[Chr24] Stalking in the Woods

It was time to get a Christmas Tree.  Well, three, actually.  Maki and Maisiel needed one, Klasp needed one, and Yvena needed one.  They had done it together every year.  It was a sort of tradition, one that was likely common.  But still a tradition for them nevertheless.  They settled on a time and a place to meet up, a small park that was nestled on the edge of a forest where there were often chances to go find and cut down your own.  Of course, every year they ended up looking through the countless trees only to go back and get a pre-cut one that was already nearly prepared for them.

As the time began to approach, Yvena was the first to leave, with Mariposa, her Polar Bavee, by her side.  She couldn't help but chatter to her new trusted friend.  The two of them had quite a walk.  The untouched snow outside of Yvena's den made her curious when it had last snowed, since it seemed like the snow should have been disturbed by now.  Still, she shrugged it off.  Likely just got a little more snow to top it off, and before long, she had created her own set of paw and hoove prints, Mariposa's following shortly behind her.

Klasp had begun to walk, a scarf draped around her neck as the wind was blowing cold that night.  She was coming from a small personal walk to gather herself, when she noticed Yvena and Mariposa.  She instinctively lowered herself and watched for a moment before taking the chance to run and pounce on the Snowracer.  Yvena let out a startled yip before kicking Klasp and getting back on her feet "That isn't funny!" Yvena argued as Klasp began to laugh.  "Yeah, yeah.  I know.  Guess it's payback." Klasp said as she found her footing and shook her head.  Yvena's anger didn't linger long as she couldn't help but laugh along.  Something worse could have come out of the woods for sure.  "Alright, come on.  I'm sure they're already waiting for us." Yvena finally began to walk towards the venue once more before Klasp shook her head with another burst of laughter as she once more thought about the way Yvena had gotten scared.  She let out a soft "ah," and wiped away a fake tear. 

As the two got closer to the venue, they could feel the warmth begin to radiate.  The cold, harsh light of the moon and streetlights were soon replaced by a soft, warm tone of the bonfires that had been lit for the festival.  The prints in the snow were able to tell the two 'bucks one thing: there were definitely going to be a lot of others to compete with to get the best tree.  The freshly cut trees left a scent in the air that mixed into a nostalgic scent along with the different drinks being given out by the coordinators.  Lively chattering could be heard as 'bucks of all sorts walked through.  Chatting and laughing their way to go find their tree, or hauling a tree back so that they could prepare it further.  The three of them found a bench near the front to wait for, or to find Maki and Maisiel.

However, the two were running late.  Well, only one of those things were true.

"We go with them every year," Maki said as he tried to get Maisiel to go.  She shook her head slightly.  "Why does it have to be tonight?" She said as she pawed gently at the small Glacial Twiwa curled up into a ball on top of a bed made special for it.  "I don't want to leave it alone." Maisiel insisted and Maki paused for a moment "Well, who said you had to?" He turned around and began to walk away, going to find a piece of spare cloth the two of them could use to make a sort of sling to carry the Twiwa in.  Once he returned, he carefully wrapped it around her before gently grabbing the small, helpless bird and cradled it within the sling.  Yet Maisiel still seemed to be apprehensive about going.  "Come on, let's go." Maki said before draping a scarf around her as well.  As he went towards the exit, Maisiel pushed herself to stand up.  She knew the others were probably beginning to worry as well.  She stayed beside Maki, watching the Twiwa anxiously.

The two were eventually able to make their way to the venue and were able to quickly find the others.  "Ready?" Yvena jumped up as soon as she saw the late bees.  They both gave a nod before the six of them headed towards the wooded area.  The best of the trees had likely already been picked, the ones left being either splotchy or simply just sickly looking.  There was even one that was no more than a twig, trying its best to keep from falling over as it had put out a single group of needles.  It was kind of brave, if they were being honest.  They continued on, looking around for any trees to catch their eye.  No such luck.  Yvena let out a deep sigh as she fell to the ground and shook her head, propping herself up against a nearby boulder-like rock.  "We've been looking for hours." She said.  "It hasn't even been 30 minutes," Klasp said as she had continued walking through the pathways that had been made by whoever actually owned this land and hosted this.  "You have to admit the choice is particularly bad this year" Maisiel shrugged as she sat down beside Yvena.

"Look up there!"

Klasp had gasped, causing their attention to quickly turn toward her before they did as she said and looked where she had been looking toward.  Up there, on a bit of a hill in a bit of a clearing was a perfect tree.  "Well?  What are you waiting for?  Let's go!" Maki chimed in before he began to run towards the tree.  The others were quick to follow him.  As they were running they suddenly heard a noise and began to hesitate.  "What was that?" Klasp turned to the others to see if they had heard the noise as well.  "I was about to ask you that same thing..." Maisiel trailed off as she began to look around, not seeing any signs of being followed or anything around the group.  "Maybe we should go back?" Yvena said and the four of them went quiet to listen.  Leaves began to rustle before something dark flew out towards them, causing them to panic as a whole load of whatever began to fly right towards them.  Seemingly on purpose.  The four of them turned to leave, running back down the hill.  Once at the bottom of the hill they looked up as whatever had just done that was now gone.  "Bats?" Maki offered an explanation.  "Do you know many bats that would fly directly at you like that?  And a whole bunch of them?" Maisiel couldn't contain her anxiety over the situation.  "Let's go get the tree." Maki said as he once more began to make his way up the hill.  The rest of them waited and watched, they didn't want to be a part of.. whatever was going on.  He soon looked back and noticed they hadn't been following.  He wondered if he should call to them or simply go claim the tree for himself.  As he went to turn around, yet another thing flew right at him, causing him to lose his balance and roll back down the hill.

It was almost like they were protecting that tree.  Though it almost seemed to be more likely they just had it out for Maki.  He shook the snow from his fur before he began to laugh.  It was funny, when he thought about it.  The four looked at him, confused.  "Let's just go back to the park." Maisie said before turning and walking back.  "Oh.  Yeah.  Right.  Fine.  Give up on our tree!" He said before running past her, glancing back to make sure the rest of them were following as before they began to once again approach the edge of the forest.