Sometimes you just need a little bit of rain

Jamie was walking through the woods in the middle of the afternoon. The weather was a bit odd, shifting from sunny to overcast every now and then, making him lose track of time, but it seemed like it was fine with our centaur. With nothing but a basket hanging from his arm, the young equine was picking up a variety of things that could let us wonder what he was actually doing in these woods. The basket was half full of flowers, plants, a little bit of berries, some oddly colored mushrooms I'd never dare taste, and a few shiny pebbles. It clearly seemed like he didn't have any specific task to complete but to wander around the trees for the afternoon. His little walk in the woods could have been adventureless if he had turned right at that crossroad, but he decided otherwise and went to the left, after a few meters, our striped equine carelessly walked in a trap and in a swift motion, his body turned upside down, his two back legs tied in the air to a tall tree, spreading the content of his basket all over the forest floor. Of course, it surprised him at first, but, when someone normal would have been scared to death or utterly pissed, Jamie laughed his lungs out. immediately thinking that the person who set the trap would free him soon. Or that's what he thought. The minutes passed and passed and our centaur began to be quite bored, to the point where he started falling asleep.

it's the sound of hooves walking on the grass that woke our trapped victim up, he slowly opened his eyes to reveal his liberator. But before he could talk, the lady sighted.

"And I thought I caught a deer.."

She said before carelessly cutting the rope that was keeping Jamie in the air, he abruptly felt on the ground in a big :

"URF!"

His limbs were all numb but he tried to get back up anyway, he was as graceful as a foal during his first day of life. That didn't amuse or impress our liberator, who kept a neutral expression. When Jamie was finally back up, he slowly raised his head to look at the woman who freed him.

"Didn't you see the rope? It's quite obvious, even for a dee-

- My words!  You are magnificent!"

He said with an innocent expression, big stars in his eyes as he stared at her.

"That's not my point.."

She replied, as jaded as before.

"Name's Jamie! What's yours?"

He asked, full of enthusiasm to meet another person.

"Ailen..What are you doing here anyway ?

- Oh you know..Collecting stuff."

The centaur replied, picking up his basket and filling it again with all his random items.

"I see..."

Ailen said, raising an eyebrow as she watched him collecting his trash from the floor.

The weather which remained quite okay so far changed again, with a big grey cloud passing above them, darkening the atmosphere. The clouds seemed heavy and worrying to Ailen, and she was right to think so as it started raining.

"We need to seek a shelter."

She said with a very serious tone.

"Why so? It's just water! Have you ever run in the rain before?

- ...No, that seems like a stupid thing to do...

- Maybe! But it's fun! Come with me!"

Jamie replied, full of enthusiasm as he grabbed Ailen's hand and started cantering, she had no choice but to follow him.

They left the forest and arrived in a big open field of tall grass, the rain was dense and falling hard against their faces and bodies, their speed making it feel even more intense, and dare I say, epic. As they were cantering, Ailen finally started to understand why it was a fun thing to do for that seemingly simple-minded centaur. She even dared to laugh a little. It was such a pleasure for Jamie to hear her relax and enjoy that moment, he knew her serious attitude was just a facade. The rain started to tone down and so did our two centaurs who went for a little trot and finished with a walk back in the forest.

"Okay, I must admit..That it was indeed..A little bit of fun."

Ailen said, crossing her arm with her chin up, trying to remain serious and adult.

"Come oooon, I heard your laugh!"

He replied, with a big smile on his face as he poked her shoulder, which didn't fail to make her smile.

"Yes yes, it was fun...But now we're soaking wet, we need to find a shelter and get ourselves dry or we'll get ill."

Jamie agreed and they discussed their options and where would the closest place be.

The two wandered in the woods, trotting to their destination as the sun was going down.