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 Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 8:36 pm
"Well, if you like your grass soggy, you might just as well toss it into the spring first!" But Zaphiro was grinning as well; he'd never been that big on squished greenery, regardless of juice content. It just seemed that the untouched and whole pieces were more substantial, more filling. And less likely to stick to your muzzle. "But to each their own, no?"
That comment about green twigs had him glancing treewards again, remembering all too well when he'd literally been forced to subsist on twigs a couple winters past when he was a young adult; not a pleasant experience, nor one he cared to repeat. "Well, when your choices are green twigs, dry twigs, or starvation, you tend to jump at what's the least objectionable, though that doesn't mean you have to like it." And if you survived, it taught you to plan for winters better! Or to relocate to a place where there was actually FOOD in the winter...
"Hrm...I know where there are raspberry bushes around here, but there's nothing on them this time of year. Dunno if there's mint, either; I think we're stuck with grass."
Quite literally, actually, as he realized with a grimmace that he had, in fact, gotten grass bits stuck to his muzzle. Crossing his eyes in an attempt to see the offending grass, he whuffed in a sigh, "lovely," before attempting to dislodge the grass bits by wiggling around his mouth. That failing, he whuffed again in annoyance. "It all comes back to me, what I dislike about broken grass..."
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Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 9:13 pm
"I suppose that is true. I've never had to deal with that myself - only tried twigs out of curiosity, really. Worst case of curiosity killed the appetite ever." A warm smile as she continued to munch on her grass.
Until Zaphiro had grass stuck to his muzzle and she began to giggle quite freely, "S..so...oh my, sorry about that Zaphiro!" She giggled again and it took all her poise to not flop onto the ground and laugh at it. It was quite the funny sight.
Instead, she sobered herself up and nodded in the direction of the spring, "Wash it off?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 9:19 pm
"Trust me, it's best to try things out of curiousity than necessity, unless the thing in question is completley idiotic. And thanks for your sympathy." Zaphiro's voice was dripping with sarcasm at the last comment, but he was smiling nonetheless. Glancing towards the spring he nodded, deciding that that was probably a smart idea...
And as he was staring at the water, his eyes lit up with devilish amusement as an idea occurred to him. Glancing innocently back at Hienna, he gave her another nod, inclining head at the water. "Yes, a wash is probably the smartest thing..." Then all at once he took a couple running steps and leapt right into the water, sending up a huge splash in his wake.
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Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 9:27 pm
Before she knew what was going on or how to stop it, Zaphiro was taking a giant dive into the spring. The icy cold spring. The spring that now sent water hurtling at her faster than she could move out of the way.
The mare was struck with the freezing water and she gave a very loud, surprised shout. "COLD! ZAPHIRO!!"
Hienna stood there staring at him with a dumbfounded expression, wide gold eyes, and a dripping coat.
"...I'm so getting you back for that."
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Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 9:36 pm
Whoops. That was right, they had discussed her dislike of cold. At least the sun was making an appearance, so she'd dry out...though as soon as he'd heard the yell, Zaphiro had cringed into himself. Just because HE liked the cold didn't mean everyone else did!
And he'd been about to apologize, paddling over that way with every intention of begging her eternal pardon when the statement of revenge caught him up short; his brows flew up to disappear under his mane, and he was giving the mare a look of absolute incredulousness for a moment before the humor of the situation struck him. And why not? She was soaking wet, dripping with water as a matter of fact; yet in spite of that and the fact she had to be freezing, she could threaten him. Go figure.
And that was an amusing bunch of variables if he ever saw one.
Grinning, Zaphiro backwinged his way back to the middle of the spring, spraying a bit of water out her way as he did so. "Really? For doing WHAT? All that I did was wash my face, just as you suggested, and the grass is gone! I don't see what the problem is."
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Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 9:53 pm
Hienna was, indeed, freezing. And shocked that Zaphiro had done something like that to her and was now teasing her about it! Perhaps if she hadn't been so cold and wet she would have seen the humor in it. Instead, she reared up trying to get away from the splash.
And fell backwards onto her rear.
Onto a sharp stick.
Which caused a very loud, very unpleasant yelp from the mare. Owowowow. Her BUM. That was her BUM.
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Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 9:59 pm
Amused as he was, it took barely a second for that amusement to shift to concern as Zaphiro saw Hienna's fall and heard her yelp. If he were with someone else, or had a different personality, he might have guessed that she was trying to trick him or tease him or something like that; however, he didn't doubt that that yelp was genuine.
Consequently, he was moving as soon as it passed his ears, pulling himself out of the water and hurrying over without even shaking himself dry. "Hienna, are you ok? What happened???"
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Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:04 pm
"...My BUM!"
The wail was probably hilarious in any other situation but CHRIST that had hurt! The mare gave a small whimper and forced herself to stand. The sharp twig had, indeed, pierced her flank and there was a spot of blood on the purple coat.
It wasn't bad, but the little cuts always hurt the worst. Zaphiro would do well to remember the mare REALLY hated the cold.
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Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:12 pm
A funny comment indeed, were it delivered any other time. Actually, had it been delivered any other time Zaphiro would have likely been mortified, but that was another story. Instead, he was horribly contrite; any idiot could see that she was in pain just from watching her stand.
As she did so, he moved to look at the injury in question, wincing as he saw the blood. He hadn't meant for that to happen, not at all. "Hienna, I am so sorry. Believe me, it wasn't my intention for you to injure yourself, truly."
While he spoke, he gently leaned over and touched the wound with a wing, blotting the blood and dripping water on it in the process. No sense in it getting infected, after all...but wait.
Not really paying attention to what he was doing, he glanced over and looked at Hienna's face, a quizzical expression on his own. "Can you heal that, Hienna?" Normally he'd assume she would, but given the angle...he had no idea just how flexible the spine of a unicorn was, truth be told.
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Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:15 pm
She sniffled ungracefully and tried not to wince as he touched her with a wing. Thankfully, she was able to hold back the reaction and simply closed her eyes. Embarrassment, more than anything, was flooding her at the moment. After all, she worked so hard to remain poised and respectful and here she was carrying on like a foal.
"I don't think I can," She said softly, twisting a bit and falling short. No, the angle was definitely wrong. "No...I'll be okay...It's not too bad..."
Christ it hurt though.
"I'm sorry."
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Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:20 pm
So much for that idea. At her apology, though, Zaphiro shook his head, a rueful look on his face. "There's nothing for you to apologize for. It was entirely my fault for my foalish behavior. And by the way, I'm also sorry for splashing you; it completely escaped my mind that you hated the cold. If I weren't soaked myself, I'd offer you a wing to dry off with, but..."
And he raised a wing, the water droplets still dripping freely from it just as they did from the rest of his body. "Do you think that you're going to be ok? Truly?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:25 pm
"I am acting like a foal," she said softly and shook her head, "It's just a minor injury, and I was carrying on..." She sniffled again and straightened up, "So please do accept my apology."
Hienna gave a small shiver, "And it is perfectly fine. You were just having fun and I was not expecting the cold. I promise I will be fine."
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Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:33 pm
Foolish foalishness all around, obviously. Zaphiro wasn't going to let himself off that easily, but they could at least meet halfway. "Any injury is worthy of carrying on about when it takes you by surprise like that one did, Hienna; and I'll accept your apology if you'll accept mine."
That seemed fair; after all, she was more blameless than he was.
Her shiver made him frown, however, and turning so that he stood beside her, he gently covered her with a wing. "Cold can take some getting used to, and for not giving you warning I also apologize. But with the sun rising, we ought to dry out soon and consequently warm up."
And in the meantime, she was free to leech his body heat; soggy as his wing was, he knew that he himself was warmer than the air and would hopefully help keep Hienna warm. The last thing that she needed was a chill on top of an injury!
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Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:38 pm
"Of course I accept," Hienna answered, "I'm glad we got that worked out..." a pause, "When things bloom again, you owe me a dinner of leaves." It seemed like a fair trade off to her.
The wing was a surprise to the mare and she looked up at him with a smile. It was a kind gesture and one that did help a little despite it being wet. He was indeed warmer than the morning air.
"Thank you, Zaphiro..." She moved a bit closer to him, taking the heat gratefully.
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Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:47 pm
"If I were a literalist, I could take that to mean just about any sort of leaves...but we'll make is raspberry. And it's a deal."
A clear relief, to be sure; besides that, he'd never had raspberries himself, so it would be an adventure. A culinary adventure, rather, which was just as exciting and safer. And tastier.
Chuckling a bit at his own rather erratic thought process, Zaphiro didn't really notice when Hienna moved closer; it just felt so natural to be standing like this, her body warm and snug beneath his wing. That was a handy side benefit of wings; when not in flight, they could act as blankets for both their owner and others. Handy mental note there. For future reference.
And there he was again, off on weird mental tangents. What was he, Safi?
Smiling, Zaphiro tilted his head to the side, absently resting his cheek against Hienna's head as the two stood there. He needed to sort himself out, that's what he needed. Away with the guilt and all would be good, eh? Something like that.
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