18+ Private Western Brisshal Red Riding Wolf

[Ueno Mizuki]

Mizuki imagined that as a detective and member of the VRSA Cleo would also get a workout back on Earth, but it wouldn't compare to living life here in Terrasphere, where many modern conveniences simply didn't exist. Even if the lancer used magic to compensate for that, the kind of strain her body was subjected to handling her arcane spears would still ensure that she had a body a goddess could be jealous of.

You can keep that form indefinitely? (She hadn't known that, but it was an interesting thought.) It'd be interesting to see how that affects you in the long term.

Truthfully she did enjoy Cleo's athletic physique a lot, so even if the lancer didn't want to use her Evoke form all the time because it made exerting herself more tiresome Mizuki didn't consider it a loss. Cleo's Evoke form might make her even more womanly, but her standard form had some very nice muscles Mizuki liked.

As Cleo pointed out that Mizuki could eat if she wanted to the luna wolf blushed, embarrassed upon realising that she hadn't been able to keep her hunger hidden. She was surprised she hadn't started drooling already, with the scent of a fresh kill wafting from the goar's corpse. She licked her lips, enticed by the idea, unsure whether to take the opportunity or not...

Are you sure you don't mind? I know you aren't fond of my wildness.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

I can, though there's pretty much no reason for me to do so in a logical or practical sense, since it means I have to actually limit the amount of effort I put into an action or task. But I mean, if for some reason I ever wanted to, or if you ever wanted me to, I could do it.

Maybe Mizuki had a liking for her Evoke form or something, she had no clue exactly what the wolf woman's preference was, but either was, it was an option that was on the table. And she didn't mind whatever Mizuki preferred, though obviously it was more cost effective to fight in her regular form.

The Evoke form was for when something big or a lot of somethings needed to die.

Though, spotting the embarrassed blush on Mizuki's face, Cleo grinned and chuckled, shaking her head when Mizuki asked whether or not she didn't mind.

Just so long as you don't try to kiss me whilst your mouth is full of blood and raw meat, it's fine, I promise. If it makes you happy, then go ahead and do it.

She was trying to be more accepting and accomodating with Mizuki's quirks, especially now that they were dating. She wasn't the type of woman that would ask a partner to change how they were for her.

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

It could be useful if you ever wanted to make an impression. The nobility of Falderen would probably find your Evoke form more appealing, since they're not known for their hard work. (She snorted at that before nuzzling Cleo again.) I really like all your forms, so you don't have to take on a specific shape for me.

The difference between the three forms was relatively minor anyway, given that Evoke wasn't as extreme as Metamorph when it came to physical alterations. Mizuki was sincere, however, when she said she liked all three: Cleo's Earth self was a nice balance of soft and fit, her lancer form was attractively athletic, and her Evoke form was sexy. Either way, Mizuki considered herself a lucky wolf.

Her tail began to wag as Cleo gave her blessing to eat the goar, Mizuki kissing her girlfriend's cheek before nodding.

Thanks love. I'll make sure to clean up after.

She didn't feel like leaving Cleo's embrace, however, so rather than getting up she reached out and curled the fingers of one hand. After several seconds thorned roots rose up from the ground around the goar, the thorns tearing into its flesh to extract a piece of meat which Mizuki then snatched. Tearing off a smaller piece with her fangs she swallowed it, followed by another, as now three wolves were dining on the goar.

Cleo wouldn't have to wait much longer for the goar to be fully devoured: the two wolves had already been making quick work of it, and now that she was partaking Mizuki didn't hold back either. Flesh was torn apart and swallowed, fat was savoured, and bones were cracked and snapped to extract the rich marrow within. A gruesome feast which would put civilized men and women off their dinner, but which was a true delight for the three canines.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Huh, she'd never actually thought of that before, but perhaps her Evoke form would actually be better suited for diplomacy than her regular body was, given the way that nobility tended to regard athletic individuals. Granted, the opportunities she had to speak to such people were few and far between, she was far from being important enough to rub elbows with anybody that held any amount of political sway. She was just some newcomer that had powerlevelled her way to the top.

Mizuki's admission to liking all three forms, the fact that the woman had chosen to include her real life appearance was cute, did make Cleo blush, as did the girl's kiss to her cheek, before Mizuki decided to join the meal, ripping chunks of flesh out of the corpse using thorned roots.

Cleo merely sat watching, her legs crossed as she tapped on her knee, patiently awaiting the end of the feast. Granted, wolves didn't leave the bones, either. Instead, the three canines cracked them open to extract the marrow, creating a sound that Cleo couldn't say she was fond of.

Still, she put up with it all, grinning, though she did try to make sure she wasn't looking at any of the eating going on. She could allow it, but she didn't want to watch it happen.

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

Knowing that Cleo wasn't fond of these kinds of displays of barbarism Mizuki did her best to not be too obnoxious while enjoying the meal together with her packmates. She turned her head away so the lancer wouldn't have to watch the huntress actually eat the meat, and she ate quickly so as to not prolong the somewhat uncomfortable situation. Still, the food was good, and it had a considerable impact on the luna wolf's mood, her tail wagging behind her as she gulped down muscle, fat, and blood without any hesitation.

At the end of the meal she licked her lips, reddish smears staining her lips and chin with the same going for Ochre and Cloud, who were gnawing on some remaining splintered bones. Mizuki had eaten her share of bone marrow as well, but left it to the two wolves to sharpen their teeth on the osseous remains.

Aaah... Much better.

Her stomach was no longer growling, and she was no longer subconsciously constantly licking her lips. Only tufts of fur, splintered bones, and those protective plates were left as evidence that the goar had ever existed, the three wolves having done a very thorough job of devouring every part of their prey that their stomachs could handle. The two wolves looked quite content as well, laying down on the snow as they clamped down onto shattered bones with their fangs.

Sorry Cleo. Here, maybe I can at least do something about the smell.

Planting her free hand against the ground Mizuki focused, sending some of her energy into the soil underneath the snow. Slowly but surely she managed to coerce some flowers into growing far enough to push through the white blanket, the colourful plants releasing an unusually strong smell that would hopefully be more relaxing to the lancer and override the stench of their meal.

Better?

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

It was decidedly uncomfortable to know that a woman she loved was sat there eating the raw corpse of an animal, even if it was all digital and none of this was actually real, nor did it really matter either. The sounds were definitely enough to make Cleo glance away and try to focus her attention on literally anything else, busying herself with the projection of arcane knives into her hands, before allowing them to fade away. Simple, low cost projections, ones that had basically no worth as anything more than an eating utensil, but it at least gave her something to do whilst Mizuki ate.

Aside from sending a message or two to some of the contacts that she'd made.

Eventually though, the feast came to an end and Cleo saw just how much of the corpse had been left. Though, really, it would have been more prudent to list the parts of the corpse that hadn't been left, since there were only bones and a few protective plates left. And the occasional tuft of fur.

And flowers, apparently, peaking out from the snow. Mizuki had to be responsible for that one. Probably in the same way that she'd seen the wolfess using those magical vines before.

It's a little better, yeah, though my sense of smell wasn't really strong enough to pick up much anyway.

She paused, looking at her bloody girlfriend, before shaking her head.

I'm still not gonna kiss you until you wash up, though. Is there somewhere nearby you can do that?

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

Mizuki smiled as it seemed her attempt at masking the scent of the pack's feast had worked, although Cleo did point out that as a human she wasn't as focused on scents as the caenis would be.

Better than nothing though.

She looked down at her hands after Cleo pointed out that even if she was done eating she was still rather bloody. The luna wolf nodded quickly in response to her lover's question, pushing herself away from the lancer so she could get up.

Sure. Just give me a moment.

Rather than walking to a place with running water, however, she'd take advantage of the fact that they were surrounded by water, even if it wasn't in liquid form. A thick layer of snow covered the ground, and the wildling let herself fall onto it as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Rolling about like a dog she quickly had snowflakes all over her body, sticking to her fur and clothes as she got onto her knees and rubbed her hands together to melt the snow and wash the blood off of her paws.

With the first part of her washing routine over and done with she grabbed large handfuls of snow and rubbed her face against it, her lupine metabolism allowing her to shrug off the cold even as the snow turned red and dripped down onto the ground until finally she took what remained into her mouth and rolled it from one cheek to another until it had finished melting and she could gulp it all down.

Finishing the procedure by getting on all fours she shook her entire body, sending melting snow in every direction. Her fur was now glistening wetly but was otherwise clean, and the same went for her hands and face. Turning back to Cleo she licked her lips, her tail wagging behind her.

There. That's clean, isn't it?

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

It was indeed better than nothing, as the air filled with quite a floral scent, even though it did seem very out of place considering that the ground was covered in snow. It created something of a dichotomy between what the eyes could see, provided one wasn't looking at the flowers, and what the nose could smell. A contradiction that made the brain slow for a moment or two.

Still, Cleo watched with an amused smirk as Mizuki began to roll around in the snow in an attempt to clean herself off, the lancer shaking her head in amusement at how dog-like the woman could sometimes act. Or, well, rather than sometimes, it was probably more appropriate to say that she usually acted like a canine in some manner.

And, well, she wouldn't really call melting some snow and drinking it a viable method of truly cleaning the mouth out, but with the wayt he woman's tail wagged, Cleo couldn't help but chuckle and nod. She'd get Mizuki to eat some mint or some honey or something. Something to make sure that the taste of blood didn't linger.

That's about as clean as you're going to get out here in the wilds, I guess.

She chuckled.

Anyways, what now? Did you have any more plans?

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

Given that Mizuki herself had long since gotten used to the smell of flesh and blood on her own breath she didn't think of using mint to help clean her mouth, instead just nodding as Cleo agreed that she'd done what she could to clean herself without having any access to modern or even medieval facilities.

We could also go looking for a stream or something, but during the winter it's better to not get too wet. That's an easy way to quickly freeze.

Her thick fur and enhanced metabolism meant she could endure the cold a lot better than a human could, but if she went swimming in ice water she could still end up pushing her body beyond what it could safely handle. Even if she managed to get out of it alive, she'd burn through her energy so quickly that she'd have to be fortunate enough to find a lot of food afterwards to recover.

Now that she'd cleaned herself and Cleo seemed happy with the results Mizuki walked over towards her two packmates, Cloud and Ochre, who hadn't moved while their pack leader was taking care of herself. Grabbing another handful of snow she rubbed it between her hands to melt it, then began cleaning Ochre's face as well, one hand holding the wolf's head in place as she growled to tell the wolf to sit still as she got rid of most of the blood on his face.

If it wasn't for Cleo's presence she'd just have licked him clean, but she figured that even for the tolerant lancer that'd be a bit difficult to ignore. Which meant she had her mouth free to respond to Cleo's question.

Well, we'll need to wait for these two to finish digesting their food before we can have you try to ride one of them, so... I guess we have half an hour to waste. (Finishing her work on Ochre she moved over to Cloud, subjecting himself to the same cleaning service.) Has there been anything on your mind lately Cleo? These two won't listen to us talking, so if there's anything you'd like to talk about now's as good a time as any.

She didn't have any reason to believe that Cleo did have anything special to talk about, but an important aspect of any relationship was signalling that you were available for the other to confide in. People who loved each other should feel comfortable relying on each other, whether it was for physical or emotional support.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Yeah, I'd rather avoid having my girlfriend turn into a popsicle if it can be avoided. That's not exactly the way I want to have to lick you, y'know?

She chuckled at her own little joke, shaking her head as she watched Mizuki wander towards the two wolves, resting after their meal, and begin to clean their faces in the same way that she had cleaned her own face. It was kind of cute, the way the wolves allowed themselves to be manhandled (or was it doghandled?) the same way that a domesticated dog might be handled by its owner or something like that. It definitely wasn't something that could be done in real life, that was for sure.

Though maybe Akemi would still enjoy a date to a wolf sanctuary at some point?

That said, though, apparently they would be waiting for a while, whilst the wolves digested their food and they could start practicing wolf riding, which was definitely an interesting idea for Cleo. The spearwoman hummed, thinking over Mizuki's words. Was there anything she had on her mind? Nothing special that came to mind.

Uhh, I can't think of anything special or specific right now, personally. Was there something you wanted to talk about?

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

Mizuki's cheeks reddened a little at Cleo's joke, but the luna wolf smirked as well at the implications. It still felt a bit strange to have someone like Cleo make such comments so casually, but she certainly didn't hate it.

That would be rather uncomfortable, yes. Of course, after someone gets cold it's important to help them warm up, so it would also have its upsides.

Ochre and Cloud, as they were now referred to in the human tongue, weren't always happy to be manhandled by Mizuki, but she didn't give them a lot of choice in the matter, and at least she knew how to make it more enjoyable, scratching them under the chin and behind the ears to make them relax even as she cleaned them.

Once the cleaning had finished she sat back down next to Cleo, wrapping an arm around the lancer as she relaxed, watching her two packmates lay down on the ground and close their eyes almost as if they were preparing to go to sleep. At most it was going to be a nap: they weren't careless enough to let their guard down to that extent.

I've just been thinking that we've both been busy, so an opportunity to speak our minds would be good for the both of us.

But as for myself... I've been thinking about everything that's going on in this world, especially the situation with the magia. For four years they've mostly kept to Vintergard, only venturing out to attack if the people of Astorea got too close, but now everything has come to a head and I'm wondering whether that's because we're pushing harder into Vintergard or they reacted to us returning.

More than that though, I'm hoping we can get through everything safely.

She looked at Cleo, her gaze worried but also stubborn.

As safely as one can be when in Terrasphere, but you understand what I'm saying. And I certainly don't want you to get hurt.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Whilst you raise some pretty excellent points there, I'm not too sure it's really worth watching you freeze just so I can warm you up the fun way. There are better times and ways to have fun that don't involve a meeting with our old pal Hypothermia.

That and, well, she wasn't too sure it'd be quite as romantic or attractive when one of them was shivering out of their own skin whilst the other was slowly reduced to a cold wreck trying to warm the other. It really did seem like a situation where nobody won in the end, for whatever that was worth. She liked Mizuki a lot, she really did, but she wasn't sure either of them was particularly eager to freeze just so they had an excuse to get intimate with each other.

Especially when they didn't really need an excuse in the first place.

Still, she leaned into Mizuki and hummed when the wolf woman wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, grinning slightly, though the topic that Mizuki brought up was quite the heavy one, given that it revolved around recent happenings. Cleo had to admit, Magia players losing control and becoming enemies of others had been quite alarming.

Well, whatever caused the reaction remains a mystery. I'm pretty concerned around the fact that it could even bend players to its will. A computer program managed to overwrite the wills of actual, real people. I think that's a pretty big cause for concern.

Granted, it had only been Magia players, but that wasn't to say that Beastfolk couldn't be affected in a similar way down the line. That was cause for concern, given how attached she was to a particular Canid beastfolk player. It helped that she'd met other beastfolk players too.

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

Hrmmm... You might have a point there. Even if you did warm me up quickly we'd still have to deal with the fact that I'd smell like wet fur.

During the winter one had to keep their temperature in mind. This wasn't Earth, where if you were cold you just hopped inside and curled up on bed or on the couch. The caenis shrugged as she dismissed the idea, casual as it had been in the first place.

You'll have to live with this being as clean as I'll get until we reach some spot where we can take a bath without freezing to death.

Covering herself in snow and then using that snow to clean herself wasn't exactly on par with a hot bath, but it did the trick out here in the wilds, especially during winter. As it was Mizuki was relying on her dense fur coat to protect her from the glistening droplets that still clung to that same coat, preventing the cold from leaking into her body.

Cleo's body did help with that, the lancer's warm frame against her own as the wildling held her beloved redhead close. Even if the words they spoke were of dire matters, Cleo's presence did a lot to brighten Mizuki's mood, as was made clear in the way her tail wagged behind her.

It certainly speaks to the level of sophistication coding and programming has reached. The same advancements which have allowed for the creation of cybernetic prosthetics can also be used to mess with people's heads. (She stroked Cleo's hair absent-mindedly.) Hopefully the MIT can learn a lot from the magia and use that to devise countermeasures.

The two wolves were now clearly resting after their meal, eyes closed as they lay flat against the snow-clad forest floor. Their dark fur stood out amidst the pristine white carpet, the only other interruption being the mess Mizuki had made when she cleaned herself.

Seeing how Cleo was sincerely worried about the implications that Terrasphere could control people's minds Mizuki reached a bit lower with her hand and massaged the lancer's shoulder gently, strong fingers attempting to ease some of the tenseness out of her beloved's body.

More importantly, do you have any prior experience with riding? I know on Earth we only have horses, but have you ever ridden one of those before?

@Cleo Looker