Redhawk Caldera I'll bury my future behind

since our other is wrapping... ish! No rush ofc

@Bronco had been giving her space of late, which she appreciated, but also noticed with a pretty heavy dose of reluctant guilt. It wasn't that she thought they had to spend 24/7 attached to each other... surely he'd eat her as quick as she would him. But it was something to feel that distance shift and to know that you were the pretty sole cause of it. Even more when you couldn't seem to stop shitting the bed.

Today she had a peace offering for him. She had.... really no clue how it would go over. But she'd been saving it for a while and been meaning to give it to him when the pregnancy had just kind of... knocked her off that, for a bit.

It seemed a little derivative now, though, that she'd waited. Fennec pawed at the fur, feeling the surface. It felt soft, but she had no clue what it had going for it outside of that. It was the only thing from her trip that had survived her dunking and she was thankful now she'd gotten it - even if she hadn't entirely meant to kill the fox. It's pelt would go to good use, providing an extra length of space for Bronco that wasn't hard den floor. It wasn't nearly big enough, though. Shit.

She shoulda killed a couple more, as if that was even a relatively reasonable expectation. She let out a quiet, frustrated scoff, but then huffed out a sigh. @Yeet's pelt wouldn't be much for Bronco, but it was a little more room for whatever kids might pop out of her one of these days. That was... pretty alright.

In his time alone, Bronco felt like he was walking on clouds, though he'd yet to find a little niche where he could celebrate his news to the full extent. Towhee had been supportive, though he couldn't expect for her to dote on him and get all excited simply because she had three rambunctious youngsters to look after, her mother and daughter were still away, and one of her pups had passed away. That was a lot to go through. 

He was still hopeful that Fennec might perk up eventually. He gave her space whenever he felt like she needed it, but was otherwise trying to be attentive to her need for comfort and attention. He did what he could to hunt for the both of them, and spent time with Towhee's kids to give her a break. His own children weren't born yet, but already his life seemed so busy.

When he came back to find Fennec, he had a partridge for her. He'd taken the care to pull some of the feathers out thinking it'd be easier to eat that way when he realized a bit late that perhaps the feathers could've been used as bedding. So it was a half-plucked bird, but better than nothing. It made his heart beat a little faster to see her, knowing that she was carrying their children.

Even if things hadn't played out in the most ideal way so far, Fennec was getting pretty used to having Bronco around. And while she still couldn't shake the feeling that one of these days she'd find him just.... gone, it was easy to take for granted everything he did. Except on the rare occasion, like today, when guilt pushed her to try and do something to pay it forward.

Problem one with gifts... finding something to give them that wasn't shit. And if you managed that, problem two with gifts... finding a way to give it to them that wasn't awkward or weird. And if you managed that, problem three with gifts... doing it all over again when they inevitably did something back for you and the endless cycle repeated.

It had her tempted to just kind of leave the pelt as an unmentioned addition, one he may or may not notice and that only she'd know about... something to know she'd contributed and nothing more. But if she was going to be make up for being a sack of shit to him last few weeks, a good place to start was probably with making herself uncomfortable to try and do things his way.

Dont think I'm gonna make a habit of this, she thought, but she had to hide a smirk as she heard him approaching.

Found something for you, Fennec said when he was closer, probably in enough to see (if not notice). I'd tell you to close your eyes but one of us should probably know if the guy was as ugly as he sounded. She prodded the fox pelt to the side a bit more, shifting so there was a little more room that side. Now you won't have to shove me off mine every night.

On that one she did finally grin. It was a complete lie and doubtless Bronco knew it. If there was a bed hog here it was her, unapologetically.

Oh?  His ears flicked forward. It seemed that she was in good spirits, which he welcomed with an eager expression and tone to his voice. She'd been thinking about him, then, enough to find something for him? He drew closer, following her but finding his eyes drawn down to where a new pelt- one previously belonging to a fox- lay on the ground with the others.

Oooouh! He cooed when he saw it, though he quieted himself when she spoke about it. It looked so much more colourful and vibrant than the pelts he'd brought, which were rather drab in comparison. He moved forward to brush his muzzle against the fur. A dense pelt, but soft. He chuckled softly. You always have to go and one-up everything I do, dontcha? He asked. He intended the comment to inform her that she'd definitely brought home the best pelt so far. He flopped down on it heavily, and began to roll on it, flattening it out and rubbing his nose against the soft fur. Daaamn, yeah, this one's nice. You're gonna hafta try extra hard to get me to share this with you, He teased appreciatively.

Should have traded it out, clearly. Fennec retorted half-heartedly, but she was pleased that he seemed to like it. She really hadn't had a single clue how it'd go over, but it stoked her ego pretty damn good that she'd managed to catch something worth the praise.

Something lurched in her abdomen and she let out a breath, rolling carefully sideways as the monsters (how many?) did their gymnastics in her. This is so weird. Y'know what it feels like? Fish. Really weird, sometimes really annoyed, fish swimming around in there. At least, that was the closest she could equate it. If she'd known a thing about aliens she could have drawn some pretty spectacular comparisons but unfortunately, no dice.

There was one small blessing for Fennec though - she didn't give a shit if she looked reminiscent of wolf who'd just ate a watermelon. Belly-sideways sometimes made the creatures settle.

It was one of her first neutral broachings of the subject. She didn't really notice it, but the panicked hormonal fury was slowly calming down into something dangerously close to acceptance this past week... and if she wasn't careful, it might cross into curiosity by the time all of it was over.

He would have been content to stay with his cheek pressed up against the smoothe fur of their newest pelt, had Fennec not rolled over, exposing her ballooning belly. He lifted his head, then, and marvelled for a moment at her. She said something that sounded half like a complaint, but....Much less disappointed than he would have expected. Likely because she wasn't in pain, just in discomfort, and was learning what it felt like to have things living inside of her. 

Of course, the thought of having puppies swimming around in his own abdomen made him feel a little bit nauseous; he would always be a little bit on the squeamish side. 

But now...It was proof that their children lived, and proof that they were healthy- and as he watched the gentle rise and fall of her side, he could have sworn that he saw a small ripple of movement that wasn't attributed to her breathing. Unable to help himself, he whined softly, and felt something tight clench in his throat. Why did he suddenly feel like crying? This was ridiculous. Since when were fathers supposed to get these emotional surges too?

It was encouraging, too, that she was opening up a conversation with him about the topic of their kids, which seemed relatively safe. Of course, he wanted to avoid asking too many annoying questions, otherwise she might choose not to talk to him about her pregnancy, and he didn't want that. He wanted to know everything- but he didn't want to push her buttons. 

So he snuck a bit closer. "It doesn't hurt, does it?" He asked. "D'you think you can tell how many there are?"

It didn't hurt but it was definitely unnerving. Feeling something move inside you completely independently kinda brought the whole thing to a weird reality. She didn't hate it, to tell the truth. Not unless they catch something in there, she answered. One kicked somethin the other day and I about shit myself. She snorted, then raised her head a bit.

No idea. Two? Five? It was hard to tell since what was moving tended to shift some. It never felt like a ton, though. If you want to try and feel, be my guest.

She'd always been able to sense her mom's at a certain point, and figured she might be far enough along for Bronco to feel it too. Felt like something he might appreciate, if they didn't go quiet all the sudden just to fake him out. Trust her to birth a batch of little trolls.

The whine caught her curiosity, but she decided to let it be. Asking seemed like a loaded question and emotions were a bit too much of a minefield to delve into right now.