Nothing Tastes Worse, Than Spite
It was a lovely summer in Moominvalley; the day was wrapped in a comfortably warm heat with a refreshing breeze winding through the valley, and not a cloud in the sky, a perfect day for a trail walk as far as Snufkin was concerned. And who better to accompany him then his best friend Moomintroll? Moomin, excitable as ever, practically leaped at Snufkin's invitation when he came by the Moominhouse that afternoon. Waving goodbye to Moominmamma and Moominpapa, the two set off over the bridge and into the woods to begin their mini adventure.
The woods were gorgeously serene, the only noises being made were the babbling brook when they passed by, and his companion Moomin. He was extremely excitable today, eagerly pointing out how it was "such a great day for an outing", and "my how the water looks so crystal clear", and "oh did you see that Snufkin? The wind is making the leaves dance". As much as he does enjoy his time alone, there was also something very special about hanging out with someone as outgoing as Moomin. He did most of the talking, which was perfectly fine by Snufkin; he never really has much to say himself, certainly not for as long as Moomin can go. All in all he personally found Moomin's enthusiasm quite….cute.
"Snufkin, look over there! Is that? Is that a picket fence?" Moomin exclaimed
"A what now?" Snufkin was roused from his musings and looked in the direction Moomin was pointing. Sure enough, a measly, dainty, easily-breakable-looking-if-Snufkin-did-say-so-himself, picket fence was set up right in the forest. A publicly owned forest. Snufkin can feel himself getting agitated.
"Now why is there a fence in the middle of a forest? I don't think I've ever seen it before. Do you think it's new?" Moomin inquired, turning to his good friend-
"Snufkin! What are you doing!? Come back, we can't go over there!" Moomin called out and started after him.
Snufkin was already up front and inspecting the tiny excuse for a fence. Honestly, this was supposed to keep people out, this thing? He doesn't even have to climb it; a good jump will do just fine. And so Snufkin grabbed the top of the fence as leverage and did just that.
"Snufkin no! Please don't, you must come back! We are not supposed to be over there!" Moomin pleaded from behind the other side of the fence.
"Oh, we're not supposed to are we? And who said that? Who made such a rule dear Moomin?" Snufkin replied with a smirk as he continued to traverse through the area. Honestly, the gall of someone to place a fence around a forest, how absurd! He continued through the fenced off yard and followed a man-made walking trail like a detective on a case.
"Oh dear, Snufkin I- Oh good Lord" Moomin rolled his eyes. It was no use; there was just no way to make Snufkin see any form of reason when he was in one of his moods.
Despite how easy it was for Snufkin, Moomin jumping the fence was little more than a pipedream. Sighing to himself, Moomin desperately looked for a way to get across the fence before he lost sight of his dearly irrational friend. It wasn't long until he spotted a small tree growing right beside the fence, climbing it wouldn't be any trouble for the capable Moomintroll. Unfortunately, Moomin got about three quarters of the way up the tree before he heard a loud creak. He froze on the spot; he did not factor in his weight at all in his decision to scale the small tree. The creak turned into a snap and before he knew it, the small tree came crashing down on top of the picket fence, sending Moomin tumbling onto the other side. It was terrifying yes, but he was surprisingly unharmed and he was on the other side, so mission accomplished in his book. Oh well, at least they had an easy way out now. Dusting himself off, he bound forward in the direction he last saw Snufkin.
It didn't take too long, as soon as he rounded the corner of the trail he almost ran right into him. Snufkin was at a standstill, before him was an enormous plot of mulberry trees. It was like a sea of red, black, and white that went as far as you could see. And some degenerate decided to fence it aaaaaaaaallll off.
"Wow, would you look at that!? It's gorgeous, look at all the different types of mulberries Snufkin! The colors are just beautiful, they look pretty delicious too wouldn't you say?" Moomin beamed taking in the sight of it all.
"Oh, I agree completely Moomin, which is why I'm going to go ahead and do this." Before Moomin could get a word in edge-wise, Snufkin had grabbed a handful of mulberries and stuffed them into his mouth.
Some of them were a bit on the tart side, but delicious all the same. The black and the white berries mixed together into flavors of sweet and sour that was just so addicting. Ignoring Moomin's protests, Snufkin took another handful and ate them just as quickly as the first.
"Snufkin! We can't just eat the mulberries, they aren't ours!" Moomin watched in horror and a bit of envy as Snufkin continued to grab more berries. The mulberries did look good, he'll give him that, and Moomintroll would be lying if he said he didn't want to taste them as well.
"You're absolutely correct dear Moomin, they aren't ours, they are everyone's mulberries. To think of someone closing these off in a public forest! Here, take my hat and fill it up with as many as you can, and for goodness sake Moomin, just try some, I can tell it's torture for you not to." Snufkin smiled at him and handed over his iconic green hat as he gathered more up in his coat pockets, still eating as he went.
Moomin sighed, he had to admit, Snufkin had him over a barrel. He really wanted to taste them, and it's not like he's going to leave his dear friend by himself while he's in such a vindictive state. So Moomin slowly started to gather berries into Snufkin's green hat, having a small taste of the berries as well.
Moomin blinked back in shock on how overwhelmingly tart some of the berries were. How on earth could Snufkin possibly be eating so many!?
"Hey Snufkin, are you sure these berries are okay? I know mulberries are sweet as well as tart, but some of these tend to lean more towards the latter, maybe too much towards the latter."
At this point Moomin had long since stopped eating. Something was definitely odd with these mulberries, and it's better to listen to your instincts, than ignore them and regret it later. Though he did continue to gather them in the hat, if anything to help Snufkin get his point across to whoever closed off this place, if he even knew what the point was anymore.
Snufkin was a bit father ahead, still stuffing more berries into his coat. He admitted to himself that Moomin did have a point, some of the berries were starting to leave a sour taste in his mouth, plus he was actually starting to get pretty full. He hadn't noticed how puffy he'd gotten until a stray branched poked him in the gut as he turned around. He winced and finally came to from his spiteful little tirade against authority. He placed a hand in the middle of his belly and could feel slight rumbles against his hand. Oh, okay maybe he overdid it a bit with the mulberries. His body was trying to drive that point home as a loud gurgle escaped from his belly. Snufkin kept from folding in on himself for Moomin's sake and called out to him in the most normal, not-at-all-in-pain, cadence he possibly could,
"Okay, I think we have more than enough, let's go back now." His stomach flipped as he walked, and he hoped Moomin couldn't hear the slosh emanating from it.
"Oh thank goodness, yes let's go back now. Can you imagine all the jam we can make out of this? We'll be set for months!" Moomin followed closely next to Snufkin, both heading back towards the fallen tree to make their escape.
Suddenly, Snufkin was hit by a sharp cramp in his stomach causing him to stop short and hold his stomach. He let out a small whine; it felt like he was being stabbed with tiny needles. How could he be so short of breath from this? They haven't even gone that far yet.
"Snufkin! Oh my goodness are you alright? What's happening? Where does it hurt? Do you want to lie down?" Moomin was all in a titter, he knew, he just knew something bad was gonna happen, and now it has. Now his friend was in pain and they were still in a forest about a mile or two away from the house.
Well now Snufkin was just embarrassed, there was no hiding this now. His puffy belly had swelled up even more as time passed and even if Moomin couldn't see it with his eyes, (which he obviously could,) he could definitely hear it by now. Snufkin's poor belly was inconsolable, it was fussing and groaning at him to the point where he placed both his hands firmly into his gut and started to rub in wide circles just trying to get some form of relief.
"I'll be fine. Just a bit of stomach fuss. Just my stomach Moomin but I'm alright. And no, let's just get out of here." Snufkin shortly replied to all of his friend's prodding questions. He would love nothing more than to lie down right now and try to sleep this off. But now was not the time, he had completely forgotten that he had jumped over the fence when he got here. His belly casually reminded him that there was no way he could do it again with a sickening groan, which Snufkin groaned back in displeasure.
"We have to get you to a nice place to lie down, here, let me carry you so we can get across with the tree I accidentally knocked over, see it's right over there." Snufkin didn't even have time to question how he knocked over a tree when Moomin gently lifted him up and princess-carried him across the fallen tree and back into the open forest. Snufkin could feel the heat coming off his face; he couldn't believe he did this to himself and right in front of Moomin. Now he's being carried around like a delicate doll with the worst stomach ache of his life because he decide to gorge himself on berries out of pure spite.
"Moomin, you can put me down now we're out of the yard, my legs aren't broken you know? Plus, this isn't exactly helping out with the digestion process." Snufkin murmured right into Moomin's soft fur, his belly confirming Snufkin's comment with a nauseating squelch.
"Okay, Snufkin, let's rest here for a bit and I'll see what I can do." Moomin gently laid Snufkin down in a soft patch of grass and sat down beside him. Snufkin's hands have not left his belly since they escaped from the mulberry yard and his face was twisted in pain. Moomin furrowed his brow in concern, his dear Snufkin was hurt and he couldn't stand seeing him like this.
"Hey Snufkin, may I try something? Please? I just want to help you." Moomin scooted slightly closer to him and had a paw hovered over Snufkin's tummy, waiting for some form of approval.
Snufkin was fighting pain, nausea, and now his instinct to flee as much as he could. All he wanted to do was run, not that he was able to right now. But this was Moomin; he would never, ever try to hurt him as long as he lived. And even if he did, he would feel horribly guilty afterwards, possibly for years. Snufkin gave a small nod and removed his hands from his tummy, letting Moomin do whatever he needed to do.
Moomin smiled at the mini surrender and placed his paw on the achy belly. His paw was very warm, much warmer than Snufkin's own, and had the grace of little pads that ran smoothly across his stomach. Moomin had inched closer so now they were side to side. Moomin gently started to press his soft, warmer stomach into the side of Snufkin's as well, while his other paw was rubbing his back. It felt so nice; he couldn't help but sigh in relief. His stomach was still trying to put up a fight with Moomin now and again out of defiance, but at least there was some alleviation and Moomin was pretty defiant himself. He was dead set on making sure Snufkin was feeling at least slightly better by the time he was through.
"Uh,…thank you Moomin, this feels nice, I'm glad you're here" Snufkin said bashfully.
"Ah, oh, it's no problem, I'm glad I'm here to help out!" Moomin replied just as bashfully "Do you feel well enough to walk?"
"Actually, I wouldn't mind if we stayed here a little bit longer, if that's okay with you?" Snufkin hoped
"Of course, we'll stay as long as we need too, you just relax and I'll take care of you!" Moomin put on his "determined-caretaker" face and snuggled closer, if that was even possible.
The two stayed like this for a good while, snuggling and talking, enjoying each other's company, just as it should be.