Rind.

Twenty-three days in, and Gustin was sure he would go insane with boredom. The snow was incessant - anytime it seemed an inch was gone, three more came to replace it. How Kellan navigated through it was beyond him. Kellan had shown him how to access the small water supply he used; Gustin was now assigned such fascinating duties as cleaning the skins of fresh furs and rinsing dishes and clothing with the soap they mixed together in the afternoons.

Delightful as these duties were, they left about five straight hours every day when Kellan was gone for Gustin to do nothing. He'd gotten in the pattern of spending himself about three times a day, just to pass the time; a practice he hadn't had at since adolescence. After only a day or two, though, that lost its edge and he began to long for a change - a partner - maybe the wolfe? He'd watched him, when Kellan was stripping for his bath or still sleeping in the night when some minor sound had woken Gustin and he lay there trying to sleep. He knew he should be holding out against the enemy, but he was desperately bored and the idea was looking more appealing all the time.

Kellan hadn't shown an interest in him, however. Whenever he moved, changed, bathed - the wolfe was usually engaged in some other activity, carving or cutting meat or stitching furs. Not even a blink. Not even a twitch of nose or ear. Gustin had even experimented with it, concocting reasons to position his body suggestively by the fire or the furs they called a bed, yet still: no reaction. Which he thought was odd, considering how well it had damn sure worked the rest of his life.

He sighed and wandered over to stroke himself by the window.

~:~

By the mark of the moon, Gustin thought he had explored every opportunity for activity within the house, every nook and cranny, every object or idea. So the two small blue jugs, one half-filled and one full, that he found in a cabinet by the carving-place surprised him. They were round, about the size of his head, and completely unmarked. He pushed one. Inside, liquid sloshed. He pulled it out, set it some distance from him, looked at it suspiciously. If it could kill him, he definitely didn't want to open it. But tf it was noxious or dangerous or human-killing or something, Kellan would've probably warned him off it, like he had the little machine which Gustin was pretty sure he'd almost lost a finger for touching. Kuskellanar's behavior was interesting; the wolfe thus far did not seem interested in harming the human, only in fairly preserving him till the end of this mysterious six months he kept mentioning to Gustin. So Gus didn't really think he had any reason to worry. He opened it.

~:~

Kellan had spent the day tracking his nearest neighbor to the north, a Layer castoff who had somehow made his way into an abandoned cabin and was constantly leeching Kellan's own water supply. He'd caught the male's scent the previous morning and had spent today looking for him, sure he was up to something. The water was problem enough, but he certainly couldn't have the damn thing catching scent of the human in his home. Keeping him there, unmated and unguarded, was risky but necessary. Definitely necessary, Kellan reminded himself, if he ever wanted to go back home. In his mind, he pictured Ideste's face and knew immediately that he did. He shook his head then, angered by his own silliness. Ideste was gone; he knew it. He'd been young when Kellan had seen him last, just rising to the beginning of his birthing age and certainly would not have waited around for a wolfe as old and foolish as himself, with no promise or hope of his ever coming back. Yes, he remembered, Ideste was gone. Deftly, he made his way through the coursing snow, deciding that today, he would track the Layer almost until nightfall.

~:~

Kellan hadn't expected to find anything out of the ordinary, really, when he'd gotten home. Hadn't expected to find half the place toppled, that was for damn sure. Hadn't expected to find a fire out, water spilt on the floor by the bed, or furs out of place and spread across the ground. Hadn't expected to find Gustin drunk.

"Human!"
A little mew came from one particular pile of furs by where the bed used to be, before it was deconstructed and made into various piles around the room.
Kellan felt a growl beginning, low in his throat, but suppressed it. He kicked the pile instead. Gustin yelped, then surfaced, brown hair mussed and green eyes glassy. Upon recognizing his attacker, he smiled wide, childish delight at the appearance of his roommate. Kellan squashed down any warm feelings about this and put on his snarliest face.
"What are you doing to my home, human?!"
For some reason, the snarl didn't seem to work. Gustin giggled, stretched out to collapse over Kuskellan's left foot, wrapping one hand around his ankle.
"You're hoooooome."
Kellan didn't like this at all. Very out of character.
"Human, are you ill?"
The human burped, and Kellan was hit with a rather ugly, sharp scent. It burned his nose. He jumped backwards.
"Human, are you ill?!"
More giggles, then Gustin shook his head as if to clear it, rolled over onto his back on the floor, rubbed his stomach with one hand.
"Nooo....lonely, though."
Through some contorted movement that Kellan really didn't think would end with Gustin standing, the human managed to get to his feet and face Kellan, who had safely placed himself behind one of the small fur piles by the carving-place. Gustin put on his best alluring look.
"I missed'ou." the slur sure sounded sexy to him. Kellan flattened his ears against his head.
"Human, stay where you are."
Gustin was already in the process of making his way across the room towards him, though, and didn't listen. The fur pile nearly tripped him up (he'd forgotten he'd put one there) but he pressed on. Kellan wasn't sure which way to run and in his hesitation, Gustin found an opening. Faster than Kellan expected from a human, particularly a sick one, Gustin was on him, one leg between Kellan's own, a head on his chest and two hands winding their way under his clothing to touch bare skin and the touch was startling - shocking, because he hadn't felt it in such a long time and now here was this human, a little mate, and he was warm and willing and his eyes were so damn green -

Then the sensations changed, became lighter, softer and then disappeared all together and suddenly it became apparent to him that Gustin had fallen asleep. Kellan wanted to whine and growl all at the same time, but tamped down on both and just sighed instead. He had become achingly hard, damp and prepared for a mating in just the few moments that the human had been touching him. He had planned to stop the encounter anyway, but still. He comforted himself with the thought that although unsatisfied was bad, sleep was good. Sleep, at least, would ease this fever that his charge seemed to have been struck with. Maybe he would sleep like sick wolfes, and be out for days. That might be a nice change of pace. At least then the damn thing wouldn't talk to him so much in the mornings.

As it turned out, sick humans did not sleep like wolfes. They slept like rabid wolfes. Gustin woke three times more after he took them both to the bed (which he had to halfway reconstruct): twice to molest him and once to throw up in the cooking pit. Kellan was very worried after that, but afterwards, Gustin slept solid and so the wolfe tried not to worry and get some rest himself.

~:~