Jack grumbled to himself. He had gotten the blanket dirtier than he realized. After scrubbing it in the washtub for the FOURTH time, the mud stain finally came out, and the rinse ran clear.
Cleaning his furs had been similarly difficult-- It has been several weeks since those had been properly washed and treated-- He was glad he had picked up the bees wax-- He used it to make make-shift saddle soap, along with the milled soap he had cooked up the day prior, and it had just the right cleansing and conditioning power for the soft leather the outfit was made from. Too bad it took so many washings to get clean; Mama would be upset with him for washing his scent out of them, but he couldn't wear his "Town clothes" out and about, and he doubted the other people in the expedition group would tolerate his getting progressively *MORE* pungent. Hell-- there were limits to what even HE could handle.
Carefully, he ran them through the wooden rollers of the wringer, then heaped them over his shoulder and returned home with them.
Mama had wandered a bit, but was still munching half-heartedly on the seasonally available fare (in as much as villagers had no use for sedge plants, and so they were abundant, if unappetizing, even to mama). Jack was happy to hang the clothes up to dry out, and got butt-bumped by Mama as she plodded up, just as he was hanging up the blanket over the opening of the A-frame. As was usual with her, after waiting a whole day for him to finish up whatever "absurd 2-legged things" he was doing, she was insistent on some "bear type things" from him-- and his cheeks bloomed red and hot. He wondered when she would get over this-- it was getting quite out of hand. (though he did fancy an opportunity to lie down for awhile.) He lifted the blanket and crawled into the leaves; Mama practically shoving him from behind.
-----
Jack awoke from his afternoon respite, cozy and sprawled out in the leaf litter he had packed the sleeping space with, mama sprawled out over him, as he was getting more and more used to. Incidentally, this was NOT a bad way to spend the afternoon-- or at least he thought so. Too bad he felt he couldn't stay there the rest of the day. Well.. Maybe a little longer.
In the back of his mind, he felt he was being grossly anti-social with his colleagues; Keeping clever girl's blanket without asking-- Not sharing learning results with Dr Doak, who would surely also profit from getting a spore sample from that interesting forest mushroom-- In general not being very helpful with the GSH situation... All of them rattling around in his head, driving out the simple pleasure of laying in bed with Mama after a day of hard manual labor.
He grumbled. Why couldn't things just be good, and simple-- why did things have to be so shit, and getting shittier?
He stroked mama lovingly, looking down at her sleeping head. She had her arms wrapped around his shoulder and chest, and he doubted he could escape if she didnt want him to leave-- and he had been out all day. He sighed, and indulged himself in a little more sleep.
----
He could tell he hadn't slept long-- The sun's angle had not changed any really. This time though, it was mama who woke first, and had roused him with a lick on the face.
Good. (that you stayed.)
Happy.
Yeah-- He was glad he had not gotten up too. It seemed to him that this was all they had been doing-- Walking here, Walking there-- trying to find food on the road with mixed success, and nowhere any closer to fixing this disaster than when they had set out days ago. Well, at least they had gotten some gear out of the trip, and a little money. Those things were not terribly important to him though. The beautiful bear lavishing him in kisses-- That was what was important to him. Her, and all the other poor things that lived in this sick and dying land.
He hugged mama back, rolled her over onto her back, climbed on her tummy and lavished her in kisses back. She was taken aback by the gesture, but he wanted to make sure the point was very clear and put across. His emotional state had gotten alloyed together into a powerful will to fix this mess they were in-- To be the life partner she wanted him to be-- the one that would stop at nothing to assure her safety and future, and that of any cubs she might have-- that he fully accepted what she had asked of him in that darkened room in the days before. He radiated it at her, then chewed mischievously on her ears. She rolled him back and pinned him down, grabbed his face in her maw, and shook it gently side to side, retorting that she wasnt going to accept such a brazen posture from him, but that she was very happy with his conviction. He raked his fingers through her thick brown fur, and breathed her in deep. She was truly wonderful--
He looked at her wry face, and let her know that he needed to do a few more things, and asked if she wanted to tag along this time, since she had plenty of time to eat this morning. She asked if there would be more cooked food.
Jack winced. Was this what married life was like? He wondered how he could ever reconcile these kinds of terrible circumstances, and just live a happy life, before telling her that he could not promise, but "maybe."
He gruffed at him, then looked through him very intently-- before attesting she would go-- to keep him out of trouble.
He wondered why she was always so concerned about this kind of thing-- Scratched her behind her ears, gave her a fat smooch on the bridge of her nose (causing her to roll away to get away from the smooching), then slipped his clothes back on. She protested that his action as "unfair"-- that he knew she didn't like that, with impotent threats of biting his lips if he did it again-- but he just chuckled at her. He knew she was secretly starting to like it, now that she knew what it was, and what it meant.
He crawled to the open end of the A-frame, and threw back the blanket, then crawled out. Mama tottered out after him, and threatened to drag him back inside for his misbehavior, but he just retorted with a cheeky response of his own...
----
Some time later, Jack and Mama were at the door of the inn again. Since it was daylight, he felt he did not need to knock first. He opened the door and went in. It was his intention to share the wealth of his academic achievements with Doak, if he was still locked in his room that is...