Animal Instincts (hal7283 & wolfdog12) (18+, private)

[WolfDog12]

Suteneko finally woke again around noon of the following day. Everything inside him had calmed down and the doctor came back many times to check up on the two of them. He had even given Ekichu some food so the Arthroplon wouldn't have to leave the room too much. The doctor had talked more about the female Kokuei he knew and how she had grown so powerful and yet her magic was so beautiful. He even mentioned going with her once to summon another spirit to purify the lake after the original spirit had been killed.

 

The dragon sat up and noticed just how big his stomach had gotten and yet he was so hungry right now. Purely out of "Motherly Instinct," Suteneko knew he was pregnant, able to sense the child growing within him. He finally looked around to see Ekichu still by his side. He huffed irritably but was clearly ready to talk again. "Have you had enough time to think? About what I was saying before, right? I remember what I said and I promise you I'm not changing the way I feel."

[hal7283]

Ekichu looked at Suteneko and said: "I'm sorry I dismissed your confession earlier. I was confused and didn't know how to react. But now I know better to doubt you. I'm... really happy that you feel this way about me. However I'm still quite confused about love. I don't want to hurt your feelings or make you sad, but I've never loved before and non of my ancestors I can recall had loved. I do care about you, but I don't know if my feelings are the same love you have for me. And you being pregnant with my child just made things even more complicated."

 

Ekichu leaned closer to Suteneko and extended his hand tentacles, touching Suteneko's belly just slightly. "I have an urge to be at your side, but I can't tell is this urge to protect you is my instincts commanding me to reproduce, or my feelings wanting to be with you....It must be different right? The urge to reproduce and the feeling of love?"

 

He paused for a moment looking straight into Suteneko's eyes and said: "So... this is where I'm at right now. I'm sorry I can't give you a straight answer right now. While the doctor said he could perform the surgery for the egg once the time comes, it's still dangerous for you. Plus it would no doubt prevent us from travelling and find a cure for your curse. I'd not object if you don't want to bear my child."

[WolfDog12]

"First off," he began, "I'm baring this child. If I have to show you what it means to love, then that is what I will do. When you get close to someone and you'd give your life for them, that is part of what it means to love. There are many parts and by the sound of it, we have quite a bit of time to talk about them." Suteneko looked down at Ekichu's hands on his belly and smiled.

 

Suddenly, the dragon got really serious. "I know you're worried I wouldn't be able to give birth the normal way, so for your sake, I will go through with the surgery but just know that I wouldn't normally do this. I don't like the idea of being cut open..." Suteneko looked down nervously. He shook the feeling off and focused again. "Once the surgery is over, I hope to continue our journey. I can keep the egg safe with my magic so you just have to protect me the way you have been." The dragon smiled and soon after, the doctor walked in.

 

"Are the two of you alright?" the doctor asked, more asking Suteneko who smiled and nodded.

[hal7283]

Ekichu fell silent as it's difficult for him to find the right words to describe how he was feeling. Happiness, guilt, anxiety, anticipation, even fear. All those emotions swirled inside him and he wasn't sure how to react. But if he's good at one thing is to focus on what happening now, and since Suteneko had decided to keep the child, then what he must do now became clear.

 

When the doctor came into the room and asked about their situation Ekichu said: "Yes, we're fine. Suteneko had decided to keep the egg, which means we're going to stay in the village until the time comes. Do you know where can we stay?"

 

"You're welcomed to stay in the hospital if you want. But I also know a few houses in the town that's open for short term rent. They were usually for travelling merchants so there's plenty of room even for a big guy like you. Plus you don't have to listen to all the sick people moaning and babies crying around here."

 

Ekichu thought for a moment and turned to Suteneko: "What do you think? Should we stay at the hospital room or go find a room for rent in the town?"

[WolfDog12]

"I'm use to sleeping with the noise since Kokuei are mostly nocturnal or half nocturnal since we go to sleep at noon when it's busiest and wake when things quiet down. However, I don't think a species so use to resting while it's quiet would be able to handle it here so we should find a house and rent a room." Suteneko jumped off the bed and could already feel the weight of being pregnant. It hurt his back to move that way and he wasn't completely female to handle this egg growing in him.

 

"By the way doctor, How do you know so much about my kind? We are royalty but we tend to keep a distance from others?" Suteneko had been asleep so he didn't know the doctor's story.

[hal7283]

"The doctor had a friend who was Kokuei, and had learned a lot from her about your kind. You two could chat here while I got to the town and find ourselves a place to stay." Ekichu got up from the ground and squeezed his way towards the exit. Just before he was about to leave the room he looked back at Suteneko, then at the doctor. Their eyes met for a moment and Ekichu nodded, entrusting Suteneko's well being to the doctor.

 

Ekichu got out of the hospital and began to ask for directions. To his surprise he was greeted with a flood of warm welcome, apparently the tales of their victory against the bandits holding the bridge and made the two heroes of the town, and when he asked for a place to stay for the following weeks the owner of one of the houses for rent offered to let them stay for a discount. Ekichu followed the owner to the house and find it to be quite spacious, enough place for even him to stretch out his limbs. He paid the deposit with the cash he had and got the key. He then head back to the hospital to take Suteneko to their temporary home.

[WolfDog12]

Suteneko watched the arthroplon go and then turned to the doctor. He listened to the doctor's tale and asked more about the female. Before long, the doctor ended up talking about the kingdom she had ruled and what kind of a queen he thought she was. The story sounded somehow familiar and Suteneko asked who the female was. Kokuei were special in the sense that none had two of the same name. Most was probably because there were so few of them but if two kokuei named the same came across each other, they'd both abandon the name and choose new ones. When the doctor told the dragon the female's name, he recognized it right away.

 

"I... I know her... I knew her... She was... is... my mother." Completely socked by the news, the doctor hugged Suteneko and even started crying. It was as if his whole life had changed and Suteneko described the attack and explained what had happened. The doctor was still crying when Ekichu returned to the hospital.

[hal7283]

When Ekichu returned to the hospital room he saw the doctor and Suteneko crying. He had a feeling the kokuei the doctor talked about was likely Suteneko's mother, and seeing them like this proved his suspicion. He waited quietly at the door until the two calm down. Once the crying stopped Ekichu stepped inside and said to Suteneko: " I've found a place for us in the town. It's quite a nice house and the owner gave us a discount. I think you're going to like it. Let's not occupy the doctor's time any further, he must have other patients to tend to. We'll come back regularly to check on your condition."

[WolfDog12]

"Sure," Suteneko said when Ekichu told him it was time to go. The dragon bowed to the doctor and turned to go. "Before you go," The doctor said, "Suteneko, you must be very careful I know you have control over your magic but if anything happened and you reverted back to you're normal size, just know the egg will not shirk with you and you will be killed instantly by it." The Kokuei nodded feeling a lot more pressure now. He headed out with Ekichu.

 

They got to the house and it really was a nice place. He walked around for a while before finding a comfortable place to lie down.

[hal7283]

Ekichu took Suteneko to their temporary home and began to settle down, getting to know the place a little better as well as unpacking all the stuff they got. The house was built for larger species so the interior was big and tall, with large tables and chairs, and a bed big enough for a pack of wolves to sleep on. He was pleased to see Suteneko liking the place and getting himself comfortable.

 

"Since we're going to be here for a while, perhaps I should find an odd job in the town to sustain us during our stay. I heard talks of the village having a festival and there would be a large celebration. Certainly they'll have some need for some muscles here and there."

 

 

 

(have any idea on what could happen during their stay? Since we decided this one would end in an attack which would result in a miscarriage, we could at least let them have some good time before that? )

[WolfDog12]

(Ya, that sounds good)

 

"A festival?! That sounds like so much fun!" Suteneko was very excited but it was clear he was trying to move as little as possible. "If there's anything I can do to help then I'd love to do it." At the moment, Suteneko wasn't thinking about his limitations and thought he could work a lot like Ekichu. He was pretty far into the pregnancy, especially since it was an Arthroplon egg, but he didn't care. The dragon finally got off his butt and began to walk around. "What kind of festival do you think it is?" The dragon smiled up at his friend. It was nice that their fight was nothing but water under the bridge now.

 

The dragon moved around to go look out the window. "We should travel around the village while we search for jobs and get to know the place first." He smiled more and more growing excited for the next couple days.

[hal7283]

"Yes we should. But be careful though, your body doesn't belong to you alone right now." Ekichu said as he extended his hand tentacles and lifted Suteneko up, laying him gently on his back. He then got out of the house and began to travel around the town.

 

He asked around the town about the festival and the villager were happy to share, apparently many years ago a band of refugees escaping war came to this river and wanted to cross it. But the river was too wide and fierce to swim and nobody knew how to make a boat. So they began to build a bridge, extending it bit by bit across the river. And decades later when the bridge was finally built the refugees and made the river side their new home and decided the stay. The festival marks the day when the bridge was completed and the town was truly founded, and they would hold a great celebration every year, and as the town became a economical hub of the region the festival became a tourist attraction, which meant a lot of temporary shops selling food and entertainment to the tourists, and these places would need people help building them.

 

Ekichu found one of such work places building a temporary stage in the middle of the market place, this is where all the concerts and operas would take place. The boss of the construction crew was delighted to see such a powerful help came along and offered him a job immediately.

[WolfDog12]

Suteneko wanted to walk by himself but was fully aware of how problematic that was. He'd just slow Ekichu down. He had to take it easier and not over strain himself. The dragon was fine being carried around and he was still able to see everything and learn about the festival without worrying about saving energy for the trip back.

 

"This town has such a great background," Suteneko said. He asked if there was any work for him but the boss also didn't want to strain anyone who was pregnant so he was honest and said everything he needed was heavy lifting. The dragon understood and didn't force it. He knew better. It seemed no one in town had a good enough job to give him so Suteneko would have to leave the working to Ekichu. On their way back, a group of mothers stopped the two and asked if the young Kokuei wouldn't mind helping with the creation of some nice decorations. He agreed now with at least something to do. "Guess you'll have to do most of the work," Suteneko was a little sad but he smiled since it felt like a husband caring for his pregnant wife.

[hal7283]

"I wouldn't say that. Carrying an Arthroplon egg is hard work in itself." Ekichu said as they continued to walk around the town. They can sense the excitement and anticipation in the air, and even when the sun had set beyond the horizon there were countless lights everywhere, illuminating the place, working to prepare for the coming festivities.

 

They continued to stroll around town for a while longer, and bought some fresh meat for dinner. Afterwards Ekichu took Suteneko back to the house. Ekichu said: "Our works starts tomorrow morning so we should get some rest."

[WolfDog12]

"That's for sure," Suteneko agreed about carrying the egg. He got up and got off of Ekichu when they made it back to the house and the dragon dug into the meat eating more and more then what he normally would have. This was one hungry egg. However, the Kokuei then had to lay down for a bit feeling really heavy. Luckily, his friend had mentioned sleep and that sounded really good at the moment. "Ya, lets..." Suteneko didn't even get to finish before he was passed out asleep. He was drooling in about five minutes.

 

Suteneko woke up crazy early the next morning and began throwing up again. He threw up about 5 times in about 3 minutes before he collapsed again breathing heavily. He groaned in pain and curled up.

[hal7283]

After they've eaten Ekichu carried Suteneko to the bed. Seeing him sleeping peacefully brought a warmth into Ekichu's heart. Afterwards he got out of the house and went to the outskirts of the town. He found a quiet cleared space and once made sure nobody was near he began to stretch, swinging his claws and tail in practice. Up until this point he had depended on his natural prowess, and never tried to improve. But after the recent encounters with those mysterious attackers he felt the need to improve himself. He wasn't sure practicing like this would help or not, but he simply can't do nothing.

 

After a while he returned to the house, and Suteneko was still asleep. He hesitated for a moment but he climbed up the large bed and laid his body down, surrounding his tail protectively around Suteneko and felled asleep. His sleep was calm until he heard the cry coming from the Kokuei and he opened his eyes. "What's wrong Suteneko?" He asked anxiously and picked Suteneko up to lay him on his back, and rushed out to the hospital. He knocked on the door and roared for the doctor, and soon a nurse opened the door and lead the two inside. They put Suteneko on a hospital bed and soon the doctor came to check on Suteneko's condition.

[WolfDog12]

Suteneko seemed angry when Ekichu yelled for the doctor. He grumbled something inaudible and then just threw up again. Once he was placed on the bed, the doctor walked in calmly as if he knew what the problem was before checking. He simply confirmed what he thought and turned to Ekichu. "You don't need to worry. It's just a case of morning sickness." The doctor kept his voice low so he wouldn't irritate the dragon. "The best thing to do is not have him move around too much and just let him puke it out. This will happen quite often so you just need to keep him relaxed. He'll be fine in a few hours," the doctor smiled.

 

"One more thing, If he starts having mood swings, it's normal but could be extreme for him because he is a male and wouldn't be use to the normal mood swing level of a female. Please just be patient with him." The doctor stroked Suteneko's head gently and watched his muscles relax under the comfort of being pet.

[hal7283]

"I see.... thank you doctor." Ekichu bowed to the doctor slightly and moved closer to Suteneko, petting him gently. He said as he stroke along the hair of Suteneko's head: "It seems rushing you here wasn't the best idea. It must have been uncomfortable, sorry." He stayed by Suteneko's side for another hour or two and noticed it was about time for him to go to work. He turned to Suteneko and asked: "I need to go to the construction site right now, do you want to rest here for a bit longer? Or should I take you home?"

[WolfDog12]

"I also have work today so I'm going to go there. You go ahead or you'll be late." Suteneko slowly got up. He hadn't thrown up for about an hour and his stomach was barely rumbling. The male slowly got off the bed and began to head out. "You go, I need to stretch my legs for a bit." The dragon didn't want to be carried this time but it was hard for him to walk. The egg was growing too fast and Suteneko technically wasn't fully grown. He wasn't ready for carrying this egg but he was determined for it. The doctor stopped to check on him and told him it was best to rest for at least a couple more hours.

 

"Please doctor, I don't want to be useless." The doctor understood but knew to do his job and gave Suteneko orders to go home if he was feeling weak at all.

[hal7283]

Ekichu nodded and said farewell to Suteneko. He turned back several times and looked at Suteneko on his way out of the hospital room, not really wanting to leave Suteneko on his own.

 

He got to the construction site where he was immediately assigned to hauling the woods required the construct the stage, a task which took little next to no effort for Ekichu to complete. The construction manager soon realized that Ekichu was a wood chopper, a crane, a pile driver and a crew of porter combined into one single being, and joyfully began to send Ekichu all over the construction site. With his help the construction went ahead of schedule greatly.

 

Soon it was around lunch time and the manager sent all of the workers to rest. He came by the Ekichu and said: "Praise the gods for sending you to us! It would usually take us at least another day to get to this point! Ever considered to get into this business for real? I'll make you my partner and share the profits with you!"

 

Ekichu shook his head slightly and said: "No thanks, but we're just here temporarily. We'll be on our way soon."

 

"Yeah about that, the dragon looking creature on your back yesterday, that's your wife right? Never seen a creature like her, or like you for that matter. You're quite a odd couple. " the manager said

 

Ekichu didn't bother to correct the boss for using "she" to refer to Suteneko, it's too complicated and inappropriate to discuss with. However he did answer: "Actually, she, isn't my wife. We're not exactly married or anything. Is that a big deal? I mean the whole, marriage thing. My species don't have practices like that."

 

"Hmm.... that depends..." the manager showed a complicated expression and thought for a second: "Like yours, many species don't have the concept of marriage or husband and wife. Some species just fuck and go on their separate ways, while other species their couple stay together for the rest of their life. And in the case of the latter, 'marriage' became important, cause it's basically a gesture showing your commitment to one another, not to mention legal rights of succession and stuff. So, if her species is into such things, I think proposing to her would be a good idea."

 

Ekichu fell silent and looked towards the direction of the hospital. Seeing him dwelling into deep thoughts the manager smiled and left the giant creature on his own, and remarked on the beauty of young love as he walked to get his own lunch.

[WolfDog12]

Suteneko managed to make it out of the hospital and to his work place. He was about ten minutes late but seeing as how far along he was and that he wasn't carried here, the other mothers there didn't seem to mind. The dragon was making decorations to be hung from strings along the streets and near the entrances and exits of the town. He was slow at first but really got into the swing of it. Of course he cheated a little to make up for lost time and used his magic but Suteneko found himself being even more worn out from the use of even the smallest magic. It saddened him and wished he could ask someone about it but there was no one that understood.

 

Suteneko ended up taking twice as long for a break and the women there really looked out for him. He managed to finish a day and a half's work in less then a day but Suteneko was too tired to keep going. The dragon left and sat outside resting and waiting. He had no way to tell Ekichu to come pick him up so the Kokuei would just have to wait for a few hours and see if he came after work or if Suteneko should just head back. He waited patiently and one of the mothers even came out to talk.

 

"So, is that big guy your husband or some kind of bodyguard your husband hired?" The woman asked not really too concerned about pleasantries or personal space.

 

"Neither.... He's an old friend of mine, though.... I'm from a more proud species so I wish we were married but I feel he's loyal none the less."

 

"Girl, that has to be tough on you. Is that his child you're carrying? Then, the least that he can do is marry you. Besides, I can tell just from looking at you, you're from a more royal-like species that takes loyalty very seriously." She laughed and Suteneko couldn't believe how sharp she was. "Now, I know it is none of my business but I must say, it is kind of rude for him to impregnate someone from such a regale species and drag you all around without even proving his loyalty to you."

 

"He has proven his loyalty... just not in the normal way. But I know what you mean."

[hal7283]

When the work was done for today Ekichu left the construction site with a heavy bag the day's worth of wages, and walked to the place where Suteneko worked to see if he was still there, and as expected he saw the Kokuei waiting there for him. "Suteneko!" he said loudly as he waved at him, getting to his side and petted him gently. "Let's go home."

 

As usual Ekichu put Suteneko on his back and began to walk back home. The streets are more crowded than before with many tourists already arriving. Many of them were curious about the two rare creatures and kept their gaze on them along the way. On their way home Ekichu asked as he tried his best to pretend to be calm: "Just out of curiosity, how does marriage work for the Kokuei? Cause, you know... the Arthroplon don't really have culture like that."

[WolfDog12]

By the time Ekichu had shown, the others were mostly gone and very few remained but were inside still working. Suteneko was fine with being carried now and curled up on the Arthroplon's back not caring about the staring eyes. The dragon lifted his head when his friend spoke up. It was strange that he should be talking about marriage with another and then it be brought up. Still, it just seemed to be out of curiosity for Ekichu.

 

"Well, Marriage is everything for a Kokuei. For males, it means they can become a king because it is the female that will become queen whether they marry or not. You know, kind of like how a princess marries a prince or a king in order to become queen. We run in a maternal ruling. Anyway, marriage for a kokuei... well... how to I put this... For them, a marriage is a sign of their uttermost love and loyalty to the other. While other species have the ability to divorce, that's not something a kokuei can do, not that they ever want to. They're loyal and marriage proves that." Suteneko wondered if he was rambling. For some reason, he was suddenly having a tough time explaining this now. Earlier it was so easy.

[hal7283]

Ekichu listened quietly on their way home, and once they were back in the house Ekichu laid Suteneko on the bed. He crawled up on the bed himself and as usual laid his tail around Suteneko as if creating a cradle. He wasn't sure what to say, but he didn't mind the silence either. He reached out his hand tentacles to caress Sutneko gently while dwelling into deep thoughts.

 

After a long silence Ekichu leaned down his upper body and looked at Suteneko and said: "You know, Suteneko, I've been thinking a lot lately. About us. I really don't know if what I feel about you is the same love you feel about me or not, but I know that you're the most important thing in this world to me, and I'd devote the rest of my existence to protect you from harm."

 

Ekichu got closer to Suteneko and closed his four glowing red eyes, and tapped Suteneko's forehead lightly with the long horn on his forehead. He pulled back slightly and opened his eyes saying: "While we prefer to impregnate other species, when our numbers get too low we'd have no choice but to mate with one of our own. When that happens we'd tap the individual we'd mate with, a gesture of consent if you will....That's about the closest thing we got to a marriage ceremony."

[WolfDog12]

Suteneko sat for a bit just letting himself think for a while. He let the peace and quiet help him until Ekichu began to lean down towards him again. The dragon lifted his head and silently listened to his friend until their heads lightly touched and pulled away. The explanation was plenty and while Ekichu was still uncertain of himself, Suteneko was fully sure and his eyes filled with tears. "Th-thank you..." It was all he could manage to get into actual words as the dragon pressed himself against the other even more.

 

He want to talk more but the Kokuei was just so filled with emotion, he just couldn't do anything, including talk. The moment was just too perfect until Suteneko bent over a bit in pain. He growled a little and his claws dug into the ground. The pain only lasted a minute though and the dragon was once again able to relax. "I'm fine, it passed," he quickly said to calm his lover before he went crazy and did something stupid again. "Thank you for that. I feel so much closer to you already and it looks like I'll be taking you as my king while I be your queen." It clearly was something important for him to be able to say that because the emotion coming out of him from just those few words was overwhelming and just pouring out of him.