[PRP] So Bitter the Taste of Betrayal [Sleepless/Bitter End]

[Jun D]

“So I spent a lot of it terrified,” she said, thoughtfully, as they cantered along, “and embarrassed. So embarrassed. That was really embarrassing. And I was pretty terrified. That’s a lot of Kin. I’ve never spoken in front of so many Kin before. I don’t think I’ve even ever been with that many Kin in one place. So I spent a lot of it terrified. And embarrassed. And angry. I was actually...pretty angry with everything for a while. But it was exhausting. How do you do it? I was angry for about twenty minutes, and that was tiring. But it was an angry twenty minutes. And then I was just sad. So I was terrified, and embarrassed, and angry, and sad.

“But, you know. Maybe it wasn’t so bad. I don’t know. It feels strange. There was just...I don’t know how to put this. Everyone was trying so hard. It felt like we were really all trying to get to the bottom of it. And at the end, when it was just a game after all. I suppose...it might have been…fun?

“Even losing - which, by the way, I’ve figured out I don’t like at all. When it turned out we were all just going along with it. Even the doe who’d...who’d paired me up with the...the buck. I’d been so angry - but, you know, she might even have meant it as a compliment.

“Perhaps...perhaps it was a bit exciting. I don’t think I ever want to be with so many Kin in the same place again, no.

“But. Maybe...maybe Kin aren’t so bad.”  

[Maxx D]

Bitter End let out a funny sort of laugh - it was genuinely amused but a little distant. "And you didn't want to play." Usually her being right would have given her more relish, but as they'd stepped away, the self-satisfaction and adrenaline seemed to have bled away somewhat. End was looking down at her hooves, ears perked up to listen. "Good for you," she added, tartly by habit, "you learnt something after all."  

[Jun D]

“Well, your weird...cousin? Uncle? He’s pretty bad,” Sleepless added with a shudder, that guy had been really skeevy, “but - hey, even you were pretty cool, ending it like that.”

And she actually bumped her shoulder scale against the other doe’s, almost companionably.

“Of course it’d have come down to you. It always seems to. I mean - that’s the only reason why I’m here at all.”  

[Maxx D]

"Well - " and now she looked up, gaze steady at Sleepless with a wry smile, "guess it'll be all over when we find that root, then. It's been fun, but it's about time he was dead." A thoughtful nod, and she held her head up as they continued to trot along, tail swishing.  

[Jun D]

“Right. The root.”

Sleepless lapsed into silence.

What was it about the game, that made her feel this way? For a moment she had almost forgotten that she was a captive, dragged from her haven on a wild goose chase, for a mysterious artifact that did not exist. That she had woven out of lies from some misguided fake pride as a fake witch.

For a moment, she had almost forgotten that she hated Bitter End to, well, the bitter end. Her merciless captor (who had trampled her beloved garden underfoot). The cause of her woes.

For a moment...she had almost forgotten that they weren’t...friends.

They had been travelling together like this for so long now, that her hatred only came in fits and starts now. Sometimes (usually during mortal pain) stronger, sometimes so faint, it was as if she couldn’t be bothered anymore. Sometimes it felt like the journey would never end...well. If they never found the non-existent witch root it never might.

She took a moment to weigh up just how much horror she actually felt at the thought.

Oh, that much? She thought with a strange mixture of disappointment and relief as the boom of thunder resounded about them - then realised that it was not some internal sound effect, but actual thunder. And the storm coming down upon their heads actual rain.  

[Maxx D]

"Ugh," Bitter End said eloquently, snapping out of her thoughts with disgust. Sweeping her hair back over her neck, she motioned for Sleepless to follow, carefully stepping over roots and shrubs on soft ground getting muddier by the minute. "There must be somewhere we can hide," she muttered, following small pawprints that'd been freshy made. A while of tracking lead them to the mouth of a cave. A few rodents, squeaking, joined them as End pushed Sleepless into shelter.

The rain was pouring, and Bitter End peered out beyond the edge. "It's going to take a while," she grumbled, stepping backwards. "Inwards." She continued to nudge Sleepless deeper, looking back over her shoulder as the skies rumbled.  

[Jun D]

”Well, this is odd,” Sleepless’ voice echoed from the depths of the cavern, ”this seems to be a tunnel.”

Her natural curiosity had led her to nose away the draping moss at the back of the cave, uncovering a passageway of sorts. Ducking her antlers low, she crossed the threshold to find that the rest of the way hollowed quite comfortably.

”Where could it go?”  

[Maxx D]

"We may as well find out." She followed, flicking the moss away from her hair as she continued in. "But make sure you're in front of me, I don't intend to die yet."

End trotted just behind her, herding her along with prods at her rump depending on how much faster she wanted to get away from mouldy dampness on the floor. The tunnel seemed at first intriguing, but as it continued interminably, terrifying with its increasing darkness. It had gotten so deep that she could no longer hear the patter of the rain nor the rolling thunder she first intended to escape.

"I hope we don't run out of air." She murmured, low, trying not to use up the supply too much. Bitter End did not intend to die unseen in the middle of a never-ending tunnel.  

[Jun D]

”We’re not going to run out of air,” Sleepless replied, testing the ground before each step, cautious in the dark, ”it smells fresh - it leads out…somewhere.”  

[Maxx D]

"I'm glad you're so confident," she moaned, but quietly. "Don't breathe so much though, will you? I'm still wary about killer plants. What if we encounter killer plants? It would be horribly ironic." With that, End drew a hoof away from a stray root, but after a while, despite being generally oblivious, she too could sense the freshness - and wetness - of the outside. The little pitter patter of raindrops, gentler, but still there. Now that it was dark, she almost rested her muzzle on Sleepless' behind, relying on it to guide her out.  

[Jun D]

”Alright, it would be horribly ironic, but I’m reasonably sure we won’t, and besides, we didn’t actually die so I’m not sure we can definitively class them as killer plants,” Sleepless replied, careful step by step. The returning sound of rain raised her chin - she’d been a little worried, to be honest, about the wiseness of their excursion, but clearly there was an end to this path in sight.

The end was farther of a journey than she’d imagined, but finally the darkness petered out into...a strangely overgrown grove.

”It’s still raining,” she noted, as she nosed the unusual flora, ”but...it’s odd. I’ve never seen some of these plants before, at least, at these sizes, and I’ve seen most plants in the Swamp. They’re not moving,” she added, to allay killer plant fears.  

[Maxx D]

End was indeed soothed by her observation, and squinted into the grove before sprinting out into the rain-soaked patch of foreign flora. "The root then - !" She cried eloquently on her way, with a look of determination and almost a fear of possible triumph. She had been hesitant, but now that her aim was so close to being done, she felt like she deserved to feel like she'd achieved something - anything at all - in her life.  

[Jun D]

”Now, that would be convenient,” she muttered, but followed the doe out into the grove, anyway, ducking under massive leaves and thoughtfully nosing plump (probably poisonous) berries as she went.

What a very interesting grove this was...so full of growth.  

[Maxx D]

She nosed around the plants suspiciously, but continued in the momentum, of poking around and pushing fronds and leaves aside. There in the middle of the grove, almost hidden by some overgrown bushes, was a strange, swollen root plant. It was wet from the rain, its leaves slick and lurid, and the expanse of tuber showing from the eroded ground was so pale it looked as if it were glowing.

To End, it was an astounding sign. She gasped, gaped and then said, with some awe, "It's here. It's the witch root."  

[Jun D]

Sleepless chuckled a little, the patronising, pitying chuckle of one who knew something you didn’t, and trotted over to disprove the find…

...but…

...it really…

...if there had been such a thing as her Swamp Witch root…

...it would have looked…

…exactly like that.

”But that’s impossible,” she gasped, splaying to the ground before it, eyes wide.

It was practically glowing.