it smells like dog in here [1]

For @Scimitar :)

For the n^th time, things were falling apart. Must be Tuesday.

Paarthurnax was nowhere to be found. Bazi had personally combed the entirety of Swiftcurrent Creek and its surrounding areas without turning up so much as lead. It was as though an enormous bird of prey had swooped in from some lofty hell and carried the desert wolf away, leaving blood and a grieving family behind. In all likelihood, she was dead. Bazi wept when the thought occurred to hear, which wasn't until the moment she finally decided to stop searching.

To make matters worse, her search had turned up something else to worry about. Foreign scents - sour, almost, and utterly unrefined. It wasn't a scent she recognized, but it made her lizard brain hum with distress, and that was not a warning to be ignored.

They had to leave. Now, ideally. Who knew when Shadow would hear of what had happened and come charging in? Bazi swore under her breath - Shadow hadn't even crossed her mind. Stepping away from the den-site that she guarded during her every waking moment, Bazi called for Scimitar.

Slight assumption that Kieran is playing babysitter. <3 Lawl, Danni.

He scented them too. The smell of something completely unfamiliar traipsed across his borders -- the regal wolf trailed it for a few paces, his suspicious mind already flickering to Paarthurnax's disappearance, and this sudden new scent. The days that had passed seemed to do so in a haze -- when Bazi was out searching for their friend, he had stayed behind with the boys.. when she was back, he had gone to do so. Neither seemed to accept what had come to pass, and he did not know what to tell the three youths, that each time they returned home, they came back empty handed.

Now, with this new, unknown scent closing in on them, Scimitar knew they would wait no longer. Blackfeather Woods held the potential to spring from the south -- Noctisardor Bypass from their East. Even The Sunspire held the potential to close in, and the cinnamon wolf had enough of the pain this land had wrought them.

Bazi's call was met with a clipped note of his own: he was coming. His creamy paws moved quickly, the only comfort he held now was that the pups were with @Kieran . As his pale companion came to view, he quickly clsoed the distance between them -- unable to resist, his muzzle smoothed to her cheek, his nose inhaling her scent sharply. She was the only comfort he held right now -- her, the boys, and the few pack members that had remained. "Let's get the fuck out of here," he rumbled, exhaling just as sharply.

There was no need to clarify her thoughts to Scimitar - they were already on the same page. Her own doubts about leaving had been eradicated by the recent string of hardships, and the threat of more to come.

She received his affections gratefully, touching the cold tip of her nose in the downy fur below his ear. When they parted, her skin was humming despite the circumstances. "Let's get the fuck out of here," he murmured roughly, receiving a single, sharp nod from his queen. "North," she said without hesitation, turning her paws in that direction. "Maybe as far as the coast, past the Glacier pack - depends on what we find. Either way, west is definitely out - I confirmed it, not that we didn't already know. Who's watching the pups? Kaskara?"

She returned his affections -- and even with the darkness that surrounded them, this was a chance at their future. They had taken the boys as their own.. becoming guardians of all three, but Scimitar knew that Bazi was of an age soon that her heat would come.. and the thought of having a litter of their own was also a tempting one. Whether or not they were settled and ready by then was yet to be determined -- but the thought fluttered in his mind every so often, in these stolen moments together.

"North it is," he agreed, his tail giving a flick through the cold winter air. "As long as we're farther away from Blackfeather Woods and Noctisardor Bypass, I don't care," he revealed, his eyes drifting over her features to study them. "The boys are with Kieran right now.. I imagine @Kaskara will be there too, though.. she and Kieran seem to magnetize toward one another," he drawled, uncertain what to make of that. The Beta was his little sister, after all.

The boys. Their boys, now, for better or for worse, and a small, shameful part of her was thrilled to be a mother. And soon, if the heavens would deign it, that family would grow - the Samarkand children would bury the memory of their first set of roots and put down new ones as the first generation of a brand new pack.

North it is. Bazi wasted no time - whilst Scimitar shared his suspicions about Kaskara and Kieran, she urged him on with a gentle bump of her head against his shoulder. They were already near the border, and would be completely free of Swiftcurrent scent within the hour. "You think so? He has always seemed so closed off to me. And your sister.. has she taken a mate before?" She couldn't imagine Kaskara in love. Kaskara was hard, and practical - like Scimitar, actually, so perhaps it would just take a persistent wolf to win her over.

His ivory queen was quick to urge him forward, and he did not hesitate to allow her. While he was loathe to leave behind the boys and the Creek with such low numbers.. if they did not determine where they were to go, they would never make it -- they could not travel without destination with such young cubs, and so as they scooted closer to the borders, the Alpha Male lifted his muzzle back and clipped a short song to Kieran and his sister -- they would be gone for a few days, but to hold tight.

And with that, his creamy paws quickened, prowling across the borders and beyond, as they would soon give way to perhaps the quickest adventure they could have. There was a determination in his step, but als a feeling of release. Matters were taken in their own paws.. and soon, this would give way to a terrible but faded memory, and a fresh start would be given for all of them to build upon. "Kieran has a past that he hasn't shared with me," he offered, knowing the swarthy male to be one of the kindest they had in the Creek.. but also one with a history he kept close to heart. "Kaskara has never taken a mate -- I never considered she ever would until he came along."

Scimitar paused to leave word with the others. Bazi's heart quickened. They would be alone for several nights - no children, no responsibilities, both sharing the same earthen bed beneath the stars. The prospect quickened her step once. Their interactions until now had been fumbling, like two youths playing at love - all stops and starts. Out there, they faced hours by themselves, and it was thrilling and frightening in equal amounts.

"He reminds me of Galileo," she mused, carefully avoiding a concealed dip in the ground. Since her fall, Bazi was a more careful traveller. At Scimitar's assumption that Kaskara would never settle down, she frowned. "Really? Why not? She's a handsome girl."

Galileo was mentioned, and a chuff escaped the cinnamon male. "Galileo -- another wolf who has seemingly disappeared," he muttered, his ears falling flat to his crown. He had wondered of the male's absence, but given the events that had unfolded during the excursion for Star, the cinnamon wolf was no longer willing to send out search parties to try to herd his members together. They were not cattle, and he was not their keeper.. if they left, it was no longer his business to find them.

"Yes, she is pretty," he mused, a small grin forming at his lips as he swung his muzzle to steal a glance at his companion. The white of her pelt rivaled the snow itself, and he could see her appeal to traveling north -- she was built for the endurance of the snow, and it called to her. She would thrive northward. "But she's never given any indication that she's ever wanted family, or anything of the sort. If anything, she seems far more interested in our love life than her own." He gave his muzzle a quick shake, his creamy paws trudging through the snow as the crisp wind tussled his fur. As they migrated further north, his own paws would lead him closer to Bazi, every so often, brushing his shoulder against her own.

Galileo was dealing with personal business, but Bazi sympathized with the source of Scimitar's tone - with enemies on all sides and their numbers diminishing, Swiftcurrent Creek (or whatever they would come to be called) needed all hands on deck.

Bazi sneaked a look of her own, missing Scimitar's own glance by seconds. They were progressing at a comfortable jog, muscles humming and warm beneath thick winter coats. Scimitar's disguised his recent run-in with the Blackfeather lunatics well, and nothing in his gait suggested that there would be any lasting effects. "I think it hits everyone eventually," she grinned, spilling clouds from her smiling mouth. "I'll tease her about it when we get back. Imagine Kaskara pregnant with tiny Kieran-babies. She'd probably pop off to give birth in the middle of a hunt and get right back to it afterwards."

The further they spanned from the Creek, the more free the Alpha felt -- and restrained. The thought of the boys waiting for them tugged at him, and his concern might have been tightly masked, but it hammered in to his very heart with each step they took further away.

Still, there was a silent victory at having Bazi to himself, and at her words, he ushered a low chuff. "I'd rather imagine you pregnant with our babies," he murmured teasingly, his bright aqua eyes once more stealing another glance to her petite form. They might have been the new guardians of three rather rambunctious boys, but he had no intention of letting that slow them down -- not if she didn't. A light snow began to fall -- speckling his darker pelt with the promise that winter was only just beginning.

It was brazen, primal - the first truly unguarded thing he had ever said to her. Bazi suppressed the flutter of nerves and increased her speed, flashing a sly little grin back at her companion, tail sweeping provocatively over the backs of her legs. Paarthurnax had never discussed the act itself, or how it was agreed upon that two wolves would come together and perform the most intimate act in nature. It just happened, apparently, and Bazi was starting to understand how it could. The need had been building in her for months, and soon, she would have to give in.

His words were seemingly not unwelcome -- the spark of a grin was given to him, and his eyes were quick to steer their way to the proactive flash of her tail in his direction. A low rumble escaped him then, and with an even more brazen notion, the dark agouti male loped quietly to her side, casting an affectionate and heated nip to her haunch and closer to the base of her tail -- a silent approval of where they currently stood in their life, and how they had begun to mend their relationship.

Perhaps, even, as a welcome distraction, he would place his claim more officially upon her for the first time -- take her in the primal desire they had put off for so long. But never would he force anything on to her, and so his eyes would seek her out questioningly.

Scimitar followed the fledgling nymph as she tested the limits of her power. She felt the pressure of teeth against her spine, the approving rumble of his voice. Every ounce of blood that could be spared rushed instantly to her thighs, the unknown feel of it slowing her gait. There was hard ground beneath her paws and hot air in her chest, but all of that faded as the sensation of tight, throbbing tension mounted inside her. She stared into his eyes, barely moving forward now, looking for some cosmic sign that now was the right time. They were alone - they were starting afresh. Perhaps it wouldn't result in children, but.. Bazi licked her lips, a nervous tick, and came to a complete halt, hind legs quivering in anticipation of something she understood, technically, but could not truly imagine.

/runs to plan the 1000 babies

Do you know how amused I am right now, that they're first mating thread is titled 'it smells like dog in here' ? Fade here and new thread further north for discovery?! :D

She did not discourage him -- instead, she tantalized him further, and as they slowed their pace now, the cinnamon Frostfur ever so gently rubbed his muzzle along the length of her spine, casting nips every so often.

The pain of the past few weeks was set aside for now, and instead, all he felt was the thrum of his blood as it pumped through his veins. He would place a paw on either side of her, pulling her to him as they made their final connection -- together at last, and fully.

His loving embrace was gentle for the first time, not wanting to hurt her, and afterward, he would encourage her to rest before they continued forward.. the journey to their new life had started now, and while they were oblivious to where it would end, he took great joy in knowing that it would be together.

I thought that too and spluttered slightly in my coffee. So fitting for this mega-awkward couple. :') Yes, good idea!

In the end, it was easy. She allowed herself to be seduced and positioned, pulled against his warmth and finally entered with utmost care. When it happened, it seemed obvious that this was the way things should be. The past fell away, the tension in her shoulders eased - they made love for the first time facing north, where their future lay, whatever wonders and trepidations it would come to hold.

/fade!