Early morning brought a shroud of peace over the forest.
It was too early for even the birds to be awake, and the night creatures had crept off to their dens the hour before. In this hour of silence nothing was bade stir...
...though a wisp of blue smoke seemed to drift over the landscape. Lazily it seemed to play along the wind, whirling and twisting and dipping yet moving as slow as a gentle breeze. As the wind blew over the pond, disturbing its glassy surface only briefly, the blue wisp got caught in the branches of the lone willow on its lower banks. Feeling dejected, the wisp decided it was time to stop being what it was. After all, this was a land of deer.
The smoke reshaped itself, forming some semblance of a silhouette. A loud crackling like a roaring fire began to overtake the quiet as the wisp tried to work itself in to the form of the creatures of this place.
''Now, let's try this... no... Ah! I'm all round and pink! Urh... halfway.... come on, I know you can do this... don't be afraid.'' The thoughts gave way to a loud pop, somewhat akin to a gunshot... and in the place of the wisp stood a fragile-looking creature.
The doe's body stood erect, her four hooves delicately placed atop the soft earth as her rigid form scanned the landscape with a pair of deep chocolate eyes. Coconut-brown fur was razzed by the breeze, and the white tufts of her tail were slowly but surely sent away. A pictogram that the forest knew floated over the young adult's head. Judging by the look on her face, though, Poplar did not know her forest.
The blank quiet of her stare soon gave way to a sigh as she watched a lone butterfly cross her path. Her head turned to follow it, body following that in a graceful spin, and the being was off in to her home after the little insect.
Though inadvertently, the little beast had caused a sense of joy to flood through Poplar's veins. Her pictogram and her fur flashed in the dawn sun as she cavorted about, chasing the little blue thing that reminded her so much of her time as a wisp. Her entire form seemed to smile brightly as it twisted, bounced and chased the flying flower...
... though the newly-awakening deer did not find it quite so amusing to see her hopping about like a child after this commonplace butterfly. Some even wore expressions of confusion, having heard just a day before that Poplar had been killed. A few astute beasts noted the change in the doe, wondering if she really were Poplar after all, or just a deer entering the forest with the recycled name... but chocking it up to one thing: Resurrection.
Hey, it wasn't so new an idea for this place after all.
***
The doe romped like a child still, chasing the butterfly until the insect seemed to tire of her presence. It floated away on the breeze, leaving the doe again feeling dejected, but now confused. Her new body would not re-form, so she just stared in the direction of the being as it had disappeared, her body still in a position of mid-play. And Poplar was too absorbed in watching that little patch of sky through the trees to notice a being watching her, probably disturbed from her frolic.
***
[ My apologies for such a
Crucio was not exceptionally surprised to see Poplar darting through the forest like a fawn not twenty-four hours after her death. Resurrection wasn't uncommon in the least here. If it was truly an afterlife, then to kill something that was already dead was complete and utter nonsense. Still, a small flicker of hatred well up in the Reaper's eyes as he watched her - carefree and childlike - as he wished with every ounce of his being that she had just stayed dead. Umay wouldn't be thrilled of this in the least; none of them would, in fact, but she in particular would harbor special fury for the doe should she find out. Oh, and she would, it was just a matter of time.
Grinding his teeth together, he settled down against the trunk of a tree, hidden nicely in the shadows of the canopy. He would not address her, mostly because aside from when Umay wanted a piece of her, Poplar was of no interest to him. He didn't have any desires to know her on any level - friend or enemy - and wasn't about to go storming up to her to 'demand why she was alive'. That would have been an interesting line of questioning. It was also one he didn't feel like getting into.
A soft, irritated snort in the direction of the doe and that was it. Crossing one front limb over the other in front of him, he made himself comfortable, laying his head down atop them as he watched her frolic through slits of eyes. She seemed so oblivious, so innocent. Part of him was disgusted by that. Another part of him envied her. Innocence truly was bliss.
The doe finally decided to
Slowly the doe's grazing brought her closer to the place where the skull-faced reaper lazed, though she was too oblivious to notice him. Instead she noticed the bitter sting of a dandelion on her tongue. The doe shrank back as if from an unseen enemy, spitting out the vile thing and snorting with all the grace of a lame turkey. Ears pinned, she licked her lips in a vain attempt to release the taste from her mouth. Note to self: The yellow-flowered weed was not in any way tasty.
Then, she had the unfortunate surprise of hearing a quiet noise.
Immediately she was still and erect, ears pivoting like satellite dishes until she began to hear his breathing. The feral side of the doe kicked in, nostrils flaring as she took in a scent. A reply was given in the form of a short wheeze, as the beast was unsure if she was treading on another deer's territory or not. The doe soon lowered her head, peering through the shadows to try and see the other deer near to her. The doe's white tail flicked with nervousness and curiosity against her rear. Experimentally, she stomped a hoof to see if the beast would come out of the shadows.
(Apology accepted. XD )
The narrowed eyes slowly
Then he was there; standing in front of her, minutes worth of tension stored in those muscles was unleashed and he stood towering over her. Horse-like tail was flagged with dominance, ears stood erect; details in her fur were lost in the tall, thin shadow he cast over the doe, eyes cleaving into every nook and cranny, visually dissecting her with fierce precision. There were no doubts in his mind now. This was Poplar already. An inhale drew the scent into his lungs. An exhale snorted it back out like waste in a rush of air. He took one step closer, then another; barely, he could have felt the doe's breath against the fur on his chest, should she have not fled back already.
All of his surreal features melted into those of whimsical relaxation, and, with a smile, his head tilted ever so slightly.
"Have you lost something, little doe?"
The doe couldn't have moved
Poplar fought through her feral fog, groping for words in the muddled thoughts of run and danger with much difficulty. Nostrils flared before she spoke, not faring well in a response. "I... hmh... was chasing a butterfly and it flew off... so... does that count as losing something? I- if it does not then no, I have not." With that she shook her head, lowering her tail as if unafraid. The flag still stayed bristled.
This beast she had come upon was huge. He seemed dangerous, but he also appeared to be some sort of deer. The doe cautiously gave a sniff to his fur, inhaling something like burned wood. It was somewhat unpleasant and made her think of a forest fire. Unwittingly the smaller beast began a slow circle around Crucio, investigating him. Poplar was short enough to walk beneath his belly, though she was a little scared that he might hurt her.
His ears went back and his
"I think we've met before, haven't we? Or am I thinking of another doe?" This time, he tested her. The way she investigated him was peculiar; it was as if she'd never seen him before, yet, how could anyone forget an accomplice to their murder? Something wasn't right with her. That snarky little attitude was gone. The normal glares he might have received from her were long lost somewhere in the not so distant past. Did she even know who he was?
"However yes, I would count the butterfly as losing something, or missing out on something. If it was invigorating enough to pursue then certainly it was worth having, yes?"
Poplar finished her circle,
"It was worth running after... but not because I wanted it. I much rather enjoyed the dance itself." Her smile was back after the memory, this time touching her molten chocolate eyes. The doe seemed to lose any fear and give way to relaxation. She did not remember this murderer, nor anything about him. There was no memory of his pursuit, his attack, nor her death. Poplar was as clean of mind as a young fawn, but carried the speech of a learned adult.
Her brown orbs gently took in the nooks and crannies of his skull before resting on his own icy gaze. It seems weird that many have looked at me as if they know me, but I know none of them. The thought fluttered through her head, causing it to ache a little. The world had become so confusing after she had stopped being a wisp.
[ Oh, just to clarify, the
"Oh, yes, yes.. my apologies, I'm a bit scatter-brained today. It must be someone else." Maybe it was still a little odd to him, to see the dead walking all around him, alive and well before they'd even had time to dig a proper grave. He hadn't asked Umay what she had done with the body once she was finished with it. Had she buried it, or left it to be burned out by the sun? Perhaps that was one thing he would prefer not to know.
Still, the Reaper tilted his head at the doe. Minutes of thought were mere seconds in real time, and quickly, he came to many conclusions. The first one was dismissed as quickly as it had come; she was lying. He would have known if she was lying, but those eyes glistened with the innocence of a child. It was the same look he had seen as he watched her chase her dance partner to this very spot. It was the wild abandon in her when she had tasted the dandelion - this time, for the first time - that convinced him, this doe was not a liar. Not now, anyway.
He would test her once again.
"Oh, are you new then? You may resemble a friend of mine.. ah, pardon my twenty questions but do you remember where you came from? If I've not seen you before then you must not have been around for very long." He was here often enough that new faces tended to pop up and never went unnoticed.
(
The doe cocked her head, questioning. Was she new? Where was she from? Several things she did not seem to know. Straightening her head, the doe sighed. "I guess I don't know. I mean, I have run in to so many deer that act like they know me but I don't know them. They get grumpy and walk away as if I have hurt them some way by not knowing." Then, the Coues remembered the early morning's process. "All I remember is being a wisp of blue smoke on the wind before I decided it would be more fun to be a deer and then, well, I was a deer. That was this morning. But.. I have these tiny memories of being a deer before in a different place, though I think they are made-up. I do hope that I didn't steal someone's body or something."
The doe paced back and forth for a brief moment, grieving in a way characteristic to her past-self. Oh please please tell me I didn't steal another's body... please! The pacing subsided rapidly and she shook herself off with another whistling snort. This was not polite. The doe looked again at the stag, this time seeing a little bit of something underneath his skull. Attention deficit, the doe changed the subject. "Why do you wear bones on your face? Aren't they heavy?" Well, they were bones... but what was so intriguing about wearing them like you were their original owner?
[ Rofl |D That works~ it's
(Haha I probably should too