Peaceful.
The birch paper bark lay strewn over the ground. Messy furrows pierced the snow's once-perfect shell of ice. Gashes marred a couple of the trees, now doomed to die from being stripped of bark. There, beside one tree, stood a heaving form.
How can I remain that way?
Head hung low, tines pointed directly at the most recently gored birch. Marks like those of an axe striped down the tree where those bright white bones had attempted to lodge in it. Wood chips littered the ground at the attacker's hooves.
These antlers are made for war.
All attempts so far had failed miserably. The trees had sacrificed themselves for little. Moss felt sour. The only thing he was given was a splitting headache in the attempt to crack the antlers from his skull.
Antlers are made to injure.
The black and white deer's sides heaved as he tried to catch the breath he had lost. One more time he tried. The once-peaceable beast threw his crown into the trunk. It gave in easily against the bone spears as they met. The beast continued to drive them in until he was sure they were sufficiently embedded in the wood. A grunt of frustration passed his lips, one of many that had echoed through the silence of the snowy lowland birch that afternoon.
I want them gone.
The beast bent his forelegs, thrusting upward. His muscles clenched visibly beneath the shaggy winter coat he wore. His face contorted as the pain shot through his skull. He cried out. The tree creaked in pain as they fought. It tried to hold on to the flesh that the deer was slowly tearing from it. The action hurt them both in a terrible way.
I want no part of this horrible burden.
Moss cried out again. Pain drew tears to his eyes and caused his face to burn red under the white fur. It hurt, oh it hurt! That tree, with a last squeal of wood being pulled from itself, gave way. The stag stumbled back. Unbalanced by his tines, he swayed and fell to the snow in a heap. Splinters of birch wood rained down.
Why?
He lay there against the cold snow, utterly spent. Breath came in puffs through a wide open mouth, melting the snow in the immediate front of his face. He choked back a weak moan as a particularly strong wave of pain washed over his head. Fresh tears welled behind his closed lids, threatening to leak free. Moss just lay and did not move. It was too painful.
-----
So to put it simply: Moss is in need of a good friend right now to help him out.
He is having issues accepting that his antlers are a part of him,
since he sees them as a weapon and has a deep distaste for weapons.
So he tried to rip them out with help of a couple of helpless trees. :/
Mind if I jump in with
Feel free.
Okay.... Arcturus was having
Arcturus was having a great time. Prancing about in the forest. Then he saw a slumped shape lying next to some gored birch trees.
'What's that?' He thought, running closer to investigate.
What he saw almost made his heart stop.
A black and white deer lay there, with pieces of birch littered around him. Arcturus circled around him, finally lowering his head to check if the buck was still breathing.
(*tracks and hugs Moss*)
The stag hardly noticed the
"I am alive." A breathy rumble formed speech in reassurance to the other. It was a difficult thing when the slightest noise caused his head to ache anew. The pain was his own thought, though, and since there was company to be shared the beast resolved to be pleasant. Two black eyes squinted from his humanoid face, searching out the other that circled him. Still, though, he didn't move further than just barely opening his eyes. His muscles would take a moment to obey him without heavy protest.
"Oh, good." Arcturus
But, still, what had this buck been doing? The question wreathed around in Arcturus's mind, he was intent on getting the answer. The inexperienced little fawn blurted out: "What were you doing?" Before he could think.
Ugh. That question was
The stag's body felt as heavy as stone as he attempted to roll to his stomach. The sudden motion caused that stomach to almost rebel. No food meant that there would be no vomit. That was good. One of those large bone boughs resting against his far shoulder, the stag used the motion of his body to help turn his head. Finally, the deer's humanoid chin rested on the ground and his body rested in an upright laying position. That was enough movement for now. The motion made the black and white's head swim and he appeared unsteady. A more mature animal might wonder if the monk had gotten himself drunk on frozen fermented blueberries. Thankfully he had not, or the fawn would definitely have mistaken him for dead. He wouldn't have been able to respond. "I don't recommend it, when you finally get yours."
'What?' Arcturus thought.
"Why were you trying to break you're antlers off?" Arcturus asked.
The question seemed so simple and straightforward. Arcturus expected a simple and straightforward answer.
Oh Moss... poor baby... Mind
Mind if I join in? If you'd prefer this to be a one-on-one thing, however, I will respectfully back off XD ))
Track of curiosity, I'll try
Feel free, Faina. It's
-
The stag didn't want to answer, he truly didn't. "Because I do not want them." Was that enough? Probably not. Fawns were always very curious and the why game was one of their favorites to play. Moss was only getting himself into trouble with this, but he would continue answering questions as long as they were asked. Maybe the headache was what was removing the inhibition. The way that he was trying to crack the tines from his skull... no, it wasn't brain damage. More likely than not it was his headache.
The stag pointed his ears toward the young buckling. The mere act of it tugged on tense muscles that behaved like rubber bands, almost sending the ears back to their original position. He'd be attentive, though, as that was only polite.
Why could the deer from outside lose their antlers, but he was consistently stuck with his? Moss held a tiny tantrum inside his brain. Sometimes he behaved unlike himself. Frustration was a powerful thing, and caused even the most patient and kind of deer to feel like hurting themselves or others in some way. Even one who couldn't harm a fly could be reduced to goring trees this way.
Arcturus pressed on. "Why do
"Why do you not want them?" He asked.
"I can't wait to get MY antlers! Er... My FULL antlers."
{Thank you!} -- After
--
After discovering and making her very first friend the day before, Calfuray was now eager to meet other cervidae. Her dainty hooves carried her rather quickly through the Endless Forest. She had gotten use to dodging trees during her little flights across the floor, ever since watching and being inspired by the larger and much more graceful deer during their own Forest flights. During this friend-search of hers, she found herself giggling a bit to herself at the recent memory of dancing and running around with other fawns that made her warm and bubbly inside. Alas, there had not been much sign of anyone wanting to engage in play or even simple conversation. In fact, she couldn't find anyone at all! She slowly began to grow calmer as boredom and worry both mixed together inside of her. She soon slowed down her bouncy pace until she was at a steady walk. With barely anyone around, the Forest held a sense of darkness that did not suit her comforts.
Just as she was about to turn around and head back towards the Crying Idol, she noticed something strange in the air. It wasn’t noticeable by sight -- at least not yet -- but the heaviness was there, and it coated her heart with a worried curiosity. She crept towards the invisible aura until she finally stopped as her purplish blue orbs of sight spotted something rather unique…
There were trees before her; gored and beaten. The sight itself made her deeply frown with a mixture of shock, fear and confusion. She was about to turn and run, until she heard voices. Almost immediately, she noticed the stag and fawn engaged in conversation by the deeply-wounded trees. This realization replaced her fear with an even deeper curiosity, and she silently stepped towards them. Her eyes moved from the fellow fawn to the larger stag, who had much grace and power in his appearance. Yet, in the young fawn’s eyes, she could sense that he had a troubled spirit.
“
Arcturus whirled around to
'Who is that?' He thought, curious.
But he couldn't spend time making friends right now. Arcturus could tell the black and white stag needed him.
But he didn't want to hurt the other fawn's feelings.
Arcturus decided he should at least say hello.
"Hi." He said, not really paying attention. Arcturus was trying to think of reasons why one would not want one's antlers.
The fawn was excited about
The world grew dark at the edges as the stag lifted his head, achieving the more upright sort of position. After a moment, though, the headache went back to being slightly more tolerable and his vision returned fully. "Hello." He replied to her, nervous. "I have to apologize to you both for not being able to bow properly." The stag dipped his head slightly. Whether it was out of manners or out of pain, it was hard to tell. A lot of his focus was just toward balancing it on his neck so that the pain would be lessened.
Moss regarded the male fawn again with his eyes, so as not to move his head. "It's good to want your antlers. I wish I could just give you mine. They are heavy in many ways and all of that there..." Black eyes motioned toward the carnage that he sat among. "Was my attempt at removing them. But it appears that I didn't do so well. They're still attached." Carefully the stag skirted around the truth. He feared that the two babes would not understand, and therefore he would cause undue harm to them beyond seeing what he thought was a psychotic display. In all honesty, that is exactly what it was.
Arcturus could tell the stag
"Why do you not want your antlers?" Arcturus repeated his question. It seemed sort of silly to not want your antlers. Antlers were very important.
It was then that Arcturus realized he had overlooked telling the stag something. He looked at the stag, then at the other fawn. "By the way," Arcturus said. "My name is Arcturus."
Calfuray caught on rather
“I’m Calfuray...it is lovely to meet you,” she responded. Instantly, she backtracked. Had she just heard of the stag wanting to get rid of his antlers? This confused her greatly. Perhaps it was a thing some grown-ups wanted to do, but she immediately did not understand it, or attempt to. She did not even attempt to ask a question, however, for she already had thoughts on the idea..
“You can’t do that to your antlers! They’re big and pretty and they protect you! They’re like...trees on your head! You’re not supposed to cut down trees, so you shouldn’t try to cut down your antlers, either!” She tilted her head to the side; one ear perked and another pointed downward.
“I want to grow big, pretty trees on my head like you, so I can have a place for birds to rest and so I can make sure I scare monsters away, so they can’t hurt me or my friends.” She shook her head as if she already had her rack growing in, and she stomped a hoof on the dirt as if she were already prepared to scare away the Forest's "monsters."
Arcturus nodded. What the
"Who are who?" He asked the black and white stag. "I'm Arcturus, and that's Calfuray. Who are you?"
OOC: Sapphire, you can reply
--------
"Calfuray, there are plenty of other ways to protect your friends other than using antlers." Moss had to make a point here. There was a desperate need for him to tell others, it seemed, that fighting was not the only way to solve things. "Antlers can hurt others. See what they did to those trees?" Again, the black eyes motioned to the carnage behind him. Fights occurred in the forest often. He was aware of that fact painfully, and prayed often for those who were injured. There was no proof if those prayers helped or not. He still whispered them nightly.
The babe was right about birds, but birds could settle nearby regardless. They often did. The stag noticed a few in the distance. They twittered among themselves, preening one another and having what he believed was riveting conversation about seeds or flights to far-away lands. Although flight was a sore-spot for the stag, he could still enjoy it via forest magic on occasion, and wondered if the birds knew the difference. But, he had to bring his mind back to the two fawns and their conversation about antlers. Why were antlers so important anyway?
As Moss stated his point on
“But...Mister Moss....isn’t that only if you want them to hurt others?” She took a step forward, straightening her head’s position above her shoulders as she settled down into the grass to rest her thin yet strengthening legs. She had witnessed one or two battles done in the forest among the larger deer, and they indeed seemed intimidating and painful. But at other times, and most of the time, she saw antlers on the head of deer being glorified with flowers, as if they were indeed small trees on the heads of the gods' children. She realized, then, that perhaps they were scary or beautiful depending on how they were used, or how the deer saw them. Had this stag hurt anyone with his antlers? And did he feel that way about anything that could hurt others? She looked down, stretching out a leg from under her to look at one of her hooves; how they were hard, and sharp at the tips of them, kind of like antlers.
"I mean, hooves can hurt others too, if someone kicks you with 'em, but I wouldn't try removing those!" She gently shifted comfortably on the forest floor beneath her.
“Besides...your antlers are a part of you, right? If they’re there, doesn’t that mean they’re supposed to be there?” She followed his gaze to the birds in the near-distance. Perhaps it was her youthful imagination that saw too much good in everything, though she still could not see the wrong in someone's body features; even if they could be considered dangerous.
The fawn, again, had wisdom
"With hooves, one only has to worry about where they place them. With antlers, just the sight of them can strike one of the worst feelings you'd want from another: intimidation, into the mind of those you meet." Intimidation led to so many things, from fear to the obsession for superiority... even to anger. Moss never wanted to intimidate another.
She was right, though, that they were a part of him. However, if there was one thing he knew, it was that changing oneself was something that could be done and done well. "Changing oneself is not only possible, it is the only way a creature can grow. My case may be a little bit different than those of others, but parts of you change every day. Your smaller body may be part of you now, but in the future that will change. Your sense of the world may be part of you now, but in the future that will also change. The second example is one that you will change all on your own." The stag fell into a familiar mode of conversation to him. He did not direct all of this toward just the little female, but to the buckling as well. Change was very important, and both fawns should know well the importance of it.
Moss was right. Arcturus had
Moss was also right about change, if you didn't change, you didn't grow! Someday Arcturus would be a big stag, with large antlers. But maybe, what Arcturus thought would change as well.
Arcturus decided to go back to antlers, change was just a little to complicated.
"But, mister Moss." Arcturus said. "Yes, antlers are intimidating, but you need them! Say you needed to move something that was to big and heavy to move without your antlers. The antlers could probably move it! The extra leverage would be very useful. Say you needed to fight something off, like a wolf or a bear, you would really need your antlers then."
Though the young doe wished
As she looked at him; her purplish eyes shifting from one part of him to the next. Calfuray realized that she could not even see him without antlers, even if she tried to imagine what he’d look like without him. They were part of him, as she had stated before, and they had come to him through change, why should there be change again? Could it be that not all change was good?
She looked at Moss’ rack again. His earlier question echoed in her mind. Did she feel intimidated by the large antlers, herself? After a moment of searching herself, she decided that...they really weren't scary at all.
No, she did not find them frightening. She had never felt antlers were scary, but she rather admired them, as well as the uniqueness of the racks she spotted on each deer she saw in the Forest during her little adventures. They brought a unique beauty to each deer, as every part of them did, in her eyes.
She looked to the other fawn, nodding at his words. Antlers were indeed useful, as why else would the grown-ups have them? Nevertheless, she had another idea in mind for a rack’s existence.
Finally, after the long pregnant silence, Calfuray stepped forward and lowered her head, shaking it until her crown of purple flowers fell to the forest’s floor. She carefully used her lips to pick them up, approaching the troubled stag with them. Calfuray stopped as she was right in front of him, and she stretched out her neck, placing her crown on one of his antler’s lowest branches before stepping back.
“I think they’re beautiful,” Calfuray admitted, stepping back a bit to observe how her flower crown looked on the crown that had grown up from his own head.
The young male's concerns
The little crown of antlers was placed on his tines before Moss knew exactly what had happened. As with all forest magic, the change happened quickly: The little crown of violet flowers began to move and grow, spreading themselves to adorn the white bone boughs. Quickly, both antlers were decorated with the little plants. Such was the magic of this place, and Moss could feel the pain leaving his head as it caressed him. There was nothing more healing to the stag than the magic of the forest that had created his current form from the soul of a koi carp those two years ago. He smiled at the young female. "Thank you, Calfuray. The flowers are wonderful." The smile wrinkled the corners of his eyes as if he were much older than in reality.
OOC: Hey Faina, did you recently use any code in your signature or in a post that may have shifted everything over?
Arcturus nodded, he had never
Arcturus watched as the flowers spread on Moss's antlers, Calfuray was right, they did look nice.
Looking up, Arcturus saw two birds watching the scene behind Moss. Looking around, Arcturus spotted a seed pod from the birch trees. He picked it up and put it on the ground in front of him. Arcturus glanced at the birds. "Sometimes being kind is better than anything." Arcturus said. "Especially when one is having a bad day."
Calfuray hadn’t at all been
“You’re welcome! The flowers look even prettier on you!” Calfuray exclaimed in awe. She paced slightly in front of him, staring at the flowers with a bright smile on her features. Calfuray giggled again and then glanced at Arcturus, nodding at his words and brightening her smile. She pranced in a circle and plopped back down onto the grass in front of Moss.
With the air less tense to her since she had first arrived to the scene, her vibrant spirit began to show, as she let her little sounds of joy escape her lips, and the fur of her body fluff up with joy.
Perhaps it was Moss' smile that made her all giggly inside at the moment. She found it rather charming!
(I do not think so O.O But if I did and cannot remember, I am so so sorry TT_TT I see things normal on my screen though, I think. I hope I did not mess anything up O8)
(To be honest, I am not
( It is no problem. I get
(Hmmm, I don't know what to
Ooh ooh! I know! And it might
________________________________________________________
Arcturus went and lay down beside Calfuray. "So, Moss. Do you think you'll keep your antlers?" He asked. Arcturus really hoped Moss would say yes. He liked the look of the stag's antlers, and the flowers made them even nicer.
Arcturus looked at Calfuray. The other fawn's bright smile made the corners of his mouth rise into one too. This might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship between us Arcturus thought, looking back at Moss. I hope so, my only other friend is Skye and possibly Alastair Arcturus continued to beam, and, as the two birds flew down to eat the birch seed, their songs made the scenario all the more pleasant.