Death.. death was never pleasant. Never to her. She looked to the ground. "Can't you... just come back? Forget all of that?"

She laughed a little at the mention of kings."My father would never do that to his people.Ruler........possibly he does govern our people but he has worked for his spot,and has earned the respect of our people.
My father was not for me becoming a warrior he would rather have me where he could protect me.But like my mother he knows I am headstong.
My people are more than one clan or tribe I have my father's people and my mother's."she sighed do you wish to know about them she questioned.

Kaoori was grateful for her friend's touch, but her ears drooped further. She did not like to think of losing her friend forever. She had lost many, and it had always hurt her deeply every time.

"I will miss you, if you are gone forever."

Kaoori smiled sadly. "I could never forget you. I will always remember you, no matter what." She curled up beside her friend, hoping he will not leave, at least not for a while. "I will always be ready to tell the tale of my friend Queze, and how he was one of the greatest stags of the forest."

At the question, her ears drooped again. "I went to get away from here.. for fresh air. My mate and I came across my real parents. They are true deer. My father has a herd in the mountains, and he drove me away because of the color of my pelt, it attracted predators, and he thought it was some sort of disease, abomination.
.. I tried to speak with him, but he wanted nothing of it. In the end what could have been a friendly reunion ended in bloodshed. It will be some time before my father is in fighting shape again."

And you.. do you blend in in your world? Do your scales here, would they fit you there, if you wore them?

You.. what? She tilted her head, looking at him. Do you change into some other animal?


( xD)

Kaoori simply blinked, trying to understand it all. "Two legs... you.. you're not a deer? You.. are you like.. one of those that lived here before the deer?" A few other deer had told her of them, and a couple of them had been those themselves at one point in their lives. What was the word? Hu- hum-...

( aww.. xDD she'll still love him the same xD I love Queze.. he's always been one of my favorites. )

Her mind struggled to absorb all of this as she looked up intently at her friend. Finally, she asked in in all seriousness, "Are you going to eat me?"

(aww, but so are you, Tera. ^^ )

(and then she had a nosebleed. /brick'd)

Kaoori scrambled to her feet as Queze's height doubled, her little shika rear floofing out in alarm. She stood tensely, waiting for her instinct to run to calm. Then, ears pricked forward, she craned her neck out, sniffing his hand, looking up at his new face. The face unfamilar, but still held the eyes of the friend she knew.

Kaoori relaxed as Queze's familar scent filled her muzzle. It was him.. and yet not. But there was all kinds of magic here, her father had showed her that when she was very young. Wasn't this similar? She watched the hands with interest, and noted, as the hand touched her muzzle, how it could be useful in a scratch of a mosquito bite. She smiled up at him.

"I am not scared. You are still Queze."

Kaoori sat beside him again, folding her legs underneath herself. She sat just as close to him as she would have had he been in deer form.
"I will not tell anyone. It is not mine to tell."
She was honored he trusted her with this secret.

(ff I need to draw these two now. ;_; )

She wasn't in the mood to go anywhere else, it had been a long time since she had been able to have moments like these with her longtime friend. She lay her head on the grass, the tip of her muzzle covering the end of Queze's tail. As her eyes closed, she dreamt of earlier days in the forest with her treasured friend.

(should we leave them here for now? ^^)

(then he'd hear quite the little squeak xDD)

(that would be a funny picture, actually. Queze rolling over and suddenly all you see is floof and a muffled squeak xD)

{hai~}

===

<sub>He does not enter the forest in the form of a deer. He never has, because in the end, that is not what he is.

A dandelion opens, as if in fast-forward, the golden petals fall away as it closes, re-opens a ball of white, save for the topmost seed, which is a deep red.
The wind plucks the seeds from their places, the red one settling a few feet away.

Another Dandelion grows, large, sometimes the gods place dandelions like this.
It shoots upwards, opens, and yet there is no sunny flower, but a mass of red fluff which slowly uncurls, stepping upon an upwardly curled dandelion leaf, which slowly bends down, a jade slide, which he steps down from slowly.

An almost canine-like head rises, feathers twitching as the creature inhales.
He shifts sizes for a moment, as if deciding what he wants to look like that day, eventually deciding on something between an irish elk and a moose in height.

Shaking himself off, he turns his head once more, eyes of white scanning the forest.

The dandelions have since died and wilted away.

He moves silently, on triple-cloven hooves and long bony-fingered hands, the scent of autumn leaves and musk follows him.

Eventually he stills once more, feathery ears flashing, up and down.
He is listening for signs of life.</sub>

{It's fine~}

His head snaps to the side, clouded white eyes surveying the trees, not unlike a hunting falcon's.
He makes his way towards the sound, and while his strides are slow, his limbs are long enough to keep his pace quick. And he stops a polite distance away, silver tongue rolling from his mouth and over his lips.

His head dips slightly in something that could pass as a bow, well, maybe a polite nod at most.
The feathers at the creature's shoulders twitch, they can raise and lower like those on his head, but unlike proper wings, they do not bend to the sides.

_"Hello" his voice is strange, as if there are a few talking at once, not exactly masculine or feminine. Though, maybe, maybe, just a bit more 'male' than 'female'.

He's observing, every feather, every scale, the movement of muscles under skin, how they slide, how the sinew pulls, how the bones work.

_{"I don't believe I've glimpsed you either"} he blinks slowly, long lashed eyes that give the illusion of coal coloured markings.

_{"My name is Mr.Sanguine"} it isn't entirely a lie, it is his last name after all.

The feathers around his neck ruffle slightly in the light breeze, and for a moment his eyes close in sedated joy at the feeling, he's been asleep for a while, he missed this.

The creature raises one of the hands in question, white claws growing, taking over until a hand is entirely long fingered bone, then shrinking, more fingers splitting off, human like, before twisting, flesh bubbling back to normal.

_{"I created them. Just like I created the rest of this body"} he says simply, and it's true, the body is no more than a representation of a flower growing somewhere far away from this forest.

The hand lowers back to the earth slowly. _{"Mr.Sanguine, yes. Red is the colour of kings, red is the colour of blood"} his lips curl upwards in a small smile, hard to read.