Author: Bryar, Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 11:26 AM, Post Subject: Parenthood [P][R]

Bryar paced back and forth very slowly through the foyer of the manor that had fallen into the possession of his wife, Kirika. Clutched in his arms was a small bundle of blankets containing the newest addition to the Oakenfell-Rose family - Sahara, the daughter that his wife had given birth to just a few weeks ago. He looked down at her with such affection and love in his eyes, taking in the perfect shape of her nose, the roundness of her cheeks, the softness of her baby-fine hair. Her eyes were closed and it seemed that the gentle motion of her father walking back and forth with her in his arms had been enough to lull her to sleep, and he enjoyed the peacefulness. After all, having a newborn infant in the house was a bit trying at times.

All was well and good… until Bryar felt the need to sneeze. Being both a man as well as werebear, his sneezes were anything but dainty and quiet. He tried as hard as he could to stifle the sound, but to no avail - he let loose and sneezed rather loudly, his body tightening slightly. With fear, he looked down at the sleeping babe in his arms, holding his breath - but all was well - it seemed as though the infant had slept through the sound. He let out a sigh of relief - and that seemed to trigger it.

Sahara’s eyes snapped open and she let out the most deafening wail that Bryar had heard yet. ”Oh, no, Sahara, shhh… Calm down,” he said, trying to move the baby in a gentle rocking motion to lull her back to sleep - but it did not seem to be working - in fact, it seemed to somehow be making the child’s cries worse.

Bryar’s face was now turning to one of panic as he tried to think of other ways to calm the baby down. Kirika was taking a much needed and well deserved rest, and he had started out bound and determined to prove to her that he could do this just as easily as she could, but it seemed that perhaps it was not coming as easily as he had thought it would. After several minutes of trying several things, from feeding her to laying her down to singing to her, he finally gave up, trudging up the stairs towards their bedroom with the screaming infant still in his arms.

When he entered the room, he looked at his sleeping wife, waiting until she woke up from the child’s cries, a look of woeful defeat upon his face.