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 Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 11:10 pm
 Boniface moved about his den, going through to every corner and scraping out his old bedding of leaves, pine boughs, and herbs, though by now everything except for the pine had been crushed into a fine powder that coated the floor and stuck to the fur of his legs and paws as he moved about. It was difficult to get all of it out of the den, though a large portion went out with the pine boughs and he dusted his legs off with every trip so that he was able to pick more of the stuff up. Then it was a slow and steady process of sweeping it out using his bushy tail.
It took time, but what else did Boni have but time? Throughout the year he would just add more and more layers as the old ones got crushed down, but once a year, around late-autumn, he swept it all out completely and began anew while there was plentiful amounts of dried and fragrant foliage to gather.
A tiny smile was on his face as he worked. His mate was supposed to come down here and spend a few days with him, and he was expecting her any day. He wanted to have the den cleared out by then, if not fully furbished.
As he made another trip to the den entrance, sweeping a pile of leaf dust, a sound caught his attention. Boni paused to listen. A radiant smile broke out on the blind male’s face as he recognized the voice. Well, at least the den was decently cleaned out.
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Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 7:02 pm
 Embry hummed cheerfully as she trotted down a now-familiar route through the forest. It felt like ages since she’d last seen her mate! Now was actually a good time to travel, since all the early chilly weather colds had passed but it was far too early for the freezing winter illnesses to hit yet. Kithara had given her permission for Embry to stay several days with Boniface rather than the one, sometimes two days they mostly got. The stripped female made a note to bring back lots and lots of useful herbs to show her appreciation!
The more she walked the more she probed at that thought, and the more she realized there was actually a bubble of discontent marring her happiness. She missed her mate. A lot. Granted he wasn’t that far away, a day’s run, two day’s walk, three if you felt like going at the speed of a tortoise, but still the fact remained that there was a (physically) large distance between them. And yes, sometimes he came to visit her, but she knew he still wasn’t comfortable with the trip and it took him twice as long as it took her and she didn’t like the thought of him alone in strange territory if trouble struck, and-…
Embry gave herself a mental shake before she could trap herself in a negative downward spiral. She shouldn’t ruin a happy day by picking at the happiness handed to her! She sped up, knowing Boni’s den was very close, humming cheerfully yet again. Her mate’s hearing was excellent, he’d probably hear her before she saw him!
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Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 7:22 pm
“You’re drifting off course, my love,” Boni called out in a laughing voice, happiness swelling up inside him at the thought that soon his mate would be close enough for him to touch again. “Follow the sound of my voice, you’re almost here!”
He wished, with a pang of longing, that there was a downwind breeze so that he could catch his mate’s scent, but for once the forest was completely still today. He fought back a sigh; at least it made cleaning the den out easier, not having to fight all those broken up leaf bits.
He wished also, and not for the first time, that he could have met Embry before she joined her tribe. Once she decided to do something she gave it her all and never quit, and that was something he deeply admired about her, but at the same time it would be nice if they could spend more time together than a handful of days in a month. They were doing their best to make things work out, but he could feel the subtle tension in the air and knew something had to give at some point.
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Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:11 pm
Embry heard the voice and put on a spurt of speed, veering to the left where it had seemed to originate from. She burst through some underbrush and spotted the familiar cave, and more importantly she spotted a very familiar figure. “Boni,” she squeaked happily, reminding herself at the last minute not to throw herself at her mate. She couldn’t help the high-power nuzzle/snuggle he got though; she’d been going pretty fast.
She sighed happily and felt like her mouth might break with the force of the smile on it as she buried her face into her mate’s soft fur. “You smell earthier than usual,” came her muffled voice from the light gray fur, breathing in the scents of leaves, pine, rosemary, and mint. She snuggled deeper into his fur, brimming with contentment and determined not to move any time soon. Like at least not for a couple hours. Yup, that would be good.
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Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:45 pm
Boni chuckled deep in his throat, chest rumbling with the vibrations as he stood firm against Embry’s rather enthusiastic greeting. Thank goodness he’d anticipated this and heard her coming, otherwise he’d have been bowled over!
He stood calmly, expression set in its usual peaceful gentleness as he blankly stared off into the forest, but inwardly he was beaming with pure pleasure. As soon as Embry settled herself he lowered his head to nuzzle her neck, mirroring her sigh of contentment. For a long moment spanning several heartbeats the two just stayed that way, wrapped around each other and glowing with joy.
Boni was the first to move, bringing his head back up. He blew a gentle breath into the fur on Embry’s head. “It’s been far too long, love. I was fearing I might have to get ill just to lure you back to me.” He smiled, cheek brushing against the top of her head.
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Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 4:42 pm
Embry pulled back. “Don’t even joke about that,” she said sternly to her mate. “Don’t even joke about having to get sick to see me again.” She sighed and rubbed her brow. “Sorry if I sounded sharp,” she apologized. “I probably should have tried to come to see you earlier. It’s just the thought of you being out here all on your own, sick. What if it was something serious, even deadly, and it could have been prevented.”
Embry ducked her head, blushing. “Sorry,” she apologized again, realizing she probably sounded like a pessimistic doom-preacher. “I don’t mean to lecture. Sometimes I just can’t help but worry and wonder when I can’t be here with you all the time.” She sighed softly and leaned back into her mate, taking comfort from his gentle warming and the lulling, steady beat of his heart. She shouldn’t be fretting over groundless worries when her mate was here and healthy in front of her!
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Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 5:11 pm
Boni sat still and quiet throughout Embry’s entire speech. He felt a small twinge of shame at his teasing. He supposed he should have known better than to make such a remark to someone in a healing tribe, though at the time it had seemed harmless enough in his mind. He gave his mate a reassuring nuzzle.
“Don’t worry love, I wouldn’t dare get sick on purpose. The disease and I stand no chance against your wrath if we dared,” he teased gently. Then, on a more serious note, “You don’t have to worry so much,” he said, softly, trying to project reassurance. “I’m a very hardy creature. I take after my father more than my mother in that sense. I don’t think I’ve been sick-,” he faltered for a second.
The last time he had been sick was when he was a kit. When his father had still been around.
“-since I was a kit,” Boni finally finished lamely, trying to sound normal and knowing he had likely failed.
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Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 5:35 pm
Embry gave Boni a puzzled look as his speech faltered. In all the time that she’d known him she’d almost never heard him hesitate over words. She wanted to ask, but wasn’t really sure how to. “Well-,” she said, making a mental note to ask another time and injecting a playful primness in her voice, “-as long as you know better than to get sick on purpose than I suppose you’re forgiven!” She gave her mate a playful n** under his jaw and chuckled throatily.
For the first time she turned her attention to the den, and the slight mess marring the entrance. “Oh, did I catch you in the middle of den-cleaning,” she asked, noting that what she could see of the inside from here was very empty and had a bare look. She sniffed experimentally, and caught the dry, metallic tang of old leaves and herbs far past their prime.
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Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 6:06 pm
“Yes m’am,” Boni replied with a chuckle, feeling a pleasant jolt at the n**. He had felt her shifting against him, the subtle shifting of muscles, but sometimes she did something that caught him by surprise. There was no one but this wonderful female who he felt remotely comfortable being this close to. Maybe his friend, Amy, though perhaps not nearly as close as Embry got. It had been a long time since he’d last seen his friend, perhaps he would have to follow Embry to the tribe and visit her.
“Yes,” he said with a soft sigh. “I’d hoped that I would at least by done with the clearing out by the time you got here, if not starting on gathering new bedding. You got here a lot quicker than I thought you would.” He chuckled ruefully. “Shame on me for not realizing you would be here as soon as you could!”
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Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 7:15 pm
Embry chuckled cheerfully. “Well, I’m here to help now,” she declared, trotting over to the den entrance to peer inside. Boni had gotten most of it cleaned out, but there was still bits and pieces of dried greenery that he had missed. She chewed her lip, thinking. “Why don’t you go out and start collecting some new bedding material, since you probably know where it all already is around here-,” she mused aloud, “-and I can stay here and finish cleaning up the rest of the floor. By the time you bring back the first load of plants I should be done, and then I can help you bring in some more stuff.”
She turned and smiled brightly at Boni, even if he couldn’t see it. “Best division of labor, we’ll have your den cleaned up and restocked in no time! Then we can spend the rest of my visit doing a lot more enjoyable stuff,” she ended coyly.
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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 2:49 pm
Boni chuckled at Embry’s coy attitude, though he found himself looking forward to when the job was done and he’d get to have her make good on her promise.
“As you say, my lady,” he said regally, then turned and quickly vanished into the forest and out of sight of his den with nary a sound; he knew it was out of sight only because Embry complained many times that he managed to startle her by appearing out of nowhere so quietly. Apparently the foliage around his den was pretty thick, since he never had to go very far to be invisible.
He took his time gathering the herbs, trying not to take too much from any one plant while also aiming to get a variety. He didn’t want too much or his den would stink too much for his sensitive nose, no matter how good the herbs smelled; with mint a little could go a long way, and rosemary was pretty pungent as well!
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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 3:02 pm
Embry answered Boni’s chuckle with a grin he couldn’t see, then vanished into his den. She used the fluffy tip of her tail as a broom, driving the bits and pieces before her like a hen herding her chicks. In no time at all she had the floor of the den clean. It wasn’t a large place, and having sight was a major advantage when making sure you’d gotten everything.
That task done, Embry working on clearing out the front of the den. Boni had perfect body memory, but he still did little things to help him now and then. The front of his den, for example, was completely cleared of all plants for a foot in all directions. The cleared area was paved with little river rocks, a step up in size from being gravel but not so large to hurt the paws by stepping on them. She carefully moved all the rocks aside and re-cleared the area in front of the den, and began just as carefully replacing the rocks one by one.
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Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 11:47 pm
Boni finally returned with the fruits of his labor, tail wrapped around the ends of as large a stack of fallen pine boughs as he could manage, with sprigs of wild spearmint and rosemary tucked in. It would take many such trips to fill his den up to satisfactory comfort levels, but since he’d only need to collect herbs on a few of those trips it wouldn’t take him so long. He was hoping to find more rosemary, though the bush he’d harvested from was a hardy creature that could stand to have a bit more pared away from it if need be.
He heard the gentle clinking sounds of rocks being moved about and smiled slightly before he came into view. “Having fun,” he asked with a chuckled, carefully stopping a few paces before he knew where the stone border should have started, releasing his burden. He didn’t want to scatter all the stones around until Embry was finished with them, which would certainly happen if he just dragged everything into the den!
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Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2013 3:36 pm
Embry’s head jerked up from where it had been bent over her pain-staking task; she hadn’t seen or heard Boni approach until he was pretty much right in front of her! Either he was getting better, or she was getting lax. “Lots,” she chirped back once she’d gotten over her surprise, grinning cheekily at her mate. She knew he couldn’t see it, but it was habit to make the expressions anyway. The expression translated over into her tone more often than not, so even if he couldn’t see it he generally got the gist.
She steeped carefully over her work and gave her mate a welcoming nuzzle while examining what he’d brought with him. “Want me to work on layering that in the den while you’re gathering the rest of it, or would you rather wait ‘til you’ve got everything first,” she asked, not wanting to mess up his system.
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Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2013 5:41 pm
Boniface pondered Embry’s question even as he leaned into her nuzzle, returning the affection with some of his own. “Wait, I think,” he finally said. “That way we can be sure of the distribution of herbs within the pine boughs.” Sighing, he pulled away from Embry with reluctance. “Guess I better get to it, if we want to have a den to sleep in tonight that’s more than a cold rock floor.”
Then, as silently as he approached, Boni turned and vanished back into the forest.
It was several hours and many trips later that he’d gathered up enough bedding to satisfy him. Embry had been with him for the last two trips, speeding up the process quite a bit since by then he didn’t need any more herbs, only pine boughs. He could find them well enough following his nose and memory, but having sight seemed to make things go a lot faster in many things.
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