Silver Moraine too weak, 2 weeks

still vague on outcomes! hoping for a wild @augur

More often than not, she kept the company of the great grey man, Mountain Boulder. She was happy to, and content. It was to him she returned to from the Maplewood, with gifts from Jade Eyes. The rabbit-furred parcel carried in it tallow, berries, and its remains. She wondered what her mate would make of it. She had never seen such a thing before, and perhaps never would again. But she would let Mountain Boulder experience it, too.

The skin might prove useful for something else other than carrying. Perhaps the cubs he smelled of!

But the food he could eat, or he could provide to the pack.

Night soon turned to day, and as she strode through the Moraine Sunday Morning paused. She was sore where she was not normally sore, and placed the trinkets down to lick at her stomach. Furs came with it; she noted, then, another change in the swell of her teats. Not yet her stomach. But it was sign enough that the seed of her mate was strong, and that her own field had been fertile and rich for it to have taken.

Then and there, Sunday felt no worry. She picked up the trinkets and tasted the wind, angling in the direction Mountain Boulder had last been seen. Her stride became longer as she pushed on.

when he was not with her he was hunting the ridges of redtail.

and when he was not hunting or with her, he was applying himself as sitter to the pups.

red woman had a relative among them. he was a spry dark wolf who augur had never formally met. shadow man had the build of a hunter however and his shared lineage with red woman might mean she would choose him as her hunt leader.

there was also the two sons he and his songbird mate had contributed to the rise's count.

by contrast, augur had bred out of turn and now must work to support two families.

shadow man stood to take from him what he had sought. even if the other did not want it, he was positioned well.

the clawan caught the scent of new snow and unfamiliar things. he raced to the ribbon of silver where he found her, and butted his head against hers with a growl. he wondered if she meant to den away from the rise. maybe that was best. he was not a she-wolf and could not choose for her but having her adjacent would mean her meals could continue.

for today he had brought her the meaty foreleg of a buck killed by exposure. he dropped it as he came and ducked his head to inspect the new changes of her undercarriage with interest in his swinging tail.

There he was!

Her tail moved in great, happy sweeps. Her ears flattened atop her crown and flit back up as he bridged the gap between them. She let out an excited roo-roo-rooo between teeth that still gripped their parcel. Her own head leaned against his larger one and again she felt that sense of home. Not a place for her anymore, but him. As it had once been with her family, but so very different. They had been travelers. They followed the herds. So home had never before been a place in any event.

Sunday Morning smelled the meat he had brought, and looked to it, suddenly ravenous. She thanked him with many chin nibbles, though paused before going to it as she noted where he lingered. For better access, and to again reveal her implicit trust in him, Sunday Morning lay on her side to show him her belly. The fur there was beginning to thin, and he would see the other indication that was more obvious than that through the spots that had begun their swelling.

Red Eyes nor Red Woman had seen this yet; when she had shown her belly to them, there had been no signs of their coupling being a success. It had been too early to know. But they had known there was a chance of this.

She lingered on the outskirts only due to tracking prey. Where she would whelp she did not yet know. That instinct had not yet gripped her. Her tail thudded lightly against the earth as she extended her foreleg to place her paw against his own. He would soon be Father Wolf to those growing within. And she felt happy, wriggling on the earth before moving to plant several more kisses upon his muzzle and cheek.

augur saw all that had become more.

her body was shifting in the way he had seen of red woman, and shadow man's songbird. she was with child. augur growled gently and whined a low note of affection, pale grey tail working furiously behind his hips, eyes slitted, ears peeled back in a sheer show of delight.

eventually augur moved his attention to the things she carried. they held the scent of a strange wolf, a female. her pack-scent was unknown, save for the vestiges of the scarred white hunter he had met beside the tangle.

but the fragrance was good. his belly rumbled; he mouthed the skins. was this to eat? augur let go of it, for the thing belonged to new snow. she would share if she wished, as they shared all things between them.

he was hungry and restless. augur wanted something new to pursue. he looked skyward at a circle of ravens signaling another source of meat. the man brushed his shoulder against the white wolf and glanced her direction. he set off at an easy clip, tongue lolling with the pleasant ease of their tracking.

Sunday's ears flattened atop her head as she whined happily back at him, tail thumping against the earth. His response elicited several chin nibbles and as she hoisted herself up to a side-seat, she showered the side of his muzzle in several kisses. He had brought her to the Rise, whom had accepted her, and children that might have been. Now it was clear that there would be, and Sunday Morning felt fulfilled. Happy grumbles filled the air as she pressed her head against his once more.

As his attention shifted, Sunday remembered the things she had brought. Before she nosed them to him, she placed a berry atop the tallow, as Jade Eyes had done. A sparkle of amusement brightened her gaze for the creativity of the woman. Not a treat she would make for herself when she was satisfied by the simpler things, but one she had enjoyed experiencing nonetheless. And so she would share this, too, with him.

She sniffed at the skins, uncertain if they were for eating. The furs were still upon them, and so as she nudged the food items off she lifted it from the earth. The way that it hung limp was the same as any carrion, and Sunday Morning shook her head left and right. It flew freely, lighter without any bodily extremities to weigh it down. Sunday looked to her mate, who then looked skyward. Her gaze followed his own, and when she felt him brush against her, Sunday Morning rumbled contentedly.

With the skin in tow, still hanging limply from her teeth, she bounded to his side. She gave another shake of her head, hoping to entice him to take hold of the skin too with a glimmer of playful mischief in her eye.

augur tasted the fat and the berries. they were good together. he licked the surface clean of grease and looked around for more, rooting like a grey bear among the odd things that new snow had gotten. his yellow eyes watched with interest as she took up the skins.

the hunter's tail began to sway. his gaze sharpened. his tongue lolled; he was enticed, and watched the flying hairs of the pelt drift in the breeze. all of a sudden, he lunged for it then.

but augur did not grab the fur. he only clacked his teeth against the fibres of it and then danced backward. he circled and came back again, encouraging new snow to hold it away from him for a while longer.

he was delighted. it showed in all of him.

When he lunged for it, Sunday Morning rumbled with a note of delight and reared away from him more out of instinct than fear. His jaws clicked loudly and she playfully taunted him with another shake of her head, the skins rippling outward with a loud snap that sent a whipping crack through the air. Her eyes were upon him as he backed away, and she remained rooted, head hanging low. He came closer and she snorted bullishly, grinning around the skins.

Now it was her who backed away; she would respond to his movements as they came, but all of her efforts would be in keeping the fur away from him. She shared in his delight and echoed it in every movement that she made, answering his own through every beat of her tail as he came closer while she turned away. Once or twice, he may have taken hold... but his teeth were gentle enough that she was able to restart the game for him quickly enough.

It was good, fun work for her. Dodging while he parried. She felt invigorated while she watched him move.

And then, in his next attempt, she bolted away! Sunday Morning would change the game now, hoping to entice him into chasing her as she threw herself into a full-bodied sprint. The skin waved wildly in the winds she charged against, a tempting lure.

they danced. they played. augur admired new snow with the sense of a wild creature. she was at her physical peak in his eyes, with the unknowable conception adding a luster he would not understand. maybe she did not either. she was quick and lithe, using her smaller frame easily to her advantage.

and she submitted to him, which augur did not command. he wanted only for her to move in safety around the rise. he had seen the ferocity of red woman and blood eyes, and did not wish their teeth turned toward new snow.

so he must enforce their laws for the rise when he and she were near. right now, however, it was only the two of them.

if the rise had been his birth-pack, augur might have chosen to disperse with her now. but he had chosen it in adulthood and bound himself tightly. now the children of the rise might carry his blood. 

he belonged there. he wanted the same for her.

the hairs rippled in the wind. augur lunged after her, goosing her haunch with a careful clip of wide jaws.

Sunday Morning rumbled at the feel of his teeth, gentle despite what they could do. But she did not look back, knowing that to do so would be to give up the game, and she was not quite so ready to do this here and now. Not when she so enjoyed the feel of the wind against her face, even moreso with him so close! He had easily made it to her haunch, but she did not slow. She pressed on, throwing herself forward and her sprint headlong.

The she-wolf adjusted their trajectory toward the Rise. Toward home. And if he could capture the skins before then, they would become his to do what he wished with. Sunday Morning as of yet had no ideas, but enjoyed what it had done for them today. She felt all the more glad to have received such a gift from Jade Eyes. And perhaps that was its purpose; to create happy moments such as this.