Merida awoke the next morning with her eyes blinking themselves wide before she realized she was laying right on top of Magnus. Now honestly speaking, this was the first time that she's found herself sleeping on him, so this wasn't the least bit surprising. Although, she knew for a fact that her mother wouldn't be too pleased that she's sleeping with a person who isn't a suitor or something that even looks remotely romantic or sexual in her eyes may send her the wrong message. So she quickly lifted herself off of him before her mother saw and gave the dark-haired teen a good shake to jostle him awake.
"What?" He mumbled before awaking with a yawn. "Good morning."
"Good morning to you, too." Merida smiled innocently before she looked to see her bear mother putting together what looks to be a table. Curious, both teens got up and simply meandered over for a look-see. Interestingly enough, it appears Elinor had taken some time to set up a little breakfast table with a pot, a mug, a few twigs for cutlery, plates made of bark and of course, something to feast upon, which are mainly just a branch with berries. Apparently, Elinor's still having trouble adjusting to living out in the woods and trying to make the situation more suited for her personal, queenly standards.
"Morning." Merida greeted her as her eyes wandered amusedly over the makeshift food table. "So…...what's all this supposed to be?"
"It's clearly a table to eat on." Magnus replied.
Elinor merely gestured with her paws for the two to have a seat. Merida sat next to her mother while Magnus sat across from them. But when Merida set her bow down on the table, Elinor smacked her paws down in irritation and moaned and groaned out some words of protest to her daughter, which neither of the two teens could understand.
"What?" Merida asked.
Elinor seemed to try and fail to force out some coherent words and sentences that her human daughter would understand, but everything only came out in a series of bear grunting, moaning, a few huffs and snorts. She just couldn't speak human anymore. However, Magnus realized Merida's bow was on the table and when he remembered a few days ago when Elinor mentioned a princess should not put her weapons on the table, he seemed to get the idea.
"Bow." He clarified, grabbing it and setting it down to the ground. "No weapons on the table."
Merida only harrumphed at him, shooting him a frown, while Elinor appeared to be glad that he got the message faster than her daughter did and judging by her expressions and gestures, she seemed to thank him for remembering her customs, much to Merida's annoyance. Elinor picked up her "fork" and "knife" and, with one of her regal postures, started cutting into one of the berries on her plate. Or least, tried to, anyway. She only caused the berry to flick off the plate and hit Merida in the face. Then Elinor decided to forget about the cutlery and just eat with her paws instead. It's easier that way anyway. She tasted one, though it had a tang to it.
"Find those by the creek, did you?" asked Merida, picking one of the berries up and inspecting them. Elinor nodded with an almost proud expression. "They're nightshade berries."
Elinor stuffed a few more in her mouth.
"They're poisonous." deadpanned Magnus, backing Merida up.
Now this caught the transformed queen by surprise. She spat them all out, unfortunately in Magnus's face in the process, much to his chagrin, and frantically, she snatched up the bot and poured herself a mug of water and chugged it down, desperately attempting to wash out the taste before it took any dangerous effect. Merida had a look at the pot as well.
"Where did you get this water? It has worms." She reminded her mother, who then spat all the water out in response.
She then started to look like she was going to be sick, almost ready to pass out, though ended up flipping the table over once she flopped down flat onto the ground. The table flew a good few meters away from them, scaring away a few birds as it did. Both Merida and Magnus shared a small chuckle at Elinor's overreaction and since they knew the woods more than she did, they decided to help her out.
"Come on." Merida told her, giggling as she and Magnus led her to the creek where there were some fish swimming around. Armed with her bow, Merida carefully waited for the right moment and once a fish swam into her viewpoint, she released her arrow into the water, spearing the fish with it before pulling it out and presenting it to her mother.
"Breakfast." She grinned and Elinor moaned approvingly and applauded her daughter's work.
"But wait." Magnus began mockingly. "A princess should not have weapons in her opinion."
The bear queen snorted and looked at stern glare for that little jab.
"Hey, just stating the obvious." He shrugged matter-of-factly.
"There you go." Merida gave her the fish on the arrow and her mother sighed, bringing her head forward to the aquatic animal.
"Go on." She urged when the fish suddenly started to flop around, still alive, making Elinor rear back with disgust, gesturing with her paws as if to say 'get it away, get it away!'.
"How will you know you don't like it if you don't try it?" asked Magnus pleadingly.
Elinor crossed her arms at them, signalling to the two with a snooty glance that she won't try it unless do something that will potentially make it better to her. They both sighed with an irate frown. This was just like with her brothers where they refuse to try a dish unless it was doctored up to look and taste good to them. After making a small campfire, they got to work in roasting it over the flames, cooking it to perfection. When it looked like it was done, Merida placed it on a giant leaf for her mother.
Giving them a satisfied 'thank you' in bear language, Elinor used the wooden cutlery to cut herself a piece of the fish. It tasted good enough for her. In fact, she instantly dropped her royal manners and immediately began munching away at the fish with her teeth and claws like a real animal. Well, she was turned into a bear after all. Until there was nothing but bones left, Elinor wiped her lips with a smaller leaf as a napkin and gave a sudden belch. Then Elinor held up two fingers, saying that she wanted seconds. Magnus took over this time, capturing not one, but two fish for Elinor and they roasted those over the fire as well. After completely devouring the second batch, Elinor held up four fingers, now craving more. Sharing an aggravated look with each other, Magnus and Merida both jabbed a finger towards the creek, signalling for her to go fetch her food on her own. Looking towards the flowing water with fish jumping all around, Elinor sighed and decided to do things independently for once, rather than have her meals served to her. Removing her tiara, she placed it on a rock before joining the teens.
Having her stand upon the edge of the water bank in the creek, Elinor anxiously tried to catch the hopping fishes with her paws, but failed miserably and only fell right into the water. For their next approach, the teens started showing her the basics of how a bear captures its food from the river. If she was a bear now, she was gonna have to eat like one for now until they get everything fixed. Magnus waited with his arms out until a fish jumped into his hands with Elinor watching and told her to use her mouth to catch them. Reluctantly, she held her mouth wide open and then a fish jumped right into her mouth, catching her off-guard and making her spit it out, much to the teens amusement. Elinor tries again and manages to catch one successfully. Merida and Magnus both gave her their seal of approval for her efforts. However, Elinor tried tossing her catch over to the side of the creek, but the fish just flopped right back into the water. Again and again, Elinor successfully captured more fish with her mouth, having no trouble at all. Merida caught herself a fish as well, but then fell off the bank and into the water. Magnus laughed along with Elinor at her expense.
While Magnus sat by the water on a rock, he watched as Merida played with mother in the water while they had a little splash war and he smiled, seeing that this was probably the first time they ever had any sort of fun together in a long time and it made Magnus think of his own mother back at home. She must be worried sick, knowing that her son has disappeared forever and lost somewhere. The only good thing about all this is that he doesn't have to put up with Sean anymore, but he wondered what would happen between them if he was absent for so long. Hopefully, his true colors were to reveal themselves sooner or later.
"Penny for your thoughts, Mag?" He looked to see Merida sitting next to him.
"Just…..thinking, you know." He casually averted, looking away.
"Thinking back to your mother?" asked Merida knowingly. "It must be a long ways away from your own home, I'd imagine."
"Yeah, you could say that." He admitted, sighing heavily. "This is actually the furthest away from my mother I've been in like…..I guess, forever. It must be scary for her. To suddenly wake up one day and wonder where her boy must've gone."
"You shouldn't worry so much about her." The red-haired lass explained comfortingly. "You're old enough to handle your own self and she probably knows that for a fact. You can't be her little angel forever. Trust me, I should know."
"Yeah, but still." He nodded.
"Listen, I just want to say that I'm sorry for what I said before." Merida apologized with a low tone. "When I told you to go play prince. I was just so angry and desperate to follow my own path that I just didn't care what anyone thought, especially after my argument with my mother. I know that now. It was rude and uncalled for because you always had my back no matter what."
"Don't worry, It's okay." Magnus told her, putting an arm around her. "It still hurt, but I forgive you."
"And I'm also sorry for dragging you into all of this." She replied, referring to their situation. "I know how hard all of it must be for you to put up with. Finding a witch out in the woods, turning my mum into a bear and sleeping out in the woods."
"I'm kind of used to sleeping out in the woods." Magnus assured her. "As for your mom, though, it must be worse. Just yesterday, she's been dressing regally and talking about history and manners and now here she is, picking berries from bushes and eating fish from a creek."
"Yeah, this must be a huge change of scenery for her, after all." agreed Merida.
"All in all, though, I think I'm glad to be experiencing all this with you."
"Thanks. You never stopped caring about me and although we've had our moments, I can't imagine being there without you." Merida expressed before a smirk made it to her lips. "By the way, can I tell you a little secret?"
Magnus only groaned in tired aggravation, "Oh, no."
"I'm not gonna fart, I promise." pleaded Merida urgently and seriously.
"That's what you said last time." He reminded her with a look. "And the time before that and the time before that."
"Magnus, I'm serious this time. There's just something that's been dying to come out of me and I just want it out of my system. Please." She begged and begged with a genuine desperate look on her face.
Magnus could never say no to that face and groaned with an eye roll, leaning toward her.
"Alright, what is it?" He asked.
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!
You can imagine the shocked look of Magnus's face when Merida let out a huge, loud belch right into his ear and his face, catching him by the element of surprise once his guard was down. She then laughed uproariously as she shoved Magnus into the water in her fit of delighted cackles.
"Oh, you big dumb oaf! I can't believe you actually fell for that! You should've seen your face!" Merida cried, holding her sides as she laughed out loud at the ebony-haired teen laying in the water, soaking wet.
"I really hate you." He glared at her. "You're just lucky you're mother wasn't here to hear that."
Then he looked all around for Elinor, but he didn't see her anywhere and he wondered where she might have gone.
"Where is she, anyway?"
Merida noticed it, too. Her mother appeared to have wandered off into the forest while they weren't looking and she started to get a little worried. In an instant, the two jumped from their spots in the creek and didn't find Elinor by their campsite. There was her tiara still sitting there on the ground, which Magnus grabbed and stored in his pocket for safekeeping and Merida reclaimed her clock and bow and arrows. Thankfully, it was long before they soon found Elinor deep in the woods, just merely wandering about as if she was exploring the area or looking for something.
"Mum, where are you going? Come back." The red-haired princess called out to her bear mother. She didn't seem to even acknowledge her presence at first or response to her voice at first. However, what happened next took the teens completely by surprise in the worst way possible. As soon as they caught up with her, Elinor whipped her head around toward them, but she didn't seem to recognize them. Not only that, but her once-human auburn eyes had changed to an emotionless black color like empty voids and she growled menacingly at them as she slowly inched toward the two like a true apex predator ready to attack its defenseles prey.
Magnus instinctively grabbed hold of Merida's arm protectively as they both backed away as the bear queen got closer with her sharp teeth out with a hunger for flesh and Magnus was ready to drag Merida along with him and run for their lives just in case.
"M-Mum? Is that you?" Merida frightfully stuttered out, hoping with all her heart that the bear before was actually her mother and not some random feral bear that just happened to be in the area nearby.
"Are you sure that's really her?" whispered Magnus, feeling afraid himself.
Then suddenly, the bear queen snarled as she raised her claw at them with a terrifying roar, about ready to strike and eat them alive, but she suddenly froze in place once her eyes returned to their natural color as her human intellect had returned. Elinor, herself, appeared to be shocked by what had just occurred as she realized that she was just a heartbeat away from tearing her own daughter apart.
"Mum?" Merida checked to make sure. Elinor appeared ashamed of her actions and afraid that it might get worse as she stood back on her hind legs.
"You changed." Her daughter exclaimed timidly.
"Yeah, like you were an actual bear on the inside." Magnus added with an equally worried tone.
Elinor suddenly looked behind them and saw something that caught her eye. Following her gaze, Magnus and Merida both saw a wisp just a quarter length from them.
"It's back." gasped Magnus.
Almost with the speed of a cat attempting to capture the red dot from a laser, Elinor sprung towards the small ball of flame to grab it in her paws, though it only disappeared and reappeared in a new spot next to her.
"Wait, stop! You're scaring it!" Magnus cried.
"Mum, stop it!" Merida joined in, then Magnus noticed the wisp now on top of her head and he immediately pulled her out of the way as her mother ran toward their direction and the wisp disappeared yet again, growing more desperate by the minute and began chasing after another wisp as the teens tried to reason with her. The bear queen persistently followed wherever the ghost flame flew like a wild dog and ended up running face first into a tree.
"Jings, crivens, help ma boab." Merida groaned, exasperated.
"Your highness, that's not how this works. You don't come to them, they come to you, okay?" Magnus explained to her.
"Now, mum, I know you're scared, you're tired, you don't understand, but we've got to keep our heads. Just calm down." Merida spoke to her mother consolingly. "Listen."
To help ease her tension, Magnus gave her a soft and slow rub on her back arms as if he were petting a puppy. Although Elinor was taken aback by this unneeded physical contact, she soon found it quite soothing as she let all her tension melt away at his hands. Finally, she lifted her ears and patiently waited for a sound in the still silent air surrounding the woods and the trees. Everyone stood quietly and waited with her, looking all around as they began to pick up what sounded like a faint series of whispering voices along the flowing wind.
Finally, there was the sound of a wisp calling out to them and there it stood before an entire trail of them appeared, leading deep into the forest away from them.
"They'll show us the way." Merida told her mother.