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Hunting wasn't always as dangerous and glamorous as she makes it out to be on film. Sometimes, she's sitting in a lean-to and waiting for a carefully laid trap to be triggered, watching and studying the bugsnax trundle along the red desert sands. Her thoughts run a bit more wild.
They land, as they have over the years, on wanting grumplings. A thought that grows stronger and weaker depending on the season. It's something she's discussed with Eggabell, it'll happen eventually, but her desire is bone deep and impatient. Instinctual, even. A deep urge to get pregnant and care for the offspring that follows that simply cannot be fulfilled. Providing for and nurturing her community out here satisfies some of the urges, but ruffling Beffica’s hair and tucking Gramble back into bed after he sleepwalks away can only do so much. It's all she can do as long as IVF and adoption are unavailable to her. And she's not asking that favor of anyone in town just yet.
She grabs a tacroach that made the mistake of wandering a little too close to her, gently cradling it in her arms once it stops squirming. It soothes the ache, slightly. A soft warm little thing safe against her chest… she looks down to see its googly eyes squinting and upturned. Did it like being held like this? She should donate it to Gramble, regardless. Careful not to disturb its toppings and salsa, she runs a paw over its back. Pet the creature.
The sound of her trap going off pulls her out of her broody haze, and the tacroach yells in protest when she shoves it in her bag and runs.
A suspended net barely contains a full course meal of extremely angry bugsnax. The spuddies thrashing around shakes sand out of the trap, angering an already pissed preying picantis and threatening a flapjackarack with being diced. As she pulls the net down, a distinct crunch sounds from within. Liz cringes. Any other day an egg cracking would've sounded delicious, but still coming out of her egg-fever, Liz almost feels sick to her stomach.
“Eugh… Are you serious? Right after my egg crisis?” Lizbert complains to the spuddy responsible. It looks at her like it's actually listening. It doesn't look guilty. Just confused. She grumbles as she moves to hoist the angry bundle over her shoulder.
The freshly freed eggler drops out of the net, the holes far too large to contain it de-shelled. There's a flash of a very orange yolk, and the hunter realizes she's letting an extra high quality specimen get away. She ties a knot in her net and runs after the eggler.
It doesn't take long to catch up to a slug-thing, and her prey knows it. The moment it has a corner on her it starts to burrow into the sand, but she's not far enough behind to lose it then. She digs after it, fingers bumping into something hard before finally grasping around the eggler.
Liz holds it up in victory, to an audience of no one. She's still proud. As she's inspecting her sand-covered prize, she realizes she's unearthed another eggler. This time, shelled.
“What were you digging for? Is this somewhere to hide?” She asks the thing.
“Egg! Egg! Eggler!” It answers, helpfully.
“By the bunger's wrapper! You're right!”
She snickers, before tucking the snak into her bag with the tacroach. Another snak never hurts…
But as she's removing the second eggler from the ground, she realizes there's still more underneath! She gets to digging, removing eggler after eggler from their toasty warm hole, making a sizable pile on the sand. It's hard work, but after more than enough to feed the whole town, she stops, despite there being more to dig up. Liz cackles in delight and cracks open two of the special, perfectly over easy and bright orange yolked eggs right into her mouth.
She lays on her back in the sand, panting, smiling. Once she marked where this was the town would be set for a while. Hell, she could probably ask Triffany to check out the spot and take a day off. She pops the first eggler, still covered in sand, into her mouth as a reward. Nobody needed to eat that anyway.
All of her baby woes are forgotten as she preps this remarkable bounty for home. She's so happy about it, that she doesn't realize that the egglers had failed to snakify her.
…
Snaxburg is asleep by the time she arrives home. A sleepy wave from Filbo coming out of the outhouse is the only thing that greets her. But she didn't want fanfare now, anyway. Eggs are a breakfast food. She deposits the snax where they go, tacroach and an eggler in Gramble's yard, the rest in her snak storage for anyone to grab, and an armful of miscellaneous snax back to her hut.
Eggabell sits in bed, light still on, reading a book that she drops the second Liz enters.
“Liz! I was starting to get worried about you. It's so easy to get dehydrated out there.”
The hunter drops her small bounty at the foot of the bed, “It was worth it for the haul I managed today!”
The spuddy and sodie lay where they land, dazed and confused, but the cheezer makes another run for it, gently stopped by Liz grabbing once more. She sits down next to her wife, offering the little cracker snak.
“These are all for you tonight, Bell”
“ Three snax? Right now?” Eggabell exclaims.
“Only if you're feeling up to it, I can put some back if you've already eaten.”
Eggabell smiles, crawling over to meet Liz, taking the cheezer in her teeth directly from Liz’s paw. As she crunches the little thing against the roof of her mouth with her tongue, her wife pulls her onto her lap… much to the protest of Liz’s legs. The huntress feels and gropes Eggabell’s soft rolls, sighing in delight as her thigh is snakified right under her paw.
“I thought you'd be tired after hunting all day, so I actually had a full sauce meal before you got home.”
Liz nearly tackles her to the bed, face fully nuzzled in her chest, purring up a storm.
“Easy tiger!” Eggabell has to giggle before finishing, “You already know I can't fuck at capacity… but something tells me you're craving some fondling anyway.”
The fact that Liz continues to grab at her back and side fat makes the nod into her breasts completely unnecessary. Despite Eggabell losing some weight after coming to Snaktooth, Lizbert's favorite bedtime activity was still feeling her body.
“Hand me that loaded spuddy.”
Liz obliges, pulling the spuddy over by the back leg, holding it up above Eggabell’s mouth. She scoots up enough to eat comfortably, taking the first claw into her mouth and severing it quickly, cleanly. Barely chewing enough, she swallows, taking another bite in the race against the spuddy’s destabilization. It's not long before the whole thing is devoured, and Eggabell’s paw is wrapped in golden tin foil.
She holds Lizbert's face, running her thumb over her cheek. They kiss, and Liz can taste just a hint of potato.
The huntress grabs the sodie by the can, upending it into her wife's mouth. A drop of the fizzy, fruity liquid runs down her chin, before Liz lowers the rest of it in. She holds it in her mouth, savoring the way even the can fizzes, like a candy she's always loved, before crunching down on it for the gush of soda.
Eggabell lets out an unrestrained burp, loud enough they both stop to look out their windows to make sure it didn't wake anyone up.
…the coast is clear. Liz kisses the mess off of Eggabell’s face.
She runs her freshly snakified fingers down Lizbert's back… pausing at her waist.
“Grump, you put your belt on tight. ” She runs her thumb underneath said belt, feeling the indent in Liz’s flesh it leaves, “that can't be comfortable,”
“Hmm?” Liz leans back to unbuckle her belt, finding it nearly straining , “oh, ow. I didn't even realize.”
The belt is tight enough that she struggles to maneuver it enough to take it off. As she's frowning at the effort, Eggabell snakes a paw under the buckle and pushes Lizbert's belly in.
With a (totally tough and cool) squeak of surprise, Liz gets the belt off.
“It… it fit this morning -” Liz stammers, blushing furiously.
Eggabell bursts into laughter, “I bet it did! You couldn't help yourself with your giant hunt, could you?”
“Mmmmaybe.” Liz whines into her paws. Despite her embarrassment and protests, she has a smile on her face, “Grump- I've been at the same size for… years!”
“I'm finally rubbing off on you, huh? Shame I couldn't feed it to you,” Eggabell runs a paw down Lizbert's thigh, thumb and first finger gently pressing in like Liz does to her to feel the curve more accurately.
“It wasn't even that interesting, just three egglers.”
Eggabell tilts her head in confusion.
“What?” Liz asks.
“You're not snakified like you did.”
She looks down to confirm that Eggabell is right, and catches sight of her belly once again. This morning it was entirely flat, almost toned. Now she could put her hand underneath it. A teeny tiny belly in comparison to Eggabell, but for Liz… “This is a big bloat for such a small meal… hours ago.”
“Does it hurt?”
“No, not at all. Maybe the egglers… snakified my guts? Or one of them?”
Eggabell puts her hand on the little swell, “There's never been an internal snakification that we know of…”
When she tries to remove her paw from Liz’s belly, she’s stopped. Liz turns over so she’s snuggling closer, keeping Eggabell’s paw where it was. She resumes rubbing gentle circles into it, and a purr starts in Liz’s chest.
“Liz, did you yearn yourself into a pregnancy?”
Liz curls up a little, butting her head into Eggabell’s chest.
“Maybe,” She says, muffled and warbly from her purrs.
“Yeah, that might be why the egglers went in there.”
“Hmm?”
“Snakifications kinda go by preference when they can. Floofty’s paws always snakify right then left, mine go to my hips before my hands. You might've wanted it so hard that they went right to your uterus.”
“Oh my grump.”
“You poor thing, so desperate. You feel solidly three or four months along,”
Another soft pat, a combo that makes Liz giggle. She snuggles up even closer so that their tummies touch. Lizbert's, which at this point could reasonably be called a ‘baby bump’, pressing firmly into Eggabell’s soft fat.
“I would not mind seeing you shaped like this more often,” Eggabell hums, “but if this lasts as long as a normal snakification… what'll the others think when they inevitably see you so round?”
Liz is pressing her face into Eggabell so hard that Eggabell can feel her smile.
“Will they assume I'm somehow responsible? Or will they think you're a whore who couldn't help but get herself knocked up?”
Liz whimpers. A two hit combo.
She holds Liz for a few moments, silent save for a quiet laugh every time Liz feels her own belly and returns to wiggling in glee. It seems like that’s the end of it, and Eggabell leans over Liz to turn off their bedside lamp… freezing in place above Liz, trying not to push her over.
Liz looks up, confused.
“Liz. I promise this isn’t more dirty talk.”
She pauses, and Liz nearly combusts from suspense.
“I think you’re still swelling.”
“Like, actively?”
“Yes.”
“What the fuck? ” She has to giggle, “What the hell are you doing in there?”
Eggabell leans back, releasing Liz and letting her look at herself.
She was right. Her belly is bigger than when she took her belt off. When she leans over to look, it begins to rest on her thighs.
“Oh my grump.” She whispers, holding her belly, “oh my grump oh my grump.”
“I’d say you're about five or six months along now.”
Liz presses her fingers into her belly. It almost hurts, but…
“I can feel them! Eggs!! In there!”
Eggabell’s hands join hers in feeling for the little lumps.
“They feel so… normal!”
“ Really? ”
“Well, yeah! They feel soft and movable, like they should be in the second trimester,”
“Oh my grump I'm in the second trimester” Liz says, breathily like she's going to faint.
Both of them sit, staring at Lizbert's bump. The growth was subtle, but now that they were looking for it, it couldn't be more obvious. Every time she breathes, it rises and falls , and falls less dramatically each breath. A stretch mark creeps up from her hip over the side of her belly, prompting a sympathetic rub from Eggabell. They watched until it sat solidly on her thighs.
Liz sits up suddenly, looking around frantically. She grabs the nearest blanket and holds it, unsure of what to do with it.
Eggabell grabs her shoulder, pulling Liz in for a hug. One that Liz eagerly reciprocates.
“Talk to me, Liz.” She rubs her back, “what are you feeling?”
“Uh- not pain- just…” she pauses, holding Eggabell a little tighter, “-uneasy. Like the bed is too high up.”
Eggabell nods, holding Liz with one arm as she moves some of the bedding around until Liz has a little alcove to lay down in. She visibly relaxes upon being guided inside. Eggabell smiles down at her, giggling softly.
“Am I nesting ?”
“I think so. The fact this has caused such a hormonal surge is amazing , but I guess I can't be surprised. You're a nester even on a good day.” Eggabell leans over her, looking Liz up and down. A devious grin appears on her face, “You know this means you're close to giving birth, right?”
Liz clasps a paw over her mouth to barely suppress a squeal as she sinks further into blankets.
“I'm going to go grab some towels, just in case. Even if you don't lay any eggs tonight, I know you're excited enough to make a mess.”
Liz hums to acknowledge her, content for now buried in comfort.
Both of her paws go to her belly, not just because it's starting to pinch with how much it's stretching. She rubs small circles into it, and presses until she finds one of the eggs, gently cupping it.
She really, really, deeply wants them to be viable, despite how impossible that is. She pictures tiny grey and white grumplings in her and Eggabell’s pouches, little scrunched up faces of hatchlings that haven't opened their eyes yet. The sound of peeping from inside an egg ready to hatch. Images of candling eggs and seeing tiny heartbeats flash through her head.
The town depends on her but… they'd understand the need for a break.
Grump, it hurts how much she wants it. There's an ache in her bones… and her back… and her pouch. She dips her paw into her pouch to try and rub the mild pain away, and it comes away wet and sticky, to her surprise.
She stares at the white liquid on her fingers. The sensible side of her knows she shouldn't. But she brings it to her mouth and tastes it anyway.
Milk. The nipples in her pouch are lactating. For her babies, presumably. That may or may not exist.
Eggabell returns, and Liz doesn't even give her a chance to set the stack of folded towels down before grabbing one off the top. She attempts to clean herself of all themilk
“ Liz? ” Eggabell exclaims, her confusion quickly turning into a smug grin, “Oh, you poor thing,”
Liz whimpers desperately at her wife's sultry tone.
The doctor sets the towels down on the bed, before sitting next to Liz, finding one of the nipples on her chest, circling it with her thumb until it joins the pouch’s in leaking.
“ Belle , please …” Liz sighs.
“You're looking so fertile, like a genuine Mother Naturae,” she pinches the nipple gently in her fingers, earning a hitched squeak from Liz. The other paw rubs her belly, with a focus on putting pressure over her pouch.
Liz holds on for dear life, to the sheets, to her wife. She shuts her eyes tight and braces for more stimulation… but Eggabell’s paws retract.
“You'd probably pass a pregnancy test,” it's still in the low tone the rest of the dirty talk was, but the awkward phrasing invited some kind of response.
“No, but that's- it-” Liz sputters, then composes herself, “that tracks the growth hormone of the grumpling itself, right?”
“There you are, back to Earth.” She holds Lizbert's face, smoothing down a little bit of fur.
“Aw, Belle, you didn't have to do that,” she's purring again already.
“I have to have some mercy on you,” Eggabell looks away, “you're so vulnerable right now, and I can't just untie you or give you an antacid,”
“But you make me feel so safe just by being here,”
“And you're the most dangerous grumpus I've ever met. Some days I'm scared you'll just spontaneously combust.”
“I mean… right now is the closest I've ever been to exploding,”
Both of them giggle.
Their fun is interrupted, however, by Liz gasping and adjusting her legs. She grabs another towel and clumsily shoves it under her bump and between her legs to try and prevent the puddle on the sheets from growing.
“Euuuggh” Liz whines.
"Things are officially starting, okay!" Eggabell also grabs a towel, folding it in half and guiding Liz into laying down on the pile of blankets, tucking the towel underneath her rear.
"What are you doing down there?" Liz asks, leaning to the side in a futile attempt to see over her belly.
"Right! Sorry, autopilot. I'm going to feel out the size of the eggs and then check your dilation against it," she explains, one paw already feeling her bump. As the doctor presses around, her face grows more concerned.
"Big?"
"Big."
“I’ve taken big,”
“Not from this direction- I’m checking your cervix now,”
“My cer-” Liz starts, interrupted by Eggabell’s entire paw entering her. She squeaks, in a totally very tough and collected way, of course.
“Sorry! Sorry, you're progressing nicely, though.” She wipes her paw off, “In a normal birth I’d give you three hours before you can try to push…”
“But here we have…?”
“Probably three hours before it's done entirely,” she looks at her paw, and the small amount of residue left behind, “I have no idea, really,”
There's a thoughtful moment of silence, before Eggabell sticks her finger in her mouth.
…
“Does it taste like eggler?”
“It tastes normal.” She sticks her tongue out, “I was hoping for a snakified flavor,”
“You know what birthing fluid tastes like?”
“I do now. It's all just slick anyway.”
Eggabell lays down on her side next to Lizbert, who is stuck on her back like a turtle. The giddy smile is back in full force, however. She has both paws on her belly
“You look so cute,”
Liz looks to her wife, then back down at herself. She covers her mouth to try to calm the smile that grows wide enough to hurt her cheeks.
“You really think so? I don't look awkward and weird?”
“Well, it's not that you don't, if you stood up I know for a fact I could push you over without trying very hard.”
Liz blushes at that.
“But you look comfortable. The eggs settled into your pelvis like no problem, your body just made way for them with no warning,” she smiles, looking away, “I've always been a little worried that you'd be more eager than you could handle,”
“When am I not ? I'm-” Liz is interrupted by a tight feeling around her belly, like a tight hug, almost on the edge of pain. “Ooh, ah,”
“You okay?”
“Mm- ‘s tight”
Lizbert's idle rubbing is joined by Eggabell, running her paw from just below Liz’s rib cage and petting downwards with purpose. The contraction fades, but she still feels the pressure deep in her cunt. Cervix deep. She squirms under Eggabell’s touch.
“There you go,” Eggabell coos, “it's starting to ramp up, it's okay,”
She continues the repeated pressure on Liz’s belly. Liz sighs every time she runs her paw across, steadily melting into her nest.
“Just helping you out, you're doing great,”
It isn't long until another contraction hits, leaving Liz panting at the effort.
“Any pain?”
Liz shakes her head. She still paws around the bed until she finds Eggabell’s hand, taking it in hers.
Just after the contraction ends, Liz perks up.
“I feel it!”
“The first egg?”
“Mmmmhhmm…” she hums. Every time she moves it sends another jolt through her, “push?”
“If you're asking me that the answer is no.”
Liz whines.
Eggabell sits up, maneuvering to sit between Liz's legs while still holding her paw.
“Alright, let's check under the hood.” Eggabell says, slipping her fingers inside her wife's laboring cunt.
When Liz chuckles at the joke, Eggabell can feel something bump her finger just past the cervix.
“You're right, there's an egg.”
Liz can't help but squeal in delight, squeezing Eggabell’s hand.
…then doesn't let up, a moan escaping her. Another contraction hits and Eggabell can feel Liz pushing around her paw with every gasping breath. She barely has a chance to retract it, the egg falling out into her paw as Lizbert's back arches. It's so heavy she nearly drops it immediately. She lets go of Liz, who barely notices as she rides out the rest of the orgasm the extreme stretch brought her.
Eggabell looks at it, stunned. She takes a towel and hurriedly dries and covers it, stowing it out of Lizbert's view before she can recover.
“Belle?”
“I'll tell you later. You have at least one more egg to worry about first.”
“Belle..”
“I know, but you gotta stay focused. You're still in labor, mama” She rubs Lizbert's still very round belly with her dry hand.
“Ah-” Liz sighs,
Then she presses a little harder.
“At least two more.”
“Wow…”
They can't even get their footing in a conversation when the next contraction hits. Liz groans, squirming in her nest to change position.
"Up?"
Liz nods. Eggabell helps her into an upright position, on her knees but still leaning on the increasingly rumpled pile of pillows. Her hips lazily thrust and roll on sheer instinct alone. Even the tiniest movements feel good to her.
When the contraction ends she's panting at the effort, with no progress to show for it. She leans more on Eggabell. This is way more work than even wrangling a picantis. But it feels so good.
Eggabell continues to rub her back, and apply that pressure to her belly… grunting and panting growing more intense…
Until all at once, the second egg gently plops onto the towel. Liz barely squeaks at this orgasm, but Eggabell can feel her entire body move and tense in response.
Eggabell reaches down to grab it, gasping in pain when another bowling ball of an egg barrels out of her wife and smashes her paw between it and the egg that came before. She's got a feeling a shell would've been cracked if she hadn't. Liz very nearly breaks skin hanging onto Eggabell for dear life.
Liz slumps over into the pillows and blankets, overstimulated and happy while Eggabell tends to the eggs.
There's several minutes of relative silence, and the contractions stop. Completely still and silent for a moment.
A firm paw on her belly keeps her from falling asleep completely.
“Looks like you got them all.”
Liz responds with a muffled grumble.
“I know you're tired, but before you pass out… let me show you your hard work,” Liz can hear a smile on Eggabell’s face before she looks.
Bundled together in a soft towel are three splotch-patterned eggs, gray and darker gray layered with a soft off-white and light pink.
In shorter terms… normal.
Lizbert's eyes nearly pop out of her head.
“Belle! They're- they're yours .”
“It shouldn't be possible.” She cradles them closer, and snuggles up to Liz.
“Three hour eggs shouldn't be possible either, and yet.”
“We won't be able to candle them for another few days but… even if they aren't viable… I loved tonight.”
Liz looks at the eggs, tears springing to her eyes.
Just a little closer, and they're cradled between the two of them.
“I love you .”
“I love you too, you big goober,” Eggabell laughs. She finally turns off the light in earnest.
…
“Y’know, even if they end up viable, I'd still like to see you pregnant again,”
“More than three kids!?’ Liz whisper-shouts.
“If you can convince me,”
…
The next morning, Liz heads out to the campfire for coffee much later than she normally would. The sun is already up, the fire is embers… and she's wearing a shirt. The extra layer makes her feel like the egg tucked away in her pouch is just a little safer.
The grand majority of grumps are already doing their daily activities, save for Filbo, who is still tending the fire to keep the water warm enough for the latest risers.
“Mornin’ Filbo,”
“Hey Liz! Long night for the snax, huh?” He greets, handing her a cup.
“Long evening, maybe, didn't get to sleep until late anyway” Grump, how was she going to tell him he was possibly going to be an.. uncle adjacent thing soon? “too much sand in my fur,”
Filbo laughs, “yeah, I know how that goes. Worth it for the snax though, right? That's an amazing haul!”
He gets out a snak to eat, as if he was just reminded to eat breakfast. An eggler. Already cracked, and just as orange as the first one she grabbed. He starts raising it to his mouth.
Lizbert, barely thinking, smacks the snak out of his hands, sending it flying with a increasingly distant, “eeeggleeeerrrrrr!!”
Filbo looks at her, dumbfounded.
“Please tell me you didn't eat any of the new egglers,” He'd hate what just happened to her.
“No…?”
“There's something weird with the egglers I found. I ate three and hours later, I laid three eggs!”
“What!?” He goes pale… then smiles, “I mean, I'm happy for you, too!”
“I-” she's paused by his support. “Well, this is great for me , but more importantly; did you see anyone else eat an eggler today?”
His smile turns to a grimace.
“Welllllll…”