loving paws and berries

Duskie was out and about, his still-unnamed sqovet trotting behind him, when he saw a candle noodle carrying a basket of berries to a burrow.

"Hey, what are you do-" Duskie paused when the candle noodle scooped up a pawful of berries and offered them to whatever laid inside the burrow, and he gasped. "You're feeding wild animals..."

"I don't think we're allowed to do that... but considering how many animals are tameable here, I guess it wouldn't hurt to try."

I should go grab a basket of berries and feed the wild animals too!

Fortunately for Duskie, he stumbled upon a lumendra giving away baskets of berries specifically for feeding the wildlife.

"Frost season is tough on all of us." She explained. "But it's even rougher on the wildlife. That's why we feed them berries and coax them from their dens."

"The wildlife sure are friendly towards us in this world!" Duskie grinned, beaming.

(Meanwhile, Knight and Odio shared a silent glance and a memory of fighting off bears with a sword.)

After he took his basket (leaving his sqovet in a petcare service so that it wouldn't end up lost), he went off to explore, going from burrow to burrow with a spring in his step!

"You sure like feeding wild animals..."

Who wouldn't, in this universe!? When they're all so cute and friendly and won't eat you! Look, this one looks like a bush! Duskie looked down at a fluffy... rodent that had fur the color of an autumn bush.

"Those beings are known as 'booshas'. When they frighten, they curl up like cowards instead of fighting back."

"Better than trying to explode the universe, at least?"

"... Do not pretend you are innocent, brother mine."

"Better than us trying to explode the universe..."

Duskie dropped his basket and smiled. "Here, little boosha!" He offered out a pawful of berries. "Have some berries!"

The boosha sniffed his paw, before gingerly taking a berry. And then, taking another.

Duskie watched with amazement as the little creature ate berry after berry from his paw. It looked a bit too skinny for its size, so he was glad he at least got to fatten it up a little bit.

Once his paw was licked clean, the boosha looked up at Duskie. "Had your fill, little guy?" He moved his paw back in- "Here, have some mo-"

"Save it for the other creatures!" Knight snapped. "Don't just give the whole basket to the first little guy you see... even if it is cute..."

Since when are you reasonable?

"Excuse me, I'm the most reasonable one of all of you."

I'm going to take the boosha home with me! Duskie reached out his paws to scoop up the boosha and put it in his basket, but the creature rolled up into a ball and honestly looked a bit like a bush, if you had just stumbled upon it somewhere. "... Hey, don't be scared..." Duskie said.

Just then, a meow rung out, and Duskie looked up to see...

"Hey, I've seen you in my dreams!" Duskie smiled. 

The angelic cat creature was currently looking down on Duskie from a branch, white wings wrapped around its paws. 

Duskie scooped up another pawful of berries. "Do you want some, Velvet?"

"... I can't believe you named it without asking."

Well- if you show up in my dreams and don't introduce yourself, I'm gonna give you a name!

Velvet's eyes moved towards the berries, and it dove down gracefully towards Duskie's paw, a wing nudging the curled up boosha away. It grabbed a berry with one of its red front paws and popped it in its mouth, spending a few seconds to taste it.

"Do you like it?"

Velvet dove facefirst into Duskie's paw, devouring the rest of the berries, a content purr sounding from the being's mouth.

"You do like it, huh, Velvet?" Duskie smiled. "... Since you can enter my dreams, does that mean you can read my mind? If so..." Duskie paused. "... Do you like being an 'it'?"

Velvet nodded, and then pulled out a pin that said 'fae/faer'.

"... 'Fae/faer'?... Are those... pronouns?" Duskie cocked his head. "Well if so, then... You like being an 'it' and a... 'faer' too, huh?"

Fae nodded, and Duskie purred. "We're gonna make the best of friends! But you can't have any more of the berries- they're for the rest of the wildlife."

The being's mushroom head was a vibrant sunshine yellow, contrasting the warm browns of its body, and causing it to stand out from the tree it was currently scurrying up.

"Hey!" Duskie called out, and the being ran up to disappear among the fresh spring leaves.

The basket sat in front of Duskie, the berries half-disappeared, and Velvet was sitting atop Duskie's back, looking around. Fae had pointed out animals that needed help to Duskie at least four times, and for that Duskie was glad.

A moment passed, but then the little creature popped its head out and walked down the tree, sniffing the air. It turned its head towards the basket, and began to slowly step towards Duskie and Velvet, picking up its pace the more it walked, before it outright almost ran into the basket.

"Here you go!" Duskie scooped up a pawful of berries and handed it to the little being, who dove headfirst into the pile, devouring the berries within a matter of seconds. "Wow, you must have been hungry- HEY!"

The little creature had climbed up Duskie's arm, before jumping off of him and into the basket, where it began to vaccum up the berries at an extreme rate.

"Those are for everyone!" Duskie yelled, pushing the being out with his paw- or attempting to, anyways. "You can't just-"

Velvet let out a loud yowl that caused the little bunny thing to freeze and run off, but by then, it was too late- only three berries remained in the basket.

Duskie sighed. "... Do you want these, Velvet?"

Velvet purred.

"Here you go." He scooped up the last three and handed them over to faer, who licked them up and nuzzled his paw out of gratitude. "Well, let's go home..." Duskie sulked, turning and walking slowly towards the direction of 'home'

"Maybe that baskets person would be willing to give us another basket to feed the animals with?"

"... Or maybe we could see if we could get another basket. Let's go!" Duskie ran off, excitement filling his body. Feeding the animals was fun, and seeing how cute they were... he could do this all day!