Wolf RPG

Although she knew her time with Redtail Rise had come to a close, Smash wasn't entirely sure of her next steps. As she crossed over into neutral territory, she found herself wandering to the spot where she and @Luke had gotten frisky. She took a seat beneath a towering oak and tried to think. She wasn't even sure she wanted to tell him about it. She could just sneak away and take care of these matters herself, with Luke none the wiser. She wasn't even sure she was pregnant yet, so why give him a scare?

But Smash had a good conscience. She knew he had a right to know. With an uncharacteristically resigned sigh, the she-wolf lifted her muzzle and called, "Mr. Bluenose! You out there somewhere?" It was entirely possible he was too far away to hear, in which case she might have to go looking for him... or slip away without a word after all. Fidgeting, she lapsed into silence, orange eyes alert and ears pricked for any sign of her baby daddy pelvic pal.

It was a sheer fluke that he had been near enough to hear his chocolate companion call him. Luke, growing bored with the same scenery south of the mountain range, which he had been lurking around since first arriving in the park, had decided to skirt around the northern face. His intent was to make a loop, re-entering the flatlands near the river that ran past the plateau. Said loop would have to wait as he happily attended Smash's call.

He found her in the forest where they had shared a date, a meal, and a frolic. He smiled to see her, and approached with a characteristic bounce in his step and tail wagging. "Hey!" he greeted warmly. "I wasn't expecting to hear from you. A pleasant surprise," as he came beside her he reached out to briefly nuzzle her ear. "What's up?"

When Luke did appear, Smash felt her heart thudding in her chest. He didn't seem to notice anything amiss and greeted her warmly. She was able to coax her cheek muscles into a smile, which actually wasn't that fake. It was actually good to see him. She didn't know what to expect from this encounter, though she couldn't imagine Luke being a dick about it. Like her, Luke didn't have a douchey bone in his body.

"Hey, I guess I can't resist the siren call of that blue schnozz," Smash quipped, her tone sounding a bit hollow to her own ears. "Hey, I actually need to talk to you. You should know I'm never, ever serious and when I seem to be serious, I'm just pretending like ninety-nine percent of the time. But this moment is the one percent." She bit her lip, orange eyes meeting his searchingly and trying to convey an authentic sense of seriousness. She didn't want it to be all doom-and-gloom, just sincere.

He may not have picked up that there was anything amiss when he first saw her, but as soon as she spoke there was no doubt. His smile faded, and his face softened into a concerned expression, his silver gaze never leaving her own. He held his tongue, until she had finished speaking, and he held it still for several moments after. His head canted to the side, and reached a paw out to rest it on top of hers. "What's wrong?" he asked softly.

She felt bad for bursting Luke's happy bubble. Immediately, Smash wanted to take full responsibility for all of this. She would spirit away somewhere and raise these pups, if there were pups, by herself. If it came right down to it, she knew she could probably return to her parents' pack. But Smash felt confident she could swing it on her own too. She would give it her best shot, knowing it might fail but that even if it did—if the puppies did not survive—she would bounce back from it all.

"Before I drop this truth bomb on you, you should know I had a wonderful time with you the other day. I don't regret it at all." Smash felt it was important to preface it with that. She licked her lips, took a breath and blurted out the facts: "The morning after we banged, I woke up and I was in heat, which means it's very possible I was fertile at the time."

And the funny thing about that was that as she had walked away from Redtail Rise from the last time (the thought put a lump in her throat), the scent had begun to dissipate. Luke might not even be able to detect it now. Smash feared that this meant she was, in fact, already pregnant. Luke had knocked her up before the game had started; what a cheater!

Lips twitching at the thought, Smash thought she ought to spell it out just to be perfectly clear. "I think I might be pregnant, Mr. Bluenose." She had almost said we but she truly didn't want to drag Luke into it. "And I just wanted to let you know. But I'm going to take care of it... of them, I mean. If they really are in there."

Once again he was quiet as she spoke and at length when she had finished. It was an incredible coincidence, that she should come into her heat the morning after they had frolicked in the forest, with neither her nor him having detected any trace of its imminence. Even now, Luke could not tell that she had been. It had come and gone, like an ember that died in the wind soon after it had sparked. She did not know if she was pregnant, but the possibility was there. He swallowed, and his eyes glanced to the ground briefly before returning to her gaze.

When he could not immediately find an answer to speak he shuffled to her side, pressing close as he nuzzled her cheek. At last, gentle words formed upon his tongue. "You don't have to go, and face it alone," he said. He was not sure what to make of this situation, but any possible outcome of their time together was shared, this much he knew. He was still processing what she had laid on him, even as he offered his support. "If you are, I mean..."

She bit the inside of her cheek, her orange eyes weighing heavily on his face. He momentarily dropped his gaze, then looked back up at her. When Luke nuzzled her cheek, it did not surprise her in the least. Nor did his offer to face it alongside her. She had only met him twice (and boinked him once) but she already knew that he was quality people.

"The thing is," Smash began, "it will take a few weeks before I know. I've already left the Rise... and not just because of this," she added quickly. "You're trying to make a future for yourself. And it's gonna be bright, Mr. Bluenose. An unexpected litter could ruin everything for you. I don't want that." She paused. They had joked about founding a pack together but she wasn't ready for something like that... not with probable motherhood on her plate too. And she truly didn't want to upset Luke's already carefully laid plans anyway.

"I think it's best if I go off and deal with this on my own," Smash continued after a steadying breath. "You know, I've never really given kids much thought. I didn't even know if I wanted them. I still don't. But you know what? I'm going to do whatever it takes to give them a fighting chance, 'cause you're their dad and I'm their mom and these kids are gonna be the bomb dot com... if they're really in there.

And if they aren't, well... no big deal then. I'll just move onto the next adventure. Maybe I'll even come back and find you to let you know. Actually," she finished, capturing and holding his gaze again, "no matter what happens, I'll make sure to let you know, somehow."

His nonchalance had been so practiced it had become almost instinct; he was not often a reactive sort, remaining calm and collected in the face of most things. Such was the way now, as he quietly offered support. But as she continued to speak, the gravity of the situation started to sink in, and he felt his heart beat rapidly in his chest. She was running away, possibly with his pups, and he would have no way of knowing unless she made good on her promise to send word somehow. He felt his blood drain, and had to draw a deep breath to steady himself.

He was a young wolf with no experience in this department. He felt he had to be there for her, and the pups if they came to be, but she did not want him to be. Luke felt torn, and shaken. His mind spun with a hundred thoughts but few were coherent. They held each other's gaze. "I," he began, but fell silent as he searched her face for answers that would not be there. "I'm not even sure what to say," he admitted. His ears fell upon his skull. "I don't think you should be alone in this." Who would help her take care of them, of herself? Pups needed a pack to rally around them. "Where will you go?"

Luke did not seem prepared to just let her run away and deal with the consequences on her own. It was both endearing and frustrating. While Smash could not escape what was about to happen to her, whatever it was, he could. Besides, she didn't even know for sure whether she was pregnant yet. Why ruin two lives over the chance—albeit, a very good one—that she was carrying his bastard pups?

She opened her mouth to answer, then clapped it shut again. She didn't have an answer for him. She had already decided that staying in the Rise was too risky. Smash obviously wasn't going to try to latch onto Luke's up-and-coming pack and spoil his whole future there. The likelihood of finding another pack to accept her in this condition was slim to none. She would have to face this alone or go back home to her family in the hopes they could support her and her potential offspring. Surely her parents would never touch a hair on her or their grandchildren's heads, right?

But she didn't answer him yet. Smash looked back at him, struggling with how to respond, and instead found herself recollecting their few but wonderful hours spent together. She thought of their date and a light bulb suddenly went off over her head. "Okay, new plan: I'm gonna go lay low somewhere for a few weeks, long enough to figure out whether I'm pregnant or not. Let's say... three weeks. Then let's meet here again and decide where to go from there. That gives us both time to think and weigh our options. What do you think, Mr. Bluenose?"

"Okay, new plan." He listened, and felt relieved by her words, and expressed this in a deep sigh. He brushed his muzzle against the edge of her ear. "Okay," he said, and smiled softly at her. This was a far easier thing for him to swallow than the thought of her simply running away, leaving him to wonder of the outcome of their time together. This was something he could handle, and he felt the weight upon his shoulders lift. In the meantime, he would not fret. His logic was always such that there was no point in worrying until the time came, and it may never come at all. He would wait her return, but live for the moments in between.

He much more easily accepted these terms, which made Smash's stomach flip-flop and then tie in a knot. She flashed him a quick, appeasing smile and realized there was no use in standing around any longer. She needed to get out there and find someplace to stay in the meantime. Much as she would have liked to spend some more time with Luke, Smash needed to hit the road.

"Well, I'll see you in a few weeks then," she concluded a bit too airily, reaching out to plant a kiss on Luke's ghostly cheek. "Maybe by then, Harlyn will have convinced her man to get that pack started and you'll be settling into your new digs. I look forward to hearing all about it." The she-wolf bit her lower lip, then leaned in for a final kiss to the tip of Luke's namesake blue nose. "See you later, Mr. Bluenose."

She then turned and hurried due north, toward the coast. She intended to turn southwest and follow the water in that direction until she left the Teekon Wilds. She didn't want to tempt fate (or herself) by staying too close to her former home. But really, she just wanted to get far enough away that Luke wouldn't come after her several weeks from now, as Smash had no absolutely no intention of keeping their third date.

He nodded, closing his eyes against her final kiss on his nose. "See you," he called softly as she turned and made haste to leave him. He stared in that direction long after she had gone, and then he laid down to rest. Before he slipped into slumber, a flicker of doubt caused his heart to thump, but he shook it away. He trusted her. He believed she would come back, and he would be here to greet her in three week's time.