[This is private RP between Ireth's Nathaniel and my Sonne. Feel free to track or reach but please do not reply without permission first ^^ Thank you!~]
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Thud, thud, thud, scraaaape.
A small hoof broke the ground, scattering pebbles and leafy debris. Just a small, insignificant groove in the hard soil, but lifting a slender banded leg, the doe thrust the nail forward again, digging in and dragging it across the rough, solid surface. A slightly deeper furrow emerged. The rhythm continued, back and forth, back and forth, a pile of unsettled earth accumulating as she dug. Shadows drifted across her path, drawing her head closer, tangled brown locks slipping across her neck and messily framing her masked face. Her tired eyes strained to focus on her work.
It was a dark day. Storm clouds drifted overhead, blocking out the sunlight - not that there was much sunlight to be had in the little shaded alcove deep in the forest. Not a single drop had fallen though...no moisture to soften the soil and lessen the strain of her task. No matter. She wouldn't wait. Flattening her ears in determination, she shifted to her other leg, resting the one that ached to continue the task without rest.
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A buck could be seen loping
Flying by a pile of curiously shaped rocks, the buck did not even give the boulders a second glance, his mind clearly in an entirely different place. But as he passed the landmark, something finally seemed to catch his attention. The navy blue stag made a stutter step, his canter breaking into a trot as his nose twitched. There was an interesting scent in the air, his limbs slowing down to a walk as he tried to identify the smell. A light sparked in his eyes as recognition flickered through his mind. The buck's body language changed immediately, his gait turning into a high-stepping two beat while his entire posture perked up. Finishing off his almost too gleeful expression was a wide, toothy grin that was now pasted onto his lips. He'd forgotten all about his earlier 'troubles,' it seemed.
Following his nose, the stag quickly made his way through the forest, intently tracking the clinging scent like a blood hound. It didn't take long for the male to reach the tiny clearing where his target was hiding away, and he didn't bother hiding his approach. Merrily crunching undergrowth and rustling branches, the boy wasn't exactly stealthy as he made his way towards the doe. But as he burst into the shaded area, he threw a hello her way without any hesitation.
“Hey So-...!” His ecstatic greeting fell flat though when he realized what Sonne was doing. Or rather, realized he didn't know what the heck she was up to.
“What're you doing?” He asked with a tilt of his head, blue eyes quizzical as he scrutinized the small groove she had managed to unearth. Sounding much like a curious child, the buck watched with a furrowed brow, trying to figure out what Sonne was doing before she could answer. ...And not doing a very good job at being at all perceptive, as usual.
The snap of a not-so-distant
Nate.
Clear-water eyes met murky ocean teal. Not the glowing orange she'd hoped for...Her breath released in a sigh, tensed tail dropping in disappointment. The light in her expression dimmed, the growing smile faltering for just a moment before returning as a softer version of itself. No...she was happy to see the buck. Of course she was. His greeting lured her ears forward, brows lifting out of sight beneath the curved of her mask as she studied his enthusiastic approach with curiosity.
“Nathaniel,” her high voice squeaked, catching on whatever rolling emotion remained stuck in her throat. She swallowed, determined to banish it to her belly before stepping to the side and angling her body to face him.
“I'm...well... Digging.” Glancing down at her sad progress, she shifted before her squinted eyes lifted again, distracted by a question that formed behind them.
“Did you...come looking for me?”
Nate's perky expression
But before he could give himself much time to think of what Sonne had been expecting, she gave a rather obvious reply to his question. Well, duh! Nate's head tilted to one side as he stared at the groove that had been scratched in the earth, a look of annoyance flickering onto his features. He'd yet again failed to figure something out before he had to ask a question, and sometimes he asked the dumbest things...
Never mind. Giving his head a quick shake, his expression cleared and the buck reacted by taking a small bound forward, his forelimbs outstretched. Planting two front legs in the shallow rut Sonne had been digging, he gave a mighty heave backwards. Bracing with his hind end, the male scraped hardened soil away as he pulled his cloven hooves across the ground.
“Yeah, I caught your scent back there,” the navy blue buck answered her question with a tilt of his head, vaguely gesturing in the direction that he had come from.
“What're you digging for? Is there treasure here?” His tail started to flag once more, excitement sparkling in his eyes as he changed the subject back to their task at hand. Nate didn't seem particularly interested in explaining why he had come hunting for Sonne, his curiosity piqued instead by the doe's chore.
The doe danced back at the
The corners of her mouth stretched and curled in new appreciation for the blue buck. She had needed that...
“Um...Well, yes. It is a treasure of sorts,” Sonne mused, turning her focus once again on her temporarily forsaken task. She angled her body back and side-stepped around the unsettled earth, resting a small hoof by a cluster of fern-like plants that had been bent over. She tapped the ground, drawing his attention there. “Ginger root. Hard to find, so...a treasure when you do. I've been waiting for this particular plant to mature for a while. I've been hiding it under some other plants so it's taken a while. I thought for sure that last bought of bad weather would kill it off! But all that cover must have kept it warm.”
Her eyes grew tender and a little sad as she looked over the now bent and broken leaves. It seemed a shameful ruin after all that pampering...but of course, what she needed was below the ground, not above it. Spreading her forelegs a bit, Sonne lowered her head and sniffed at the ground before pulling back with a smile, a smudge of dirt on her rounded nose. “It should be just a little ways down...I bet you could reach it no problem with those feet. If...you'd like the help, that is.” The striped doe peered up at him through her lashes, arched brows and tucked bottom lip questioning and hopeful. Would he want to ?
A treasure?! Nate couldn't
He halted mid paw however, when Sonne explained what this treasure was exactly. His head tipped to the side for the umpteenth time, confusion crossing his features for a moment before he eyed the plant she was pointing to. The buck knew next to nothing (or to be totally truthful, absolutely nothing) about plants, and other than what greens were edible, he had little use for herbs. And this ginger root? The look on his face clearly told of his ignorance yet again. Sometimes, it wasn't hard to wonder what kind of upbringing he'd had, considering how much he still didn't know...
But at Sonne's prompt, he gave his head an eager nod, curved antlers swaying dangerously quickly in the air.
“Of course! I'm always up for treasure hunting!” With that, he gave the doe another toothy grin, releasing a loud laugh as he noticed the smudge of dirt that had gotten on her nose. He didn't point it out to the female though, his concentration already switching to the diggy-diggy-hole task.
Throwing himself into the pawing, dirt started flying rather haphazardly as Nate did things in his peculiar style. Too enthusiastically and far too recklessly, but hey, it got the job done right?
It didn't take long for him to reach a good depth and though the dark blue fur around his legs was now coated in slightly damp earth that he had dug up, delight sparkled in his eyes at the exertion. Stepping out of the small rut he had made, the buck gave Sonne a quizzical glance.
“...What does ginger root look like again?” A sheepish grin graced his lips as his gaze switched back to the pit, unsure what exactly he was looking for. Was it that hard lump, those roots he had torn up? Or had he not even reached it yet...
The buck's enthusiasm was
Such an appropriate mark... In fact, she might have told him so, might have asked what it was, but his laughter silenced her, and a moment later he threw himself into the task. Sonne blinked, then let out a quiet giggle of her own, brows arching high above her shining eyes. She stepped back to avoid the sprays of dirt, giving her tangled head a shake. She was too busy watching him, thoroughly amused by his almost dog-like technique, that she didn't realize he was, well, going a bit overboard. It was only when he paused and looked up, questioning her, that her eyelids fluttered, blinking her back into concentration.
“Oh...Oh! It's, um... It's thick. Tawny-...Goldish in color. S-sorry, it shouldn't be that far down.” It was her turn to look sheepish as she approached the already impressive hole, inserting herself into it and pawing about. Chips of amber were scattered about the loose dirt. He must have nicked the roots already. Ah! There. Embedded into the side of the hole nearer the surface, a chunk of the oddly shaped bulb stuck out.
“Here! Here it is. Just a little more.”
Sonne threw herself into the digging now, scratching away at the side of the hole. Perhaps Nate joined her. In the end, the good-sized chunk of root came loose from the soil and rolled into the pit left in their wake, dragging some of the poor, bent-up surface plant along with it. Sonne let out a laugh and snatched the greenery up between her teeth, rearing up out of the hole and spinning around, tail already curled and wiggling behind her in a victorious display. The doe trotted in a tight circle before lowering her head and laying the ginger at her feet. She did not pull away right away, lingering above the bulb and inhaling deeply, closing her eyes to savor the spicy scent.
“Mmmm... “
Her stomach chose then to release a loud, desirous growl. Her head jerked up, cheeks turning a shade pinker as she snatched her lip between her teeth and glanced back at her belly before peering sheepishly at Nate.
As he stood surveying his
The buck blinked as Sonne approached, taking a step back to give her some room. At her exclamation, his entire body perked up once more, excitement sparking in his eyes as he pranced in place at their success. Treasure, consider yourself found! He couldn't stay on the sidelines as the doe started pawing at the loose soil, not patient enough to wait for her petite hooves to do the digging that he could have done in much less time. As the pair combined their efforts, a large chunk of what looked like some kind of oddly shaped voodoo doll soon emerged. Squinting at the strange looking object, he tried to lower his nose so that he could give it a good whiff- and Sonne beat him to it.
Nate leapt back, startled as she picked the thing up in her teeth and carried it off like a prized possession. His brow wrinkled in confusion, trying to work out what in the world a deer could do with an object like that... It definitely didn't look edible, but the female had said something about it being rare...? Even if it was rare, why on earth would he even want something like that!
But just as he was about to voice his opinions on the matter of this supposed 'treasure,' Sonne's stomach gave a mighty growl and the buck couldn't contain another laugh.
“So is this thing lunch then...?” He asked, inching forward and stooping his head low so that he could try and sniff at the misshapen looking plant. Making sure to tip his antlers back least he accidentally poke Sonne's eye out. Flaring his nostrils, the buck caught a whiff of spice and dirt, not anything particularly edible. But maybe he was missing something, since he usually was.
Her ears twitched at his
But these melancholy thoughts never reached the doe's mind. She was too focused on her new friend and the words slipping from his tongue. Lunch? Her lips pressed together tightly, holding some other emotion at bay and trapping her smile as she tilted, then shook her head.
“No...I'm afraid not. It's for a-...A friend. See, ginger roots can cure different ailments. Upset stomachs, aches and pains. It tastes...warm too.” Stretching out a foreleg, she dragged the plant closer and angled it a certain way, looking for a small piece to break off. “Tingles on your tongue and heats your belly. Feels nice when you're sick. I hope it can help him...here.” Sonne stepped down, and a small knob of the root snapped off. The inside was a warm amber, and already a strong, spicy scent drifted from the core. With a flick of her 'wrist', she rolled the piece toward him, a grin on her face.
“Go ahead...taste.”
Nate was too busy inspecting
He was working on it though! One step at a time, right?
Hm, so this root was for... A friend? Interesting. The blue buck nodded absentmindedly at her explanation, blanking out a little as she tried to explain what the plant was for. He tried sticking the information in his head and for now it was there, but if Sonne were to quiz him in a day or two well... Let's just say he might have some other things in his head by that point. Nate did enjoy learning new things, but his interest didn't lie in plants... At least not at his age, when all he wanted to do was rough-house and prance around.
The buck was intrigued by her explanation of its taste though, his tail flicking to and fro as he readied himself for a brand new thing-to-eat. Although she had said it wasn't lunch, so he wasn't too ecstatic about the whole thing, but food was food!
“Oh, well, I hope your friend is ok!” He spoke, a little distracted by the piece of root rolling his way. Lowering his head once more, he shoved his nose as close to the foreign object as his mask would allow, rubbing his orca snout against the pungent thing. And as if he had made up his mind, Nate did what he did best, act without thought. Opening his mouth wide, he shoved the entire piece of root into his mug- and quickly realized that hadn't been a very good idea.
He stood for a second, his teeth unable to chew through the tough, brown object, but he didn't even have to bite into it for the taste to seep into his taste buds. And boy, did they seep. It was... Spicy! And far, far too hot! His nose scrunched up and his expression became rather comical as he quickly tried to spit the root out. As soon as he had managed that, the buck's tongue came out in disgust. Attempting to cool the burning sensation, Nate did a silly dance as he tried to both inhale for the cool air, as well as spit to get that nasty taste out of his mouth.
“Sonne, dat wathun't good!!” He tried to exclaim with his tongue still hanging out of his mouth. Glancing around for any kind of liquid, the young buck pranced in place, trying in vain to come up with a solution for his scorched tongue...
Sonne watched, but there was
The chunk of root disappeared into his mouth and the doe tilted her head, her smile pinched as her eyes remained glued onto his face, watching every muscle twitch. Slowly but surely, relaxed curiosity tensed and the skin around his mouth and what she could see of his nose bunched in tell-tale distress – of the tongue-torture sort. Uh oh... Sonne flinched in surprise as the stag swung around and sent the ginger flying across the alcove from pursed lips, his white-stockinged feet high-stepping beneath him in a comical dance. Wide-eyed, she stepped out of his way in one direction, and then another, her teeth sinking lower and lower into her plump bottom lip before...she couldn't help it anymore. A fit of giggles escaped.
“Oh...perhaps I should have let it dry out a bit first,” she laughed, a smile now consuming the lower portion of her face. Shaking her head, the doe shifted around him then, stepping up to retrieve the root.
“Come on, you big baby...lets go wash this off. As well as that wagging tongue of yours.”
Taking the greenery in her teeth again, she lifted it, raised an amused brow in his direction, then turned and trotted off between the thickening trees, wide, high hips hidden behind the sway of her tail. The river wasn't far.
The sides of his lips turned
The young stag didn't wait for Sonne to lead the way, instead launching himself into the underbrush without any hesitation. Instinctively angling his upright antlers away from the grabby branches, the buck crashed his way through the forest in a desperate attempt to get to the river before his tongue burned clean off.
But as he made his way through the quickly thinning forest and his ears picked up on the sound of running water... He suddenly remembered that he probably shouldn't be as thankful for the blessed liquid as he was feeling right now. His brisk lope stumbled to a slow trot, and as he made his way to the riverbank Nate stopped about three feet away from the moving water. His dark blue eyes widened as he stared at the innocent looking stream. But he knew better, oh yes he did... You could just as easily slip underneath it all and disappear, like-
His train of thought was cut off as the flame on his tongue reared its ugly head once more. Why wouldn't the taste just go away?! It was as persistent as a mosquito in the summertime!
Nate needed water and he needed it bad. Glancing sideways as he watched for Sonne's approach, he took two large brave steps to close the gap a little before taking small shuffles forward. His hooves dug into the damp soil close to the shoreline and he looked almost comical, leaning as far backwards as possible despite having to put his face basically into the river. The blue buck carefully dipped his tongue into the gurgling stream and sighed with relief, rigid ears drooping for a moment as the cool sensation eased the spicy ginger root tang that had taken over.
He stood like this for a handful of seconds before making an over the top leap backwards, tripping over his own feet to get away from the scary body of water.
“Well, that helped!” He exclaimed, not really taking into account his peculiar actions. His deep blue gaze found the doe's as he tilted his head, watching her interact with the stream.