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Cougar - "Be a menace. That's what the duck did." Cougar snorted, eyeing Marley cautiously. If a duck could grin mischievously, that's exactly what Marley's gave looked like. Safe from his terroriser, Cougar stepped into the stream, positioning himself to be able to drink, and observe Marley at once. Marley waddled towards the stream, and Cougar threw his head up, snorting a warning and stepping away from the duck. Marley didn't approach Cougar further, content to swim in circles in the shallow parts near the bank. Cougar sighed in relief, relaxing a bit from the sound of the flowing water, and distance from the duck. |
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Marble -
Marble giggled. "Oh, c'mon, he's just a duck." Marble teased, lowering her head to the stream and drinking. |
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Cougar - Cougar didn't reply, drinking water a little ways upstream from her. Marley was paddling even further upstream, and Cougar didnt seem to care. He stood there, letting the water flow past his ankles and legs, head raised as he observed his surroundings. Water dribbled off of his whiskers, and he felt strangely tranquil, but still a little conflicted. After a few moments, he noticed things flowign apast his legs down stream. They were little yellow flowers. He looked up, and saw Marley yanking them off the bank further upstream and letting the water transport them away. Cougar lowered his muzzle and grabbed a couple as they went past. He formed a wet, droopy excuse for a bouquet, and walked over to Marble to present them to her. He seemed proud, despite his unique work, and smiled at her while he waited for her reaction. |
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Marble -
Marble brought her head up as Cougar approached. She smiled widely when she saw the flowers. "Oh, Cougar, their so pretty! I love flowers, especially yellow ones." she swooned, leaning forward to sniff the flowers. She grinned, admiring the flowers, but the realized where they were coming from when she saw Marley picking them off the bush by the stream. "As beautiful as they are, and as much as I love them, they are kinda poisonous, so maybe you shouldn't hold them in your mouth..." she said. They wouldn't kill him, but if he swallowed one, it would make him sick for a little while. |
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Cougar - Cougar wilted. I'm an idiot. He thought to himself, dropping them back in the water. He rinsed his muzzle off, and silently wandered upstream, head low. He approached Marley, and told the duck to stop, explaining what Marble had said about the flowers. Marley obeyed, surprisingly, and flew up to Cougar's back. He settled on the stallion's withers, and rode along as Cougar hopped up onto the bank. He walked downstream along the ground, and nodded at Marble, saying "I'll be back in the clearing." With that, he dipped back into the woods. Once again, he felt naive and like an idiot. Why could he not do anything right? |
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Marble -
Marble nodded. "Okay," she said and watched him go. She felt guilty for putting him down like that, but she didn't want to see him sick from those flowers.... Marble jumped out of the stream and trotted after Cougar, yelling. "Cougar, wait up!" Eventually, she did catch up. "Cougar, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to put you down like that, I loved the flowers, really, I did, but I just don't want to see you get sick." she ranted quickly, worried he would still be angry with himself. |
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Cougar - He was still angry at himself. He knew Marble was trying to make him feel better, but he was still lingering in his failure. "Its alright." He snuffed quickly, still looking ahead as he wandered through the trees. Maybe it was time he had another conversation with the therapy bird herself. Cleo's yapping wouldn't cheer him up, but perhaps it would help him navigate his situation. He tripped on a tree root, not paying attention to where he was putting his feet. He went down to his knees on his forelegs, but quickly rose again. It had happened quickly, and Marley was fluttering to the ground a few steps away, thrown from Cougar's withers. He shook himself off, and took a few steps. "I'm alright." He said, before Marble could worry over him. He continued forward, shooting a glare at the tree that had tripped him. Marley looked up at Marble for a moment, as if trying to read her expression, and paused. The duck glanced between Cougar and Marble, shook out his feathers, quacked something inaudible, and started waddling after his friend. |
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Marble -
"okay..." Marble said quietly and looked away. Marble wanted to talk, she really didn't mean to put him down and make him feel that way, she just didn't want him to get sick, and now she felt torn between what she did and what she could've done. If she didn't say anything he would probably have been happier, but then they ran the risk of him getting sick. But now Cougar was unhappy and being all distant, even though he wouldn't get sick now. She really didn't know how to feel at this point. Marble gasped as Cougar fell and went to ask if he was okay, but he interupted her as soon as she opened her mouth. "okay..." she repeated skeptically. Marble just kept walking until they arrived at the canopy. "Um, I'm just gonna go down to the meadow for a bit. Be back later." she said quietly, and changed directions, now walking towards the meadow. Once she was away, Cleo flew over and pecked at Cougars ears a few times. "What the hell just happened?" she tweeted. |
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Cougar - Cougar flicked his ear, trying to get Cleo to stop pecking at it. "I don't know!" He snorted in an upset voice. "I just keep exacerbating my situation! Why is life so hard?" After Marble left, he sunk to the ground, lying down and examining his knees. They were fine. Dirty, and they stung a bit, but they seemed fine. He sighed and kept talking. "Why is everything so much harder than it used to be?" Marley hopped up on Cougar's hindquarters, and quacked a few times. The duck normally talked on gibberish, but he seemed to produce a few "words". "Quack, cupple feraphy, quack." |
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Cleo -
Cleo stopped pecking and landed on the ground again. "Well, what did happen???" she asked, clearly annoyed. "I can't help you if I don't know what happened" Cleo heard Marley and pieced together the jibberish words. "Yeah, listen to your duck" she said. |
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Warming, with Sleet and Heavy Icing
