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Description

Alt Title: Crazy For Cantaloupe

Horse(s): AVS Countess of Cosmology

Event: Faimé Monthly Prompts (May)

Prompt: What is your Faimé’s favorite food/treat?

Event Bonus: +10 Faimé Points (FP) to each Faimé horse depicted - on top of base points

Tack Bonus: +1 for Faime Advent Tack 2023

Nadya caught a glimpse of her silver eyes in the knife’s reflection. It was still taking some getting used to, seeing the twin moons looking back at her in the reflection – a permanent side effect of her most recent spellwork. She continued dicing up the delicious smelling melon, sneaking bites of the cantaloupe for herself. The melon had come from a local Farmer’s Market, where she stopped for some organic sweet treats to prepare for the horses, on her way out to the barn. She had grabbed quite a few of the cantaloupes and watermelons each, ensuring she had enough to share with all the staff and farm animals.

Once she arrived back at AVS, she dropped the fruit off in the barn’s kitchenette and went out to greet the horses. Loki tagged alongside as always, her giant fluff-ball shaped “little shadow,” while she wondered what Kya and Cera were getting up to. She had finished most of her barn chores earlier, and was able to spend some time simply loving on the horses – giving some special attention to her stallion Nighthawk and newest mare Celestia. She wanted to work on desensitizing Celestia to some new travel tack, that she planned on using to transport the mare on their big flight over to Seychelles (for the FOYS Qualifier Competition). So Nadya strapped the new halter, with its soft padding, onto the mare and velcroed the protective travel boots in place. Then she led her dark roan mare out of the stables and around the arena a time or two. She did not want to exercise her insomuch as get the mare accustomed to the feel of the travel boots. Celestia stepped oddly for one or two steps, then settled out into her comfortable and regular stride.

Once the Faimé mare looked unbothered by the gear, Nadya returned her to the stall and hurried back to the kitchenette. She had barely reached for the cutting board and knife, when Loki, Kya and Cera came instantly trotting over to check out whatever she was doing. “Greedy little beggars,” Nadya teased as she sliced into the ripe cantaloupe. She was instantly rewarded with the sweetest smell and flowing juices as she finished halving the melon. Nadya scooped the seeds out, saving a few for later, and set to carving up the rest of it. She had a large dish that she would set aside for the rest of the staff, to be able to come in and snack on throughout the day. She had meant to make a small bowl of cantaloupe bites for the dogs, but hardly any made it into the bowl – as each of the dogs were using their best “puppy eyes” to beg for bites as it was being freshly cut. And really, who could blame them when it tasted that good?

Nadya had a bucket filled with orange-and-green sliced fruit to share with the horses, as well as a few slices to toss at the chickens, who absolutely seemed to adore it as well. She tossed a few more cut-up bites of cantaloupe at the dogs, and then headed towards the barn with her bucket, and Loki in tow. She went straight to Celestia’s stall, who was obsessed with the fruit, and must have smelled the treat as soon as Nadya walked into the barn because she was already nickering to Nadya. Nadya laughed, giving her now-pushy mare a bit of the fruit, and then opened the stall door to step in and join Celestia. The mare gobbled each bit of cantaloupe from her hands and flicked her ears in delight as she sniffed for more. Loki sat at the open door, perfectly begging for more, while Nadya showered them both with love. Nadya began to remove the protective travel tack – happy that this was the perfect way to end the mare’s first desensitization to it.

(Word Count 648)
_____

HARPG story/timeframe-wise this happens just before Nadya and Celestia travel to Seychelles for the First/Early Quarter FOYS Qualifier (taking place at the end of May 2024) .

_____

Tried something a bit different, and went for a more artsy background with this prompt - focusing on painting the prompted food (leaves, outer skin, & fruit inner flesh). I could spend hours and hours more trying to render it more realistically, but it was fun working on something new.
Maybe next time I'll work on putting both of Celestia's favorite melons in the same picture (both cantaloupe and watermelons), but this was more than enough practice just working on all of the varied parts of the cantaloupe/plant for this go-around.

Reference: Adobe Stock

Loki: Personal photo
Background: A million Google pics of cantaloupes/plants, but no one in particular
Characters/art belong to ReQuay

Description

Alt Title: Crazy For Cantaloupe

Horse(s): AVS Countess of Cosmology

Event: Faimé Monthly Prompts (May)

Prompt: What is your Faimé’s favorite food/treat?

Event Bonus: +10 Faimé Points (FP) to each Faimé horse depicted - on top of base points

Tack Bonus: +1 for Faime Advent Tack 2023

Nadya caught a glimpse of her silver eyes in the knife’s reflection. It was still taking some getting used to, seeing the twin moons looking back at her in the reflection – a permanent side effect of her most recent spellwork. She continued dicing up the delicious smelling melon, sneaking bites of the cantaloupe for herself. The melon had come from a local Farmer’s Market, where she stopped for some organic sweet treats to prepare for the horses, on her way out to the barn. She had grabbed quite a few of the cantaloupes and watermelons each, ensuring she had enough to share with all the staff and farm animals.

Once she arrived back at AVS, she dropped the fruit off in the barn’s kitchenette and went out to greet the horses. Loki tagged alongside as always, her giant fluff-ball shaped “little shadow,” while she wondered what Kya and Cera were getting up to. She had finished most of her barn chores earlier, and was able to spend some time simply loving on the horses – giving some special attention to her stallion Nighthawk and newest mare Celestia. She wanted to work on desensitizing Celestia to some new travel tack, that she planned on using to transport the mare on their big flight over to Seychelles (for the FOYS Qualifier Competition). So Nadya strapped the new halter, with its soft padding, onto the mare and velcroed the protective travel boots in place. Then she led her dark roan mare out of the stables and around the arena a time or two. She did not want to exercise her insomuch as get the mare accustomed to the feel of the travel boots. Celestia stepped oddly for one or two steps, then settled out into her comfortable and regular stride.

Once the Faimé mare looked unbothered by the gear, Nadya returned her to the stall and hurried back to the kitchenette. She had barely reached for the cutting board and knife, when Loki, Kya and Cera came instantly trotting over to check out whatever she was doing. “Greedy little beggars,” Nadya teased as she sliced into the ripe cantaloupe. She was instantly rewarded with the sweetest smell and flowing juices as she finished halving the melon. Nadya scooped the seeds out, saving a few for later, and set to carving up the rest of it. She had a large dish that she would set aside for the rest of the staff, to be able to come in and snack on throughout the day. She had meant to make a small bowl of cantaloupe bites for the dogs, but hardly any made it into the bowl – as each of the dogs were using their best “puppy eyes” to beg for bites as it was being freshly cut. And really, who could blame them when it tasted that good?

Nadya had a bucket filled with orange-and-green sliced fruit to share with the horses, as well as a few slices to toss at the chickens, who absolutely seemed to adore it as well. She tossed a few more cut-up bites of cantaloupe at the dogs, and then headed towards the barn with her bucket, and Loki in tow. She went straight to Celestia’s stall, who was obsessed with the fruit, and must have smelled the treat as soon as Nadya walked into the barn because she was already nickering to Nadya. Nadya laughed, giving her now-pushy mare a bit of the fruit, and then opened the stall door to step in and join Celestia. The mare gobbled each bit of cantaloupe from her hands and flicked her ears in delight as she sniffed for more. Loki sat at the open door, perfectly begging for more, while Nadya showered them both with love. Nadya began to remove the protective travel tack – happy that this was the perfect way to end the mare’s first desensitization to it.

(Word Count 648)
_____

HARPG story/timeframe-wise this happens just before Nadya and Celestia travel to Seychelles for the First/Early Quarter FOYS Qualifier (taking place at the end of May 2024) .

_____

Tried something a bit different, and went for a more artsy background with this prompt - focusing on painting the prompted food (leaves, outer skin, & fruit inner flesh). I could spend hours and hours more trying to render it more realistically, but it was fun working on something new.
Maybe next time I'll work on putting both of Celestia's favorite melons in the same picture (both cantaloupe and watermelons), but this was more than enough practice just working on all of the varied parts of the cantaloupe/plant for this go-around.

Reference: Adobe Stock

Loki: Personal photo
Background: A million Google pics of cantaloupes/plants, but no one in particular
Characters/art belong to ReQuay