Lost Creek Hollow It's brand new

Forward dooted to like Wednesday or Thursday because I'm impatient.  @Terance!

She'd felt slightly off the day before, not that she'd said anything, but it was enough encouragement to finally excuse herself from Terance's company for a bit and return to her own den to check out what @Joss had done thus far.  Some lizard-brain part of her spoke that if she was going to be anything but 100%, it should be out of anyone else's view.

Honestly, after spending like.. What? Just shy of two weeks spending nights mostly curled up next to him, it was now weird as hell to be off on her own again.  Maybe that was why she restlessly woke up sometime in the pre-dawn hours.  But as she blearily wrenched herself to her feet to try for a more comfortable spot, she was surprised by having barfed up a mouthful of bile from her empty stomach before her conscious mind had even realized what was happening.  She sniffed at it, and not being particularly impressed with what she found, scraped at one of the partially-dug walls until the pool was as buried and hidden as it was going to get.  Treason then staggered to the other side of the den and passed out until a few hours after sunrise.

When she woke, she still felt rather like garbage.  But at least this time she knew better, moving a good deal more carefully to exit the den and curl up in a faint ray of almost-sunlight on the snow outside while not disturbing whatever delicate equilibrium that kept her guts in check.  Maybe the snow would freeze it or something -- from inside or out, as she'd had a mouthful of the stuff to completely remove whatever remaining taste of the mishap from her mouth.  She could hope.  Well.  If Terance showed up, as she suspected he'd do, looking at least somewhat miserable it probably would have been some food they shared.  If not, she had one other guess.

For now, though, she put on the face of someone who expected to just have a lazy day and hope things went back to normal quick.

he showed up with breakfast today, or lunch, whatever hour it was closer to. a good hind for them to share, though he was expecting to give most of it to treason. a gift, if you will. he was at least trying to take care of her -- though he knew his hovering was probably getting a bit agitating. whoops. he spotted her outside her den, paired with a nasty, bile-coated smell. ew. but! also!! whoa! terance, having seen this a few times before -- with seabreeze, his mother, liffey -- was in no way, shape, or form concerned or surprised. in fact, he half expected it. what, after the weeks they had prior? he'd be more surprised if treason spent every day glowing. but, besides the point.

he played it off, dropping the meat a little ways off before approaching the sad looking treason and giving her a soft nudge to the cheek. "you look bad," he commented, his head tilting one way, "how're ya feeling?"

Yep, Terance showed up and he seemed fine.  That nixed the mundane reasons, so it probably did mean she was actually pregnant.  Not a surprise at all, but she was already hoping this stage would go away.  Her ears folded back a moment as she processed that thought.  Yeah, she wasn't a super great actor to start with, so it was probably unsurprising that Terance gathered the evidence and saw right through her.  She tipped her muzzle up to bump him under his chin before replying with a slightly frustrated huff, Like I'm going to be taking the day off.

Treason looked over to where the meat was left, then back to Terance.  She wasn't super interested in trying to eat at the moment for obvious reasons, but knew it would probably be a bit more appealing in a while.  Did you just come to drop that off, or are you going to hang out a while?  And she did want him to stay.  Not that she'd say that directly, but she did hope he'd distract her from feeling awful at the very least.  Treason was operating in low energy mode, if it wasn't totally obvious.  Maybe she should just curl up and go back to sleep if he wasn't going to stick around.

terance chuffed. "good," he muttered in return. treason spoke just as terance moved to settle near her, pausing with a flick of his ears. "i planned on hanging out," he began with a good natured wave of his tail, "but if all i am to you is a breakfast servant than i'll show myself the door." he settled down anyway, because she didn't seem to have enough energy to do something about it even if she'd wanted to.

he also figured, maybe in this state, she'd be a little easier to pry information out of. terance knew very little about treason's history. "so," he began with a flick of his ear, "arbiter -- why'd you go with the name treason?" he'd been wondering that for a little while now. he kinda had an idea, just knowing her personality, it was probably just to fuck with others. or something. either way, he at least wanted to see if she'd tell him.

Good? she scoffed quietly.  Yeah, Treason was so into hanging out and doing nothing.  She'd slacked enough recently that it was kind of making her antsy, so this was just compounding the issue.  Regardless of what it meant long term, being sick wasn't pleasant, and though some might find cheer in the process of her body trying to rewire itself, it was a frustrating hurdle to her.  Anyway.  She not-seriously pretended to ponder what he said next, then said, Mmm, stay.  As if her saying that totally decided things for him.

She was tempted to tempted to close the distance between them and use him as a pillow to see if that would make her feel better, but that would require moving and the latest churn of her stomach made that a bad idea.  Treason was going to do her damnedest to try to outsmart her guts if it was at all possible.  She dropped her head to her paws, curling up slightly tighter as she tried to see if that might help.  As she shifted it took her a moment to finally answer.  I wanted something that would probably cause people to react -- so I could figure them out faster.  And different enough I wouldn't have anyone checking up on me.  A name's just a name. A shrug and a pause. It's kind of weird being Arbiter after all this time, though, not really bad weird, from her expression.  Just vaguely amused at not being called by her self-assigned nickname.  She might have laughed a little if she felt better.  Honestly it wasn't like she'd stopped being Arbiter, she just put a mask on it.

she hummed, saying he could stay. terance gave a gentle, amused huff, eyeing her with a soft, emerald gaze. as much as he liked a toned down treason -- less bitey, easier to be sweeter too -- he did hate seeing her feel so bad. so, as she began to answer him, terance shifted a final time to come closer to her, fully accepting the fact he might be barfed on. or snapped at -- he figured the latter had a smaller chance than the first. he didn't mind.

he settled now right beside her, idly beginning to groom the fur along her scruff and neck. "do you prefer treason, then?" he asked her, figuring he question was simple enough. he preferred treason, honestly. it was how he knew her, but he could understand that perhaps arbiter was something ... important to her. maybe that wasn't the right word.

Oh, he did move closer.  Good.  Some of the tension across her shoulders relaxed, and she tipped her head slightly towards him, but she was unwilling to move much more than that.  As Terance started to groom her, she closed her eyes for a moment and sighed.  Yeah.  She hoped she'd be over this fast.

But... Did she prefer that name?  Hm.  Treason shrugged slightly, I don't know?  Hadn't thought much about having a choice.  But honestly, she should probably figure it out.  "Treason" wasn't exactly a fitting name for her if she went by the way she was raised.  But really, she should probably figure that out, shouldn't she?  When it was just her, she didn't give a damn, but she was under the assumption that any children of hers would be raised as Dokugas, so... maybe caring a little might be a good idea.

well, fair. terance wasn't sure what he expected. "i'll probably stick to treason," he told her, but would fully accept being told to not call her that anymore... treason didn't seem to mind either way though, so terance didn't think it'd be a big deal. a question now, while names were at hand, bubbled at the surface. terance, a little more romantic (in ways more than just the love of a partner), had much airier reasons for doing things. treason seemed drier, more cut throat. terance had whims and tales and long backstories. 

at least, from my point of view. maybe treason had a little bit of magic in her. 

he cut back whatever question he had instead, knowing treason probably wouldn't be entertained by it. "so are your minions taking your name?" he asked her, skirting around the question he had for another. truthfully, terance didn't mind their kids not having his name... it wasn't like they were officially any sort of couple and, well, fuck gender norms. or whatever. but, still, knowing that dante and osprey had passed recently was incentive for terance to maybe want to pass along his name. 

or, well, maybe it'd have to wait another year. he certainly wouldn't fight her about names.

It works, at least.  If she came to another decision, she'd let him know.  Yeah, Treason was pretty practical about things, which didn't always make things interesting.

It didn't seem like things were getting worse right this instant, so she raised her head finally.  I'd expect so.  But it didn't sound entirely determined -- again, it was more like she hadn't thought too much about it but that seemed the most logical conclusion.  Then again, Treason had a look that pretty much asked, 'Why wouldn't they?'  She wasn't going to win any awards for her awareness when it came to other's feelings or wants past the surface level, really.  She just kind of did her own thing and if someone was going to keep things to themselves, that was on them.  It also meant she made a few assumptions, mostly about how detached (or attached) Terance was to the whole situation, naively.  And even despite the fact she'd ditched her family and just about everything associated with it, for whatever reason she still held on to the fact they were still great somehow.  Then again, if all the Dokuga family was made up of bull-headed creatures like herself, maybe that was why she thought that way.  Heck, did she even know Terance's family name?  If she did at some point, she certainly didn't remember it now.

Treason took the opportunity to shift herself to lean against him, nuzzling Terance's cheek before lowering her head to her paws again.  She appreciated him being around.  Whether or not that was obvious to him, who knew.  I want to get back to my duties.  Yeah, that was sort of a pout, 'cause she definitely wasn't right now.

at least. terance silently wondered if their was a name that didn't work. like -- what if they called her daisy? that most certainly wouldn't work. actually, that was kinda funny. terance knew he wasn't known for his humor, so he kept the joke to himself, but he snorted idly at the thought -- which easily could've been at her comment. though her comment wasn't that funny either. whatever, moving along. 

"i would too," he agreed, silently thinking over in his head what that would mean for himself. more kids next year, i guess. granted, terance wondered if this was a yearly contract he'd built with treason or a one time thing. or if it was a 'we'll see how it goes' thing. like if these pups all turned out to be flops he assumed treason would move on and up to better things. terance thought his past offspring were pretty great... save for the part where they both left him. he didn't blame them for that though. "what was your surname, again?" he asked her, unable to remember anything but arbiter from that night. there were other things to focus on.

as she nuzzled against him, terance sighed gently, and as her head lowered again he just began to groom again at the top of her head. like some sort of cat, i don't know. he hummed. "me too," he agreed, "i'm doin' twice as much work with you gone." but it was just a joke, and terance didn't mind picking up her slack. "you need this time off," he added with a quirk of his brow, not that she could see, "you'll be back and better before you know it." maybe with a few extra pounds to carry around, but terance bit his tongue before he tacked that on.

Ok, so obviously she wasn't far off base.  Dokuga.  Not that she knew the meaning.  It was kind of an odd name when you considered all the other names that were associated with her family.  But hey, they'd been stubborn enough to keep it around, so...

Treason wasn't planning that far ahead in comparison to Terance.  Sure, not having to go through all the rigmarole and uncertainty and stuff next year would be rather nice, but she figured things could change enough in the next six months that it wasn't much point planning beyond it -- or at least when it came to more contract-type things that is.  But that's all there was if Terance was the one taking slightly more traditional relationships off the table, wasn't it?

Joke or not, being reminded of her current failing rankled her, which she expressed with yet another frustrated huff.  If he hadn't been in a sense preventatively soothing her temper via his doting, Treason might have snapped at him.  Instead, she just frowned.  But there's been a lot of time off for me recently.  Still feels wrong...  Ugh.   Sick or not, she just wasn't a fan of being idle.  This would probably be her biggest complaint about pregnancy and pups -- that she couldn't just do everything she ordinarily would.  It also would cause another problem, but that was yet to be written.  Terance would have his hands full just dealing with her.  And that last bit?  Her stomach was rioting again.  She shut her eyes and again tried to keep it together.

terance grunted at the recognition of the name. oh yeah. not that it really meant anything, it was just her name. and soon his pups names. wow, interesting. 

unaware there was a threat of a chomp, terance blissfully continued his current grooming. "you deserve it," he reiterated, pausing only to nudge her cheek gently, "we're coming into spring soon, caches are going to start filling up easier, this time is better than ever for you to be taking some time." he licked again at her crown, tacking on, "not that you can help it, anyway. nature's treat."

Her sides quivered a moment.  She didn't answer right away, mostly because she was still trying to keep from throwing up again, but it was a losing battle.  Unfortunately, as much as she wished Terance's affections to be a magic bullet, they weren't.  She stood up sharply and took a few steps forward, puking onto the snow.  Probably good she hadn't eaten yet.  Ugh.  She munched a mouthful of snow, let it drop, and finally replied before turning back around, But it's not here yet.

Her ears tilted back on her skull, and though for a brief moment she looked longingly over at where he'd left the food (it was starting to sound good at least), Treason's gaze drifted back to the spot where she'd been laying a few moments before.  I dunno. I should sleep it off or something, she said quietly -- it was one of those said more to herself kind of suggestions.  She trudged the couple of steps back, and nestled herself up against Terance's side rather like she was before, again burying her face in the side of his neck.  Treason didn't feel quite as bad now, physically, and was a little more alert, but it had been a hit to her morale that she couldn't keep up a strong facade.

terance watched her get up, glancing off into the woods in the opposite direction as she emptied her stomach into the snow. his nose twitched at the bitter scent, but he kept his thoughts to himself, giving her the time she needed without being too obnoxious. treason was pretty independent, and as much as terance would helicopter watch her, he wouldn't smother her in attention and offerings... he figured that would get old fast. besides, if she needed him she'd probably say something. otherwise, he'd just give her her space.

but she did come back over, nestling back into his side and pressing her nose back into his neck. terance gave her head a few more licks before he murmured, "then rest." he shifted a little bit to get comfortable for a longer duration of laying here, though not so much so that it disturbed her awfully, and added, "i'll stay as long as you'd like."

She could ask, but he was already pretty much doing what she wanted. While she sat there feeling bad for herself, Terance's presence made her feel a bit mentally better.  At least she wasn't alone in an empty hole in the ground any more.  And this also being Treason, she didn't think that maybe there might be something that would take the edge off the nausea -- she was the type to just suffer through anything that wasn't likely to be fatal.  In other words, she was probably the worlds worst patient.

But Terance's affection was as good as gold right now.  She uttered a single short note of what might be a happy-ish whine, tipping her head slightly up towards him.  And the fact he was staying to humor her?  Good, she said with an edge that suggested that if he had planned to leave, she probably wouldn't have let him.  Nope, sorry, he was just kind of stuck here for a while, she had so decreed.  As content as she probably could be in her current state, she sighed, then after a few moments suggested, A quick nap, then food, then... Whatever?  The hell was she supposed to do if patrolling was a bad idea?

"then whatever," terance agreed in a soft murmur, a few more licks to the head. in all honesty, terance was not convinced he had anything better for her to do. treason wasn't really a sunbathing kind of gal... at least, not for days upon days. and it probably wouldn't help much to how sick she was feeling. bummer. he figured, at the least, he could just keep her company. maybe they could play a game of ispy. 

or maybe treason would hate that. he probably wouldn't suggest that.

With that, Treason tucked her nose in against him and closed her eyes, trying to will herself to sleep.  When she woke, hopefully it would have passed. Or be less, at least.  She could deal with it if it was a bit less.  Probably.  And it would be in this case, but she'd take things slow for a while.  

It could be worse.