There it was again...

The owl stag quickly lifted his head, sharp amber eyes scanning the area around him as his ears swiveled to catch the sound. Where was it coming from? He thought he was just hearing things at first, some sort of forest trick or something with how it would fade, then grow stronger to the point that he thought he'd look over and be staring down some delusional creature. Giving a quiet huff, he lowered his head back to rest against his foreleg when the sound faded again. He could only equate it to either he was finally, finally going mad or just maybe he was spending too much time in the sun.

A few seconds later he rolled himself to his hooves at the sound once more. Resettling his wings against his sides, the male glared at the landscape around him. It was then that he finally caught something that had escaped his vision- a patch of shuddering blue flowers. Akhenaton's head cocked to one side, glancing around him again to make sure he hadn't missed anything else. The muttering...sounded like a deer though. Could there be a deer or deer creature small enough to hide in a patch of little flowers? He was near certain he had gotten words out of the muttering, but maybe that was just his mind trying to make sense of the sound...

He wasn't so sure, but then again, there was strange things happening in the forest all the time. He had long since learned that the less he expected the forest to make sense, the less confused he was by it all. Slowly, cautiously, the buck put himself into motion. He inched his way across the ground, coming to a pause about half a foot away from the flowers to peer over the patch, as if he expected something to come shooting up at him from the labyrinth of blue petals and green leaves.

After a couple of moments, he caught little flickers of copper colored fur as whatever it was rustled in the bushes. His head tipped to the side again, eyes narrowing as he tried to make sense of what it was he was looking at. What was it? A hare? It could be...but a talking hare? He had seen his fair share of small animals in the forest, even a good handful he was pretty sure were deer just spelled into the small animals.

Yet, in his three years in the forest, he had yet to meet a small animal that actually spoke the forest language. What was it saying? Eyes still narrowed, the male leaned in a little bit, ears perked forward as he tried to make sense of it.

What happened next he wasn't expecting in the least. He was so absorbed in trying to figure out just what he was looking at that he was completely caught off guard when the little thing came rolling out of the patch practically right under his beak. He immediately snapped his head back, only to recoil further when the little thing screeched at him. He reeled back, stumbling over his own hooves as he placed a few feet of distance between himself and the flower patch. Ears back, fluff disheveled, and his wings twitching along his back, he tried to process what he just heard and saw. It had...spoken to him, hadn't it? Clearly terrified of him- the male didn't blame...her?...in the least- but spoke to him nonetheless.

Eyes narrowed as he lowered his head closer to the ground, trying to peer through the plants. It was a squirrel? Is that what he saw? A little chattering squirrel? Taking a deep breath to calm his own racing heart, it finally occurred to him that if this thing spoke...then speaking back might make himself seem less threatening. Frankly, the whole scenario could have been avoided if he had just spoke up in the first place...

"So you are talking..." he murmured, taking a few tentative steps closer, "I thought I was just hearing things...but you are talking..."

[OOC: No thanks, Sharp.]

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The noises that the owl-stag made reached the tiny thing's ears, and she understood them. This was her first actual conversation with a beast in this forest, and her first time understanding those around her that weren't squirrels. And she was remorseful that she'd yelled at him. As of this moment, he didn't seem to mean her any harm at all. In fact, they were both equally surprised!

His question... she had to answer his question. But first, the little being had to get a bit closer. Her voice wasn't that loud, or so she thought. Spriteling moved forward as slowly as she could. She peered from the edges of the flower patch at the owlish one. "Yes. I am talking." The words came from a face that was full of apprehension. "I" She started, unsure how to put it. "I am not sure how, but I am talking."

Well, her first words intentionally spoken in response to another of the ones with names was interesting, to say the least. Spriteling moved another pawstep forward, standing on all fours at the edge of the patch. Her tail was raised and she was ready to dart back at a moment's notice. But she was brave enough to look at him.

No problem. We have plenty of it.

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His questions were odd to her: deer creature? Spelled? "No." She answered both at once. She didn't even know what being spelled was, so her logic said that that couldn't have happened. She just ate a shiny thing. So that's what she told him: "I just... I ate a shiny nut?" It sort-of came out as a question.

"A deer? Yes, a deer fell asleep and disappeared and left a shiny nut behind. I ate it. I've been like this for the better portion of the day now..." She elaborated as best she could, then turned attention to the stag's name and apology. "I think we're both pretty frightened by whatever that shiny nut did to me." The female agreed.

His name... what he was called was Akhen. She didn't know what she was called, but the shiny nut that she ate apparently actually had meaning. "I don't have a name, so maybe that shiny nut could help? It said 'Spriteling.' So you can call me that." Thank goodness for her budding knowledge of language! Spriteling was learning new things just by absorbing the pictogram. Technically, it was being absorbed into her soul, but the squirrel only viewed it as sustenance, a shiny nut that said something. Nuts didn't speak, but her mind said that was logical enough considering she had gone from a squirrel with no mind to a squirrel with higher thought just by eating the right thing.

It was weird to hear another being call her by her name. It was also weird to have a name. The squirrel wondered at the sound, her long-tufted ears twitching to take it in as her little paw came up to rest near her mouth momentarily. It was so amazing to the little thing what a name felt like. Suddenly, you went from having no identity to having something that actually meant who you were. The female sat back on her haunches and let her tail rest on the ground. This deer was really amazing, too, simply because he could say her name.

"Food." She replied, answering his query with a sigh. "I cached some not-shiny nuts here a few days ago, but I can't even smell where." She pointed for emphasis, and then flopped those little handpaws to her sides in frustration. "That shiny nut must've done something more than just make me able to talk and understand talk. Must've messed up my scent." Come to think of it... the little thing didn't even smell much like a squirrel anymore. She smelled clean and fresh, like herbs and tea. This was so much of a change from plain dirty squirrel-scent that she didn't even recognize her own markings anymore.

"I suppose I could get nuts just about anywhere, though. I'm more upset that I don't recognize my own scent anymore." Her forepaws were busily grooming her own tail. The big brush of copper had become home to dirt and things as she'd been looking for the food, and it certainly shouldn't have been kept that messily. Puffs of the green scent filled the air around her, and the squirrel still didn't put two and two together.

The little animal closed her eyes and wrinkled her nose. She smelled him, yes. Like an old kitchen, he was dusty and warm-scented. Bird dander and spices. "I smell you." She muttered, before sniffing her own tail. "But I don't even smell like me." The squirrel's face screwed up with confusion. "I smell like... green things. I don't smell like a squirrel, not like myself." Quickly, the confusion turned to horror as the little rodent gathered her tail in her arms and hugged it to herself. She'd never be able to find anything of her own again!

Spriteling landed hard on her rump, little toes up in the air and her tail still in her little arms. "I've never regretted a piece of food so much in my entire life." The words were breathy and full of despair. "My first year's work..." Tiny fingers curled into a little brown fist, and the ball of that small hand cupped her chin. Bringing one knee up, the squirrel rested her elbow there. "First I can think, then I can speak, now I have a new scent... all in less than a day. All because of that shiny nut. What do you make of it?" The squirrel's molten chocolate eyes peered at the owl-stag from behind long lashes.

Do you know a RP I can join and why don't you want me to RP with you? (kind of feel left out )
because i understand why you (and most people I know) doesn't/dont like me.

Absolutely no worries. ^^

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"The one and only," he confirmed with a little birdy smile. Granted, he had never really gone out of his way to try to converse with the rabbits or the squirrels. They always seemed to be absorbed in their own thing, and he was probably the last face they'd ever want to see. He couldn't really blame them. Slowly, he shifted his weight to roll onto his side, one wing pinned under him and the other fanned out to catch the sun. "...but I am a bit scary..." he admitted as he continued talking, "...I never made it a habit to chase poor squirrels around the forest just to try to talk to them." In a way, Akhen felt like she was like a child: brand new and perfectly innocent. The last thing he wanted to do was scar her for life by talking about hunting. No, might as well talk about innocent things. He chuckled, "I bet you could chase deer around the forest to talk to them, though. Some of them are so tall, I bet you could make a nest in their antlers and they'd never even know!"

"I bet some of them actually have branches for antlers," he muttered, more to himself than to the little squirrel. The owl male yawned and stretched out his already fanned wing a little farther, before allowing it to return to resting as he had it originally. Ears perked forward at the question, one that he had to think about. What did he do to handle his own thoughts? "It's...it's difficult." he replied quietly, "...I don't think any one creature, no matter how they outwardly seem, can have a handle on their own thoughts all of the time. Sooner or later, the thoughts will outpace you, swamp you.

"I deal with it by finding sunspots to rest in, or by walking around or flying even. I enjoy flying above the forest sometimes. I do other things too, go outside of the forest..." he trailed off, not sure how much of that was wise to get into. He didn't want to confuse her further. Clearing his throat, he added, "...to other forests, for the most part. I just keep myself busy, focus on simple tasks, like collecting things or preening, relaxing, exercising and eventually those overwhelming thoughts sort themselves out. Yet, if they don't, then just focus on one thought at a time until it makes sense to you."

"Hmm..." Akhen watched her settle near him, smiling slightly at the sight- it was sort of amusing to see a squirrel of all creatures lounge. They always seem to be so busy going from one thing to the next. He rarely saw them, when he did pay attention to them, sitting idle and enjoying the sunlight. "I'm not really...sure, to be honest." he closed his eyes for a moment, trying to figure out some sort of response. No one had ever asked that of him, nor had he ever wondered that himself. "It's just something...it's..." another pause, "...your thoughts are just your inner voices talking. Thoughts are the way we process the world around us. Why we think, I don't know..." his voice became softer, "I've never questioned it, myself." His ears drooped a little as he shot her an apologetic glance.

Another one of those difficult questions. He almost wished he had Aria there. Even if she didn’t know an answer, she at least pretended she did. She fabricated some sort of response that at least sounded right…
“No…I don’t think so…” he replied quietly, attention being snagged by something shuffling about in the brush some distance off. It sounded like something small, a rabbit maybe, but whatever it was didn’t pop out into the open. “I’ve never seen a deer eat a soul. I think they’re just…born with them, or acquire them shortly after arriving.” A frown crossed his face. How did they get their pictos, anyway? " I've had my soul for as long as I can remember; it's apart of me."