Herbalists' Cache [m] tejano blue

Mature Content Warning

This thread has been marked as mature. By reading and/or participating in this thread, you acknowledge that you are of age or have permission from your parents to do so.

The participants have indicated the following reason(s) for this warning: suggestive daydreaming, she is in heat >:)

"Sister?" Ulloriaq's sharp cry rang out across the moraine from the small den dug for two. 

When she had awoken, Taqtara was nowhere to be seen. Graciously, she had assumed her to be out hunting and, while she fretted losing her sister so soon after reconnecting, her call concerned a different matter.

A warm and unfamiliar feeling stirred in her belly, and with it an insatiable desire to be found not by the glacierwoman but by a man. Letting her mind wander dredged images of Dutch to the surface, left entirely to the imagination, his strong arms encircled her waist as their lips met in a heated kiss. He was above her, and then all around her, and all the while she would cry Arjun! Arjun! for no-one but them to hear.

She was burning, burning, and fled the dugout with a low, wanting croon.

forward dated to tomorrow, aw!

It was not the first time he'd come across the scent — but it was the first time without his family around. Even so, he felt it best to just leave things alone until a low call reached his ears.

He could've sworn it was his name, wordless as it was. It certainly felt meant for him, and so he followed it hastily to its owner — an athletically built woman around his age, her loveliness compounded in ways he wasn't used to by the headiness of her scent.

He was immediately smitten.

Having frozen at the sight of her, he took a hesitant half-step forward.

"Привет," he said, his voice choked with unfamiliar gravel. He cleared his throat to correct himself, but then he only shook his head, words having fled temporarily from his mind. It took great effort to summon them, and when he did, they were: "I'm Arcadian." And then, when that didn't sound right: "Arkadiy. Did — did you call for me?"

The sound of footfall drew the snowcloud woman to his side, a pale moth to the flame of his lantern eyes. He was not Dutch, but he might as well have been with the way his gaze burned for her as she imagined his did. 

For a moment, she was keenly aware of his unfamiliarity and paused a wolf-length away to observe him from a distance. At his step forward, Tulugak stepped back hesitantly in turn, confidence waning until he croaked a word. His cadence was rough where Arjun's was smooth, yet it made her shiver warmly in response.

"Arkadiy," she repeated, tail waving lightly. While she would have preferred to leave things anonymous, he was too tantalisingly close to resist. So close, even, that she could reach out and touch him-

Instead, she remained just out of reach. "I called for no one but you," a lie smoothed by a shy smile.

His suspicion was confirmed; had she caught his scent on the breeze, as he had hers? It seemed improbable. Perhaps she had been in the area longer than he'd realized. The logistics threatened to give him pause, so he pushed them forcefully from his mind. What had she to gain from lying about this?

(Him? He ought to be flattered.)

A part of him noticed that she gave him no name in return; he wanted to know it, but he allowed himself to be distracted for now. He took another careful step forward, his nostrils flaring to take in more of her tantalizing scent.

"What can I do for you?" he asked. He pleaded. He knew, he thought — but he was just a little nervous. He'd never done this before. And what if he was wrong? He didn't want to assume and make an ass out of himself.

She watched in raptured delight as he approached, albeit a little cautiously. It dampened some of the butterflies in her own stomach to see that he matched her hesitance, though it left her with a concerning dilemma.

"I want-" her breath caught in her throat. What did she want? She wanted to touch him, for him to touch her, to kiss him and feel his embrace. Though her desire for him was magnetic, she was hit with a first timer's curse and it was her turn to lose all articulation.

"Can you- can you hold me, Arkadiy?" Tentatively, she began to close the distance between them, nose reaching to tease the fur of his cheeks. He was eager but by no means as forward as she would have liked. Still, her body itched to let off steam.

He read more in her answer than was actually said, just as he had with her original call. He divined that she was only shy about asking for more, or perhaps that she was afraid he would skip the preamble. Well — this might have been his first time, but he was no brute!

"Of course," he breathed. He wished again to know her name, but he was afraid that the question would break this spell. His stance mellowed, welcoming her closer, and he allowed her the first few tentative touches before he advanced once more, seeking to take her in his arms.

And he was good at this, he thought. At holding her. He pulled her snug against him and buried his face in her thick scruff with an all-over shiver. Her fur was cool at first and then blisteringly hot where it mingled with his own. The heat, he knew. Her heat. But like her name, he allowed the knowledge to escape him. He held her, at first only tightly, but very soon with mounting passion.

Gently but firmly, and with a muddling of kisses as if to distract her, he maneuvered her beneath him. He told himself he only wanted to hold her this way; just to see what it felt like.

Of course, came his answer, and Tulugak melted into the warmth of his body. Her teeth roved from his cheek down the soft furs of his chin where her forehead came to rest beneath. He was taller than her, but not by much, and yet she felt a sense of safety and belonging as Arkadiy drew her into a gentle embrace.

Words fell away and soon all that raced through her mind was the feeling of warm breath on her neck, his scent all-encompassing as it wrapped her in a warm cloak. The last of her anxiety was quick to fall away in place of a heavy desire that matched his own, fuelled by the burning in her belly that grew stronger with every touch of skin.

She was starfire and he earthfire, opposites that in this moment burned as one.

A breathy gasp escaped her lips at his sudden movement, body tensing momentarily before he soothed her so, each kiss a spark that she returned hesitantly at first but soon with hungry touches of her own. From this position, his face was obscured and she could let her mind wander, all the while her pleasure was known in the arc of her back as she stood, pliable, eager to let him mould her to his desires.

She was solid but pliant against him, and at her first unsteady breath, Arcadian forgot all the world's worries. All his hard-won wisdom, too. The embrace grew more and more arduous until, minutes or hours later, clarity returned to him as they were finally released from one another.

He felt cold and bereft where air snaked in between their bodies.

"Your name?" he asked her, now that the spell had been broken. "You never told me your name."

He knew what might come of this. And he was terrified, suddenly, of the prospect. Not of fatherhood, but of this woman walking away from him, never to be seen again. He knew nothing about her — not whether she had a man already, or if she was someone he could learn to hate, or if she knew the significance of what they'd done.

He tried to find her gaze, his own bright and imploring.

For what felt like an eternity, they weaved together as one until the fruits of Arkadiy's labour marked their separation. She was first to pull away, reluctant though to leave his warmth. The flames that licked at her withers subsided in place of an overwhelming and almost immediate sense of relief.

Her jaws parted as if to thank him for whatever magic his touch had brought, until a question broke the heavy silence between them. They would not see each other again, and yet he asked - he wanted - to know her. At least, more than just in body. 

And while she should have felt joy at his kindness, instead an acute sense of paranoia had her shy away from his prying eyes. What else did he seek? Did he know where her eyes had gazed instead of him?

"You- you want to know this?" her words shook with worry. The gravity of their act had evaded her, for now.

His heart sank slowly, the moment dragging on at an agonizing pace. Her features shifted like fault lines, the tremor of them evident in her voice. A thread of hurt works its way through Arcadian in turn.

"Yes," he replied, monosyllabic because it hurt to speak. He was painfully aware of his own naivety. Inexperience stung his yet unbroken heart. He made himself speak again: "Yes, I want to know this. I want — "

I called for no one but you.

He wanted to be there, just in case —

"I told you mine," he countered, trying a different tactic.

His hurt was evident enough, and though she wished to reach out a paw to cup his face and comfort him, something held her back. It had been her who had brought this upon him, her who had called, and suddenly Tulugak wished she had sought Taqtara instead. Maybe then Arkadiy would have found someone he deserved.

Holding her tongue, she listened to him plead. It pained her to think of this rendezvous as a trade of names as much as it was pleasure and yet, in her eyes, that was what it had become. 

"Tulugak," she answered finally, forcing a smile though it never quite reached her eyes. "I- I'm sorry, I did not want to tell you earlier because I was afraid." Afraid that the realisation would kick in; that Arkadiy was not him. She did not quite want to admit what that meant yet. "I think I have made a mistake."

Her lip trembled - he must surely hate her now.

A mistake. The word struck him like a blow, though he supposed it was not unexpected. He felt guilt instead of hatred — for he had helped her make such a foolhardy decision. He felt uncouth, suddenly, for having demanded more of her.

Still. Tulugak. 

He was glad to know it.

He gazed at her, feeling helpless and lost. The tremble of her lip made his stomach swoop uncomfortably.

"Then I have made one, too," he replied, hoping the solidarity was what she sought. "But it does not have to be an unhappy one. If you — if we — "

He felt stuck. He shook his head.

"I will do what you will me to," he decided, tucking his chin and looking away. He had done enough on his own.

There was no hate in his eyes nor his words, only the feeling that they were at a crossroads. Selfishly, Tulugak had already chosen which path she would take, and it seemed Arkadiy intended to follow - something she was reluctant to let him do for fear he would become another ghost in her closet.

"You are right," softening, she moved to place her paw atop his. Arkadiy had, unknowingly, given her a scapegoat and she had chased it like a hound to the flesh. "Perhaps, nothing will come of this. We can be content knowing that- that this was just a happy accident." 

She refused to think of the alternative.

At his relinquishment, her own head shook in response. She ought to comfort him, to knock some sense into his head but found her tongue inexplicably heavy. It pained her to realise she could think of more things she didn't want him to do than the opposite. Instead, she came to ask: "Will you stay with me tonight? I do not think- I do not want to be alone."

He was at a loss. Logic and reason were slowly taking over. They'd put themselves in a situation where there were very few paths away from sadness and ruin. Unless, of course, he could simply forget or move past what they'd done. Or if nothing came of it — what were the odds, anyway?

Arcadian tried to make himself relax.

"Of course," he said again, subdued. Worry still weighed heavily on him, but he could see that he would make neither of them happy by forcing the issue. He shifted a little closer, searching her face with less intensity, now. "I am sorry i upset you," he added, settling on his haunches. His posture invited her back into his embrace.

"Aya, if anyone is to blame, it is me," she tried reassured him with a slight smile. It was clear he was hurting and the thought weighed heavily on Tulugak too, yet she was powerless to stop it.

Instead, she let words fall away once again, moving closer to press against his shoulder. It would hurt more knowing what she had to do next, yet she wished not to leave the events of today on a sour note. 

As the sun began to colour the sky pink, she sank to the cool earth below and told Arkadiy of her travels north, about the rivers of ice and the village that once called it home. "There are villages here too," her voice was tinged with sleep, though within she had never felt more awake. "To the west across the mountains - that is where I intend to go." Her gaze met his, an unreadable expression on her face. 

Though she did not want him to become her shadow, she intended to leave him with a last fraction of honesty as if to off-set the guilt that had begun to eat at her.