"Skokey.... Skokey! Wake up, you bum!" Fenqua poked at her friend with great force. It was well into the morning and Skokey slept in for no particular reason. "Come on, Skokey, today's the day you're gonna get back to your social life."

Skokey mumbled, "But I dun wanna go to breakfast..."

Fenqua sighed. She lowered her head and put her mouth to his ear. "Oh Skokey...." she took a quiet breath, "WAKE UP."

His head shot bolt upright and looked around frantickly. He soon oriented himself and looked at the chuckling doe. "Please don't wake me like that. I thought I was gonna have a heart attack!" He got up and took a huge stretch. "So... You said something about socializing?"

Fenqua nodded, "Yep. You are gonna make some friends while I catch up with an old one."

"Wait, so you're gonna leave me all alone? With all these deer I don't know?"

"You'll be fine. I'm sure there will be one deer who will want to be your friend." She smiled sweetly, "Besides, I can't keep track of you forever. You can't tell me you've wanted some alone time after all these months?"

Skokey blushed at the comment, and lowered his ears. He quickly retorted, "Don't you think I've spent enough time alone?"

Fenqua's smile disappeared. She suddenly remembered how it was before she came back. "I'm sorry... I don't have to leave if you don't want me to."

Skokey now felt horrible for what he said. "No, that's okay. You go meet up with you friend, I'll be fine."

She smirked again, "I'll take you to the Pond. There'll be plenty of friendly deer there. Then you're on your own."

Skokey smiled, "Fine by me."

They set off for the Pond, talking (and lightly arguing) along the way. They soon arrived at their destination. Skokey's knees started to shake. Fenqua recognized that, from when they first met.

She gave him a nuzzle, "You'll be fine. Don't worry about it." He swallowed hard, looking at all the unfamiliar faces. She smiled at him, "Promise me you won't run away from all this?"

Skokey chuckled, "I promise."

Fenqua bid him farewell and took off. Skokey watched her as she gracefully bounded through the trees. He blushed heavily, but still wondered what she thought of him. It didn't really matter to him. He was lovestruck. He seemed to act naturally around her, and then when she left, he would be giddy. He lowered his head and laughed silently, then glanced back to where she was. She was gone already, but he still had that same big smile on his face.

***

Gathering his courage, Skokey walked timidly out to the Pond. He saw so many deer here, but no one he knew. Of course not, he didn't know anyone beyond Fraalch and his family, along with his sister and Fenqua. He wandered around nervously, looking for someone to talk to. He saw a very large, orange stag sitting up in a willow tree. It was very strange to Skokey, he had no idea how he got up there. But he knew the stag didn't care, he was fast asleep. Skokey wondered how the branch could support such a large creature. He smoothly turned his eyes away from the tree and moved along.

A large group of deer, mostly does, were having a sort of dance party. Skokey watched them from a short distance, hoping one of them would call him over. None of them did, they were too involved with their dance. Once all the dancing was done, small groups of a few deer seemed to branch off and talk amongst themselves. Now Skokey tried to move in on one of the groups.

He came to a group that had two does and one fawn. The first doe had a grey pelt with the Secretary Bird mask. The other doe had a red pelt and a Real Deer mask, with Orca antlers. The fawn had a temporary "fawn-only" pelt, the purple and yellow pelt. Skokey gingerly cut into the group. "Hi guys."

The grey doe tilted her head a little, "Do we know you?"

"Uhh, no... I just wanted to know if I could hang out with you three for a bit."

The two does looked at each other. "Sorry, but we three actually have to be somewhere in a little while. Maybe some other time."

"Oh... Okay." She bowed politely and left them. "So much for that." He went to another crowd. They took a single glance at him and seemed to move away whenever he tried to get close to them. Skokey frowned, walking to the middle of the group. He pricked his ears, finding some of the deer were looking at him funny. He listened carefully to what they were saying.

"Isn't that Jayla's kid? I thought he killed himself."

"I don't think so. Jayla had a daughter, didn't she?"

"Well yeah, but I thought she had a son before her daughter."

Skokey turned his head and swivled his ears again.

"Oh man, look at that set of his. He must really like butterflies."

"Careful, I don't think he's into girls." The doe giggled.

Skokey scowled and turned his head again.

"Hey look, is that who I think it is?"

"That must be Jayla's son. Poor doe, I heard when she finally met him, he went into a rage and beat her."

"That's terrible! Someone should really help him."

Skokey promptly left the group. He traveled to the other side of the pond and sat in the shallows. "Well, I see I've accumulated quite the reputation." He sighed, looking at his reflection. "I guess I'm not the deer I used to be. Sure, it's easy for fawn to make friends, fawns are naturally adorable to the older deer. But a lonely stag? No, all they do is ridicule him." He looked back at the group and eyed the two does he spoke with before. They hadn't left at all. "Why don't you take a try at my past, and see how you do? You'd probably be exactly the same as me."

About an hour passed, and the large group had broken up. Another group had built in time, and Skokey decided to take a try at them. He talked with several deer, a lot of them being stags. They were all slightly younger than him, and a lot more egotistical. They had no sensative side at all, and were only there to try to impress a doe. Skokey didn't belong in that kind of company. He went to talk with one of the does, but she thought he was with the other stags and just trying to impress her.

Skokey gave up on that one. The deer there were stuck up. He went back to his spot in the shallows and decided to wait again. He plopped his face into the water and let out a bubbley sigh, then brought his head back up. He let the water drip from the wings on his mask into the pond, and just started at the fish swimming around the middle. How lucky of them, he thought, they don't care about the other fish.

A shadow caught his eye, and he looked up. A stag was standing underneath the floating lotus. "How can he..." Skokey mumbled. He looked at the stag and studied his features. He was wearing the Kibuki pelt, although it was hard to tell with the water waving above him. Butterfly antlers... And an expressionless face. He tried to look at the details of his face, but the stag already walked in the opposite direction of Skokey and ran off when he broke the surface.

Skokey stared at the spot in the pond with an intrigued face. Why wasn't the stag a frog?, he thought. He almost got up to go down and see if he could do it, but the risk of losing the mask Fenqua worked for made him reconsider. He looked at the sky, and the sun was already starting to set. The sky turned to a light, pinkish-orange, the clouds bathed in a richer pink light. Skokey sighed, "Well that was pretty pointless. I spent a whole day and didn't make any new friends. I might as well just go home and wait for Fen."

He was about to get up when another stag sat down next to him. "You don't mind if I sit here, do you?"

"Uhh, no. Not at all." Skokey looked at the stag. He had a fine Magpie pelt, with a Magpie mask half covering his face. Large curved antlers sprouted from between his ears in an odd metallic gold.

The stag looked at him, "I saw you earlier today, trying to make friends."

"Yeah... Didn't really work. I'm not used to making friends."

"Yeah, I could tell. But don't let that get you down. There are plenty of deer out there. Some are lonelier than you."

Skokey's ears dropped, "So you know too?"

"Sorry, I guess it's not very nice to tell you about your reputation. Word spreads fast around here. I don't know where it started, but... I guess it's hard to keep quiet once you know something new."

"That's okay. In all honesty, I half expected them to know. I knew there were deer looking for me back then."

The stag smiled at him warmly, "In all honesty, I half expected you to say that." Skokey smiled at at the retort. He raised a brow, "What's your name?"

"Skokey. You?"

"Vipin."

***

It was almost night by the time Skokey got home. The sun had sunken just below the horizon, and the light was slowly diminishing. He had spent a little too much time at the Pond with his new acquaintance. He came to the Playground and found Fenqua waiting patiently under the slab.

She rose to greet him. "So? Any luck?"

He thought back on his long conversation with Vipin, "Yeah, I guess so."

Fenqua smiled and nuzzled him, "I knew you could do it."

He blushed lightly, and soon noticed that she was different. Her pelt was a lovely golden-brown, with many stripes and large spots decorating it. Her antlers had surprisinly turned to a light turquoise, and were covered with many poppies, like his. And her face with partially covered with an Orca mask.

He stared at her for a moment. "What happened to your face?"

She laughed, "My friend helped me get a set I liked. Do you like it?" She spun around, showing him her pelt.

He smiled, "Yeah, I like it. It looks pretty on you."

Skokey couldn't tell, but underneath Fenqua's mask, she was blushing heavily. At the same time, Fenqua couldn't tell that he was blushing underneath his golden mask. They looked at each other, Fenqua smiling sweetly and Skokey smiling stupidly like he always did around her.

Skokey went under the slab and settled to the ground. Fenqua followed him and slept in her usual spot outside the slab. But tonight, she was a little closer, and facing him. He was entranced by this, not knowing what to expect anymore. He didn't even consider his dreams that night, all he could think about was her. What was she doing?

----------

(oh gawd, i REALLY hope i didnt screw Vipin up! please tell me if i did anything wrong Sarie! DX )