Lost

Chapter 32

×~ Rest ~×

While I was exploring I had come back to the place Tubbo was at a few times to make sure I didn't stray too far away from them. Every time I did so I ended up catching sight of the deer and felt myself begin to wonder what I ever found appetizing in a piece of meat. I don't think I can look at it the same after witnessing the brutal death of the poor creature. I shook off the feeling and promised myself I'd continue thinking about it later and as I continued walking again a few memories of the time I had spent with Tubbo earlier in the day came back to me; they were fuzzy but at least I had them again.

While walking around I found a few places that might be good but decided that a tight grouping of evergreens would be our best bet and started making my way back to where I thought Tubbo was. I managed to get a little lost thanks to fresh snow covering my tracks but I eventually found my way back. I slowly approached Tubbo again once I noticed them in the distance. Before I managed to get to them though, they noticed me and turned around. As soon as they saw me a smile stretched across their face and they quickly got up and ran over to me to greet me.

"Hi, Ranboo!" I was greeted with a hug.

"Hey Tubbo," They let go of me and took a few steps back, "I found a place that seems a little better than this area, but not by much; it will probably just block some of the harsher winds from hitting us directly."

"Well, that's better than nothing I guess," Tubbo accepted with a shrug and I nodded in response. "I'll go get the deer and then you can lead me to the place you found; I wouldn't recommend following me because all of the deer's organs are on the ground next to it." Before I could respond Tubbo ran back over to the deer, grabbed it by its hind legs and started dragging it back over to me.

"Hey, um, do you need help with that?" I asked, feeling disgusted seeing the bloodied deer this close again.

"Nah, I can handle it," Tubbo bragged but switched to a more sympathetic tone, "I have the feeling you don't want to touch it," I quickly nodded and started walking back the way I came as they followed close behind. It didn't take too long to reach the group of trees considering Tubbo was doing just about all of the work. I stopped walking and glanced back at Tubbo before quickly looking back at the trees in front of us.

"This is it," I called dully. Tubbo hummed in response as they dropped the deer back on the ground with no concern as to how it landed. "I could still try to find something better if you want."

"No, no it's fine, it'll protect us more than any other part of the nearby forest I've seen so far," They assured in a comforting tone, "Plus, you need to go take a break; you've been walking practically the entire day."

"I-" I stopped myself from making an argument; there would be no point to it and I don't know why I even started one in the first place, "You're right."

"I know," Tubbo stated with a happy, bubbly tone and a small laugh. "I'm going to continue doing a bad job at butchering this deer now, so if you want to get some distance from that, now's your chance," they sounded more serious than before.

"Okay, thank you, but can I ask a question before I go?"

"Of course."

"How can you stomach looking at all of that gore?" I paused and looked back at Tubbo, "It seems like it would be difficult to manage."

"Normally I'd agree with you, this is absolutely disgusting," They shrugged as they cast their gaze back down to the deer, "But may I remind you that I haven't eaten in days so when I look at this all I see is food."

"Oh, yeah, yeah, that, yeah that makes sense," I stammered, "Sorry for asking; I'll leave now."

"You're fine, don't worry about it," Tubbo voiced with an amused sympathy lacing their words. I just nodded and quickly jogged over to the evergreens and weived through their branches looking for a nice spot to sit. I soon found a particularly comfortable looking tree and sat down. Tubbo was far enough away for me not to hear him but still close enough that we could easily find each other if we needed to. I pulled out my memory book and jotted a few things down before pulling the other book out of my bag and turning to page one so I could reread it for what felt like the thousandth time. I soon got lost in the familiar world; it feels like I have just about memorized every word of this story but I still manage to lose track of time whenever I read it.

I continue to cut into the deer's flesh and lay any slices of meat I cut off in a small pile next to me. I had a rough idea of what parts of the animal were best to eat but other than that I was just winging it and hoping for the best, but doing this is really repetitive and really boring. I wish I had someone to talk to but I don't think Ranboo would be able to handle being around this. Maybe I could take a break? No, this needs to get done, I'll have plenty of time to rest after. I groan slightly as I continue slicing the meat, hopefully, it won't take too long to finish.

After a short while, I manage to remove some of the larger pieces of meat and started cutting those up into more manageable portions. I don't think we'll need the entire deer to get to the village so I left a good portion of the meat still attached to the carcase, there's no point in doing extra work. As soon as I'm done cutting the meat I lay it out in the snow to let it freeze. I don't know if we'll be able to cook it before we eat it and I'm not really in the mood to get food poisoning.

I quickly cleaned off my knife and stood up, taking a few steps back from where I was sitting. After looking down at my work for a few moments I turned and started walking in the direction Ranboo had gone. Even though it had been snowing since we got here I could still follow his tracks thanks to the evergreens blocking more snow from touching the ground.

As I turned to the next page in my book I was startled by it being snatched out of my hands.

"What'cha reading?" Tubbo called in a sing-song tone with long stretched out words as he turned the book to face himself.

"It's nothing, give it back," I stammered as I stood up and reached for the book.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry, here you go," Tubbo offered me the book and I snatched it out of their hands, "It's not like I could have read it anyway; it didn't look like it was written in English," They continued as I gently placed my book back in my bag.

"It's not," I quietly confirmed as I leaned against the tree and slid back down to the ground. Tubbo soon joined me and sat next to me leaning against the same tree.

"Hey, Ranboo, do you mind if I lean against you I'm really tired," The goat hybrid asked with a yawn. After a few moments, I slowly nodded and Tubbo slumped over onto my shoulder. "Thanks," they paused, "Oh, and one more thing if I fall asleep please make sure I wake up."

"I will," I promised, trying to ignore the cryptic meaning of the request.

"Thanks," Tubbo hummed.

1357 Words: I'm sorry this chapter took so long to come out. I got busy with school and didn't have time to work on it so it's ended up being almost done for over a week. Thankfully next week is spring break so I won't have to worry about school too much for a little bit.