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 Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 1:56 pm
 It was, perhaps, not the best day for gardening. The wind whipped through the trees, and while it was not bitterly cold, it was enough to make Seed wish he had just curled up and gone back to sleep. But his garden needed tending even in the off-season. And so Seed was up, dutifully, for the rising of the sun. The buck pulled downed branches out of the patches of earth he was preparing to plant, dragging them to one side until he could decide what to do with them. He grunted, legs straining with a particularly stubborn branch. The cold made his joints rather stiff. He allowed himself to admit that he was getting older, that dragging around heavy branches in the cold wasn't going to be easy anymore. Finally the branch gave way, the earth relinquishing its grip on it, allowing it to be dragged away to join the others. Seed plopped himself down for a moment's rest, panting. Just a little sit down...
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Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 2:55 pm
Nature hated the cold. She knew it was a natural cycle of the world and all, but she really hated the cold. She missed the greenery of spring and summer. All these bare trees and brown, bare earth made the world look positively dead. She shuttered. The dirt under hoof was a little slick and crumbly, perpetually damp from the rain and snow. Nature crested a hill, her thoughts mired in complaints about being cold and wet and..and.... Her back leg connected with dirt and the dirt gave way. Her brain didn't register the slide until she'd applied most of her weight into stepping forward and her back hoof only found air. Her back end went first and the momentum was unstoppable. Nature slid down the hill on her side, back first, legs failing in the air. All she could think in her panicked state was that she really, really, REALLY hated winter. Brush at the bottom of the hill finally halted her slide, the bare branches pricking and jabbing at body and legs. She moaned a little, her head still spinning from the fall.
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Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:45 pm
Seed blinked as he glimpsed a bit of bright green against the grey-brown of the slumbering swamp. Was he imagining it? Perhaps a clump of holly...
No. It was a living thing, he was sure. He could hear the faint sound of dead vegetation being trodden underhoof. He stood up quickly as the green bit moved downhill, stumbled, then began a ungainly slide down the slope that marked the back portion of his little garden, where he had piled all of the...
Oh. The branches.
He trotted over. It was another kimeti, green-coated and looking much the worse for wear, hopelessly tangles in the brush. "Oh dear. Don't move for a moment, if you don't mind."
He clamped his teeth around a branch, tossing it aside, trying to clear enough of it away that she could disentangle without too much effort. "We'll have you out in a jiffy," he panted, grabbing another branch. He really was getting too old for this.
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Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 4:46 pm
"Uwa..." Nature felt a branch that was stabbing into her side being pulled back and she looked up, a bit of mud in her eyes. She saw a blurry white and green thing pulling scraggly black things away. "T..thank you..."
She waited till a couple branches were pulled away and got her rose hooves under her body and slowly pushed herself into at least sitting up on her underside. Nature shook her head rapidly, flicking mud from her eyes, mouth, and ears. Able to open one eye and see more clearly, she lets out a tiny snerk, seeing flecks of mud on the the blurry thing, now reveled to be a buck. "Sorry about that..."
She lifted one leg out from under her body and waggled it, testing for pain or injuries. "I really hate winter.." she bemoans softly.
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Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 12:00 pm
Seed flinched a bit as the doe shook her head and sent mud flying everywhere, including him. He'd have to have a bath later. She'd have to have a bath later. Poor thing was all over mud and scrapes.
He bowed his head politely, trying to put her at ease. "No need to be sorry. You took quite a tumble." Looking back up, he checked the doe to make sure there wasn't anything deeper than just scrapes and bruises. She seemed to be moving fine, and some of the worry left him.
At her last comment, he smiled. "Winter is not exactly my favorite season either... but I've come to terms with it."
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 1:00 am
"Cold.." Nature hauled herself onto her hooves, flinching in mild discomfort as her body ached.
"Wet..." Her knees wobbled.
"Stupid.." She shivered.
"Season!" She looks up at the buck who assisted her and her cheeks reddened. Here she was whining like a foal and this gentleman had gone through the trouble to help her. She was also covered in mud. Nature hoped it was covering her brighter blush.
"I'm sorry, I'm whining and you went through all of the trouble to help me." She carefully stepped over the other branches and bowed her head as gracefully as her aches would allow. "My name is Nature's Abundance.."
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 6:12 pm
Seed watched her tirade, trying to keep his amusement from his face at each outburst. It was a difficult task; she was eager and full of life and Seed could not help being caught up by her enthusiasm.
At her last vehement shout against winter, he could not stem the tide of rumbling laughter. Ah, to be young again, he thought, a bit wistful.
Still smiling, he bowed his head to her again in acknowledgement. "I am Seed-and-Sapling." He cocked his head inquisitively, eying her more closely now that she was out of the brushpile. "I don't believe I've seen you around here before. What brings you? Besides a muddy slope, that is," he chuckled.
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 2:34 pm
Nature blushed even more under her fur and the mud when the buck gently teased her. Any patches of white on her fur on her body were flushed pink from the blush.
"Well..uh..Seed and Sapling...I usually don't go out in the winter..but since the flood sort of shifted the lay of the land, my usual home in the winter months suddenly became part of the flooding zone when it rains. I only found this out a day or so ago when we had all that rain and I woke up stomach deep in mud and cold water." Her ears flatten back a little, visibly annoyed.
"So I've had to be a little more..mobile then usual. Also trying to find a new place to spend the winters although I think by the time I have ready, it will be Spring so..." She sort of shrugs, sighs, lifting her left foreleg a little off the ground as it had begun to ache badly standing there and chatting with the handsome buck.
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Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:11 pm
Seed smiled at her reaction to his teasing, then inclined his head in sympathy at her tale. The flood had indeed thrown the swamp into sudden, violent change, and precious little had been left untouched. His expression grew distant and sad for a moment until he reined his thoughts in and returned his attention to the doe and her predicament. "Call me Seed, please. If you're looking for a place to stay... well, I could use a neighbor," he said, smiling. "There are a few elevated places near that keep dry year-round... my den is near the top of that hill, in fact."
As he rambled on, he noticed she kept favoring her foreleg. What was he doing, she needed to get dry and off of her hooves! He shook his head to clear it. "You're all over mud and scrapes and I'm standing around chatting in the cold. Not very hospitable of me. If you'd like, you could rest in my den for a while. It's not much, but it's warm at least..." He smiled apologetically, wondering idly why he was inviting strange does into his home. Probably because she was pretty...
He shook his head again. Here he was, acting like a moonstruck colt!
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 2:08 am
"Oh no..I couldn't...I mean! That's so sweet but I couldn't intrude..." Nature looked at the rut her body caused in his territory where her body had slid down the hill and landed. "Well I mean..any more then I have.." She smiles sheepishly.
"Oh..." she looks down at her left leg that she was lifted in the air. It didn't ache much anymore, Nature figured the soreness had mostly passed. "It feels better now that I haven't put any weight on it now, I think I can walk!"
She flashed the buck her brightest, cutest smile. "But maybe I will see you around..if you say there are some places around here, maybe I can find a den to make a home in!" Nature took one step on her left leg and froze. Her ears shot back, her eyes fixed into pin point pupils, her fur visibly stands on end and her tail tuff goes bushy. She calmly retracts her left foot from the ground again, sitting back on her haunches, holding the leg close to her body.
"However.." tears of pain glittered at the sides of her eyes but she keeps her cool, looking away. "I shouldn't refuse the graciousness of cleaning up and resting a little...it uh..." she looks up at the sky. "And it might..start to rain...or something..." She blushes pink again, avoiding his eyes.
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Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 8:59 pm
The issue with her leg did not go unnoticed. Seed narrowed his eyes at her slightly and debated whether to say anything. She seemed to want to hide it, but the buck did not like to see her in pain...
He decided to be subtle about it. "Quite right; might rain, you never know this time of year. Please, do not feel as if you're intruding, my home is yours." He nodded at her encouragingly. "Might have a few herbs stored away that would be good for easing pain and healing... though I'm not exactly an... expert healer."
Seed eyed the path that wound up the hill that led to his den. It wasn't rough by any means, but some parts sloped rather steeply. Would she even be able to walk in her condition?
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Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 10:57 pm
Nature smiled sheepishly. She wasn't being subtle about her pain at all even though she did her best to look as though it didn't bother her at all. She followed his gaze up the hill and the blush in her fur instantly blanched and she swallowed hard. She was going to have to go up...there...?
Not only her leg, but her whole body seemingly protested all at once, starting to ache badly. Inwardly she groaned.
"Ahh..is it up there? That's uh..quite a hike." She paused a long, long moment, looking up the hill and took a deep breath and put on her best determined look. "Well then, shall we..?"
She gingerly took a step forward towards the hill. Her leg protested urgently but she inhaled sharply, stepped off the foot, and took another step towards the hill. She could identify where the pain was now, sharp and deep, closer to her hoof then her actual leg. That would be something at least.
Nature paused, turned her head, her lame leg in the air and smiled shakily at Seed. "Would you lead the way..? I may be a little slow..and it is your home after all.."
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 3:16 pm
Seed hung his head. Yes, clearly in no condition. And for some reason she continued to play coy about it, smiling and putting on a brave face even though it would be obvious to a foal fresh from the sac that her leg would not bear her. His initial reaction was to let her do as she would; sometimes interference by someone, even well-meaning interference, could be unneeded and indeed even irritating.
But that was only if one knew one's limits. If it were just pain, that would be one thing, but climbing on an injured leg could injure it further. Doing that just to be brave was, in Seed's opinion, merely foolhardy. He decided to put a stop to that, and quickly.
He crouched down low next to her. "I'll carry you, if you don't mind," he said mildly. "Normally I wouldn't even bother going home, but trying to treat you out in the cold isn't going to do you any good. Too exposed out here to do anything. And, please, don't tell me you can make it. You're not fooling anyone." He looked at her pointedly.
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