Aww Kumiko has a sad past. Hero has never had a family but thinks it is sad that Kumiko lost hers.
Hero hopes to play with Kumiko in the forest soon. He wants to see her trademark dance. ;D

Haha sounds like fun. xD

*nuzzles back*

Of course you are. ^_^

And antlered does FTW.

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Fan art done by Vesper. (Thanks again! )

^_^ Of course!

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Fan art done by Vesper. (Thanks again! )

-Flytackle-

Hi Kumiko!!

XD

Bios and Giftarts! Look!

Gah! I am very sorry, Vesper! I did not recognize you with a new set and there is a deer that has a very similar picto to yours that I've seen on the Live map.

Then, of course, Kumiko was confused as to what was going on between Reetno and Darcy. She doesn't like it when tensions are high between them since they have been such good friends this long.

Needless to say, I am really sorry that I didn't play with you. Can you forgive me?

*many sorry nuzzles*

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Fan art done by Zabrath.

Biography
†wïlïgh†'§ ÇhïlÐ: Index

you live in St. Louis?!

The Rams are my favorite NFL team!!!

Aww Kumiko has a sad past. Hero has never had a family but thinks it is sad that Kumiko lost hers.
Hero hopes to play with Kumiko in the forest soon. He wants to see her trademark dance. ;D

Glad she could lift someone's spirits. Sorry it was brief though.

Vesper! Where have you been!?

Have I spied a Kumiko fawn?!

Of course I remember her! D8 -flail-
I saw that picto and froze all "Waaaaaait a minute..." and Darcy ran over to see it was a fawn. I thought I was mistaken until the fawn started acting like a older player. I don't know if you remember US but...it's good to see old friends again.

I know what you mean about bringing her back...Thought about it with Darcy too. I'm kind of attached to his picto though, I just don't think I could use it for anybody else though. I'm not very helpful haha, but either way...wouldn't mind hanging out with whoever you come up with ^^

I think we all left for emotional reasons heh... I'm sorry to hear about yours. This game unfortunately isn't very kind on the emotionally unstable it seems XD' Well, the community anyways, which is a shame... I've been around the forest pretty steadily for the past few weeks. I check in on the Community site sometimes to look up deer but...I'm trying to avoid getting too involved in all that again. So I guess I'm a little confused too ^^' I hope it goes well for both of us ha

"Thank you, Kumiko, for being there for me today...I'm...I'm really sorry you had to see that. I'll be alright.."

<3 you guys ._.

The stag was...slowly returning to himself again. He had been far away for a while...one could see it in the way his eyes glazed. He had known what was coming...he could feel the rage – the insanity- bubbling... and he had taken precautions. The effects of the mushrooms and poppy plants lingered. Darcy felt... light. The forest was bright despite the lack of sunshine. Everything had a hazy aura of color. Kumiko's was the brightest, purple and sparkling like the Milky Way on a clear night. He gazed at the doe with a glimmer of wonder in his eyes – as well as regret. When she spoke her voice echoed. It was loud in his ears, but sweet with tenderness. Darcy wasn't sure if he wasn't sane enough to grasp what she was saying or if her words truly didn't make any sense. The stag's brows knit in concentration, his head tilting to meet her gaze but she kept it carefully turned away from him.
“Don't deserve... What? Don't be stupid Kumi,” he scolded her bluntly, though his voice was soft and a little slurred so hardly menacing. Upon realizing his slip up he winced.
“I mean...You deserve all the praise in the world...putting up with me. Even for a little while. I'm a disaster love,” he paused to chuckle, then grew serious again, “But I mean it...I'm...really sorry. I just...can't fight it off sometimes...”

Darcy had no idea of the inner turmoil his friend was facing. He was too wrapped up in his own inebriated woes to notice the subtitles of her expression. He was being so negligent lately... He had barely made an attempt to catch up with Kumiko, though he had welcomed her return with enthusiasm. Darcy was avoiding the past. He didn't bring up his...and he didn't ask about hers. Maybe if he kept moving forward none of it would matter anymore. It was incredibly selfish... had he thought it wouldn't catch up with him eventually?

As Kumiko finally turned to him and spoke, the stag froze. The glimmering of tears in her eyes sparkled brilliantly in his distorted vision. His long ears slid slowly back against his head as a sinking feeling came over him. He...he had made her cry? Darcy might have panicked if his system was not so mellowed by the toxins he'd ingested. Instead he could only stare at her stupidly, his eyes suddenly hollow as his scarred lips frowned in the shadow of his mask.
“You're...crying... Oh Gods. I'm...I'm really sorry. I am a nuisance! See? Please...please don't cry.”
Why did he keep doing this? Upsetting his friends? Driving everyone away?!

He had been so sure of these self-loathing thoughts that Kumiko's reaction genuinely surprised him. She shook her head with an urgency in her voice, and it immediately silenced his tirade, his jaw snapping shit with a audible 'click' of his teeth. W-what? Ugh. Any strong emotions that threatened to surface quickly died away as the lazy current of his drugged thoughts swept it back out to sea. The stag's heart had began to thud in his chest, but even that was a lazy, drawn out drum-beat. His brows knit together above his watchful, weary eyes as she struggled to blink and dry away her tears. When she spoke again, the doe's voice was calm, yet strained. When she diverted her gaze, he knew of her uncertainty.
“Are you ok?”
He wanted to laugh. To Darcy that was always such an absurd inquiry, rousing the impulse to question in return: “I don't know...am I?”
“I'll be alright,” the stag repeated instead. It was true enough... but it settled nothing. Darcy continued to watch Kumiko, his eyes as intense as they could be as the world around him glowed and distorted.
“What...what were you going to say Kumi? What... are you thinking?” The stag spoke softly, unsure of his words though he imploring tone behind them was as genuine as the glimmer of interest in his eyes.

Cocking her head to the side in distress, she studied his movements. It seemed as if his speech no longer slurred, but his body seemed to drag. Weakened by the ingested mushrooms, he swayed. Kumiko scratched at the soft earth before them. The dirt collected in crevasse of her hoof, "Why not sit down...?"

Slowly, she lowered herself down and rested in the cool grass. She tucked her legs beneath of petite body while gazing up at Darcy who now towered over her. His orange pelt glowing in the sunlight, but his eyes filled with unmentionable confusion. Her returned glare pleaded with him to rest. She could not read his mind, but his intoxicated look hinted at an inner, hidden strife.

She gave a stressful sigh as she began to think of a response to his question. What could she say? What should she say?

"I don't get it..." she bluntly replied after a few moments of silence. "I don't get why you're doing this to yourself..."

She saw the faint smile on his face within the shadows of his mask as he welcomed the rest. But then it faded within an instant. Had she been to blunt with her statement? Had she overstepped a boundary? Her ears flattened against her head once again as she lowered her gaze in fear of upsetting him more.

Darcy's silent bothered her. The lack of a response put her on edge as she began to wonder if she had possibly put their fragile friendship in a position that could possibly damage it. It was never her intent to place him in harm's way, but despite knowing him for so long, she knew little to nothing about who he really was. She felt completely helpless in his hours of need since she did not know what caused his distress. Without any previous knowledge of what tormented him, she had no place to begin helping him heal.

The truth is, crazy kind of runs in my family...I f***ed a lot of things up...it calms me. It takes the edge off...

He began to explain things she had never known. Sure, she could recall moments in his past where she witnessed hardships, but she certainly was not going to bring those up. Not now and perhaps never. Even with having been there to see the events unfold before her eyes, there was much she did not know. There was a time where her presences in the Forest was none existent and much had happen without her. While curiosity and the desire to know ate at her, she felt it was not her place to bring them up.

Instead, she allowed Darcy to tell her what he felt needed to be said at the time he picked. As he continued to speak, sadness crippled her heart. Either he had been a master at hiding the truth or she was obliviously stupid in noticing them. Perhaps a mixture of both. Her eyes began to water again, if only because of the pain she could sense around him. It hurt knowing there was little to nothing she could do.

"Oh, Darcy.... I'm sorry..." Unknowingly and instinctively, she rested her head upon his chest, buried her moistened face in his fur. It was fur was soft and warm, but his heart beat was slow as it pounded away. It brought both comfort and more sadness. "I'm so sorry that you have had to face this alone...I'm sorry I'm so useless to you right now..." She closed her eyes and continued to lean against him.

(P.S: I never meant to leave Darcy alone last night, but a storm was blowing in with a lot of lightning. And well, stuff happens. ;_;)

With her eyes closed, she was incapable of seeing the expression on his face but she could notice the change in his heart rate. She felt his muscles tension upon her touch, then relax again. As he spoke, she could hear his voice escaping from within his throat. It was soft, tender, and sorrowful. Slowly, she opened her eyes. They had turned red from irritation as she cried. The world around her was in a blurred daze as the tears ate away at her vision.

Sniffling, she tried to calm herself down, "Not be upset over you? Darcy, that's impossible and you know that. It hurts to see you like this... to know you feel like this..." She gathered herself enough to look up at him without crying. Though she kept her head pressed against hist chest. Feeling his warmth and his breathing, monitoring his condition. "I just want to know why you keep hiding it... And what is happening to you. Why do you seem like you're in so much pain? Aren't you happy here...? And with Herla and the others?"

His body jerked beneath her light weight. A firm movement caused her to lean away from him. It was not only her body's natural first reaction to the sudden twitch, but it possibly was a rightful response for the situation. Darcy had not fully resisted her wishes of knowing more, but she knew he was not one to speak freely of them. Perhaps she was asking too much from the wounded stag by leading him down the grim path he longed to stray away from. His stare was to the side, gazing out into the Forest that now was growing dark as the sun slipped beneath the horizon.

The shadows of the trees sprawled out onto the Forest floor coating it with a thick blanket of blackness. It engulfed them. All around the pair the night had risen from its daily slumber and took over the sky, but the night could be beautiful. High above the stars twinkled like thousands of diamonds sparkling in light. The moon cast an eerie, yet soothing, glow onto the quiet woods below and in the distance bright fireflies danced around the blooming flowers. However, the Forest was not like the normal world; night did not occur on a schedule. Instead it appeared when the Gods called upon. So why did they seek the night now? She gazed out upon the newly born evening; strangely, it brought her comfort for even in the darkest of times the moon still glowed and the fireflies' lights still burned passionately. Perhaps the night was a sign from the Gods that hope can still strongly exist even when things in life look their worst.

Kumiko remained at Darcy's side listening to him but only her side touched him. A faint enough feeling to remind him that she was still there, but she kept distance for she feared she may have upset him. I thought I could...deal with it alone... Her heart sank at the sentence. I didn't want to drag anyone else into it but...I did anyways...but it's just the dark side of the moon...

"The moon is still beautiful, even if half of it is dark..." Her eyes were fixed on the moon above them. Through the tree tops, she could see its face glimmering on the dark blue canvas of the night sky. It was such a mysterious, yet lovely, sight. It twinkled back in her eyes giving them a ghostly appearance. The florescent colored paint upon her antlers stood out more than every; the twilight colors in her pelt seemed to shimmer in the soft glow, complimenting the night. Her ears were still pulled back against her head as she continued to speak softly, "Please, do not ever forget that. Even now, the moon right up there has a dark side to it but we never see it. Not because the moon hides it from us or because we don't care that it is there, but because it is not what is important. What is important is the beautiful face it has. Or in your case... the handsome one."

She turned to face with a faint smile. Though it faded as quickly as it appeared as the seriousness - yet tenderness - returned to her voice, "I'm... I'm sorry if all of this made you uncomfortable... I never meant to... to put you in a position you were not comfortable with. Please know that you can leave whenever you want and I understand if you don't want me around for awhile. I never should have asked...Just know that you are not alone. You never were, Darcy...Even when away I still.... I still looked out for you... I still kept an eye on you and hoped you were okay... "

That word. Never. It struck a cord within her heart. How could she speak of an unconditional loyalty when she had vanished without a trace, more than once on him. It was something she still regretted but she was determined to make her mistakes right.

"And you didn't drag anyone down with you. What they felt and what they did was not your fault... We all choose to go down with you because that's what you do when you care about someone. You follow them to hell and back. So don't you dare blame yourself." Her lower lip shook with anticipation and adrenaline. It was not her nature to be so straight and blunt but she could not bear to hold back. She had always felt so insignificant in Darcy's life; so useless in his times of need. She wanted to do something to help and even at the risk of saying the wrong thing, she was going to speak her mind.

The doe's glassy eyes widened at the sudden pressure upon her delicate frame. His muscular body weighted heavily against her, causing her to tip to the side a bit without properly bracing herself. As he buried his head in the nape of her neck, Kumiko stretched out her front and hind leg on the opposite side of her body. Her hooves dug into the soft earth providing an anchor as she regained her balance, keeping them both from falling completely over.

Through her fur she could feel his warmth pulsating through his veins. Between his sharp gasps from their conversation, it was difficult to tell if his breaths were becoming steady. Darcy shifted his weight more, closing the gap that she had created to separate them. Since their meeting, she had always felt a need to keep distance between them. The last time she allowed another to get close to her, it destroyed him. Within her mind she could still see the remorseful memories of dark green and black feathers falling to the ground as a figure of a bird-like stag faded away. The incident had scarred her, making her terrified to let anyone near her heart again. She did not want to be murderous and strike down another's life. It was a lonely existence but she would willing sacrifice herself without a second thought if it meant protecting anyone she was fond of.

Darcy had always had an active life. Popularity seemed to follow him but that was of no surprise to her. He had always been a charmingly delightful stag to near. Despite his occasional temper, the monarch pelt always was a fitting look for him. So lively and as awe inspiring as the flocks of butterflies that feed the flowers. A heart as warm as the golden glow of his orange fur... She had always seen herself as an "outsider" of the group. The silence guardian who stood on the outer circle looking in, waiting for a moment that the world collapsed in order to jump into the middle of the chaos to help sort out the madness. Never asking for praise or a reward for she never felt she deserved one.

The distance she had kept between them was never out of spite, but out of fear. She never wanted to interfere with his life or risk causing it to crash down just as she had with Reetno's so long ago... But she had always wanted to be nearer. After all, he was among the first of the deer in the Forest she befriended and the only one to remain who still seemed to smile at the sight of her face.

A faint smile began to rise upon her trembling lips. Had he wanted her to be near all along...? Her smile grew as she rested her chin upon him, gently caressing his forehead as her shock faded enough for her to speak with tears gathering at the corner of her cracked eyes, "You're a goof, Darcy...You know that? I don't care if you're crazy. I'd join you in the loony bin and we could dance the days away because everyone would have already accepted our insanity."

Closing her eyes, she drew herself closer to him. Trying her best to comfort the stag as the seriousness returned to her voice, shaking with deep emotions running through her, "I told you... You silly stag, you... It's not your fault that I felt that way. It's a feeling I let over take me because I thought... I thought you had believed I turned my back on you...I'm fine. Really I am. As long as you are... And will be."

You don't have to run. I'm sorry you saw that before...we were protecting her grave. Her family looks over where she rests. Her father will let nothing happen.

Her ears flattened as she looked up at the taller doe; she knew she had only had the best intentions. I understand your concern.. and I'm honored for it, too. We were protecting the grave.. believe me, when Walter decided to sit on it, it enraged my mate and I both. This stag not only killed this child, but also made an attempt in the past to defile this grave. Wesker wanted him nowhere around it. It's simply sad the battle ended up where it did. She looked away for a moment, a sharp sigh escaping from her muzzle. I was surprised at the amount of deer that had been around..perhaps everything wouldn't have been as disturbed. Rest assured Hoshiko is alright, no harm has come to her.. and we are watching over her right now, just as I know she must be watching over us. She forced a smile, then looked at the doe's wounds, wincing. If you can find some moss, it will drain out much of the dirt and possible-occuring infection if you place it on your wounds.. you'll have a much cleaner heal. I hope you heal well.. and thank you for visiting my daughter, as I have seen you do. You must see spirits..

[Ack...sorry for being dense earlier, I didn't realize she was injured ._. D was just trying to cheer her up. He kind of thought it had something to do with that whole thing though. Ah well...sorry about that!]


He could feel her hesitate as he drew closer...but only a little. She seemed more uncertain than anything as she leaned back against him, then finally he felt her melt against his embrace. He wondered what was going on in that head of hers...perhaps one day he was ask. In truth? The stag was growing tired. His earlier outburst coupled with the strain of the toxins he'd ingested had worked well to completely exhaust him.

It didn't help that night had settled.

The coo of nocturnal birds and the chirps and hums of insects were lulling. Fireflies drifted by them, lazily flashing their colors. He watched them through the tufts of her fur as he settled, breathing in her scent with every careful breath. The stag closed his eyes at her caress and his body shook against hers he chuckled.
“I am a lot of things, Kumiko,” he mused playfully when she called him a 'goof', then allowed his freed brow to cock in amusement as she continued. The light-hearted turn of the conversation didn't last as long as he'd hoped, however. Her words grew serious again... His smile faded. Darcy opened his eyes and narrowed them as he strained to look at her – though the angle of their positions made it impossible.
“Well what do you believe now?” he questioned uncertainly, gently pulling his head from her neck to turn and actually look at her. His eyes were tired and worried. He still wasn't sure she really got what he was saying. He didn't want her to be fine as long as he was... that was completely opposite of his point! ...But he said nothing of his feelings on that. There was no need to start an argument...they were both drained.