The Fawns Were Screaming. [Story+Interaction Options]
July 31, 2015 - 5:14am — Eyerys
home × recent × map x rock hound event
The fawns were screaming.
Nobody paid much attention to them at first, because screaming is just Something Fawns Do. They scream when they're hungry; they scream when they're cold; they scream when they're not getting any attention, or too much attention. They scream for mummies and daddies and assorted other guardians; they scream at family and friends and they scream at total strangers. They scream when the wind is blowing in the wrong direction and they scream when Jupiter is in apogee.
The point is, folk tend to stop paying attention after a while. This was almost the case with Pappa Eyes, and if she'd ignored it, her day may have gone a little better than it did.
The Playground, especially, was a black hole of interest when it came to the incessent youthful cacophany. Pappa Eyes happened to be strolling by just in time to see the wave of skeletal monsters that swept over the spot - three of them, black ooze holding their bleached bones together, bare skulls emitting coloured light. Instinct bubbled up. Two thoughts in quick succession came clearly to her.
Babies were in danger.
Pappa to the rescue.
She came thundering down the hill, loam kicked up behind her as she used her momentum to haul herself onto the broad flat-top of the grounds. One of the hounds, busy trying to claw at a fawn wedged down in a crevice, didn't pay her any mind - silly thing. A massive forelimb smashed into the beast's glowing green skull, fracturing it into three pieces and abruptly interrupting its attempts. The fawn tore out of its hiding place and disappeared in a cloud of dust, headed towards the Pond.
Easily catching a whiff of the infectious stink of the ooze from this range, Pappa Eyes drew back, hissing as pain lanced up her arm. Slivers of bone glittered in her fur, cutting deep and fizzing black goo angrily into her flesh. The lifeless skeleton slumped, its skull falling partially open. Pappa saw something deep inside glitter, winking almost maliciously at her; as she watched, the black ooze welled against the fracture lines in its skull. The bones began to knit clean before her very eyes, and the rock hound slowly raised itself from the hard stone.
It took her a second to realize that she'd garnered the attention of the other two bonedogs as well; one second too slow. Yellow-eyed and quick, one slimey skeleton sprang onto her back before she could act. Claws and teeth bit deep into her thick hide, and she lunged upright, coming down heavily and shrugging the thing off hard onto the stone top with a loud crack. A swift kick sent the broken skeleton skittering off the flat top, disappearing over the edge. Lightning flashed up her leg from the bone shards embedded in her arm, and she bellowed, the anguished sound echoing across the forest as tears welled up in her pink eyes.
The third skeleton, with eerie red light streaming from its skull, attempted the same leap as the yellow, but it was simply not fast enough. It was met by Pappa's heavy tail, which sent it flying across the playground to smash against a stone. She chased this one, an idea sparking amid the panic. She battered this one as she had the green, striking once, then again. Biting back the agony tearing up her forearm, she jerked in surprise as a bright red crystal was flung from the scattered remains, skittering across the flat top and quickly turning black.
Not noticing the black goo dissipating into a fine mist, Pappa Eyes turned her head to follow the crystal's explosive path; it was the only thing that saved her from getting a faceful of teeth. The green dog, fully repaired, closed its teeth on her shoulder, digging in tight. She screamed and her injured arm buckled, sending her crashing onto her side. The green was caught under her, but she didn't have a moment to waste - the yellow had repaired whatever damage she'd done and reappeared at the edge of the high, flat rock.
Heaving herself upwards, she caught the green with her free forelimb and levered her weight onto its skull until the bleached bone split. One good stomp and it shattered, a green crystal rolling out of place and swiftly fading to obsidian black. The ooze covering the bones lost cohesion and swiftly dehydrated, blowing away in the wind as fine as dust. The pain in her arm lessened slightly as the infection there fizzled out and died, the bone slivers still stuck firmly.
She squared off with the yellow. She already knew it was faster than she was, she had no hope of matching it if she took off running. And yet... It circled, she countered. It stepped in, she stepped out. Back arched and tail ready, she angled herself a bit closer... a bit more to the left...
The yellow charged. With a furious bellow, Pappa charged right the fuck back. It leaped; landing squarely on her already injured shoulder. Her bellow turned from effort to agony, but to her credit she carried right on. She reached the drop at the edge of the flat top - and leaped right off. Landing with a heavy thud, she kept moving, running full tilt.
Suddenly aware that she might have a plan, the yellow twisted its head to see where its intended victim was headed. It only barely got a glance at the massive standing stone at the edge of the playground before Pappa swung sideways and broadsided it, smashing the bonedog apart.
Long strands of black ooze reached out to grasp its many lost pieces, but it didn't get anywhere before Pappa, using the good sense the Twin Gods gave her this time, used her tail to roll a rock over it's head.
Everything had happened so fast. The three broken piles of bones lay bright and bleached among the stones and dirt, where a few scant minutes ago there'd been three oozing, evil skeletal beasts. She rolled the stone away from the fine powder and chunks that remained of the yellow's skull and retrieved the black crystal.
Moments later, she was laying on her belly on the flat top, her injured arm and shoulder splayed out, her other forelimb pawing at the three trophies she'd managed to collect. She could heard hoots and hollers and hoofbeats as help finally started to arrive. She'd felt eyes on her for a while, but they'd been either unwilling or unable to help, it seemed. Probably fawns, either too scared or too foolish to go far, hiding in the bushes.
She sniffed the crystals - no trace of any infection remained. She didn't feel comfortable just leaving them laying around. Probably best to keep them close until she could figure out what to do with them.
She didn't want to go anywhere. She was so tired. The infection that had bubbled and fizzed in her arm and shoulder had faded, presumably with the deaths of the things that caused it. Her wounds, including the painful bone slivers, remained. She needed to find someone who could pull them out. She needed help, she...
She laid her head down as concerned onlookers, gossipy bystanders and macho late-comers alike drew close, noisy and raucous. Exhausted, Pappa ignored them, tucked her head into her side and passed out.
--+--
Pappa Eyes is suffering from severe bite wounds on her right shoulder and both sides of her back. There are bone slivers stuck deep in the lower half of her right forearm. The slivers are likely to fester if she cannot find someone to help remove them.
Feel free to react to the aftermath and/or engage Pappa Eyes post-nap in the comments below! Keep in mind she's gonna be sore, thirsty and cranky when she wakes up.
Coding by Unplugged
Tracking this~
Profile picture by ahimsa ♥
Pixel Wis by squeegie~
but but aaaAAAUUGH PAPPA
but
aaaAAAUUGH PAPPA you brave, brave wonderful cinnamon roll
This was a thrilling read! I could see it very well in my head and I was cheering her on the whole time (of course HOW COULD I NOT?). I don't have any characters that could help her except little Haroten could maybe try to pull out some of the slivers??
auugh PAPPA I LOVE YOU *crumbles into a heap*
He had heard the echoes of
Anyways it was quiet now. The Relic flows through the trees, delicate legs daintly stepping. He's on his way to the playground, not to see what happened but because the stones have been calling him all day. An oppertunity to warm his clay and nothing more. The smell is what hits that narrow muzzle first, making the bony back stiffen and those sharp obsidion claws come out. This smell is unlike anything else, a faint reek that diffied nature, dirtied it some how. Wrong... but that wasn't all...it smelled of danger.
He crests the first rock, warning rattles hissing from between sharp needle teeth. The movements are jerky now, stiff. He slinks, red eyes wide open in his smooth sides, always watching. Checking all the planes, crouching and arching. High and low. It seems the danger has gone but one can't be carefull enough when your bones are brittle and your flesh is clay. One blow could break everything. One blow could crush the life you'd stolen from those lovely hands long ago.
The skeletons are apraised first. No danger lurks in those shattered bones now but he knows that's where the wrongness had come from. He circles them. Anylzing everything, touching nothing. Sightless head bobing around and latching on to shadows.
Pupils expand and ruby eyes widen when a realization strikes the hidebound, The blood does not come from here. The blood lies not with the skeletons. Head snaps around to the still shape nearby, the huge shape, the furry mountain. So large, one nudge could have sent The Relic flying. But as with the bones the clay creature senses no danger there. It is injured, unlikly to kill. He realizes that this one had saved the fawns, protected. That impulse is foolish, that impulse to help is fatal.
The Relic doesn't - has never understood why others would give themselves but he knows that those that protect are not likely to destroy. Not imediatly and certaintly not while injuried. This one certaintly was. An ally would be useful, an ally that large would be worth a few moments of possible danger. Just the fact it would not be an enemy would be enough. The forest would be safer.
That is what desides him, he circles the mountain taking in all his eyes can. The injuries, the wounds, the little slivers in her arm. Advantages. Three legs wouldn't be able to handle the weight as well as four. Unsettled hisses and growls still rattle from those fraglie lungs as he tentively pokes at the hairy side but those advances are stopped before a reaction can be made. The Relic checks the surrounds before settling, claw arms daintly crossed across the main legs. He will wait. He will guard untill the mountain awakes.
Then he will offer his services, nimble sculpter's claws should pluck the bones out nicely. Yes. He would wait. Keep the predators at least slightly worried. Of course he'll run without a second change should one get too close. He is not stupid. His safety is worth more than this stranger. Three eyes watch the mountain creature, three others watch the area.
(this is my Relic, the first one on there. This is a great story! You go Papa!)
Weh weh, thank you all for
Ebony, I will be sure to respond first thing in the morning! I've already edged way past my bedtime xDNEVERMINDThe cicadas were the first things that registered, a faint buzzing that grew in volume and vigor. Next, the breeze, playing with her fur. The shorter hairs framing her face tickled her playfully.
She felt oddly numb. A careless attempt to shift her sleeping position resulted in a spike of pain from the base of her skull to halfway down her tail. She groaned. Parts of her were on fire, sharp pains pricking deep. She fought to recall what had happened.
The beast struggled to open her eyes, as they were nearly glued shut by the dried remains of her salty tears. Pappa Eyes slowly wrestled her long, heavy lashes open, squinting at the vague, pale shape in front of her. The slightest movement hurt, but she raised her head - slowly.
"Wh-who...?"
Her deep voice was thick with sleep and pain, raspy with thirst and strained from her earlier noise. She sounded distant to herself, and her ears were ringing ever so slightly. She tried to push through it and focus, but her vision swam.
I'm gonna throw Fibonacci at
The golden stag rose, but he would come to regret it.
Fibonacci had become brighter as the Forest did in the journey towards summer - his long, ragged hair was now pure white, his pelt a glorious gold like the ornamental patterns on his sword. The Forest was still waking, birds singing to celebrate their existence. The stag shrugged his sword onto his shoulder, and pulled out the small, silver necklace that lay inside the leather sheath. It had belonged to his sister, who had ventured too close to corruption and was saved by the Forest. If the Forest hadn't existed, his sister would be gone forever.
Nacci supposed the most painful thing about it was that he couldn't see her. He searched every day in vain, calling her name but getting no answers except the birds singing, always singing. He told himself that she would come when she was ready, but it didn't ease the constant ache of the guilt on his heart. He knew it was his fault, he knew she was like China, fragile and beautiful and fair, but weak to so much pain and suffering that life brought. She was a fierce fighter, as Nacci had found out every time they sparred at home, but she didn't know evil. She was kept from it, as Nacci was - until she met it face to face, and paid the price.
The stag's head was swimming as he made his way through the New Forest towards the Pond. He loved the New Forest, as it seemed to be perfectly frozen in time, young and bright. The Old Forest was dark and mischievous, full of tricks and knowledge. He didn't dislike the Old Forest, and he wasn't afraid of it, but the New Forest was where he preferred to be. He was nearing the Old Forest when the breeze became heavy, warm, almost sickly sweet. It was an alien breeze, unlike the usual lively Forest he knew. No birds sang, afraid of being heard so well with their bright hymns. Something was definitely wrong.
Fibonacci headed towards the source of the wind - it was thick with sickness, so it was a strong scent - and soon reached what was known as the Playground. It was unbearably tense, and Fibonacci knew why. Cursing, he drew his sword and stepped carefully. Remnants of demonic activity lay everywhere - demon bones shattered into powder, tar-like blood bubbling like boiling water, and the stench of demon energy, like a year old carcass left in the sun. The stag's sword gleamed in the light, razor-sharp - how he always kept it for such an emergency as this.
The demons were gone, but they would be back, he knew - they were most probably messengers, sent to get something or find someone and, most probably, kill them. But they had been destroyed and sent back to their dimension to regenerate. Who killed them? Footprints were scattered everywhere, some with blood and bone around them. Some where whole and some were scrapes in the soil, indicating a fight. Nacci followed them, and soon found a trail of dark crimson blood. The victorious was living, and not heavily injured - a miracle. Whoever had fought the demons was either trained, or lucky. And there they lay, upon the rock, next to three crystals that pulsed with energy.
"Excuse me, miss. Are you the one who killed these beasts?"
My gosh do I adore this
Woooooo NILLY I'm gonna track
Claws are brandished and a
He keeps his movements slow and smooth, eyes never once leaving the furry shape. He circles around to the being's injured arm, gesturing towards it with one curved claw. "Hehlp pull yess? Hehlp rrremove the ssliverrrss yes?" He pauses for moment, head bobing around to fix on her. Those red eyes blink at her one at a time befor squinting.
"Can nought heal bhut can thake thosse ought." Here he wiggles his nimble claws to display just how he'd go about doing it. The hidebound tilts his head to one side and considers how raspy the other's voice was. "Ahnd whater yess? Can do." One of the jars he'd created should to well for that, always nice getting an opportunity to show off his craftsmanship. "Easssy, Igh ahm nogh dahnger."
Gonna respond to these all as
@Ebony3--
The Relic's movements were followed with some delay, Pappa's thick lashes only half-raised with exhaustion. She glanced down at her injured forelimb as the mysterious creature drew towards it, and she pulled back instinctively.
It was the wrong choice.
Pain shot up her arm at the slight movement, and she bit her fat bottom lip so sharply a single spot of blood welled up. She licked this away, and was acutely made aware of her thirst. She slowly laid her arm down again, licking her lips. "Water. Nh. Please."
@Chromai--
(I hunted, but try as I might I couldn't find your character hub! I tried to respond appropriately anyways.)
The long, broad tail scraped slowly sideways, and a noncommittal grunt escaped from somewhere deep in the beast's throat. Pappa Eyes peeked out from over her shoulder slowly, so slowly, burdened by the ache down her spine.
"Mmh... Me? Uhh. I think s... Is everyone all right?"
She lifted her head a little higher, blinking owlishly as she squinted around the flat top, looking mildly alarmed. "Iszz... everyone all right?" She swallowed hard a few times. Her throat felt as though it were sticking to itself.
The Relic rumbles in
He distastes leaving things half finished. With a grumbling noise he considers the request and nods. He did offer it. Breaking promises is terribly impolite after all. "Yess. Whill gheat. Wait yess? Nogh ssudden mohvess, you'll hurrt that ahrrrm morre."
A quick nod and he heads away, crouching at a half height to not appear as threatening. Ears flick in the wind, hearing only the normal forest sounds echoing through the trees. Good. A gap in the trees presents itself and he sprints ahead, digging in the dirt around the idol untill he finds the jar he'd secreted away.
It's whole and uncracked thank goodness. He admires how well it stood up to the weathering it had gone through. A quick dip in the stream fills it and he's headed back to the playground. The going's a bit slower but he gets there. He sets the large jar a small distance away from her and uses his foreclaws to push it in reach.
"Here, dhrink. Will geht more if needed yes." He settles down, keeping his same view on her.
She watched him slink off,
She managed to support some of her weight on her good forelimb, but her hind legs trembled like young aspens in a tornado. She left well enough alone and planted her ass back down, resigned. She laid her shaggy head on the stone, cooing softly at the warmth of the sunned stone.
Pappa Eyes had nearly drifted off again as the Relic returned. She came rippling back to wakefulness as his voice dropped in on her like a stone. Her good forearm stretched, paw curling around the jar, and she carefully pulled it closer.
She emptied it in one go - none too graceful about it, either. She dribbled and sucked and gasped like a fish, and the jar clinked gently as she let it go. It's craftmanship was lost on her, for the moment.
The beast licked her lips, then rubbed her eyes on the back of her unmarred wrist. "Ghuh. Thank you - Relic." She lays her head back to the stone, angled slightly. Her eyes were still turned up at him, low-lashed but curious. "Haven't seen the like of you in the Forest, yet." She rumbled, with only a distant undertone of suspicion "You're not... with them, are you?" The great tail swept slowly to the side, tip now limply pointed towards the nearest jumble of wolf skeleton.
(Not likely to be on much over the weekend, sorry all! My SO gets back from his business trip and we will be spending a lot of time together.)
Her gusto at drinking the
His head jerks quickly to one side at her next words and the eyes squint down into slits. The question is thoroughly examined before he answers.
"Ohnly one of my khind." He tells her, starting to tap his claws on the rock. "Nogh. Nought with them." The clay being shudders in distaste at belonging to that group. Whatever those were....they were nothing like him.
"What arre they?"
He doesn't expect her to know but figures it's worth a shot to ask. They look like canine creatures to him, well what he could garner from the leftover bones. That reek lingers too. That and those crystal things humming near by said it was something more.
(That's fine! Have a good time)
"Sssick." The word was
The word was uttered with the highest distaste; the curl of her upper lip and the disgusted cut of her eyes towards the nearest pile made her feelings clear on the subject of the beasts.
"Dunno what that nasty-ass garbage covering them was. Black slime, eugh." She shudders, good forearm flexing gently in memory of the pitched fight. "Lucky they weren't any bigger. Might have been a real threat."
She grins a gape-toothed grin at him of mustered machismo; a bestial row of chompers are shared, with empty space where most would have had canines. After, she lowers her head to regard her three trophies more seriously.
"These, though... They interest me far more than those boney slinkers."
"Ssslime? Interresssting
Her strong man banter just results in the closest the clay being can come to an eyeroll. Yes yes you killed the things conratulations. Could have died but charged into the fray for a creature that would likely only last a few more days at the most. Her aknowlagment of the crystals makes him rise and slink closer, arching his back for a clearer veiw
"And thesse arrre whagt exhactly?"
The Relic reaches out to very carefully tap one with a claw. Yes it's a stone, a crystal of some sort but it seems cloudly some how. It feels wrong. Tainted.
Here ya go :3 Nacci is a
……………………
Fibonacci watched as a small gathering formed around the injured victor. There were bone shards wedged in her forelegs, tipped with the same black ichor that trailed by the bone dust that remained of whatever hellish creatures attacked her. Serves them right. The stag sheathed his sword to avoid intimidating - or accidentally stabbing - anyone. "Those things," he began, "are no ordinary monster." He still stared at the bone shards, wondering about who would want to create something made from brittle bone. Unless it could regenerate.
"I understand you attacked them yourself, miss?" the stag asked the injured. "If that is the case, then they aren't impossible to bring down." Nacci then looked at the creature next to him, and followed his eyes down to three onyx black crystals that lay next to the injured. They had a sinister aura about them, one that felt like a brooding cloud - one that Nacci knew all too well. "Damn," he cursed under his breath. "Whoever did this knows how to animate corpses. I will tell you now that that's bad, very bad." The stag reached to his sword and touched where the necklace lay, curled up like a silver snake. Those things had better not come back.
Giving this a nice track!
@Ebony3 "Your guess is as
"Your guess is as good as mine, sug'." Pappa did not shy from his nearness this time, as her attentions were focused on the three lifeless chunks. "They stopped moving when I pulled these out of their heads. Some kind of... life force, I'd guess?"
She shuddered, almost imperceptibly. Unlife, more likely.
@Chromai
Sore and irate, Pappa didn't take too kindly to being surrounded by a noisy group. She lurched up on her good leg and, as she'd hoped, the sudden movement was enough to scatter the most inane of the visitors.
Wincing, she eased back down, heavy-lidded eyes turning less angrily on the one who had been addressing her. "I gave 'em a piece of my mind, yes. They break, just like anyone else." She lets him continue before replying. "Living or dead or unliving, doesn't matter. They go after babies, I go after them."
She grunted, attempting to rise again, but it simply wasn't in her yet. She licked her lips and closed her eyes, cursing softly under her breath. "Why'd the Gods put the Pond so far away, anyhow."
Sug???? Relic freezes and
"Ahh phowerr ssourrcess? Interrressting yghess." The sightless head bobs around to sniff the rocks and snarls in disgust. "They sssmell ogf darrkness - wrrrong, noght rrright."
The clay one coughs and jerks his head away from the crystals, hissing slightly. Claws come out breifly then are tucked away again. He knows making this one any warier would be a terrible mistake, she's proved herself to be dangerous foe.
"Thourrch thegm. Whaght doess dharrkness fhear? Light yess?"
And what was brighter than the Twin's infernal light pelt? The sooner these were destroyed the better.
(sorry for the late reply ^^)
Fibonacci grinned at her
The creature now crowned Sug had spoken, and it took a few seconds more than usual for Nacci to process it. "A good observation," he muttered, then cleared his throat and spoke up a little. "How do you suggest we go about destroying these thi-" a glimpse of the Twin Statues in his peripheral vision betrayed him the information. "Ah, clever."
Eughhh, Sorry I got so
I don't do Skype. Well,
skype'd work for me, I'm