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"I've always liked mashed potatoes," he said softly, his paws rubbing up and down on her shoulders, gently caressing her upper arms as she turned and planted a kiss on his nose. "You know that I'm always here for you, baby," he whispered, leaning down to nuzzle the top of her head. His fingers gently squeezed her arms a bit. "You're right here with me, and no one is going to come and get you. No one."

"If I had milk or butter, they'd be even better, but right now, they might be a little runny. I mashed more than I had potatoes for mashing," she said with a slight laugh. She slid her arms around his waist as she lay her head on his chest. "I know you're always there for me, and I love that about you, Marco. And I've been having a blast teaching you to live the way I learned from the tribe." She kissed him again, then turned to the stove, taking the frying pan and venison steaks off the stove. "Grab down the plates, will you?"

His smile was warm and he let a smirk curl the corners of his lips, "I could handle survival on my own...but you're teaching me things about how the Indians lived that I never even thought about before. I was taught about living and surviving in a more practical sense... but this is different." He shrugged and kissed her back, then let her go and moved over to the cabinets where the plates were and took down three of them, then got three cups, and three sets of silverware, and set the table.

Tisha looked over her shoulder at him. "Would you have thought about smoking the venison? Would you have even gone for the deer by yourself, or just remained eating the smaller animals?" A noise outside the house drew her attention and she stiffened up again, her eyes darting to the door. A familiar voice rang out from outside, "Marco! Come help me with these deer. I got some news for you two as well."

"Well, what I meant by practical was living in the city: scavenging, hunting yes, which comes fairly easy because I'm a canine, things like that. I probably would have cooked the venison if I was intending to stay in one place... but it would be a waste if I couldn't eat the whole thing, especially if I was moving, so I probably would have stuck to smaller animals and whatever else I could get. Moving survival is different than surviving in one place." He smiled at her as he set the table, then his ears twitched and he looked up, "Coming!" He smiled at her and patted her shoulder as he headed for the door. Going out, he looked at the Indian, "What news?"

Tisha grinned at him, then let her eyes follow him as he headed out the back door to help Black Elk. Their voices were muffled by the walls, but not too badly. She could still hear them, at least for the moment, as Black Elk spoke up, "The tribe will be here tomorrow. We won't be the only ones here for much longer. I can have that talk with my father, and get things situated for you two to get married. And from the looks of things, Bri and Mel should also be here tomorrow night, so you can talk to Bri, Tisha." She nodded as if he could see her, then filled each plate with a venison steak, mashed potatoes and green beans, then set the plates on the table for the three of them while waiting for them to return back inside.

Outside, Black Elk motioned to the horses, and started leaving the horses away from the house, going to the smokehouse first. There were a couple deer hanging off the horses and about ten rabbits. First thing Black Elk did after getting the deer off the horses was to skin them, then he looked at Marco. "Help me hoist the meat up in here, then we'll stretch out the hides on the frames for the tribal women tomorrow. Same with the rabbits."

Marco took one of the leads of the horses and guided it over toward the smoke house, following the Indian, "Good news then, about time we had some, and some company." He glanced back at the house and lowered his voice, "I hope that Tish can handle it... I know she wants them up here, but I get the feeling that at the same time she's almost afraid to have them up here." He shrugged, but then halted his horse and went to help him get the animals off of their backs. He took them down and then after Black Elk skinned the deer, he hoisted the meat with him, and then they worked quickly to stretch the skin over the frames for the deer.

They did both in that fashion, then Marco helped him with the rabbits. It took them awhile, but at last they had all the meat skinned and hanging in the smokehouse, and all the skins stretched out on various frames. He gave a nod and said, "Let's wash up and get inside, Dinner's ready."

Tisha was aware that her issues might make things difficult when the tribe arrived, but she was trying her best not to let them affect her daily activities too much. She walked to the door as the two males skinned the deer and hung them up to smoke in the smokehouse then did the same with the rabbits. As they emerged from the smokehouse, she called to the two of them, "Wash up before you get inside for dinner. And make it fast. Dinner's getting cold!"

They both looked up at her and gave nods, then turned and jogged off for the water. They were gone maybe a minute or two, and then came running back, clean and ready to eat the dinner that the two of them had prepared. They came into the kitchen and Black Elk headed straight for the table. "Looks great Tisha," he said. Marco went over to her and pecked her on the cheek. "Anything else for me to get before we chow down?"

Tisha grinned at the two males, then nuzzled Marco. "Just sit down and enjoy the change of pace for our meals tonight. We'll cut some meat on the first deer to make venison jerky for when we have to go out on the hunt. But for now, we sit and enjoy dinner." She slipped her hand into Marco's paw and head to the table with him. She pulled him into his seat and sat down next to him, picking up her utensils to start eating her food.

Compared to what they had been eating, the meal they sat down to now was like a feast. Venison, potatoes and vegetables was a heck of alot better than rabbit and beans. The atmosphere in the house seemed different, better, more refreshing as well. He smiled and picked up his own utensils, then began to eat. Across from them, Black Elk did the same.

Tisha tried to keep things light herself, despite her earlier flashback. Her eyes smiled at Marco as she cut up her venison steak, eating it with delight after all the rabbit meat they'd been eating pretty much all week. The sides made the meal even better, and she wrapped her arm around Marco's, leaning against him as they ate. "So the tribe is getting here tomorrow, you said, Black Elk? Roughly what time of day will they be here?"

Marco smiled at her as she leaned against his side and wrapped her arm around his. He took some more bites of his food while sighing out and listening as Black Elk spoke up, "Sometime about midday I would say... with the others in the evening." He licked his lips and chewed down another piece, "It will be nice to be back amongst the others again."

Tisha nodded, figuring they could get some key stuff done early in the morning, then she and the other women could start getting things ready for a feast while Marco and Black Elk spoke with his father. She'd just have to avoid her cousin's fiance until she could talk to him with Marco with her. She felt she would still need Marco's support for a while around other males, even if she'd known them for forever. She might or might not have the issue with Black Elk's father, since he was a well respected older male that she looked at as a father-figure or uncle, but she didn't want to take any chances.

"It will be nice to have more people to talk to, but I love the private time that Marco and I have had as well. I really appreciate you giving us the mornings as our special time of day. Of course, when we get a chance to steal private time, and everything is done, we do," she grinned up at Marco.