I meant to start doing this the other day – I've wanted to start keeping a diary of my days in the forest for so long! Well, no more putting it off; Hestia certainly wouldn't approve, as she's the sort of deer who never breaks a promise, to herself or to anyone else.

I'm not really sure how to go about recording this stuff... should I write it from the perspective of my deer, or my perspective? I think for authenticity's sake, I'll write it from my perspective. Not sure if anyone will actually want to read this, but having something to look back on myself is what's important to me.

If anyone does read... well, thank you! I hope you enjoy!

Date: June 14th 2015
Very late evening.
Time spent in the forest: Just over an hour, I think.

Hestia woke up in a patch of beautiful blue flowers. I honestly had forgotten that I'd left her there last time – she must have been having some beautiful, fragrant dreams while I was gone. It certainly cheered me up for such lovely blue blossoms to be the first thing that greeted me as Hestia got to her feet and stretched out her sleep-stiffened limbs.

A short walk, and we soon ran into a little fawn, all by itself with only some sitting deer nearby. If it was trying to play with them, it wasn't getting much response, so I made sure to be very friendly to show it, hey, I'm happy to play with you! We skipped off together and roamed the forest for a while, but I got the feeling that having an old fogey like me as a playmate wasn't the best thing in the world for this poor little fawn. Hestia is very motherly and loves fawns, but she's just not hip with the kids, you know? So when we ran into another fawn it was no surprise that the two of them quickly outstripped her and went to go have their own adventures together. Hestia didn't mind at all – that's what it means to be a fawn! And of course, every good mother knows when to let her charges go and learn and live by themselves.

There didn't seem to be anyone much around, so I ended up switching to Minerva, who is my new character and still a fawn at this point in time, to see if I could insert her into their group and have a little fawny fun, too. But then, who should appear before me but a familiar pair of antlers, pelt and pictogram? It was Mark – the deer I met yesterday! I couldn't believe my eyes. He was just as friendly as before, warmly greeting my little fawn, and in my excitement I changed back to Hestia as quickly as I could. “It's me!!”

I think he knew me at once, because he seemed overjoyed, and we immediately started nuzzling and prancing and dancing about like best friends. It's been such a rare thing for me to meet and play with anyone twice, I was incredibly excited. We were conveniently down by the lake, so I ran up the hill towards the statues and jumped... and jumped... and jumped and jumped and jumped, to show him that I can fly now because he showed me how! Hestia soared through the air overhead (looking just a little ungainly, I must admit – she's not quite got the hang of it yet), and I think Mark knew I was trying to show this off for his benefit, because he seemed excited and did his trick of getting up in the tree again. Definitely haven't mastered that one yet! Anyway, we had a dance party – Mark and Hestia style, with him floating twenty feet off the ground and Hestia still on terra firma. Which is probably where she belongs, really. (I thought I got a screenshot of this but my screenshots don't seem to be saving properly on this computer... oh well!)

We went up onto the twin gods' hill and played around on there for a while. A few other deer, including the little fawns from earlier, also came around and played with us a bit. But mostly Mark and I had a pelt-changing fight thanks to a sleepy deer in front of the idols. He started it! Or maybe I started it, seeing as I blessed him with the white pelt before that... hmmm...

Then we went running off deeper into the woods, ending up by the magical fountain. I kind of like being a squirrel and hate being a bat – unfortunately I got two bats and no squirrels. Boo! I also turned into a very clumsy crow a couple of times. That poor thing limped more than me with my badly sprained knee in real life. Mark and I also took a few minutes to puzzle at an overlarge, squashy-looking, pale pink bunny rabbit... my one though was, has this thing always been here?! I'd never seen it before! How could I have not noticed something so big and fluffy?!

A bit deeper into the forest, and we both sat down for a rest. It was nice to just chill and take in the forest for a while. Mark fell asleep, and I decided to use this to my advantage. I had Hestia get up and sit down a few times, transforming his pelt each time. It took three tries, and suddenly he became a koi carp-deer. This satisfied me. ;] Hestia then spent the rest of her time leapfrogging over his sleeping body until he got up – these deer can sleep through anything!

Thankfully he took the joke really well, rolling around laughing at what Hestia had gotten up to while he'd been asleep. The bright fish look suits you, darling! Unfortunately it was getting late, so only a few minutes later, it was time for me to go. I left quite abruptly last time, so this time I tried to give him a little more warning, bowing profusely and trying to communicate how pleased I was to have seen him. I wonder if I managed to get the message across?

It's extremely late now - I really wanted to write this all down before I go to bed and forget, though. Hopefully I can keep this up every time I have a chance to play!

See you all in the forest... I hope! :]