raining, pouring - feuepine

The sun was hiding behind a thick layer of clouds, the trees were rustling in a steady, cool wind, and Oros was once again dragging Theodore along on another 'adventure'. The excited librarian pulled the reluctant clock-maker along by his wrist, Theodore jogging to try and keep up. Following behind, at a careful distance were the cosprouts of Theodore and Oros respectively. Auritus, Theodore’s fairytale Lapito, hopped along carefully, expression set in resignation, carefully keeping his watch tucked inside his coat pocket. Waddling cheerfully beside him was Chalkos, Oros’ Patoy, who occasionally nipped at Auritus’s tail whenever he slowed down.

“Oros, I don’t think that now is the best time to test this-“

“There’s no better time to go Kerora-spotting! They only ever come out in summer, and this book says they all gather during cloudy weather to share some of the summertimes they’ve gathered! Won’t it be incredible to see it, Theo?”

Oros dropped Theodore’s hand and pulled out a book from his bag, gesturing at it and grinning widely. Theodore sighed heavily, glancing up at the darkening sky.

“I’m just worried about the rain… Auritus doesn’t like his clothes getting wet.”

As if summoned, the Lapito hopped up next to Theodore, front paw coming up to smack at his hoof. Theodore knelt to pick him up, cradling him gently in his arms. Auritus looked down to glare at Chalkos, who was quickly running up to them, wings flapping gleefully. Oros laughed and offered an arm to his cosprout, who quickly flew up, landing on his shoulder and perching carefully.

“Aww, Chalkos, did you nip at Auritus too much? Be nice to your friends!”

The Patoy quacked, and settled onto his shoulder further. Oros looked down and checked the book in his hands again, squinting at the map drawn inside.

“We should be getting close… We started walking around half an hour ago, right?”

Theodore nodded, pulling out a watch to check. Auritus did the same, polishing the surface of his watch with his paw vigorously.

“Yes, we left the train at 3:09, after arriving at the Hieland Hills station at precisely 3. We passed the entrance to Hieland Ranch at 3:32, and entered the hielands properly at 3:39. Since then, we have walked for twenty-seven minutes. The current time is 4:06 in the afternoon.”

With a synchronized satisfied nod, Theodore and Auritus put their watches away, the Lapito’s expression prideful while snuggled in his cossetling’s arms. Oros hummed thoughtfully.

“Odd… this book says the Kerora pond should be around a half-hour walk to the northwest from Hieland Station…”

Theodore’s eyes went wide, and he stepped over to look at the book Oros held.

“A half-hour…? But it’s been fifty-four minutes since we left the station.”

Oros adjusted his glasses, leaning closer into the book. Chalkos mirrored his movements, beak brushing against the paper. Oros’ long, ribboned tail swished behind him, curling and uncurling.

“Oh. Oh dear.”

Theodore’s expression fell into alarm, ears flattening against his head.

“What?! What did you find? Were we going the wrong way! Did the book say there’s a vicious beast between the station and the pond that can expand space in order to hunt its prey? Did we get off at the wrong town?! Is my watch broken?!”

He pulled his watch from his pocket, examining it anxiously, tail waving in distress behind him. Auritus made a soft chittering sound, papping his paw against Theodore’s arm in comfort. Oros rushed over, rubbing his hand over Theodore’s back.

“No, we were going northwest, no, there’s not a beast that hunts using spatial manipulation, no, we got off at the right town, and I don’t think your watch is broken, but you would know how to check that much better than I can.”

Theodore took a few deep breaths, hunching down into a squat and hugging Auritus closely to his chest. Oros continued to comfort his friend through his panic attack. Chalkos was silent, watching in concern.

After a few minutes, Theodore looked up, eyes wide. “I’m okay! I’m okay now.” He stood shakily, tail curling around his leg. Auritus snuffled, pushing his head into the crook of his arm. Oros opened the book, flipping a few pages back.

“So… I may have made a slight mistake!” Theodore sighed deeply, adjusting his own glasses and leaning in. “Turns out this map was made when they were using the old Hieland Hills station.” Theodore furrowed his brows for a moment, biting his lip.

“That’s… Isn’t the location of the old Hieland Hills station nearly fifty miles southeast from the current one?”

Oros laughed sheepishly, his tail flicking behind him.

“Ahaha… yes… Which means we’ve been walking away from the pond this entire time…” Theodore groaned, pulling his hat down over his eyes. Auritus beeped in admonishment at Oros, who looked away guiltily, smiling awkwardly. Chalkos quacked in disappointment and nipped his ear, making the cossetling wince and yelp in surprise. “Ow! Chalkos! I didn’t mean to! I just… brushed over that passage by mistake! It could happen to anybody!”

Theodore sighed again, peeking out over the rim of his hat.

“Let’s just… head back. We can try again another day.”

Oros beamed, his tail wagging behind him in excitement. “Yeah! We’ve got time before the summer season ends. There’s always another day!” Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a compass and a map, checking each carefully before looking up and scanning their surroundings. Nodding to himself, he tucked them back away. “We should be able to find our way back easily! We kept a near-perfect northwest trek, so as long as we go southeast, we’re golden.”

Theodore sighed again, setting Auritus down on the ground before putting his hat back on.

“That’s good to hear. If we keep the pace we kept before, we should be able to get back to the station around…” He pulled out his watch, squinting carefully. “5:04 in the afternoon. Conveniently, this could allow us to board the train to Town Brote before it departs at 5:30.”

Oros smiled, turning to the southeast and prancing off, Chalkos flapping off his shoulder and flying beside him for a few brief moments. Theodore followed after him, Auritus hopping a few feet behind.

The clouds kept gathering, the sky growing darker as the two cossetlings and their cosprouts walked. Around forty minutes later, as they approached a small grove of trees, the skies suddenly opened up, rain pouring down.

Auritus was the first to react, squeaking in great indignation and bolting away from the group, rushing to the trees. Theodore shouted in alarm, chasing after his Lapito. Oros yelled in alarm as well, hunching his body over his bag to try and keep the books inside dry, running towards the trees as well. Chalkos honked in delight, flapping her wings as she ran around, playing in the rain.

Oros and Theodore met up underneath the cover of the largest tree, both out of breath from running. Theodore had removed his vest and was using it to dry Auritus, who was huddled in on himself, glaring furiously at the rain. Oros pulled off his bag, pulling out the collection of books inside and looking them over carefully, dabbing at the few raindrops that had hit them with a handkerchief. The two sat in silence for a moment, before Oros put away his books and leaning back, sighing.

“So much for getting to the station at 5:04… Sorry for getting you into this kind of weather, Theo.”

Theodore looked up, Auritus wrapped into his vest and resting in his lap, nose snuffling at the fabric.

“Well… it’s not the worst situation we’ve been in. There was that time when you tried Killy wrestling and made me your tag-in… Or that time you tested out that rain dismissal spell that ended up giving you a personal raincloud for three days straight… Or that time you were trying out a new blinking trick and ended up stuck inside my parts storage…”

Oros laughed, falling onto his back and resting one of his legs on top of the other.

“That’s true, that’s true! I guess getting stuck in some rain isn’t the worst thing that’s happened… And Chalkos seems pretty pleased, too.”

The Patoy was still out in the rain, quacking gleefully. Raindrops scattered from her wings, rolling down her back and pooling in the footsteps she left in the mud. Even from a distance, the cossetlings could hear her. As if hearing her name, she ran over, quacking loudly. She flew up, shedding water all over the formerly-dry group, landing squarely onto Oros’s chest, his breath leaving him with a heavy ‘oof’. Auritus squeaked and bounced out of Theodore’s vest and lap, running to the other side of the tree and shaking wildly to rid himself of the water now clinging to his fur. Theodore sputtered, trying to wipe the water from his face and glasses. Oros simply laughed, resigned to his watery fate. Chalkos settled down into a seat on Oros’s chest, poking her beak at his vest pocket, where she knew he kept his treats for cosprouts who visited the library.

With a gentle smile, Oros reached in and pulled out one of her favorites, letting her peck it from his palm.

Auritus came carefully back around the tree, fur spikey and disorganized. He sniffed at the air, moving towards Oros and his pocket of treats. Oros offered one out to him, and Auritus jumped forward, grabbing it, before retreating quickly back. He hopped onto Theodore’s lap again, glaring reproachfully at Chalkos, who wasn’t bothered by it in the slightest. Theodore sighed again, leaning against the tree and looking out at the pouring rain.

“Judging from the pattern of how the clouds built up, how quickly the rain started, and the volume of the fall, I don’t think the storm will last very long. Patience is our key attribute for the time being.”

Oros nodded as best he could from his position lying down, feeding Chalkos another treat.

“I’m fine with waiting it out, if you think it’ll stop soon. It’s always nice spending time with you anyway!”

Theodore smiled, petting Auritus.

“The same to you, Oros. Although I find our… ‘adventures’ often tiring and anxiety-inducing, I still enjoy them so long as you do.”

Oros laughed, lifting his head to look at Theodore.

“I knew you liked the adventures! Just you wait, I have a great one planned for the next Starlit Masquerade! It involves a flock of Estra and their migration patterns, and I’m wondering if paint has any effect on-“

As Oros rambled on, Theodore listening patiently, their cosprouts content (if, perhaps, in the case of one Fairytale Lapito, slightly miffed), the rain fell, casting the hielands in a shaded light and cooling the air from the relentless summer heat. Summer would come and go, and then come and go again, but for now, it remained.