tw - descriptions of birth complications.
The den grows heavy, the scent of blood thick in the air, overwhelming the softer scents of moss and milk. The world has narrowed to breath and pain, to the tense rhythm of contractions and the shudder of limbs that give and take with every breath.
He is not aware of the turmoil his parents face, nor that several of his siblings have already arrived—slick, crying, alive. Time drags as the fifth kit delays, suspended in silence while the others cradle against their mother's belly.
From the moment he begins to emerge, it is clear something is wrong. He is backwards—tail first. The pressure clamps around him, suffocating. He doesn't even get the chance to use his lungs, fluid-filled, drowned, delaying him even the choice to take his first breath. To fight for his chance at life.
ooc - he's a breach baby! good luck jingle...