[PRP] Winter Foraging (Daevyn x Ryade)

[Epine de Rose]

Winter had come, and with it, it had brought it's usual inconveniences. The swamps had lost much of the food that he deemed edible - sure, there were bits and pieces around, but not enough to buy him sufficient sustenance. The raptor was, after all, a rather daunting figure and his sheer size couldn't be sustained on what could only be described as finger-food during the colder seasons. He needed something much meatier, and for this reason, he was forced to do what he always did during this particular season... He had to leave his swamp.

Admittedly, Daevyn was not the sort to wander far and he had old haunts that he went back to time and time again. Each would always be replenished by the time he returned, and any new company that had decided this was there territory could easily be dissuaded. He could be persuasive when he wanted to be, some might have regarded it as particularly forceful, but it did the job and his old haunts became his again very quickly.

This season was to be of no exception as the grimey, mud covered stallion gave himself a mighty stretch and embarked on his journey away from the swamps. He made quick work of it, acutely aware that the routes hadn't changed by much and the battered tracks still existed. All in all, things were as he expected on his excursion and he was confident that for once his old haunts were truly his. After all, the walk had been so quiet and pleasant that it seemed that no one had been brave enough to re-enter his forest since the first time!

Thus as he breached the boundaries of the forest and moved deeper in (towards the heat), he afforded himself the opportunity to assess each of the newly sprouted shrubs and trees. He quickly determined that some would be of no value this year and would be spared until the next, but the deeper he got, the older the plant life and the more appropriate it was to his tastes. In fact, it wasn't long until he caught sight of a particularly pleasant looking tree and the sturdy bark on it...

Cajmera

 

[Cajmera]

Ryade was not a very old Soquili, but she liked to think of herself as 'timeless.' Ever since she was a tiny foal, she had had one obsession: trees. While the other foals had wanted to play games with each other, she had wanted to play with the trees; not as a landscape, but as a living, breathing entity. She had formed close bonds with the trees that surrounded her parents' home, giving them names, inventing personalities for them. She slept against their trunks, snuggled beneath their exposed roots. As she got bigger and bolder, she made her way up into their branches, putting her nimbleness and light weight to good use.

Eventually, she had worked her way away from the trees of her youth and into the depths of the forest. She had discovered, much to her delight, that the further in you went, the older and bigger the trees got. Trees that would bend under her weight gave way to specimens that could support twenty of her; branches that dipped at the touch of a hoof stood straight and strong. In the end, she decided to make her new home amidst the old oak growth, giving the trees new names and personality. Others might consider it a bit gloomy there, but for her, it was an Eden.

And just like an Eden, it needed to be protected.

Ryade had been daydream up on a branch of one of the largest trees. It was a favorite hang out of hers; up there, she was safe from most ground-dwelling mischief makers, and able to watch the light dance through the leaves. On top of that, it was a good place from which to watch the world go by.

It was the orange that caught her attention, really. Out here, things tended to be brown, black, grey, and maybe green; orange was a total wildcard! And once she'd noticed him, she wasn't about to let him out of her sight...not until she knew if he was safe. So she crouched low on the sturdy limb, watching the stallion as he made his way closer and closer to her friends. She WANTED to give him the benefit of the doubt, but she wasn't taking any chances with her beloved trees!

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

Cajmera

Crack!

The soquili wasted no time when he found a tree that he deemed suitable, splintering the bark with his fangs. A large chunk fell away, landing against his hooves while he took the opportunity to review the tree itself for sap. After all, while Daevyn certainly needed to eat, he also didn't want his food sources to die and sap was a cause for concern. Fortunately for him, it seemed that the tree he had chosen was perfect... Not only had the bark fallen away but a delicate green film still existed beneath.

The raptor was soon satisfied that the tree would heal in time, he would simply refrain from touching it for the next few years until the bark was thick and weighty again. After all, there were plenty of trees in the vicinity and he wouldn't want for choice!

Happy with his current acquisition, he temporarily ignored the tree in favour of splintering the bark at his hooves properly, and crunching each part with his teeth. There was a knack for this, but it did result in his jaw 'chomping' rather loudly and the bark to crack even more so, but it was the only way to mulch it and make use of the more tender and juicier part underneath.

Alas, he was completely unaware of the mare above his head and hadn't the slightest inclination that she might be about to rain on his parade. As it stood, he still assumed that the forest was still his...and only his.  

[Cajmera]

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Ryade couldn't believe it. The stallion had seemed confident and like he was a Soquili on a mission when he'd first appeared, but she'd had no idea what that mission entailed. Well, now she knew, and she didn't like it one bit! What was he doing, that dastardly tree molester? How dare he show up like that and start attacking HER trees! Where did he get off, thinking that was remotely acceptable?!

"Hey! Hey you!" Ryade had never been one to beat around the bush when it came to things she was passionate about. Yes, she was small for an Angeni, but she was still pretty tall for a regular Soquili, and she didn't feel any fear approaching the stallion. And approach she did! Glaring the whole time, she dropped down from her tree branch to a lower one, then a lower one, then a lower one before landing on the ground and stalking over to the tree molester. "What do you think you're DOING?" Let him try to defend or justify his behavior, just let him try!

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

Cajmera

There was a buzzing in his ear, he couldn't quite put his hoof on why, but there was definitely a buzzing. Strangely, it was a familiar buzzing sound, one he hadn't heard in quite some time but it's purpose wasn't entirely lost on him. It was that annoying buzzing - buzzing that came from a certain type of creature that he found difficult to tolerate. Those frustrating do-gooders who always thought they new best, and saw it as their mission to make sure everyone understood that.

Thus, when the source of the buzzing finally came in to his line of sight, he continued to chew on his bark with a bored expression. He paused only once to rip another piece of the chunk from his hoof, and then regarded Ryade with a hint of irritation. He did have to wonder why she was in his forest and what purpose she could possibly serve. Based on the state of those wings, maybe someone had ripped them off... shame they hadn't done a better job of it.

"Eating," he stated at last, in a tone so blunt it seemed to have the full force of his opinion behind it. What kind of a stupid question was she asking, what did she think the answer was, Voodoo?

The mare was a moron, that much was certain.  

[Cajmera]

Eating. Eating! Of all the insufferable, pointless answers, the monster was actually going to say 'eating.' Because of course, she could SEE that he was eating; the whole point of her question had been to give him a tiny, eensy-weensy chance to attempt to justify his flagrant tree abuse. But no, he was just going to say 'eating' and just...eat! There was no justification here, absolutely none; while she hadn't expected to hear a worthwhile defense to begin with, the fact that he didn't even try simply made Ryade even angrier.

"Eating? You're EATING a part of this beautiful old tree? Ripping bits off of it for your own selfish pleasaures when there are a MULTITUDE of other things better to eat?" This might be a slight exaggeration, especially in the wintertime, but as far as Ryade was concerned, even eating rocks would be better than ripping into one of her trees! Maybe fruit and fresh green grasses wasn't a choice right now, but nothing justified such flagrant tree abuse!

Truth be told, Ryade was hardly intimidating to a regular Soquili, let alone a large fellow like Daevyn. But if she lacked scare-prescence, she more than made up for it in commitment to her cause and a willingness to put herself out there. Way out there, as the situation merited. Sure, the stallion was covered in mud and green things and smelled like he'd rolled out of a carcass that morning; sure, he seemed unimpressed with her and clearly didn't care that he was abusing a tree. Well, those odds weren't about to deter her, nosiree!

Huffing, she gave the stallion her most majestic glare. "Why don't you go eat some fallen branches, if you must eat something tree-ish? Or maybe some brambles, or scrub, or something else that parasites on nice, good plants?" No one could say she wasn't at least being reasonable; she didn't HAVE to give the stallion options, but there you go. Just because he was an unrepentant tree abuser didn't mean she couldn't be magnanamous.

Forgiving was another matter.

Epine de Rose