early in the morning to remark their territory and get himself some clean water, he was now returning to their cabin accompanied by Sweeny, he’d not asked the odd corgi to follow, but the dog had anyway.

The mere sound of what she knew to be the voice of the Rat made Regan's hackles bristle and rise. "Shut up, you little cretin," she snarled across the room at him, her voice shrill with the force of the sheer annoyance she felt at him, at her own body, at Cobra, at the world. Why wouldn't it all leave her be?

As they entered, Cobra would catch sight of the tiny ratter dog crawling under the couch. The Doberman mix would frown a little. Not because the dog was acting off, but because he’d still not thought of a good use for the small beast beyond catching the vermin that were intent on dwelling here as well. No matter. A strange smell was in the air and it seemed to be of more importance than the small dog’s issues. And so Cobra would head up the stairs at his usual large stride. Once up, he moved slowly into their bedroom that was fast becoming a den. Sniffing the air, he’d spot her in her usual place. “Regan?”

Oh, now what? The cause of all this trouble. He had been almost unbearably clingy lately, always following her about and asking if she was all right, much to her disgust.

Hoping onto the bed, the large mutt would inch closer, a gentle smile across his muzzle. He couldn’t help but smile around her. She was simply gorgeous with that puppy filled belly. Licking that rounded area, he’d catch her eyes. “You alright?” He had been asking her that a lot lately. He’d always been extremely protective of her, but his possessiveness was heightened with her in this condition. He’d not let a single animal, dog or otherwise, within a few feet of her since she’d really started showing.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I. Am. Fine," she snapped, bearing her teeth at him, but she couldn't help but lower her growls to a softer, mollified grumbling at his attentions. Despite everything, it was still rather flattering and exciting when she thought about this. Her, bearing this great king's litter. But why did it have to be so awful too? Why couldn't she just enjoy this victory while she had it? No, everything got on her nerves and nothing felt right and she had to get up and relieve herself every other minute and the whole world was stupid and didn't work properly.

All of a sudden she felt something shift in her belly, and she yowled suddenly, in shock and in horror and loathing at the sensation. It didn't stop though, it continued, edging lower and lower down, and Regan lifted her voice again in a long-drawn out, incoherent sound, part screech and part howl.

"Get-get out of here," she gasped at Cobra, eyes wild, foam flecking her open, panting jaws, her voice rising to a breathy scream. She lifted her head to aim several snaps at his face, obviously meant to do some damage. "Leave me. Now!"

Poor Cobra. She had always been firey, and it was one of the things he loved about her. But he didn’t understand why the female was being so… grumpy. He just wanted to keep her safe and make sure she was going to remain his. It was almost rude in his mind to keep a king from being with his queen.

As she looked and sounded in dreadful pain, his ears would flatten and his head lower. If only there was something he could do. Not that he understood that the pups were coming. Something was wrong and he hated seeing her in pain. But as she screamed at him and then snapped in a real attempt to harm him he’d tumble backward and off the bed. Hitting the floorboards hard, he’d yelp in pain. Getting back onto his feet he’d limp toward the door and slip through. Stopping at the top of the stairs, he’d whine as he laid down. That fall had hurt his hips, and so he’d lick at his hind legs. What had he done?

Regan kept up her cries for quite some time. She didn't know exactly how long, she only knew that her lower body and the place under her tail were doing something funny and she didn't like it one bit. So she just kept screaming. The world should know of her immense displeasure in having to be in this situation. In spite of herself, she strained, wanting nothing more than to have the little horrors out of her, away-

She felt something give, and looking down, she saw what appeared to be a glistening blob on the mattress just below her tail. The sight took her by surprise and for a while she could only stare at the thing in revulsed fascination. Had something gone wrong? It certainly didn't resemble any of the puppies she had seen, but then the thing struggled, and she saw that it was encased in some clear bag.

Now even more intrigued, Regan sniffed closer, for a moment forgetting the sensation in her lower body, and that she was supposed to be advertising her awful condition. The pup was moving inside its bag, and she thought she saw its tiny mouth open in a silent cry. Grabbing the bag, she tore a hole in it with her teeth before she knew what she was doing, and the tiny creature fumbled toward her as it kept up its high peeping cries.

Too astonished to do anything but stare, Regan watched as the tiny creature latched itself onto her belly and began to suck. Oddly enough, she was feeling better by the minute.

"You've got slime on you," she muttered, lowering her muzzle to it and licking the stuff off. She could see now that this pup was a reddish colour, rather like herself, and felt herself wonder as she nosed at the tiny back.

Then the contractions seized her again, viciously, and once more she started to yell. The pup, seemingly unperturbed, just kept nursing.

Regan wasn't sure how much time passed, but by and by her voice grew tired from the constant screaming, and gradually died to a soft moaning whimper. She was getting tired too, and hot, and uncomfortable. And the pains wouldn't stop. They kept seizing her from time to time and making her cry out and strain, because all she wanted was the little terrors that were living within her to just come out, all of them, and leave her in peace. Like she used to be. Beautiful, and confident, and queen of the world, reduced to this: panting and dishevelled, and covered in blood and slime. It was almost unbearable.

But interlaced with these thoughts of anger and frustration was sheer wonderment. As she worked, another pup soon arrived, and she set that one free too and cleaned it off while it cheeped faintly and sought her out. The two little creatures nursing at her side were so tiny, so delicate, she couldn't help but be somewhat taken aback. These, these weaklings would someday become the heirs that Cobra so desired? It was hard to imagine, looking at them now.

When next the pains came they were the worst yet; she thought she was losing consciousness. Come to think of it, that would have been a blessing, but she had to get rid of these pups. Straining as hard as she could, hardly thinking of anything else, she turned her face to her tail in relief as she felt the next pup slide from her. But this one didn't have a bag around it like the others had. Regan peered closer. The bag was there, but torn, and the pup was soaked and very still; it didn't grope towards her and cheep as the others had.

Horrified, Regan nosed at the little body, and as she did so another pup slipped from beneath her tail and fell onto the bed. Almost frantically, Regan tore the bag from it and washed it vigorously with her tongue. She needed the pups to stay alive. What would Cobra say if he found any had been lost?

Fortunately this little one was still alive, and to Regan's immense relief the little creature paddled its way across the mattress to join its other two siblings.

She lay back, licking her nose and panting from the heat and the stress and the work. She waited, but no more pains came. What if there were still more pups to come She looked back at the dead pup, and feeling the horror grip her again she turned her head away from it, not wanting to lay eyes on it again. Looking down at her three pups with mixed emotions swirling in her chest, she curled herself around them with surprising tenderness, and laid her head dully on the mattress, spent with her own efforts.

Well Cobra had his head upon his paws. Each out cry from his mate inside their room made him flinch. He just hoped against hope that the lessening of her yelps and the funny smell didn’t mean she was dieing. Isn’t that what the dogs downstairs were saying? The smell of death? Letting out a quiet whine himself, he’d start to get up…. But then there was the sound of little peeping. He had never really been around pups before, especially not as young as his own offspring, but he did know that sound was nothing bad. And though his hips hurt, he still managed to stand and turn around to peek cautiously inside. He wasn’t about to go in, but he did want to try and look

Later on, Regan wasn't exactly sure what had made her raise her head. Tired as she was, and still throbbing inside and out from her labour, she had simply been drifting in a black and purple haze of not-knowing and pain. The pups, suckling and clamouring, tugged at the edges of her consciousness, but that was all that she knew.

But something, something she didn't quite understand had bade her do so. Still throbbing and hazy, she had raised her head to look behind her and opened her eyes. There was the dark head of a dog there, and she tried to pull her lips back and snarl, but the next instant she recognised the familiar shape of her mate, worriment clear in his eyes.

Regan was sure she hardly looked a queen. She felt shamed that he should see her like this, panting and slavering and coated in muck. Suddenly all she wanted was him to be near. His presence, which had been so irritating and unwelcome all these past weeks, suddenly seemed comforting and warm and familiar. She ached for it.

The red bitch flattened her ears and whined pitifully, a wordless plea for him to come to her.

The normally large and daunting male looked rather gentle as his mate whined for him. Crossing the room, that limp a little too obvious for his own liking, the alpha male would managed to hop onto the bed. Spotting the puppies, he'd sniff the air a little. It was so strange to thing that these wriggling little bodies were what they had created.

Cautiously moving closer, he'd stop if the bitch decided that she really didn't want him there. But if she was receptive he would lay gingerly down behind her and lay his chin upon her shoulder. "Are... you alright?" Of course he could see that there were three, one smelling less familiar than the other two. And... there was a dead one laying were most of the nasty stuff was located. He didn't know what happened,but he trusted that she had done nothing to harm the pup.

All Regan wanted was her Cobra near to her, his presence always the promise that he would protect her. Thus far he had made no apparent move to harm the pups -- the thought made her lips pull back involuntarily, just a little -- and she needed him around. She had birthed the pups, and there they lay now against the matted fur of her belly. But now, what was she to do? How was she to bring them up?

Left to herself, she might simply have abandoned her pups entirely, let the whole problem fall to somebody else. Oh, how nice it would have been to leave the pups in some other fool bitch's care, to carry on being a queen! Now that the pups were born, she found she didn't hate them quite so much as she had when they were inside her, but she still wasn't quite sure what to do with them. And that just made her feel resentful.

But Cobra would have an answer. He always did, for everything. And these were his pups, his litter that he had wanted. Surely she could depend on him? Not that she really had a choice.

She curled her hindquarters tighter, hugging the pups to her with her body. Lifting her muzzle to Cobra's, she snuffed noses with him as her tail flicked briefly. "I'll be just fine."

She hoped.

It was good that Cobra had no idea what his female was thinking. He couldn’t have liked her thinking about leaving their pups, but he also didn’t know the first thing about raising their offspring. All he knew is that he was supposed to keep them all safe, they were supposed to be wiggling at her side like that and he wasn’t about to touch them until Regan wanted him to.

As she spoke, he’d take in a deep breath and partly close his eyes. His nerves were about shot. And it seemed that he wasn’t the only one here that needed to rest. So even though he was falling asleep, he would sleep lightly to make sure his queen and their babies were safe. "Thank goodness..."