Red Fern Forest Drunk in love

Kino Your Gift is: You've discovered an orchard of apples! The ones on the ground have fermented and you start to feel a little tipsy!
@Sahalie

 

Kino was finally back in the lore, this he was sure of. And, thankfully, he was close to the Bend as the area surrounding it he knew well. The Red Forest, after all, had been his residing place for many months when he’d first met Hal. He’d re-entered earlier in the day and made his way down from the northern portions. And, even though he was so close he was hesitant. He had been gone longer than he’d wanted to be and didn’t know how they would react to his return. Would they accept him? How was Hal? How much had changed in the time he’d been gone? Things happened quickly and his own journey had gone to a dead end. Of course, he wasn’t sure what else he’d expected from it. He’d been so stupid to leave.

His doubts kept him from going straight to the bend, but instead he decided to wait another day and rest up to be fresh for whatever awaited him. Setting up shop in one of his old holes, or rather one nearby for he’d grown considerably since those times and no longer fit in some of his favorite spots, he’d gone out to catch a little grub. On his way, a peculiar scent attacked his senses. It was distinctly sweet, almost sickeningly so but also with an air of sharpness he couldn’t quite detect. Being the curious boy he was, of course he followed it. He came upon an orchard of sorts, with red things on the trees and the ground that looked a lot like large red berries. His stomach grumbled in reply to the sweet odor that attacked him, making him salivate. He was certain they were safe to eat, for how could something so delicious smelling be bad for you?

At first he tried to jump and pluck some of the strange fruit from the branches, but even with his prowess and height he remained unsuccessful. Growing frustrated, he finally turned to the ones on the ground. They weren’t as fresh looking as the ones in the trees, but he discovered that the strongest smell was definitely coming from them. Maybe these were strange fruits that got better once they fell from the trees? Bending his head he sniffed curiously at the thing, tilting his head before summoning up the courage to finally swoop down and take a bite. It was slightly soft, and the taste was a strong mixture of bitter and sweet. But, altogether it wasn’t unpleasant and Kino wasn’t one to be picky. In fact, he kind of liked them. He went on his way, finishing off the one he had started and polished off 4 more before he began to feel rather..strange. His mind went kind of fuzzy, but his body felt so warm even in the coldness around him. Slowly a smile had begun to spread on his face, his body tingling pleasantly and his head humming. “I wish Hal were here,” he thought outloud to himself as he munched, a pout settling on his lips. “Haaallll, forgive meeee. I’m suh stupid,” he called, knowing at the back of his mind that she wasn’t there and couldn’t hear him. But, he was feeling good so why not vent a little?

A spicy, pleasantly decaying took her paws away from the deer trail she had been following through the ferns. It was oddly familiar. Licking her lips, the girl decided to resolve the sense of deja-vu and picked up the pace, dew-ladden red tendrils brushing her sides as she jogged onward. Only a few minutes passed until the scent grew overpowering and Sahalie found the memory of a thick-tongued, stumbling Spieden and the emotional secrets that had been shared between them. "Apples", she whispered to herself, remembering Spieden's freer smiles and even freer words. At the time, she had been young and cautious and deathly afraid that her caretaker had ingested poison. She was still young, but maybe a little less cautious now, and was feeling tickled by curiosity: what sort of affect would the apples produce in her? Honestly, Spieden didn't seem like she was having a bad time until Sahalie had decided to use the crack facade to get answers to her questions.  Maybe Sahalie just wanted to stumble around and have a weird time. She felt like she had earned it. This was a new experience and she was going to have it.

She approached the base of one tree laden with red-brown, pockmarked fruits. Trying to be brave but also wanting to be adult or maybe even scientific about this venture, her tongue-tip flicked one apple. It seemed mild, pretty sweet. It was probably okay to put the whole thing in her mouth. However, has her cheeks ballooned with the round fruit and the juices seeped out with one squish she found her mouth puckering at the overwhelming sourness. But Sahalie was not one to spit out a food even if it was weird. The second one would likely be better. With a hard swallow, the bulge disappeared down her throat.

She began hoovering up more just as she had Spieden do so many months ago. She wondered when she would begin to feel funny.

The apples had all disappeared into the black vacuum before the girl could even start to feel the effects. Pouting, the girl looked around. There were no more apple trees around her, but the scent of fermented fruit lingered still and she felt as if she could smell more of the trees wafting towards her on the breeze. The air felt a little soupier—or maybe it was just her legs, which seemed to move weirdly underneath her—but eventually she found herself at the edge of not just one more apple tree, but a whole orchard of them. Trunks blocked her from the most interesting sight to be seen, a lone boy sucking up apples, for now. Instead she just went about doing what a good Stanley Steamer would do.

Until she heard his voice.

"Hehhhh?" her voice felt cloudier, how strange. Her whole body leaned left so that she could see around the knotted tree trunk. Oh! It was Kino! In her apple-stupor she found all the emotions she day dreamed, feared, or thought she would feel dampened or even entirely absent. It was just a little twitch of surprise, just the little "oh." And there he was, in her presence again. "Hey hey hey" she said in her chummiest fat-albert tone, "Loook whooooooo it is!"

"Hey" She said again, for good measure. She couldn't remember if she said hello or not yet. "Hi." That was a little less formal. They were friends, after all, right?

There is a moose carcass that has been scavenged by coyotes nearby. +15 Health

 

Kino had rolled over onto his back, peering through the branches to the clear night sky above. The stars twinkled down, bright and shining and he thought that they reminded him sort of like Hal’s eyes. Jeez, why was he thinking about her so much? And why did it smell like her all of a sudden. Snorting he rolled over, clumsily stumbling to his paws and marching forward. But, he was suddenly hitting something. And it was talking. The boy backed up, looking down in confusement. Two bright orbs stared back at him and for a moment he thought the stars had come down and were talking to him. Blinking a few times his vision cleared enough to place a face to it and he was even more surprised to find it was Hal herself.

“Hal, what’re you doin here? Why you actin so funny? You got somethin wrong with your feet?” he asked, watching her stumble around not realizing he was doing the same thing. He stared at her for a minute longer then bent his head and pressed his nose against hers, squinting as his vision went fuzzy then focused. “Hm...I missed you,” he said, almost like it was a question. A part of him wasn't entirely convinced that it was Hal, but rather one of the dreams he’d had. And boy, was this one realistic and much more different from the ones he’d had before.

"I live here dumby." Not here-here, but surely the boy understood that she got around enough within a safe distance of the pack lands. Her neck craning outwards, she sniffed and squinted hard at the boy. Alastor was acting weird. But when she saw all the apple cores littered around him she could not be so surprised. Her butt plunked down on the ground next him, though her aim was a little off and she might have placed her amble rump on some of his longer hairs. "Idunno I had some apples. Cause I member they made Spieden act funny and, well, I been feelin funny lately so I assumed I should just act the part too." Really this wasn't so far off the mark, and maybe no so different from humans drowning their sorrows in cans of beer thousands of miles away underneath their cozy roofs.

His nose was touching hers, which was a little weird considering he didn't usually make contact with her without reason, or without her instigating, but Sahalie went along with it because she wasn't sure if it was supposed to mean anything. She didn't have the time nor the inclination to work it out. Seemed like an awful lot of work. "Missed me? I'm right here," Her paw came down on his nose, pushing it away lightly with a giggle. Even the boy's undisguised attempt at something more than friendship was too subtle to the dark Tainn beginning to feel the effects of the fermentation full on. She was, after all, a very small wolf who had sucked up quite a few more apples than Spieden had gotten the chance to. 

"So you had some apples too, huh? You should try walking. It's fun." Some part of her locked up behind bars wondered dimly if she shouldn't be asking how his trip was, or yelling at him about how long her had taken, or asking if he even still wanted to be her friend. But the other part of her just wanted to have something that was the same, something constant. She was always trying to tear the rug out from underneath him, rile him up. It hadn't gone so well with Sven. Couldn't they just have fun? 

 

"I live here dumby." she snarked, and if she had said that to Kino at any other point in time he would have clearly gotten what she meant. But, at that moment he was not quite at his full wit’s capacity, so he stared at her dumbfounded. “Uh-uh, you live in th’bend. With Spieden and Triell and Serach and everyone. Rememmbberrr?” he said, raising his eyebrows in emphasis. Next, she revealed that she’d had some of the apples as well and he grinned widely. “You had some too? They taste pretty damn good, doncha think? I feel kinda funny now too, though, but I like it ya know? Kinda like I’m flyin’ or somethin’.That would be pretty cool too, to be able to fly,” he rambled, eyes widening and head bobbing.

When she pushed him away he flopped down on his butt, pouting like he was 3 months old again waiting for Ari to stop pushing so he could get some food or playtime too. “Well, yeah, but...but you weren’t. Like, you weren’t right here. Well, you could have been but I wasn’t. I was chasing stupid Ari and I couldn’t even find her and it was really cold and I had no one to talk to so I missed you. And...yeah,” the boy floundered, rubbing his paws at the dirt as his brows knitted together and a frown tugged at his lips. Normally Kino was a closed book, afraid to show emotion on his face but it seemed that had all been thrown out the window.

”You should try walking. It's fun.” she pipped and suddenly he was confused again. “Fun? We walk allll the time though, what’s so fun about it now?” rising to his paws he took a step as if to prove his point. Much to his surprise, his leg promptly gave out and he went snout first into the dirt. He rolled onto his stomach, head swaying before giving it a strong shake. “Not fun,” he grummbled.

"Fffff," was about all she was able to retort with, bopping him on the muzzle once more, "That's what I meant." She noticed now that the boy was being awfully talkative. Normally it was the other way around: just her yakking away and occasionally asking for his input on things when the conversation began to feel lopsided. Now his opinions were flying unbidden from his mouth and she was just left to blink, her head was full of sloshing apples. Flying? Sahalie felt like the opposite: her paws were completely grounded, heavy, and possibly made out of dandelions. Heavy dandelions, but that sort of fuzziness. Her head, however, felt detached and floaty.... but definitely not flying. She had always imagined flying being more exhilarating than this.

Al continued to go on at length, elaborating on the "missing her" in a way that just caused her to shrug uncomfortably. Alastor had not mentioned his sisters name before, but now here it was dropped accidentally into his rant. The small, rational part left in her begged the dandelion-headed version of herself to ask about her, Ari, or the trip, or anything real, but suddenly her vision began to cloud and the wooziness became stronger as she tried to think about these difficult things.

As if to mirror the world's sudden shift in balance that her stomach was feeling, her friend tried to walk but ended up rolling over onto the ground. She giggled weakly, taking a few deep breaths. "Hey, hey be careful." More air. That made her feel better. "You know....when Spie had these abbles she just got talkative and like... dizzy but I feel like...way way worse.. Maybe I had too... to..."

Unfortunately she was looking directly at Al when her jaws parted and she hacked up her first bout of apple.

"Aw...." she mumbled, as if it were all just sort of disappointing.

 

Kino was grinning again as Hal made her way over, mother henning him about being careful but his grin slowly dissipated as he watched her. The former prince had spent a lot of time watching that face, memorizing her expressions and her mannerisms even if he hadn’t realized he’d been doing it and right now he could tell she wasn’t feeling well. “Hey, you oka---” he began to ask, then suddenly she was vomiting and he hurriedly scuffled back onto his paws. His nose wrinkled for a moment at the pungent odor, but even in his drunken state his worry for the girl was stronger.

“Hey now, don’t do that,” Kino said, hobbling over and carefully stepping around the puke. “I think...maybe some water would be good. There’s, like, a pond around here somewhere I think,” he said, moving to nudge her in the right direction. They would be a stumbling mess of a duo, but water would definitely do good for the both of them. “Maybe those apples weren’t the best idea…” he mumbled. It wasn’t long before they were able to reach the small pond and the silver yearling led the sunshine girl to the edge, encouraging her to drink and standing protectively next to her to make sure she didn’t fall in. The time and worry he felt had quickly started to sober him up, the warm fuzzies turning into small tingles and a slightly thick tongue. He thought he even felt a headache setting in.

i am so sorry this took so long

"Hmpf," She responded simply as she stared down at the vomit at her paws. "There I go making a mess again." Her pout was so pronounced she felt suddenly as if her body was going to start crying without her approval. She did not want to cry. She was not that sad. Instead, she just felt very, very weird and was busy trying to reconcile how strange Al had been acting with the wolf she had known. At least now that she had vomited he was acting more normally: fretting over her like he always did. Distantly, she wondered if it was sad that she was more comfortable with this Alastor than the other one.

"Okay," She said, bobbing her head in approval but midway through the third bob she realized all the head movement was quite disarming and it was making her very dizzy. Her eyes closed. "Yeah, water." Al's nose bumped her but that made her feel even weirder, more woozy and awful. She tried to remain very still. 

"Can I keep my eye closed?" she asked weakly, "I feel better with them closed." Though honestly it didn't matter what he said, since she intended to keep them tightly shut no matter what. She did not realize that it was not very possibly for Al to hold her eyes open, but her mind was not chugging along as it normally would. Working her eyes and her paws at the same time seemed a very daunting task, and she was glad to put wobbly paw in front of the next wobbly paw and remain focused on the feel of the dead grass and leaves under her paws and the warmth of Alastor's pelt beside her.

Her eyes opened only a little so that she could aim her snout into the water and lap up a little drink. It did not make her feel a whole lot better. There was not much room in her stomach. She laid down right in front of the water. "I made such a mess of things when you were gone Al. Ya know Sven?" Not realizing he didn't know Sven. "I basically tried to marry myself off to him. I don't even know what I was thinking." That was an extreme explanation and fairly removed from the truth but she was feeling very down on herself tonight.

 

He supervised as she drank, taking up his role as her guardian like a snug glove. As she laid down he made himself comfortable in a sitting position. They were able to sit for a few moments in silence then and Al was able to collect his thoughts, cringing as he thought more clearly on his words and actions. They had certainly been very much unlike him, but they hadn’t been wrong. He had missed her, missed her terribly in fact. It had taken much of him to leave after his realization that he was in love with Hal, and after finding out that the journey had been a wild goose chase he regretted it even more. He wasn’t the type of wolf to just up and leave because of some stupid whim, he was logical and he was someone who actually looked into things. He glanced down at his friend, a small frown tugging at his maw. Who knew what could have happened to her in his absence. Stupid.

"I made such a mess of things when you were gone Al.” she said out of the blue. He fully turned his head to look at her, brows creasing.“Ya know Sven?" she said, and his stomach sunk further. He didn’t know a Sven, but it sounded pretty male to him. A part of him flared up with jealousy but he was quick to try and stamp it down. Don’t blow up, don’t be unreasonable he reminded himself. "I basically tried to marry myself off to him. I don't even know what I was thinking." and that right there caused a little crack in his heart. He held back a cringe.

He didn’t know if he wanted to ask the question that first popped into his mind. It made him feel sick, more than the apples had. But..damn his curious and self-destructive nature he found he had to know. “Do you...ah...do you like this Sven?” he inquired as casually as he could, taking in little breaths of air as his chest constricted. He couldn’t blame her if she did. He didn’t know the guy but he was probably less messed up than he was. Probably carried a lot less baggage and could help her in ways that he never could. Kino had never really been anyone’s first choice anyhow.