Work Text:
Amy huffed with her map that started to droop in the rain; little splodges making ovals on the printed fen, and fat drips as they collected and slid down her fringe and onto the marshes. She growled.
"Sorry, what did you say?" Cream called from right next to her. Her ears were tucked into her mother's too-long raincoat, and she turned her head uncomfortably to try to hear anything other than the crackling of rain on plastic, and that plastic shifting against itself.
"I said, 'Grr'!- We were supposed to be crossing a river here, but I don't see the bridge - or the river for that matter!" She exclaimed into the peaty land, waving her sodden map around. Behind her, the gentle thump-splatch, thump-splatch of Big's sandals in the bog stopped. He peered over her shoulder, his fluffy chest covering her from the rain. He didn't say anything, just gave her a smile that told her he trusted her. She shook her head.
"Um, miss Amy... Cheese is getting very cold, I think..." Cream whisper-shouted. She unzipped her coat a little to allow him in, but he shook his head, shaking his fur and pulling a tough face. She sighed; "Maybe we should turn back..."
"Yeah. Okay. You're right, I got us lost." Amy grumbled, shaking the map to put in her pocket. She glanced up at Big again. He smiled at her encouragingly still - how he still had any faith in her, she didn't know, but he did.
"When did you know where we were?" He said slowly, taking in their surroundings and swinging his massive ears. Amy cracked her neck and tugged on her rucksack - she only had the navigator's tools, and her back was getting sore. Cream had nothing at all. Big had their 4 man tent (accommodating of his size), and all their food, and their clothes, all wrapped up in tarp because someone (not her) had the good sense to protect their things from the unlikely event of a rainstorm.
"I don't know. Maybe never." She huffed. Amy would simply never lead an adventuring team if she couldn't take her friends camping. She had been sure they'd have the best spot, overlooking the marshland but high up on the crest of the hill to enjoy the sunrise, and admire the river.
"We could see better on the hill." Big hummed, gently nudging her back the way they came. She pictured it in her mind... where had the river been even then, though?"
"Big... when the river bursts its banks, where does it go?" She murmured. He raised his eyebrows, and looked at their wet feet.
"Oh. We're in the flood plain."
"Yes. It's flooded."
"What did you say? Muddy?" Cream called over the rain and her hood. She checked her boots and flung more water and wet grass around; "Oh no, mother's coat..."
Amy traced the line of where she thought the river ought to be, then took them splashing through it until she found a small chain of wooden boards under the water, disguising just how deep this small stretch of the real river was.
"This way! Let's get back up the other side of the valley! Come on, guys!"
Big offered a hand to Cream as they approached, then sent her over first. She stepped off to the side on the other end, not noticing the deeper water below, and he reached out with his tail, but Amy had her hand already.
"Careful! Look, see how theres a different colour in the water here-" she said, pointing into the depths and holding Cream still as Big creaked gingerly over the bridge.
The ground finally became mercifully solid once more, and Cheese cheered with a shiver. Big hummed, and turned to face the floodplain.
"It looks easy over here." He said simply, fanning his huge ears out just far enough they stretched over Amy and Cream.
"Ugh, this weather. I'm sorry team." Amy huffed, checking the sodden map again.
"Hopefully it stops soon?" Cream called hopefully, to rigorous agreement from a shivering Cheese. Big hum-hummed, shrugging his shoulders and enjoying the view. Amy shook her head in disbelief.
"Don't you mind, Big? Not many cats like the rain."
Big sniffed in deeply, and grinned in the petrichor.
"The plants like rain. The fish like rain. And my friend likes rain."
Amy peeked out from under the ear-brella to see Froggy, laying flat on Big's head and totally blissed out.
"He's been so peaceful I forgot he was there!" Amy chuckled. He tilted his head slightly, dripping rain off one side.
"He isn't quiet. Your ears are covered."
Amy pulled her raincoat back a fraction, widening her field of view and freeing her ears a little. The drumming rain quietened to a gentle warm chorus, and she heard a rhythmic croaking - if a frog had ever purred, she was sure Froggy was purring now. And as she tuned that and the rain out, something else caught her ear, and it twitched as she listened.
"What bird is that, Big?"
His ears twitched minutely.
"Which one? The cuckoo is loud."
"Cuckoo... yeah! Cuh -Coo! I hear it!" She grinned. Cream twisted her head again, ears still obediently wrapped around her neck for warmth. Amy mimed pulling her hood back.
"You won't get them too wet." She said cheerfully, and glanced at Big's ears. As Cream unfurled one ear and twitched it around, Amy watched Cheese hover up towards the base of Big's ear, shivering, until he made contact with the soft fur underneath, and the warmth of his skin, where he sighed. Big sighed with him, his tail deftly sweeping around Cream as she let the other ear out and mumbled 'cu koo' with the bird.
If the river was behind them now, the meadow campsite would be one knoll over. The ground would be wet, but Big had brought a groundsheet, and there was a dense wood nearby - hopefully he had a tip for lighting wet kindling, he did live in the jungle, after all.
"So, you like the rain because they like the rain? That's nice of you." She smiled.
"I like most things. I like liking things."
"Yeah, me too." She whistled.
"Me three!" Cream grinned. She'd pulled her hood all off to enjoy the sounds, safe and drier under Big's tail and ears.