In an effort to avoid having Eivind see him as a child, Blue had behaved just like one. The realization of this fact came to him when he pulled his lips away from Eivind's and the wolf just stood there, frowning. He received a deserved lecture and listened attentively, hands still on his lover's torso despite the blood and muck. The wolf was spattered with even more bodily fluids than he had been when he had killed the elk. But that had been a careful, planned hunt, and Blue imagined Eivind had approached the beast with a plan. Here, there had been no plan other than "save Blue," and although Eivind had achieved his goal, it had been a rather violent and chaotic affair.<br/><br/>Why Blue had chosen to drown his worries in a mist of narcotics he couldn't say, although it had seemed like the right idea every time Blue pulled a pill out of his pocket and popped it into his mouth. Eivind told him the fear was good, it was what would keep them alive out here, and Blue saw truth to the wolf's words. He hadn't been high when he had been kept by Lofgren's pack, despite how much he would have liked to be, and the fear he felt every single day allowed him to remain sharp, to know when to be obedient and when to skirt the rules, who to follow and who to ignore. It hadn't worked so well when Garlan had tried to kill him out of anger and jealousy, but his careful dedication to Alden had kept him alive just long enough for his mate to finally find him. And Alden's lack of fear of Eivind was the sole reason his body was rotting somewhere. Yes, fear was good.<br/><br/>The older male pulled away and gave a blunt command, and Blue was in no position to argue with his partner. He followed devotedly and grabbed both the medical supplies and the bag he had packed in Eivind's house, though now it was considerably lighter without any of the elk meat left. He threw the bag over his shoulder, then pulled one of the pill bottles out of the medical pack and returned the remaining bunch of pills he had still shoved in his pants pocket. He saved only one, so he could use that when his high finally wore off and the pain returned to his side, but he currently had no desire to keep the rest of them on his person. Luring both himself and his partner into a dangerous situation was not an act he wished to repeat.<br/><br/>After grabbing the bags, Blue followed Eivind closely back to the moose carcass, watching as he cut through the skin to get to the good pieces of meat. It was apparent through his swift movements that Eivind knew what the fuck he was doing, and were it not for the grisly nature of the act Blue would have been more inclined to watch. Truthfully, it wasn't the visuals that bothered him so, it was the sound. The squelching and squishing of the meat as Eivind cut and tore away the pieces he wanted reminded Blue of when he had taken a walk through the pack settlement with Eivind while he carried a pile of slippery entrails. The moose didn't smell bad at least, not yet, but he knew it would, and that Eivind's warnings that they needed to move quickly away from the dead body must be heeded.<br/><br/>They walked until Eivind considered it safe, Blue with the bags and the wolf with the meat. He was given instructions to create a large fire, and Blue obeyed, collecting fuel and kindling and constructing something big, but manageable. It was much easier now that everything was dry and Blue didn't have to search high and low for usable scraps. When the flames were high and dancing, Eivind provided the meat and Blue set about cooking it over the fire. The unused pieces were currently smoking, and Eivind spoke lightly about whether they should keep moving or spend the night and let the meat finish smoking. He didn't have an opinion on the matter either way, so he kept quiet and stared into the flames, listening to the sound of the meat crackle.<br/><br/>A long silence stretched between the two, and it wasn't until Blue had pulled the cooked meat from the flames and set it to the side to cool that Blue opened up his mouth, his voice soft and curious and he moved to settle himself next to his lover. "Can I ask you something?" he said, lying down and pressing himself close to Eivind's body, only turning his nose up slightly at the smell. "I've been curious about this, and I'd understand if you didn't want to answer, so you don't have to if you don't want to, but . . . what happened to your dad? Why did you run away when you were supposed to be alpha? And your mom, I've never heard you mention her, ever.<br/><br/>"I've been thinking a lot about my family lately. I know I'm not going to see them again, and they probably think I'm dead by now. And even though my parents were assholes, I still miss them. I just . . . I want to know more about you, and where you came from. Who you came from. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to." He reached up and gently caressed the side of Eivind's face, stroking the man's beard and exhaling heavily through his nose. "But we're out here in the middle of the woods, alone. There's probably no safer place to share things with one another than out here."