It had been about a day since the incident with the stupid bunny. Nott wished he could say that he slipped peacefully into death by now, but unfortunately, the gods had decided not to let that happen. Instead, they've opted to annoy him with an overly friendly pest of a hare. Seriously, he kind of wished he'd killed the thing now, he thought to himself as he watched from the corner of his eye as it - he - edged closer to his long tail. Like he wouldn't notice something so obvious. Luckily, all the lion had to do was look at him, and the hare would scramble away like he hadn't been trying to pet his tail tuft. Nott let out a snort, shaking his head as he moved his gaze away again. Please, just let him die in peace.
He had mellowed some in that time though. The cold was starting to numb some of the pain, had slowed the flow of blood from his body, and now he mostly found himself feeling empty about his situation rather than mad or mournful. It was the way of life, after all.
A few more minutes passed by quietly, and for a moment, Nott'Modr was starting to think that the hare had finally given up. Closing his eyes slowly, he sighed as he tried to rest.
At first, he thought it was his imagination when the weird, soft scratching noise started, but then it started to get a little more animated, and he couldn't help but to investigate. One eye opened in a slit and he tilted his head to the side to see something that he wasn't... quite sure what to call it.
If any other hares were around to ask him why he was doing what he was doing, they'd probably think he was insane. Trying to help a lion? He'd surely get himself killed by the end of the day! But the lion hadn't tried to eat him yet, and he liked to think that he wouldn't.
Besides, he had his reasons for doing so. For one, his curiosity was practically bursting at the seams. What had happened, and... why hadn't he eaten him when he had the chance?
The other reason was far less selfish on his part. The more he observed the lion, the more he came to realize that only most of those wounds were the fault of whatever attack had occurred. The tail though? It was crooked and freshly bleeding with splinters of wood sticking out of it. Haddock had always been a smart hare, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that the broken tail was his fault.
Guilt tugged at his heart every time he looked at it, and the need to help drove him closer. Of course, this would be a lot easier if said lion would let him help. Haddock had even tried telling him so much, but the lion was refusing to acknowledge his presence and had yet to speak a single word to him. Was he deaf? Incapable of speech? He'd heard lions talking before - he knew that they could.
Ugh, but fine. He'd try something else.
... Read: he got bored and decided to doodle in the snow. It was an odd pass time of his, something that stimulated him every time he did it. There was always something new to draw, after all.
He started with the head, big and round with a large muzzle on the front, and then moved to the ears and mane. Aside from being much larger, with a mane and shorter ears (how did they hear anything with such small appendages?), a lion really wasn't that different from a hare, he thought. The eyes were kind of hard to do, they always were, so it turned out sort of crude.
But it was apparently enough. He was only about a foot or two away from the injured lion... or so he'd thought, but the breath against the back of his neck told him that that wasn't the case anymore. Freezing, Haddock threw a quick glance backwards before trying to focus on his drawing again. He could feel the eyes watching him.. or rather... his paw?
Oh. He got it now.
Taking a deep breath in, Haddock continued sketching, moving to the body (which turned out more like a big bean) and then the legs. He was nervous now, and his drawing was starting to reflect that, but he persevered as he moved on to the tail.
Part way through making the big swirly tail, the lion behind him moved and Haddock startled enough to stop drawing. Turning around, he watched with wide eyes as the lion limped away to grab his own stick and, to his astonishment, started drawing something of his own.
He wasn't sure what possessed him to partake of the strange activity, but he'd never seen someone draw before, had never really thought to try, and if there was anything they had in common, it was their curiosity about the world. Nott generally suppressed that part of him when on duty, but the fact remained - he liked to explore, and this was nothing if not exploring something new.
With a rumble in his throat, he grasped the branch in his jaws and started dragging it across the ground. Admittedly, it was probably worse than the hare's drawing. It was hard to draw sideways, okay! None the less though, he was quite proud when he finished dotting the eyes and looked smugly over his creation.
Not bad, if he did say so himself!
Moving so much kind of made his wounds flare though, and he winced as he lowered himself back down to the ground, only to snap to attention as the hare stepped on one of his lines. He snarled at him, frustrated, until the hare had the sense to move. Good - he hadn't stepped on his art.
Slight fear from being growled at aside, Haddock was fascinated by the other's drawing, and he hopped back and forth around it to try and make out what it was. Was it... him? The long ears were obvious, but the face was kind of mishmash.
So caught up in his thoughts, the familiar breath (why was that becoming a familiar thing? Could he please not?) against his back made him freeze. Turning around slowly, he looked up at bright green, narrowed eyes. This time though, they weren't glaring at him and he found himself a little more relaxed as he stared up at them. Unable to help the urge, he reached out a paw towards the lion's nose, only to get growled at once more.
Okay, still a no go for him touching..... Why not the other way around?
Taking a deep breath, Haddock closed his eyes (he didn't really want to see if it turned out badly) and reached out again, this time stopping a couple inches away.
This hare was either very brave or very stupid, and Nott was leaning towards the later. Still, as he gazed down at the outstretched paw, he couldn't help the strange pull that the moment had, and why was that? What an odd urge. Actually, it all looked kind of familiar, and as he stared down at it, it finally hit him.
A lesser known fact about Nott: he had seer blood within him, and while visions didn't occur often, he did occasionally have them. At the time, he'd thought this particular vision very strange, as all he could see of it was a tiny, green, outstretched paw, but visions were nothing if not important to the owner of them. They marked pivotal moments of one's life.
Slowly, as he glanced from the hare to his paw, Nott leaned forward until his nose was touching the aforementioned paw, closing his eyes at the feel of soft bunny fur against his cold nose. It was warm and fluffy and left such a nice, peaceful feeling in him.
As he pulled away once more, the lion let out a snort and, after one more calculating glance at the hare, turned his head around and plopped it back down on his arms. He was tired, and he needed to think.
Oh god, it worked! He couldn't believe it had worked!
Haddock slowly opened an eye to look back at the lion as nose touched paw. He had a calm look on his face, making the hare a little more brave in turning his head back around, and once they pulled away, the lion did nothing more than lay back down.
Oh, he couldn't believe it. Excitement coursed through him as he stepped around and plopped down to sit beside him. Maybe now they could make some progress too! His eyes scanned over the injuried form, already trying to come up with ways to help fix him up.
