Long ago, the forest was simply trees.
The deer played among the falling leaves and swaying grass. There was nothing within the forest, for the world need not exist outside of its greenery.
There was the trees, and a world beyond was unthinkable.
In the middle of the forest, where its bounties were thick, the poppies and dandelions grew around a massive oak. The tree rose like a beacon, calling to the deer to take shelter from the rain among his hollow belly. While he whispered softly to them with the voices of the spirits of the forest.
The goddess looked upon the forest, and the deer. She wept, for the deer knew not of the lovely sound of water. Of the trickling of a stream upon the stone.
She stood upon a hill within the forest, and her tears brought forth a stream. Within its waters, dragonflies sprung to live and willows grew with whispering fronds that tickled the water's surface.
Now the goddess wept, but wept in joy as the deer she once pitied frolicked within her waters.
The stream turned into a pond, and the forest's deer swelled with pride.
As the stream widened, a bridge connected its banks, and the deer found the stones to be warm and cool all at once. They napped upon the stones.
New deer, visitors from another forest began to frolic within the forest's endlessness. These deer carried the mark of the god. hey frolicked and played and while they rested, the native deer played around them, enjoying the bounty of the stream and pond that came from the goddess' happy weeping.
Soon, the world expanded, a dark, mysterious standing of stone rose from the soil, exposed as trees fell around it. The ruins of what might have been another being within the forest. A new deer came to this place, bringing with it the spirits of others. New stones rose to follow the deer, and the forest deer danced in glee.
The god and goddess stood upon the tallest hill.

It's been a while since I saw my beloved forest.
There's always this moment of fear before I know there are other deer out there, lowing and calling sleeping and playing among the grass.
I feel a little old and silly sometimes. Especially since I've never been much of a code user.
I've changed computers, and my lovely blue/grey coat, mini body, beluga mask, and antelope horns are gone.
But each time I see new pictos in the forest I giggle.
I remember when there were so many of my picto, and I smile, seeing deer in the ruins, at the statues. I see them sleeping in the patches of sunlight and by the pond.
I hear that old rattling call of a skeleton deer and seek out the candle-covered antlers of its owner.
I'm so glad this forest is continuing to live on and thrive.

I never was a major player in the community. I've stayed to the side even when I first began playing. I ran through the forest to my heart's content, and watched it grow, then watched more and more deer come into it, and I've stayed off to the side, out of the way.
But to this day I get thrilled when I see glimpses of the forest.
Scrolling through tumblr, I saw a picture someone had made of a deer with peacock feathers around it's neck, and a skull head. The comments under it were full of adoration for the creativity and beauty of the piece and I smiled because I knew it was a piece of art from one of you out there.
I've seen pieces of the forest scattered like petals throughout the internet. People who don't realize or know what it is think it's just an image or a story, a picture of some oddly-made deer.
I know each time, and it thrills me, knowing the community remains, that players remain.
That the forest is truly endless as long as we're still here.

I've noticed a lot of people with the same picto as I have lately. It's so weird to be snoozing, hear a moo and look up only to see your own picto on three other deer go running past.
Not entirely unpleasant, but very surprising.
I've been around for over four years, asryakino being my only other account. Rya here is my main play account, but it's been so long since I posted anything I doubt many people remember me.
Every chance I get I romp around the forest, usually casting changing spells on others, One of these days I'll have my normal pelt/mask/horn set back on me *laughs* But for now, I'm running around as a mini deer, lowing at others and transforming them with a few spells. So if you see my pictogram around, it might be me, or it might be one of the five others *laughs* You'll never know.

Rya was napping in one of her favorite places, the top of a hill within a delightful ring of tasty mushrooms.
She slept so soundly that she never noticed the mischievous little pixies that danced in the ring. Oh the little creatures were devious and frolicked around her while she slept do soundly. They pranced and laughed weaving their spells around her all through the night. then, just as quickly as they had come, the little pixies disappeared into the forest again to dance and play in other rings.
As the rays of the dappled sunlight struck Rya she awoke and stretched as she always did, yawning long and widely. She stretched her front legs out, eyes squeezed shut as she yawned, then stretched her back legs. As the last of the blurry sleep left her eyes she squeaked in surprise! the mushrooms and grass around her were HUGE! She'd shrunk in her sleep!
Rya called out, trying to use her deep moo to signal for help with this catastrophe. All that left her neck was a wee squeak. Rya began running in circles in a panic. She noticed her strides were much longer than she remembered and as she looked at herself she realized what had happened. Sometime in the night, she had been changed into a rabbit!
Filled with a new power she didn't quite remember having before, she began getting used to the much different perspective. This would take a lot to get used to. She got used to the odd strides she now had with her too-long back legs and quickly began running around in circles and waltzing in eight shapes. This may just be alright. Hopefully it wasn't permanent, but even if it was, maybe Rya could get used to this.
Rya ran around the forest, finding other deer and greeting them. A few of the deer she met up with were very regal and polite, letting her run around and play with them. Others would look so shocked. then they would snicker at her for being turned into a rabbit. She could understand it, it -was- a very odd situation.

I was so afraid that the forest was going the high way. With all the pressure and the new games coming out, I was terrified my little piece of serenity and peace were going to be shut down. With the new fountain I'm -really- happy. It proves that TEF isn't going away. Which makes me thrilled to death. I LOVE the new pictos running around, and the drinking place is so cute.
I saw a few familiar pictos (namely Michael's) several times and was reminesing about my first time in the forest, when there was nothing but trees.
The game's come so far! With magic and deer, and fawns, and so many other wonderful things. It makes me want to squeal with joy every time I see a new picto. And it makes me want to squeal louder when I see old pictos I know from romping around the forest.
Hope to see everyone in the forest again soon.

The title explains it all, this is just a post for the gallery of images I've taken from last halloween time and a few other times throughout the year. These aren't recent, but Rya's only gone back to being a mini-deer... short is good for her. It's closer to the dandelions.
http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j84/AsryaKino/endless%20forest/?start=all
If you'd like to look around, feel free, if not it's alright as well. But there it is.

I know it's a long shot for anyone to know who I am at this point. I haven't been around much at all on the blog site. I'm one of the oldies though, weather people really remember me or not is a different story.
I remember playing the game before there was much in the forest beyond a hill and a creek with a bridge that had a deer always asleep on it. And always the same deer.
I used to run around and this odd deer would show up randomly and play with me. It took me a year or so to realize there was a forum and realize there was a human controlling that deer and it was Michael.
I can be a bit slow on the uptake.
I used to be active on the forums, actually, but not so much in the past year or so.
I'm back now though. Hopefully for good.
I can say the forest isn't recognizable anymore. It's always got deer running around in it. A far cry from when I began playing and thought the only deer there were in the forest were NPCs that were asleep.

I'd like to introduce Rya though. She's an old deer with a young hart. (yay puns) A doe who enjoys the simple things like running and jumping and playing with the fawns. She doesn't remember being a fawn herself, but she has decided she likes the little sprouts. When she's running around her coat is most often red, though under the tears of the river god, her coat is often more muted, unless one of the sprouts has changed it while she napped again. Her antlers are more often then not of the graceful sort that flow behind her head, though she enjoys her flowers and candles when she's feeling a bit prettier than she usually does.