The sun was warm and the gurgle of the nearby stream lulled in the balmy evening air. It had been this way for a while, ever since the fog.

Stretching my cramped muscles I rose intent on finding Garth. We hadn’t seen each other in quite a while and I longed for her companionship. Turning to leave I was frightened out of my wits by a sleeping form exactly where I had lain moments before.


I had not seen the new comer and at first I was fooled into thinking I had fallen asleep on this stranger. Looking closer I saw that they had fluffy honey and butter colored fur, the long sleek shapes of several feathers on their head made me think it was riptail, he did after all sleep most often under the willows that overlooked the glassy surface of the pond.

They appeared to be male, judging by the strong crest of their thicker neck and the ropy muscles beneath their fur. Cautiously creeping around their other side I was surprised to see not the grinning face of a skull but the sleek taper of a real deer’s muzzle.

For the first time I looked to his picto delicately floating above the crowning spires of his feathers. For a moment its shape was obscured by the long waving branches of the ancient willow we had fallen asleep by, then as the wind wisped them away I gasped.

The delicate curves that defined a deer’s very soul matched my own. Now very curious I stepped forward and gave him a sniff. His smell was sweet and sharp at the same time, like the scent of decaying pine needles, russet with rot.

For the first time in my life I felt the unbearable need to protect, and I gently nuzzled his fluffy fur. Never before had I felt such intimacy towards another. It felt as though he came from my very soul to manifest here in the physical world simply to keep me company. Laying down I pressed my sleek body to his. Not long had we sat in the peaceful twilight when a nameless meandered around the pond and stopped near his sleeping form.


Leaping up I stepped over my companion and stared at the newcomer. A dull confused expression tugged at the contours of its face and it sniffed us with idle interest. Then turning it went around me and looked curiously at my friend. Walking forward it promptly nuzzled him. I felt anger rise in me, I did not even know this sleeping stranger but I felt like I had all the rights in the world to him and no one else. Leaping over I growled in the nameless’s face and reared.“you are not wanted here nameless leave now and find other entertainment!” giving me that vacant stare he lowered his antlers a few times and then turning he padded away to do what ever it was nameless do.

Snorting in satisfaction I lowered myself carefully back down as not to wake him and silently kept my self proclaimed vigil. To my surprise my companions sleek feather antlers switched to butterfly and then Kirin, zombie, great white antlers, stubs and came to a stop at the curving brown fan antlers ,that I had seen adorned on sir Vergil, all without him stirring from his deep and peaceful slumber. Strange but it did not particularly bother me.

Then to my dismay his warm fluffy shape began to fade until he disappeared all together. Getting to my feet I stared at the spot he had been. “goodbye, my friend.” it was awful, as if a piece of me had been ripped away. To my shock I felt the warm trails of tears streak down my scaly muzzle. Turning I made my bed in the spot where he had lain.

Tucking my head down I rested my cheek on the grassy ground and savored the last lingering tendrils of his scent. Then as if out of no where a single name floated into my mind and into existence. “Koajakk.” then I knew he was not truly lost for I had his name and drifting into the oblivion of sleep I held it close to my heart.


(Safear has met an unknown deer, under rather strange circumstances and it inspired me to detail her thoughts, if this deer has a name and a player instead of just being a glitch I am sorry, I was just writing from her experience.)