C Call of the Wild [michime]

[SimonBrownMpreg]

Khell knelt down and dipped his hand in the stream. The water was icy, unlike the lukewarm water of the pool they just left. Moving water was always colder than stagnant water. The chill would probably feel good on his laboring body, though. The stream was just wide and deep enough to fit his body up to his hips when the time came. Khell nodded. "It's not too far from the pool, so I should be able to make it here in time." The male shifted on his knees so he faced more towards Thundermouth. "I don't supposed you know how I'll birth them? The seed pods and Embersoul's eggs left my body by methods to which I am highly unaccustomed."

[michime]

Thundermouth watched Khell dip his hand in the stream as if testing the temperature of the water. The underground streams varied in temperature depending on what fed them. This one began high in the mountains near the icy peaks unlike the ones that were fed by natural hot springs.

"I don't know your biology but I believe that will be pushed out the way they went in."

[SimonBrownMpreg]

Khell nodded again. "That's more the method two which I'm accustomed. The seed pods came up out of my throat and even broke my jaw. I was horrified by the whole thing. Normally, when my kind throws up, it means we're very sick. As for Embersoul's eggs... they came out of me here..." He pressed a finger against his bellybutton. "My navel swelled open and I had to push the eggs out. He warned me it would hurt, and it did. I never experienced pain like that before. I'm just lucky he supplied me with endless nectar, or I might not have survived. I know it was his nectar that healed my body as a whole afterward. My stomach and hips will never be as thin as they once were, but at least I'm able to move around."

[michime]

"You're lucky the seed pods didn't choke you to death. Several smaller animals ate them only to have their throats explode when the pod grew inside them." Thundermouth explained.

"So Embersoul's egg did that to you? What was it like before?" The guardian asked as he reached up and touched the puffy navel. "Embersoul's nectar has helped many creatures heal."

[SimonBrownMpreg]

Khell's face paled. So there was the chance he could have choked to death on those pods. He'd have to be careful in the future about which plants he let breed with him and how many pods he let them implant in him. Suddenly, he worried about the little fuzburs he saw plucking and eating the grey buds off the vines when he first landed on the planet.

"I was very thin before," Khell answered. "As lean as my chest is, my stomach and waist were even more so. My navel dipped inward. I could fit my thumb in the hollow. When my people are pregnant, our bellies swell just like this. When the baby gets big enough, the pressure from the womb forced the navel outwards like this into a little nub. The main difference is that after the baby is born, we lose the weight, our stomachs turn slim again, and out navels turn hollow again. I think because I got so massive with Embersoul's eggs, this was as close to normal that my body could return."

[michime]

"Khell, you look pale," Thundermouth said as he walked up to the alien and petted his belly. "Are you sick?" He really didn't want to return the womb of the planet to Embersoul if the alien was sick. Embersoul wouldn't let him hear the end of it and he was pretty sure the rest of the guardians would be just as hard on him. "If you're sick, tell me it's not from the breeding. I don't need the guardians yelling at me."

He thought over what the alien just told him and nodded. "I think you look better like this. You are fulfilling your role and your body changes slightly with every new birth. I would have liked to have seen you while you were carrying Embersoul's eggs just to see how big you got. I can't see you with a belly as slim as your chest. It doesn't seem fitting at all."

[SimonBrownMpreg]

Khell shook his head. "O-Oh, no... N-No, I'm not sick. We turn grey when we're sick. I was just... scared to hear that I could've choked to death on the seed pods. I would really prefer not to die, you know? I was afraid the whole time I was birthing the pods that I might choke, but I trusted Celbion to not let me die. So far, my trust hasn't been misplaced."

He blushed at Thundermouth's compliment. "Well, thank you... Back on Zeostea, I was a soldier, so I was in very good shape, you see. I was a Major in the marines. A few females and males tried courting me, but I was always more dedicated to my work than having a relationship. One male, a navigator from a previous crew I worked with, said something similar to me once. He said he'd give anything for the chance to see me swollen with child. His child." Khell ran his fingers back through his white hair, recalling the navigator's words in a deep, smooth voice. "Well with two of your sacs in me, I'm sure you'll see me get just as big all over again."

[michime]

Thundermouth nodded at Khell's explanation, very glad to hear the womb wasn't sick. "I will have to remember the way your skin changes depending on the circumstances. Embersoul wouldn't have let you die. Don't worry. You have nothing to fear as long as you are in the company of a guardian."

Thundermouth walked up behind Khell and playfully nudged him into the water before he slid into the stream himself. "We can let the water take us to the other parts of the mountain. And you can tell me more about your planet."

[SimonBrownMpreg]

Khell let out a little yelp when he went tumbling head first into the water. He sputtered back up to the surface only for Thundermouth to nudge up under him so that he was sitting on the salamander's back. Thundermouth's black and pink skin was slick to the touch and cool. Khell understood then why he favored the warm pools fed by hot springs. "My skin and the markings on my body are both prone to changing colors," the Zioruta explained. "Violet skin with white lines is a calm, normal state for us. Glowing white markings signals affection and arousal, as I explained before. When my skin turns white, it shows my fear. When I'm sad, grieving, my skin turns blue. Grey skin is an indication of illness. When my markings turn red, it means I'm in pain. The darker the red, the more intense the pain. Black markings mean anger and rage."

[michime]

"Your skin is very unusual at least from a Celbion prospective." Thundermouth stated as they floated down the underground river. "Nothing here changes color like that." A gentle turn in the river and they were in a massive open chasm full of crystals. "Take some of this back to Embersoul. He can use them for his nest."

[SimonBrownMpreg]

Khell felt his breath leave him at the sight of the glittering cavern. It was like looking up at the night sky full of twinkling stars. "It's beautiful," he whispered. He lingered on Thundermouth's back, just gazing, but then he finally snapped back to attention. Having a satchel of some sort with him would make gathering and carrying the crystals easier, but any supplies like that were long gone with his ship. As Khell moved around, plucking crystals from the walls, he leaned closer to others. Crystals that came near his belly glowed much more brightly. "O-Oh..." he gasped and took a step back.

[michime]

"They respond to heat," Thundermouth explained as he turned his broad body so that it laid from bank to bank of the river. "Your belly is very warm so they glow brighter. Embersoul likes them because according to him, they make little rainbows in his nectar. I have no idea what he means by that. I just nodded and smile." He admitted with a grin. "Bring some mushrooms as well. You can use them in the nest for light."

[SimonBrownMpreg]

"Are you sure they aren't glowing brighter because they're near your eggs? You are the guardian of the mountain, after all. Everything in here responds to you and your kin. I saw the way the toadstools grew right out of the rocks when you felt pleasure in mating with me." Khell crouched down so he could pluck some mushrooms out of the dirt. He stood up again, a nice collection of items in his arms, and then sat on Thundermouth's back once more.

"So, what do you want to know about my planet?"

[michime]

"The crystal cloud when they are near the eggs," Thundermouth answered as Khell climbed onto his back, and they continued down the river. "They glow from warmth. There will be many toadstools for my spawn to eat thanks to you." He added.

"You said your planet was running out of land for farming. Why haven't your people tried to farm some of the asteroids. Aren't they closer to your world than us? What's your planet like? The climate?"

[SimonBrownMpreg]

Khell shook his head. "Asteroids don't maintain orbit long enough for us to farm them. Too many of them collide, which risks their stability. Not to mention they're too barren. Celbion isn't too far from Zeostea. It only took me three months to get here, but we would eventually modify our transporters to travel in at least half that time." He collected all the crystals and mushrooms into one arm so he could start picking up clumps of moss that Embersoul would probably like for the nest too. "Zeostea has a mild climate most of the year. We don't get any ice like you do, but we get an extended period of rain and heat, which makes the atmosphere very humid."

[michime]

"I don't think your people would survive on this planet," Thundermouth offered as they floated along. "The ice season is very rough. And then the slime comes. Your crops may be poison to our land or Celbion may kill your crops."

[SimonBrownMpreg]

"I'm starting to realize that," Khell hummed. By now, it was obvious Celbion was a planet with a conscious will of its own. If it rejected him coming here, it would undoubtedly reject more of his people coming here to plant alien crops. If by some miracle Celbion accepted them, there was still this slime with which to contend. Were Khell able to communicate with his home world, he would make the strong suggestion that they not come here. Not that anyone would argue. No one else except Khell wanted to come here in the first place.

Suddenly, Khell let out a quiet groan. He pressed his palm against his belly, which he felt grow a little bigger and heavier for a few seconds. "Your eggs are already maturing."

[michime]

Thundermouth smirked with a little nod. "My eggs will mature quickly because of the warmth. Your belly should get a bit bigger but it will not much."

They drifted to a wide open cavern where three streams fed into one. "I like this place. It's relaxing."

[SimonBrownMpreg]

"Are you sure you aren't underestimating your eggs?" Khell asked. "You said so yourself that you releases a mass of eggs into my body. Two sacs worth, to be specific." He didn't know what to expect. He hoped he didn't get as big as he did with Embersoul's clutch, but only time would tell.

As they drifted into the next cavern, Khell leaned back and looked upward. He saw long stalactites hanging from the ceiling, glimmering with bits of crystal deposits. Water dripped down off their pointed tips. One such droplet landed on his broad carapace and dripped down over his flat nose. He wiped it away with the back of his hand. "How do your mountains here differ from the fire mountains?"

[michime]

"Fire mountains have fire above and below," Thundermouth explained as they floated, "the caves aren't pretty like mine. No plants are grow because of the heat."

He moved his tail and went down the left most fork. "You're going to like what you see at the end. A different kind of mineral. I don't think I'm underestimating my eggs. You will get bigger but you should be able to move comfortably."