Heron Lake Plateau And settled for the robot boy

@Colt

The Eastern horizon had only just begun to take on the rosy-golden hue of morning when Niamh rolled over against Colt’s warm side and opened her eyes. Given the temperature they’d reached in the past few days, morning made for the best patrol time so that she could avoid wandering around in the midday heat- but pressed up against Colt’s side as he continued to sleep curled up alongside her, she couldn’t make herself leave. She glanced at him as his sides slowly rose and fell, and smiled. Occasionally, when she woke in the middle of the night, she would catch him snoring- but right now he seemed calm and quiet, peaceful.

But not for long. She huffed an uneasy sigh and burrowed her muzzle into the fur of his side, lifting one of his forelegs and wriggling forward until she had it draped over her shoulder. Niamh was the sort to hog the bed and insist on being the little spoon- and even on hot, muggy nights she would sprawl, taking up as much space as possible, which was easy for a wolf with such long legs. 

She uttered a guttural sound into the fur of his chest, and rolled herself against him until she was laying as close as she could possibly get, on her back with her forelegs cutled against her chest, holding his foreleg there. She huffed, though, and wiggled a tiny bit again. Having his presence wasn’t enough- she wanted his attention too.

sorry for the wait last night was crazier than expected!  Woo!

He was having such nice dreams too.  He woke up slowly when Niamh shoved her face into his side, pulled away in that odd mix of dream and reality where you aren't quite sure what is what.  But then her huffs woke him completely, and he turned, sticking his own face under whatever of her was closest and groaning, though with a clear smile.

"You're lucky you're cute," he said, voice getting used to the awareness of the morning.  "Though I've definitely had worse wake up calls."  He pushed in closer too, closing whatever space she left (if there was any, she was not shy about taking up a spot.  He did not mind).

She could feel the vibrations of his low grumble through the side of her that was pressed against him, and answered it with one of her own- almost to mimic him in a display of mock sympathy. As reluctant as he might have been to wake up that early, she didn’t feel at all bad for waking him- the smile on his face as he buried it against her shoulder was enough reassurance that she wasn’t really annoying him. He moved closer to her and his comment made her snort.

”You love it.” She drawled, nibbling at the fur behind one of his ears. ”And you better be grateful. Nobody else has anyone like me- and you’re stuck with me.” She said, though the tone of her voice implied that this was very much a good thing.

She mocked him and his smile widened.  That was one of the things he liked best about spending time with her, and one of the things that so captivated.  She leaned into his sense of humor and gave some back, and he liked nothing more than to be served a bit of his own in return.

"Stuck, oh no.  Whatever will I do about that?"  He nipped at her ear, then pulled back as a yawn came on.  "Guess I'll just have to get used to less sleep," he sighed somewhat dramatically, though really this wasn't a whole lot earlier than he usually rose.  "Bein this charming is hard work, y'know".

She liked the fact that Colt never stiffened when she made jokes about him being stuck with her. She liked to think that she was a permanent fixture in his life, and that that was that. Of course, it was simply easier to get away with something like that when it was joked about, rather than forcing seriousness into the topic. But even just joking was enough to give Niamh reassurance that he wasn't ditching her anytime soon. 

She snorted at his response. "You're telling me," She said, as though to insinuate that she too found it difficult to be charming. Not a far cry from the truth- as Niamh often struggled with maintaining her cool when it came to dealing with wolves she didn't particularly want to deal with. But she was getting there. "Wanna go see the Quivens today, with me?" She asked, transitioning from all the joking to something she still found to be relatively light-hearted. After all, everyone loved to play with pups, right?

"Hold on - quivens?"  He laughed.  "Does Qui know your callin them that?"  He couldn't guess for sure what his friend would think of the nickname, but he didn't doubt it'd be long-suffering.

"Sure.  I saw them before - Eljay was there.  Kid knows his stuff."  Colt was highly inexperienced when it came to pups, a fact Niamh would probably sort out pretty quick when they went to visit.  But he was comfortable enough with them in that he enjoyed toyin and givin them attention, and what more did you really need?

Niamh shrugged- then tossed her head back in thought, and then shrugged again. "I dunno. I usually just refer to them as the Quivens to myself, I think," She said. She honestly couldn't remember saying the word out loud to anyone else- at least, if she had, they hadn't brought her attention to that fact. She liked throwing the two names together- it worked out pretty well that way. She'd also secretly tried combining her name with Colt's- but it hadn't worked quite as well. All that she could get out of it was either Colv or Ne-olt, and neither were terribly pretty. 

She nodded with reference to Eljay- though Niamh wouldn't have seen him as a kid. Eljay was what, two years older than her? The age difference made her smile slightly- it wasn't like it bothered her that Colt was what, 4 or 5 years old? (head-desk). Regardless of that, she was in agreement with Colt with reference to Eljay's skills as a puppysitter. "I kind of want to work more on the puppysitter trade," She said. "At least it means less injuries," She cracked, knowing how Colt hated seeing her all cut and bruised from patrolling.

Colt might have balked at calling Eljay kid if he realized Niamh was younger, but the man honestly didn't know her age, and Eljay's lack of confidence begged for the endearing moniker.  He knew she was young, but her maturity meant that he hadn't given much thought to an actual timeline, nor did he care if she didn't.

"You do have a tendency to find trouble," he said, and while the disapproval was joking, she wasn't wrong.  He didn't like her facing off trouble despite knowing she could handle herself; least not without him helping.  He wasn't about to be ashamed about that.  

He gave her an affectionate kiss on the muzzle after though, and winked.  "Luckily you know how to fight just as well as pupsit.  Me, I have more limited skills.  Maybe you could show me a thing or two?  Not much time for learning how pups work when you wander alone."  Better to start with the bar low than have her thinking he's some kind of pup sitting prodigy.  And he was interested; he had had Eljay show him a thing or two, but the boy was so shy he wasn't convinced the lesson had been much at all.  Niamh would give it to him straight if he wasn't doin it right.

A tendency to find trouble? That was the understatement of the year. Then again- considering how often she found herself along the borders, the odds were bound to go up. She was still a bit foolhardy yet, and over-confident in her own abilities. Not even two years old yet, and she had already tangled with a cougar without thinking twice about it. She leaned forward to give his cheek a nip, though, in response to his statement. "Well. I found you, didn't I?" She asked. 

When he asked her for tips, she wasn't sure whether he was being serious or not, so she scrunched up her nose a bit. Colt definitely outweighed her, and there was no way he had less fighting experience than she- right? Then she realized he wasn't talking about fighting- but about puppysitting. "Kids're easy," She said, shrugging one slim shoulder. "Especially when they're in their potato state. Otherwise, they just wanna play...You haven't forgotten how to play, have you?" She teased. She leaned back, lifted her forelegs and pounced him, aiming to wrap her long, gangly legs around his neck and wrestle him to the ground.

That she did, and he could definitely be trouble.  Not as much as before, when he played by different sort of rules.  But he didn't figure he was quite boring yet.  "Guess I'll have to try and fill you up on trouble, so you don't have to look anywhere else," he said with a challenging quirk to his smile.

He didn't quite buy her statement that kids were simple.  Nothing that was that level of responsibility ever was, especially when it was someone else's pups.  "You kiddin? I invented play."  Professional slacker here; he and Fin hadn't done anything halfway.  He let her wrestle him down, but then attempted to turn the tables, shoving with his shoulders to attempt to roll her off.

It didn't exactly occur to Niamh yet how much it possibly stressed Colt out that she was so willing to leap into a fight. That sort of partner-awareness would have to come with time, as she hadn't exactly been punished or guilted about it yet. Colt gave her freedom to be her, and she gave him freedom to be himself as well. They didn't habe a label- but at the same time, she didn't exactly fear whatsoever that he was off with any other females. Life was good. 

So when he rolled his shoulders she allowed herself to slide off him, landing on her back, but she continued to make flimsy, flailing grabs at him with her absurdly long forelegs.

Wrestling like this could slide into decidedly adult territory pretty easily, but Colt wasn't up for rushing into that just yet.  I mean, he was.  But not right this moment.

Instead he turned as he felt her slide off and went to have his own revenge,  attempting to hook his own forelegs over her belly and bury his face in it.  He ignored any buffets her paws might give his face and side, laughing.  "Gotta do better than that!"

Had Niamh been trying, she was sure she probably could have whooped Colt's ass. But these kinds of games had taught Niamh that she didn't always have to go at 150%, and that it was fine to let someone else win...It'd taken her some time to learn that, but she'd come to the point now where she truely didn't put too much effort into playfighting, and would easily let the other wolf win.

...Unless that other wolf hit one of her ticklish spots. Then it was back to 150% again. 

Like a switch had been flipped, as soon as Colt grabbed her around her very sensitive middle, she panicked and pinned her forearms against the closest shoulder to her, and squealed. "Nonononononono!" She said, and tried to wedge her hind feet between her belly and Colt's body in order to pry his ticklish whiskers away from her belly. She shrieked with laughter, and tried to wriggle her way away, throwing all of her effort into dislodging him and getting his pesky face-whiskers away from her soft underside.

Oho now this was a discovery!! Grinning wickedly, he doubled down, keeping the tickling up until she successfully managed to knock him aside with a well placed, probably involuntary kick.   

"Oof!" He rolled over, then sat up, grin still in place.  "Seems I found your weakness," he said laughingly, moving in again to nose at her shoulder.  "Betcha can't find mine.". He didn't know that he had one, honestly, but got the feeling she wouldn't back off from the challenge of a little payback.

Niamh writhed and squirmed, and eventually kicked out as somewhat of a reflex, sending Colt sprawling with a thud. She hastily scrambled to her feet, in order to protect her belly, and did her best to catch her breath. At least this time she hadn't embarassed herself by laughing so hard she peed or farted- but those things were all an inevitability. Live with someone long enough and you'll see it all. Still, there were still a few things she preferred to keep sacred, and those kinds of bodily functions were among them. 

"Yeah yeah," She said, approaching him t bump her muzzle against his shoulder roughly. "Use it agains me again and you'll pay for it, sucker," She said, a tone of affection seeping into her voice despite the fact she was also trying to threaten him. "And I already know your weakness," She said confidently. "It's me," She said, with a grin.

im gonna wrap this! <3 feel free to archive or reply!

You sure about that?  He responded back, but couldn't help but grin.  You got me there, he finally allowed, leaning into the bump.  Though dunno that I'd call it a weakness.  A wink, and a laugh.

We should probably get over to see those pups before they're grown and off, he said after a short pause.  He felt way better about it having Niamh tag along; he didn't have a lot of experience, but she had a ton, and it would be nice to see what her brand of pupsitting was all about.

WC: 470

Damn straight Niamh knew his weakness, and she was absolutely sure that she was exactly what his weakness was. If he worried about her getting hurt, it meant that she was a weakness of his- but in the best possible way, of course. She'd be damned if anyone told her she was a bad sort of weakness, because as far as she could tell, she was doing a bushel of good for him. Recalling the day they'd met, the dude had been an asshole to her- but look at him now, tame as a bottle-fed lamb...More or less, anyway. She had him in her pocket, wrapped around her finger and in any position she wanted him, in her opinion...Just not when he tickled her. That was a cruel sort of punishment that deserved retribution in some way. She'd get him eventually.

She nodded when he suggested they go see the pups, and she was pleased. She recalled how down Quixote had been about Colt not visiting them much, if at all, so she was going to put a stop to that and make them buddies again. ”Good idea. Gotta get some good quality time in with them while they're still sorta spud-like, 'cause then they start getting all sharp and want to chew on EVERYTHING, then they go through a phase of chasing and running away and they're fast despite having short-ass legs, and then they get all moody and eventually turn into adults. Ridiculous.” She mused out loud as they set off on their way. Of course, it was just like Niamh to act as though she had everything about pups figured out, but in truth she hadn't had much experience in her birth pack, as she'd left before the next batch of puppies could be born. She did, however, have a knack for getting along with immature wolves, which seemed to make her a prime candidate for the puppysitting job. And for dating Colt, as well.

On their way there, Niamh would go on a tangent about how many pups she was going to have, which was likely much to Colt's disdain, as Niamh planned on having a lot of puppies, and whenever she talked about them, she tended to talk fast without listening or even allowing a space for her companion to comment. She rambled off names that she thought she'd like, and what she wanted the pups to look like- how many girls and how many boys she wanted, and what each gender was like at each stage in life, and why it was really hard to define exactly which gender was easier to raise. For poor Colt, at least it would be a bit of a learning experience- because some day, he might have to put up with three or four miniature versions of her.