The time had come about, and she had waited for it expectantly. Each flurry of breath and the aching sound of wails meant the child was on its way, and it announced itself boldly to her ears. The goddess was dressed for the occasion, her usually taught, curvaceous body alack for any of its normal glamor in favor of a more middle-aged appearance. The curve that usually graced her waistline to her hip was no longer there, abandoned in favor of a straight line body type that seemed even more thin that was probably healthy, though was certainly lined with the stereotypical working muscles a mother and wife would have to keep up in these sorts of times. Upon her frame sat a dress, hiding the distressing lack of curves and setting Shi about fretting. Dresses were always so hard for her to manage, since she was oh-so-used to her low-riding pants and tight-fitting bodice. The dress was a light purple, a lavender of sorts that was highlighted with the white of obvious underdressings. The blue might have been low-cut, if the woman weren't wearing that white understocking that came up in a straight cut across her collarbone. The slender shoulders were visible, just barely, and the calloused fingers of a once-graceful woman's hand were apparent upon the table which she sat. A ring of simple copper hung around her finger--a sign of her marriage and her not-so-rich union.
The goddess watched the doorway--she knew any minute the redhead would grace it. She'd been watching it since she came in, seemingly centered upon the clouds outside to all those who passed and were curious as to where her gaze was headed. The thin, wispy strands of brunette hair were pulled unruly back into a braid whose tuft ended at the center of her shoulder blades. The bangs still escaped on one side to fall guilelessly over one eye, a thing she could not have people see due to its nature. Only dulled, the red eye beneath her bangs was still slitted, still dangerous, and still bestowed with that curse of insanity inside its pupil. Her eye that was visible was an intense, beautiful brown that almost looked red in the right lighting, but held all the light and warmth a woman of her appropriate role would possess. When the servers came by to set cups of iced tea upon her table, she gave them a smile that invited them to sit and talk, and one or two had taken up the invitation for ten or twenty minutes to engage her about her family life which didn't exist, but was perfectly real for anyone else to hear.
She could hear them--the elder was being lead down the street in the throws of her horror. She was frightened for the child, about its early birth, and Shi tilted her head back against the back of the chair, a serene smile covering that fake mask she was wearing. That pleasant smile was the cover of a much more malicious sneer--Serves her right. Had she been less of a cow that night, I'd have told her better so she wouldn't be having a panic attack right now. Best be focusing on her own life--the babe will live whether you do or not. It'll tear its way out if it needs to... She waited, and felt the incoming fear of both parties as they went through the change. The babe was scared--scared for its mother. It screamed its lament at her pain and in order to ease it tried to find its way out faster. That was the curse of it. God children knew. They were aware of their parent's suffering--and usually ended up killing the parent in their attempt to ease it. It's not the same as when a god gives birth. Gods don't feel that pain if they don't want to, so the child is calm and collected.. but in a mortal, the babe frights.
Please stop hurting... I'm sorry. Stop her from hurting. Can't you do it? You can hear me. Stop it. Stop it....! Shi felt a pang of pity for her and the babe. It was Fedafyr's child, after all, and she wanted it to be calm.. but she couldn't communicate with it in this state. The babe knew Shi was there--felt her, screamed to her, but there was no amount of magic Shi could work to stop the panic that gripped the child's heart nor the mother's.. all she could do was wait carefully and watch--watch the mother walk through that door and do her best imitation of a midwife that a Goddess of Death and Chaos can do.
“We need to speak to Krysm if she’s here,” Crystal spoke the words as she and Maya passed through the door frame, halfway to the girl, halfway to the woman at the front desk. She didn’t pay much attention to the woman’s appearance, more distracted with the contraction that gripped her body, causing that same clawing pain. “Oh-oh-oh-oouuuch!” She couldn’t hold it in any longer, the pain passing through her lips in the form of words louder than her usually soft tone. Not wanting to startle any of the customers waiting in the lobby more than she had already, she grasped and noticed that she was squeezing Maya’s hand to the point that it might be painful. With an uneasy smile, or half-grimace at best, Crystal spoke quickly while her voice didn’t fail her. “I’m a good friend of the owner of The Blessing and as you can see, I most certainly need a room unless I’m to drop a baby on the floor.” Tears of pain grew at the edges of her eyes as she felt the pain and pressure mounting in her loins again, her usually plain face caught in an expression of torment. While she had expected it to hurt, she hadn’t expected it to hurt too much.
As she half-walked toward the requested room, she was also half-carried by Maya. She thanked the gods for the sweet girl and her calm demeanor even at a time like this, even when she was squeezing the life out of her hand and probably breaking bones. It was amazing to her that she had formed such a fast friendship with the soft spoken Maya, but then again, Crystal wasn’t very choosey with her friends, liking almost everyone she met. The Elder shot her a grateful look as she settled down on the bed, immediately lying down and closing her eyes, her hands against her stomach as she began to speak lowly. “Calm down please little one. Please be okay. It’s going to be okay, I promise I’ll try so hard. It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay-ssssshh oh GOD!” The contractions had sped up for some reason, giving her little reprieve between them, and that made her worry all the more. Noticing the other woman again after the pain had died down, she wondered if the brunette was a mother herself, she looked the party, lovely but middle aged, calm and serene at this point even though Crystal felt like she might simply fall into pieces. Addressing the disguised Shi, she moaned slightly before beginning, “Do you know what’s going to happen next? I’m getting more terrified by the second and I’m sure I’m going to need some help if you’re willing.” For some reason, perhaps out of sheer fear, Crystal trusted the homely figure.
Crystal laid back on the inn’s pillows, her hair beginning to stick to the edges of her face from the sweat that had gathered there. She felt damp everywhere, perhaps from the breaking of her water, perhaps from the perspiration as she tried to tame the pain coursing through her. With a soft cry, she bit her lip almost to the point of blood, the pain balling itself up inside her, poised to explode at any moment.
"The white city fell without her. Peace revolved around her, but when the mother left her children, they destroyed one another... She'll never forget that she left--she'll wear the chains of the martyr as she pulls the world's weight behind her, still thinking she's not doing enough." Morrigan Aensland
Re: The Blessing of Birth
The woman came through the door looking just as much the wreck as Shi expected. Unfortunately, with the fact that she had the knowledge, it was a bit more difficult to know when to knit her brow in concern... but she managed the facade well, choosing to react when Crystal's distressed groan went off. She was already standing, following the two when she was adressed, a look of concern in her one visible eye that was not too far from the truth. I don't want to think that she'll die.. the consequence would be... She shook the possibility out of her head and leaned down, smiling at the elder and speaking in a mildly gaelic accent from the highlands, "I believe ye prolly do need ma help. I 'avenae put out three o' me own an' taken my line from druidic 'eritage tae ken nothing." She reached out, deceptively calm fingers wrapping around Crystal's waist from the other side of Maya and helping her move into the room and to the bed. She settled her hands upon the risen stomach and smiled across at Maya, "Me name's Macbeth. Connie Macbeth." She pressed her ear to the stomach, Shi fully taking on the role as if she couldn't hear the cries of the babe inside as it tried to move its way to the surface. He's panicking.. and it will no doubt cause her pain.. "Now, dinnae ye worry none at all. I'm goin' tae use some druidic spells to try an' calm yer child. 'E feels yer pain, and he's panicking." Shi took in a deep breath and hissed out a few words, adding an accent to the foreign syllables of godspeak to make it sound more highland. It was a good thing nobody was about who had contact with gods, or she might have been caught that very moment.
"Stop struggling... You're endangering her. She's going to hurt.. it's natural... stop..." The words were requests more than orders, but to Eytan, they sounded like a drill sergeant had barked at him. His response was a heated flurry of foul language, And what know you of it? Why don't you ease it. It's because you're trying to kill her! You want her to die! Speak not to me your silver-tongued lies! I will not do as you say. I've got to make it stop on my own. Nobody can help. I've got to get out. I'll get out... I'm sorry, Momma. I'll fix it."Shit." Though the word was still in another language, it was obviously a profanity created from an unfortunate circumstance. Shi'd egged him on. She knew she shouldn't try reasoning with a half-born god-child, but she had tried anyway, and was regretting it...
She moved about, ordering for hot cloths and other such necessities as a midwife would desire.. things that were very really going to save someone's life right now. She stripped Crystal of her clothes as the door was shut, handing things to Maya and asking the young water-sprite to run back and forth and fold and move things. For a woman of her stature, moving Crystal in the bed should have posed some sort of problem, but it seemed the middle-aged Macbeth had muscle she was hiding beneath the sleeves of her dress as she lifted Crystal to be at a better position to deliver the babe. There was a slight worry that Shi didn't really know what she was doing, only knew by knowledge and not by touch, but the goddess pushed it out of her mind abruptly as she moved about the room. She tore the sleeves from the dress she wore, dropping them into the trash in the corner without much ado, looking up at Maya at that moment and, feeling like she wasn't doing a very good acting job of her position, explained shortly, "It's easier without 'em."
She moved her body over to Crystal, and braced herself to explain the conversation in a way that would be easily swallowed without revealing much of what Shi could do. It wasn't at all out of the question, a woman who could talk to children inside the womb, not in this place... but it was still something the goddess needed to be careful with, "Yer babe is panickin', Mum. What ye need tae do is try nae to feel it. That's the key.. focus somewhere else.. on how happy ye'll be when 'e's here, safe in yer arms.. focus on what kind o' breakfast ye'll make... An' fer God's sake, Mum, dinnae let yerself go tae sleep if ye feel it comin'. Dinnae faint, or we may lose ye." There was a pause, Shi leaned over Crystal, checking the woman's face as the sweat of the pain rolled down it. Fear for a moment--a distinct memory of a feeling that she had long since abandoned, gripped her sanity, "Do you hear me, Crystal?!" The accent dropped for that moment, and Shi thanked the fates that she had the excuse that Crystal Dinaia was an elder to call for her slipup of the name in her mild panick.
Re: The Blessing of Birth
Seifer was still at the Blessing and the Flask. It had become a home for him that he wouldn't have given up very willingly. He'd been in his room when Crystal came in, but the sound of her voice was very distinct, unmistakable.
Wearing just blue denim pants, barefooted, he took the stairs two at a time, homing in on the sound of his friend. Seifer came in just about as the woman he didn't know had torn the sleeves from her dress, which seemed very strange, and therefore slightly dangerous to Seifer.
He was quite familiar with the dislike people had for the elders now, and he'd defend Crystal while he had breath. He dropped to his knees by her. "Oi! What are you doing here? Don't you have medical people? Did you send for them? Oi! Look at me, Lady, please?"
He knew birth, not just from the children he'd born, but friends and life experiences. He'd never been a woman, but he knew how it worked. "How far are you dialated, Crystal? Do you know?"
Re: The Blessing of Birth
Maya nodded to Crystal's response, helping her friend to the counter as they made their way into the building. From the edge of her vision, spectacles caught another increasing glow of pain, this one brighter than the last, even causing Crystal to vocalize her pain. Suddenly she became aware of pressure on her own hand which increased rapidly to the point of pain. She did her best to bear it without letting it show, though it did manifest itself ever so briefly in the form of a twitch in the flesh about her right eye.
Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow.
Get her to stop!
Ow. She's in a lot more pain than we are. Ow. We can put up with it. Ow. It won't be long. Ow.
Ugh. Fine.
It seemed they had a room to get to now, and Maya would assist Crystal all the way there, doing her best to be gentle with Crystal and bear some of her weight even as the Elder kept her hand in a not-quite-so-gentle grip. Maya caught the look of gratitude from her as she helped her to the bed, and responded simply with a smile, which faded as she saw Crystal light up with pain once again. Suppressing a panic at not knowing what to do, the young girl's eyes went to the older woman, hoping for some guidance. The woman introduced herself, and then went straight to speaking into Crystal's distended belly, still alight with the glow of pain, with words that she had never heard before.
Maya was a little unsure of what the woman was doing, but Ms. Macbeth at least seemed more confident and knowledgable than she herself was, so she trusted the older woman's help. She set about doing each of the tasks as they were given to her, only pausing when she heard the tearing of fabric which brought her attention toward the woman again. Maya decided to trust her words again and shrugged the event off. Right about then a man walked in, clad only in a blue pair of pants. She was startled by his appearance at first.
Whoa, they let just anyone walk in on the middle of a birth?
He seems to know her. Maybe he's just concerned.
You would think that the least he could do would be to put on a shirt.
True, but humans are odd sometimes, and maybe he was simply in a hurry. At least he's wearing pants.
I'll give you that. Can you imagine how awkward it'd be if he wasn't?
Hee hee. I'd rather not think about that.
Leave it to Naomi to find something to laugh at in the midst of a crisis situation. This was, of course, just a temporary distraction, and having completed her most recent task Maya's attention went back to the lady Macbeth and Crystal. She idly caressed her own hand, still aching slightly from the vice grip that the Elder had on it as they entered, and then she heard the words that would serve to frighten her even more:
'Dinnae faint, or we may lose ye.'
Maya suppressed a gasp at those words, taking a step back as if nearly struck by something. She had a very faint worry before that Crystal's life may be at risk here, but until now she had been able to dismiss the possibility. Hearing this older, more experienced woman bring it up made the possibility seem all the more real, and Maya became even more afraid for her friend than she was before.
"I-is there something else I can do to help?" she asked, the faux-confidence that had filled her voice before wavering just slightly for a moment. "I am a healer..." she added, in the hopes that her talents may help in this situation.
Jesus Saves.
The rest of you take damage.
When the jazz man's testifyin', a faithless man believes.
He can sing you into paradise, or bring you to your knees.
Re: The Blessing of Birth
The sound of the door squeaking open and closed time and time again brought her out of her first stupor. Everyone seemed to be skittering around quite quickly, including the child in her womb at the direct moment. She could feel all sorts of things inside her body moving, twisting, sometimes to the point of pain. It was as if her entire body was rearranging itself to bring the child into the world, or so she felt. It felt as if her mind was growing foggy every now and again though, and she tilted her head slightly as the woman she’d seen earlier became an instant midwife… It was almost as if Connie Macbeth had been waiting for her to come in, it was almost too convenient, but as she laid her head on her swollen stomach, towering into the air as she looked down at her, she felt the twisting pain ease for a split second. The accent of hers was hard to understand to Crystal’s ears so when she began speaking to her stomach, she thought that maybe she was doing some sort of calming magic that the woman’s “druidic heritage” had taught her. Whimpering as her head rose and the pain returned, fierce and fiery, Crystal guessed not. Who was she to be choosey at a time like this though? She’d intended to do this alone, in her own home, with no one around to see her in this state.
Maya was a dear, zooming around as the mid-wife ordered random things and Crystal smiled gently, as much as she could as she felt sweat beginning to drip down her brow and her hair growing damp underneath her. The woman’s explaination of why it hurt so bad was understandable but Crystal started as she called the child a “he”. He? Crystal herself had thought the child was a boy and had named him so, but she didn’t know why the makeshift midwife would know that as well? Her mother had told her something about the way her stomach looked, the way she was “carrying” the child could tell its sex or some shit like that, she couldn’t remember. She answered the strange woman with a moan as a contraction mounted, feeling like someone had lit her spine on fire and let it go up her back like a fuse on a stick of dynamite. Maybe her head would blow off when it reached the end? Crystal wanted to sob, but focused on the woman’s words, thinking of somewhere far away. Trying so hard to follow directions, Crystal missed the part where she was told not to faint or sleep and slowly felt herself fading into another day, perhaps because of her concentration, perhaps because of the shock from the pain and beginnings of blood loss. The child was coming fast, too fast for her mortal body to handle.
Home, three hundred years ago. In a place where she had never been pregnant. Crystal pretended that her second chance had never been anything but a dream and she was merely sunbathing on the warmest beach the South had to offer. The sunshine was warm, licking her skin like a friendly tongue as waves from the Gulf of Mexico caressed her toes. Wait, hadn’t she said to dream about something involving a.. child? What child? Crystal couldn’t remember a child or who had told her to think of somewhere else and she smiled, moving her sunglasses up to her hairline to greet the full scene without their aid. What a funny daydream that had been, the woman thought as she adjusted the elastic part of her bikini bottom and slathered a bit more of the sunscreen on her stomach. Eytan? She remembered the name slightly. Perhaps it had been one of the boys she’d met the other night when she’d gone out with her roommate. They’d all needed a break from studying and had gone to the little local bar just outside of campus, where they’d met a bunch of hunks. Maybe one of them was named Eytan? She didn’t know, couldn’t quite remember the redhead’s name that had been so quiet, but maybe when she called the phone number on her dresser, the blonde boy who had given it to her would tell her. Crystal giggled softly as she picked up her cell phone and answered it. “Hello?” Oi. What are you doing here? “What? I’m swimming of course, well, sunbathing more than swimming.” How far are you dilated, Crystal? Do you know? “What kind of sick thing to say is that Sei?” Wait.. Sei. It felt like something had kicked her in the small of the back and the world around her shattered into shards of itself, the backdrop nothing more than darkness with brilliantly sharp bursts of color, the pain inside her body raging.
Crystal had spoken the daydream words aloud, in a faint, giggly voice that was much more suited to a teenager than an Elder. She was fully dilated in all actuality, though she didn’t know. The pain was intense, far too intense for her to handle without numbing medications and though she was on the verge of unconsciousness, she wasn’t yet gone, just in a fuzzy state where nothing quite made sense. Her eyes were half closed, the brilliant blue fading quite faster than anyone realized. Crystal’s skin was clammy to the touch, saturated in sweat and God-knew-what-else. Opening her eyes slightly more, she remembered where she was and what she was trying to do, looking into Sei’s face first, then Connie Macbeth’s, then at Maya with a sweet smile. “Why is everyone looking so strange right now? And.. How did Mrs. Macbeth steal Shi’s voice earlier when she shouted at me?” Then, something inside her clicked, perhaps it was the sharp pain that forced its way through her very core. Whispering loudly, Crystal’s face went white and she began to panic as she felt control slipping away from her, “The baby, the baby! I need to push but I can’t push, I can’t push, I can’t .. I can’t! The baby.. Oh god, the baby?” It hurt so badly, as if her body was tearing itself apart and as hard as she tried, she couldn’t force her eyes to stay open. The child would force itself out now, feeling the weakening of his mother’s body and taking it as a sign that the pain had lessened. As she murmured incoherently, the Elder’s blue eyes drifted closed as her eyelashes kissed her cheeks gently, like butterflies landing on the tips of rose petals. The commotion in the room must have been something fierce, but she barely heard it, the sound of a peaceful night and crickets chirping was all that filled her head. Fading, Crystal Dinaia slept, a precursor to the eternal night that would take her life in mere moments.
"The white city fell without her. Peace revolved around her, but when the mother left her children, they destroyed one another... She'll never forget that she left--she'll wear the chains of the martyr as she pulls the world's weight behind her, still thinking she's not doing enough." Morrigan Aensland
Re: The Blessing of Birth
So many things zipped about the room, people and words, emotions and breaths that were foreign. The sounds were dull, inaudible almost, as she worked. The birth was only going to be a few hours long, but... if Crystal didn't handle it that long, they'd have to do something about it. Not they, but she. The boy as he slipped inside called out to no one in particular, but settled himself close, down by Crystal's side. Shi didn't like this crowd--the herd was growing so large that it would be practically impossible to let loose and just pour her power out. They were hindering Crystal's chances to live, and they didn't even know it. "Ah'm 'ere as the midwife, Laddie, now move yer arse. Kits like these arenae easy tae bring inta th'world without the loss o' the lamb that moved tae the slaughter stone tae 'ave 'em." Shi was trying to scare people out, hoping that they would leave in their greif and worry, but she wasn't betting on it. Humans had an odd sort of morality they lived by that always seemed to put them more in the way than out of it. They hindered their own progress, but felt good about themselves afterward, so that was what counted, "Now, if ye dinnae mind, if'n yer gonna jes' sit thar, help like the lassie over there an' dinnae sit in my way." She looked up at Maya as she watched the visible and tangible fear wash over her, and she began to smile a slow, reassuring smile.
A healer. Oh, that's great. That might help, after all... "The child.. it's clawin' its way outta 'er. What you need to do, Miss," And Shi slipped around the body, pulling Maya carefully down to the end of the bed, where the great birthing canal lay open and bare and fully distended, swelling from the blood that was releasing, "Is put yer hands up and see what ye can do about healin' 'er insides as 'e comes out, and when 'e comes out, just let 'im come. The babe will make enough harm comin' out 'er body without any help from any one o' us. When it does breech, you gotta hold out yer hands, just let it move and wriggle out intae them. If'n Miss Dinaia cannae push, you reach up here, and push carefully for 'er. Coax her body to accept what's inevitable.. that this birth'll be quick an' unpleasant." The woman stood up straight, turning to look at Sei as he stood over Crystal, muttering to her, and she realized something she hadn't a moment before.
Crystal had begun to talk--nay, more like ramble. The goddess saw her eyes watching some play in the distance behind mostly-closed lids, heard her talk like she was.. on a phone to someone. Swimming? "Oh, god, Crystal." Shi hissed under her breath, the whispy strands of her hair clawing at her face as she moved in, shoving her way past anything in her way as the world began to slow. Eytan was breeching already--little shit was moving way too fast. Stop it. Damnit. You're going to..."And.. How did Mrs. Macbeth steal Shi’s voice earlier when she shouted at me?” The goddess rounded, staring at Crystal in her drunk-with-pain stupor. The questions ran through her head at mach 6, Do they know my name? Will they think? A fight in this place would be most unpleasant... everything unpleasant... But Shi saw no recognition--apparently only confusion at her name. And she felt a measure of it herself--the redhead had never said her name before, and there was no hiss... no anger in it. What a time to be thinking of such things! And then...
The babe, the babe... Crystal was shouting, wasting her energy as she coiled in on herself, trying to worry about Eytan, and her voice was coupled with Mrs. Macbeth's loud reassurances to try and calm her, all coming in slurred Gaelic and far too rough to understand everything of it. And then, the screaming halted, and Crystal laid her head back, and her eyes began to close, and Shi had a small fit inside herself that let fly a slew of curses not even a Gaelic woman would have known so many of. "Crystal? Crystal Dinaia..!" The voice seemed to carry a tone of, You dumb whore, wake up! because it was what Shi really wanted to scream right now. "Her life's ending. She's leaving us..." The accent went away again, implying that the woman had terribly mixed heritage she clung to, and she pressed her hand to Crystal's stomach and pressed down on it gently as she lay her ear next to her mouth. "That's right. Keep breathing. One two. Jes' stay alive 'til the babe's mostly out." I can only do it once, so stay with me. Just for now. Stay until he's free of your body. Just keep with me. She tilted her head from her lips, instead Shi's lips close to Crystal's ear this time as she breathed a hissing whisper, "If you leave, I'll take him. The child will be mine, and I'll keep him for Fedafyr and I... I won't be his godmother, I'll be his real mother. You want nothing of that, don't you? Stay in the world a few minutes longer, Crystal Dinaia."
Too soft to hear by anyone else in the noisy room, Shi hoped to drag Crystal back to the present.. just for a half an hour--fifteen minutes.. if she died before the child was out, there was no chance that she would live at all. Not by any God's graces. Not even Shi's.
Re: The Blessing of Birth
That wasn't the way childbirth happened in Seifer's memory. He'd been with Q when she'd given birth to Daniel and with Raine for her daughter's birth. Slowly he moved back away from the scene. The strange woman who said she was a mid-wife seemed like some caricature out of a book, someone's idea of a mid-wife more than a midwife.
He stood there for while longer watching his friend stuffer from something much different than any pregnancy he'd ever seen or experienced.
In what world was dilation in delivery a 'sick' thing to say? Obviously, delivery was different in this world. He moved farther back, slowly, not even meaning to, with a growing horror that they didn't have a doctor, a proper birthing table or even a chair, no forceps, no bulb to clear the baby's airway. He wanted to ask if they were going to massage her perineum so it didn't tear, or at least an episiotomy, but if dilation was sick, how bad would be discussing the perineum?
Crystal was a dear friend and frustration brought tears to his eyes, had him gripping his arms until his knuckles were white.. He felt he was nothing more than background figure in this story, a background figure in a painting that was not fully done, just there to cover canvas space.
While the strange old woman was talking and the healer girl worked at whatever healers do, Seifer felt small, an accidental pawn in the movement of those above him in station.
Most of him wanted to leave, but his soul was not a democracy and the right thing to do was stand and wait, just in case the old woman got dangerous or there seemed to be something he could do. In all the months he'd been living in The Blessing and the Flask, he still felt like he'd just arrived, still didn't really belong.
Re: The Blessing of Birth
Upon revelation of her skills, Maya quickly found herself being pulled toward the end of the bed. Her eyes started to move toward Crystal, only to squint and reflexively look away again. The pain Crystal was feeling shone through Maya's special spectacles with all of the intensity of the morning sun, so much so that it was difficult to look directly at it. She removed them for now, holding them in her hand as she listened to Ms. Macbeth explain what was happening, and what needed to be done. She began nodding in response as she stared momentarily at Crystal and considered how exactly she would do this. This was a first for her; most of the injuries she had treated before had been surface wounds, and very few had this sort of intensity. The apparent severity of the damage that was being done to her was only made more complicated by the fact that Maya would be unable to actually see what she was healing. However, a solution did come to mind, and it was held in her hand.
Maya put the glasses back on. The only way that she would be able to tell her own progress in this case was to watch Crystal's pain; to watch it fade, and eventually, hopefully, disappear as her healing stream made its way through her body. Her eyes went toward the space between the Elder's legs, not wanting to stare at the sun once again until it was necessary. Her own hands were held out before her a short distance apart from each other with palms facing up. Miniscule droplets of water seemed to form and gather together into a growing sphere of water. It was only then that she paused to think about the amount necessary...she didn't know exactly how much...space there was to work with within the body cavity, with the baby trying to come out and all, but if she used too little the healing would be too slow. She settled on stopping the water-ball's growth when it had reached about the size of a softball. Her eyes half-closed as she then concentrated on the ball, causing the colorless liquid to gain a subtle light blue tint with just a hint of a glow to it.
"The water will carry the healing power within her," she said in case either of the other two was watching, and realizing that questions may arise as to her methods. With the water ready, she guided the ball into a single small stream toward Crystal's opening, slipping the stream inside past the head and body of the emerging child. Maya had no choice but to look directly now, and she did so with squinting eyes as she worked. The girl was still afraid for her friend, but felt just slightly more confident now, having her own degree of confidence in her own skills and the apparent level of experience from Ms. Macbeth. She concentrated intently on the task at hand, keeping herself from getting overexcited in the process. Despite the urgency of the situation, the stream needed to flow gently and calmly from within. She watched as it seemed to work, the light from the pain becoming far less intense as she meticulously controlled the water's flow.
So intently focused was she on what she was doing that Maya hardly paid attention to any of the other words being spoken. Naomi, however, was uninvolved in the healing process, so she noticed when Ms. Macbeth dropped her accent...again. That would be a concern for another time, however, as the woman's life was in danger and Maya needed every bit of concentration.
The baby's coming, Naomi pointed out for her, as a reminder of the rest of the older woman's words. Responding with a very subtle nod, Maya bent in to position her hands to catch the child upon its emergance, her fingers giving subtle movements to correspond with the controlled stream on the inside. The pain, she could see, was still fading, and she hoped that it was due to her own efforts rather than the alternative possibility of Crystal fading out.
Jesus Saves.
The rest of you take damage.
When the jazz man's testifyin', a faithless man believes.
He can sing you into paradise, or bring you to your knees.
Re: The Blessing of Birth
A nightmare flooded through her dreams, blackness and pain, blood and twisting hallways. There seemed to be a certain door that was always out of reach, calling to her, begging her to touch the knob just a little. On the other side lay a vast field of nothingness that would consume her, she knew, so she stayed away until the nothingness began to seep through, destroying the façade of doorways. A hissing whisper, that damned goddess’s voice told her that she’d take the very thing that kept her alive from her and she moaned, softly, her eyes closed and twisted a little to the side. The birth was extremely haphazard, the child breeching when he should have been turned the opposite way, his head first. Her body, as well, was not made for delivering a half-god child and was failing quickly. The pain had faded for some reason, disappearing as the hallways collapsed into to bursts of water, flooding her bare feet in the half-dream. Sighing softly, Crystal shifted in the inn’s bed and her body began to reanimate.
Somewhere, though, from deep within, she felt something pushing back against the dark daydream and immediately recognized it as anger. Her temper flared and suddenly, her closed eyes opened only moments after they had fluttered closed. “You will not, you bitch! He’s mine and mine alone!” Her voice was heated, as fierce as it could be in a time like this and her words came out in a loud, harsh tone. As she looked around the room, though, she only saw a frightened looking Sei, a oddly serene Maya, and a strong but harried housewife. There was no sign of that goddess who had whispered that she would be the child’s mother, but she had little time to think about it. Though the pain had faded and the healing began to work in small doses, it was time for the child to come and her body somehow knew it. The twisting pain had gone and was replaced by a vast amount of pressure on her lower body. The fear of the next few moments showed in her eyes and she gasped slightly. It was time to push, ever instinct in her body told her, so she forced herself to do so, her fingers grasping at the sheets below her, her fingernails nearly slicing through the fabric from the force which she held them. A loud hissing breath escaped her as part of the baby became visible, the buttocks first. Because of the child’s rapid growth and large size, he had been unable to turn in the womb as other human children would have had the chance too.
The next few minutes would be incredibly dangerous for both Crystal and the child, but the Elder intended to at least get him to safety before worrying about anything else. The time came again, to push and she did so, squeezing with the very core of her body and praying aloud to no particularly deity. “Please let him be okay,” she repeated again and again, sometimes calmly, sometimes in mere whimpers and the room seemed to disappear around her. If the child wasn’t released from the womb quickly, there was a chance that his umbilical cord would strangle him, but his mother knew little about the entire process, she relied only on the signals from those around her and from her own body, feeling what to do more than she knew how to do it. After what seemed like hours, Crystal finally felt the largest, final push resound through her body and it was soon followed by the squall of the newborn. Tears filled her eyes as she heard it and she choked back a sob, not quite understanding why she felt this way, only knowing that she did. What the child’s mother didn’t realize was the amount of blood that followed the child, a lot more than the usual amount. The fluid raced down her thighs, further staining the sheets a dark, ruby red. She laid back, exhausted, feeling more limp than she’d ever felt in her life. Smiling softly, she announced, “Eytan. His name is Eytan Fedafyr Dinaia. Goddess, will you name him that if I cannot?” Nodding slowly, she closed her eyes and saw nothing but an endless abyss as her heart stopped beating.
"The white city fell without her. Peace revolved around her, but when the mother left her children, they destroyed one another... She'll never forget that she left--she'll wear the chains of the martyr as she pulls the world's weight behind her, still thinking she's not doing enough." Morrigan Aensland
Re: The Blessing of Birth
When Crystal came to, Shi was too busy patting herself on the back to be frightened of being found out. The delusional pregnant woman looked around, another fit in her half-gone mind, and then focused on the task at hand for the final round. She'd make it, and Mrs. Macbeth talked to her softly, calming her and soothing her as she pushed. The umbilical cord was not around Eytan's neck, but in his fist, as he had been pushing it from around him the entire time, waiting for the chance to be free as he wailed his lament to the world.
He came through, and was screaming already. The soft but sharp nails on his hands were resembling claws, and his little teeth were already full-grown in, but soft, as well. Everything in the room revolved around the child's scream, and Mrs. Macbeth wiped her hand across her weary head and shared a smile with the rest of the room, even Crystal, as she relaxed back into the sheets of her bed...
Relief. That was what she was feeling.
And Shi wasn't paying enough attention. The child was screaming, cursing her very name at the same time as he proclaimed to be placed in his mother's arms. The voice was unheard by anyone but the goddess, but she heard it loud and clear.. he'd grow out of that voice... and then he'd grow back into it again, to become a great man like his father.
"A'right.. A'right. Ye wanna see yer mother, then, we'll.... Mary, mother of Christ." She'd been mid-step toward the bawling baby when she'd finally looked back at Crystal. Her blood froze inside of her--How long... how long dead... The red eye peered from beneath the veil of hair, saw the messengers gathering, invisible to all but she as they prepared to steal her soul away. She dashed to the body with a frightful speed, hissing something out beneath her breath before turning back her mind.
The same words before--the same language she had used to talk to the babe--spilled from her lips, "Leave her. She's mine. The Dark Goddess, Sae'ni, claims here. It is not her time." The messengers stared at Shi, unbelieving of what they heard and muttering to themselves about the fact that she could see them. They wanted proof, it was a thought they both shared. And those sneers they had were the last expressions they would have on this visit to the mortal plane, as Shi's hand lit aglow--perfectly visible to all in the room--and touched Crystal's forehead gently. The redhead beneath her began to hear the conversation as if it were a dream, and she understood despite the language, "I said..." They began to scream, the manifestation of their agony proclaimed in the mirror on the dresser that suddenly cracked side to side.
"The Goddess of Death claims her. She is mine." They disappeared, vanishing with no trace except the crack of the mirror. Crystal's heart began to beat again as the flow of energy sped through her veins, forcing it to start with a painful, but fully realized, jolt. A piece of the goddess left inside of her, Crystal would now be able to understand Godspeak, though Shi had no idea that would be the result.
Mrs. Macbeth crumpled to the floor, weariness overtaking her body, though she remained conscious. Barely.
Seifer didn't have any idea what to do from here. The woman crumpled on the floor was strange, strange like Da'neal… other worldly, physical law breaking psycho strange. Hissing and screeching and Seifer had seen death enough times in his previous life to know his friend had died. He could smell it in the air, though his logical mind told him that couldn't be true, but his gut, the instinct that had seen him safely through forty-eight battles and one hundred and twelve missions. That instinct told him that Crystal died, that she'd slipped away before he could do anything.
And he hated himself for it.
He hated himself for not standing up for her and make sure she was having her baby in a safe place with medical people no bleeding crazy hags. He should have done something for her. She was vulnerable and his friend and he'd just stood there and let whatever happen to her.
Whatever the woman on the floor was, she wasn't a mid-wife. She acted nothing like mid-wife, or even a reasonably competent woman who'd given birth. Sei's bet was supernatural, and considering they were all dead and living in a certifiable afterlife, that wasn't so far fucking out there.
That same gut which kept him alive until a stroke could take him in his bathroom told him that running like hell might be a real good idea. Stubborn though. Damn stubborn, and maybe that was what had lead to the death by natural causes in his bathroom, he'd held to Squall's one time promises so hard that he'd just chewed up his own soul and lead to falling over dead.
Walking carefully around the crazy, supernatural hag, Sei moved to Crystal, reached for her wrist to check her pulse. "So," he asked Mara, or Crystal, anyone that might answer, "So, we know any doctors? Like persons familiar with medical science from a fairly advanced world? We need to get her transfused, get the kid checked out too." Sei leaned over to look at the baby laying on Crystal's chest, to make sure the kid wasn't going to fall. "Got to tie off his umbilical cord too," Seifer said, trying to make sure that all the tasks were taken care of.
Re: The Blessing of Birth
It had been a few months since Stephen had brought Merica to Genil and the Healer still hadn't quite walked away from the city. There was always something to do, someone to talk to, and he faintly wondered if that was why people spent their whole lives in one place. Not that he was going to be here all that much longer. He just had to get Merica a little more comfortable, get the regular folks a little more used to the guy, get a little more used to the world he'd somehow fallen into after death...
And get a drink. Only there seemed to be something a bit wrong with the tavern, in the, mass amounts of pain and confusion kind of way. And blood. Blood and beer were bad together, best fix that first. Of course, since he'd brought Merica in, there were a few people who would rather die than have his 'demon loving filth' touch them, but he took that as a sign of having poor parents and an unloving childhood. The other people, his childhood was fine.
Still, healer, wound, or in this case, baby, so he had to at least offer. Tugging on his hair tail he plastered on a sheepish smile and waved two fingers in a salute at Seifer and the amassed crowd. The woman (mother, torn passage, uncontroled bleeding internal injuries, possibly ruptered uteral wall and comprimised bowl) his mind noted, might be too far gone. He wondered if he could edge past the people around her and try to lay a hand on her, probably not. He knew Seifer from the tavern, though only in passing really. nice bit if a boffer. Most were if given half a chance.
Well, nothing for it then, best to ask and pray before shoving someone aside and forcing his power into the too still form (anemia, calcium loss dehydration all factors prior to normal birth, possible infection and low white cell count) his internal narrator tended to not shut up in moments of crisis, which would be annoying, if it wasn't also really the only way he remembered half of the things he'd read about normal medicine as a child.
"Yo. Need help?"
Edited by: Quezacoatle at: 9/2/07 6:44 am
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