Swiftcurrent Creek ten things i hate about you

Thank you Finn for this idea..

A few days into her stay with Paarthurnax, Bazi was so fascinated by the state of her friend's ballooning body that she had to take herself away to give the poor woman some space.

Pregnancy did more than turn your mid-section into a barrel. Every inch of you swelled - as though your body was suddenly able to turn air into fat. Paarthurnax was padded from top to toe despite not eating that much more than Bazi. She peed constantly, waddled, couldn't stay in one position for very long, and possessed a wonderfully strange scent.

So as not to seem creepy, Bazi had dragged the remnants of a small buck out of storage and mysteriously told Paarthurnax that she would be back soon. The little Arctic wolf then proceeded to drag the animal all the way to the woodlands in the east.. where she did something rather strange.

In an effort to emulate a large, swinging belly, she grasped the buck's saggy neck skin between her teeth and put two legs on either side of the carcass. Then, awkwardly and on tip-toes, she began to waddle around the forest with the mangled body dragging beneath her.

No, that wasn't working - there was no weight, even if the waddling was pretty spot-on. Wear it, maybe?

Bazi dropped the buck's half-eaten head to the ground and turned her head to stare at her own slim, empty stomach. Could she strap the weight to it somehow?

I couldn't resist replying to this! xD I hope you don't mind me and 'Fari! <3

Since the meeting Nefarious had rearranged his trade priorities a bit, focusing more on the borders, at Scimitar's request of them than filling his caches and learning of the indigenous plants when he could. He stuck close to Swiftcurrent Creek's land if he had to venture out in search of medicinal and toxic plants, though he had not ventured out of the claimed lands of the pack in quite a few days. Guarding the borders was definitely more pressing, and Nefarious was eager to prove his worth, to make himself valuable to them even if he was a bit unorthodox with his magicks and faith. The shaman did his best to be respectful about it, to keep his practices on the down low and close to himself. He did not speak of it often, lest it came up in conversation and even then he kept most of it to himself. It was not out of shame for Atka and Sos that he did but more so out of common courtesy. The Creek was not Akkuma, and Nefarious had learned over the years with his siblings what was diplomatic and not. Not everyone would be accepting of his religion and so he kept it as quite as he could without forsaking it because such a thing was not an option for Nefarious. There was no forsaking Atka and Sos, or the gifts they had given him.

Nefarious had been heading back to his den from a long patrol, not tired so much but wanting to sort and organize his medicinal cache a bit more. It was on his way back that he came across well ...initially he was not certain what he'd stumbled across. Steps ceased as pumpkin orange gaze studied the female he knew as Bazi from the meeting, the one who was helping Paar straddling a back and ...walking with it beneath her body. Or trying too. The shaman had seen many strange things in his life but he was not so sure that much of what he had seen could exactly top this,

Head canted ever so slightly to the side as he tried to determine what it was she was doing with it. Nefarious broke his silence by inquiring in softly, “What are you doing?” Curious more than he was anything else.

Bazi spotted Nefarious much too late to prevent an embarrassing situation. He had already witnessed her shuffling around in pointless circles with a deflated carcass dragging beneath her, and Bazi had nearly started to put the damn thing on, like a fat coat, when she clocked him.

"Ah," she began, a little too shrilly, letting the body drop with a dull thud against the short, dry grass. Panic made her tongue feel like a human foot. "I am just.. seeing what it's like to be really, really fat, actually." Well, it was true.

Nefarious had walked on a number of awkward things in his life, but few that left him well generally concerned about another's mental health before. Granted, he was a shaman and should have been used to unorthodox things, considering he had often fancied himself a prince of unorthodox growing up, having painted himself in numerous things ranging as putrid as sacrificial blood, to bathing in sea water and knotting seaweed in his fur for different things, but in all of his life he could honestly say that he'd never seen someone attempting to wear a deer, or walk around with it hanging under them. The shaman wanted to laugh but for the sake of it seeming rude Nefarious resisted.

It was apparent to Nefarious that he had caught her unaware, and that his presence and audience was unexpected when the shrill noise spilled from from between her lips and she let go of the carcass. Why? Almost spilled off of Nefarious' tongue but for a second the shaman remained quiet and contemplated her words, attempting to puzzle it out himself. He'd never really seen a “fat” wolf. He'd seen bulky wolves that seemed to be more muscle than they were much else — like Arux, for instance — and he'd seen pregnant wolves but he wouldn't have called an abdomen swollen with children 'fat'. “What do you mean fat? You mean like bulk? Or pregnant?” Because those were the only two options he could realistically come up without spending all night thinking about it he voiced them aloud to her in his inquiry.

"What do you mean fat? You mean like bulk? Or pregnant?"

Well, he wasn't stupid - a relief for the pack, but not great for Bazi in that moment. She rolled her eyes and gave the discarded carcass a feeble kick, clearly embarrassed. "Yes, I suppose," she conceded, glancing around for anyone else that might be listening in. ".. don't tell anyone."

Mostly, because she was embarrassed to be thinking about it at all. Her situation upon return was not as she had imagined it would be; Scimitar had not ravished her at the border (or even after that), and she did not possess a rank that was permitted to breed. And yet, the more time she spent with Paarthurnax, the more desperate she became to feel the weight of her own children.

Nefarious watched her with an amused simper that had begun, against his better judgment, to tug at the corner of his lips. His gaze followed the movement of her kick, borne the shaman freely assumed out of her bashfulness of being intercepted by another. In some ways, Nefarious sort of wished he hadn't seen that strange behavior but there was nothing that could reset his eyes, nor erase that from his memory. Regardless, that was more or less his first impression of her, and he bit back another laugh that threatened to spill forth as he pondered that for a moment, biting his tongue in accordance though his tongue burned to speak aloud the words that she'd made one hell of a first impression. Definitely a unique one, at that. She didn't really respond to his question, not sharing which one she had been attempting to re-create but assuming that she'd been hanging around with Paar a lot he went ahead and guessed that it was the pregnancy she was attempting to re-create.

“There's an, ah,more realistic way of making that happen you know. As opposed to using a deer's carcass,” Referring too, of course, actually becoming pregnant. Then again, he didn't know her life. He did not know if she had a mate or not, or if she wanted children in any sort of reality. In fact, he knew next to nothing of her other than she had been missing and was now, obviously, found. He really didn't understand though this was likely borne of the simple fact that he was a male. He had different sort of urges than she, he supposed. “Don't worry,” The shaman murmured, addressing the fact that she genuinely didn't seem to want him to speak of this. “Your secret is safe with me.” Secrets was something that Nefarious kept well guarded.

Have my 800th!

"There's an, ah,more realistic way of making that happen you know. As opposed to using a deer's carcass."

Bazi flashed him an ugly grimace. She didn't like being made fun of, even if it was a jest made kindly. Particularly not when she felt exposed and vulnerable, which she did now. With everything that was going on, she had begun to think dramatically sad thoughts about the spinsterhood that surely awaited her.

"I know that," she replied, a little surly but not with any venom. Her ears seemed to wilt a little in the glare of his bright, orange eyes. "I just wanted.. never mind. Thanks. Who are you?"

Ooh, congrats! :D

It wasn't until he caught the grimace that danced across her lips, marring her delicate features that Nefarious felt bad about his words, though he hadn't been making fun of her. It was easy to see how it could have been taken that way, of course, but he hadn't meant it to sound condescending. The shaman's ears slicked to rest at half mast atop his skull as he wrestled with the idea of apologizing to her for it. It was the right thing to do. No matter how he tried Nefarious could not be like Suluk — did not have the nerves of steel it took to be condescending to everyone, pack mates included. Outsiders were one thing and as far as Nefarious was concerned in a totally different vein. Pack mates were another thing all together. “I'm sorry I didn't mean...” Nefarious cut himself off, took a breath and continued, “I wasn't trying to be condescending.” Nor was he trying to make fun of her despite that, likely, that was how it had came across. In Akkuma rank didn't matter. It was longevity, loyalty, and permission that granted those whom wished the breed the ability to do so. Perhaps things were different here in the Creek. Nefarious did not know because it wasn't knowledge that was overly pressing to him.

He had no mate and thus it did not truly mean anything to him, nor did it press a concern. Nefarious looked away from her then, wondering why he hadn't just walked away as opposed to making himself sound like the world's biggest ass. Which he was likely pulling off flawlessly. “I'm Nefarious,” So used was he to giving out the nickname that he barely even considered even the smallest possibility of giving out his given name 'Anik'. Maybe some day, he told himself, when he finally achieved the rank of Angakkuq he would resume going by the name Anik. Until then, he saw nothing wrong with 'Nefarious'. “You're Bazi, correct?”

Bazi gave her head a brisk, dismissive shake. "It's fine, it's fine - don't worry about it," she told him, desperate to move on from the nauseatingly awkward situation they had gotten themselves into. Thankfully, Nefarious - what kind of a name was that? - had the same thought, and quickly moved on to exchanging names.

"That's an angry-sounding name," the pale girl commented, signalling her willingness to converse by stepping away from the carcass and sitting down, paws pressed neatly together and tail pressed tightly against her rump. "And yes, I'm she... how did you know that?"

Bazi was quick to tell him that it was fine, to brush off his intrusion into something that was obviously not meant for anyone else to see. It was still awkward, albeit a little funny, even reminiscing upon it and thus Nefarious was all to eager to allow the topic of conversation to meld into something different. Even if it meant a conversation that was totally off the wall. In the end, that was much more preferable to talking about Bazi's desire to know what it was like to feel pregnant. Or so Nefarious thought, anyway. “Yeah well, I got into trouble a lot as a kid,” It had fit his nature — especially as a child. Whether that nature still held true or not he did not know. Perhaps one day, he reflected, he would find the ...not courage, he had plenty of that, but he had reasoning to go by his given name of Anik. Here, in these Teekon Wilds, Nefarious could not help but feel that there was no need to hide. Even if he'd been back in Seahawk Valley he still might have brought his plight to Suluk. He wasn't a helpless, frightened child any longer. He could take whatever they could think to throw at him.

“It's not my true name,” Nefarious added vaguely, not having the intent, this moment anyway, to share it with her. He might not have been frightened, or needed his father's so-called protection but he was still possessive and like a possessive child he clung to his secret, coveting it closely to his own heart, mostly unwilling to share. “Uh, Scimitar mentioned you at the meeting.” And considering she smelled heavily of Paarthurnax, Nefarious had put two and two together.

"It's not my true name," Nefarious told her, rather than sharing said name. Bazi cocked a brow at the secrecy but did not push for more information. What was so important about a name? She had shed her own several times, and had no qualms about informing others of the fact - but nobody put much stock in surnames, and it had never come up. Maybe it was just a very, very ugly name - like.. Glork. Or Pundisnuff.

Mention of Scimitar stole her breath for a moment, but she snapped up the thread of conversation before the silence became awkward. "I figured it'd be something like that," she told him, "Help me get this back to where it belongs, will you? Then you can tell me about the worst trouble you got in, so that I've got something to fight back with if you ever think about telling on me." Bazi flashed him a mischievous grin and seized her belly stand-in by the ankle.

We can fade or continue, I don't mind! :)

I'll go ahead and have this archived. :-)

Nefarious was not often inclined to share his given name; or rather the name that Suluk had given to him upon officially adopting him. Whatever name Nefarious had bore before that, his birth name he did not know. He remembered extremely little of those early months of his life, remembering only the day that Suluk had found him cold, his little stomach rumbling with hunger pains. Nothing before Suluk was important, and no one had came looking for him, leaving Nefarious with the distinct suspicion that Suluk Kesuk was the best thing that could've happened to him. It was true that he given his real name to Paarthurnax, and to this day Nefarious not sure what inspired him to do so having barely known her at the time. Bazi mentioned that she figured it would be something like that, as in Scimitar mentioning her, drawing through Nefarious' full attention back to her once more and asked him to help her with the deer she had stolen and have been using as a fake pregnant belly. Grabbing the corpse by the angle opposite hers, assisted her in dragging it back where it belonged all the while thinking of something that you done that might satisfy her demands so that she had something on him as well.