I have mini-entries for Seed, and decided that I should do so for Hyacinth, as well. She needs more spotlight, and I'm not good at screenie edits, which is the other way to capture her thought process. But, of course, she's very different from Seed and my other deer, in that she doesn't have an internal monologue so much as a string of images and feelings -- so, in third person, I'll be doing little stories like these to tell about her days. I'm still experimenting, so give me your honest opinions!

7-10-10
She tries on new antlers with help – one deer she has not met, one deer she has, Mister Virgil. The magpie feathers catch the light and glimmer like stormclouds, and they make her smile. She wears them, knowing that she can be recognized as a doe better now. Misako and Mister Virgil sat together very close, in a fuzzy pile. Hyacinth wanted to sit close like that, but didn’t know if it was OK. She eventually decided it was, and sat close to Mister Virgil. The rain was cold and she was warm inside. She slept once, and dreamed of a field of flowers. The flowered burned, the red heads of the blossoms turning into red heads of flame. The smoke smelled like his lab. She trembled with fear until after she woke up and realized where she was. They all ran around in the rain, and Hyacinth put her flowers back on, even as the rain pulled the color from them. When she decided it was time to go, she wasn’t sure if she should nuzzle Mister Virgil and Misako or if it would be rude. She decided she should. Misako, the deer she had not met before, nodded and nuzzled her back. Hyacinth dreamt of warmth as she went to sleep.

There probably will be more...

[=#006400]
I awoke, nude as the sky, in the pouring rain. The world was different: I felt it, the pure, raw, and absolute newness of it rubbing against face. It was like waking for the first time, and everything before it was just a strange dream -- like the world hadn't existed before then, and this was some new thing. I never knew it was possible, for something that has been there my whole life to suddenly not been there before; but I swear the forest is a little different now.

I had unusually good luck recovering my set this morning -- as if the universe were electing to help me along. Of course, as soon as I was done getting my set, I met a deer lacking her set. I aided her with the masks, which, unlike for me, was a painfully slow task. Mask after mask, she tried on in the rain. She eventually found the right one, and I admit, I considered leaving her to her buisness, right then and there. There was so much I wanted to do in the rain today... But then I thought about this stranger: If I left now, I would have helped a stranger, no more, no less. But if I followed, I could learn more about this person. I could maybe find the friend in this stranger, which would be find enough use of my time. I promised I would help until we were done. My nephew Aleit appeared the moment I made that promise, so I decided to make a detour to greet him. To my – not my surprise, exactly, but certainly to my pleasure – he elected to come with me and help. The work went much faster that way, but after we were done, she sort of…bounded off, and didn’t seem to care if we followed or not.

Aleit in tow, I decided to go celebrate the rain. And how to celebrate, but by finding the place where water strikes water, and the sound melts into itself. By which, I mean, we ran out onto the lake water, turning our hooves into raindrops that spread ripples across the surface, distorting the already distorted image of the stormy sky.

Sometimes, I'll have a fragment of a diary for Seed, not long or involved enough to really qualify for their own blog, but still a good snapshot of Seed's mind. I used to always delete them, basically. So, rather than give each their own blogs, or delete them, I'm going to put them all in one place. Big entries will still be on their own, though. I'm not sure what makes one one or the other the other, but I'll do whatever amuses me. I may create versions of these for other deer of mine.

7-7-10
[=#006400] I practiced some ninjitsu with Kinsha today; I am not a good ninja, though -- my antlers are too big to hide efficiently. I suppose that's why he wears the sleeker butterfly set. Even though my antlers weren't prepared, birds kept swarming on the tops of my antlers, giving my location in the rocks away.
I had a better time when I came back and found Quad and Kinsha among the blueberries. We danced and chatted and sat a while -- I'm not really sure anymore what on earth we were talking about; I think the blueberries had something to do with how the conversation whirled and whizzed and banged, exploding like tiny fireworks above our heads. I was a much better ninja among the blueberries, the green of my pelt and the leaves sliding together, the texture of scales lost among the texture of glossy leaves, the purple flowers not alarming among the blue, bulbous clusters of berries. Saosin came and joined in, too, as we sat.
I may have gotten a little tipsy -- the fermented ones are mixed in with the sweet ones, so their flavors become indistingushable, bitter and sweet, like honey wine...Like the dreams we feed to gods, in their halls that exist in the aether, that thing that once filled the heavens and gave it full of space and breath... Heh. Yes, I'm most definately a little tipsy.

[=#006400] Had I known that that rainy day was to be Poltergeist's last, I... Well, I wouldn't have done anything different -- I couldn't have, as a matter of fact. I didn't know her well enough for anything I could have done to have really meant something, or to know the signs I saw. I'd have liked to have known her better, but there are so many deer that is true for -- I don't think I could know as many as I'd want, as well as I'd like, and retain sanity.

I wish she had seen today, though -- the forest is at its loveliest. Maybe she is. The Gods had paid a visit tonight -- the world was cool and dark, bathed in a glow the color of wine or the darkest roses, casting white words purple and making my scales contrast in the dim light. And Mushrooms...It's not the best transformation for trees, but I think the change is good. The mushrooms are so sweet, but the smell in the air around them is so musky and warm. The spores fall off them, shining like the silver scales of a wild fish, drifting hazily through the air in the moonlight.
I found Saosin and Ravyn playing atop a mushroom, and decided to join them -- we danced, in, on top of, and around it, enjoying it from all sides. From the top, a red clay field, dotted with snow, and yet soft to the hoof -- as if, in the land of red clay, the ground had already melted from frost when the final snow of the year had arrived. From below, it was the delicate gills of some amphibian onto land, or the folded-up lungs of a crab, taking air from water, transmuting death to life. From the side, a playful parasol, the fantasy center of a deer merry-go-round. Eventually, though, I knew I had to see the fireflies. I bowed to Saosin and Ravynn, motioned for them to come if they liked, and went to my favorite flowerpatch.

For a moment, I was alone there -- just them and I. They sparkled and twirled around each other like tiny dancers.

[=#006400]
The rainy air has its own smell; it has a little rot in it, and a little bit of the promise of new growth. It smells like the bottom of ponds and, I think, of mystery. Today the rain smelled like cool northern lands, and of distant icy seas.

Today, also, it smelled like I wasn't going to be doing much. I wandered around, exchanged gifts of flowers with a stranger, watched two deer give each other spells and turn into crows, sat with a crow-deer, and wandered over to the Oak, where I sat and watched the rain for a while. Eventually, a few others joined me under the great cavern of the oak, who told me little dreams about the rain.

The rain, she told me, is the tears of a crying idol so big that no deer can make sense of it, and so they call it the sky -- we're all inside her, and her tears drip down over all of us on a day like today. The rain is music the gods are playing on the instrument of the world, shaking the water and making a gentle sound where it strikes the ground. The rain, she told me, is the often unseen sky reminding us that it exists. I may have elaborated, here and there, but that's what she said, at the heart of matters.
Eventually, I noticed the sound of Virgil -- the distinctive fall of his hooves, the little humm made from the light of his name, and so I went to see him. He was sitting with some company. Poltergeist was breathing heavily – I think her baby was finally on its way, lured out by the smell of rain. I know we know little of each other, but I was glad to be able to offer whatever feeble support I could as she shifted restlessly in the rain – eventually Virgil left Poltergeist, Trees, and I in the rain, which pittered down around us, until we all eventually fell asleep.

When I woke up, Saosin was next to me. He gave my rain-soaked back a nice rub, the ridged sound of bone on scale not unlike the sound of rain on hard treebark above us.

...To the Wedding of Seed and Nevilly.

Where? The Great Oak, moving to the Lake for the afterparty

When? 11:00 AM, American Central Time, on Tuesday, June 15th. Find out when that is where you are. This may be subject to change.

What? A wedding, and then a party that goes on until we all get sick of it!

Now, we still are missing a few things -- for example, someone to conduct the ceremony (I messaged Tera about getting Queze to do it, but my message may not have been recieved), and of course, loads and loads of guests ^^ Not to mention a nice invitation, but that'll wait.

RSVP!

I'm on vacation until the 12th -- in beautiful Oregon. I love it there; it's my second-favorite vacation spot.

I'll probably be imagining how my characters spend their day, so I'll try and draw some, and keep this updated with how Seed would spend this vacation... because I'm a geek like that.

If there are any important posts/events that I should be in the loop about, tell me, K?

They had met for the day only just then – but at the same time, each in their own world, they had chased after one another until that point – where at last, Nevilly realized he had been standing there all the while. They settled down next to one another.

Seed shook his head and chuckled. “Well, that was an interesting way to start the day. “

““Hnngh, sorry if I'm acting a bit weird. I'm just tired, that's all,” Nevilly said as she leaned against him.

“I've seen odder things happen. But...seeing you there, not noticing me, not responding to me...seeing a path you could take where I wasn't in it...Made me certain of something I've been thinking over.”

“I guess I've lately just become a bit numb to things around me. This will pass when I can finally relax and just do nothing.” She glanced up and saw the expression on his face – it was an omen difficult to read, like a cloud that could bring shade or rain. “Hmm? What have you been thinking, then?”

“Well, what I realized was...I don't ever want to go down that path. I couldn't bear to live in a world where I didn't see your eyes lighting up like the summer sky on a sunny day, a world where whatever meager offerings of pretty words I have wouldn't still manage to make you smile, a world where I could think of my life..and not have you in it.” Like always, when the words took control of his mouth, the trouble on his brow melted away, and his mouth shaped the words with a faint smile. “I don't think I can ever love anyone again, after you... and I want your life to be my life, your joy my joy, your pain my pain.” He paused and let the furrow return to its place on his forhead, let the weight of what he was saying – what he was about to say – take over for him.

I've decided, after some pondering, to post my text-based Let's Play of Moemon Leafgreen both here and on the Giant in the Playground Forums, where it can be found here. Moemon, for those who do not know, is a hack of Pokemon (in this case, Leafgreen) in which the pokemon appear as cute little anime people (mostly girls) in costume.

Now, to spice things up, I'd be playing with a few variations of "Hard Mode" rules. Enough to make it challenging without it being annoying.
#1: When a pokemon faints, It will be released -- that's it. Even my starter. If the pokemon faints, it's game over, stick a fork in them, they're done.
#2: I will only catch one pokemon per area (in normal Hard Mode rules, this would be the first pokemon, but I want what I want. Unlike normal hard mode, gift pokemon do not count.) This pokemon will be decided by votes both here and on the Giant in the Playground forums.
#3: Oh, and no legendaries. Because I agree that seems fair.

[center]Chapter 1: The Psyche of a Pokemon Trainer



"Uh....Yeah, Professor, we already met. I've lived next door to you for my entire life."
Oak:Welcome to the world of Pokemon!
"...Oh. I must be dreaming. Who says anything like that, anyway?"
Oak: My name is Oak! People affectionately refer to me as the Pokemon Professor!
"And? This is my dream! I want a half-naked russian ballroom dancer glistening with oil...I guess I have to go find him."
Oak: Wait a second! Don't you think this dream will have significance in your life, given you'll be starting your own pokemon journey tomorow? Don't you want to see what your psyche holds?
"...My psyche holds my elderly neighbor giving me a lecture?"
Oak: [B]Let me continue.

The Index
Chapter 6: In Which Community Aid Is Called For

Seed's Story, Chapter 7: In Which The Story Concludes

Seed listened. As he wandered through the trees, he saw things, flickering at the edge of his vision – a heart hanging from a tree branch, hoofprints in the invisible ground. And voices – not the voices of the trees, but whispers that were carried on a substance sweeter and finer than air.

“You were the joyful reason…” “From a seed to a tree; a fawn to a stag..” “And now I dun' have mom and dad, I need you,” they whispered, they entreated, trickling in at first like a light summer shower.

He turned away from the trees he was looking at and went to look over another section. But something in this riddle wasn’t right.

“…and I hope to know you well enough one day to call you a friend.” "Where are you, Seed?" “I can't even imagine a forest without him." “He creates life as if he was a god himself! Not real life, I mean.. it's in my mind.” These trees, thin and dull, the flowers mere flowers, the bark mere bark – it kept out the rain and insects. It didn’t shield friends or hide a heart. He looked away – he had an idea…

“Seed eyes see lots what others can’t,” the voices said. They felt like strong touches, like a pressing wind that guided him down a single path. “I k-k-know you as a w-wonderfull p-poet, a t-t-talented stag.." [=#458B00] “Oh but only a day ago we had relished in one anothers company.