Epicentre III
Frida Maanum x Child!Reader
Ingrid Engen x Child!Reader
Summary: You go on a nature walk with your best friend
Auntie Ingrid has five daughters. You rarely see her and your cousins because you don't live in the same country as them but you almost always see them back at Norway for camp.
Like now.
Frida tells you not to have favourites because that might hurt your cousins' feelings so you pretend not to. But you do have a favourite because of course you do.
Skatt's your best friend.
She's great. She's outdoorsy like you and enjoys hikes like you do and collecting things in a little woven basket and loves splashing in puddles after its rained.
Skatt's the best and you hope that she thinks of you as her best friend too.
"Hi, auntie Ingrid!" You say brightly as you meet her and cousin Skatt in front of the doors of the hotel.
"Hi, squish," She greets warmly, fluttering a kiss over your head that has you giggling," Where's Frida?"
"Back there." You gesture vaguely behind you where you assume your mama has followed you. You'd practically bolted the moment you got down the stairs in your haste to get to your auntie and cousin.
Ingrid glances behind you. You're right, at least. Frida is back there, shouldering a bag on her shoulder and holding your usual whicker basket in one hand. She's shaking her head softly but Ingrid knew Frida had kind of expected you to bolt.
You always did when you saw Skatt, crushing Ingrid's daughter in a tight hug like always.
"Another forest walk?" Ingrid asks with a laugh as Frida finally arrives next to the little group.
"It's all she's been talking about since we arrived," Frida replies," But this time, can we promise if they find a deer antler, they have to leave it there? I can't carry another one of those through the hotel again."
It had been nothing short of humiliating at the last camp during the routine forest walk that Frida and Ingrid took you and your best friend on every time. The pair of you had wandered a little off the path and straight into a bush that held the biggest deer antler either of your parents had ever seen.
They were content to leave the area with just a few pictures of you both with the antler but they'd turned their backs for just a second. A second was enough time though. Enough time for you and Skatt to wrap your little hands around one of the prongs and start pulling it from the bush.
You'd nearly thrown a tantrum when Frida denied your request to bring it back to the hotel. The threat on your end had worked though because now it sat in Emma's home in Sweden after Frida had dragged it all the way back to the hotel and paid an outrageous amount to send it through the mail.
She'd nearly thrown her back out carrying it.
This walk was going better. At the very least, you and Skatt had stuck to the path like you were meant to. That was progress.
"That is a caterpillar," Skatt tells you, pointing at the bug that's crawling over a fallen log," It will get fat soon and become a butterfly."
"Butterflies are pretty," You reply.
"We have caterpillars at home," Skatt boasts, chest puffed out," My Mami is looking after them while we're here. They're not ready to be butterflies yet but they will be soon."
"We have a dog at home," You offer up," But he isn't going to become anything else. Just a dog."
"Dogs are fun," Skatt says," I think. We have a cat."
"Cats are cute."
It's always fun going on a nature walk with Skatt. She knows a lot about insects and bugs and always explains things so nicely unlike her sister Bebita, who can be a little condescending when you ask her about her interests.
Skatt knows about bugs and insects and you know about plants so you make sure to point out some of your favourites as you pass.
"Not all mushrooms can be eaten," You explain as the two of you crouch at the base of a tree," Only certain ones. Naughty mushrooms can make you sick and make you see things that aren't there."
"Wow." Skatt pokes the mushroom with a stick. "Have you eaten a naughty mushroom?"
You shake your head. "No but I have eaten yew berries before. They're like naughty mushrooms but if they were berries instead. My Mama made me throw them all up into her hand and still took me to the hospital to get checked out. You shouldn't eat berries or mushrooms if you're not totally sure that they're safe."
Skatt pokes the mushroom again. "Is that safe?"
You shake your head. "No, that's a naughty mushroom. But I did see some safe berries on that push! They're blackberries!" You turn, hand already out towards Frida. "Can I have my basket please?"
The pair of you scurry off to the blackberry bush, little hands reaching up to pluck the berries off the bramble.
"Do you ever get the feeling," Frida says fondly," That we've been demoted to just carrying things for them? She was totally capable of carrying her basket today."
Ingrid laughs. "You should have seen Skatt last week, claimed her hands were tired and made me carry her new cockroach tank all the way home."
"With the cockroach in it?"
Ingrid buries her head in her hands. "The worst half an hour walk of my life."
"Don't worry," Frida says, throwing the words over her shoulder as she walks closer to you and your friend," There's still time for it to get worse."
It's easier now the adults are here to reach the higher up berries on the bush that you're still too little to reach. Frida even lifts you up on her shoulders so you can grab some high berries too, grabbing as many as you can fit in your basket before she lowers you back to the ground again.
"We can make pie with them," You say to Skatt, taking her hand to pull her back up the path.
"Actually, squish," Frida winces," I don't know if the chefs will let you. Maybe-"
"They'll let us," You reply," The chefs love me. I'm their favourite taste tester."
Frida can feel Ingrid patting her on the back in comfort. "Well, at least she knows her strengths."