The bed of leaves rustled, then Smash exploded from it like a tee shirt launched from a cannon at some sporting event or another. She dove perhaps six feet, then dropped her head and retched on the grass. She made such awful noises that the morning songbirds not only hushed, they took flight in utter disgust. Several heaves later, the morning fell still and quiet again, though now it smelled like hot, fishy puke.
"Holy shoot, never again," the she-wolf mumbled to herself, swiping a dark chocolate foreleg across her muzzle to wipe away any clinging vomit or drool. She backed away from the puddle of sick, then settled back onto her haunches with a deep breath. "Seafood: zero out of ten. But puking—that's a solid ten out of ten from me. I feel like a million bucks!" she announced to no one in particular, her trademark grin finally making its appearance.
She didn't actually feel one hundred percent and Smash was craving water like a thirsty camel to boot. She began to trot away from her makeshift nesting area in search of a puddle or something. Now that she was feeling better, Smash also kept her eyes peeled for a pack mate, particularly one that could point her in the direction of a breath mint.
Gunnar had been patrolling when he heard a loud sound, as some creature jumped from the bushes. HE didn't see who it was, or why they were exploding out like that. So he just slowly walked towards the sound, ears perked forward a small growl in his chest, he was wary. He heard the loud sound of retching, and he knew it well. His mother having retched most of the first few weeks with his younger siblings. He wrinkled his nose in distaste.
He heard the vomiter grumbling then when she spoke about feeling better after puking he was confused. He quieted his growl, because though he could not see her. He could hear her, and he recognized the voice. He tilted his head and continued on, waiting to see if he could be of assistance some how.
He looked up as the she wolf came around the bend, and he looked at her. Finally, he broke the silence. Are you okay? Some ginger will fix that tummy and some mint will make your mouth taste better.
She came around a bend and nearly ran smack dab into a handsome wolf with sandy fur and light eyes. Smash sprang back with an "Oh, jeez!" while clutching one dark paw to her chest. "Where'd you come from?! You almost scared the grand poobah out of me," she shouted, though her bright orange eyes glittered with good humor as she studied his features. He had definitely been at that little pack meeting a few days back.
His remark finally registered and Smash blinked. "You didn't—" She cut herself off with a little titter. "I guess I did make a lot of noise, didn't I?" she quipped with a playful grimace. "What's this about ginger and mint? Do you happen to have some on you?" she wondered jokingly, giving him yet another once-over, a rather appreciative one. He was pretty easy on the eyes, now that she took a good, long look at him.
Once she was done drinking that tall glass of water, Smash remarked, "How you doin'?" à la Joey Tribbiani, giving her new friend a wink and prurient grin. "We have matching socks," she also saw fit to point out to him, although his were a lighter variety compared to her dark brown hose.
Gunnar backpedaled quickly, when the she wolf almost ran into him. And he jumped slightly when she yelled, putting his ears back to his skull. He held still for a moment, poised to either run or sit, he wasn't sure. All he knew was that this she wolf was loud and strange, but she was alright so far.
Gunnar gave her a small smile, and nodded his head, grey eyes flashing for a moment in mirth. I don't have it with me, but I can get some. I buried some when I found it. And Ginger will make your tummy stop tossing, and mint just tastes good and makes your breath smell better. Gunnar froze as she looked him over, like he was some sort of dessert on the end of the bar. It made him a little nervous, so he chuckled a bit nervously.
He supposed he had filled out some, since he had been a pup. Growing from chunky and pudgy to muscle bound and sturdy. Uh... He gulped for a minute, completely unsure how to take what she was saying. It was actually a little uncomfortable, especially for someone who was as young as him. He was just a year old recently. He perked his ears forward and nodded his head, Yes we do. I'm Gunnar by the way.
She sensed his discomfiture and it amused her, though Smash wasn't really the type to gain pleasure from making others uncomfortable. She dialed back the slightly lascivious leer and sported an amiable smile instead. Her chocolate tail swept the air when he gave a name and she realized she should stop babbling and introduce herself in turn.
"Nice to meet you, Gunnar Bytheway. I'm Smash." She struck out a dark foreleg and bumped a paw against one of his own sandy limbs. "I'd love it if you showed me the way to some ginger and mint. Pardon the bad breath," she added, jokingly lifting a paw to cover her mouth and shield him from the fumes. "I tried seafood for the first time last night and I've been super seasick ever since. Barfing was actually a relief, y'know?" she said from behind her dark cocoa toes.
Smash set her foot back on the ground and made ready to follow him to their gingery, minty destination. In the meantime, she teasingly asked, "So, aren't you kind of young to be a doctor?"
Gunnar returned the smile, unsure exactly what to do. To be honest, he was not used to talking all that much to others. He had no idea, what was the proper way to act. He had always been silent and unheard growing up. Keeping most of his thoughts to himself. The few times that he did, speak out Ragnar usually nipped it in the bud quickly.
Gunnar dipped his head, Well met Smash. He looked down at her paw bumping his and then back up at her. Confusion clear on his face, What was that? Is that a type of hello, that i don't know? He looked down again, a little concerned, that perhaps he had missed an important lesson along the way. He laughed and turned slight, motioning her to follow him. I grew up on seafood, i'm from the coast. You have to be careful what you eat. And you have to make sure it is fresh, seafood doesn't last long.
He turned with a smirk on his face, Yea I guess, but my mom is a pretty accomplished healer and she's only 3, so I started learning young. They didn't have far to go, to the cache he had buried.
He didn't have a place of his own yet, wasn't even sure if he'd dig one or just sleep outside. It was what he had been doing. He found the small cache he had buried. Some of the plants he had taken from his mother, with her blessing of course. HE found the hard brown root, and the green leafy plant. Alright this one is the ginger take it first. And this one here is the mint.
"Ahha," Smash replied when Gunnar dispensed some handy advice about seafood. "I'll keep that in mind. And, yes, that was my way of saying hello," she added, referring to the fist-bump. "Once we get to know each other better, we'll add to it until we have our own super special secret handshake," she assured him, keeping pace despite the fact that his legs and stride were longer than hers.
It didn't take long for them to reach a cache of some sort. Smash stood by and watched as Gunnar unearthed a thick root and some dainty, leafy greens. She had dabbled in medicine a little, though she had never seriously pursued the trade. She had a lot of respect for Healers, it just wasn't her calling. Well, she wasn't so great at healing physical maladies but Smash liked to think of herself as a damn good therapist. Laughter was the best sort of medicine, after all, and she could always be counted upon to provide some comedic relief.
"This one's the ginger?" the dark she-wolf queried when he offered her the plants, pointing a coffee-colored toe at the tuber. Without even waiting for an answer, she took a huge bite out of the ginger root, which caused her orange eyes to water. "Intense," she gasped, then hastily gobbled the mint, which cooled down her mouth significantly. "Yo, thanks, Dr. Bytheway."
Gunnar chuckled softly and nodded his head. A super secret handshake? He wasn't even sure what that was. He wasn't even about to lie, but this wolf was interesting. She was actually a little strange, but in a good way. It was kind of endearing, she seemed a little quirky, but nice.
.
Gunnar wasn't sure if he could make this a good sound trade. He hoped so, he still wanted warden too, but lately he was torn. Whether or not he wanted the warrior trade or the outrider one, or even a completely different one. When he had been younger he had wanted to make Ragnar proud of him, not he wanted to do his own thing, while honoring the males memory.
Gunnar was just about to tell her it was strong, before she took a huge chunk out of it. He laughed and nodded his head. Intense is definitely the right word. Sorry, you beat me to it. I was about to tell you it was strong. Yea Mint tastes good I think anyway. He tilted his head, ummm BYTHEWAY? is that supposed to be my last name? My last name is uh Loðbrók.
"Well," Smash surmised after chewing the mint into a pulp and swallowing it, "my mouth definitely doesn't taste like puke anymore." She smiled, though it was partly grimace. Now that the mint was gone, the ginger was rearing its ugly head again. It was like a strange, overwhelming burning sensation coating her tongue and the back of her throat. Every time she took a breath, she swore the back of her brain tingled savagely.
She couldn't help but chuckle and snort at his question. He didn't seem to get her jokes, so Smash found Gunnar as endearing as he found her. "You're cute," she told him frankly, then quipped, "I guess it's not my place to be making dad jokes seeing as I'm not a dad yet. Loðbrók," she repeated, savoring the word as it rolled off her ginger-flavored tongue. "That's sort of fancy. Does it mean anything?"
Gunnar dipped his head again, and spoke softly, that's good. Puke definitely does not taste good. When my mom was pregnant this last time, she lived off of Ginger I swear. Gunnar knew that Ginger had some strange lasting affects, but at least it helped settle your stomach. Probably the reason it worked so well, it was strong.
Gunnar stared at her for a minute, a small smile on his face. I think you have the wrong anatomy Smash. He stared at her for a moment unsure what to say, but he did finally decide on a thank you. Thanks, umm you're not so bad yourself. He wasn't sure what else to say. He shrugged, Actually I don't know. My dad, well technically he's not my dad by blood, but he's my dad...was my dad. His ears went down at half mast for a moment. Anyway, it's his last name and I never asked him what it meant I sort of wish I would have.
6/14: I'm editing a conclusion onto this. :)
She didn't anticipate Gunnar's jumbled answer, though Smash didn't let it faze her. She gathered that his dad wasn't related to him by blood but more of an adoptive parent, though no less of a father for it. She also intuited that his father was out of the picture, quite possibly dead by the sound of it. Smash exhaled. She was rarely serious, though there were certainly moments where she was soberer than others. And she wasn't about to make light of death with someone she hardly knew.
With that said, she wasn't one for heavy moods either, so when she spoke, her tone was light.
"So what was daddy Loðbrók like?" Smash made a show of flopping down beside the disturbed soil, folding her socked forelegs over one another and gazing up at Gunnar with her undivided attention as, over the next hour, he regaled her with tales of the former king of Stavanger Bay.