Thread is being forward-dated to May 2024

She stood half-concealed behind a lone tree, looking out at a distant herd of meadow deer. She was garbed in her more active wear rather then the comfortable dress she preferred, hands fiddling with a small satchel. She was nervous - this would be her first time actually approaching the deer and, while she had a small concealed stone knife, she was otherwise unarmed so if this went bad...it would go quite bad.

She thought she had a good handle on their behavior at least. She'd been following and watching the herd for some time. They were protective and could grow dangerous, but were otherwise fairly passive, preferring to stick to themselves rather then look for trouble. It reminded her of the buffalo that sometimes roamed the open fields in the valleys of the Vaa. She would never have ever risked getting close to them, but these were...well, really her only option.

And that option was animal products. Yes, she could go out and hunt and butcher meat and collect animal skins, but she sorely missed milk and cheese and the many, wonderful uses of butter. Now that she felt fairly settled with Lilith in a small encampment on the edge of the meadow, she wanted to start doing something. They had the whole world ahead of them - the possibilities were endless!

Eleanora had never actually personally domesticated a wild animal but, well...she figured the best place to start was with food. So she'd gathered some of the sweet berries in the forest as well as some of the oats she'd made. Hopefully that would tempt them well enough.

Still, it was quite terrifying. She continued to fidget, sometimes stepping out from behind the tree and then losing her nerve, scoffing at herself for her cowardice. It was times like these that she truly missed the witch village, and the safety that came with numbers and companions.

Pegasus was, as it turned out, quite good for deer. Not only those behemoth-sized monstrosities that were more akin to rhino-moose, but also small deer, medium-sized deer, and... owl-deer. Kai had been picking at the grass (and trying to ignore her instinct to snatch the occasional mouse she saw within) when she heard the thump of distant Meadow Deer feet.

Her head came up, eyes pressed near-shut against the sudden sweep of wind that tousled fur and field. For a moment, she simply noted the location of the herd. Though they'd never shown her any threat, she didn't ever get close, mostly because of the size and all those pointy bits. But past the plumes of dust kicked up by their gradual, grazing passage, she noted something else: a flap of pale cloth that stood out against the sheets of green.

Kai squinted harder.

A--person? A figure, of some kind, moving suddenly back behind the cover of the tree, as if... hesitating, somehow. She was facing the deer, facing away from Kai from this direction, and impulsively the owl-deer decided to go... say hello. To get involved in whatever this might be. It was half curiosity, part boredom, and a dash of the desire to socialize, but a moment later she was picking her way over loamy earth to the stranger's side.

She paused a few steps off, looking from Eleanora off to the deer, and back again, and then back to the deer once more. Kai thought, for a very long moment, before speaking.

"They're big," was what she offered, at last, by way of a conversational opener.

@Eleanora

Not expecting anyone else to be here, Eleanora flinched lightly at the sound of a voice. Her head turned to see another deer - smaller and more graceful then the massive meadow deer, and stranger looking, like an owl's head had been put upon it. Not a wild deer, then, with that fact and the fact that it was speaking to her.

She smiled. "Oh, hello. Yes, they're...quite large." She looked out from behind the tree again. "I'm a little afraid of them, but...well, I'd like to try to make friends with them, I guess. Where I'm from, we had similar beasts. We took care of them in exchange for milk and wool and other things. I guess...these are the closest there is here." It was so foolish when she was saying it out loud now - these were not the same as the cattle on the surface! These were not sheep! These were more akin to the herd beasts in the wilds that most knew to stay away from, for fear of being gored.

She rubbed her hands on her face. "Ugh, this is such a bad idea."

@Kai

She listened, silent, as the wind ruffled her fur. And she considered.

It must be said that Kai had little to no experience in any of this: making friends, talking about livestock, or interacting (in any way) with the Meadow Deer herds. But she tried her best to puzzle out the most coherent response. Thankfully, her common sense did not completely fail her, here. "Maybe if you start with a very young one," she suggested.

As she mulled over their conversation thus far, she realized something, and her glance went Eleanora's way. "-What do you mean, where you're from?" she asked, puzzled by this. "Is there a cave with more of these, ahh-... Creatures?" Also: milk? ...Why? ...but one thing at a time.

@Eleanora

Dammit, Eleanora, running her mouth as always. She'd really been trying, in recent cycles, to remember what Vargas had said about keeping her origins to herself. Yet there she went, throwing it out in casual conversation.

She looked back towards the gembound and thought for a second. How about...being crafty about this? She wanted to know if she could trust her and she also didn't think that having some help with this would be a bad idea, especially if they were a cave native. She smiled. "How about you help me with this...and I'll tell you all about where I'm from. I'm Eleanora, by the way." She had to stop herself from putting out her hand for the deer to shake.

She glanced back to the herd, looking for a young one. That had been a good idea - the younger might be more willing, but also more dangerous, as the parents may grow more protective if they approached. It was a gamble.

She raised the handful of berries and oats she had. "I have some food for them. I figured that'd be a good place to start." She pointed towards a younger looking deer on the edge of the herd, flanked by what she assumed to be its mother. "How about that one?"

@Kai

"I am Kai," she answered, owlish eyes trained on the herd. "Knight of Flowers, to the Prince of Void." It was unclear just what this title meant, but she glanced now to Eleanora.

"I could try to speak with them?"

She was half-deer. Admittedly, those meadow deer didn't talk; not as she did. It wasn't clear exactly what she meant by talking with them at all, and Kai did not elaborate.

She also didn't clarify if that had anything to do with the concept of feeding some of them, but... a question from before still lingered and tickled at her mind. And so, she asked it:

"Ahem. ...Why 'milk?'" she asked, peering at Eleanora.

@Eleanora

She stared at Kai for a moment, a little taken aback by the formal introduction and also the title. Prince of the Void didn't exactly sound...positive to her, but then again what did she know? Everything in these caves took getting used to and nothing ended up the way she expected.

"Well, nice to meet you, Kai. If you can talk to them, then by all means. That would make this easier." She looked her up and down and did realize that she definitely looked to be at least partially deer. Maybe there was some deer language that they instinctively knew. She didn't know, she certainly didn't speak it.

As for milk, she smiled. "Oh, it has so many uses! I'm guessing you've never had cheese or butter before...? And you can make cream and yogurt too. And-" she glanced at the beasts again. "It looks like they have some wool or thick fur - that's good for cold weather clothing, I'm thinking if they shed it I could collect it? Not sure on that one yet."

@Kai

Kai turned her head owlishly, staring at Eleanora as if the latter had sprouted a second head. Or maybe a seventh, or an eighth. It was almost... taken aback.

"I don't know what any of that is," she said, flatly. Then she cleared her throat, as if realizing her affect had been a little... rude. She didn't mean it. Really, she didn't; it was just that whole... socializing thing. She was still learning. "...Butter, or cream. Or yoghurt." She paused, still staring. "Or clothing." Her tone, at least, sounded more thoughtful now.

Kai then looked out at the Meadow Deer herd.

"I will try to speak with them," she half-agreed, half-declared, with an air of importance. Not arrogance: but almost like a child playing make-believe, and agreeing to play the part of a kindly queen.

Without another word she set off, picking her way unhurriedly through the grass toward the herd. As a few heads lifted her way, she called out, and it abruptly became clear that Kai did not, in fact, know any 'deer language.'

"Ah... Hello," she said, her voice neutrally friendly, and airy. "I was wondering if my new friend here could..." and she paused, thinking. "Get milk from you?"

Heads rose, bovine eyes remaining relatively gentle as they found and settled on the approaching almost-deer. The Meadow Deer considered Kai, but they seemed to regard her after a moment's examination as 'not a predator,' at least. So far, indeed, 'not a threat.' Perhaps being relatively deer-shaped did help.

Their heads remained up, eyes trained on her, but their soft lowing and shuffling and cropping of grass continued. There were no alarm calls or snorts, no stamping or swinging around to face her. Yet.

@Eleanora

She watched hopefully as Kai made her way out towards the deer. She waited a bit, still keeping herself mostly hidden, but when Kai didn't speak in some strange language, or animal noises, or anything but normal language, she let out a sigh of...annoyance? Exasperation? Anxiety? She didn't know. But this could possible throw quite the wrench in their plans. At the very least, the deer didn't seem to be taking it all that bad.

So Eleanora finally stepped out from behind and began to carefully approach the beasts, slowly, keeping herself in sight, and then holding out her hand, with the berries and homemade oats she had collected out for the deer to see. "Uhhh...it's okay. I'm no threat. I just want to be friends. Maybe we can...come to an arrangement?" She spoke softly and kindly, even if they couldn't understand her, she'd always found that animals responded better to kindness.

She gently tossed the berries towards the deer on the edges of the herd, and where they fell, she willed some of the plants there to grow more, sprouting small wildflowers and regrowing the grass they had already grazed upon. She glanced at Kai, nervous, hoping that they didn't react...poorly.

@Kai