Chapter Text
"Ponk, you have everything? Your communicator? Snacks, clock, sword, compass?"
"Yep, I'll be fine, Niki. Myy goodness. I won't go out too far or too long, ok? I'll message you if anything goes wrong."
"Alright! Sorry, I know you're responsible. I just don't want you to be too overwhelmed. Stay safe!"
Ponk waved briefly before turning and immediately going off the path. Not that he wasn't supposed to. He just wanted to be alone for a while, and the walk would clear her head.
Their eyes still felt puffy and her sinuses were finally clear. It was nice, though, to feel the air on his face. His boots rustled the unruly grasses that they made their way through, the hypothetical path occasionally dotted by wildflowers and tall vines-
Oh. Ew. Ew? When had he stopped walking? To look at the random green vine? It was just a random plant. It didn't belong to it. Ponk has fine. It had been a long time since then. The thing didn't have any grasp on her anymore. She was passed that.
Keep walking, Ponk reminds no one but herself.
This why he lives alone. Because although there are many hybrids on the server, none of them shed velvet. Or shed their antlers.
Case in point; Callahan had a headache and the blood on the couch (that he wanted to keep clean!) didn't help.
It was just frustrating, is all. Shedding velvet could get messy and it freaked people out. Not to mention the itch. It was like a reptiles shedding, in the way that it was itchy and a little uncomfortable.
But instead of getting towels to try and scrub out the blood, he just set them on the couch and tried his best to peel away at the velvet that remained on his antlers, stationing himself on the floor and facing the couch instead of the coffee table.
Again, messy.
But gratifying.
Another strip was gently tossed onto the pile. He had been at this for at least an hour. 3 hours at most. His thoughts felt like cotton and hus finger were like felt. It wasn't a feeling he wanted to dwell on for much longer. So, Callahan got up and stretched briefly before grabbing a sword and a compass.
He needs to stretch his legs anyways.
Thank God he brought the compass. Because if he hadn't, then he would probably take hours to get back to Niki's. Ponk didn't have any specific destination. Just wandering aimlessly and letting her legs take her wherever they would end up.
That plan, however, was short-lived after stepping into a thin stream of water. It flowed down the slight angle downhill, not seeming to run dry for a while.
Was there a pond nearby? He had never heard about it from Niki. And they didn't bring their map, so it's not like she could've checked.
Ponk came to the conclusion that following the stream would probably lead to something more interesting than wherever she would end up by wandering. So why not follow the stream?
It wasn't an unfamiliar path; in fact, Callahan often took this route in Decembers when his antlers would shed. But the pounding headache and mild derealization made it all very disorienting.
He felt like he was stumbling from a path off of vague directions rather than taking a mindless walk. Nevertheless, he trusted himself to go the right way. This was a pond that he built after all (not that it was a recent creation). It's not that easy to forget the directions to something you worked on for a week.
It was definitely refreshing.
The air was warm and a bit humid, but it brought him back to reality after awhile, and the sound and feel of the grass rustling while he walked to the pond was familiar.
----
Before he knew it, Callahan was at the pond.
Almost.
Technically? He was still in the woods, just kind of lurking. But it didn't make any difference. Again: more reasons to live alone. As embarrassing as it could be, he usually just used trees to get the velvet that he couldn't reach, scraping off the remains against it (which usually left the tree bark a tad bit bloody, as horrific as it could look).
But he was alone in this place.
There wasn't really anyone to judge him for this. This was a special place he made for himself and the few that lived in the woods, if they were even close enough to know he was there. He would discard his shedded antlers in the winter here, where smaller animals or flora could thrive off the nutrients.
(Not mention that he also ate the strips of velvet, at least the ones that he didn't rub off on the trees. They were a great seasonal snack and also had many nutritional values as well as being delicious. But apparently that didn't really make up for the fact that it looked unsettling, thanks to the light amount of blood and the raw-looking velvet and antlers.)
He enjoys the silence, though it could get lonely. It was rare; but whenever he came across/crossed paths with someone in the woods, the silence was a common ground no matter the person. People come to the forest to seek isolation (whether it be on a smaller scale or not). It's a hard truth that people don't like to swallow. So it was nice to come across people once in a while. It's something he didn't want to take for granted anymore, at least.
But this person is new, their right hand clutching a vibrant red fabric stained with red and yellow.
It's not often you get someone new so deep into the woods. But again; not something Callahan wants to take for granted.
It seems, Ponk thinks, that following the water was the right idea.
He looks at the ornate pond, the flora around the edge of the water glistening under the streams of light that peak out from the trees.
Pretty (almost stunning, even), but definitely not natural.
She's seen the L'Cast pond, and has heard his fair share of complaints from HBomb about how much work it took to set it up and make it look as pleasing as it does.
They're taken out of their train of thought and borderline ogling by a figure in the dense line of trees.