DotD - Buck n' Lindsay 4

By the time night hung over the land, Lindsay had returned to her own domain. She’d honestly wanted to get away from the psychotic weasel in hopes that it would be the last time their paths crossed, but just the next day, they met once more. It was early morning with her picking up the largest blueberries on a bush by her territory entrance, liking how it was tall enough to block out the sunlight until noon. She reached out towards the top of it, snagging a very dark berry that seemed to be too heavy for the branch it was on, and smiled as she tossed it into a leaf-sling around her shoulder.

It was about half full by now since she’d started picking them minutes ago, but her hedge was plentiful, so she could fill it entirely if she chose to. When she picked one particular blueberry in the middle of the hedge, she felt a hand atop her own and stopped to see who was on the other side. To her disliking, it was Buck, just as confused as her picking the same berry. Her expression switched from confusion to boredom, dropping her shoulders with a sigh and still holding the berry.

“I had it first, Buck,” she said. He slapped her with his other hand beneath it, but it only made her pluck the berry and keep it. She smirked, lightly dropping it into her leaf-sling before quickly moving to a different part of the hedge, collecting more at the left. He was opposite to her again, this time using his hands to move the branches and leaves in order to see her face. Lindsay rolled her eyes trying to ignore him, but he was persistent – he jumped through, rolling on the ground before quickly returning to his feet.

“Morning, Linz! Couldn’t have known you’d like blueberries,” he started, plunging his blade into the ground momentarily. She turned her head to see him coming towards her, and then decided she had enough to make some breakfast with. As she walked away, he shot up in front of her with a frown and refused to let her pass – he even moved whenever she tried going around him.

“What do you want, Buck?” She said at last, now fed up with him. He smiled off to the side, making his cornered chin visible, and tossed his dino-tooth into the air as he spoke.

“I’m wondering what danger you’ll face and what I’ll have to save you from,” Lindsay was about to object to him, but he caught her before a word was spoken, “and!” There was an awkward pause as he stared at her with an intensity that made her lean back with one eye party more closed that the other. The moment his expression changed to relaxation again, he leaned on his knife in the ground with one foot over the other and a fist against his side.

“Wha ah you doin’ with those berries?” He asked casually, pointing to them. The female pushed him aside, kicking his blade away as she passed into her territory without looking back for his reaction. Buck held it over his shoulder, slightly leaning to one side with his ears down as his scowl followed her, and huffed from the side of his mouth.

“I’m making a fruit mix to eat, that’s what I’m doing,” she replied, setting her sling down on a stone table structure a few feet into a carved-out tree. She heard nothing from him afterwards as she sorted them out with some other fruits, so she eventually stopped, cocking one ear back a little. Still no reply greeted her, so she sighed, looking over her shoulder – he was still standing with his ears down and his jaw off to one side, watching her in silence. Seeing his face allowed her a change of heart and she moved in order to be somewhat facing him again.

^{"You can join me...if you want,"} she offered quietly, gesturing for him to come forward. Buck’s smile returned and he was at her side almost immediately, tossing the dino-tooth knife into the ground behind him. He didn’t bother waiting for her to serve him – he served himself by splitting open a red orange against the stone surface. Some of the juices hit Lindsay’s face, making her flinch, but when she calmed herself she wiped it off her face while giving her “guest” one of her deepest agitated expressions.

“What’s wrong? I’m just opening it!” He admitted, giving her another one of his cute faces. Lucky for him, it melted her anger a bit and the female just shook her head. She reached over him, grabbed his knife, and then brought it up against one of the other fruits on her table top. Just when she about to cut the middle of a grapefruit, he snatched it from her, showing his bottom fangs in his frown and pointed it at her.

“Wha do you think you’re doin’?!” He started, also sliding her fruit towards himself, “I’m the only one who gets to use my knife, Linz. Don’t you forget that, understood?” With that he straightened up and started cutting it up after peeling the skin off – then he pushed the slices into the center of the stone table. Lindsay crossed her arms, watching him cut up another fruit after it, and thought that she should be doing that. After a minute, however, she changed her mind and smiled at the idea of making him do her work for them.

At least he’s not hard to trick in doing stuff for me... She thought, giggling to herself after a moment. When she did so, Buck looked up suspiciously and realized what he was doing; his brow dropped over his eye and he slid the rest of his slices into the center like before. Then he stood up with his blade resting on the table under his hand, just waiting for the female to read his signals. She stopped smiling and rolled her eyes, pointing at him accusingly while still leaning back like a teenager.

“Well, if you’d let me hold your dinosaur tooth I’d cut these fruits up,” was her statement. Buck shrugged, lifting it over his shoulder again, and smiled with his other hand against his side.

“I won’t let you, so I guess you’ll just have to find another way to finish the job!” He replied with a smirk – his head was held high, thinking that she’d give up.

“Fine, I will,” she said, turning around to find something behind a bed of leaves. She found a flat rock and smashed one side against a tree, making one part fall off to reveal a pointed edge. Then she returned to her stone table setup and took hold of a small pomegranate, pressing the stone against it. After a moment of struggle, she broke through the skin and successfully was able to cut the rest afterwards, pushing the slices into the grapefruit like her acquaintance had done. She held her fists at her sides with a smug grin on her face, liking the taste of success as much as the taste of a strawberry while Buck stood unchanged.

“Good for you, but I really must be going,” he told her, swerving around and walked away confidently. Lindsay’s eyes widened in surprise, watching him walk like nothing mattered, so she jumped over the long stone and caught up with him.

“Wait!” She exclaimed, putting her hands up when she stood before him. He raised his eyebrow at her and she continued, “You’re not actually going to stay like you said you would?” Then she crossed her arms, frowning at his rudeness. Buck grinned and chuckled deeply for a second, moving his blade from his shoulder to his side.

“I just remembered that my wife’s making me something today,” he replied, walking past her. He could tell she was still looking at him as he left, so he turned his head and half-closed his eye, still smiling. “Go on, make your meal! I’ll catch you later, if we’re lucky.” With that, he strolled off, catching a vine and swung away with a loud cheer.

“Oh, that Buck!” She spat out angrily, “You’ll get what’s coming to you eventually!” She stormed back into her own territory and snatched the sharp rock from her table’s edge to finish off the rest of the fruits. She couldn’t get him out of her mind while she cut them up, putting them in the center as always, and when she finished with the larger ones, she just mixed in the smaller berries – strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. With that, she clapped her hands together and sat on her haunches, picking the first piece out of the pile to eat it.

As she ate in peace, she still couldn’t stop thinking about her short experiences knowing Buck, but it only made the fruits turn sour in her mouth. Something about him was hard to leave alone, but she refused to let his psychotic personality ruin her morning.

Sooner or later, I’ll leave this place and find a new home. Then he won’t be able to bother me...