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 Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2025 12:05 pm
This was far from Rudolph's first winter. He was no young, brash colt, headstrong and foolish. He was supposed to be older and wiser now, less likely to run headfirst into trouble.
Supposed to being the key word here. In his defense, though, the storm had kicked up out of absolutely nowhere - it had been a downright lovely week, a lovely day even as recently as an hour or two before, and now it was snowing like it would never stop snowing, ever, and Rudolph...
Rudolph was alone.
He had told Clarice he would be right back - he was just going to patrol the edges of their territory, make sure they were safe, before settling down to a late dinner and a well-deserved post-food cuddle with his mate. It wasn't supposed to be a long trip.
He was in his own territory, the territory he shared with his beloved mate, and he was trending dangerously close to lost.
It was ridiculous, and it made Rudolph so annoyed. He couldn't be lost. He was in his own back yard, for crying out loud!
Rudolph raised his nose - which was freezing now, by the way - and sniffed the air, trying to sense past the cold and the wet brought by snowflakes. If he could catch a shade of Clarice, he could follow it home, and they would both laugh about how foolish this whole situation was, and then everything would be fine.
Everything. Would. Be. Fine.
So he kept trudging through the snow. He wanted to conserve his strength - leaping would take a lot of energy, even if he might traverse farther by jumping than by walking, it would get him nowhere if he just exhausted himself and was still as lost as he was.
He was not so lost as to call for help. So what if his hoofprints were already rapidly filling up with snow, covering his tracks so completely as if they'd never been there to begin with. He didn't need help getting home - he could do it himself. He'd done it hundreds of times.
Rudolph spared a second to glare up at the offending sky, gray and cloud-covered as it got closer to darkness. The weather had betrayed him, and if he could, he would find a way to seek his vengeance upon it.
Then he sighed and ducked his head down, letting his antlers protect his eyes as he continued to pound through the snow. He thought of Clarice, of the warm fire she surely had waiting for him, and he persevered.
((WC: 433))
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Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2025 12:48 pm
The snow fell peacefully around her. It was eerily quiet as she waited for her love to return. It had been a while since he had left. The snow fell lightly at first, but it wasn't long before it picked up and was soon covering the ground. She began to worry as it usually didn't take him that long to do a quick survelance of the area. She decided to make a fire; one for warmth, and two as a beacon to help him find home. It took a few tries but she was able to create a spark with her hoof on a flint rock and gently blew on the small pile of leaves until the fire began to bloom. She had a small chunk of wood nearby and kicked it over into the fire where it caught and began to burn. Soon she felt the warm expanding into the rest of the small cave they called home. It wasn't completely shielded from the storm, but it was deep enough she could stay dry and warm with the fire. She prepared the fire so that it wouldn't escape the confines of the rocks around it, and thankfully there was a small crevice in the ceiling where the smoke would escape. Satisfied, she left the fire and returned to the entrance of the cave, peering out. She squinted, hoping to catch sight of Rudolph through the trees and falling snow but with the light from the sun mostly blocked by clouds, it was no use. She pawed the ground with her hoof nervously. Should she go try to find him? She knew he could handle himself and didn't really need her help, but what if he had gotten hurt somehow? Worry set in and after a few moments of back and forth she ultimately decided she would venture out into the blizzard to look for him, but only as far out as she was still able to see the firelight from the cave. She took a moment to put another piece of wood into the fire, and satisfied it should keep burning, she left the cave. Snow immediately caught on her lashes, making it hard to see. She shook her head and squinted her eyes and pushed forward. The cold snow seeped in between her hooves and a chill crept through her. It was so cold. She was already second guessing herself, but she wouldn't turn back now. She had to make sure Rudolph was okay. [416 words]
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Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2025 1:19 pm
This was officially ridiculous. He had been gone for far too long, and the snow showed no sign of letting up any time soon. He knew Clarice would be worried about him, and that spurred him faster more than the damp, which was steadily seeping up his legs, making his knees knock together as he walked.
This would teach him. If given the choice between staying safely with Clarice and anything else, choose Clarice.
He didn't know how much time had passed since he'd left - not really, other than the fact that it had been far longer than his normal patrols had taken. Briefly, he thought about turning around and trying to re-follow his footsteps, backwards, so that he would eventually wind up here he had begun, but the peril of ending up even more lost than he already was weighed upon him.
How had he gotten lost? Clarice would never let him hear the end of it.
Wait.
Wait, was that smoke?
Rudolph raised his nose again, a frown creasing his brow as he sniffed. Something definitely smelled smokey, and if he squinted against the wind and the snow, he could almost - almost - make out the deep gray smoke against the lighter gray of the snowy clouds.
At least...that's what he thought it was. He couldn't quite be sure, the weather being what it was, but when all else failed, Rudolph tried to follow his nose, so he ducked his head once more and began to follow the smell. Why did all these trees and rocks and bushes look exactly alike? Rudolph sighed and shook his head, trying to focus on the smell of smoke, the hope that it was friendly smoke and not, somehow, a forest fire in the middle of a blizzard, and the idea of Clarice, waiting for him.
If he squinted into the snow, and tried very hard, he could almost imagine her there before him, guiding him home.
Wait.
Rudolph stopped. Blinked the snow from his eyes, then shook his head to clear the remaining snow from his cheeks and antlers. He squinted again. He wasn't almost imagining her at all! He would know that lovely shade of fur anywhere, even in the middle of a snowstorm.
"Clarice!" Rudolph called, just as a gust of wind ripped past him, and he had no way of knowing if she had heard him, so far in the distance. Motivated now, he started to take great running leaps, bounding toward her, trying to cover as much ground as possible.
"Clarice! Wait! Clarice!"
((WC: 425))
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Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2025 4:58 pm
The wind picked up making visibility a pain. Snow fell faster now and what seemed like bigger flakes landed on her face. The sun gave little light to the area with the storm but she could tell it was almost night. She knew that it would be even colder soon and that would be a terrible time to be caught in a storm. She searched the ground for any hoof prints but any that might have been there before were already covered. She would just have to use the landmarks around her to help her navigate the area. She knew where Rudolph usually patrolled and began her journey in that direction. It was a trecherous walk through the blinding snow and freezing cold. She had almost fallen numerous times but kept pushing forward. For a second she thought she had heard something on the wind. She turned to look towards the sound and not seeing anything, she kept moving forward. Her front legs found a very icy patch of earth and slid forward, causing her to lose her balance and stumble against a tree. The lowest branches dumped their snow onto her head and neck. Grumbling, she shook the snow off and regained her footing and continued on. She didn't realize at the time that the branch had caught hold of her bow and was left dangling in the tree. It hung there, a bright red beacon in the white landscape. [241 words] ((Edited to change the last two lines just a bit to make more sense in the bow being able to be seen and not just covered in snow))
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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2025 10:36 am
It had perhaps been something akin to a mistake to get so excited about seeing Clarice. He was out of breath, now, and panting, the white puffs of air from his mouth mingling with the snowstorm around him. And he hadn't even caught up to her.
He had made it to where he was sure - pretty sure - mostly sure - okay, somewhere in the neighborhood of sure - she had been, and she was not there. Of course she hadn't heard him, with the wind howling. Where had she gone? Rudolph squinted into the gathering storm, trying to orient himself and put himself in Clarice's hooves at the same time. If he were her, where would he have gone?
The back of his mind said he hoped she would go home - but that wasn't Clarice's style. If she was worried about him, she woudn't stop looking for him until she found him, and then if he went home and just waited for her, she'd be cold, worried and mad at him when she got back.
If she got back.
It was this thought that spurred him. He pretended he hadn't seen the faint, flickering golden light calling him from the direction he was now fairly confident was their home; instead, he trudged forward, following imaginary hoofprints. He kept his head down, and it was only when he felt resistance did he look up and see what was causing it.
Clarice's bow. It had tangled in a branch, and then tangled in his antlers. It sent a pang through him - he could count on one hoof how many times he'd seen her without her bow; to have it and not her felt...wrong.
With as much care as he could manage, Rudolph disentangled the bow from the branches and let it rest over one of his antlers. Maybe it had some sort of homing device that would help him find her faster...
But at least he knew she was still out here. Had passed this way - and not too distantly, based on the amount of snow that had landed and stuck to the bow. He could catch her. He would catch her, and then they would both go home and never, ever leave their little warm home again.
"Clarice!" Rudolph called again, gathering his strength to take another set of bounding leaps. She was close - she had to be close. He could catch up to her. His legs were longer than hers, and he had a loose idea of where he was going, while she was just wandering. He would find her.
"Clarice, where are you!" Rudolph shouted, putting all his baritone into it - the wind would snatch away his words, but maybe if some timber of his voice could reach her...
"Clarice, turn around! Come home!"
((WC: 463))
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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2025 11:40 am
She didn't know when her teeth had started chattering but it was causing her entire body to shiver. Maybe this wasn't the best idea. Maybe she should turn around and go home, and hopefully he would be there waiting for her. She shook her head at that thought. No, if he was ok and had gone home, he would now be looking for her. If it hadn't been snowing so much, she might be able to leave deliberate tracks for him to follow in the snow but they had quickly been filling up and disappearing. It was then that she heard something on the wind...again. It seemed ... it sounded ... like her name!
It had to be Rudolph!
She tried to follow the sound, but there was no way of telling where it came from. "Rudy?!" she yelled, desperately hoping her voice carried on the wind. "Rudy! I'm here!"
((148 words))
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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2025 11:53 am
Elation filled his heart. He couldn't make out any of the actual words she was saying, but he would know Clarice's voice anywhere, anytime, any weather. He raced toward the sound of her voice, only going carefully enough so as not to lose her precious bow, all thoughts of exhaustion or the cold forgotten.
"Clarice!" he called again. "I'm coming! Clarice!" Rudolph kept calling her name, hopeful that she would at least be able to tell that it wasn't coming from further away - hopefully it would be enough to at least keep her in place, if not bring her closer to him.
Finally, hazily, like waking up from a dream, Rudolph saw her. At least, he was pretty sure it was her - mostly he saw a tawny outline, but a tawny outline that he recognized. That he loved.
"Clarice!" Rudolph called again, confident now that she would be able to hear him. He trudged through the snow and closed the distance between them, immediately nuzzling her face with his own, before shifting slightly to transfer the bow from his antlers to her ear.
"You dropped something," he said, giving her a sheepish smile, because he knew that was hardly the most important topic of discussion right now. "I'm so glad I found you. Can we go home and not leave again till spring really arrives? Like, not till baby birds and flowers are happening?" It wasn't a real request, but it was how he felt - he just wanted to be home, safe, and with Clarice, and let the world storm itself - eventually - into a new, more peaceful season.
((WC: 268 ))
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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2025 12:11 pm
She heard her name, clearly this time just as she caught sight of her love. She immediately knew it was him from his red nose. It was brighter than usual, due to the cold. She could almost say it was glowing. ((lol)) She was a bit confused as to why he was wearing a bow in his antlers though. It looked very familiar...like...Oh! It was her bow. She must have lost it and somehow he had found it. Her heart warmed at the thought that he had found it and kept it safe until he found her. "Rudy!" she cried just as he closed the distance between them. So many emotions ran through her at once. Elation in seeing him again, relief that he was ok and safe, as well as amusement in seeing her bow in his antlers. As he nuzzled her and gave her back her bow, she giggled and said, "But it was so cute on you, darling." She nuzzled him back, their breaths mingling on the icy air. "Thank you so much. I didn't even notice it was gone." She pulled away just enough so she could look him in the eyes and smile and answered his question, "Of course. Let's go home, love. And we can stay as long as you want." ((217 words)) END
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