First Apple Bob

Eurydice stares and a pair of eyes stares right back at her. She squints, and the reflection on the surface of the water squints right back. Well… The partial reflection of her that she could see between the floating apples, that is.

A paw reaches out to touch the surface, causing a ripple. She paws at the water again, trying to reach for an apple when…

“Eurydice, that apple’s not for you.”

A pair of hands grab at her sides and lift her up into the air. Despite how much she struggles, the grip doesn’t loosen. In the end, she ends up laying limp in Delores’s hands with furrowed brows, pouting.

It’s only when she stops struggling that Delores puts her back down on the ground. Though… That certainly is a mistake, considering the fact that Eurydice is just like her cossetling – never one to behave. 

“Wa– hey!” 

SPLASH! Delores’s yelling goes in and out of her ears as she splashes around in the basin of water ; kicking her hind legs and jumping up then down. She yips happily, throwing water everywhere before she’s grabbed onto and pulled out of the water, only to be met with a pair of stern green eyes.

“Eurydice…” The baker’s voice is filled with disappointment, but all the dripping wet herald does is stare right back at her unapologetically.

Delores heaves out a sigh, then puts her down again. She starts to shake her body as soon as she’s on the ground, droplets of water flying everywhere and earning herself an offended gasp from the cossetling.

“Eurydice!” Chides Delores before she sighs again. “Oh, what am I to do with you…”

The vulorro lets out a yip in response, before walking over to the basin again to peer over the water. From the corner of her eyes, she can see Delores closing in. However, instead of picking her up again, the cossetling crouches down next to her.

“Are you curious about this?” She taps at the basin, then reaches over to poke at an apple. Eurydice watches in curiosity as the apple gets poked into the water, then bounces right back up, tail wagging. 

“I guess you are,” she laughs, soft. “How do I explain this… This is kind of like a game. A game to catch these apples, you see.” 

Delores pokes at the apple again. Eurydice is almost tempted to pounce right back into the water just to grab at it, but she sits obediently, listening.

“You’re supposed to lean over and try to grab the apple with your mouth.” She continues, slowly. “No, you can’t just jump into the water and grab it. I’ll need to change the water too since you’ve got your fur in it…” She grumbles.

The vulorro tilts her head to one side, then turns to stare at Delores, almost offended by her words. But then, she looks back at the water to continue staring at the apple. Very slowly, she begins to tip herself forward and for a second there, Delores thought she was going to jump into the water again. 

It takes a moment, but Delores soon realizes that no, Eurydice isn’t trying to jump into the water. She’s leaning over the basin, snout barely touching the water, mouth opening and closing trying to bite at an apple. She’s actually trying to apple bob! How cute!

“You can do it, Eurydice~!” Delores begins to cheer, smiling from ear to ear at the vulorro’s attempts in snatching an apple.

Eurydice’s stretching her body out as best as she can, brows furrowed in concentration. She’s so close. So close to an apple! Almost there, almost there—-

Suddenly, her body feels light. The world turns upside down and before Eurydice even realizes it… 

SPLASH!

She blinks, then blinks again. In an attempt of bobbing for an apple, Eurydice loses her balance and falls into the basin. Seems like she’s all wet again…

Rather than getting up and jumping out of the water, Eurydice sits there in silence, looking like a kicked puppy. She’s very clearly sulking, upset that she couldn’t grab an apple for herself.

Seeing her like that makes Delores feel a little sorry for the little vulorro. Carefully, she removes Eurydice from the basin, giving her a little pat on the head in comfort. 

“There, there…” She coos, resting a hand on the herald’s face and rubbing her thumbs across her cheek. “You did your best. That’s all that matters.”

Eurydice pouts, then whines. Still, she rubs her (still very wet) cheeks against Delores’s palm, which has the cossetling smiling fondly at her.

“You know… I think you earned yourself a little treat for that effort.”

Eurydice’s ears perk at Delores’s words, her head tilting to stare up at the cossetling expectantly. Delores smiles and starts to carry her into the bakery to fetch the vulorro a towel to dry off with, and to grab her the treat as she promised.