On her way out, Mar grabbed a hold of thick, furred coat and her necklace rune to chase off the bitter chill during the season changes. Her first experience was one she was unprepared by when the days grew colder and nights longer. There was a reason the Naga were never above ground during the desert nights as they would’ve frozen to death. First her body started to shut down, bit by bit until finally her instincts kicked upon entering the Malice stage. It was something she had nearly done already and gave her greater reason not to repeat it; the memory was rather fixed in her mind every walk.
Normally she would’ve avoided going out during winter, but the child had grown restless. Slithering along was one of the few things which settled her and gave Mar some comfort, her tail pushed her along the chilled stone easily. She was still frustrated at him, the emotion unknowingly showed on her form while she made her way as far from her room as possible. After some time of running up the hallway, her temper had cooled to a more reasonable degree and her slither came to more of an amble now.
Her mood neutral, her eyes caught the image of a flower which seemed to have escaped the snow effects of winter. It seemed to be one placed there by the Herbamancer, Lucilia, if Mar remembered the name correctly and paused to admire slightly. She still found it hard for such a delicate little to survive in this weather yet here it was before her eyes, it's petals bloomed and thrived. The moment she touched it, Mar's teeth tightened from pain that filled her middle sending her to double over. Her arm wrapped about herself while fought pass the sudden but brief labor pain. Mar's eyes widened a bit in surprised then slowly straightened up. Her lungs seemed unable to get enough air as she pulled away from the flower. That's when she heard foot steps approach, her head twisted about to face the owner.
Alaira had left Coco, and was on her way to see Lyris (or Angel as she called her) and... talk or something. She guessed she'd have to get to know her roommate sooner or later. of course, that meant finding her, and not that it was difficult to find a girl with bird wings walking arond, but this place was damn huge. So naturally this meant wandering! Yay! She walked through the halls, and at one point witnessed two idiots chasing after Zaad, as if they'd ever catch him.
But after a while, she came across an odd sight. Mar, the Naga was looking at a flower of some sort. For some reason, Alaira kept forgetting she was pregnant and so was a little wierded out by her appearance. The strange thing was that she was wandering around out here. Wasn't she cold blooded? and for that matter, wouldn't that mean a coat wouldn't help? It was then that the girl seemed to be in pain, but Alaira wasn't really aware of what that meant. She walked over "Hey Scales, you alright?" she asked in that sort of 'what's up?' tone. not that they were friends or anything, but there wasn't any animosity over anything either.
Mar listened to the name roll off the biped's tongue, followed by a slight irritation yet she didn't lash out. Over the few months, the Naga had learned to keep her temper and instead tolerate with some reasonable degree the habits of bipeds. Though she would admit, her current condition might've helped in that aspect. She sighed a bit then spoke. "I'm fine."
Again, another pain shot through her. Her hand lashed out and slapped the wall in an attempt to keep her upright. The other tightened itself about her middle, the fur pressed against the cooler skin and did little to easy the slight increase. Her breathing had deepened then faded slowly back to normal. She once more looked at the half Elf, her eyes noted the features of both human and Elven descent, before she couldn't help commenting on the nickname. "My name is Mar, not Scales."
A slight breeze had started up and brushed by, her body shivered a bit out of instinct. Her hair move to prove it wasn't an illusion yet she found it odd to have one sudden stir from nowhere.
Now, Alaira wasn't a doctor or anything, but she diagnosed a terminal lack of 'fine' in tis situation. Mar was having extreme difficulty standing(?) up, and her breathing was abnormal. "Right, right, your fine. And I'm Xiah." Again, Mar was most definitely not fine, and Alaira might have to do something about it. But through it all, Mar managed to bitch about being called scales. Ah, good. She's still Mar. Can't be hurt too bad then. Alaira thouht. Still, she should probably answer. "Well Scales, it doesn't matter what I call you right now does it? Seeing as how I should be taking you to a doctor right now anyway." she said.
Mar shook her head, "I'm alrig-"
Her body crumbled at the next wave of pain as she slid to her side, her eyes wide and jawline tightened in pain. Her lungs seemed desperate for air while now both arms clutched at her middle. The baby had started to wiggle and lash out, her tiny feet left a few bruise in their effort. Something wasn't right. The dreadful realization seemed to dig at her in a fashion she didn't like, her breath bacame shallower and faster. Skin had taken on a paler coloring then normal as her tail, laid and against the wall, twitched slightly.
It seemed the Naga was going into labor but sadly, her body wasn't made for a hybrid's needs and her body was suffering for it.
"Oh, oh gods this is serious!" Alaira said as she realized what was going on. She'd dropped the more apathetic tone, seeing as how she as genuinely worried. She wasn't exactly considerate, but it would be ridiculously cruel to leave a pregnant woman alone in the cold. "Look, you're not well, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't fight me..." she said as she grabbed Mar by the arms and started to more or less drag her towards the infirmary. Still, while she was keeping a decent pace, Mar was extremely heavy. "Urgh, Why in the nine hells are you so heavy? Are your bones made of Slowsilver or something? Damnit..." She said through gritted teeth. Come to think of it, this is the first time her extreme sregth had com in handy since she came here.
"I don't...ahhhh..."Mar let out another grunt of pain from the contraction, her body felt like it was trying to cave in on her yet she knew the opposite was true.
Things were moving in her body in ways she wasn't used to and her fear started to grow, slowly. She didn't fight when Alaira started to drag her, each movement felt like a new agony which he bit back. Each time, she wanted to scream, Mar just bit harder on her lip and closed her mouth harder to stop it. However she hadn't realize her nails, the hands had to grip onto something as Alaira had taken hold of her torso, dug into the half Elf's furred sleeve. The Naga felt like she was in a sea of pain until she couldn't stand it.
"Stop..Ahhhh...please..." Mar whispered softly while she tried not to curl into a ball. "Something's not right..."
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Alaira wasn't stupid, she knew how much pain she was causing the poor girl, but se also thought it was necessary. She didn't like it, but Mar would have to deal with it. Even when Mar's sharpened nails dug into her arm, she gritted her teeth and powered through it. However, themoral implications of this were taking it's toll on her. Violent and some would say sadistic she was, it sickened her to cause such agony to a helpless pregnant woman. It was when Mar whispered to her that she couldn't do it anymore.
Alaira slowed down and found a nearby wall to lean her against. "I... I'm so sorry..." She said. She couldn't hurt her anymore, but she knew se needed help bad. She also knew she couldn't leave her alone. "Argh, damnit!" she shouted as she kicked a nearby pillar. Was there nothing she could do? Wait a second... Wht was old timer telling her about yesterday... When lightning goes through metal, the metal get's really hot... "Hold on..." Alaira said to herself as she got her lance. with no small amount of effort, she pulled the iron cap off the end, giving her a nice nine inch long metal bar. "This'll keep you warm, don't touch it..." She said.
Alaira sent the energy through her arm and into the metal. within about thirty seconds the Iron bar had started to glow a bright orange, and was radiating a fair bit of heat. she held it reasonable close to Mar, but not close enough to drop a burning chunk of metal on top of her. She wouldn't be able to keep it up for long, but it might make her more comfortable.
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"-nd what's the knife for?" Right around that time, Althalus and Sam rounded the corner. Althalus, recovering from the surprise at Mar's show of emotion, had been concerned he had pushed her too far. Thus, he was going after her to...do something. Maybe apologize, he didn't really know. Along the way out, he had met with the old healer, Sam. Apparently, the man had just been contacted by a wind Golem of Uicle's and Mar was beginning to have her child. As much as Althalus wanted to begin going through the halls as fast as possible, Sam couldn't keep up that pace. So, the assassin was impatiently walking as fast as possible with the healer, only now noticing that Sam had a knife amongst the other things that the wind Golem was swirling about.
Of course, he immediately forgot the question when he saw the state the mother of his child was in. To say she was in pain was an understatement."Mar!" If he had had any plans to keep his emotions detached from the entire scenario, they went right out the window. Worry was the most prevalent of the emotions in his voice. Running over, he narrowly avoided the iron bar Alaira was carrying, on his knees next to her. He looked to Sam, helpless and desperate. "Help her. Please. Help her."
Mar's head was plastered with her hair, now a mess and wild, against her forehead. Her body seemed to shake with each pain that she barely realized Althalus's presence until he sat beside her. Her tail flinched, but didn't strike out, from his fingers brushing the hair from her eyes. Fear... unnatural there for her was clearly seen, increased when she felt the inside twist more and more.
"You have to move and prop her against yourself." Sam said, his figure finally arrived and settled just out reach from the hot iron Alaira had created.
Visibly it created an ideal heat for both mother and child, his lips pulled in a knowing smile at Alaira then his old hand had unfurled his medical kit. It had dried herbs, knives and other needed materials in the worse case scenerio. Something that had come it seemed to the old man's worry. He pulled the fur away to reveal the white stomach which seemed to have grown large, ready to give birth but unable to. His fingers gently probbed it for a short time, feeling the baby within and determined the infant's form.
Finally he turned back to retrieve a scapel and a folded up leather strap. He passed the leather to Althalus, "Make her bite this. I have to cut the baby out...do you understand? If I don't, we'll lose them both."
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Althalus nodded, moving to comply with the old healer's order. Almost unconsciously, he began praying. He wasn't sure to whom. He just began, not bothering to mention who this was exactly to. Please. Let her live through this. Let them both live through his. I'll do anything. I'll give up my assassination career, my desire to see more family blood spilt. I'll donate every single bit of money I have to the poor. I'll do whatever is asked of me just please let them both live. And so on. He offered a great many things, most of which he forgot soon after. He supposed it was a reflex, ingrained in him by his mother. She had always been a particularly pious woman. Up until now, things hadn't really scared him enough to fall back on this old, childhood belief. Some small part of him that still had common sense left idly noted that the Gods were unlikely to take note of his plea, A lone one in thousands of others. But there was still that hope. That desperate belief, that just this one time, the Gods would give a damn about his life.
As Sam passed him the leather strap, Althalus nodded once more from his position behind Mar, the Naga propped up against him. He was scared for what might happen to Mar and their child, but he hid it well. In his face at least. If one was to look in his eyes, they'd see the fear clear enough, and he was as tense as a drawn bow.
He made Mar take the leather strap, and then waited for Sam to begin.
Mar looked as she would've bitten through the strap right then and there. At first she tried to move a bit, more then stubbornly willing to bear the pain, but at the first chance, namely the sudden wash of pain, her mouth opened and became filled with the strap's hard texture. Her teeth and reflex did the rest. The hard leather keep her fangs pinned back, unable to cut herself on the points or stab herself with her own vemon. Not that it would've mattered as she was immuned to it mostly.
Her chest heaved while Sam held the blade close to the hot rod Alaira had done. He needed to be able to cut easily through the skin and sear it behind at the same time, mainly to keep the Naga from bleeding to death. His old eyes looked at Althalus to hold her tightly. Then he entered the scapel into the skin. There was hiss on contact, the smell of burning flesh and heat filled the air. Immediately Mar's body jerked in reply to the hot tip and painful cutting.
Steadily, despite the Naga's struggles to stop herself from tearing away from them. It was easily as Althalus would know. Deeper and farther, the skin parted at the blade's touch until a long slit had been created. Gently he pulled the sides apart then reached in, blood and fluid oozed out from the motion. His hand felt for the familiar sensation of a head before he started to ease the little one out, the child's first breath wailed into air. Slowly and with utter care, Sam pulled the baby clear from the womb before realizing he had no place to put her. In his urgent rush, the man had only concern for the mother and child's life, not the after effect.
"It's a girl, a healthy, happy baby girl." He said through the baby's cries, his voice slightly calming now. "I need something wrap her in. Quickly before she gets cold."
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Alaira tried her very best to ease the pain, but just warming her up would not be enough. At least twice during her wait she had accidentally pumped too much power into the rod, causing it to release too much heat. However thanks to her lessons she was able to bring it back to stability. It was then that help had finally arrive. Oh, look at that, you can always count on daisy being fashionably late. She thought. Why the hell wasn't he with her a moment ago anyway? 'yeah, I'll just let the pregnant woman bearing my child wander alone in the snow. cold blood be damned!' To be fair though, she was sure pregnancies took longer than six months.
He seemed to have brought Sam with him too. Good, Alaira was most definitely sure Athalus was not a doctor. She wasa little surprised to learn that the little trick she pulled with the metal was actually the right thing to do. Well, isn't that lucky. Alaira stayed quiet for the procedure (one of the most disgusting things she had ever had the displeasure of watching), seeing as how now was most definitely not the time for a sarcastic remark. And it wasn't long before she could finally hear the familiar wailing of an infant.
Apparently, there wasn't anything handy to put the baby in. Well, of course there was. Alaira tossed the rod over to the side near a pillar, before removing her jacket. She could handle the cold for a while, but the baby certainly couldn't. However, she took a look at her hand, and found that she had quite the nasty burn on the palm. Too much longer and that would've gotten serious... she thought. "Hey, give her here..." Alaira said as she more or less snatched the baby away and wrapped her up in the fur jacket. "Shhhh, there you are... you're safe now...." She said softly as she held the child.
Mar was exhausted. Her muscles ached and felt worse for the wear, her body drenched in sweat despite her low body temperature whlie the shivering had stopped. Her frame slacked against Althalus in rest as she felt it took all her effort to even keep her head up. Eyes, softened and warm, never left the child who had grasped Alaira's finger in her own little, tiny fist. There was slight cooing sounds that came from the fur's folds cradled around the child and for Mar, her daughter seemed to be the most beautiful creature. Then a thought occured to her.
Her head weakly tilted upwards towards Athalus, the strap taken from her mouth and spoke. "She's beautiful...but after fighting with you over the six months, we haven't determined a name."
Sam, on the otherhand, had already noted the rather nasty burn on Alaira as well as the fact he had to heal Mar's wound and pulled out a Vitamancy rune. It was crafted in case he needed to rush out and couldn't grab the right herbs. Along with that, he had unbinded some dried Turmeric spice in a pouch, his words calm while he intstructed her. "Place that on your tongue, it will help ease the burn's pain."
Then he turned to Mar and added, her own dose given to Althalus. "The same with her and make her take it daily."
Without wasting anymore time, he pressed the rune to her middle and squeezed. The same tingles Mar had felt in classes as an unwilling partner spread through her body. The flesh reshaped and mended shortly, the rune's inscription's glowed against her flesh until it finished. All that was left was the dried fluid and blood, something easily washed away. He then turned to Alaira.
"Pass me your hand and we'll heal that." He gave her a no-arguments look which meant business.
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Alaira was too busy with the baby to really pay any attention to anything. Sam said something about a spice or something, but she couldn't really feel the burn anyway. It would probably, well, burn later when she got out of the cold however. Then, she felt the baby grab her finger, and she looked back down. She'd already opened her eyes? didn't that take a while? The baby had these odd solid black eyes that should have been unsettling but... weren't. "You're a little cutie, aren't ya?" she said softly as the child began to nibble on her finger. however... Teeth? what the hell is going on? she thought. Perhaps the hybrid here played by entirely different rules to normal... things.
"You're a wierd one, huh?" Alaira said. She wasn't sure why, but she was sure the Baby was looking right at her, could focus on her. The child... wait, she couldn't just keep calling her 'child' or 'The baby'... "you need a name, don't you little one?" Alaira said. The baby just kept nibbling on her finger. She took a moment to think, just what sort of name would fit? She remembered her sister, the poor girl died at two years of age from illness... so he figured her name would do just fine. "How about Lyn?" She asked the baby. the baby had finally stopped biting her finger and made some sort of happy squealy noise at hearing the name. "Heh, you like that, don't you?" Alaira said, smiling.
At that she felt Sam tap her on the arm. Apparently, he had a rune to fix her hand. "Can't it wait? I'm playing with Lyn." She said. Sam just stared at her, which meant no. "Hmmf, fine." Alaira said, annoyed. "I'll see you soon, okay?" she said to Lyn, as she handed her to Athalus. "You better not fuck this up, Daisy."
Althalus restrained Mar when the cutting began, to prevent her from causing more damage then necessary. Throughout the whole operation, he whispered in her ear. What exactly, he can't remember. He knew it was a variety of things, and they were all meant to help her as much as they could to ignore the pain of being cut open with a hot knife. He wasn't sure how well it worked, but he did stop as soon as the wail of a baby cut through the sudden silence. Before he could even register more than the fact that the baby was fine and alive, Alaira had more or less snatched the baby from Sam and was currently holding her in a fur jacket.
Althalus was well aware of Mar's frame suddenly being limp against him, unsurprising really. Given the ordeal she just went through, he was frankly surprised that she was still conscius, much less able to speak and look at their child. A shaky smile crossed his face as he watched Alaira interact with his daughter. She was the most precious thing he had, already. A small chuckle escaped him at Mar's words. "She is. And no, I don't believe we did." He didn't actually have any names ready. Most of his time had been spent arguing with Mar or worrying about both his child and her. He nodded at Sam, slipping Mar the herb.
Thankfully, Alaira quickly offered a name. Or rather, decided a name without consulting either him or Mar. Althalus raised an eyebrow, and looked down at Mar. "Well, I've got nothing better, and she seems to like it." Though, that may have just been cooing and giggling at words she didn't understand.
Moments later, he was being handed his daughter. Normally, he would have been amused by Alaira's use of his nickname, or would have given her a sarcastic remark in response. As it was, the assassin ignored Alaira and simply gazed down at Lyn, holding her where Mar could easily see and touch her, in undisguised adoration and love.
Mar's eyes just stayed in place upon the baby, now called Lyn, as she mentally looked over the tiny features. One thing she knew off the bat was the fact her daughter didn't have a tail. Instead there was a set of feet and slightly well portioned legs attached to them. It seemed the child had taken after Althalus for the most part after all as a biped and likely would rely on him when it came to walking or fast movements. It appeared she wouldn't have much of an option to push her daughter's father out of Lyn's life, namely when it came to ensuring her survival. She was relieved to hear Althalus's words.
It seemed the Half Elf was already bonding with her daughter which was a surprise to the Naga, the student in question tended to be rather brash and crude in her manners. Yet with the baby, there was a tenderness. Bipeds were truly very odd. Her head turned upward to see Althalus question Alaira's choice in names and seemed to have little problem with it.
"Lyn is suitable." Commented, she personally couldn't think of a better one and thus allowed it to remain.
However she doubted her daughter would answer to another because of her high pitch squealing and giggles. When Althalus brought Lyn close to Mar, the infant suddenly reached her tiny hands out for her mother which caused a bright warmth within. Naturally Mar's head lowered and nuzzled her daughter's head. Lyn seemed to smile then let out a laugh.
Sam on the otherhand was busy with Alaira. He placed the rune against her hand and squeezed it, the same magic tingled through her flesh as it did with Mar. All that remained was dark red marks. Placing it back, he then reached into his pocket and pulled out another pocket. This time there was a chalky white powder and an unknown root.
"Alaira, this should help restore how much blood you used. I want you to take it incase and stay with two. Both of you keep Mar and Lyn warm, I will return with a stretcher and more help. I also will have some nurses perpare a room and a nursey bed for our newest arrival." Sam passed off the pouch, his tone chuckled at the last bit.
Then in a few moments he was off.
Althalus gave a soft smile at seeing Lyn and Mar interact, content to hold her for the both of them for now. He barely even noticed Sam leaving with instructions, intent upon Lyn as he was. She was, in his completely unbiased opinion, the most beautiful baby he had ever seen. The fact that he hasn't seen more than five babies didn't affect him in the slightest. He remained silent for a few more moments, staring at both Lyn and Mar before turning his gaze to Alaira.
"Thank you. Thank you for being with her." he said. Perhaps Mar would have been fine without Alaira's intervention. Perhaps she wouldn't. Eitherway, Alaira stayed with Mar and helped her as best as a rather...blunt warrioress could. And for that, he was thankful, even if she insisted upon calling him Daisy because of losing one little fight with an angry Naga who wanted to rip his throat out with her teeth. An angry Naga who became the mother of his child ony a few short hours later, admittedly...but stilll.
Alaira wasn't really sure what to say. She wasn't really sure why she did any of this, she just... did. Instead of running off to get someone, or leaving it to someone else, she chose to help. Why? She didn't really know these two. And that baby... by all rights, something like her would be terrifying. I mean, she seems to have aged much too fast. However, maybe it was a certain... kinship she felt with the baby. It is most definitely not fun to be any sort of hybrid in this land. Or maybe she felt like something... bad was about to happen.
"What, feeling sentimental daisy?" Alaira said, her smug smile ever-present. Still, she couldn't ignore her instincts. She took a moment to grab the piece to her lance, which thankfully had rolled into some snow. She slammed it back into place, and made sure it was tight. With that, she grabbed her pack and started emptying it. It contained her armor. She took a moment to don her armor, and another several moments to check the fitting. "Anyone else get the feeling something horrible's gonna happen? I hope I'm just bein' paranoid." She said as she finally finished tightening the straps on her gauntlet.
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