Druther be Among the Willows

[ALL MY BLOGS need new reference art - And the mun does too! Let’s see how much of it I get through.

Shouldn’t be any trigger warnings today! Lots of OCs, possibly Cole, and I’ll take little scribble requests if I get stuck and frustrated with anything.

Be nice, please pick and colour a nickname to speak (Pencil Icon under the chatbar on the right, colored box next to bold/italic/underline on the left) so I can keep track of who’s talking, and don’t mind my singing!

[ Come and watch us draw? The rules are easy;

You do not need a log-in to chat. Hit the little pencil icon beneath the chat bar, on the right, and put in a nickname and you can talk.

The Mun would appreciate it if you would color your name too! It helps her keep up with who’s talking - use the little coloured box by the bold/italic/underline icons to do that.

Be kind.

Chat’s OOC! I’ll be doing a lot of practice - haven’t drawn with two monitors in a while. Also warning: There will be some sketches of starved bodies, close ups of eyes, hands, and other disembodied body parts, scars, mouths and teeth, and other things I need to work on. (Also facial expressions and fluffy things, but I want to warn people!)

"Hm?" Kate’s ears flick up, and her head cants as she blinks through the food haze. She is being called? Yes. Yes that is what is happening.

She ambles over, tail a-swish and not yet brushed, fur sticking out oddly.

She’s half turned away again, in fact - before the gravity of the question actually hits. And it’s a very physical thing, you know? She goes from studying her hands to jerking up her chin with wide eyes - to staring off at some point in the horizon, before she rounds on her fox again, both hands around her muzzle.

"W-wait. Wait, y’all just - "

A moment where he’s honestly worried she might not have got what he was saying.

Her reaction, when it seems to finally occur to her, brings a grin to his muzzle that’s as much relief as amusement. He reaches forward, taking her hand between both of his, and ever so gently kisses the engagement ring she’s slipped on.

Crying, and smiling so hard it makes her face hurt. Her voice, while still weak, has laughter in it between the restrained sobs and tiny hiccoughs, and she relinquishes her ringed hand with ease.

"Ain't - Ain't wanted nothin' more." Her words are merely mumbles behind fingers, and her blurry gaze is locked on Tai now. "Ah - Ah ain't thought..."

"Din't think Ah'd ever get.... That yew'd ever, Ah don't..."

She licks her muzzle, falling briefly silent, before her head drops with a helpless, hopeless laugh.

A moment later, she tackles him, and buries her head in his shoulder and neck. She is sobbing - and hugging him as tightly as she can - and laughing, kissing his cheek and muzzle and forehead and face.

The red ears flick forward, and her brows (or mask’s shape, same thing) rise. “Oh! Yea-uh, sho’!” She toss-and-catches it one more time, so Tai can get a bead on it, then tosses it his way gently. Easy throw - easy catch.

Ring’s maneuvered onto the tip of his thumb, and flicked, spinning in the air not unlike a coin, before he catches it in his palm, watching it thoughtfully.

Now or never - no point trying to delay or procrastinate.

"So, hey. Y’know, since we got the ring an’ all anyway…” He drawls, tone faintly lilting and mischievous. He shifts, turning where he sits to face her full on, leaning on one knee and offering the ring to her.

She's half turned away again, in fact - before the gravity of the question actually hits. And it's a very physical thing, you know? She goes from studying her hands to jerking up her chin with wide eyes - to staring off at some point in the horizon, before she rounds on her fox again, both hands around her muzzle.

"W-wait. Wait, y'all just - "

"There’s a whole world’a difference ‘tween makin’ purdy things an’ havin’a talk ‘bout ‘em fo’ hours. Druther this to that a hundred times. Heck, Ah don’t reckon Ah’d know the difference between a whatever-dollar ring an somethin’ ten times it, iff’n both are pretty and kinda the same color." She grins up at Tai, and holds up her new band.

"Might just be willin’ to learn. Could go ‘round bein’ smiths some-time. Ain’t never thought about learnin’ to make metal things! Ah mean, knew folks done it, sure, but ain’t ever crossed my mind."

Nudge her and wink why don’t you, earfox, be more subtle huh?

The red ears flick forward, and her brows (or mask's shape, same thing) rise. "Oh! Yea-uh, sho'!" She toss-and-catches it one more time, so Tai can get a bead on it, then tosses it his way gently. Easy throw - easy catch.

New things delight her. It’s why she said ‘yes’, after all, when Tai asked if she’d like to be his plus one on the endless ramble that his life seems to be - useful new things delight her. Whimsy delights her.

Shooting raw, rough bullets had been an interesting experience - and consuming enough that she didn’t notice fish until it was nearly done. Silver? Silver was fascinating.

And now she sits with a mostly-finished ring and a bit of smooth leather, buffing her handiwork to a reasonable shine. “Ah wouldn’t half-all mind learnin’ gems an’ things.” She calls, trying the ring on for the hundredth time since she took up the final task.

"But this is right pretty as is, ain’t it? It ain’t weird for to go an’ save the silver when Ah go an’ make bullets, is it? Kinda wanna get good at this….”

"I mean, goin’ outta yer way to use galena ‘steada anythin’ else might be a mite weird, but - hell, some stories, lead an’ silver go together so often it’s only common sense. Lotta things silver bullets work well on."

"There's a whole world'a difference 'tween makin' purdy things an' havin'a talk 'bout 'em fo' hours. Druther this to that a hundred times. Heck, Ah don't reckon Ah'd know the difference between a whatever-dollar ring an somethin' ten times it, iff'n both are pretty and kinda the same color." She grins up at Tai, and holds up her new band.

"Might just be willin' to learn. Could go 'round bein' smiths some-time. Ain't never thought about learnin' to make metal things! Ah mean, knew folks done it, sure, but ain't ever crossed my mind."

There’s a lot of things Tai doesn’t really get about relationship rituals. One of the few things he does know is that a proposal is, generally speaking, supposed to be a surprise.

This poses a mild problem - how do you surprise an observant raccoon who takes an active interest in what you get up to and can catch you out in your usual lies?

"Hoy, li’l bit. Y’remember when we made yer knife? Never taught you how to work with softer stuff, did I?"

The answer is a distraction.

——-

Galena ore isn’t terribly hard to find. Not the best source of silver - but it’s not ‘supposed’ to produce silver, if he’s going to maintain his cover.

Bullet-casting for fun and profit’s the starter topic. Beginning with a home-made forge, smelting the ore down - showing her how the lead and silver splits off when you get the heat just right. Then tricks in making the bullets the way you want - hollowpoints, hard-core, solid rounds, simple but important stuff. Primer, too - hard to get the mix exactly right, but good enough with regular gun maintenance.

"An’ if y’ain’t takin’ care’a yer gun when you’re relyin’ on it in rough conditions like this, y’frankly deserve it blowin’ up in yer face."

Then a break - she to test out her new rounds, and feel how they differ from ‘clean’ rounds; he to scrounge up some food. Not that he told her that - first hint she got of the presence of edible things was the scent of sizzling fish on the air, cooked over the forge after a clean-up.

(Not in the forge. He tried that once - fish-flavoured charcoal was interesting, but probably not going to get very far in the common market)

And then, over a good meal -

"Hmm. Hey, li’l bit? Ever wanted to know how silverworkin’ goes?"

——-

That led to some carving - making a simple C-block, showing her the sizes and explaining what it was for, and making a couple of simple mallets. 

Getting her ring size - this was probably his masterstroke, far as he was concerned. The hard bit of the ‘problem’ of surprising her solves itself - genius. Silver’s marked, cut, hammered out. She’s got her hands on the work most of the time - he takes it far enough for her to get the idea, and lets her take it over.

She’s a quick study - it’s one of the things he loves about her.

Ends are welded together - he had to fetch tools for this, mostly with the justification that “Y’aren’t gonna be bothered ‘bout workin’ silver in the wild anyhow, so.” Flux, wire, tongs.

Then more hammering, getting the ring into an actually round shape. Filing the edges smooth. Sanding.

He’s humming to himself, while she works on polishing the ring up properly. He’s working on tidying the forge up, tail wagging back and forth.

New things delight her. It's why she said 'yes', after all, when Tai asked if she'd like to be his plus one on the endless ramble that his life seems to be - useful new things delight her. Whimsy delights her.

Shooting raw, rough bullets had been an interesting experience - and consuming enough that she didn't notice fish until it was nearly done. Silver? Silver was fascinating.

And now she sits with a mostly-finished ring and a bit of smooth leather, buffing her handiwork to a reasonable shine. "Ah wouldn't half-all mind learnin' gems an' things." She calls, trying the ring on for the hundredth time since she took up the final task.

"But this is right pretty as is, ain't it? It ain't weird for to go an' save the silver when Ah go an' make bullets, is it? Kinda wanna get good at this...."