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 Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 8:20 pm
 Ahhhh... that felt good. It had been too long since he had been able -- or allowed -- to attack something. For the good of the herd, of course.
The sturdy red-hued outrider swaggered along the rim of the herd's meadow, head held high, smirking his superiority at the woods. He, Spartacus, had charged at a fox, sent it sprawling. Well, maybe that was an exaggeration. But he had definitely charged at it, and it had definitely run, and if it had not run he would definitely have killed it. That was good enough for him.
Feeling the adrenaline and blood flowing, he looked hungrily for something new to catch his interest. Maybe someone he could brag to about his defeat of the fox. Or another fox... Mmmm.
Or another of the Fallen. That would be excellent. If he met another one of those alone in the forest... He almost pitied the thing. Almost.
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Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 8:51 pm
So she moped. And moped some more. And when she wasn't doing that, she sighed dramatically and wandered, much like today. It was obvious she felt dreadfully sorry for herself simply by the way she trudged along. Not only that, but she felt terribly lonesome. It's ironic, isn't it? The lonely hind is the one who leaves the group? Yet she felt miles apart from them, even when they all slept huddled together for safety at night. She'd never felt like one of the hinds, never, though she desperately wanted to.
Her self pity was cut off sharply when she spotted a reddish tinted Outrider, standing tall just like all of them did. "Goody." She moved along forward towards him, waiting for the usual damsal in distress response to kick in, and for her 'saivor' to walk her back to the group with kind words.
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Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 10:29 pm
It was strange to see a hind up here. But it was by no means unwelcome. Spartacus put on his best rakish grin and strode over toward her. "Well well," he said, "Hello there, miss." Her white coat was also strange, but again nothing that particularly bothered him. If she was going to attract predators to the herd, well, those were just a few more predators he could attack. An unorthodox, even dangerous view. But what was Spartacus if not unorthodox and dangerous? Indeed, he prided himself on being so. Especially the dangerous part.
She seemed to be in rather a bad mood. So Spartacus decided that he would cheer her up a bit.
"Don't worry about it being unsafe up here -- the area's all clear. I've taken care of the fox that was hanging around. It won't be coming by again, if it knows what's good for it." There was an unmistakable tossing of his antlers and he inclined his head shortly with a smile. "I'm Spartacus. At your service."
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Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:17 pm
Tegwen slowed to a standstill once the stag began walking, almost smiling at how easy it is to perk an Outrider's interest. All it takes is a stray hind and bam, instant entertainment and personal escort. Not that she particularly longed for a personal escort, but hey, it was something to do, right? Might as well. "Hello there, sir." She nodded her head politely to him in greeting. She couldn't help but c**k a brow when he mentioned the fox. Proud of that one, was he? Apparently it had slipped his mind that hinds boxed off foxes from their babies when they slipped by the ever watching Outrdiers. She decided not to say anything, though. "Oh, did you? I'm glad. Not in the mood to do any boxing." That was for certain. She could hardly do much of anything but wander when she was in one of her moods, which was almost all the time lately. Though, this male was at least an outlet. He at least provided something to do, and he wasn't too bad, really. At least, he seemed nice. She might as well be nice, too, right?
"Nice to meet you, Spartacus. I'm Tegwen. It's a pleasure." Really, nothing was a pleasure for her, but manners are essential. Or at least, that's what she'd been told by her adoptive mother as she was growing up. The thought brought her back to her childhood, for a moment, when she'd been a little happy. Happy when the new babies came, at least. They were so cute, those twins. Her own twin, Drystan, had not been impressed with the babes, but Tegwen had. She really did like the little ones. She was just afraid to have her own, for fear of becoming her mother. And so, she was not a happy camper. At all.
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 10:30 am
Of course it had slipped his mind that hinds were, in fact, capable of taking care of themselves in many ways just like stags; he had yet to be educated in that department. He looked bemused for a moment at her response -- boxing? huh? -- but wasn't the type to be long concerned about things he didn't understand.
He knew it was his duty to bring her back down into the meadow to stay with the other hinds. But... but... he wanted someone to talk to. It was boring to be on patrol when there was nothing around to challenge or chase away.
Besides, what was the purpose of all the hinds being down there together? Safety. And wasn't she safe with him? Sure she was.
"Tegwen," he repeated. He was bad with names and was sure he'd forget it if he didn't repeat it a bunch of times in his head. Even then he'd probably forget. But oh well. "The pleasure's all mine." Which it was indeed, though he thought he was just being polite in return. "Would you like to walk with me? I'm on patrol so I can't stay in one place, but some company would be nice."
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:03 am
"Sure, why not." She had nothing better to do, really, and she didn't get along with the hinds anyway. It was a shame that she didn't, they might ease her paranoia somewhat. Making friends with her own gender would mean she was less like her mother, but she'd yet to meet a hind she liked. (Besides Drystan and her adopted family, of course.) Even as a youngster, she'd had an easier time playing and making friends with the young calves as opposed to the young fawns. It was something she felt the need to fix, but had yet to come up with a way to do it. Sometimes, she thought the answer was to actually try to work her way into a harem and make friends with the other hinds with that particular stag. Raising little ones who have the same father must offer some sort of bonding, right?
Taking a position on his right side, Teg started out at a smooth, gentle walk. She wasn't really sure what a stag did on patrol, and so didn't know how fast she was expected to move if she was going to go with him. "What do you do out here, anyway? It seems a little boring to me." Then again, everything seemed a little boring to her these days. She'd yet to find a little niche in life that she actually enjoyed, and so she was constantly bored and mopey. Suddenly, she realized that what she ad said might've been taken offensively and quickly attempted to mend it. "Oh! Sorry! I didn't mean that in a bad way. I'm sure it's a great honor to be an Outrider." She remembered back to when she had played with the calves as a child, and how they had talked so proudly of the day they would join the ranks.
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 12:08 pm
"Good." He gave a simple smile and a simple nod and continued his patrol, matching her pace. As long as he was still paying attention to the smells and sounds of the area, he didn't care how fast he walked.
He glanced sideways down at her, twisting his mouth with a chuckle. "It can get boring, yeah. When there aren't any predators you just walk around and wait for something to happen. The honor comes when you can actually defend the herd, you know?"
She probably didn't know, he thought, since she wasn't an outrider. Obviously. That was too bad. In Spartacus' humble (or not so humble) opinion, you hadn't really lived unless you'd pitted yourself against a wolf or a bear or, if you were lucky, a human. He'd never had the chance to see a human up close. Wolves and bears and wolverines were another story; he had the scars from countless such predators, and he wore them even more proudly than he did his Outrider title.
But enough daydreaming about the more exciting parts of his duties.
He twitched an ear, briefly investigating an unfamiliar sound, but determined it to be a hedgehog or something. No threat. When he came to the corner of the area designated to his watch he turned at a right angle and started into the trees a short way, hopping over the same log he had hopped over many times.
"So, T--" Oh... bollocks. He'd already forgotten her name. It started with a T. What was it? Arg. He couldn't remember. As smoothly as he could he continued, "Who is your stag, if you have one? Or your father?" He wanted to get an idea of who she was in the herd.
At the same time he wracked his brains to try to remember her name.
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Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 12:54 pm
Teg was releived to hear a chuckle and even flashed a little half smile. He was right, she didn't know, but she could imagine. Just like she wanted to have little babies some day (that is, if she could ever get over this paranoia issue), stags must want to fight of predators. Must be one of those things hardwired into a deer's skull, like the fight or flight instinct and the gatherning at Larn. "Do you have to fight off predators much?" She really couldn't relate to the honor of it, so she just stuck to the basics. If she ever had to box off a fox from a fawn or calf, she wouldn't feel much pride in it. Only relief that the babes were not injured. Her own ear also twitched at the sound as well, but only out of habit. If anything dangerous had really been lurking in the shadows, she was certain Spartacus could handle it and she would be safe. Even if she had just met the stag, he was an Outrider after all, and had spoke of fighting off predators as if he had experiance, so she felt as if she was in safe hooves with him.
Teg was a little confused at the sudden turn, but shrugged it off as she lept over the log, making up for what she lacked in muscle with pure grace. She smirked a little at his smooth transition into no name, but managed not to laugh at him. She had half the mind to tell him her name again, but figured he might remember it later or she'd have another chance to tell him later on in their walk. At the mention of her stag, she wondered if she should simply ignore it and completely change the subject, or if she should answer and just deal with her problems on the topic. "Oh, I don't have a stag." She said it as care free as possible, figuring the only way to solve her issues was to confront them. Besides, she was just a doe in the last Anlach, so it wasn't too big of a shock that she had yet to be worked into a harem. "My father... His name was Rustfuld. He isn't around anymore... I don't have the foggiest idea as to where he might be right now, to be honest. For all I know, he's dead." She was surprised at how easy it was to talk about her father, or rather lack there of. Her mother might be a tougher subject, but since she wasn't brought up, Teg wasn't going to mention her. "What about you, Spartacus? Any hinds this season?"
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Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:30 am
Spartacus sighed regretfully. "It seems like I don't have to as much as I used to. Predators just don't come around as much anymore." He turned his head to grin at her. "Not that I want the herd to be in danger. Only want some action."
It may have been that the herd had gotten bigger, as he always thought to himself, and that had caused the predators to shy away. Or it may have been that he was glorifying the past and forgetting that he'd had his share of boredom back then too. He envied Brychan, the stag who had gotten to go on a mission away from the herd. When he was ready he would try to be a Captain just for the sake of such a quest. He had no need for power.
He was not unduly surprised that this hind had no stag. He could tell that she was still young. He'd also never heard of her father, and it sounded like he had run away from the herd or some such thing. So he still didn't know her status in the herd. Oh well, he thought, shrugging it off. Not important.
"None yet," he said, not sounding concerned about this either. "If I meet a hind who'll have a stag like me, then we'll see what happens, but I'm all right doing my duties up here." With a jerk of his antlers he gestured at the ridge where he patrolled.
It wasn't entirely true -- he wasn't entirely all right. But hinds weren't supposed to be up here so having one stand with him was not going to alleviate his boredom. Most of the time. Tegwen was up here, after all.
Tegwen! He smiled. Whew. It was embarrassing to forget the name of someone you were talking to.
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Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 7:47 am
Tegwen was pretty sure now that she'd never fully understand stags. Here was Spartacus, sighing about how predators don't come around as much anymore. She was extremely pleased to hear this news, though he seemed to be in a bit of a slump because of it. She grasped that he got some sort of enjoyment out of protecting the herd, but if the herd didn't have as many enemies slinking about the borders, weren't they protected? Besides, with the coming Anlach and all the new babies who would be running around, she found it very comforting that fewer foxes seemed to want a snack. As opposed to voicing the opinions to the stag, however, she did what she thought another hind might do and held it in. Stags had their glory, after all, and she wasn't about to trample all over it.
"I'm sure there are plenty of hinds who would love to be in your harem," she said reassuringly. She would've touched him in some way had she been in a slightly better mood. To say she was in an awful mood would've been a lie, though. Being in contact with another deer, even though he was a stag, was theraputic. It was rare that she talked to anyone, so she didn't really know how great it felt. She really needed to do this more often. "Besides, everyone can't be with Brychan, right?" She winked, trying to not make it sound as bad as it could. It was well known through out the herd how large the starry stag's harem was, and just how many little ones he might be getting in this coming Anlach.
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