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Nepeta trudged across the fields, her bare feet kicking off the grass with ease - there was no path, but she knew the way by heart. Over a hill, she caught sight of the windmill she’s grown so familiar with, and she picked up the pace. Despite the countless number of times she’s come this way, the trip always put a smile on Nepeta’s face.
In just a few moments, she had finally arrived at Aradia’s hive. It was no cave, but it was warm and quaint, and Nepeta had learned to adore it. Something about it was overwhelmingly homey - may it be the coziness of the tightly-packed blocks, or the serenity of the surrounding meadows. Or maybe, it could be the mere presence of Aradia. She had an aura about her which was familiar and thrilling and irresistible to Nepeta.
“Aradia!! Are you ready?”
Nepeta didn’t have to wait long for a response - as soon as Aradia had heard the query, she popped her head out of one of the windows on the side of the wall which Nepeta was leaning on. At the sight of her companion, she beamed, and quickly ducked back inside. There were some rummaging noises, followed by a procession of footsteps, and then, there she stood, inches from Nepeta.
Her unruly hair was tied up in what might be Alternia’s messiest ponytail, and over one jacket-adorned shoulder hung a backpack, presumably carrying her archaeology paraphernalia.
The two greeted with a hug, as they usually do, cheeks touching and horns playfully knocking together. There were times when they’d get stuck, due to the shape of Aradia’s horn. However, this was sweeps in the past, and the two have since learned to avoid such comedic tragedy again.
Pulling away, Nepeta’s claw snagged on a loose article hanging out of Aradia’s knapsack. Curious, as she had memorized each loop of the adventuring backpack and Aradia rarely left things improperly packed, Nepeta pulled at what she’d caught and retrieved - a hat? She snickered at her find; she wasn’t expecting anything in particular, but a dusty wrinkled old hat would not have been one of her first guesses.
“...’Radia, what is this?” Nepeta asked. It wasn’t like Aradia to bring any extraneous things along with her on expeditions - she needed as much space as she could get to carry home all of her treasures. (The two shared this mentality, and both traveled extremely light venturing out, and heaved what seemed like a ton of valuables or novelties on their return.)
“Oh,” Aradia looked away, a little embarrassed. “It’s my old troll-Indiana-Jones hat. It reminded me of when we were younger,” She took the worn hat from Nepeta’s hand, placing it between her curling horns. “We were so silly!” And as if she didn’t look silly enough wearing the whoever-knows-how-many-sweeps-old hat, she made a face at Nepeta.
“Come on, the night’s not getting any longer, stop being such a nostalgic sap. I want to actually go out, you know,” Nepeta complained, but there was no trace of true annoyance in her voice.
“Alright,” said Aradia. Defeated by Nepeta’s pout, she removed the hat and threw it back into her hive through one of the open windows. “But you do know it’s actually you who’s the sappy one?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Remember, when we were all six, and you had the drawings of us in your cave, what’d you call it? A ship-”
“Don’t you dare!”
“A shipping wall?” Aradia was positively glowing with zeal, waiting for Nepeta’s oh-so-clever response to her tease…
“Shut up, you.”
The hike to Nepeta's hive was considerably calm, as the two were spent from their long night of adventure. They shared lazy laughs along the way, exchanging quips and poking fun. Once through the threshold of the cave, Pounce de Leon greeted the both of them, welcoming her two favorite trolls and the smell of a fresh kill. Nepeta gave her a few of the animals hanging from her belt to satisfy her, as was the routine when Pounce did not accompany her on hunting trips.
Aradia plopped down, beginning the process of organizing her new artifacts, sorting through them to find the ones she found the most interesting, handling each with care and wonder. Nepeta joined her matesprit, leaning against her on the floor as she unceremoniously dumped the remainder of her hunt about the both of them. Aradia turned to face her, about to jokingly chastise her companion for being so careless, when she found a whole new reason to complain.
"Oh come on, don't chew that! I haven't put a date on it yet, and who knows, you could be setting your teeth into a rare specimen," Aradia despaired, as one of the day's finds was currently being mauled by her (undoubtedly lovable) horribly destructive partner in crime.
The troll in question didn't care to stop mid-chomp to reply. "What's the fun going hunting if you can't even enjoy your kill?" Nepeta asked, her words somewhat garbled from the bone trapped within her maw.
“You didn’t even kill this! It’s probably been dead longer than the both of us have been hatched, and you don’t know where it’s been.” The only response Aradia got was an eyeroll.
“I won’t kiss you if you keep that disgusting thing in your mouth.”
It was almost comical, the way Nepeta quickly spat the bone onto the floor. On another occasion, Nepeta would have kept the bone, stealing a few more when Aradia wasn’t looking (pretending not to look) and having them stolen back when it was Aradia’s turn to sneak. At the end of the match (which Aradia always won - Nepeta had no use for clean-picked bones anyhow) they’d wash up and rest through the day in each other’s arms. Such games were fun and always had them bursting at the sides with laughter, but tonight, it was just easier to forgo the games and skip right to the end.
The two headed to their sleeping quarters - a shared blanket spread on the floor in one of the far reaches of the cave (Nepeta’s recuperacoon was never going to be able to comfortably accommodate the two of them) - with their hands clasped. Sorting fossils could wait for tomorrow. Their chores weren’t going anywhere. For now, all that mattered was that they could spend a moment together in peace and tranquility.