Note: Please excuse the lack of formatting. I am on an older computer and it takes far too long to copy and paste colour specific coding for each piece of dialog. When I have a functioning new computer it will be edited for clarity. For sake of readability all dialog will be bolded within quotes. Thank you for your consideration and understanding.
A continuation of So close and yet so far and Everlasting smile.
If you have just started reading this series then head on over to the story collection page to get caught up.
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Kita's head lifted as she heard the call, ears pricked as she felt the pull of it. She frowned confused but turned and bound forward, running through the forest to the pond's edge, spotting the bird rested upon the tops of the branches. She slowed and tilted her head confused before the flash of white on the tree.
Her expression became shocked and rushed forward, stumbling over her own hooves in her hurry, trying not to let the hope bloom in her chest. She slowed, reached her head quietly forward and sniffing over the mask.
Furfur. Her Furfur's mask.
She looked up quickly toward the bird again "Thank you my friend, I am forever in your debt" She whispered, tears flicking into her eyes as she gently took the mask from the tree.
Maybe all was not lost. She would get her Furfur back again. She would have to find some rope or vine, she knew someone would have some, so she could keep the mask safe.
Seshi smiled faintly and peered out at his son playing with the elder doe. It was a strange sight to behold as they two raced around the forest spelling masks on any deer unfortunate enough to cross their path. He was feeling strangely at peace despite the troubles experienced last night. That doe..what was her name? Oh yes, Kita had run off in a huff over the whole matter. It was perplexing. She spoke such nonsense and yet both his son and the gray doe had reacted defensively. Could the same childlike beings prancing around the forest know more of this strange situation than they let on?
His head snapped up as he heard the barely audible cries of distress and glanced across the clearing to where his child was last playing. The small fawn had stuck his head inside of a tree knot to investigate and had inadvertently trapped himself. He let out a soft sigh and moved to get to his feet when the butterfly faced doe took charge of the situation.
Seshi reasoned that he should feel jealous or angry that another deer was taking over supervising his flesh and blood. Yet to be completely honest he held no attachment to the child other than a faint sense of parental obligation. He settled back down in the flowers and laid on his side lazily watching the scene unfold. The sun was high in the sky and he had found the perfect spot of sun to offset the slight breeze. He closed his eyes and was nearing a deer slumber when the sudden scattering of the songbirds gave warning of an intruder. His eyes snapped open and he gazed up the hill to where Kita stood. She looked just as unremarkable as the first time he set eyes on her except for a new addition. Her shoulder was smiling at him. He groaned softly and closed his eyes tightly hoping she would leave him if he feigned sleep. He was tired of her accusations.
Kita slowed as she approached the clearing and narrowed her eyes as the stag feigned sleep. He was such a child at times. She slid into the shadows and slowly worked her way down the steep incline towards Seshi. She could not risk being seen by Finata or Kalpita again. Kita understood their concerns, but she felt she had to do what was right. Seeing Finata with his father was heartwarming, but it was a lie. Seshi was dead. He died of an illness. Some sinister purpose took away her Furfur and she could not endanger the child with the same fate. What if this strange disappearance was contagious?
Kita sidled up by Seshi and examined him closer. His breathing was regular and the occasional flutter of an eyelid alerted her to his facade. She raised her voice above a whisper and hissed in his ear with a stern voice. "I know you're faking to try and avoid me. Don't make me wait. You'll have to move sometime." She watched the stag flinch and give her a defeated look as he spoke in a low whisper. "Will you just leave me alone? I have a family now." Kita couldn't help but hold back a growl. "You had a family as Furfur too! ". Why was he being difficult about this? Didn't he want to go back to being de-
She froze and tensed up.
Dead.
To be Furfur again he would have to die.
Her body started to involuntarily quiver and she stared hopelessly at the stag. It did not occur to her before. She was so concerned about her friend that she never once thought about..well she never thought.
She stared at the stag before her in shame. Seshi wore a meek look of triumph as he met her gaze.
"Look. I'm sorry, I really am..but if it is true what you say then..look I just don't want to die. That's it. I'm alive. I have a family who adores me. I'm not leaving him again."
Kita hesitated and lowered her head. What was she suppose to do? She did not even consider the means of how she would get back her love. But..She still had to prove it to him. He had to know that she was not some lunatic spouting lies. She needed to be accepted by him. Her Furfur was still alive somewhere in him and maybe she could learn to like him for all his faults. She studied the lounging stag before her and sighed softly. That was it. The difference. Seshi wore his faults on his sleeve with some sort of pompus swagger. You don't like my tone? Then deal! This is who I am and you can take me or leave me! I'll just find someone else to befriend who is open-minded. Where as her Furfur traveled the forest with his eyes averted and scars hidden behind a mask he was willing to change to get acceptance.
What happened?
What changed this mighty stag into the self-conscious spectre she adored?
Kita tentatively approached the stag and laid the mask down by his face. No words were exchanged. The stag had reached out his head and given the mask a curious sniff before meeting her submissive gaze with a stern look. "This changes nothing. I acknowledge that what you say is the truth, but nothing can be done. Your friend is gone. I am alive. If you need comfort I will welcome you into my family without a second thought, but I cannot bring him back." Seshi leaned forward picking up the mask in his mouth and placing it back around her neck as he spoke. "The sooner you come to terms with this the better. I do not know of a being that can bring about memories that have not happened. If you know of one I will subject myself to it's probing, but I cannot promise anything will come of it. Having the memories of your..love will not transform me into him. I cannot change who I am to please you. I am my own person. Your Furfur was another person. I cannot become him any more than you could become me if I shared my life story with you." He gave her a mournful nuzzle and turned his back to her. " I do not wish to cut you short, but my son still has his head stuck in a tree."
Kita watched as the stag trotted out of sight and frowned. Something had to be done. There had to be some way. The Twin Gods could...no. She had never seen the gods lift a finger to intervene with her life in any way before. She turned her head as another quivering note hung in the air and took off to consult Atvana. It may be able to shed some light on the situation. Well, if it were willing. For all it's helpfulness the odd deer worked in mysterious ways.
=x=
Furfur raised his head at the approaching sound from the dark. It was not the echoing clip-clop that alerted him to the presence of Atvana previously. He felt his body involuntarily tense as his hair stood on end. The was a palpable electricity in the air and he laboriously rose to his feet taking a defensive state.
"Oh how cute! I had not expected you to be up and moving so soon. You surprise me every day Furfur. Such a fighter."
Furfur froze and stared into the darkness. That voice. He automatically lowered his eyes to the level of the ground and squinted. He knew that voice. He often heard it taunting him from his heels or scolding him for misbehavior.
"It is so dreadfully dark here isn't it? Your next destination will be much brighter. "
The voice approached and a small light illuminated a foreign form. His eyes were cast downward to face the familiar dikdik but instead his eyes were drawn to a strange shape. A..hoof? No. His eyes traveled up the pale appendage until it met a bright plumage of purple and green covering more bare white skin.
The creature had large eyes and shared the facial features of many deer down to the pile of auburn hair centered around her crown. It stood upright and the source of the light was a small fire resting in one of six arms the creature had. Or..appeared to have. He stared intently at the extra appendages and stretched out his neck to lightly touch one with a point, noting how it effortlessly slid through. Some sort of an illusion then. He squinted away from the light and tried to find a frame of reference for Dhina's odd appearance. The twin gods maybe or..the ruins. He had seen such a being there carved into the side of the old decrepit stone wall. He had no name for such a thing but the image was distinct. Dhina leaned down to meet Furfur face to face and grinned broadly.
"Human. Person. and you better adapt quickly because I am not the only one you will be meeting.
"
She reached out one bizarre pale appendage and lightly stroked the fur around his antlers before turning and walking through the dark away from him.
Furfur struggled to his feet and weakly chased after the strange deity. The sensations were coming back to him. Muscles. He had muscles. The air was cold. His head was not as heavy as in life. He examined himself briefly in a passing pool of water and it became clear.
He was...nameless. He studied the bizarre facial features that he shared with the creature that Dhina had become in horrid fascination for only a few brief moments before the fading light spurred him into movement. He had plain antlers and only the basic pelt of those strange visitors he spoke to only in passing when they entered the forest. He was one of them now. One of the wide eye'd visitors in a new land.
It was painful to try and keep up at first but as he stretched his new muscles he adapted to the sensations of life. He was alive again. He had no identity, but he lived.
He would return to the forest again.
He had to.
Otherwise why was this journey necessary. He bit his new lip and could not hold back a chuckled at the range of emotions he could convey on his visage. These other strange creatures he would meet..these persons..these humans. They would fix the situation.
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Ab uno disce omnes means From one person, learn all people
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
I am glad to see the next part <3 I hope that your computer starts working soon T-T
-hugs- I shall talk with Atty about the next part -nods nods-
This is getting better and
<333
Indeed, we must discuss~ And
And so it continues.
This does fascinate me in ways that it has either been years since I've felt similarly, or it's never happened. c:
*Bumps up* HA. I secretly
HA.
I secretly read these diary's. *Looks around like a ninjaa*
But I'm never really good at words though. But I love your writing <3
No problem Seele. As much as