Wild Berry Meadow tiptoe on my heart

@Marlow

he'd been chatting up some nameless passerby when the pair of them stumbled upon the flourishing meadow, the countless number of berries sending a rumble to his stomach. he offered for her to join him for a mid-morning snack, one she politely refused due to an apparent allergy. he was torn between either continuing their conversation or giving into the growls of hungry, eventually choosing food over a pretty face.

he bid her goodbye before setting on course for a patch of particularly delicious looking berries, their vibrant color instantly grabbing his attention. clueless of the dangers that could come with consuming unknown plants, astaroth proceeded to shove his face full of the sweet tasting treat, tail happily swaying behind him while he did so.

Thank you for getting this up <3

           Travel north had been... less than ideal. It was nothing she couldn't handle, of course - Noor wolves were hardy, and Marley was no exception. Still, her muscles ached and her stomach rumbled and she knew she'd lost some weight. Such was the life of a lone wolf, she supposed. Though it was far, far better than what she had come from. 

           "Marla Noor, submit!"

           "Marla, you must obey them."

           "Do you want me to rip your ear the rest of the way off, bitch?"

           Needless to say, if she was ever called by her birth name again, she thinks she might throw up. If she ever saw another Noor wolf, she definitely would. Leaving had been the best decision she had ever made in her entire life. 

            Her introspection was cut short, as usual, by external factors. The young wolf's nose twitched as it caught scent of something sweet on the wind. Something edible, the scent told her, and so she took off toward it, achy muscles and sore paw pads forgotten in the face of finally getting some food in her stomach. 

            She wasn't sure how the berries had grown this early in the season, but she wasn't going to complain. The only thing she might have a problem with was the dark figure already present in the field, apparently with the same mindset she had. 

            "Are these all for you or are you cool with sharing a little?" she called, tilting her head to the side and scanning over the other young wolf.

he'd been too busy shoving his face full to notice the change of scent in the breeze, his focus fully on the berries until a voice pulled his attention away. lips stained and mouth full, he turned to face the feminine version of himself, the only difference between them being the patch of white along her nape and shoulders.

"help yourself" came his muffled response, tail swaying softly behind as further invitation for her to join him. he would have turned back around to continue gorging himself had a genius idea, or so he thought, not popped into his head. "bet i can eat more than you can" he dared, a few loose berries slipping between his teeth and falling to the earth's floor in the process.

Alternatively titled: two dumbasses make themselves sick from berries.

           A challenge? Well, Marlow was never one to back down from one of those. Besides, this guy wasn't all that much bigger than her, right? She could definitely outmatch him here. This was an absolutely brilliant idea, no doubt about it. What could go wrong with two hungry loners overstuffing themselves with berries? The reprocussions of this course of action was entirely lost on the young Noor, who was simply far more interested in the game they were playing than thinking about what might go wrong.

           "I'll have you know, you're going to lose," she announced, hopping over to stand beside him. Her ear flopped into her face and she shook it away, crouching down and waiting for him to count them down so they could start their impromptu contest.

r.i.p @ their tummies

"i won't go easy on you" he teased after finally swallowing the mouthful of berries that had been keeping him from talking properly. watered down gold watched as she came to stand beside him, a playful smirk tugging at the edge of his lips. "ready?" he began, glancing to his side to ensure she was good to go.

"set" he let out, his focus zeroing in on a cluster of berries he had yet to pick from the bush he'd been eating from. "go!" and with that he was off, tail swaying happily behind him as he dove headfirst into an absolutely terrible idea.  

It was good that he wouldn't go easy on her - Marley liked being treated as an equal in all aspects, and this boy seemed to be good at that. Her tail swished through the air behind her and she watched out of the corner of her eye to make sure he wasn't cheating on their little poorly-planned game. They would certainly regret doing this later, but for now? It seemed rather fun. 

            She gave him a nod that said she was ready to go before lunging into the berries and beginning to take mouthfuls in. In her haste to be the victor, she barely even tasted the sweet juice. It was a shame, because the berries were really quite good.

             In just a few minutes, she began to realize what a bad idea this really was. Not only were they not counting what they were eating, but her stomach was beginning to protest the sudden influx of food after being without it for so long. She pulled back away from the bush, tummy churning and nausea beginning to rise in her throat.

             "Maybe this wasn't such a good-" she began, then promptly gave a gag and spewed half-chewed berries up onto the grass beneath her paws.

for the first minute and a half into their little competition, asatroth felt as if he could eat the entire meadow full of berries. fast forward to about three minutes in and it felt as if his stomach was going to pop. by the time five minutes rolled around he could barely even chew, the thought of swallowing another mouthful causing his stomach to do somersaults.

and then she had to go and give the final blow by throwing up everything she'd just scarfed down.

if there was one thing he couldn't tolerate in this world, it was vomit. "oh god" he let out as he immediately swung his head around to avoid looking at the mess she'd just heaved up onto the ground. he really hoped she just had an upset stomach, cause the last thing he wanted to deal with right now was food poisoning.

Marlow felt immensely better after regurgitating at least half of the food in her stomach, and straightened up with a wag of her tail, licking around her lips to clean them of any residue. Gross, yes, but she was having too much fun with the game to be too grossed out. 

           "Well," she began, swallowing and clearing her throat to rid it of any scratchiness. "I think it's pretty safe to say you won. Good job." She shook out her fur and scraped some dirt over the mess she'd made, then approached the boy. "Not many men can beat me in an eating contest. I think you just won because I'm not in top form," she boasted proudly, oblivious to the boy's plight with his stomach.

he squeezed his eyes shut at the commotion behind him, desperately trying not to heave up his own stomach full of berries. it was only after she buried the mess did he open an eye and glance in her direction, concern painted along his features despite her sounding perfectly fine.

"you ok?" he asked, for both her sake and his own. if she was going to blow chunks again, he didn't want to be anywhere in the vicinity, especially not with the way his own stomach gurgled with nausea.

"Yeah! I feel a lot better now. Just ate too much too fast," she assured, tail swishing behind her and only then realizing that he, too, felt sick. A frown marred her features. She really did feel a lot better after she threw up - maybe this berry eating contest really hadn't been the best idea. It was only ever after the fact that she realized these things.

             Gold eyes rounded with concern as she padded closer to him and tilted her head to the side. "You're not looking too good though," she remarked, ears flattening. "Do you think you maybe need to sit down?" She was no healer, so that was the best that she had to offer.

he offered a weak smile when she revealed that she felt fine. well, at least one of them was doing ok. "i'll be alright" he let out, though took her advice and decided to have a seat before things took a turn for the worst.

"i'm not the best at handling ehh, vomit" he revealed, tossing an apologetic look her way. his stomach had always been weak when it came to handling others, and his own, regurgitation. yuck! "i still would have beat you, even if you hadn't gone and spewed them back up" he teased with a wink, hoping to turn the conversation to a more appealing topic than barf.

"I don't really think anyone is the best at handling vomit," she responded with a sheepish smile, sitting down next to the other dark wolf. She certainly wasn't, if the aforementioned vomiting hadn't been enough convincing. Any stomach upset was not dealt with well for the young female. 

         She let out a snort when he teased her, nudging his shoulder with her nose. "Yeah, you probably would've," the girl acquiesced. "I still think we both ate a whole lot, though. That was a lot of fun." Even with the vomiting, she'd had a good time. It was nice. "My name's Marlow, but you can call me Marley if you wanna."

he smiled at her attempt to make him feel better about his weak stomach, a few small tap of his tail against the earth signalling his silent thank you. "we should do this again sometime, just you know, without making ourselves sick" he suggested, golden gaze turning to catch her reaction.

"astaroth" he introduced, a soft breeze tangling his fur in knots while he leaned over to gently bump her shoulder should she let him. "so marley, what brings you out this way?" he wondered, having noticed she was without the scent of any pack.

the pair of them talked for what seemed like five or ten minutes before a wave of exhaustion overtook him. and so with a polite dip of his head, he bid marley a goodbye and set off to find a place to sleep off all the weight he'd just put on after eating those berries.