He was kept out of the birthing chamber for several days after the mother had finished whelping. It did not sit well with him, but the bearing of offspring had forever been the domain of females, and even he bowed to nature, so Cobar waited, endlessly patient, outside.
He had tried to enter when he had heard the birth beginning, but had been brutally rebuffed by the whelping female. Other caetrae women entered and exited, first frantically with healing magics and herbs, then later with food and water. Some would glance at the male waiting outside of the sturdy, cavelike hut, some with hostility or question in their gaze. He ignored all of them.
The caetran female who had mothered his pups was a domineering creature, and their courtship had been more of a war. She had been in rut, fertile, which had in turn lent him interest in an activity that would have otherwise left him unmoved... in theory. Siring pups was an idea that had never before occurred to the demon, reproduction a mystery best left to creatures surrounded by their own kind. But then he had slowly discovered that these caetrans who had first summoned and then kept him were very much like his own kind. Instincts older than time had kicked in, and he had fought the caetran female and won the right to mate her.
It was evening more than a week after the birth when the mother had finally emerged and looked at him, waiting there -- quizzically, somehow, though the emotion hardly registered with Cobar -- and growled, "Goddess, you're implacable, aren't you? Well come in then, if it'll send you away, look at them."
He had growled and risen to follow her, head low and tail twitching. He could hear them.
The room where they were being kept was round and dark, as warm as blood, and the pups themselves were in a low, round bed that took up a large part of the room. He stopped at the entrance and looked upon them.
They were ugly, mewling little creatures, all big heads and paws and necks he could have snapped with the tiniest twitch of his jaws, but he felt a deep sense of satisfaction as he watched them wriggle and squirm, stepping or sleeping on one another. They couldn't stand yet, and their eyes were just barely open. They were reds and oranges, duns, browns, striped...
"Nine in all," the female growled, pushing past Cobar and returning to her pups, stepping onto the whelping bed carefully and nosing at the mass. "And growing fast. You sire good pups," she eyeballed the red demon, who merely flicked his ears at her. "Almost time to cull them, I think."
His head whipped up and he fixed his eyes on her, ears pricked forward, body suddenly entirely at dangerous attention. "Culling?" The word emerged slowly from his throat, guttural.
The caetran looked at him like he was an idiot, her wings mantling a bit as the pups below butted up against her legs. "Culling? Choosing the best one of these little suckling creatures? You didn't think I was going to raise all nine, did you?"
A snarl grew across his muzzle from deep in his gut.
---
An hour later, Cobar stood in that same doorway. The red he was covered from head to toe in blocked out his purple stripes even, staining him more deeply than his natural shade. A puddle of blood grew on the floor beneath him, not a drop of it his, and he stared at the pups.
He had just taken the corpse of their mother outside. She had died first, though he had left her there so the pups could suckle once more while he took care of the rest of the clan.
He moved to the whelping bed and stood beside it, still watching the youngsters. They seemed agitated, as if they knew what had just happened -- and maybe they did. Cobar had no idea how sentient his pups were yet. It didn't matter. He had slaughtered every one of the beasts that would have killed them.
He bowed his head to sniff at the pile of pups, who scrambled away from him first; then, when he froze, one inched towards him. It sniffed him, and licked at his blood-soaked nose. Again, he felt that deep satisfaction, and the demon heaved a sigh. He sat beside the whelping bed, the tip of his tail twitching. He would keep vigil here now, he would watch them and keep them safe.
It wasn't until hours later, when the first of them began to cry from hunger again and refused the meat that he dragged in, that Cobar realized that he didn't know the first thing about pups.
--
There are 7-8 half Upan Caetran, half Kurpany pups available for adoption!
Sponsors who have come for adoption must be able to handle a currently very helpless puppy that will grow into a violently-inclined, powerful mutt. They will reach adulthood in about ten years, but they will be absolutely dependent on their caretakers for the first year or so. Sponsors don't have to be necessarily be evil, but they do have to be tough!
I'll accept stat sheet, but stories are preferred... and being the horrible human being that I am, I'll bump mere stats-sheets out of the running if the clutch is full and someone sends in a story. >D So it might be worthwhile to pump out a couple of paragraphs to ensure you get a spot!
No deadline yet, but I'll let everyone know a week or so before I intend to close it!
Application Form
Please email this information to jkatkina at gmail dot com, with the subject "Sponsor: Cobar's Pups (Your Sponsor's Name Here)".
Your name or online ID:
Your email address:
Sponsor's Name:
Sponsor's URL:
Sponsor's Origin:
Preferences (gender, colour, etc):
Anything else I should know?
Cobar's Pups
Moderators: Mystic Dragon, Xalia, Shard
::
Ooooooh my 
Awesome story and use of kurpany
Count me in, though I don't have anything up at the moment.
Awesome story and use of kurpany Count me in, though I don't have anything up at the moment.
Author of Repurposed
kshau-protectorate.com
kshau-protectorate.com
That part I actually, uh... hahaha. XD Cobar wouldn't have the first clue where to go to find out who to give pups to, to be honest. Umm. *chinscratches*
I'm going to go with the idea that he somehow got into contact with the Avengaean Nidus (the records for this clutch will eventually go up there, to keep my life easy XD), and they put out the call for sponsors as well as provide teleportation to the site where Cobar is keeping the pups, because he probably wouldn't let anyone move them to an actual nidus or weyr or anything.
I'm going to go with the idea that he somehow got into contact with the Avengaean Nidus (the records for this clutch will eventually go up there, to keep my life easy XD), and they put out the call for sponsors as well as provide teleportation to the site where Cobar is keeping the pups, because he probably wouldn't let anyone move them to an actual nidus or weyr or anything.
Yes, for mine is made of awesome and win. He's also posted now, JKat. Thankee again~<3
http://xenoqueen.deviant-uprising.com/S ... Mahthi.htm
http://xenoqueen.deviant-uprising.com/S ... Mahthi.htm