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residents-of-the-darkforest · 4 months

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Dark Forest Resident: Ivyburble

Aliases / Nicknames: Kittypet, Cutter-cat, Ivypaw, Brittlebones

Gender: female

Sexuality: asexual, aromantic-sapphic

Family: Jessie (mother) unnamed father, Wobblekit (son)

Other Relations: Cranespots (mentor), Redmallow (best friend)

Clan: ShadowClan

Rank: kittypet (formerly), warrior

Characteristics: tiny, formerly a kittypet in a hoarding situation, will bite your ankles off, distrusts authority, lies about her age

Number of Victims: 4

Number of Murders: 4

Murder Method: smothering, poisoning, luring to badger den, snapping neck

Known Victims: Lionthroat, Redmallow, Bearshake, Inkyshine

Victim Profile: warriors who questioned her about her past or about her health

Cause of Death: complications from Rubber Jaw Syndrome and hypocalcemia

Cautionary Tale: ??

Story:

She knew she was young to have a kit.

Too young.

Her son was weak, she was weak, and everyone and their littermate knew it, so why did cats keep rubbing it in her face?!

“Do you know how old you are, Ivy?” Lionthroat, the old punk of a healer, had asked as he looked her over from a safe distance.

“You’re awful small. Little brittlebones, eh?” said by Redmallow, the old grumpy red tom, as he basked in the sun.

“Better eat enough to grow up properly!” said by Bearshake, the bastard deputy who refused to believe that she was 14 moons old.

“I can nurse him if you can’t make enough milk” Inkshine had told her. The black queen whose passiveness was made worse when Wobble ended up preferring her to his own mother!

Insult by insult, they built until something snapped.

The first to go was Lionthroat. She’d honestly expected to be caught then and there, with how much he thrashed. But she got away with it! In his own den!

Next was Redmallow. The poor old tom just couldn’t hold his foxglove.

Bearshake was difficult. She tried for moons, only to find that, where she went, he usually followed to “keep her out of trouble." Who knew that her little body kept her out of sight so well? Bearshake didn’t see her, and neither did the badger that got him.

Then it was Inkyshine’s turn. The queen tucked Wobblekit against another queen, and followed Ivyburble to her death. But first, she said something that made Ivyburble see red.

“I hope your life gets better after this.”

She snapped Inkyshine’s neck, and returned to camp.

She didn’t want to eat.

Her mouth hurt more and more, as Wobble got bigger. Soon he was larger than her!

But she got smaller.

Weaker.

Everyone and their littermate knew it.

Additional Information:

--Submission by @ambitiousauthor

--Ivy didn’t realize that her victims were trying to help her, since the cats in her old home were… yikes.

--She was actually 11 months old when she came to the Clan.

--Inkyshine viewed her as a daughter.

--Wobblekit became Wobbleshine, and later Wobblestar.

--BABY GIRL BABY

#child pregnancy #csa tw #dark forest #dark forest oc #dark forest submission #dark forest profile #ivyburble #cat hoarding #wobbleshine #wobblestar #inkyshine #redmallow #lionthroat #bearshake #rubber jaw syndrome #hypocalcemia

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palest-connor · 1 year

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the onion went for the throat and is allowing no survivors

link to the article: https://www.theonion.com/children-react-to-loosened-child-labor-laws-1850237969

#politics #the onion #child pregnancy tw #child labor tw #school shooting tw #workplace violence tw #child labor #child pregnancy #school shooting #workplace violence #double tagging just to be safe #ily guys #this shit is heavy

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quirky-book-reads · 10 months

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Return to Paradiso, #2

Genre: Historical Fiction Italy, 1950. The dawn of a new decade brings with it the promise of lasting peace and prosperity as the hardships of war are consigned to the past. In Pieve Santa Clara, a tiny village in rural Lombardy, Graziella Ponti, now a teenager, lives a simple life with her widowed mother and aunt. But Italy is transforming around Graziella at great speed and, as her childhood…

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#1950-1963 #2023 #Child Pregnancy #Child Rape #Coming of age #Domestic Violence #Francesca Scanacapra #Historical Fiction #Humour #Inspired by true stories #Italy #Paradiso Novels #Post-WW2 #Rape #Series #Warning

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intersectionalpraxis · 2 months

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Defend and Protect Black Women!!

Misogynoir medical bias is KILLING Black women disproportionately. If you know even a little history of how Black women have been systematically dehumanized and objectified in the medical industrial complex -you'd know this is FAR too common and it's despicable. These medical professionals should be losing their licenses to practice medicine.

"Black women are three to four times more likely to experience complications during pregnancy and childbirth and die from these complications compared with white women. Additionally, infants born to Black women are two times more likely to be born premature (<37 weeks of gestation) compared with infants born to white women."

"In the 19th century, J. Marion Sims performed experimental surgery on enslaved Black women without their consent to develop a cure for vesicovaginal fistula. These experiments facilitated the generations of two key health care scripts about Black women in the context of reproductive health care: (1) it is acceptable to perform procedures on Black women without their consent; and (2) Black women have a high tolerance for pain."

"Although there is a plethora of research documenting Black women's experiences of racism and discrimination while navigating perinatal care, much less has been reported regarding the relationship between racism and clinical care through the lens of clinicians' caring for Black women during pregnancy and childbirth."

#feminist #social justice #feminism #current events #current news #black women #protect black women #protect black girls #systemic inequality #systemic injustice #medical bias #medical apartheid #antiblackracism #antiblackness #tw child death #tw pregnancy #history #obstetrics and gynecology #united kingdom

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cannabiscomrade · 2 years

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With that story of the person buying a pregnancy test being sent formula samples in the mail getting traction recently, it needs to be pointed out that this is not new.

With my most recent pregnancy in 2020, I started receiving formula samples in the mail from Similac and Enfamil in my first trimester. My email was quickly passed between pregnancy and baby specific companies and my inbox became flooded with emails advertising countless products and services.

I was harassed by 2 cord blood storage companies after briefly browsing one of their websites. After my baby was diagnosed as terminal, I had a phone conversation with a rep who tried to convince me multiple times to store her cord blood for my future babies.

After Sam was born/died, within a week of my delivery I received a congratulations letter and offer from Gerber Life Insurance in the mail, also without my consent. I continued receiving formula coupons despite reporting her death to the companies multiple times, and even now I receive toddler formula coupons from time to time.

Amazon has tracked my purchases to the point that they know I (should) have a 19 month old and will advertise me toddler and baby things for girls, despite never having linked an AGAB to my Amazon account.

This level of capitalistic surveillance of pregnancy in the US specifically is not new and with the repeal of Roe v. Wade it should terrify you.

#pregnancy #parenting tag #child death #stillbirth #I did not have a miscarriage please stop tagging it as this

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natjennie · 1 month

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okay, bear with me this requires a lot of context. imagine that you wake up on a space ship with an alien species capable of telepathic communication with you. they are also capable of instilling you with the knowledge that everything they say is completely true, there is not a hint of uncertainty in your mind. they have weapons capable of obliterating earth pointed at the planet, and are forcing you to do one of two things in order to not fire. within the fiction of the scenario you are not being given the choice, but you the real you is picking which one of these things you'd rather have happen.

you must eat an 8 ounce serving of human baby meat, by default prepared like a steak (different preparations can be requested). you do not have to keep the meat down once you're done, but you have to get all of it in your body at one point. they do not provide any information about where the baby came from or how it died. if you complete this, they will deposit you back on earth and you will be free from legal repercussions of cannibalism, and it is generally agreed that you are also free from moral blame as it was against your will.

you will be surgically impregnated with a human embryo and must carry it to term and give birth. the embryo does not contain your dna, but otherwise you don't know anything about its origins. the aliens have advanced medical technology that gives you sufficient anatomy to carry and birth the baby, and keeps you healthy throughout, with no risk of long term complications or death. you have the choice to keep or give away the baby once you have given birth, and will be deposited back on earth.

if you refuse to comply in either situation, they destroy the earth and you are forced to live the rest of your life aboard the space ship as a prisoner, until you die of natural causes.

so,

#tw: child death #tw: childbirth #childbirth #child death #tw: cannibalism #cannibalism #tw: pregnancy #pregnancy #aliens #how else do i need to tag this #let me know #i only realized right as i finished typing that this could be triggering im sorry #please tell me if i need to tag anything else

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macfrog · 5 months

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sweet child o' mine | masterlist

neighbor!joel x f!reader | ao3 | playlist

joel miller has lived next door - since forever. you've been a pain in his ass - since forever. one drunken night changes everything - forever.

please check out individual chapter content warnings before reading!!! this series features adult content and themes which may be triggering.

series warnings: age gap (late 20s reader, late 40s joel), unplanned pregnancy, discussion of a car accident & dead parents, emotional cheating & some minor/one major instance of physical cheating, smut, angst, fluff.

main series

pt. i

pt. ii

pt. iii

pt. iv

duckie's baby shower

bonus

➵ replaying the wedding night

features

➵ sweet child o' mine moodboard by @sawymredfox

➵ joel and duckie by @knopes-waffles

➵ duckie vs. tomato by @dundienominee

➵ sweet child o' mine moodboard by @rarachelchel

#just a baby series but wanted to keep it neat #sweet child o' mine #joel miller #joel miller fic #joel miller x reader #the last of us #tlou #tlou fic #neighbor!joel miller #neighbor!joel #joel miller smut #pedro pascal #tw pregnancy

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residents-of-the-darkforest · 2 years

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Dark Forest Resident: Crunchsnow

Aliases / Nicknames: Crunch

Gender: molly

Sexuality: bisexual, demiromantic

Family: Lucky (mother), Pear (father), Charm, Flake (sisters), Cheerio (brother), Slatescratch (mate), Candykit (daughter), two unnamed sons

Other Relations: Mia (twoleg), Ice (Dark Forest mentor, abuser)

Clan: Kittypet, Lilacclan

Rank: den cat, assistant herbalist

Characteristics: insecure, strong connection to Starclan

Number of Victims: 6

Number of Murders: 6

Murder Method: fox wire, blood loss

Known Victims: Dustpaw, unnamed clanmates

Victim Profile: those who insult her, cats who her Dark Forest mentor manipulates her into killing

Cause of Death: blood loss from labor and a severed paw

Cautionary Tale: be careful to check up on new queens, because they might be going through a lot more than meets the eye

Story:

Ever since she was a kit, Crunch always had dreams about a shadow-cat telling her to go to the forest.

He called himself Ice.

She almost left a few times, but when her siblings were taken by twolegs—supposedly to find new homes—Crunch was alone with her mother, Lucky, and her sister, Charm.

Charm apparently was staying with their twolegs, and for a while Crunch thought she was too.

But alas there was a day where she was adopted, and the new twoleg took her to a small shop on the lakeshore. The fields stretched out as far as the eye could see.

The shop was a gift shop, filled with lots of things for her to explore—shiny, colourful rocks to line her nest with, soft cardigans to bury into, and her favourite item—rabbits foot keychain.

They only had one when she was a kitten, and they never got another shipment of them, but that memory of the soft dangling toy stayed in her mind for a very long time.

She was content, and loved her twoleg. Things were amazing until the shop caught fire one day, and Crunch got out.

Dazed and confused by the smoke, she wandered into the fields before collapsing from exhaustion.

Four wild cats found her, and took her back to their Clan.

Crunchpaw fit in well, and when she mentioned the prophetic dreams, they switched her to helping the medicine cats.

Except her dreams didn’t feel starry, and she’d told the shadowy cat many things about herself.

Ice mentioned that her Clanmates had very pretty paws, and that they would look good as the rabbits’ feet toys.

She was horrified, but he convinced her. Seeing all the amazing coat colours—the amazing paw colours—she got an idea.

She lured Dustpaw into the forest, down the creek to a fox trap she’d found. He stepped in, and she faked running for help. She hid in the bushes for hours, and was relieved when Dustpaw began chewing.

His paw was severed, and he bled out. She took the paw back to a small den she’d dug, and left it in the cool dirt.

She ran back to camp in tears, saying they were attacked by rogues and that the rogue had knocked her out and did that to Dustpaw.

Her Clan comforted her, and the next day she snuck back to the small den. The paw was soft and fun to play with, and she used a poultice over the open wound.

She did it again, and again. She fell in love with a warrior from another Clan who helped her keep the paws hidden, although he didn’t support her.

She was young, and now in the Dark Forest she would look back at it with regret, but she started expecting kits.

Crunchpaw was seven moons old, and going to have kits. Her Clanmates looked down on this, talking behind her back.

So more paws were added to the collection. Her mate’s paws joined the pile after he suggested she eat poisonous berries to get rid of the kittens.

Ice became her best friend, offering her advice on what to do. Who to target.

She didn’t even notice as the ideas fed to her became more absurd. He started talking about kitten paws. Tiny, soft kitten paws.

Crunchsnow earned her warrior name, and the same day a queen made a loud comment about how stupid she was. She ran out of camp, trying to ignore the nagging feeling of pain in her stomach.

She ran down the creek, the pains growing more intense. She turned to go back to camp, thinking something was wrong, but she tripped and felt something cut into her paw.

Crunchsnow yowled in pain from her stomach and paw, and turned to chew as she had the panicky realization that her kits were coming.

Unable to walk, her back paw holding on by a string of flesh and tendon, she pulled herself into the little den and shoved the paws as far away as possible, and hoped Starclan would spare her kits.

Additional Information:

--Submission by @wills-woodland-warriors

--She NEVER would have hurt her kits, and she stopped communicating with the Dark Forest cat when he suggested it.

--The queen, Minnowthroat, wasn’t being rude to Crunch, she was talking about a queen from another clan who got pregnant purposely to spite her mate even though she had a health condition that almost guaranteed her kits and her would die in labor. Minnowthroat has a tendency to be dramatic, and when Crunch walked in on the conversation, she thought minnow was talking about her.

--Crunchsnow and her family were named after cereals! Captain Crunch, Lucky Charms, Frosted Flakes, Cheerios.

--Her kits went to the Dark Forest because Starclan is a bitch.

--Two of her kits died in the Dark Forest after her Dark Forest mentor attacked them.

--”Yes, I misread her name as Crunchsnow and not CROUCHsnow. No, I do not care. She will forever be mrs captain crunchy snow.”

--”I wanted to note that I 100% do NOT support the whole rabbit foot keychains thing. A lot of those keychains aren’t always ethically sourced, and as someone with two pet rabbits I will never, ever support the making, selling, or buying of them.”

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shyravenns · 2 months

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Gift art of Gaz and his daughter Rosie for @imrowanartist and @narcissosbythepool 's fic!!!

#myart #digital illustration #artists on tumblr #gift art #trans!gaz #pricegaz #gaz garrick #cod gaz #fic art #trans pregnancy #child oc #this fic is SO good and I love it so much

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reasonsforhope · 13 days

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Flint, Michigan, has one of the [United States]'s highest rates of child poverty — something that got a lot of attention during the city's lead water crisis a decade ago. And a pediatrician who helped expose that lead problem has now launched a first-of-its-kind move to tackle poverty: giving every new mother $7,500 in cash aid over a year.

A baby's first year is crucial for development. It's also a time of peak poverty.

Flint's new cash transfer program, Rx Kids, starts during pregnancy. The first payment is $1,500 to encourage prenatal care. After delivery, mothers will get $500 a month over the baby's first year.

"What happens in that first year of life can really portend your entire life course trajectory. Your brain literally doubles in size in the first 12 months," says Hanna-Attisha, who's also a public health professor at Michigan State University.

A baby's birth is also a peak time for poverty. Being pregnant can force women to cut back hours or even lose a job. Then comes the double whammy cost of child care.

Research has found that stress from childhood poverty can harm a person's physical and mental health, brain development and performance in school. Infants and toddlers are more likely than older children to be put into foster care, for reasons that advocates say conflate neglect with poverty.

In Flint, where the child poverty rate is more than 50%, Hanna-Attisha says new moms are in a bind. "We just had a baby miss their 4-day-old appointment because mom had to go back to work at four days," she says...

Benefits of Cash Aid

Studies have found such payments reduce financial hardship and food insecurity and improve mental and physical health for both mothers and children.

The U.S. got a short-lived taste of that in 2021. Congress temporarily expanded the child tax credit, boosting payments and also sending them to the poorest families who had been excluded because they didn't make enough to qualify for the credit. Research found that families mostly spent the money on basic needs. The bigger tax credit improved families' finances and briefly cut the country's child poverty rate nearly in half.

"We saw food hardship dropped to the lowest level ever," Shaefer says. "And we saw credit scores actually go to the highest that they'd ever been in at the end of 2021."

Critics worried that the expanded credit would lead people to work less, but there was little evidence of that. Some said they used the extra money for child care so they could go to work.

As cash assistance in Flint ramps up, Shaefer will be tracking not just its impact on financial well-being, but how it affects the roughly 1,200 babies born in the city each year.

"We're going to see if expectant moms route into prenatal care earlier," he says. "Are they able to go more? And then we'll be able to look at birth outcomes," including birth weight and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admissions.

Since the pandemic, dozens of cash aid pilots have popped up across the nation. But unlike them, Rx Kids is not limited to lower-income households. It's universal, which means every new mom will get the same amount of money. "You pit people against each other when you draw that line in the sand and say, 'You don't need this, and you do,' " Shaefer says. It can also stigmatize families who get the aid, he says, as happened with traditional welfare...

So far, there's more than $43 million to keep the program going for three years. Funders include foundations, health insurance companies and the state of Michigan, which allocated a small part of its federal cash aid, known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Money can buy more time for bonding with a baby

Alana Turner can't believe her luck with Flint's new cash benefits. "I was just shocked because of the timing of it all," she says.

Turner is due soon with her second child, a girl. She lives with her aunt and her 4-year-old son, Ace. After he was born, her car broke down and she was seriously cash-strapped, negotiating over bill payments. This time, she hopes she won't have to choose between basic needs.

"Like, I shouldn't have to think about choosing between are the lights going to be on or am I going to make sure the car brakes are good," she says...

But since she'll be getting an unexpected $7,500 over the next year, Turner has a new goal. With her first child, she was back on the job in less than six weeks. Now, she hopes she'll be able to slow down and spend more time with her daughter.

"I don't want to sacrifice the time with my newborn like I had to for my son, if I don't have to," she says."

-via NPR, March 12, 2024

#united states #flint michigan #michigan #cash aid #basic income #poverty #poverty relief #child poverty #mothers #pregnancy #prenatalcare #healthcare #healthcare access #public health #child development #good news #hope

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baldursgate3tempobsessed · 6 months

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K follow me Astarion just sees tav like loving on children wherever they go and hes like?????

And tavs like ive always wanted my own child but i didn't wabt to ask you with every

This sends poor starion into a crisis does he was children how many

I think I have followed you. Let's see!

So for this one we got a lil time jump, ambiguous and vague setting and timelines with game spoilers present. M/F pairing because that is my go to and pregnancy is mentioned. Vampiric pregnancy also so there is some weirdness there (i made it up no idea if it's dnd accurate). Vague Tav backstory of a wonderful mother and going off to become a cleric.

Astarion was well used to your antics by this point. You had a severe lack of instincts linked to self-preservation, which led to a consistent pattern of doing, frankly, stupid shit. Stupid, but kind. Nothing that Astarion hadn't adapted to, after nearly two years of being attached at the hip you became pretty attuned to your lover's personality.

He could even go as far as to say that he had grown to love your annoying predilection for pious morality. Perhaps he loved talking you out of certain virtuous dangers more, but still. He appreciated who you were, he adored who you were. But Astarion was no saint, despite his insistence on attaching himself to one.

Which is exactly why he was far from amused when you signed him up to babysit a couple of brats. All for acquittances he barely cared about.

But you at least had the good grace to look guilty, "I didn't mean to! But she looked so tired and she said their anniversary was coming up and it's not like we got anything for their wedding-"

That was a nice try, one that Astarion wasn't falling for, "We didn't know of their existence when they got married darling. Just because I can't remember their names doesn't mean you can trick me."

"I'm not trying to trick you!" You whined, arms crossed as you pouted. It sure felt like a trick, especially when Astarion knew that you were well-aware how easily he fell for your sulking. Adorable little monster that you were, "It's only three kids and a baby for one night, it won't be that bad! You don't even have to help-"

Astarion rolled his eyes as he sat next to you on the bed, "I didn't say I wouldn't help."

That seemed to do the trick to get the pout off of your face. You perked up immediately, looking at him like you couldn't quite believe it, "Really?"

"Yes, really," Astarion sighed as you tugged you closer. Sure he liked to bitch, but he really would do anything for you. Even extremely annoying things like this, "I'm not going to sit back and feed you to the wolves."

"They're not wolves! The oldest is barely five," You laughed as you let him manhandle you, settling you into his lap, "And I am sorry, I really wasn't thinking. I promise it won't happen again."

Astarion doubted that, not when he was well-versed of your weak spot for children. No matter where you went you couldn't help but fawn over them, not to mention the insane lengths you would go to keep any child safe. It was a complete and utter blind spot, your kindness extending to them all, even the little scam artists and hellions.

It was sweet, if not extremely worrying at first. Astarion had been terrified of you finding out his past. The things that he had been forced to do, the innocents whose lives he had destroyed. But not only did you find out, you were forced to see it. Both of you were, and it had been worse than anything Astarion could have imagined. He had always found a slight comfort knowing that those he captured would at least die quickly, that at the very least they wouldn't suffer the same agonizing fate as he, just an agonizing death. But no, even that small comfort had been a lie. The horror of finding them all down there has yet to be matched. He had never felt more self-loathing, more pure disgust than the moment he had found those children, tortured and pale, all because of him.

How you didn't see him for the wretched thing he was after all that, Astarion wasn't sure. But he was grateful. You were too good for him. A fact that he was devastatingly aware of, but that wasn't going to stop him from keeping you.

He still thinks about it on occasion, despite the fact that he had done all he could to right his wrongs. They all at least had a chance now to have a life worth living, Astarion could only hope that it would be used. Their future was out of his hands now, a small comfort.

But despite his complicated feelings towards children, he was more than capable of handling them for one evening. And in all honesty, he truly didn't have to do much. He was on self-mandated baby duty, because of course you had to help out the infant that would scream bloody murder unless it was being held. Keeping her tucked against him was a move of self-preservation, if he ever wanted to retain his hearing.

Most of the night was spent amused as he watched you entertain a gaggle of toddlers. You were so... creative with the ways you could defuse their antics. It came to you so naturally, nearly like you were a born mother yourself. It wasn't exactly surprising that you were fantastic with children, he had seen it time and time again. Arabella, Mol, Yenna, all of which still wrote you letters, visited occasionally. Staying forever attached, even from a distance.

Now that Astarion thought about it, it was odd that you weren't a mother. Odder still that you hadn't never even brought up the possibility of having children together. You were usually so open with your wants and always encouraging the same from him. Just one more thing he loved about you. But... why hadn't it been mentioned? Astarion had always assumed it was because you didn't truly want any of your own, that you enjoyed their fun innocence while avoiding the more laborious responsibility of raising them.

Though watching you take care of them all, changing diapers and negotiating silly arguments with a soft smile of your face had him rethinking his assumption.

"You're good with them," Astarion said eventually after you had successfully set the older three down for the night, the baby still stubbornly clinging to him, "I don't think there's a child we've met that doesn't adore you."

You laughed quietly, walking over to kiss him softly on the cheek. Your eyes wandered to the sleeping infant in his arms, still holding a piece of his shirt in it's little fist, "You don't seem to be too bad with them either."

"Newborns don't know any better," Astarion dismissed as he tried to put her down in their borrowed crib. Tried and failed, considering how the thing immediately started to whine the second he attempted to pry it's little hand away.

Oh for fuck's sake. Astarion wasn't even going to try and argue. Instead he unbuttoned his shirt and let it fall into the crib with her, seemingly doing the trick of stopping her from waking completely.

When he turned back you were staring at him with soft eyes, looking lovestruck at the simple act of him laying a child down, "Looks like she has pretty good taste to me."

"I don't think your judgment should be trusted," Astarion huffed as he walked over to you, grabbing your hand to drag you to the bedroom. He glanced back at you, his heart nearly skipping a beat from the sweet way you kept looking at him. It had his mind wandering again, those questions still nagging him.

Questions that he didn't have the courage to ask until dead of night, when he had you half asleep against his bare chest, "Have you ever thought of having children?"

He hadn't meant to blurt that out in the middle of the night, but Astarion apparently had a knack for starting important conversations at inconvenient times. Not that you minded.

You just cuddled into him closer, nodding against him with a sigh, "I've always wanted my own children. My own mother, Gods bless her soul, made it all sound so magical. Pregnancy, the early years, puberty, all of it. She loved it all. And I guess it rubbed off on me. It used to be all I could think about, before real life got in the way."

Astarion listened, a little annoyed at himself for not putting the pieces together sooner. You had talked so lovingly about your late parents, how you always wanted to be like your mother. Of course you would want children. How had he not connected the dots?

"But then I went off to the temple," You continued, "I completed my training, went off into the world to do good, blah, blah, blah. You know the story."

"So you grew out of the idea?" Astarion asked.

"Not exactly," You admitted, sounding a little guilty, "But I would never ask that of you love, it's not something you have to worry about."

That-what?

Astarion stared down at you, brow furrowed, "What do you mean?"

"I mean I know that the topic of children is... difficult for you. Considering everything you've been through-"

"I think you mean to say everything I've inflicted on others," Astarion interrupted, unwilling to allow himself grace. Especially when it came to the children of the Gur, "It was much worse for them than me."

You nodded, knowing better than to try and fight him on that particular topic, "I understand, but my point is that I can live without them. You're all I need."

It was comforting to hear, an immediate balm to a brand new set of insecurities that Astarion hadn't been prepared for. But even so... he hated the idea of you sacrificing even more for him. It felt wrong, "But-"

"But nothing," You interrupted softly, setting a quick kiss to his mouth, I'm serious Astarion, you don't need to worry. I'm happy, I love you, and everything is fine."

"I love you too," Astarion murmured, at a loss to say anything else. But the conversation didn't end there.

Astarion couldn't stop thinking about it, even long after the temporary children were sent back home. ou seemed so... sure that he didn't want children, and a week ago he probably would have agreed. But that was back before he knew that he was actively keeping you away from something you wanted. Something you had dreamed about since you were a child. And it felt wrong to be the reason for that, so, so wrong.

He didn't even know if his true feelings on the matter were real. He didn't want children for many of the same reasons he never wanted a partner. The attachment to another was dangerous, he was beyond unequipped to deal with others, let alone care for them, and the entire ideology behind love was ripe for manipulation and heart break. But then he met you and everything changed. Suddenly, caring for another didn't feel like a weakness, it felt like the strongest aspect of his entire self. Taking care of you wasn't an unwanted duty, it was intimacy. Something that he now craved. If all of those steadfast ideals could fall apart simply through meeting you, whose to say he could even trust himself when it came the thoughts around having a child?

Would having one truly be so bad? A little piece of the two of you, alive in the world? And perhaps children were annoying but... Astarion would be lying if he said he didn't have a soft spot for them. He had kept his distance before, but now he was fully confident that he wasn't a danger, no with Cazador burned to nothing bus ash and his own bloodlust well controlled. And it's not as if he was incapable of being a father, worse men than him did it everyday.

It was a confusing place to be, this tightwire of indecisiveness. Confusing enough for him to start a bit of research. He was vaguely aware that it was possible for his kind to breed, but finding out the details was disheartening, to say the least. First he had to parse out the different horror stories of babes eating their way out of their mother's wombs with actual facts, which wasn't exactly pleasant. But the truth was that it was more than possible for the two of you to have child together. It had the potential to either be as noneventful as any pregnancy, with the cavate that the babe coming out looking slightly... dead wouldn't be a permanent state of being. Or it could be as risky as carrying a child could be, with pains and complications galore, even legitimate worries of internal bleeding from the wretched thing prematurely growing claws. Not to mention the occasional, intense blood lust that could occur, an experience that Astarion would prefer you didn't have to go to.

Looking into the reality of the choice didn't help as much as he had assumed it would. If anything it just made the whole situation more real. Even if he wasn't a vampiric spawn, childbirth was risky. Maybe not as risky for you considering how Astarion would move the heavens and hells to get you the best care possible, but still. The thought of you passing, leaving him alone with the child you wanted and would never see, would destroy him. Completely and utterly.

But then again... there was the magical alternative of everything working out just fine. The two of you were both beyond lucky in that regard, considering how you'd overcome mind flayer parasites and fought and won against a near god. It was more than possible that everything would be fine, that you would have a beautiful pregnancy that would end in an even more amazing child. Then two would become three, a family of his very own.

That... didn't sound too bad. Astarion was torn. On one hand, he was almost certain that he was willing to go through with it. Not just because he loved you and wanted you to be happy, though it was the main reason. But also because... he could be a part in making something good. A child that would never suffer the way he did, the way countless others had. One who would be loved, who would have the help they needed for their inevitable unholy hungers. Someone precious for the two of you to fret over, to adore and care for. He... wanted that. Or at least he would if you still did. Now if he could just figure out how to bring it up, maybe something could actually happen.

But luckily enough for him, you did the job for him. He had been pouring over another book dedicated to recording the births of Dhampirs in the area, only to be distracted by you loudly sighing behind him.

"What's wrong love?" Astarion asked, his eyes still scanning the page in front of him.

"Oh I don't know," You sighed, rounding the corner to sit on the edge of his desk, "I just can't help but wonder when you're going to explain why you've suddenly become obsessed with parenting books. And..."

You trailed off, ignoring his surprised expression to read the cover of what was in front of him, "'Vampiric and Mortal Love & The Spawn They Create'. It's not exactly your usual reading material."

Part of Astarion wanted to be surprised that you had already figured him out. He had at least been trying to hide things from you slightly, not that it mattered when you could read him like a book. And he supposed that blatantly reading things like this in front of you would eventually have an effect, even if he tried to obscure the titles.

But that didn't stop him from stuttering through a response, "Well-I, okay. I've just been thinking about options lately. Which you can't really do if you don't understand what they are. Hence the books."

You frowned at him, one leg crossed over the other, "Star, I already told you that you don't need to worry-"

"But I want to worry," Astarion interrupted, deciding that ripping the band-aid off would be the best course of action, "And if there is something I can be doing to make you happier than I should at least consider it."

"I'm not going to force you into this for that," You said softly, reaching out to twine his fingers against yours, "This isn't the kind of thing you do just for someone else."

Astarion was aware of that, there was an important truth to your words. But... "What if it wasn't just for you?"

You paused, your brow furrowed as you stared at him, "What do you mean?"

"I mean what if, and consider this purely hypothetical, what if I wanted one as well. What then?" It was as far from hypothetical as Astarion could get, but by the look on your face it didn't seemed like that needed to be clarified.

You swallowed, looking just shy of hopeful as you played with his hand, "I... well. I guess in that case we would have a lot to talk about."

That wasn't quite the answer he was looking for. He pressed on, "So if in theory, I did want one. Would... you still be interested in having one?"

With me?

He left that part unsaid as he waited for an answer, uncharacteristically nervous as you mulled it over. But you were smiling, bright and wide, giving his hand a little squeeze as you spoke, "I think that would be the only scenario where I would want it. If that's something you wanted."

"I think it is," Astarion answered honestly, done with being coy, "I don't know how, I... I'm not quite sure how I feel about you carrying something that could be dangerous. But... in general yes. I think I want this. I do want this. With you and only you. Whenever your ready."

The next part Astarion did see coming, his arms already open by the time you launched yourself at him. You straddled his lap, kissing every part of his face as you babbled, "We can wait! It doesn't need to be now but-I just-yes! Adoption, childbirth, I don't care. All I need is to have them with you. That's all I want."

"And that I can give," Astarion laughed, delighted at your reaction. He still had concerns, plenty of them in fact, but they were hard to consider when the woman he adored was so ecstatic.

He gripped your chin, chuckling at the whine you let out for him interrupting your onslaught of affection. You didn't have to wait long, not when he directed your mouth against his, kissing you deeply as a new wave of exciting, and slightly nauseating feelings worked through him.

He didn't know exactly what was going to happen in the future. He had no idea if he would be a good father, but he knew that he would try his damndest. He didn't know how the two of you would even procure a child, but he did no one thing.

With you by his side, it would work out. All of it, no matter how hard the road turned out to be. And that was all that mattered.

#astarion #astarion x reader #astarion x tav #baldur's gate 3 #asks #you'll pry my long posts out of my cold dead hands #spoilers #pregnancy mention #should i do a part 2 of this?#dhampir baby part two?#fun fact im actually so scared of pregnancy it sounds like hell to me #so pregnancy/child fics are very interesting to write #personally #i'm getting through these asks slowly but surely #nine more to go!

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