[PRP] Lost in thought (Teal x Gentle Grace)

[Fasti]

Teal stood alone in a huge grassfield. The tall grass moved gently around her legs, brushing against her and tickle her sometimes a little. The sky above was turning deeper and deeper blue, the color of her own fur in some place. Shadows stretched longer and the first little stars came out one after another. She didnt move for a long time, she just enjoyed the wind that played with the fur on her neck and back. Her thoughts drifted standing there.

As the light dimmed, she noticed a shape in the distance. Something soft and still in the tall grass, barely moving. At first she thought it was just a tree stump or a shadow, but then it tilted its head to look at the sky. Curious she stepped closer, careful not to make too much sound. As she got nearer, she saw it was a dark brown buck. His ears.. she couldnt stop looking at his ears.. They looked so soft. Fluffy like clouds.

She didnt want to scare him, so she stopped a little away and waited. Then slowly took another step. "Hey.. I am Teal", she said and blinked slowly and warmly. Her eyes moved to the sky, then back to him. His face looked peaceful, but there was something in his eyes too, something thoughtful. She liked that.

"Do you ever think the stars are just.. dreams we forgot?' she asked, her voice still soft.

[Holus]

The voice reached him gently, like a breeze catching his ears between breaths. He turned his head, unhurried, and let his gaze fall upon the figure that had joined him. She stood there, poised but unassuming, blue as the coming night. Her presence didn’t disturb the stillness. if anything, it deepened it.

„Teal“ he repeated quietly, the name settling somewhere between his breath and thought. „I like that name.“ He followed her gaze to the sky, where the stars had begun to shine. „I think“ he began, his voice low but steady, „that the stars might be fragments of memory that drifted too far from where they began. Not quite dreams, but not quite real anymore either. Something inbetween.“

A pause.

„My name is Gentle Grace.“

His ears twitched, almost involuntarily, catching a rustle somewhere behind them, just wind. He shifted slightly, but not from discomfort, just a need to place his words with care. „I usually tend to watch. Listen. But there’s something in the way you speak.“ His eyes moved across the sky, then returned to her. „Places like this: open, quiet, endless in their own way, they have a way of collecting what we carry. Sometimes I think the land holds our silence better than we do.“

Another pause.

„What made you stop here tonight, in the middle of all this? Was it the stars? Or something else you were trying to find?“

[Fasti]

Teal blinked slowly, her head tilting a little while she listened. His words felt calm and soothing.

She didnt speak right away. She liked the way silence had space between them. "I think I stopped because the grass was taller here", she said slowly, like she was still figuring it out while speaking. "It brushes my belly when I walk through. Feels nice." She looked up at the sky again. "And maybe because I felt something in the air. Like.. like something was waiting here. I think it was you."

Then she added, "I like how you talk. It is like watching a leaf fall. Not fast, but it makes you stop and look." She smiled a little.

"I dont think I look for something big when I come here. Just a place where the stars dont feel so far." Her eyes wandered, then back to him. "Your name is soft too. Gentle Grace. It feels like lying down in moss." She let out a small breath, like a laugh but without sound.

She stepped one hoof closer, but didnt say more. She liked when the words could rest a bit.

[Holus]

He listened.

When she said she thought something had been waiting here (him), he looked down for a moment. His ears shifted slightly, unsure what to do with that kind of warmth.

"That’s" he started, then stopped. He let the rest come slowly. "That’s a nice thought."

He watched the way she moved. The way she stood. "I don’t think anyone’s said something like that to me before," he said. "About how I talk or my name." He glanced at the grass. It did brush the legs gently. He hadn’t really noticed it until she said it.

"I come here because it’s quiet. And I can think. But when you talk, it’s like I don’t need to think so much."

There was a pause. A long one.

He shifted one hoof forward, ofc not to step closer, just to mirror her.

"You feel like part of this place," he said. "Like the forest was waiting for you, too." Then he looked at her, really looked. And didn’t say anything more.

[Fasti]

Teal let his words sink in. She looked down at the grass, and there, near her hoof was a little seed puff. White and round, like a tiny cloud. She nosed it gently, then looked back at him. "You remind me of these", she said, nudging the seedling a bit so it floated up and flying away. "You know.. the little tree fluffs, the kind that tickle your nose if you are not careful. They are soft and dont mean to go anywhere. But the wind takes them just like that."

She looked at him again. "You dont push, you just.. let things be. That is rare." Then she blinked and added almost playfull. "Also, if I sneezed on you right now, it would be your fault." She laughed the first out loud one, then she stepped forward and lowered herself gently to the ground, curling her legs under her body.

"You can lie next to me.. if you want."

[Holus]

He watched the little seed float upward. Her words stayed in him longer than he expected.

When she compared him to it, he looked down and smiled a little. "I've never been compared to a tree fluff before," he said.

His ears flicked at her joke and for a second he almost laughed, but it came out more like a huff of breath through his nose. "If you sneezed on me I'd probably just stand there and pretend I didn't mind,” he said.

Then she lay down and inviting him. His body tensed at first. He wasn't being used to being invited this close. But he stepped closer. The grass shifted under his hooves.

"Okay," he said, almost in a whisper.

He lowered himself beside her, slowly, carefully. Their fur didn't touch, but it was close.

There was silence again. He looked at her, then up at the trees, then back to her. "I think I was waiting here too," he said finally. "I just didn't know what for."

[Fasti]

She didnt look at him right away when he lay down. But she felt it.. him getting closer.

His words came gently, like stepping on moss, "I think I was waiting here too." Teal blinked once, then let her gaze move up, to where the branches rustled in the wind. "I think the forest knows things before we do", she said quietly and turned her head slightly, just enough to see him from the corner of her eye. The way his body settled into the grass. The way he didnt rush anything.

"I used to think being alone meant I could hear myself better", she continued. "But now you are here.. and its still quiet, but better." Her voice dropped a little. "Like I dont need to listen so hard anymore."

She shifted a little, not closer, not away. Just enough to let her shoulder brush his. Then she added, not looking at him, "If the wind picks you up like one of those fluffs.. I think I would follow."

[Holus]

The soft brush of her shoulder was barely there. Her words circled in his chest. *If the wind picks you up like one of those fluffs... I think I’d follow.*

He stared at the sky a long time, letting it darken a little more. „I never thought someone would say something like that to me,“ he said finally, his voice was barley a whisper.

„I’ve always let the wind decide where I go,“ he added, eyes still upward. „It never felt like I had a reason to stay.“ He turned his head slightly, just enough to look at her. „But now I wonder… what if staying is also a kind of flying.“

His side pressed just slightly into hers.

„I think the forest knew you were coming,“ he said. „I just didn’t know it was calling me too.“

[Fasti]

She didnt speak right away. His words roamed in her head and she liked that.

Her eyes traced the first stars above them. They blinked into the sky one by one. "I think the stars dont care if you fly or stay", she told him. "They are just glad someone is looking at them." She gave a small breath, not quite a laugh, more like a thought slipping free. "That is how I feel right now. Like.. I am not trying to be anything.. just being seen." Her gaze lowered to his shape beside her. He didnt try to fill the silence, she liked that about him.

"I used to come here when I didnt know what I felt", she continued. "The grass dont ask questions. The trees dont hurry you and I think I needed that." She paused, letting the air stretch out between them. "But it is different with you here. Just..", she searched for the words. "like when you find a warm rock to nap after the rain. Not expecting to find something like it, but you lay down and thats it."

Her shoulder pressed gently into his. She didnt move away. "I dont know if I am flying or resting", she said finally, eyes on the sky. "But I dont feel lost with you." Another pause and her voice dropped lower. "You feel like the forest is saying stay here."

She turned her head slightly, so her nose almost brushed his fur. "If the wind tries to take you", she whispered, "I will snatch you away from it."