Future Proof 2 - Collab

Dillyweed | Irody

They had a break. It was a comfortable break and the food energized both the Styra and Pachy well. Now they had a harder goal. The sun was at the point where it was beginning to go down. Which made it a time sensitive mission. They could always continue the day after but Irody wanted as much done the same day as possible and Obscura, as kind as she was, wanted to help Irody as much as she possibly could do. Irody loved it. She loved feeling seen. It was one of the qualities she adored with Obscura. That and her never ending energy. Irody had energy as well but only when there were things she wanted to do. When she could hyperfixate otherwise she wanted to take things real slow. She preferred doing something over many hours rather than quickly over only a few. But if she asked Obscura to do something she knew it would be done in mere hours. It would be done so quickly she wouldn’t even know what to do with it. She placed her head on the brown Pachy’s shoulder. Just for a moment. To show some form of thanks for her joining in on Irody’s plans. It was an ambitious plan, to cover the entire floor, or at least the majority of it, in fresh pine needle branches. It would make the hovel smell like pine until spring arrived but neither of them seemed to have a problem with it. Neither of them spoke about it. Irody anticipated that it would make her slightly more hungry. But the benefit was that if she ever needed a light nap snack she could just reach for the pine branches and grab some of it.
They walked far into the forest. Where it was heavy with pine trees. They would have to break off most of the tree's lower branches but Irody didn’t think the trees would miss them. They would try and break off only a few trees. 
Irody had a small sled behind her, the rope was the perfect length so that it would go around her hump on the back and drag behind her easily. They would fill the small sled with as many branches as they possibly could. Irody was even prepared to carry some on her head and shoulders if needed. When they finally arrived deep into the forest Obscura quickly helped her get the rope off Irody as they went to work immediately. Irody used her horn to break off the lowest branches. She left them temporarily on the ground as she went around the tree and pressed the branches until they snapped. Then she carefully picked them up and placed them on the sledge in a neat pile so that they could get as many as possible with them. It felt as if it was going fast for them. They were getting the sled filled. But the lowest branches of the trees in the nearest area weren't a lot. They had to walk to another area to get more if they wanted to make a comfortable place to sleep in the hovel. They kept this up until they had absolutely filled the sled to the brim. It was swaying slightly as they moved it.
“We can get some more if you place them behind my head.” Irody said with confidence.

561 words

AberrantKapro | Obscura

As the odd couple was heading out, Obscura excitedly grabbed the sled they had procured at one point, she couldn't recall when exactly, and at first she was intending to pull it herself but Irody kindly offered to do it instead. The pachy didn't object and happily helped her put the sled on, she was so excited that their little home would be nearly done after this trip. All that would be left would be to hopefully get some leaves and maybe some decorations to make it more cozy and personalised. 
The sun was rather rapidly setting, so they hurried as fast as Irody managed to trot to get deep into the woods for the very best pine trees. There were some decent ones by the edge of the forest, but Obscura remembered the much thicker and bigger ones deeper in from earlier. Those trees were her goal for now.

As they finally found a good group of trees, Obscura helped Irody get the sled rope off so the two of them could cooperate with carrying and gathering. Irody would break off and pick up low hanging branches and twigs from the trees and ground, while Obscura herself would reach up to break off some higher up stuff. She even attempted to climb a bit on the trunk to reach even higher, but wasn't very successful. She must've looked very silly, since Irody walked up to her and offered for her to climb up on her back to reach instead, which admittedly was much more successful and it also made getting enough material much faster. 
They effectively went from tree to tree until the sled was so full that things were almost falling off. The laced pachy was rather frustrated that they didn't have a bugged sled, and the disappointment was written all over her pale face. Irody gently tapped her to get her attention, and proceeded to offer carrying even more materials behind her sturdy frill. Obscura wasn't sure whether to accept or not, she would feel guilty since she couldn't do the same, but them again. She had hands she could carry more branches with. 
“Alright. Just let me know if it's too much.” the pachy eventually replied before loading up plenty of pine branches over Irody’s shoulders. She made sure to balance them as well as possible to lessen the risk of any of them falling off. 

As the sunlight was almost completely gone and the two had gathered as much as they could pull and carry, the two girls started heading back home. They wouldn't want to get lost this deep in the woods after nightfall, considering the risk of snow and all. 
“We've done good today.” Obscura happily declared as she wandered next to Irody in a somewhat calm pace. They were out of the deepest woods and at this point confidently knew the way home, regardless of the amount of light. 

They finally made their way home, just in time for darkness to fully settle. The sky was filled with stars, and the moon was shining beautifully. It was nearly full this particular night. Obscura wanted to stay out and observe the stars for a moment, but since their home was so close to finished, she decided against it and the couple quickly unloaded and pulled all the branches inside to successfully cover the whole floor. 
With a heavy sigh of relief, the pachy laid down and invited Irody to join by patting her tail on the floor next to herself. She was exhausted by now and wanted nothing more than to fall asleep snuggling her girlfriend. 

603 words