Deerly Beloved

With the cold chill of a winter’s wind and the soft snow beneath her feet, Spice readied herself to search for the mysterious and rare cervidae imp, a freign.

She was dressed in a puffy winter coat, the material bright pink and covered with printed patterns of different cake varieties, and a pair of white heeled snow boots. Among her feet, her imps sat patiently as she adjusted her outfit.

Spice had made sure to dress her imps just as warmly as she was for the winter. Her erose, Flour, wore a small white handmade headband, the image of a bag of flour crocheted into the pattern with a practiced hand. Her egghel, Eggs, had what appeared to be a yellow mitten around their shell-like form, with a hole cut out for their tail. Milk, her mamoo, had on a blue sweater and on the front of that sweater was the image of a carton of milk. Her candyls, Romanic Lightening and Oven, shared a long red, white and black scarf. The pair standing closely together, even without the scarf connecting them. Spice was very serious about keeping her pets safe and warm even if she wasn’t entirely sure if they felt the cold like buns did.

However, her dear bulbug, Fridge, was her only imp without something to keep them warm and that was in part thanks to their wintery variant. Fridge seemed more than happy to skitter into the cold snow even as the other imps hesitated to follow.

Spice took a deep breath and looked at her beloved pets. “Alright my darlings! It’s time to find us a new friend. Do you remember what I said earlier?”

All of her imps looked up at her, listening intently.

“We have to be very careful and not scare any freigns away. We’re here to find one for our favorite customer.” She giggled, sighing softly, “Oh just imagine how delighted they’ll be, oh I can’t wait.”

Her imps seemed to get excited, Flour even zipped around her master’s head. Spice smiled, “Silly! Come on, it’s time to hurt!” She covered her mouth as her joke, leading her imps forward as she walked through the snow.

She had to admit she wasn’t entirely sure how to track down a freign, but she liked to believe if she just walked around she would eventually find one.

It was close to an hour later, with her imps obediently following after her, that Spice heard a rustling of a bush near her.

She gasped and quickly hid beneath a nearby tree, her imps scrambling to hide behind her legs as they all waited.

From the woods, walking into the clearing in front of them, a proud freign stood. The imp looked regal in the late afternoon light, their head moving back and forth as they moved.

Spice had to pinch herself not to squeal in excitement. Honestly she was only half certain she would find one of the imps and she couldn’t wait to try her hand at catching them.

She knelt down, patting Milk’s back. “Okay, Milk, as far as I’m concerned you’re the closest imp to a freign. So take this cookie-” She pulled the cookie back. “Hey! We talked about this, don’t eat it. You need to give it to the freign.”

Milk blinked up at Spice, before snorting as they nodded. They gently took the cookie and started off towards the freign.

The freign froze when they heard something approaching them and just as they were about to run away, they paused when they saw a mamoo making their way towards them.

Milk continued up to the freign, staring for a moment before offering the cookie in their mouth.

The freign sniffed the sweet uncertainly, their nose twitching before they nibbled the crumbly edge.

There was a moment of silence before the freign’s eyes widened and they hurried to eat the rest of the cookie, their snout hitting in Milk’s in their rush.

Milk looked startled, before they settled and mooed quietly. They gestured with their head behind them to Spice, before looking at the freign.

The freign looked frightened, taking a step back, before Milk mooed again and shook their head.

Spice rushed to open the bag of cookies she had, holding up another for the freign to see.

The freign looked uncertain, before began to approach Spice when she knelt down.

Spice held out the cookie happily, “Hello sweetheart, would you like another one?”

The freign narrowed their eyes, before coming close enough to nibble on the offered cookie. Once again, they rushed to eat the treat.

Spice smiled, “There you go, these are my own special imp recipes. I was inspired by Dan’s dangos, oh but you don’t know who that is.”

The freign seemed curious about Spice and in a movement. that had Spice squealing, the deer-like imp crawled into her lap.

“Oh you’re so sweet!” She laughed, eagerly petting the little imp. “Such a cutie, I’m going to take you home and give you a bath, oh you’ll love it.”

Gently she picked up the freign and whistled for her imps to follow her. “Come on babies, let’s get out of the snow.”

The imps all looked relieved, save for a grumpling Fridge that wanted to stay outside, and were looking forward to cuddling up inside to escape the cold. Especially when Spice had custom made pajamas for all of them and handmade beds.

As for Spice, she was already thinking about all the wonderful things she could do for this new little friend. Spice did not realize this, but she was the kind of bun that was so close to the border of being pure-hearted.

Even without the cookie, a freign would have been tempted to approach her warm smile and kind voice. The way she smelled faintly of cookies and other sweets, even how her imps seemed to be happy around her. Spice was, quite possibly, one of the kindest buns in all of the burrows.