Steeldust.

[WaT]

This female was unbelievable! How dare she push back?! Sighing she moved away as the girl kicked out at her a few kicks did home though and her ears flicked back. Well, that hurt; her pets before had not kicked her or flicked her neck. It was obvious the female was annoyed by being pushed away. Snorting she nipped at her own shoulder and watched them.

She hadn't expected the female to get bold enough to bump into her and she stumbled a bit when it did happen. Maybe she should find a different pet that she could understand better. Her flesh twitched as the male touched her and she didn't really understand a word they were saying. The mare picked up her head though as the woman moved back over to the male. "No. I don't want you two together" she huffed and snorted trying to pushed herself between them again.

Grumbling she decided to pull her head out of there and give up for now. She'd try stop them later. "Fine do whatever you want." She huffed and nipped at the woman's fur covered shoulder, before walking away. She was tired anyway. This was weird anyway, she needed pets that were smaller than herself. Chalk it up to another reason why certain animals shouldn't live forever.

"I don't care anyway" she snorted and flicked her tail at the woman. Really she should get back home before she was missed. Sighing she kicked out at the woman before actually walking off. Really she shouldn't be out so late. Why these two were out she did not know but it seemed rather odd. So instead she decided to have the trees grow back to cover themselves up.

[Citadel]

beneath the eyes of the gods,

Citadel watched the whole ordeal in some state of mesmerized disbelief. The way that these two fought - mild and yet somehow speaking volumes in the slightest movements, the most targeted little jabs - it seemed suspicious. Of what, he was not sure. Perhaps they had a past? Or perhaps all the women in his life were pushy and aggressive simply for the sake of being so. Cato was unsure, but the answer was beyond his capability of pulling from the thin air. He would have to ask, but there was a little voice in the back of his head that told him he would never get a straight answer.

In a moment the mare tried once more to force a rift between the pair, but she seemed distraught with the failure of her plan and made a seemingly lackadaisical retreat. Citadel could only shrug to himself at the strange situation he had found himself in: in the darkness of a swamp with a love interest that he could only flail at grasping the attention of... and a horned horse seemingly intent upon directing two creatures who knew nothing of her language. It was something laughable, really, but also a bit surreal.

"Yeah... I don't know," he drawled in return to Nadia's pause-riddled statement, his eyes focused on the equine figure as it retreated out of sight, cloaked in the veil of night. Cato had a clue as to why the mare did what she was doing, but there was no telling as to how close or how far from the truth his suspicions lay and so the willingness to offer an opinion was stifled. That mare had always been a bit kooky.

Nadia's next statement was left unanswered, for there was nothing to be said. Citadel knew the mare was strange, but so was he... and so was Nadia. They seemed a collection of freaks in a world already wrought of weirdos. "Eh," he shrugged, displaying he loyalty-lacking opinion rather plainly. He would not take sides with either girl. All girls are crazy, anyway.

With the mare gone, his attention turned to the cold night air. Where he really wanted to be was home.

here lies the littlest of lambs

[/font]

[Nadia]

She would not budge when the mare tried forcing her way between them. The horse was not as strong as she thought she was, as Nadia hadn't even budged from her spot when the animal tried using its head to pry them apart. Of course she pulled back when the mare nipped her and her eyes narrowed watching it move off. you little..

Sighing she touched the skin and it felt hot and it seemed a welt might be forming. "that little bitch.." she said quietly. At least there was no blood, that much she knew. The girl looked up as the trees seemed to be growing back and they were once again veiled in darkness. Grumbling she strode forward and into the water, slowly but it was rather nice to feel the cold liquid on her skin or the area that was hot; the rest of her body did not like it very much.

The woman did not venture too far and only deep enough to to have the hot flesh just under the surface. She should not depend on him to break up her fights even if she did start them. Though this one she had not started. That blasted mare had. Her pride had not been hurt as it had been a complicated misunderstanding. Really if they could understand one another then she'd tell that mare to bugger off.

The girl bent her torso forward a bit to stretch out her back then leaned back over it. It seemed easier for her to curve her back over her own body. Though she was not laying flat no her spine was delicately curved over and the top back half of her head was resting on her other half. Of course this confused the brain and her body kept wanting to right itself. Of course her arms had gone over her breasts to keep them from falling in her face; not that she was that endowed - well she just didn't want them in her face, it was bound to happen at this angle.

Finally her equine half started stirring after a few minutes and she knew it was time for her torso to right itself. So slowly but surely it did; the moment rather smooth but a little eerie in itself. She did not get that horse. Sighing she curled her torso forward and brushed herself off again. Maybe it was a sign that they shouldn't have sex tonight - if they were going to do that. "It's like she knew I'm in heat..." she said quietly; more to herself than to him. Snorting she looked over at him then to the ground. She had this urge to just bump into him and try enticing him to get on her but she only pawed at the ground idly.

[Citadel]

beneath the eyes of the gods,

Citadel dismissed the tiff and Nadia's words as the acts of catty girls. Truthfully, there was nothing more to it. Girls would be girls, just as boys followed suit. Cato only wished that the girls around him would spend more time braiding hair and talking about crushes and less time vying for space in a vast spans of land. It was rather stupid, he decided, but he could also admit that he himself had committed acts even less honorable.

His girl moved off, and for an instant he assumed that she was simply walking away. Her slow pace told him otherwise and he decided not to stir, her body eventually stopped half-submerged. At this point, a step or two was considered and eventually put into action, getting a better (if only slightly) view of the wound she had sustained. It was not severe, but he decided that he would not bring it up unless she chose a few words which beckoned something on.

For a long while there were no words. Nadia went about her own business, and Citadel occupied himself in picking tangles from the hunk of foot-long hair he called a mane. Most of the beads had been lost, but he did not worry about it. They were glass, of sand, of earth. Eventually they would go back to their home. Nothing stayed found forever. Even so, in the next home-bound stint of boredom, he would find himself again stringing the tiny glass seeds onto the coarse hair with his meat-slab hands. It was a childish looking scene, he was sure. Eventually his body half-lowered into a canine-esque sit and he continued his nitpicking, moving out to the fur around the area, picking at a few roaned hairs which, to him, looked like something of age. It was a fear wrought of self-infatuation, to be completely honest.

Words. His ears picked them up. His face struggled to disallow any shocked appearance. Heat. He tried not to chuckle under his breath or roll his squinting silver eyes under their heavy brows. His mouth spoke before his brain could catch it. "Well if I can smell it, she can too." It was blunt, but his mannerisms were not mocking. Citadel never looked at her, just continued picking at himself. He felt no reason to feel awkward about the words.

In a minute his heavy body grunted and groaned out of its lax position. It turned about slowly, wandering. Home was in the distance, but he felt awkward somehow in the idea of urging Nadia along at the moment. She felt a bit fragile. Or, something like fragile. He could not be entirely sure.

"Why don't you come home?" The words were for the girl, looking over his shoulder. "It's silly of us to stay here..." in the open, in the danger, in the cold, damp air.

here lies the littlest of lambs

[/font]

[Nadia]

She brushed off her stomach and turned around take a step or two forward. "True, but usually mares don't react like that..." Then she had not been around a mare while she had been in heat. Well if he could smell it then they obviously weren't having sex tonight unless she could convince him otherwise. What was she thinking? She was cold, damp and tired. "Well it's good you know then." Good that she didn't have to tell him right as he was about to mount either. That would be terrible if they had gone so far to only be turned down by the concept of being in heat.

"I don't have to worry about shooting you down.." she said quietly walking up to him; purposely stomping her feet a bit to try covering up her last statement. Really she couldn't stop him if he got a good grip on her but she hoped that she would not have to worry about that. She sighed and kept walking up to him. "Of course it is." Of course if it was to start raining she might protest traveling since it was cold or cool out and she did not need her whole body freezing.

Of course now that the thought had been brought up she most likely wouldn't protest him getting on her - if her footing was good and he took the proper steps. In fact she kept a slight distance from him; he was bigger, stronger and rougher than most if not all men she had been around. The distance was perhaps a few inches and if he pulled her closer; who was she to object? She might welcome his warm touch, after all her torso was covered in goosebumps from the cold air. Sighing she wanted to get this over with as home might be some distance away so she went pass the man and continued walking; sloshing through the water until finally she reached land again.

[Citadel]

beneath the eyes of the gods,

The man could hardly manage to subdue to temptation of his eyes to roll sarcastically in their sockets at the girl's comment. Mares didn't usually act like that? They always seemed to be up to something silly, why was this any different? True, he had no idea why Salma had been so pushy - or, so much pushier than normal - but it did not strike him as completely out of character for any female to get some whim in their head and carry it through with such pig-headed intensity. A mental sigh. Girls... Cato was glad for the lazy simplicity of being sans-uterus.

"Perhaps she knows me that well," was his only nonchalant answer, shrugging his shoulders in a way that spoke clearly on his unwillingness to elaborate. Cato knew the comment was illogical, for he was the last person a woman should fear.

More words. Glad he knew? Shoot him down? A sigh forced its way from his nostrils, evaporating into the still, black air. He did not look at her, eyes staring at something unnamed in the distance, face obviously a little insulted, disappointed, frustrated. He knew all too well that there was nothing pleasant in store for him, but it was not something he really enjoyed being reminded of. It was like taking a favorite toy from a child and then showing it to them over and over and over. It was disgusting and cruel. The emotionless and masculine side of Cato brushed it off, promising him that it would be made up for later.

"Yeah, okay..." he finally spoke, voice slow and drawled, sounding rather distracted by whatever was ticking away behind silver eyes. Wicked thoughts formed, welled up, disintegrated. He just wasn't the type. Nadia was lucky, he decided, that he was such a gracious (weak, forgiving, understanding, bumbling, smitten) lover. No one else would have dealt with her indecision.

Walking. He did not speed up when she passed him, just trudged along in his usual rhythmically bulldozing sort of way. His body always went along as if some sort of droning, targeted machinery. Now, in his pithy of insult, the motion was exaggerated even as he tried his hardest to coerce it from vision.

Home would slowly come into view on the horizon, but he was in no rush. It was cold and wet there just as it was here. The only real difference was shelter, and it was only the grandeur of that difference that spurred him onward. His body remained probably five or six feet behind the girl's, a yard to the right, watching her until he felt as though she may peer over her shoulder and then allowing his gaze to fall away. He toyed with the notion of sex, of celibacy, of marriage, of whores... of building this girl her own damned house so she could keep her tits and her tongue away from him. It was somehow amusing and upsetting at once.

Water dripped from him as his great black body finally slung itself over the first passable spattering of dry land. The once distant trees did not seem remarkably closer, but he could not tell if this was imagined. In his thoughtful pace he had eventually caught up to her, and a hand fell in a somehow platonic way at the base of her tail, slid off her hip. No other contact was offered, as it seemed a dangerous venture.

"I'm tired," he mumbled into the air, only half to her. The words had not really been meant to fall, but they had all the same. A yawn. A corrected stumble as his platter-like hoof fell on uneven ground.

here lies the littlest of lambs

[/font]

[Nadia]

She had not meant to hurt his feelings, but she was not ready to be a mother or so she felt. Otherwise she'd let him but it wasn't a good choice tonight. Nadia continued walking her body twitching in random places and she stopped to shake herself a bit. The girl honestly hated the feeling of being soaking wet.

The woman yawned slightly and brushed off stomach. "I didn't mean the way it sounded" she said softly when his hand touched her. A rather odd place to touch her but she did not seem to mind. She got closer to him and wrapped an arm around his waist. "I wouldn't mind Cato, in fact I want to but...well you know." Did she really need to explain she would most likely get pregnant?

She decided to not explain as he was not an idiot. He made that clear the other night. Sighing she idly scratched the fur underneath her hand as they continued to walk. She was tired as well. Couldn't they rest someplace tonight? Surely they might get home very late if they continued but then she did want to get back home.

A rear hoof caught on a root and she tripped slightly. A stumble and she tried pulling the foot free but found it caught on something. What the hell was it caught on. damn this place! Awkwardly she took a step back; or hobbled back trying to find a way to get it free. Of course the only logical way seemed to pull and struggle with whatever was holding her. Honestly she was starting to panic and it was growing painful. A heavy snort and she took more steps back trying to maybe pull it back the way it came. She even stepped on something that might have been holding her foot. She grunted and continued to try pulling it free. The girl was rather calm about it but she was starting to panic. If only there was light or her feet were bigger or smaller or maybe. She thrashed a few times and finally it was free. She could feel warm liquid and guessed she was bleeding. Sighing she shook off slightly and took a few steps. It hurt and figured she had pulled or sprained something but she kept walking trying to work it out. Eventually she was able to walk without too much of a limp.

[Citadel]

beneath the eyes of the gods,

This was more a case of hurt pride than hurt feelings, as it was quite obvious to Citadel that he was being directed by a woman, not necessarily berated. It was not that she was being mean to him, forcing him into anything, forcing him out of anything... just that she was the boss, and that he was not being allowed his perceived right to do with her as he wished. Truthfully, he never would have gone against her wishes - the idea of hurting her was a frightful one - but it was simply the idea that he was playing the subordinate to a woman that scraped his pride and tugged at his ingrained ideals of manliness versus femininity. As much as Cato detested the teachings of his group, they were still the first thing he turned to when in a bind. He would always revert back to his chauvinistic ways, no matter how wrong he knew they were. It was quite hypocritical, he knew.

A sigh at her words, silver eyes sliding over to look at her for just the shortest of instances. To sound like what? The thought was spiteful, his teeth clenched but his face a mask of relaxation and calmness. The stupid thought passed, quelled by the warm feeling of contact. Citadel was nearly ready to digress, to set her at ease on the topic, but she spoke before he could manage and ended up, in simplicity, returning the very same favor he had been denied. The simple admission that she wanted to do exactly what he wanted her to do was enough to push away any resentment. Her reasoning set the acceptance in stone. Why is she always right? He couldn't help but smile ever so slightly.

Nevertheless, Citadel still hoped he would get his way. His body was convinced of it.

"You're right," the man spoke definitively, calmly. An arm moved to return the casual embrace, but she seemed to fall away before he could manage. For an instant his brain couldn't seem to piece together what had happened... by the time it clicked she was already moving to figure it out herself. Things just happen so fast!

His body stopped, pulled back a long step or two in an attempt to see. She thrashed a bit and it made him afraid to touch her, as though he would grab her and throw her off balance... break a leg, split some ribs... perhaps fall himself. Broken bones were the last things either of them needed out here in the middle of nowhere. Citadel was willing to admit that, by girth, he would be worse off with a leg out... there would be no way to get him home! Then again, his sad attempts at first-aid were by all means pitiful. They pretty much amounted to nothing at all.

A hand was laid on her side, her hoof popping free. The whole incident had been a whirlwind instant, but it felt much longer than he knew it was. Blood. He could see it, but said nothing. His body moved back to her side, one hand resting on her belly and the other on her arm. "Can you put pressure on it?" It was the only thing he could figure to ask, his fear that the leg was direly injured a priority. The man was unsure of how well he would be able to get her home.

here lies the littlest of lambs

[/font]

[Nadia]

How was she right? Wait, she was right? For what? It was common sense that if a girl didn't want to get pregnant then not to have sex when she was in heat. It usually didn't matter for the man. He didn't have to carry or give birth to it. It would be foolish to try giving birth out here with no other female to assist with the birth. He wouldn't know what to do; nor would she really. She had only seen one or two births and it was a bloody horrible mess.

It annoyed her how fast things happened here. She had stopped when he touched her and instinctively the injured limb rested. It didn't exactly hurt right now but knew she'd have to tend to whatever cut or scrape she had when they got home. She looked up at him, even in the darkness could see the concern on his face or what looked like concern to her. "Yes..." Her tone was low and soft. To prove she could walk still the limb went down and she bared weight on it.

Nothing felt broken but it was pretty sore and tears seemed to reach the brim of her eyes. God it hurt but she could still move it so she was alright. Right? She sighed softly and looked down. "We better get home.." Before something or someone decided it would be a good idea to try pushing her around again.

She wasn't all that sure how to walk without bearing an excessive amount of weight on it, but still she took a few careful steps. Of course when it came to her injured leg it was a hesitated step but she did step and bear weight on it before stopping. It was a bit hard to balance and each step on it hurt like hell. It wasn't wrong for her to show that it hurt but still she couldn't just limp home; expecting not to be targeted by a predator. They were here; just scattered it seemed.

"Or what do you want to do?" Her torso turned around to look at him, she didn't want to turn around completely. It hurt. She was even beginning to sweat a bit from trying to walk. She wasn't really sure what to do, she usually wasn't this clumsy or home wasn't that far away.

[Citadel]

beneath the eyes of the gods,

The whole ordeal had washed away the sexual thoughts which had previously overrun his head. Someone's safety - whether it be Nadia's or a complete stranger's - was always more important than his own pleasure. Citadel was just that well-trained. There were times when he would move to protest his inability to put himself before others, but it seemed a strange notion to purposely be selfish... even if it was, in reality, for his own good.

She assured him that she could stand, and he immediately felt one thousand times better. At least if she could stand they had half a chance of dealing with this. If she couldn't, well... he wasn't sure how far they would get with her slung over his back. They would have to spend the night here, that much was obvious, but even that was a gamble with which he dared not wrestle. What were those things? Wolves? He had never seen one. Nor had he seen anything like a crocodile. Preying birds, he knew... but those weren't much of a problem unless you were a carcass and the bird was a condor. The only real threat to Citadel on a day-to-day basis was the prospect of rival centaur... those of a tribe at war against his... those who were perhaps bitter with him for deserting. There was not a day in which he did not fear such a situation for at least a moment or two.

Home. Citadel was glad that she was apparently on the same page as him, in the same frame of mind. Home was what he wanted. It was all he wanted. Warmth, a roof, an old tattered deerskin pulled over his snoring heap of a body... sleep... comfort. Sex... that could wait. With a hurt leg there was no damn way he was climbing up any time soon. She... was not as he was, it didn't seem: not complete in both sets of genitalia. Even so, his features were not obvious - folded away in some sheath-like skin - and he was not about to ask if her body had been slapped together in the same way. Really, though, shouldn't he have been able to tell? Cato was the premier of innocents. He had used his equine half but once, his human half never. Masturbation was such a shameful thing for him that he couldn't even manage an orgasm if he tried.

He watched her hobble onward, walking behind her, hands outstretched as if he could possibly balance her if her footing fell lost. His body halted when hers did, with ease and in tune. "If you can made it home, Nadia, we should go," he urged, a heavy hand rubbing at a newly-risen mosquito bite right beneath his navel. It showed an almost purple color on his gray-pink skin. "Standing around in this water won't be good for it... you don't need an infection." His body picked up again, bumping lighting into her hip in an urge onward, a hand on her spine in some semblance of stability. The blue glow flickered, went out completely, hummed into life. The darkness was threatening.

here lies the littlest of lambs

[/font]

[Nadia]

Couldn't he just carry her? She was not that heavy and he was strong; she would not ask him to though. The girl could still walk and so she took steps when he bumped into her. Nadia didn't like this place anymore than he did. Such wonder luck she had. To become injured so far away from home and not being able to have sex tonight. Wait, had she not just told him that she did not want to have sex?

She guessed they could by other means but she was not sure how that went about. Plus, she was not sure if she could. Did she even have anything down there? Such an odd thought! Of course not! It would protrude out of her body. More careful steps but she was growing use to the pain and was able to take them a bit faster.

A sigh and the girl ran a hand down her stomach to the fur and picked at it idly as she continued her careful steps. The hand eventually ventured lower to scratch at a itch then resume back to picking at the fur. Despite her injury the girl was still thinking about sex. "Is..there another way?" She was not that aware of her body and well her tribe had been so close minded about everything; even how their bodies worked. She had heard the rumors that most of their species had human parts as well.

She did not know where exactly that would be on her body though. Sighing her body twitched in random places trying to get rid of the flies and bugs. She did appreciate how he was trying to help and it was making it easier to walk. She was taking steps a bit more quickly but it was still slower than her normal pace. "I'll be fine." she said quietly. Sure she didn't need an infection but the wound couldn't be that serious. Maybe a bad scrap or cut but nothing like half the flesh was missing - no she would be in more pain.

Really she shouldn't be thinking about sex, she wouldn't be able to hold him up and it would hurt both of them to even try. Since they would most likely fall. Yet her mind kept tuned to the subject of sex. She wanted him on her. When was home coming anyway? "Not to be annoying but how much farther is it?" A slight sweat was forming on her body and she could feel it. Maybe she could slather herself in mud to try keeping the bugs off her but then she'd have to take a bath.

[Citadel]

beneath the eyes of the gods,

Strength was certainly not something he had been denied, but endurance was. Citadel could have carried her, thrown her awkwardly up on his back, hobbled through this land of mud holes and large rocks disguised by the night. He could have. He would if he needed to. It did not seem needed just yet, and if he did not have to risk insulting her by suggesting weakness he would not. Cato would not let her push herself too far, but he knew she was strong enough that he did not have to attend to her every bump or bruise. Obviously she had handled herself before this lumbering behemoth had come to adore her. A woman births children: she could handle a cut.

The girl's words confused him for a second. Another way? To walk? To get home? What? Her question seemed to come from nowhere! The topic of sex had long since dissolved into memory for the brute. It hadn't been brought up in what... five minutes? It had been overtaken by more important things... you know, like wondering if there were leeches or flesh-eating bacteria in that seemingly pure water. He was paranoid and he knew it. "Excuse me, Nadia?" the words were tentative, afraid she would respond frustratedly, hoping she would elaborate her thoughts to him. "I... don't understand. What do you need?"

His hands continued to guide her though he knew it was unneeded. She could handle herself! The poor girl wasn't dying, she just had a boo-boo! Something so trivial as that was not about to stop the man from touching her, however - no matter how idle or innocent the contact was. He just liked the idea that he was allowed to touch someone... that he was doing something wrong but still oh so right. She was his, although not by conventional methods, and he took that as enough reason to justify their strange courtship.

She told him she would be fine. He sighed, admitting to himself that he was indeed a bit crazy. "I'll worry even if you say that. That's just... me." Citadel could not explain it any other way. There was no logic to it.

His body could only move so slowly and so carefully for a short while and he eventually pulled beside her when she spoke again. How far? He didn't know. The journey out here had been brief - an hour or less? Cato was not the type to stray from where he belonged. To do so was a dangerous venture. "Soon, Love, soon," he assured, voice almost a whisper, hand resting in the curve of her back. His skin felt warm against hers, but there was no telling if she was cold or if he was just worked up. For such a large beast he was incredibly nervous.

A yawn. He didn't bother to cover his mouth. A thought struck him for an instant: he must look like garbage about now. It was unimportant. He brushed it away. Steps, slow and intentional. "Couldn't be ten minutes," he muttered after a long pause, voice glaringly tired and lazy.

here lies the littlest of lambs

[/font]

[Nadia]

She had not ben clear on her question. In her own rambling mind she had forgotten to tack on words at the end of the sentence. "Sorry. I mean is there another easier way home?" She looked up at him. An injury did not stop hormones from flowing into the females blood. Obviously she couldn't jump over logs easily nor climb that well. Maybe this was the easy way home. There weren't that many rocks or roots here now that they seemed to be getting to the edge of this place.

This horrible place with that horrible mare! Again she did not mind him touching it and even pushed into his hand at times - if she could. Snorting she pushed herself to try walking at her normal pace; this was dreadfully slow. She only nodded when he mentioned he'd care anyway and when he came up to her side an arm went around his waist. The girl couldn't help herself, she had to touch him now and then. "Ah. Okay." The trip out here had been long for her but then she was running around lost. At least one of them knew the direction home.

He felt hot against her skin but she was not cold just working herself up a bit. Her leg gave out slightly after about the fifteenth normal paced stride. She caught herself though and slowed back down to the crawl, rather annoyed that she would be lazy enough to not pick up her feet high enough. So that is exactly what she did; picked up her feet a bit - except for the injured limb. Obviously. This only went on for about two strides before she found it rather difficult to prance or strut with a hurt leg. Well maybe not prancing but an extended gait at least.

She heard his yawn and she returned it silently; also not bothering to cover her mouth. Hand idly scratched through his fur while the other held limply at her side. What was she suppose to do with it? Wait, had he said love to her? Surely it was just a term of affection or something - he had not said I love you. That was how much she was paying attention to him; she just liked touching him and she was focusing on her stride. Of course she could just try not using it and limping rather awkwardly home but that would take forever and a lot of energy. "I'm hungry." She had not eaten that much today.

The hand withdrew itself to aid the other in brushing off the lower part of her equine body and to just scratch it. At times it did itch so what was the problem of scratching it? There was this very odd opening there as well but she paid not real attention to it, as it was - well she was not sure what the hell that was. She didn't dare touch it. It pretty much stayed closed with that little flap thing on it to keep things out of it. She assumed. The girl stopped to rest a bit and to continue scratching the front part of her equine body. Stupid bugs! Biting her and now she seemed to be cut on her chest. How the hell had that happened. oh my god..

What the hell was this!? Snorting she continued walking. She'd look at it when they got home. This was very weird. "I think that mare cut me.." she trailed off - that had to be the only explanation for a cut or slit there. She scratched the back of her head and looked down at it as she walked. This was very weird.

[Citadel]

beneath the eyes of the gods,

Citadel knew that home drew nearer and nearer, but the gap never seemed to close. The land beneath them had turned from soggy muck to a sort of hard-packed dirt span dotted by patches of long, scraggly grass which had apparently never struck up a chord with the appetite of any grazing beast. The fine layer of loose material which covered the earth clung to his wet feathering and packed into the hollows of his hooves, wedging its way in between his loosening shoes and hoof walls. His hind left hoof must have had a rock or something stuck in it - he could feel the pressure of it with each step - but as it was not painful or hindering he ignored it for now. His eyes remained on a hilltop, steady and trained: his beaches lay beyond that cliff. His chosen route took them to the left of the formation, around the base of the hill as best as could be managed.

"No, I don't think so," he told her, a little amused, when she clarified. If there had been an easier way he would have taken it! Their physical states required this trudging path, however, as neither of them was equipped for speed or jumping... or flying. Citadel was not impatient, however, as he was used to week-long treks which often concluded with finding out that what or whom they had been searching for had moved off without a trace. It was always disappointing, to say the least.

The man said nothing for a long time, though managed to acknowledge her words with nods and grunts. Their slow pace was maintained as well as he could, although he did appreciate when she attempted something that was more than a snail's pace. Citadel was patient. He was not going to push her on. Rushing someone usually only lead to mistakes and false judgment, injury, stupidity. He would look to her when she stumbled or had trouble, watch her a little more closely... but no words came.

A smirk grew on his lips when she spoke. She was hungry. He was, too... but the tiredness he felt overwhelmed the hunger tenfold. Perhaps if he was safe at home he would have eaten, but somehow the prospect of being forced to hike this spans in the dark only convinced him that he was indeed deathly tired.

"Yeah..." he agreed slowly, wondering if the gleam he saw in the distance was the ocean peeking over a dip in the terrain. It was hard to tell, though he was fairly sure his eyes were not lying to him. "We'll find something," he assured, obedient as ever. A heavy hoof threatened to sip from under him in his tired state, loosing its grip on a patch of loose gravel and twigs. Cato corrected himself and returned to walking as if nothing had happened. Walking while desperately tired was very unfulfilling.

He noticed her inspection of herself but said nothing. It felt awkward to realize that she may think he was staring at her in a womanizing way, that he may seem as if he were acting like a pig. Really, he was... but only on a secretive level. Occasionally something crude slipped out, believe you me, but he tried desperately to keep it under wraps.

"I think... we're close," he told her slowly, tearing his eyes from her pretty little body. She still felt so fragile to him... and as scary as it was to put weight on her, the weakness her size made obvious was attractive.

here lies the littlest of lambs

[/font]

[Nadia]

The girl had stopped picking at what seemed like a wound for a few minutes but then couldn't find it when she went back to it. Odd. Maybe in her sleep deprived paranoid mind she had thought it up. There was no blood and it had not hurt; in fact it had felt a little good. It had to be very late. She would look for it again when they got home and there was more light.

Her steps became heavy and rather dull as they trudged on. Another yawn and shake of the head. She was lucky to have ran into him than someone else. Her head drooped a bit and she bumped into the man before waking up. "uh huh" she mumbled sleepily. Food could wait. Another yawn. She bumped into him again.

Nadia had not noticed him staring at her but would take occasional glances at his body. She hadn't felt this way before. This urge to just keep pushing and pestering him until he did climb on top. That was out of the question though as she was injured even if it was only a cut and perhaps a pulled muscle and she was tired.

Exhausted really. "Good because I'm about to fall asleep walking..." In fact if she knew that her body would keep walking she would have laid her torso down over his back and continued the journey that way. It was obviously not going to happen that way though. Another yawn and she looked up to the horizon and she could hear the ocean but that didn't mean they were close. The roars could probably be heard miles away but she was tired.

Yawning once again she wrapped her arm around his waist and laid her head against him. She guessed she could only be this tired from the running and walking with an injury. She hadn't done that much more. Really she was lucky she had found someone larger than her. The boys back home wouldn't be able to carry her nor would they have cared that much about her. Might have even left her there. Blinking sleepily her eyes finally closed and she just continued walking with her eyes closed.

[Citadel]

beneath the eyes of the gods,

The grey behemoth resisted the urge to question her constant picking: it seemed normal for her, anyway. It was almost as if every time he looked at her she was picking at her skin, and her fur, at her hair. Perhaps it was a nervous habit? Or some sort of ailment, maybe? Citadel was the furthest thing from sure, but brushed off the coincidence as little more than him having a pet peeve. Maybe she did not commit the act as often as he convinced himself! Maybe he was just nitpicking! Truthfully he was not, but his meek nature coerced him into silence.

He could feel her steps weighing down, her pace slowing. The yawn that filled the air around them was a pretty good signal that her waking hours were wearing thin for the day. What was it? Ten? Ten-thirty? There was no way of knowing in the night besides the moon, and from the man's point of view there was no moon. He did not feel like turning about, stopping or thinking. He did not feel like being here, or even being awake.

"Yes, I can tell," he told her, successfully hiding some grumpy impatience that was the child of tiredness. Cato was trained well enough to cover up any strain of anger, impatience or bitterness that dared course through his cobweb of thin-skinned veins. Thick fingers scratched at his beard, which was a bit long for his liking, and he pondered for a moment trimming it... and then procrastinated on the idea, putting the correct time for such a task in the morning. There was no reason to stay up tonight for such a vain thing. Then again, was sleep not lazy, self-loving and therefore vain? He did not care... not in the very least.

Silence. She seemed almost to sleep while walking. Eventually hard-packed, dry earth admitted a dusty coating of white sand, hunks of long grass spurting up. Trees disappeared behind them, looking as a forest although he knew well they had never passed through one. The slope of the land lent that vision, he assumed, for the past couple of slow miles had been dotted and not forested.

"I just want to lie down," he mumbled to the air, almost whispering, expecting no semblance of an answer from the nearly sleepwalking girl.

here lies the littlest of lambs

[/font]

[Nadia]

She kept her eyes closed and occasionally she would stop for a split second then wake up and continue walking. Hopefully her leg would be better in the morning. The girl was leaning heavily on the man as she began drifting in and out. Another rather loud yawn and she shook herself. She was getting a bit cranky and grumbled a bit; her eyes being forced to open once they got the sandy soil.

"Well then duh let's just lay down." her tone was dull and drowsy. She sighed but continued walking with him; her torso leaning against his. Hand idly scratched through his fur as her footsteps became heavier. The other rubbed at her eyes, trying to wake her up. Finally she decided that this was damn well far enough and so she stopped; letting go of him. She stretched a bit and laid down and leaned against a small tree.

It seemed to be the only thing to prop her up. The bark on it was uncomfortable and so she pulled herself away and simply laid down flat on the ground. She laid on her side and looked up at the sky. It was clear but her eyes soon closed and the girl curled up into a ball on her side. Now that she was laying down she found it a bit hard to fall asleep. At least she had not just collapsed and fell asleep she had enough sense to just simply lay down.


"I'm justgoingtosleeprighthereee...." she sounded slightly intoxicated but she was just so tired that she didn't care what she sounded like. Her eyes closed again and desperately the girl tried to get to sleep. Unless he wanted to help carry her she wasn't getting up again until morning.

[Citadel]

beneath the eyes of the gods,

Nadia's words were more laughable than convincing. He felt almost as though she was being melodramatic... though perhaps that would have made her a very good actor. Or a very poor one. Either way, he could not decide. Maybe in the end she was little more than a silly girl, lax in her ways, who did not mind being caught off her guard, with her barriers down, drowsy and drunk in her tiredness in the wake of a man whom she knew had considered the idea of taking advantage of her more than once. Citadel would never carry through with such a plan, but it was the principle of the matter that stood firm.

"This isn't the place for that," he told her, voice quiet but admittedly firm and intentioned. As big as the man was, he was uninterested in spending an entire night out here with this fragile girl. To be by himself in this expanse of nothing would have been far safer: he could have concentrated on protecting himself without the worry of whether or not she would keep up, trip or stumble. Cato was not selfish enough to abandon anyone... not even an enemy.

Her body slumped to the ground and he masked an angry grumble as she mumbled some almost incomprehensible words into the blackness around him. Between the glow of his body and the yellow wash of light from the moon he could just only make out her form as his body moved to a stop a few yards off. The dark scared him, but he was not ashamed. Should not every beast be afraid of the unknown and what his eyes cannot see? Those in a religion. as Citadel himself, feared an intangible god. The dark was exactly the same. What came of it and what disseminated into it were both disturbing mysteries.

"Girl, come on," he muttered, letting the impatience he felt with her seep out as near-silent venom. She was already asleep, however... or, so it seemed. There was no telling, and she did not seem willing to argue with him over this anyway. Here - on the ground, in the dark and wounded - she was gone without him.

They were so close to home, and yet her silly decision had caused them to be stranded. Shit. The best was unhappy, but consented.

In a moment or two his hooves carried him slowly back to her side, hind end lowering into a dog-like sit which seemed somehow awkward and perfectly natural at once (it may have been his size which made it seem so peculiar, but he would never know). He picked at his hair for a while, then at his teeth, his nails... all the while secretly hoping Nadia would wake up and keep going like he wanted her to. It did not seem like it was going to happen. Occasionally he would nudge her ever so slightly: certainly never enough to wake her but hoping it would work in some discreet manner.

A sigh. He gave in, the front half of his hulking torso coming down to meet the sandy earth. Cato detested this way of sleeping... out in the open, on the dirt. In the morning he would feel neither rested nor clean for the dangers lurking and the sand and plant matter that had worked its way into his fur. His human torso slumped over her withers, arms folded, fingers picking at some fur. How women stayed so clean, he would never know. "Girl, you owe me," he mumbled lightly, knowing he would not sleep at all tonight although he was deathly tired.

here lies the littlest of lambs

[/font]

[Nadia]

Sleep soon came but not after hearing his protests for her to just simply lay down. Was that not the point of sleeping? To lay down? Her thoughts were not making too much sense to her now. Normally she would not sleep out here in the open but she was just so exhausted and she had not done a thing! Still the dirt and sand caked over her damp fur and skin. "Just...a few minutessss." she mumbled when she felt a nudge and curled more into a ball or tried to at least.

The air was a bit cold and she'd probably kick herself for getting so dirty but what was life without a little dirt? Though she was getting a bit tired of his incessant nudging. The next time he did that she'd kick him but nothing came and she sighed a bit. Really she was half asleep; finding that this was a little bit more restful that trying to trudge on. Sleep finally did come and the girl was out but still alert it seemed or she hoped.

Nadia felt something or someone lay next to her then in a bit over her. She couldn't exactly breathe but still could. It seemed in sleep she would breathe more from her torso than her equine half. Still this heavy feeling of being crushed did not sit well with her. The girl opened her eyes; a bit more awake after her perhaps fifteen or twenty minute snooze. She stretched a bit and frowned as the injured limb protested a bit but did eventually extend properly.

"Oh? And how do I owe you boy?" She moved to prop her torso up on an elbow to look at him. Thankfully not much soil had stuck to her human skin. Inhaling deeply she felt her barrels rise slightly and the girl laid back down. Spine contorting a bit so her torso could lay on its back. "Well I'm up now..." she trailed off. Like he probably wanted. "just..a small resst was all I wanted.." she yawned and stretched more. The girl would try pulling herself from under him but then she'd have to worry about stepping on him. The girl did have to admit this was not one of her best ideas.

"Get off." she said attempting to pull herself from under him; this awkward wiggling motion that was not helping in the slightest. She did appreciate him stopping and waiting but he didn't have to. If he would have laid down next to her like this earlier - "If you just would have waited or went on you wouldn't have to get up again so soon." The short nap obviously had not improved her mood and she was rather annoyed with him for simply not laying down sooner or just sitting and waiting. Obviously the cool air was keeping her from falling asleep completely. Sighing she ceased her attempts on getting free and stretched out her injured limb a bit more; only to wince and pull it back quickly, grumbling in pain.

[Citadel]

beneath the eyes of the gods,

It seemed like forever as he stewed in his frustration, but she finally stirred. This girl! Who did she think she was? And why was he interested in someone so weak, so selfish, so rude? The fact that he could not put a reason to his eager affection only angered him more. Love was such an unreasonable thing! Citadel detested anything that could not be made sense of. Citadel detested women.

She answered a comment he had not thought she had heard. His eyes rolled in their sockets, nostrils flaring a bit with a heavily exhaled breath. What do you owe me? Are you serious? How about I just leave you here? The beast considered the idea in all seriousness, but eventually turned it down. It would be an incredible feat to undertake for such a slow and steady titan.

"You'll know when I take it," he told her, half joking but still sounding quite frustrated. His voice was grumbled and carried no trace of its usual shy joviality. If she would be crude, he would have a hard time not repaying the favor. Her next words quelled his anger a bit, assuring him that she was awake and ready to move again. He was almost ready to let something nice, something happy spill from his grey-dusted lips but she somehow managed to again treat him cruelly before any sound could come.

Get off? He could have beat her for those two words. I sit out here with your whorish little ass and you- whatever. He stared at her flatly, face lacking emotion and eventually turning visibly abhorred over the period of about fifteen seconds. She spoke again and he sucked his tongue in an attempt to keep it still.

...It did not work. Cato's body lurched up roughly, the man finished with being treated like a child or some sort of hired hand. "You know what?" A pause, a heavy breath. "You can go home... your home... not mine." He did not look at her, body taking a step or two in the direction of the sea. "I came here to be alone, not to deal with a girl with no manners and no appreciation for any of the damned things I try to do for her." The words were awkward, but came in an attempt to remain composed and rational amidst his frustration.

here lies the littlest of lambs

[/font]