One for the Road [Finished]

[PyroBlaze]

Flora looked a little confused for a moment before she remembered her little teasing from before. She smiled slightly, continuing on her path in silence for a bit. Let him stew on that for a bit. After a bit, she decided to actually answer him. Wouldn't be very nice of her to simply ignore him, now would it?

"I... I'm not actually sure where I'm going... Just gotta find a place to hole up." Flora said quietly, half hoping he hadn't heard, as she doubted his reaction would be a very positive one. Oh well, she didn't really want to lie to him. Better to tell the truth and deal with the consequences.

The florist looked around a little as she walked, hoping to find a cave or something like that for the two of them to spend the night in. They needed something to keep them out of the wind, at least.

[Zeig]

 

If he didn't know any better, Inkbrand would swear Flora was playing him.

As it was, the grey stallion did his best not to outright fidget as a silence spiraled following his question, the green mare going from shy to teasing to stoic in the amount of time it took him to take a breath. And buck it all, it had been years since the last time any mare had been able to make him fidget. It was easy enough to get used to a pony - serious ones, he annoyed, shy ones, he flustered. Haughty ones? He bucking brought them down a peg.

But this sudden silence had Inkbrand near stewing, mentally tripping over the verbal quip he'd had ready to fire back. Bucking Tautarus - Flora Bloom could seriously give some lessons to the upper echelon of society mares, despite the fact that none of them would take her flipping flopping seriously.

Luckily for him, said mare chose to speak up again before he could cave, and her words had Inkbrand - unsurprisingly - rolling his eyes. "Bucking of course," he grumped, with a resigned rather than indignant sort of sigh. The fact that Flora Bloom had coerced him away from a potentially warm bed and sturdy home, courtesy of one country-down molly that probably would have given him both, was something Inkbrand deliberately chose not to focus on. Energies would be better sent finding a place to sleep, since the green mare apparently had no bucking idea what she was doing.

At that moment however, an outcropping caught his eyes, causing Inkbrand to tilt his head slightly. "What about over there?" he questioned, before trotting over to the spot without waiting for an answer. It wasn't anywhere near a cave - more like a natural alcove, with the cliff base curving inwards to create a sort of concave indent into the side of the hill-mountain. Not the most ideal, but the cliff blocked out the wind, blowing in the opposite direction, and the open space in front left a grand enough view of the stars - if that was a thing a pony would worry about, of course.

Inkbrand trot around the area once, stamping his hooves into the ground as if to soften it up. "Not the four-star suite you promised me, but all things considering," the grey stallion trailed off, a crooked grin on his face as he raised a challenging stare towards Flora Bloom, gaze half-lidded. The final test, as it were.

Honestly, Inkbrand wasn't even sure what he was testing anymore. But she'd either pass it, or not.

 

 

 

 

 

[PyroBlaze]

Flora glanced back at the stallion as he responded. She was kinda sorry that she had taken him away from Bluebell, but it was too late for that now. He wasn't quite as mean as he had originally seemed. All in all, he was a very... interesting stallion. She gave a quiet little sigh before looking back to where she was going. She had a place picked out before, but she didn't think he'd much enjoy it, so now she had to find someplace else for them to sleep.

 

Well, maybe not. Inkbrand pointed out a spot and immediately moved over to it. Flora stopped, looking at the place he had pointed out as he walked around and spoke some more. She gave another sigh and walked towards the outcropping, joining him underneath it and looking at it.

 

"Sorry." She replied quietly to what he had said, not meeting his gaze as she looked around. "Well... This spot looks alright... We can stay here for the night, if you want." She finished, finally looking at him. She tilted her head a bit as she took in his expression, but she said nothing about it.

[Zeig]

 

Inkbrand couldn't help the slight raise of his eyebrows as Flora Bloom, buck her, eventually followed him up after a small moment's hesitation, seemingly put out by his choice but not willing to complain. Or perhaps too tired too. Either way, the green mare accepted his choice, and was only vaguely concerned he would burn a hole into her backside with the intensity of his stare, doing his best to hide his puzzlement. And a bit of incredibility.

But before he could vocalize his bemused questions, another chill wind blew past, though thankfully broken up by the natural alcove. Still, it was enough to break off his demand for answers, and without any more prompting, Inkbrand circled once again before flopping unceremoniously onto the ground, with a twitch of his head to beckon Flora Bloom over.

"Hope you brought enough for two," the grey stallion settled on saying, eyeing her supplies meaningfully. A fluffy pillow would be nice, but Inkbrand certainly wouldn't complain if she pulled out a good sized blanket for the two of them. The long day of traveling and trekking up a mountainside was finally starting to catch up to him - figuring out the enigma of Flora Bloom would have to wait until another time, it seemed.

 

 

 

 

 

[PyroBlaze]

Flora looked around again at the overhang Inkbrand had chosen. It looked like it would work well enough. She looked back to Inkbrand just in time to see him beckoning her over, so she approached after a second. She stopped next to him, looking down at his prone form for a couple seconds before setting her bag down and rummaging through it. She had packed an extra blanket, just in case, but she was pretty sure she only had one pillow. 

 

She pulled out one of the blankets with her teeth before giving it to Inkbrand, taking out the other one for herself. Well... One blanket should be plenty... She stared at the bag for a couple seconds as she tried to decide if she should give him the pillow or just leave it in there and have neither of them use it.

 

"Do you want a pillow?" She asked quietly after a little bit, looking back to him. She could use the bag itself as a pillow, she guessed. It wouldn't be very nice to deprive him of a pillow just because she only had one.

[Zeig]

 

Now, that was just wrong.

Inkbrand was self-aware enough to know that he wasn't exactly the most…magnanimous of ponies, especially when it came to sharing certain things. Mares, for one, trade secrets, obviously another - and his precious, precious salt cubes, third and fourth and pretty much every other number. He had no qualms taking what he wanted, when he wanted.

But even he couldn't exactly swipe a pillow out from under a mare's head. Quite literally.

"Oi, buck off," the tattoo-clad stallion murmured, without the heat of a threat and all the languidness of a resigned conversation, "one's enough for one. Take it. Less you want to share," he added, with a quick wink aimed in Flora's general direction, but Inkbrand was honestly more occupied with arranged himself just right underneath the blanket. It was luckily large enough for him to essentially cocoon himself, giving himself a softer buffer against the hard ground.

…Well alright, buck. This wasn't so bad.

 

 

 

 

 

[PyroBlaze]

Flora blushed slightly at Inkbrand's response as he said she could keep the pillow unless she wanted to share. The thought of being that close to the stallion while they slept made her uncomfortable. It had nothing to do with him, she just didn't feel comfortable being that close to anypony outside her family. She looked down at the pillow in her hooves, still blushing. He really was nicer than she had originally thought, and it was very enjoyable, seeing this side of him.

 

"S-sorry, but I don't feel comfortable with that..." She said apologetically in response to his words about sharing the pillow. "Sorry."

 

She had been about to suggest that he use the bag as a pillow, but then she remembered that there was food and water in there for the morning and such. She laid the pillow down with her blanket before standing up again and trying to find a safe place to keep the bag. There wasn't really anything around that seemed to be good enough, so she gave a sigh and carried it back, putting the bag next to them in hopes that their presence might keep the animals out of her bag.

[Zeig]

 

A light snicker escaped Inkbrand's lips as he settled deeper into his cocoon, locking his forelegs behind his head so he could stare up at the night sky for a while. The semi-warmth was improving his mood considerably, and the grey stallion didn't mind so much that Flora Bloom seemed to have switch back to her shy and insecure state, given the blush now staining her cheeks. He hadn't really believed the shy mare would have snuggled down next to him for the night - not that he would have complained if he'd been proven wrong.

"Yeah, whatever," the tattoo-clad stallion said, chuckling low under his breath, "just don't start with that blushing and stammering again, and I promise I'll keep my hooves to myself."

Well. Mostly.

Still, Inkbrand could admit that this wasn't as bad as he'd been expecting, sleeping out in the open without any camping gear. And as the memory of red-colored dust clouds disappearing into a multi-hued sunset drifted across his mind again, the slightly smile rose to his lips, just enough for him to turn his head lightly to take in the green colored mare for a long, long moment.

In the end however, the grey stallion simply smirked, wriggling around slightly as he repositioned himself to take the darkened sky and pinpoint stars back in. "'Night Flo," he managed to murmur, golden eyes falling half-lidded. Inkbrand wasn't really sure if he was even expecting a response or not, but it didn't really matter as his eyes fell closed, the sounds of the desert slowly lulling him into a semi-warm sleep.

 

 

 

 

 

[PyroBlaze]

Flora looked at Inkbrand for a moment as he responded. Well, he was fine without it, it seemed. That was good. She smiled slightly, giving him a small nod, though the blush still persisted. She laid down and draped the blanket over herself, getting comfortable. When she was done, she gave a glance back to Inkbrand to see him still watching her. She watched for a second, about to open her mouth to say something when he looked away and got comfortable again.

 

"Goodnight, Inkbrand." Flora replied quietly to his words, smiling as she laid there, watching the stars as she listened to the sounds of nature around her. She considered him a friend of sorts now that she had gotten more used to him and saw that he was actually nice. Flora was glad she had done this, putting herself in this situation with a strange stallion that wasn't so strange anymore. She continued to stare for a while before giving a content sigh and closing her eyes, letting herself fall onto her side and sleep.

[Zeig]

[[ And I think it's safe to bring this topic to a close. Thanks a bunch for participating PyroBlaze, it was a lot of fun! ]]