GIFT OF LIFE [R]

[Slansky Kirov]

What Slansky would not tell Akane, even if held at gunpoint, was of the simple fact that omega duty bored him to death. It was certainly worth it, in order to stay close to her in the event that she needed him... but it was also extremely monotonous and, for the most part, not stimulating in any way, whether that be intellectually or physically. He was, at the moment, making jerky. Cole had requested that he watch one of her dogs for the day so that she could devote individual attention and training to the other. The two young canines would work well together at some point; unfortunately, they were often distractions for each other at the moment. He reached down a hand to rub the puppy's ears. His tongue lolled and his tail wagged, so very pleased. Slansky couldn't help but crack a smile as he continued the repetitive stripping and hanging of the meat--

"Slansky!" The sound of his name, yelled, made him jerk upright. He dropped the strip of elk meat he had been holding and the dog quickly devoured it. "For Christ's sake--!" He exclaimed in English. His understanding of the language had improved drastically over the past few months. He cast a glance at a Hunter he knew only vaguely. "What is it?" 

"C-Cole just got back from her Hunt and she stopped by to check on Akane, and--" Slansky was on his feet within the span of a second. He seized the other man by the shoulders. "Is she okay?" This was in shiftertongue. He felt afraid. Strangely, utterly afraid. He had not felt fear this intense since he had been caught on fire and, even then, it had been a different sort. His mouth was dry. "Tell me! Is she okay?" 

"She's fine! But she is going into labor. Cole had me come tell you immediately after I got a medic." 

Slansky quickly shoved past the man, shapeshifted, and was running full-speed down the expression toward his own personal train-car. Cole's dog went tearing after Slansky, barking, but Slansky did not slow. His heart had begun to thunder before he had even taken the first step--it was all he could hear. Akane was in labor. He had to get there immediately. He had to be there for her. By the time he reached their home he was lathered in sweat. He shifted without breaking stride, the force of his momentum making him stumble as his legs shortened and his gait altered. He swung up into the train-car with no hesitation, grimacing at the loud screams from within. Cole was there with another woman, an older medic who had been in the Fallen for as long as the Ring had existed. Slansky felt no better knowing this. He fumbled for a moment at Akane's hip, near the women, but the older medic rose to slap him upside the head. "You're only going to get in the way down here, stupid man. Go hold her hand." 

Slansky understood the gist of what she said. He smiled and grimaced all at once when he saw her, his beautiful Akane, her face already red from the effort and the pain. It hurt him to see her in such a state, regardless of the fact he knew that this meant their child was well on their way. He knelt beside her, reaching out his hand. It was immediately seized in a death grip. He clenched his teeth to keep from wincing, surprised at the strength in those tiny fingers. Slansky reached his free hand out to stroke hair away from her sweaty face. "Baby, breathe." He felt so helpless, so useless. It was all he could do. His mind was overrun with thoughts he could not organize and feelings he could not make sense of but fear seemed to be an overwhelming theme. He was afraid for Akane. He was afraid that, without modern medicine, this would not end well. He was afraid of being a father. He was afraid of what this place would be like for a child.

And then there was the joy. He was going to be a father. It was real, it was here, and there was nothing beautiful about it. Akane was in pain, it smelled like sweat and blood, and all he could do was pray for the first time since he was a child. Please. Please let her and the baby be okay.

[AKANE]

“Alright, on the count of three. Ichi, ni, san!” Akane said to the mound of her belly. Nothing. She groaned. “Come on, akachan it’s been over nine months! It’s officially time to vacate!”

She sat on the lip of the train car, her legs swinging and her arms stretched out behind her for support. It was difficult to pinpoint the exact beginning of her gestation, but Lara (who’d had seven children before taken into the Menagerie) said that the baby had shifted low and that meant she would give birth in the next day or so. Aside from that, all she could do was wait. Well that, walking, eating pineapple, and a slew of embarrassing or strange things that Lara and others suggested that she couldn’t imagine asking Slansky to do.

The girl huffed a sigh - sending a heated cloud into the air. She was grateful it was winter. She couldn’t imagine being nine months pregnant in the damn summer; the heat would have killed her. As it was, she toddled around in one of Slansky’s old T-shirts and a cut off pair of sweats with a drawstring. On her walks around the camp in the evenings she went in sandals and sometimes barefoot (if she could get away with it).

Her stomach was not the only thing that had changed. Her breasts had swelled to a size she had only dreamed about in prior years, but now that she had them she was mortified and her back hurt. She’d had to trade some of her jewelry to get a bra that fit, and even then the band was too large, and she had to tie it instead of using the hooks.

In fact, there was a lot at she’d had to trade to get supplies ready for the baby. The one keepsake she’d not traded was her mother’s locket with her picture. That, she would never trade. Not for anything. Even now it hung long under her shirt, which she unconsciously grasped over the material now and then when she thought of her, and she thought of her almost constantly these days. How she wished her mother was there – so badly sometimes it was difficult to breathe. She’d sniff then, allow a few droplets of tears, and then get kicked by the kid again as he did now.

“Ow! Nanda?!” – she squeaked. The following stream of Japanese was chittered to the air. So disrespectful! And so hard! I thought I was going to bust a rib you rambunctious thing. At least when you are finally born I can sic you on your father and HE can deal with your unrelenting silliness some of the time! As she levered herself to the ground, she held the rail car handle and toed the air blind until she found her step-stool. On the ground she heaved a great sigh again and decided to go for another walk. Walking made her tired, but also made her feel a little better.

In fact halfway through her walk, now and then a flutter and a painful squeeze would hit her pelvis. Her eyes would screw shut and she’d stop to breathe deeply until the pain passed. This was new – what, was the kid installing a jacuzzi? By the time she got back to the car she had broken out in a sweat. What the hell? Another pain hit her like a knife, she cried out and bruised her knees as she hit the craggy turf – barely catching herself and scraping her palms.

"Akane?" She heard a voice and a rush of feet. Cole crouched low beside her, a hand on her back. "You okay?" She almost cooed. Oh shit, if Cole was coddling her something was definitely wrong.

“Yeeeaaaah,” she said through gritted teeth. “Can, you help me up please?” Akane asked in a small voice. Akane and Cole had slowly grown closer since her father’s arrival, with Cole inexplicably changing between asking to feel Akane’s belly then almost outright ignoring her since her pregnancy. Akane took it with a grain of salt and a firm mind set not to take it personally. There was an interesting line between them – jealousies and small tiffs here and there. For Akane it was simply that she’d never had to share her father with anyone, she was an only child … but once she’d realized Cole was there to stay and how much she meant to her father and supported them, she very much regretted her attitude and words on their first meeting. She’d said as much one evening not long after she’d found out she was pregnant … but Cole hadn’t said much and in obvious discomfort excused herself with a small smile. Since then, their mini battle of wills had vastly subsided for which Akane was grateful. Especially right now.

Cole took a firm grasp under her shoulders and almost lifted Akane to her feet. Even then Akane was unsteady, and when a warm splash hit her thighs and trailed down her legs both girls froze. Slowly they looked to each other, eyes wide. Akane’s blue-grey hues began to water, her lips trembling but surprisingly Cole only smiled, really smiled at her and wiped away a tear that trickled down her cheek.

"It’ll be okay," she said encouragingly. "But right now, we have to get you back into the train car. That’s where all your birthing stuff is right?" Akane sniffed and nodded. Cole nodded back.

"Right, then on with it whale lady," she said teasingly with a surprising touch of affection. Somehow, the two of them, with a break for another contraction in between and a lot of swearing, managed to get Akane into the train car and onto the pallet. Between breathes and curses, Akane told her where her pillow was to keep her propped up, and a thoroughly scrubbed sheet of plastic was to put under her bum for cleanup.

“I … need Lara. And, Slansky, Slansky … “ she said between puffs. Cole nodded once, squeezed her hand and hopped from the train car. Akane didn’t know what she did but a few seconds later she returned, and not a few minutes afterwards a medic came. “Nooooooo…” she lamented. “Lara!”

Cole nodded, “She’s coming – but I sent for the medic too.”

In an almost comical moment, Akane whined “But he doesn’t know my birth plaaannnnn!”

That was the moment Lara, The Italian Terror, hoisted herself into the train car. “He surely doesn’t. Vattene! This is women’s business!” The medic almost looked to argue, but another glace to Akane and, realizing all the books in the world wouldn’t help, surrendered and left.

“Now, where’s that good-for-nothing marito of yours?” Lara demanded, her accent peppering her English. “And your babbo?! They should be here for this, damn them. Tipico, tipico – there when you don’t need ‘em and introvabile when you do.” That was just Lara. Usually the head cook of the camp, there were few who knew more about children and birthing than she did. When it came to children, Lara was always the medic. It was magic how she just knew. She sent Cole to fetch boiling water, and collected the rags from the shelf were Akane had folded them so neatly. A sheet she had cleaned to perfection was now ripped into pieces by Lara’s strong hands.

There was suddenly a commotion outside, a dog barking, the sound of thundering hooves. He’s here! She thought just as another contraction hit her and a noise ripped from her throat.

“Easy, dolce figlia, easy,” Lara said in a mix between coax and command. Sweet daughter. It was an endearment she’d begun long before Akane had become with child.

Cole sat on her far side, her father, Husher, was out on a hunt and Slansky …
He crawled inside the train car that very moment, huffing with tension and fear. When he almost settled, Lara admonished him with a hiss and a scolding just as another contraction hit. His fingers found Akane’s hand that moment and she crushed them in pain.

Breathe baby, breathe …

"Cosa pensi che stai facendo? Sostenere da dietro, stupido!" Lara hollered at him in Italian, her hands flying from one side of the girl then the other, then shifting her own hands to indicate her back. Akane had learned a bit of Italian over the last few months as Lara checked in on her daily, and got the gist. Through gritted teeth she translated.

“She says support my back from behind,” she said in shiftertongue, her eyes screwed shut again and she tensed, her boding going rigid against the pain. With only a moment’s hesitation, and Cole lifting the pillow from behind her back, Slansky took its place his legs on either side of her. There, he served the most use. Akane screamed again.

His arm went around her upper shoulders, pulling her against him as she gritted her teeth again. Another flurry of Italian and a wooden spatula appeared. Cole unceremoniously jammed the handle between Akane’s teeth. When Akane glared, the side of Cole’s mouth kicked up.

“Husher’s gonna be pissed he missed this,” was all she said, and the next six hours Akane was in hell.

***

Akane was more exhausted than she had ever remembered being. Worse even, than when she’d been dropped off by the Keepers her first day in the Menagerie. Slan had been there then, too. With blood, sweat, tears, and screams Akane had managed to bring forth another life into the world.

The tiny baby was made to breathe by Lara, cleaned up, and passed to Slansky as Akane slept. Just after passing the afterbirth, she’d passed into an exhausted sleep.

“She’s fine. I cleaned her up,” she said as she brushed her palms free of nothing. “Now I rest too. I return in one hour. Non smarrire la bambino,” Lara ordered – hoisted herself back out of the train car, and disappeared.

Cole had left too at some point, though Akane could never had said when. Once the baby came and all was done, Lara had ordered the new mother lain down flat so she could sleep. Now, groggily her eyes fluttered open and a weak smile played on her mouth.

“Is he beautiful?” she asked tiredly.

Translations
Cosa pensi che stai facendo? Sostenere da dietro, stupido! -
What do you think you're doing? Support from behind, stupid!

Non smarrire la bambino – Don’t lose the baby.

WORDS: 1,700+ | TAGS: Slansky Kirov | OOC: BEHBEHS!

[Slansky Kirov]

i wonder how we got this far THE COMMON THREAD THAT BINDS OUR LIVES If he wished so badly to take the pain unto himself and spare her from it. Her cries and screams had worn him, although not to the extent that they had certainly worn her. Slanksy Kirov had never been so emotionally strained in his life. He thought, for a moment, that he would have rather had to face Husher and ask for his daughter's hand a thousand times before he went through the agony of being helpless to his beloved's pain. By the time it was over, his face was blank from stress and equally blanched by it. How much more could she take? How much more could he stand? And then-- the sound of fresh, wet cries.  A great tension was abruptly released. Akane became limp in his arms and after a moment they re-situated and Slansky was handed his child. The great noised that had filled the train-car dissipated with a suddenness that was like lightening. They were left very much alone. Slanksy marveled at the thing in his arms. His eyes had grown wide with a delight that was almost childish as he held his daughter in a way that was very typical for a man. A little awkwardly, with the uncertainty with which one deals with anything exceptionally delicate. He held her just a little away, the great strength of his arms rendered null by the presence of such a fragile life. For a man so strong, he held her so gently. He had never seen anything so beautiful. Akane spoke and his attention was drawn to her. Slansky had thought her already asleep. And he was reminded, suddenly, that he had seen one thing as beautiful... "Dorogaya." His voice was very soft. He shifted so as to sit beside her and tilted his arms to show her the sleeping face of their child. "She. She is very beautiful." Slansky did not believe he had ever sounded so proud. He cleared his throat. "Would you like to hold her, miláčku?"

[AKANE]

She. She is very beautiful. A girl? How wonderful. Boy or girl she was happy. Their daughter. She nodded when he asked if she wanted to hold her, and shifted painfully to sit up. Carefully, the baby was transferred from Slansky’s arms to Akane’s. Her hold was surprisingly easy, cradling the baby with care and confidence. With a smile she kissed Slansky sweetly, and looked down at the sleeping child.

“So you’re the one that’s been causing all the drama,” she chided softly, her voice full of affection. “With all your jungle gym moves in there I thought you had to be a boy. Guess you’ll take after me then,” she almost threatened and chuckled. With a sigh she laid her head on Slansky’s shoulder, pure exhaustion written on her pale face.

They look down at the sleeping baby girl, and Akane blinked. “We didn’t talk about a girl name, did we love?” She asked suddenly. “What should we call her? “

They had toyed over several names but never talked about seriously. Though they were excited, there seemed to be some kind of unspoken bad luck behind the idea of naming a child before it was born. Good thing too, or their daughter might have been saddled with a male name she’d never like.

“Any you particularly like?” she asked curiously, her light grey-blue eyes lifting to his. He looked so tired, but proud – an expression on his face she’d only rarely seen. His dark eyes drank in their daughter, absorbed. Helplessly, she too looked back down to their sleeping baby.

She’d squalled an cried for a good half hour after she was born but Lara said that was good – meant she was strong. When Lara returned later, she’d said she would show Akane how to breast feed. The thought make them ache, but it was a distant thought – swimming in the background. Now, her finger slid into the baby’s tiny hand with perfect tiny crescent nails.

WORDS: 315+ | TAGS: Slansky Kirov | IRONCHILD@THEMENAGERIE

[Slansky Kirov]

i wonder how we got this far THE COMMON THREAD THAT BINDS OUR LIVES It filled him with wonder to see her hold their child with such confidence and such tender care. His eyes were wide with it, his body alight with a buzzing, humming euphoria. With the trauma having passed, he switched dramatically from concerned and slightly stressed to extremely happy. Slansky did not know if he had ever been so happy, in fact. "How will I ever deal with twice as much trouble?" He asked softly, and with a smile. He thought for a long, hard moment toward her question. Akane was right. They had not considered that their child would be a girl which, in hindsight, might have been a little foolish of them. It was of no matter. He took a moment to consider it, thinking only of his mother's name. And then a happier memory came to him, from his early youth. Slansky had not thought it would take his mother such a short time to go talk to the neighbor about their barking dog. She had left freshly baked trdelník on the counter-top, which was Slansky's favorite desert. She returned to the kitchen to discover the entirety of it shoved in Slansky's mouth. With exasperation, she had crouched down and wiped the cinnamon and sugar from his cheeks. "Ah, my Skya, I ought to have named you Yevpraksiya and hoped that the name may have given you better behavior. It means "good conduct", something that you clearly lack. If only you had been born a girl!" The words were a gentle chastise. She slapped his hand and sent him on his way, a little ashamed of himself. His eyes were alight with mischief. "What of Yevpraksiya?" It was a name that was difficult to pronounce, all hard sounds. "It means "good conduct" and from the looks of it we may need all the help we can get in that regard." He kissed her temple and left his forehead resting against her hair, his eyes closed. He felt only the warmth. He began to grin once more, even more earnestly. "Or maybe Evpraksiya? It is a variant of the same name, simply the Czech version." It was, perhaps, just as difficult to pronounce... if not more so, with even harder sounds.

[AKANE]

When Slansky asked how he’d ever deal with twice the trouble she snickered impishly, and looked into his eyes with waggling, taunting eyebrows. She bit her lip and cracked a grin before looking back down to her.

What of Yevpraksiya? Her expression took on a ‘what is that smell’ face and she bit the inside of her cheek to keep from outright accusing him of losing his mind. Good conduct yeah right, she’d known about the baby's tenacity for months as she beat up Akane’s kidneys and bladder, but he meant well. Somehow, Slansky had always had a talent for making things overly-complicated … well – she came a close second. It was probably why they made such a fierce, resilient couple. Despite their difference in age, culture, language, or experiences, neither was the type of individual to make things simple, nor let go easily.

Looking down at their girl, they had made her. She was so perfect, with those blue eyes, and … or maybe Evpraksiya? Simply the Czech version. Again Akane kept herself from telling her handsome and sensitive boyfriend that he was a darling idiot. Patience. Silence. Stillness. Moments passed, and Akane said nothing – only looked down at their baby until her lids lowered unwillingly, heavy with exhaustion. She was so perfect, so beautiful – a unique child.

Her sleepy mind she thought of beautiful creatures. In Japan, ancient lore told of an elusive creature much like what most people might think of as a unicorn. Deer like, graceful, half horse half dragon. Exquisite.

“Kirin,” she said impulsively. Looking down she realized the baby was awake, and apart from soft noises from her mouth was quietly watching her. Akane smiled down at her, lowered her lips and kissed her forehead. “Kirin Kirov,” she said with import. It had a ring to it … but what did Slansky think? Akane looked up to Slansky, her eyelashes fluttering heavily.

“What do you think, sweets. Kirin … Kirin…” she said the name a few times, letting it roll off her tongue in several tones. “Kirin Kirov,” she said sternly as if to a naughty child, and laughed at herself the moment after. She really was tired if she was being so silly, or maybe it was joy.

WORDS: 375+ | TAGS: Slansky Kirov | IRONCHILD@THEMENAGERIE

[Slansky Kirov]

i wonder how we got this far THE COMMON THREAD THAT BINDS OUR LIVES He realized after he offered the names that she might not realize the jest in them. She could not see his expression, after all. It was of no matter. Although... he had to admit... either one of the names had a ring to it, despite the fact Slansky knew that if they named their daughter that she would have to deal with people mispronouncing her name for the rest of her life. Kirin. Whatever he may have said was stilled on his tongue. Slansky looked at their daughter, marveled at her, even. The name had a certain ring to it, although he did not know the mythology behind it. "Kirin." He said it tentatively, tasting it on his tongue.  There was a moment when all of his previous fears came rushing back. What if he wasn't a good father? What if he couldn't provide for them as well as he needed to? There were so many possibilities, as nothing was guaranteed in the Menagerie. Slansky closed his eyes and took a deep, settling breath. It will be fine, he assured himself. "I think that sounds perfect," he replied at last. His heart was so full. "I love you so much." He said it quietly, but with a brutal honesty. The thing often went unspoken between them, as Slansky was not the sort of man to voice his feelings often. The result was that when he did say it, it held much more weight. And he already loved his daughter. He had loved her the moment when he first felt her stir in Akane's stomach.  "Akane, you should probably get some rest." Slansky, however, did not feel tired. His body was wired with energy and his eyes had yet to leave the face of his child. A winter baby. His mother had once told him that children born in the winter were either destined to be the strongest or weakest of people due to the fact they were born accustomed to the cold. It was what could cause them to grow ill or toughen them. He knew that his daughter would be strong .