After leaving their spot of rest, for hours she and her mate walked by moonlight. It was well past midnight now, and soon the sun would rise again. In the meantime, it was not yet that point. The moon and stars lit their path, twinkling in the open sky above. It would have been romantic, if Tonravik had an eye for romance, or for beautiful things. Instead, she was only thankful it was a cool enough night and that their path was lit well enough that they could see where they trekked perfectly clear.
He had mentioned to her hot springs, which she had never been to. Tonravik had explored some territories, but kept away from the flatlands. They offered little advantage, aside from Forests. Those, however, were far better upon mountains. Tonravik looked over the waters to the circular peaks in the distance. Here the river ran too rough to cross; they would need to keep going until there was an area good for passing. They had found a slow point on their journey here to drag Kivi through without her drowning, and that was some more miles ahead.
They'd napped. It'd been only a few hours and he wasn't sure such a time qualified as total sleep. Somewhere in between, maybe? Either way they rose and were off once more, picking a path more true in the direction of their home in the distance. They padded along a river in the quiet of the night. It was cooler out and the breeze over the water kept things even more pleasant as they moved across the terrain and put miles behind them.
If the water had been a touch more tranquil all would have been perfect. As was, the river rushed through here and would be impossible to cross until it quieted. Still, they followed it, walking in the same direction of the rapid waters as he listened to the chirping of crickets in the distance and occasionally paused here and there to turn his eyes towards the sky. So many stars. They were impossible to count, but lovely all the same. He took note of them and reminded himself to travel more often in these darker hours. The world was painted in such marvelous colors of twilight.
They moved in silence. The river was loud beside them, but the sound was a peaceful one to the alpha. Like waves crashing, in their way. The water churned like the ocean swell could. Tonravik thought of the ocean, and how, as a cub, she had been taken near the waters. She thought of the life within her, and of the trip they would take to those waters to train them, too, as she had been trained.
Her urination continued. Nausea was still not a present symptom. In her pregnancy, it would not become one. But what she lacked in heaving her guts out she made up for in pissing out the contents in her belly. With the cool river beside them, it was no problem. She drank plenty as her mate stopped and stared at the sky. Now was one of those times, and she moved toward the water again to quench her thirst.
So. Much. Peeing.
As often as she stopped to relive herself, Kero stopped to gaze at the sky. While her pausing here and there never took too long it was still a bump in the road on their way back. Stoping. Peeing. Covering their tracks. She made quick work of it, but he didn't envy her condition. Instead, he took to watching and listening, standing sentinel while she took care of her basic needs.
Like thirst. With all this traveling and the summer sun, it was easy to become dehydrated. The night made things easier. Made the course smoother, but they exhausted their bodily resources all the same. Traveling by river was smart, and when the river turned they moved towards the shallower swells where this side of the river ebbed and became almost gentle in comparison to the current on the other side of the stream.
Tonravik neared the water, lowering her head to sip at its surface. Kerosene lingered, turning his ears outward as he searched the nearby area and decided their privacy was private enough. He neared her then, running his head along side her flank as he paused to tuck his nose beneath the plush underside of her belly. It was still too soon to hear or tell of what grew within her womb, but the frequent peeing was a sign his seed had taken.
He chuffed, breathing heavily once before he too drifted to the water and lowered his head to drink.
When her mate came to drink, Tonravik paused to look around them, too, her ears perked atop her head as her eyes searched the surrounding area. The place was empty, the chirp of birds replaced by crickets. Herds were surely grazing at this hour, more active now than in the sun. Prior to his actual going to drink, his head lingered near her belly, and Tonravik glanced to him for a brief moment. He sensed nothing, just as surely as she sensed nothing there. Only her will to pee had changed, her bladder horrible. Even she was impatient with it, but in this, nothing could be done. She had to pee.
As he drank Tonravik turned to watch his back, though not before gently nipping his exposed rump because it was there, and she was often inclined to biting things in her vicinity. But then her eyes perused the horizon, empty as it had always been on their journey home.
Did she just? She totally just bit him in the butt.
He startled, jumping a bit where he stood as his head lifted and immediately swung around to face her. "Snapping turtle," he barked, cutting his drink short to spin around and snap at what ever of her was closet to him. He kept it playful, his teeth soft as they bit through the air and landed wherever they would.
He realized then it'd been a while since they'd truly romped with one another. He turned his head flatter as he neared her, head butting her in the side as he nudged her and tried to coax her into the semblance of play. He still wasn't entirely sure she knew what that was, but practice made perfect. With all the miles still ahead of them? They had plenty of time for it.
He was able to grab at her own rump as she bolted forward coltishly, his fangs soft as they found their place and just as quickly, lost it. He was then able to headbutt her as she turned broadside to him, and his persistent nudges earned him an airy growl, one foreleg lifting to wrap heavily around his neck. She was not sure if she hit her mark, though she fell lazily upon her hindquarters.
Tonravik did not mind romping roughly around with him. But she would certainly need more harassment, and instead seemed to have other ideas, like harassing him. If her arm had ever made it around him, she'd pull him to her to sniff lazily at his face and then lick at it slowly, as though to clean it.
Ugh. She got him. That arm hooked around his neck, pulling him down into a playful bow as his rump remained ever present in the air. He squirmed, wiggling beneath her as her tongue began its assault on his face. He wasn't that dirty was he? Nah. Apparently he just tasted good.
All the same, he flipped, rolling over onto his back as he pawed at her and began to chomp at her air, her tongue, whatever he could find. He found her chest and he nipped at it, running his teeth over that plush fur as he pushed a paw against one of her legs while he squirmed within her lap.
There was a moment when a sound distracted Tonravik, and her tongue lingered flatly on his face and her eyes were elsewhere and her ears perked... but when she came to, there was a paw coming fast for her. It pressed at her, and then he was on his back. Tonravik huffed as his paw flexed on her chest and he took to gnawing at her.
She looked up and moved her foreleg to place it on his chest and to dip down to grab his face with gentle teeth to get him to stop moving and struggling. Then she withdrew, moved to nip his forehead, rose to a stand, and bolted away.
Whoop. Heavy paw on his chest. Her teeth around his nose. It had the desired effect. He stopped squirming and stared back up at her, wondering what she was up to next. Then just like that, she nipped at his forehead. He pressed his eyes shut, lifting a paw to bat at her face, but she was gone. What? Her heavy footfalls sounded around him as he rolled to his stomach and half sat as she bolted through the forest.
Oh hell. No. He was so after her ass.
He got to his feet somewhat quickly and scrambled after her. She wasn't the best of runners, but then again he wasn't either. Still, she had to navigate in this darkness and he just had to follow the darker shadow of her form. He sprinted, picking up a bit of speed as he barreled through the trees and darkness and hoped to tackle her furry black behind.
She thundered forward. Both herself and Iqniq were bearish beasts; no doubt slower than any narrower wolf. But give them momentum and a hill, and their weight carried terrible force behind it. Her strides were long, but even so, Iqniq was picking up his speed. She heard his paws drum behind her, one ear rotating around and cupping before swiveling forward again.
The area beside the stream was largely open land. The only thing for her to do was keep following the bending waterbed, moving in its path with a waving tail as she galloped forward, blending in with the darkness perfectly find and following her nose and her ears in her path forward. There were trees around them, but not in their line of path after they had moved through them, in a perfect clearing now.
Ears forward, mouth parted, he ran, paw over paw as he tore across the earth and chased after her in this darkness. The earth seemed to rumble beneath the weight of their paws as they moved; her a shadow, him a brownish looking blur in this dark of night.
They followed the river, keeping it to one side as they ran. For fun or for sake of making better time towards their home, they accomplished both as the moved without a care in the world. The trees thinned, pulling back as they pressed forward. He bolted then, adding a little more pep to his step as he tore through the clearing and drew close enough to nip against her heels.
Her paws pounded against the earth. The woman was headlong into her stride, but her mate still gained on her, snapping now at her heels. Tonravik did not look back, knowing that at this speed there would be no coordination about the movement. It would likely cause her to tumble over herself and ruin the run for the both of them. They raced the river, and Tonravik slowed some, to see what her mate might do if he could catch her, or catch up to her.
She had no idea what his preference there was; as they traveled, they learned. She more of him, him more of her. And then the urge to pee came. Her movement seemed to tighten as she worked to slow herself further, sniffing the air again.
His lungs heaved. Tongue lolled. He grasped for air as charged through this wilderness and embraced the very heart of the beast within. It was freeing, this running. It reminded him that every bone and muscle and fiber within his body was still very much alive and capable of things he'd never even dreamed of accomplishing. This life. This gift.
His out of body experience was brought down to earth as Tonravik slowed. Either he was gaining on her further, or she was quickly dwindling to exhaustion. He didn't think to consider her basic bodily functions. He was still lost in the race, lost in the game, and so he barreled after her and came along side of her. He lifted on his paws raising to hook one around her neck and pull her back down in a tackle.
One foreleg found its way around her neck as she slowed, and soon she was tumbling downward. The flurry of their descent was a vicious one, but no wounds were gained fortunately enough. The alpha female moved and nipped his face, but was quick to untangle herself from him and find a place to squat and pee. It was over quick, and she drank again, glad for their run.
So glad, in fact, that she took off at a run again, alerting her mate with a sharp bark; they would make good time in their return home.
Ah! Success. He pulled her down to play and roughhouse a little bit more, but she promptly freed herself to squat elsewhere. Hmm... This peeing business was going to become quite old here shortly, but he supposed it couldn't be helped. He rolled back to his stomach and lay there, turning his ears towards her and casting his eyes aside to give her a little privacy while she squatted.
And then? The thrumming of footsteps again. She was off. Kero caught on and just like that, be bounced back to his paws, chasing after her once more. They'd make a game of this and make excellent time towards the spine. Win-win. Now if only he could tag her rump... then she'd be it and he could take up the lead for a while.
Fade here?