[PRP] The Tale of the Tail (Peck & Owlbear)

[CelestialRequiem]

When the doe had first shown up near Rise and Shine's territory, she'd made a few of the members uncomfortable, to put it politely. Something about her being off-putting, aggressive, and just down right mean. Honestly, Peck was quite appalled to hear these words coming from her own children and grandchildren. This was no way to talk about a guest and she wouldn't hear any of it! She put in the work to make their visitor feel welcomed and a part of the family. Maybe a bit too much a part of the family. Before she knew it, the doe had taken a liking to her and, truth be told, Peck rather fancied her too. After years of fussing over her own flock, it was fun to have someone fuss over her for a change. Albeit, it a sort of, kind of, maybe a just a little bit possessive kind of way. It was fine, though. Peck had her ways of keeping the other doe in check if she got a little to feisty with other tribe members or their patrons. Besides, Owlbear was so nice to snuggle up to.

As the first beams of sunlight started to filter through the trees, Peck stirred from her slumber with soft, quiet coos. While slowly returning to consciousness, she tried to cling to the fragments of dream that still stuck with her. It was such a strange one this time.... Soon enough though, she felt the press of another's body against her own and her thoughts wandered to other places. She cooed louder now and leaned into the other form more. Cracking her eyes open, she saw the larger, darker form of Owlbear curled up against her. Not sure if she was awake yet or not, Peck opted to simply continue cooing contentedly until her partner showed signs of wakefulness.

[Gl!tch~]

Owlbear wasn't the type to linger.
She might become slow during the wintertime and occasionally hibernate a little bit.
She had favorite spots to make into her temporary den and nest until moving on.

But she didn't stick around forever, especially if other kin were involved.
Usually that made her move all the quicker, either to get away from the intruders or silence them.

Usually she didn't find herself on tribe lands, much less confronted by tribe members.
It would be a mark on her honor to run with her tail between her legs at the moment she was asked to leave, but she knew numbers were against her.

Before the situation escalated any further, however, a speckled doe marched into the fray and welcomed Owlbear as a guest. She was supposed to stay? And not by violent right?

How confusing.

Owlbear's daze at the whirlwind of social niceties left her vulnerable and eventually led into deeper in the territory.

Now she was stuck. Trapped. Definitely a prisoner.

But Owlbear didn't fight or run. She felt vulnerable, confused, out of sorts for a bit...but those feelings that usually led to decisive action made her just cling to Peck's side.

Because Peck was nice. Comfortable. Warm.

Owlbear usually found herself upset when Peck would leave her side. Especially in the mornings. It wasn't that she was afraid of the other kin; as they got more familiar, the easier it was to give them threatening looks if they stared for too long.

She just. Well. The space felt empty if Peck wasn't there.

The vacuum did make an opening, though. Owlbear could leave if her one reason to stay wasn't around. But thing was that Peck always came back. And that was enough for Owlbear to stay out of the way, and occasionally even maybe help a little bit at the few tasks she was capable of and willing to do. Espeically if the task was "eat all the honey" (it usually was not that).

So her life was...cozy, for now. Odd, off-kilter still after an entire life in solitude...but cozy.

Morning came, like it always did. Owlbear could hear Peck's little morning noise. The larger of the two wanted to fight against the fact that soon one of them would get up, as that meant both of them would be up and about. And she would rather be nestled like this forever, to be honest.

Rebelliously, she curled her tail around Peck. As if that might make her stay.

But, oddly, she felt...feathers? Her tail was wrapping around feathers. Was there a chicken hiding behind Peck?

Owlbear grumbled all sleepy-like and tried to blink the blurriness out of her eyes to see what that was all about.

[CelestialRequiem]

Peck chuckled at her partner's reluctant sounds, relating a little to the sentiment. She didn't really want to get up either. But she had work to do. Children to wrangle. Customers to greet. Peck would have to get up, eventually. But just a few more minutes snuggled up to Owlbear wouldn't hurt.

Still leaning heavily into Owlbear's side, Peck craned her neck to look up at the other doe and smiled sweetly. "Good morning~" Her voice was sing-song, as it often was, and maybe just a little teasing as she knew how grumpy Owlbear could be after waking up. She moved to drape her tail over the feathery one curled around her but...something didn't feel right. Her tail didn't flick like she expected it to. It didn't flop over top of Owlbear's like she expected it to. It didn't even weigh as much as she expected it to? Turning to look behind her, Peck spotted the familiar feathers of a chicken's tail and laughed.

"Who's back there?" Again, she made to move her tail, just to give the chicken a little bump. But what was supposed to be a chicken was not a chicken. The feathers moved just as she had intended for her tail to move. Squinting suspiciously now, Peck flicked her tail to the side. And the feathers, once again, moved. "Oh.....Oooooh! OOOH!!"

She jumped up suddenly, spinning in a circle in an attempt to get a good look at her tail, which was now very different from how it had been before she fell asleep the night before.