ORIGIN - life and death and love and birth and peace and war

After an adventurous escapade with the lion cub, Iris had returned to her calling to the waters of Pisces and easily sunk into the depths of the waters. She had hidden her new flower lei in a nook in the wall near the waterfall and now she hunted in the depths of the lagoon. When Lei explained 'fish', she decided that she was not a fish since she could not understand their bubbling noises and that they looked awfully tasty. It was food, yes!

It was awfully nice that Iris was such a big girl, because she was often hunting and gobbling up fish. Just to be nice, she liked to leave a nice big pile of assorted varieties of fish on the shore for the Gembound group that lived here. Iris definitely hadn't met any yet, but she had seen them whilst she observed from the surface of the water. So far, the hybrid hadn't really been noticed.

The waters of Pisces were especially turbulent due to the large whale-dragon child going around and around a school of fish in hunt.

@Hawthorne

Hawthorne's mind kept wandering back to the pure white buck, golden crown perched between his ears, wondering why he and his sister had been sent away. He didn't want to be right, not about the churning feeling in his gut that popped up whenever he was close to Clover - not about his own mom. It felt like a betrayal, somehow, to be so wholly uncomfortable around the other half of him, when he was so completely relaxed around his father... but he had so many memories of stories about the shiny rocks Bartos collected, the stars in a place called Orion, fairy tales and science and gentleness.

All he had of Clover was a muted, dying glow.

Huffing hot, petulant breath out of his nostrils, Hawthorne stalked out of the den, once again absent of both his father and sister. He didn't know where they were, but he kept getting short bursts of irrational anger whenever they vanished again, so he supposed it was something of a blessing. Trotting to the edge of the familiar lake of his home, the buck flopped down, curling all four legs under his stomach, only just resisting the urge to drop his whole face in the cold water from sheer frustration.

Under his golden gaze, the water rippled, violently, and his head shot up to search for the wave's origin, eye widening at the sight of something huge lurking just beneath the surface, feet out from the shore and moving fast. Swallowing dryly, floppy ears flicking back, Hawthorne slowly began to rise, trembling, backing up inch by inch, terrified of letting the... thing... know he was there.

The hybrid enjoyed chasing, and she swam around and around a school of fish in attempts to herd them into a smaller group for the biggest mouthful. Iris didn't realize just how turbulent she was making the waters. Side to side, Iris swerved, allowing the smaller and less satisfactory fish swim away in frenzied terror and leaving the much larger prizes at the center of her little 'whirlpool'. She didn't hesitate much as she cracked her jaws open and snapped them shut on her meal. The rest of the fish scattered, but she was left munching on a nice mouthful of food. After she chewed it a little, she swallowed it all and licked her lips, then swam to the surface to breach and acquire air in her lungs.

And then she saw them. A strange hybrid—just like her—scooting away, ears swiveled back in terror. What was he scared of? Was it something behind her? There must be something behind her. She spun around and began to back out of the water, tail swishing back and forth as she looked for whatever the potential friend could be scared of. When there was nothing, she plopped down on her rump and looked at the deercat. "What's scary?"

@Hawthorne

Another massive ripple, and from the center of the lagoon, something rose, breached the water, sparkling in the sun. Hawthorne's breath caught in his throat, and he scrambled backward, eye wide as he took in the... "Mermaid!" It certainly fit the bill, all pastel and shimmery - and swimming directly towards him, spinning on the spot and hauling up onto dry land, plopping down beside him, maw opening to reveal way too many sharp, pointy teeth for his comfort.

Slowly, Hawthorne shrunk down and away, ears flat against his skull, caught between abject terror and fascination. "U-u-uh, w-well, y-you're p-p-pretty big - with the - s-sharp t-teeth a-and all," the buck stuttered out, scooting away almost comically, inch by inch, neck craning to peer at the strange creature while his hindbrain told him to run away right now this very instant. "...are you a mermaid?" The question came, whispered, after a solid minute of staring, and the catdeer turned bright red as soon as it escaped, tail twitching. "I-I m-mean, u-uh, d-don't eat m-me? I-I'm Hawthorne."

A call rang out as she emerged from the waters. Mermaid? Was that her? She halted in her motions for a moment but continued to crawl onto the shore. Plopped down at the deercat's side, she smiled and wagged her tail. Side to side, it swished and flicked water everywhere.

Wait, she was scary? Nobody had said that to her before. That was bad. Lifting a paw to her own face, Iris felt her sabre-esque teeth and almost pouted like a cute little (actually, large) puppy. "I don't want to be scary..." Watching the fawn continue to scoot away, she sadly plopped her head down on the ground in a lying down position before hearing a question be whispered. A mermaid? That word again. She lifted her tail and curled it about herself so that she may observe it. Holding it with her two front feets, she inspected it carefully. A mermaid. That sounded a lot more accurate than a water lion. "I think I am!"

Eating? Why would she eat him? She tilted her head in confusion and stood up, backing away. "I only eat fish!" And then a name. Hawthorne. Orne! She liked that name. Playfully, Iris bowed down and waved her tail all around in the air. "I'm Iris!" Stamping her feet on the ground, she approached the water again. "Do you wanna play?" she squealed in excitement, hoping that her new friend would say yes.

@Hawthorne

Droplets of water sprayed his fluffy creamsicle coat, and the fur slowly poofed out until Hawthorne looked more like a cotton ball on stilts than a catdeer. "U-uh..." Awkwardly, he watched as the huge creature pawed at its own maw. The pout and the mumble, at least, kicked his mister-fix-it instincts into action, and the tiny buck quickly tapped his front hooves together, gaze widening. "W-well, I m-mean, I'm j-just. You're v-very b-big..?"

Smooth, Hawthorne.

Peering at the pastel water-beast's maw, the buck almost missed her words, blinking in confusion and then breaking out into a grin, scientific fascination relaxing his shoulders into a slump. "A real l-live mermaid! My s-sis will b-be psyched!" Wisteria, out of anyone, seemed to actually try and humor his interests, even if she was the Hero of the two. A tiny sigh of relief met the fish comment, although Hawthorne looked a little peaky at the prospect of eating anything with a heartbeat.

Thankfully, the offer of play stopped that train of thoughts in its tracks. "S-sure! B-but, uh, I-I can't s-swim," the little hybrid added, slowly standing up and trotting to the water's edge with a purr.

@Iris

The hybrid watched the tiny kitten-sized buck fluff himself out to the point of looking like a cottonball covered in bronzer with chopsticks to walk on. Of course, Iris had not a clue what all three of those things were, but it was still amusing. As she pawed at her own maw, the buck was quick to put a band-aid on it. She was very big. Like Lei said, a very very big friend.

While Hawthorne reveled in his excitement, Iris felt the contagiousness of it as well and she waggled her rear end. Her flukes splashed about in the water and she smiled gleefully. A mermaid sounded just right! She was a mermaid. "What's a 'sis'?" she wondered aloud for a moment, but quickly dismissed that curiousity, continuing to waggle like an overstimulated puppy dog.

Iris blinked and crashed into the water as Hawthorne approached it, voicing his doubts about playing. For only a moment, she disappeared beneath the surface but then resurfaced with just her head above the water like a crocodile's. She inched closer to the catdeer and she squealed, "I can give you a ride!" With her paw, she beckoned to her crown and noodled closer to the buck, waiting with almost star-eyes.

@Hawthorne