Poor Rabbit

Life, Identity

A storm hits and Fenneck holds Natalya through the night, realizing how bad the winter's must be for her in the mountains alone.

Fenneck looked up from his book as Natalya entered the cave, covered in a fresh layer of snow. She was carrying four rabbits from her hunting excursion. She smiled at Fenneck when she entered and sniffed the air excitedly, enjoying the smell of the stew that was cooking for their supper. Fenneck nodded to her. "I see you had a successful hunt?" he commented, acknowledging the unfortunate rabbits. "Indeed," she said as she sat down to start skinning the little white puffballs. "They're plump, too," she said as she carefully started cutting into the first one. "What are you reading?" she asked him. "A collection of Elvish proverbs," he told her, looking back at the book. "I'd offer to read some aloud but they'd probably bore you," he teased her. She smiled. "Especially with you reading them," she teased him back. He feigned offense. "What is that supposed to mean?" he asked her. She laughed. "You're always so dramatic when you read," she said. "You take five years to spit out a single sentence." He rolled his eyes. "Forgive me for practicing my acting skills," he said dramatically. "You should leave the acting to Jasna," Natalya teased him again. He chuckled at her. "You're probably right," he said before setting the book down. "How did your meeting with Dimitri go last night?" he asked her, hoping it went well. "You got back pretty late, it must have been a fun evening," he said, raising his eyebrows at her. "Oh please!" she waved him off. "It's been strictly professional for a while now," she said with only a small ounce of resentment on her voice. "He's stressed," she said. Fenneck tried to lighten the mood. "Well, I'm no expert," he told her. "but I have heard that a romp in the snow tends to help with such ailments." She gave him a look and Fenneck smiled and shrugged. "I have to respect the man for being able to fuck under such extreme conditions and not feel incredibly self conscious," he complimented her lover. Natalya rolled her eyes at him. "We haven't fucked for quite a few months now so you can stop your vulgar prodding," she said, getting annoyed. "Clearly Dimitri shouldn't have have stopped his vulgar prodding," Fenneck said under his breath, unable to hide his smile at his clever joke as he picked up his book to look like he was reading. Suddenly he felt something wet hit his forehead and onto the pages of his book fell one of the rabbit's eyeballs. He leapt up in disgust and chucked the eyeball back at her. "You're disgusting!" he exclaimed. She easily batted it out of her face and started laughing at her prank. He wiped his face off and sat back down and pouted as if he were mad at her. Natalya went back to skinning the rabbits. "Pussy," she said, poking fun at him. He set his book down and went to sit down across from her. He picked up one of the rabbits and started skinning it to help her out. "Baegla asked me to invite you to the Winter's Eve Festival this year," he asked her again, knowing what her answer would be. "I told her you would probably say no but that I would ask anyway. She seemed to want to speak with you about something," he told her. "Do you know what about?" Natalya asked him. "I don't," he said. "Jasna also wants to see you, though. She considered coming out here with me just to see you again," he told her, enjoying the sad look that crossed her face at the mention of Jasna. He wondered if, now that Dimitri wasn't around for her to spend time with over the winter months, maybe she'd be more willing to leave. She focused on the rabbits. "I don't want them to hate me for leaving," she commented one of her usual excuses. Fenneck tried to reassure her. "They don't hold that against you," he promised her. She shrugged. "I'll think about it, but it's probably a 'no'," she said, a little less resistant to the idea than she had been the last few years, at least. Fenneck nodded. "I understand. I just feel bad leaving you up here alone during the winter months," he told her. "We could get a pet to keep you company?" he suggested again. "Maybe try to catch a rabbit next time instead of shooting it." She gave him a look. "I don't need a pet," she said, seeming to think the idea was ridiculous. He sighed and they continued to skin the rabbits in silence. They ate dinner and as night rolled around it brought with it a brisk wind and snow storm. "Shit! It's really picking up out there," Fenneck commented as he got into some of his warmer night clothes. Natalya walked toward the entrance to peak out right as the wind picked up and blew open the pelts. She jumped and they scrambled to tie them down. "Looks like winter is coming early this year!" Fenneck shouted over the storm as they tried to seal off the entrance and move any loose rugs and blankets to the back of the cave. The temperature dropped significantly and Fenneck pulled Natalya away from the entrance. "Come on, Nat! We need to take cover!" She gave up on the pelts and Fenneck pulled her back to her corner. Just then a huge gust of wind sent a flurry of snow into the cave and their fire went out, leaving them in the dark. Fenneck waved his hand and created some magic balls of light for them to see. "Behind the barrels!" he told Natalya. They sat down between the barrels behind her bed and the back of the cave and bundled up together under a pile of furs and blankets. The wind was viciously loud and Natalya was shaking a little. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him. "Does this happen a lot? When I'm not here during the winter?" he asked her. She looked up at him a little guiltily and nodded. He shook his head and held her close, trying not to think about how often she had hid from storms like this on her own. He wanted more than anything for her to come home with him to Flottenheim so she would be warm and safe for the winter. Fenneck nuzzled her face and sighed, glad that he was here to help her through this one at least. Natalya nuzzled him back and Fenneck wondered what was going on in her mind. He knew she had been missing Dimitri but he had tried to keep his distance from her. He had started hoping that Dimitri would decide to run away from Lenisily and Fenneck could convince them to come to Flottenheim and live a safe life together, especially in Dimitri's old age. Fenneck loved Natalya to pieces but more than anything he wanted her to be happy. He wanted Dimitri to take her back and to love her. He felt angry sometimes seeing her return from seeing him looking broken and dejected as the love of her life pushed her away. He wanted to believe in love. He wanted to believe that you could stick with someone through the good and bad. Fenneck felt Natalya push herself against him and bury her head in his chest and he slid down a bit to get comfier. Natalya moved with him and soon they were laying down together in their little corner, wrapped in each other's arms. As she cuddled against him Fenneck felt a sickening feeling in his stomach as he realized that she was being very open with him. She was opening up to the idea of being with him. The way her hands touched his body and the way her dainty legs wrapped around his. He felt conflicted. Oh, how he wanted this. He gently kissed her forehead and closed his eyes to meditate and try not to think about how much he loved his red-headed wood-elf or the fact that they might actually be together. When Fenneck woke from his meditation Natalya was still curled up in his arms. He sighed with relief as the cave felt peaceful and quiet, knowing the storm was gone. He relaxed and laid there holding her for a while until she opened her eyes. She looked up at him nervously and slowly started to pull away from him. "Sorry," she said, sitting up. He shook his head and sat up next to her. "It's... okay," he told her. "Why didn't you tell me it gets that bad sometimes?" he asked her, concerned for her safety. She shrugged. "Because I knew you'd throw a fit about it," she said, looking down to avoid his scolding. He sighed. "Look, I'm not going to force you to do anything but I just want to make sure you're safe," he told her. "I know, I know!" she said, trying to get him to stop pestering her. "I'm fine, Fenneck!" she exclaimed. Fenneck nodded and looked down. "Okay. I'm sorry," he told her. Their eyes met and Fenneck could see that she was upset, he just wasn't quite sure why. "I guess we should clean today and then tomorrow we'll make it to the checkpoint at the border to wait for the refugees," he commented. Natalya nodded. "Yeah, sounds good." Fenneck started to move and stopped himself before turning to Natalya. "Look, about last night-" he started. She cut him off. "It was nothing. I get it. We don't need to have some awkward heart to heart about it, okay?" she said rather harshly. Fenneck frowned. "Very well," he huffed. She sighed. "I'm sorry," she said. "I just want to get moving, okay?" She gave him an apologetic look for snapping at him and he nodded. "Okay." They got up and cleaned up the cave that was now a disheveled mess. The next few days they focused on getting their next family safely to Flottenheim. Like always, when they reached the edge of the Vallee, Natalya said her goodbyes and headed back to the cave to endure the cold harsh winter alone. Fenneck went to Flottenheim and helped the family settle into their new life and found himself restless as he imagined Natalya all alone for the winter, curled up in the back of their cave, hiding from the cold and snow.