Jack awoke in a now altogether too consistent way, just this time with sunlight glinting in, instead of moonlight. He really needed to talk to Mama about this sudden possessiveness of hers.... Before she broke his back, or worse, drug him off into some hole in the night then refusing to let him out. His traveling companions were already getting some very ... Peculiar... notions about him that were sure to cause trouble later if it wasn't stopped.. He just had no idea how to successfully broach the topic with her.
Which would be especially difficult, with her literally on top of him.
Which she was. Again.
Really, it wasn't all THAT bad-- she WAS very warm, and it had completely stood in for the lack of a fire, there under the tree where the two had cozied down the day before. He WAS very glad that he had the foresight to rake all the fallen leaves together there first though, otherwise mama would have crushed him, and getting up this morning would have been a lot less pleasant. (Not that waking up and sounding like popcorn during the morning stretch was particularly pleasant.)
There was a wafting smell of something vaguely crawfish scented wafting through with the woodsmoke. He was thankful mama was still asleep. Trying to convince her that it would be impolite to steal whatever was cooking would be rough.
He yawned and stretched, feeling a few muscles pull in his back. Mama shifted her weight a little, but her heavy head and neck were still heavy on his chest like a weighted blanket. She moaned in her sleep, and pawed at the ground on either side of him before slapping her jaw and licking at the air. This was gonna be tedious.
He laid there a minute, trying to plan how to do this, before deciding that tact was probably not gonna work, and that he needed to be more direct. Wondering if this really was the best idea, or if it would get him another scar for his troubles, he leaned forward, and gave a loud smooch on the end of mama's sleeping muzzle, just between her nose and top lip, while scratching her favorite spot on the back of her head.
She awoke with a start, and looked at him in bewilderment. Gotcha sweetness. he thought wryly to himself with a smirk. Maybe you will be more careful how close you put that pretty head next time.
He indulged in sharing his thoughts with her, but mostly because he was feeling ornery over being held prisoner in their bed all night. She was stunned and confused about what he had just done. He returned amusement, and wry satisfaction, before helping her to associate it with being equal to a good sloppy face lick in term of being a display of affection, before wishing her good morning, awash in ornery overtones. Rather than try to reason his way out of her possessiveness, like a human would with another human, he decided to fight fire with fire, and just be possessive and demanding right back.
She snorted and shook her head side to side, before raising it up and looking down at him confusedly. He just kept smirking, and radiating orneriness at her after reestablishing eye contact, just before sitting up, and smooching her again.
She about fell over backward in surprised alarm at the unexpected advance, only being arrested by the tree behind her that they had been sleeping under. It was all he could do not to bust out in laughter. He kept the connection open the whole time-- stunned alarm and surprise was about all he could get from her. He made an impression for her, drenched in irony--
"Stop struggling" with "warm", "soft", and "mine".
She responded with consternation, an irritation; "not funny" mixed with "not the same"
Jack was actively chuckling now. Lazily sat up, stretched, then crawled to be beside mama, as she practically backed up so close to the tree that she was almost climbing it backwards, looking at him like he had gone nuts. He just did a nice, full body rub down her side, and plopped down beside her, before contacting again, feeding her acceptance, love, but keeping the ornery undertones and amusement. "Relax, not pushing. Just teasing", to which she relaxed a bit, but retorted with apprehension and suppressed shock; "Still not funny."
He nuzzled her, even though she was still put-out. He did his best to construct a meaningful impression, that neither one truly owned the other, and that he would never try to own her, he just wanted her to understand how distressing getting those feelings can be. (though there were undercurrents in it, that he had permitted it last night, because it HAD been quite nice.)
She huffed, and after several moments of conflicting emotions and confusion, responded her agreement. He joined his with hers, before closing the connection, and gently hugging her forearm with one arm, while rubbing his cheek on her shoulder and scratching behind her ear with the other.
He felt this was about the best way this could have gone. He knew he needed to get up and start looking for some food for her soon, but this moment of shared understanding and equality was nice. He really liked this bear.