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 Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 4:09 pm
He had always been fond of the winter. Watching the snow fall about him was like a dream. Such beautiful flakes, all unique, meshed together on the ground to create a gentle blanket on the Great Land's floor. They were much like the Herla, he mused, as they were all individuals, yet lived together in harmony to create something far greater than themselves; a herd. A warm swell of pride radiated from his ruff, a strong look on his features as he surveyed Home Oak from his rocky perch. It was for the good of the herd that he was up here, away from those very deer he protected. There was pang of social need, but it quickly faded. It was his duty to be up here on this flat rock, standing peacefully in the snow, watching over those who had raised him. Not only that, but it was his right to be up here, as it was the right of all aspiring calves to grow into what he had become. Of course, he was not high in the Outrider ranks. He was young, freshly out of his training, and assigned a rather easy spot from one of the captains. He didn't take it personally, of course, as it was only the way of things. As he grew in years and experiance, he would grow in rank and post. It was the way of things.
Snuffing to watch his breath drift on the wind, there was another pang of lonliness. Perhaps it was the blow he had been dealt this past Anlach, when he had not established even a small harem. Perhaps it was the bitter winds he stood against. Either way, he was lonesome up there on the rock, and wouldn't have minded a Corps to walk by. Even a hind would do, though he would eventually have to walk them back to the safety of the group. With another snuff, he thought again of Anlach. He hadn't been the only one who had not secured his place in the future, at least there was that. It just hadn't been a good season. Perhaps it was the threat of the Fallen, who had for some reason awaken? Whatever the cause, Sergie was positive he would try for a hind next time around. These thoughts were for later, however, when he was dismissed. For now, he watched.
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Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 4:28 pm
The little black fawn lifted her hooves high as she plowed her way through snow that almost reached up to her knees, grimacing as she walked. Ugh. She disliked snow. It was a rather bothersome material that only seemed to exist to impede her progress up the hill. It wasn't only the stark contrast the white snow made to her dark pelt that she didn't like. In the snow, she fairly glowed like a big dark beacon to predators. But not only that, she disliked the way it clung to her little legs so that she had to lift them high into the air before being able to walk. Oh, it made her look like a complete fool. And she didn't like it.
Often in winter, she would envy Tegwen's whiteness. Even if her twin did have to go through the same torment as she in the snow, at least Teg was white, and much harder to see from afar. The little fawn scowled and pranced her way forward. She could see... an Outrider... Oh, bother. Outriders never let her do anything fun. True, she hadn't quite known what she was prancing out to do, but she knew that the stag standing there would tell her it was no place for a nice little fawn like herself to be and that she should just turn around and run home.
She wasn't going to turn around and flee, she decided. It didn't matter what the stag said. He wouldn't do anything to her. Perhaps he could walk her back too, and she wouldn't have to bother with plowing through the snow and making her own way. She lifted her head high and pranced onward, prancing right past the noble stag. Perhaps he wouldn't see.
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Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:14 am
Lost in his own little snowglobe, Sergie hadn't scented Drystan comming up the hill. It could've partially been that she was downwind (?) of him, and it was harder to nose out something that way. It also could've been his inexperiance, of course. Then there was the fact he hadn't been really paying attention... Either way, the three things combined contributed to it. When the doe walked by, however, she was incredibly hard to miss. The Outrider stood there for a moment, just staring at her. She stuck out in the snow, pracically glowed. That was quite a feat for such a dark color, and wasn't it dark? He was mesmerized by her for a few moments, but was quick to snap out of it. What was a herd's doe doing all the way up here, anyway? Perhaps she just wanted to... get away from everything for a little while? He could resepct that, surely. He could use some company, after all. As long as he could still watch the herd, he figured having someone to talk to couldn't really be too much of a problem. Although she was a doe, he was really more Corps than Outrider, and had yet to learn the whole seperation factor.
"Hello, there." The stag bowed his antlers in doe's direction, figuring she had already spotted him. "Getting away from the group for a little while?" He nodded understandingly, and looked back out at the herd. "I used to do that when I was a Corps. Before the put me here... Now I get to do it all the time." He chuckled some, looking back at the black deer to see if there was any reaction at all. He was sure he had herd of a black fawn while he was going through Corps training... Yes, that's right. A black one and a white one. Twins. Yes, yes, it was all comming back now. He didn't bring it up, however, figuring that she might not really want to talk about being so different. Sergie could respect that; he was a bit different from the others, as well. More of a mix between this doe and her twin. Grayish blue was his cursing, though he had grown rather fond of it over time. It suited him just fine.
((Er... XD It is downwind that they can't smell, right? Upwind means they can...? Maybe?))
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Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 2:45 am
((Um... downwind? xD;; I'm fairly suuuure... And if not we could always toss a dice to decide x) ))
The black doe felt her ears flop for a moment as she realized she had been spotted. She had expected it, to be sure, but it didn't help that it had actually happened. She nodded, somewhat wary, for although she knew full well that the Outriders had been formed to protect the herd, she had always been rather cautious around stags. Oh, how her father had ruined her precious life. By running away and, in a way, taking the mother of herself and Tegwen with him, he had effectively caused her a permanent heartbreak that no deer could ever repair. She had always known that she would never be one who could simply prance up to the nearest deer and begin a conversation.
"Well, yes..." She said softly with a jerky nod. "I just thought I'd... get away for a little while..." Damn... She couldn't quite think of something else to say. Really, she had no idea what she had been doing on the hill, or what she had planned on doing once she'd reached the top. So perhaps she could simply bluff her way through and then leave. Now that she had company, she felt anxious and fidgety. Only when she was with Tegwen or Dyani, or perhaps one of Fell Lore's fawns, was she ever at ease.
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Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 7:29 am
Noting the doe's uncomfort, Sergie took a step away from her, giving her a bit of space. He wasn't a very dominant or prideful stag, and felt no qualms in allowing a female her own comfort circle. He also did not see a reason to herd the creature back to the herd just yet. If she had come out to get away from them, it was something he could understand, and it was also something he would freely allow others to enjoy. Leaving the pair to silence for a short while, he let his eyes wander back over the herd. A few fawns had been successfully birthed this Anlach, he thought with a slight twitch of jealousy. It quickly left him, however, and he payed little mind to this bout of uncalm thought. Instead, he looked back over at the stark black doe and grinned a little. Wasn't se the older sister to two of the new fawns? He beleived so, at least. Perhaps he should make a comment about them, to make her more comfortable? Gathering his nerve, the Outrider took a slight step forward and cleared his throat. "You hgave two little sisters, right? They're adorable." He grinned, looking back out at the herd. "I see them sometimes, running around the hind Dyani out near the trees."
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Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:11 am
They lapsed into a comfortable silence, and Drystan decided to leave things be. She had had little dealings with stags before, and she could clearly remember the night Seianna and Maysa had been birthed, when she had met Fell Lore and had felt the awe of a thousand deer crashing over her. She remembered the Lord so well, the way his duel-colored eyes had stared down at her and the way his head of antlers had towered so high above her she thought she had been reduced to little more than an ant in the presence of the great stag. Apart from that night, she had never talked to stags before.
She was drawn back to the presence at the sound of the Outrider clearing this throat, and she felt a small smile ease onto her muzzle at the mention of her two little adoptive sisters, nodding. "Yes, they are," She agreed. "Well, we're not related by blood." She added. She remembered when she had first met the two fawns, how she had disliked them and felt a strange jealousy toward them, thinking Dyani would no longer have time to spare for herself and Tegwen. But gradually, she had realized that Dyani would always have time for them, and she had felt her dislike for the two fawns quickly evaporate. But still, she found that she always made the note to mention that she was not directly related to the two fawns in any way. While she did not like to admit that Dyani was not her real mother, she had always found a strange denial within herself - she was not related to the fawns, and therefore not at all related to Fell Lore.
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Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:56 am
The stag wasn't certain why she had been so quick to point out the fact that they were adoptive sisters, but he didn't question it. She had her own reasons, and he wasn't one to delve into another's private thoughts. In his opinion, one's own mind was their private little corner of the world, and not a soul in the Great Land had the right to pry into such a thing. Save for Starbuck, of course, but that was different. "I don't know my siblings, I'm afraid. When I grew to a buck, I was taken into training under an Outrider, and I haven't had much contact with my mother since. I was her first calf, that I know for sure, but I don't know if she's had another since." He smiled a little, thinking warmly of his mother. She had been a young hind, an inexperianced first time mother. The others in the herd had helped her with raising him, and that was when he had learned how great a herd really was. It was also what had sparked his want to protect the herd, his love to serve. It happened in a different way for all young calves, and that was his little story.
With a quiet sigh, he watched his breath steam and float away, blending with the breathes of all the other members of the herd. He watched it for a short while, and then returned his glance on the black hind nearby. It had been quite a while since he had interacted with a female, that was for sure. He wasn't certain how he should handle the situation, and was opting to just talk to her like she was a stag. Of course, there were certain things that shouldn't be brought up, but excluding antlers and harems, it might actually work out well. "I'm Sergie, by the way."
((Eheh, typos galore in that last post. Sorry if this one is chock full of them, too. I'm out of it right now. >.>; wink )
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Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 4:50 am
"Oh." Drystan said simply at the mention of the stag's mother. She could feel herself tensing and she knew that a little frown had worked its way onto her brow, and that her gaze had hardened. It wasn't the stag, of course, it was simply the mention of a mother. She had never associated the word with anything of goodness, for her own mother Aythen had abandoned the twins for a mindless stag who, too, had abandoned the herd. Thank you, mom, for ruining my life so... She thought bitterly, knowing full well that if she had not left the herd, the doe's life, and her sister's, would have been just that much easier. And it was because of this, too, that she and Tegwen never referred to Dyani as their mother. She was simply Dyani, the beloved hind who had raised them from fawnhood along with two others.
The young doe felt her thoughts slowly drift away again, back to the memory of Fell Lore the night his fawns had been born. She pictured the handsome face and intimidating head of antlers, and felt her cheeks flaming at the thought. Thank Herne for her dark fur! She could blush all she wanted and none would ever be able to tell. "Oh, um..." She was jerked back to reality by the sound of the stag introducing himself. Her mind whirled as she tried to hide what she had previously been thinking about. "I'm Drystan," She said finally.
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Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 7:44 pm
Watching the doe's facial expressions change from relatively neutral to downright distraught, the stag fought with himself for a solution. Her thoughts were her own, but the look in her eyes said that something was clearly not right. Some deer enjoyed talking about what was bothering them, and perhaps this was all that the melanistic deer needed to do. On the other hand, she could hate opening up to those she did not know. Sergie was not one to spill his guts for those he was not close to, though he had done quite a bit of talking so far with her. It was mostly an attempt to make her feel more comfortable, however, though it didn't seem to be working much. With a slight frown, he lowered his head some, trying to catch her gaze. "Something wrong, miss?"
The expression faded somewhat, however, and grew to something a bit different, though still a tad irritated. Perhaps it was the way she always looked? Or perhaps he simpley annoyed her. That wouldn't be a very nice thought, though, for as far as he knew, he didn't actually full out annoy anybody. It'd be a shame to start today. All of this thinking was entirely unneccsary, however, and he nearly kicked himself for spending so much time on such a simple matter. One look at her eyes, and he had it in a flash. The Outrider smiled warmly, relaxing his stance. "May I ask, Drystan, what lucky stag is on your mind?" He didn't mean to come off as digging into her thoughts, as that was strictly against his morals. He purely meant it as conversation.
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Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 7:52 pm
He's in my head! So came the first thought to the young doe's mind at Sergie's question. But then she tried to calm herself and tried hard to blink away the look of complete and utter shock that he had guessed at exactly what she had been thinking. He was probably just good with reading expressions, she reasoned. He couldn't be inside her head, no. "Oh, um..." She looked away. Much as she disliked stags because of the impression her father had given her, she didn't feel much like driving Sergie away. Had she been thinking of any other stag, she most probably would have told him. But she didn't know what she thought of herself, and she didn't know how it would come off with Sergie.
In a way, after all, Fell Lore was her adoptive father, and... She felt a trainwreck of thoughts running through her mind. She wanted to say something. Anything so that it didn't seem as if the stag had annoyed her. He seemed like the sensitive type to her, and she didn't like to make others feel uncomfortable. So she said the first thing that sprang to her mind. "Um... you?"
Crap.
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Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 8:07 pm
Shock and panic seemed to strike the poor doe's face, and Sergie couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise. She seemed to be racing through a million thoughts, thoughts he could hardley even begin to guess at. He cocked his head a little, watching her eyes as she tried to come up with a solution to this new problem. He was beginning to think she wasn't going to even be able to utter a single sound, but then it happened. Her over all tone and then change of expression almost had the Outrider reduced to a chuckling lump on the stone. It took every fiber in his being and every second of training in his Corps years to remain upright and keep a straight face. After several moments of silence, he was able to push out a few words without a hint of laughter. "Lying is a sin." He smirked playfully, restoring his stance to that of a proud stag. "If you don't care to say who is on your mind, just say so, miss." He looked at her warmly, though with that smirk still planted on his muzzle. Mind games were his favorite pass time, and it would be quite tough for any deer to slide an untrue statement past him. All of his Corps years had been spent studying how the others of the herd acted, and it seemed it had finally payed off.
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Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 8:12 pm
Suddenly, all of the doe's composure returned, as if something within her had finally flipped a switch, and she lifted her head as daintily as possible. She did look quite elegant, she decided. She wasn't one to dwell on herself, or boast in any way, but she had to admit she did like the way she looked with her head drawn up. "Who says I'm lying?" She asked, eyeing him as coldly as she could, although she could feel the smile she was fighting to keep off her muzzle tugging at the corners of her mouth.
((Small post. I fail xD))
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Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 8:19 pm
Sergie lifted a brow playfully as the doe straightened herself out, looking quite gorgeous if he did say so himself. She really was an attractive female, though she did seem a tad... odd. That was something he could handle, however, and with some ease. The expression Drystan now wore proudly was almost enough to make him crumple, but he somehow withstood it, if only for a moment. With all his might, he tried to get out a sentence, but failed miserabley. "I am..." Just those simple two words and he was laughing, throwing back his head and letting the sound ring around the pair, bouncing off various trees and rocks. It was almost certain that some of the herd could hear him now, but he hardley cared. A few older Outriders might be a tad miffed, and would more than likely tell him that he shouldn't be attracting so much attention later. For now, however, he was purely enjoying himself, and the dark doe who had stumbled along his post on a snowy day. "You're really something, Drystan." He managed to get the words out inbetween chuckled as he calmed himself. It really wasn't right for a stag to have such outbursts, but he wasn't going to stop himself from a good laugh just because he was an Outrider. The likelyhood of attracting a predator in this weather was rather slim, anyway.
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Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 8:23 pm
Slowly, the doe felt the smile grow wider and wider, until she was finally laughing along with the Outrider. It had been some time since she had been so happy, she realized, and it was Sergie that was causing it. Sometimes she wondered at stags. So capable of causing heartbreak, yet so easily could they cheer one up. She grinned. "Why, thank you, Sergie, I think so too," She said, bursting into a fit of laughter once more.
((Ohnoes I fail again! xD))
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Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 8:45 pm
He chuckled at her comment, glad that she had finally broken down and laughed with him. It was a bit comforting, really, that she seemed to be less tense. The general atmosphere about them seemed to lighten, which was a great relief. Now, maybe, he could really enjoy the doe's company. When he had managde to stifle his chuckle to nothing, he flashed a warm smile in Drystan's direction. It was a while before he said anything, however. First, he looked around him for any stags on their way. After seeing none, he peered out at the herd, just in case. Everything seemed to be in working order down there, which was really good. If something had happened while he was laughing, it was certain Fell Lore himself would give him a strong talk.
With a satisfied sigh, the Outrider took a few steps through the snow, his step light despite his size. He shook the snow that had collected from his rack, snorting as it fell over his face. It took a minute to compose himself before delving into conversation. "So what's it like living down there all the time?" He had wondered that since he had left his calf year, as he had yet to spend much time with the herd since.
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