Nyx Dawnwalker Follow your dreams.

Nyx decided not to lay around waiting for an adventure but to look for one herself. And slowly but surely, she was starting to get hungry. Carefully, the fawn stood up and prided itself on getting better at using her long legs. Right now, they looked disproportionate to the rest of her body, but that would change over time.
Anyway, Nyx then raised her black nose into the air and took a large breath, concentrating on the smells lingering in the air.

There was something nearby that smelled sweet and tempting, therefore the doe followed this scent. It lead her into a narrow tunnel, lit better than some others parts of the cave due to glowing green plants littering the walls. Bushes grew between patches of the glowing moss and Nyx tentatively bit into a large leaf. The fawn loved its taste and took a bigger bite after that and another and another. For now, she'd found her favorite meal.

Her tiny tail swished happily from side to side, much like a dog's or wolf's would. Nyx happily chewed the leaves of the bush, black eyes looking around the tunnel. Should she go back to where she'd come from or do more exploring after she finished eating?

"Listen to me."

table by lisa

Tam had quickly realized that hunger wasn't a pleasant sensation. When she was newly hatched, she had test-nibbled every plant she could find, discovering which ones were good to eat and which were not. It was one of the easier things for her to remember. She was browsing at the moment, eating as she wandered through the labyrinthine Cave. The fawn walked down a hallway, nibbling some of the glowing mosses off the walls. They tasted oddly sweet, but she liked it.

Engrossed in her task, she didn't notice the other fawn until she was almost on top of her. The girl had been hidden by the shadows, though it wasn't nearly as bad here as it was in other places, and her scent was overpowered by the odd, nectar-like flavor of the air in his particular cave. Tamelyn jumped back with a startled bleat, staring wide-eyed at the other deer. The other deer. There was someone like her in these caves! Joy overrode the initial startle, and she pranced forward, tail flicking excitedly. "You's like me!" she giggled, approaching the other fawn. Well, not quite--she lacked the splotch markings Tam carried, and instead bore small dapples. Tamelyn didn't mind, though. Any friend was a good friend.

She stopped, considering. "But...you's not Tamelyn too, right?" If the creature had her appearance, maybe it had her personal sound, too. That would have been a bit of a downer, learning that she had to share her name. What if there were even more of them? Would she just be part of an entire herd of Tamelyns?

Nyx Dawnwalker Follow your dreams.

Nyx hadn't noticed that someone was approaching her until the other almost ran into her. Frightened, she stumbled back, her ears flat against her head. She swallowed thickly as the other doe talked.

From what Nyx knew of her own appearance (she'd seen it in the crystal stream near where she emerged), this creature looked quite similar to her. Their marking where different, but that was the biggest difference. And she had this orange-glowing stone in her leg, unlike Nyx, who had a blue stone between her shoulder-blades.

Eventually, Nyx smiled and her posture relaxed again. "Me is Nyx." She said confidently, tail swishing from side to side again. "You is Tam- Tamelyn?" The fawn stammered as she tried to pronounce the name, but hoped she got it right in the end.
Speaking was hard for the young doe, but it seemed she and Tamelyn would be able to communicate for now. In the end - of course Nyx wasn't able to know - they could always resort to instinctual communication, seeing as they belonged to the same species.

Curiously, Nyx took a few steps towards Tamelyn to breathe in her smell. Both of them weren't really old enough to have developed a unique smell, but Nyx was happy to find they smelled alike. It comforted her, knowing there was someone similar to her here. "Tam wants food?" Nyx offered, nodding her head towards the bushes they were standing by.

"Listen to me."

table by lisa

The other fawn--other, she still enjoyed thinking that--stumbled over her name briefly, but was able to get or more or less right. She nodded encouragingly as the other deer finally managed to pronounce it. "Bu' Tam is okay too." The pup named Fisher had coined her nickname for her, and while she still liked the sound of "Tamelyn", she knew from personal experience that it was easier to hear than to say. The other girl's personal sound was much easier to pronounce. Nyx. It made her think of something quick and nimble.

She sniffed Nyx in turn, noting both similarities and differences. They were obviously both deer, though they appeared to be different kinds. Tam didn't know the words "fallow" or "whitetail"--to her, the difference might as well have been that she was Tamelyn the deer and the other was Nyx the deer. The young girl didn't ponder it for long, however, especially not once food was mentioned.

She nodded enthusiastically at Nyx's offer of food, prancing forward to give the bushes a sniff. She hadn't seen them before, but if Nyx had been eating them, they were probably safe. She took a small bite at first, sampling the flavor. It was surprisingly good, and she ate more, taking a moment to move over so Nyx could continue to eat if she so wished. She raised her head and swallowed a mouthful of leaves, looking back at Nyx. "Dis place is big..." she said, referring to the caverns they called home. "D'you think it goes on for'ver?" She had yet to question whether or not the Cave was all there was. To her, it was all there was. She did not have any concept of sky, or sunlight, or a world without walls. Whether she would be content to stay that way would remain to be seen.

Nyx Dawnwalker Follow your dreams.

Nyx nodded when Tamelyn said that calling her Tam was alright. The other doe's normal name was a little tricky, but Nyx decided to do her best and learn to pronounce it anyway.

Tamelyn seemed to like the leaves of the bush as much as Nyx did, which made the fallow deer smile. Maybe they could be friends.
"Hm." Nyx actually had to think about Tam's question, she hadn't even wondered about that before. "Yes, I think so. Many adventures." She answered with a dorky smile on her face. Nyx hadn't seen everything there was to this cave, so she simply assumed it went on forever. Which meant there were countless adventures to be found too!

"Tamelyn alone?" The fawn asked, eating more leaves. She thought of Majora, her best friend, and wondered if Tamelyn would get along with them.

"Listen to me."

table by lisa

very sorry for the short reply!

(Nah, it's fine.)

Tamelyn We'll reel away til the break of day
and dance together til morning!

Adventures. That was a nicer way to think of it. Tamelyn was normally the last creature to ever have a depressing thought, but when you got down to it, she was just a very small animal in a very large, potentially endless world. What if there was nothing but these few tunnels and then just...darkness and cold, on and on? She found she much preferred Nyx's view of the world. "Yeah, adventures!" she agreed, her smile returning.

It slipped away again, however, as Nyx asked if she was alone. "Well..." She wasn't entirely alone. She had friends. There was Arkrael, whom she had hatched with, and Leon, and Fisher, and Majora, possibly even Phoenix. But they were all off wandering around somewhere, doing their own thing. The girl didn't know what a "herd" was, but she understood loneliness, and knew she didn't like the feeling. "Kinda. Sometimes alone." She looked back at Nyx curiously. "Is Nyx alone?" Maybe the other deer felt the same way, that it wasn't right to travel solo. She still didn't know why it didn't feel right, though. Tamelyn had yet to encounter a carnivore aside from Fisher, and she herself had certainly never been hunted. But the young girl simply felt unhappy when she was alone for extended periods of time.

"Listen to me."

table by lisa

Nyx Dawnwalker It always seems impossible
until it's done.

Nyx was happy to know that Tamelyn liked adventures too. So far, all of her friends liked adventures and that was really cool because the doe thought she needed to have them all meet some day and then they could go on adventures together!

The fallow deer's joy subsided when Tamelyn dropped her smile suddenly. Had her question been rude? Maybe she shouldn't have asked. "Only sometimes." She answered, her smile widening again. "Nyx is almost always with her friends. Isaac and Fisher and Majora!" While the doe spend her adventuring-time with Isaac and Fisher, she spend her nights with Majora, cuddling with the pup and talking of her favorite adventures. "Tamelyn and Nyx should be friends too!" While she did spend most of her time with her friends, none of them were like Tamelyn and Nyx. They shared things they wouldn't find in the other gembounds.

Not that Nyx didn't like her friends, no! She loved them, especially her closest friend Majora, but Tamelyn was like Nyx. None of her friends had their long legs or their sensitive ears, for example. Isaac and Fisher enjoyed barking and that was fine, but Nyx always felt strange when they did, because it hurt her ears but they even seemed to be able to communicate like that!
And they eat meat. Which was weird to a herbivore like Nyx, but she didn't question their taste, as they didn't question hers.
Leaves were much tastier though, the fawn was sure.

"Listen to me."

table by lisa

Tamelyn We'll reel away til the break of day
and dance together til morning!

She felt jealous as Nyx spoke of her friends. That jealousy vanished, however, as she realized that she recognized some of their names. "Fisher an' Majora!" she said excitedly, jumping up and down. "I know them! Fisher's my frien' too, and Majora helped us figure out the machine in Polaris!" That was another point in Nyx's favor. If they shared friends, then how bad could the other deer be? Tamelyn didn't know who Isaac was, but she guessed they were nice too, if Nyx liked them. She nodded and grinned at Nyx's offer of friendship, feeling warmth well up in her chest. "Def'nitly! Tam an' Nyx!" She liked all her friends, but she didn't have any deer friends. The knowledge that there were others like her in the world made her feel a little less lonely.

Well, there was one other. She dropped her head, voice lowering to a conspiratorial whisper. "There's 'nother deer in the Cave, bu' I've only seen him once. He's a lot taller, and he's got these things coming ou' of his head, like branches, an' they're really cool!" She screwed up her nose. "'Cept for the mushrooms, though." As impressive as the buck had been, the fungi growing from him had seemed awfully uncomfortable. "I don't know if he'd wanna be friends, though. He helped us, but he's kinda...weird." Of course, they didn't mean she didn't admire the stag, if only because he represented a promise of what she could eventually grow into.

"Listen to me."

table by lisa

(Majora was in Shed Some Light, so I'm leaving it very vague as to whether the lights are actually on in this thread xD Maybe the tunnels are still dark.)

Nyx Dawnwalker It always seems impossible
until it's done.

Nyx was quite surprised - positively of course - when Tamelyn recognized two of the names. They had two common friends, what a coincidence! The fallow deer shared the other's excitement, wagging her tail instead of jumping like Tamelyn.

Suddenly, the piebald-pelted doe's voice dropped and Nyx had to lean in to understand everything Tamelyn was saying.
Another deer? Nyx tried to imagine it, listening curiously to every word Tamelyn said. But unlike her, Nyx didn't think the buck was weird - well, he didn't sound weird to her - and she would love to meet him. "He sounds cool." The fawn admitted with a dorky smile. "I want to meet him! Do you know his name?" Nyx was excited now, thinking about how easily she could run into him somewhere in the cave.

"Listen to me."

table by lisa

Requested NPC interaction. Deer Daddy needs to magically pop up so he can meet tiny Nyx (and tiny Tamelyn again).

For as little or as often as he showed his face to the children of the caves, they remembered him just as well. He did not know what to call it, that swelled in his chest when he overheard them speak of him - pride? - with wonder and awe. But he could empathize. They were as curious and incredible as he, if not moreso; the stag viewed them with revelry. What bountiful, what boundless creatures he was blessed to share the cave with. To watch over. To protect. Every day he saw more and more of them, enraptured by their unique innocence.

The voices of two fawns rang through the tunnel. He was merely passing from Polaris to Orion when he heard them, and they spoke of him; as though fate had beckoned him here for this moment alone. Tall mushrooms bent in his wake, bowing to the kingly stag as he strode past. A cloud of benign spores hovered between the fingers of his antlers, never once leaving their grasp. He saw the youths, illuminated by the glowing green mosses, speaking of him as men revered Gods.

The stag halted before them, looking down upon the fawns with soft sunset eyes. "Name?" He questioned gently, blinking, as though the concept was foreign to him.