Out of the few places she'd visited so far after she left her leafy home in Eridanus, this was probably her favorite thus far, she thought. It was never dark here, and never would be, for the pretty shiny things in the ceiling always cast a delightful glow. Maybe she should stay here for a while, exploring the maze-like rooms that littered the floor of the room.

She walked around, rolling her little shining beauty around in her mouth, an action that had since become a comforting habit when she was alone. Her gift from Wolf was her constant companion.

Though...being on her own was frightfully lonely. She wondered if there were more friends to meet besides Wolf. Maybe they could give her more shiny beauties! She brightened up at the thought, but... but then she'd have trouble carrying them. One was okay, since she hadn't the chance to talk with anyone yet, but she wished she had something to carry it with. She could swallow it, then she wouldn't have to worry about that sort of thing, but where would it go? Could she leave it somewhere safe? No no no, that was out of the question.

Decisions, decisions...

Her ear twitched, and she swung her head around to her left. Did she imagine that sound?

Tag: All the deer
All of them

VAZI HASIRA

"shattered innocence"

---

He didn't want to be out for too long for Wynry, his Wynry, wasn't with him. He'd left the defenseless lamb alone but perfectly concealed whilst he slept in favor of exploring the world ahead for danger. What danger? Well... he didn't know that for there had been no danger so far in his short life. He just felt a pull to roam and range and explore ahead to make sure nothing would lie in wait. Some distant instincts whispered in his ears to do this. He knew not why these instincts whispered to him but they did... These same instincts also whispered words to him, words that he should say when dealing with others. After all, he had been gifted with the gift of gab and though he didn't know all of the words he spoke he knew they were the right ones.

Now he ranged ahead to Orion, a new area. When he saw it his mouth fell open in awe at the ceiling that seemed to be littered with... Stars. Yes. That was the word, stars. Again, he didn't know where these words came from but they came easily to the young stag. He looked low now and saw crystals on the ground, not unlike the zultanite in his chest. He liked the way this place looked. It was beautiful. He wondered if Wyn would like it too... He should go back and get him! Yes! That's what he would do! He turned to go fetch him but stopped when he noticed a shape not unlike his own. His stone flashed orange and green briefly as the sudden sight of her after rounding the bend of a crumbling stone wall surprised him. "Oh!" He gasped in surprise. Wyn was like him but this one was even more so. She was... a deer, like him. Yes. He knew not what kind, only that they were similar but not completely the same.

With a smile Vazi approached, for he had no reason to be apprehensive. He gave a polite dip of his head, an action dictated again by the strange instincts whispered to him before he spoke. "Greetings. I am Vazi. You are deer, like me." No. That wasn't right. A word, was missing... The word "a", a deer but he'd already spoken the words so it was too late to fix them. It always seemed so easy to miss words and he didn't like that, it annoyed him. "What is your name?" His steely eyes twinkled with excitement while his stone mirrored said excitement by turning a translucent orange.

.

---

words: 431
tagged: Deer Thread
ooc: ---
muse: 6/10

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

Her eyes locked onto the newcomer, and a complicated feeling made her both excited and breathless at the same time. Little things fluttered around in her tummy, and she had utterly no idea what to say. She felt both uncomfortable and exhilarated all at the same time.

Another thing like her! A...deer? Is that what she was? Is that what her name was?
For some reason, that didn't sound right. She knew names were important but...it never occurred to her until now that she didn't have one.

The Vazi was just so pretty to look at, and the more she looked at it, the more flutters fluttered around her tummy. Some irrational thing in her made her want to impress him

She gently dropped her beauty onto the ground, letting it go tnk tnk, and faced the Vazi who watched her with glinting interest.

"Hhh....he-hello Vasss-Vazi." She said with careful iteration, for speech didn't come easily to her. Much like walking, progress was slow, difficult and prone to falling flat, and her nervous feeling didn't help. "My nnn-name, don' know."

Compared to his smooth speech, hers was halting and horrifying and she just felt so self-conscious, and now the Vazi was quiet, as if expecting her to come up with a name to call her, and she grew incredibly flustered.

What would Wolf do? Wolf would know. Completely unsure, she nudged her shining little beauty over to Vazi. "Look. Mmmy pretty thing. Ff-friend gave me." Then, for good measure, for she knew it was a very pleasant feeling, she angled her head up (the Vazi was a little taller than her) and licked his nose and chin.

There! They should be friends now, if she knew anything from experience.

VAZI HASIRA

"shattered innocence"

---

He hadn't noticed the ethereal glow about the female at first but now that he looked at her with her strange right eye it seemed with a glow all of her own. Not just because of her light coat but because of something else. It was entrancing and in her there was something that reminded him of Wyn. Why he didn't know because where Wyn was all confidence, giggles, and joy this girl was shy, stuttering, and nervousness. Yet, there was something similar here but he couldn't place his hoof on what it was.

The large ears of the fawn twitched when he heard the stone drop to the ground. It was a beautiful thing, he wondered where she'd found it. Vazi had seen glowing crystals but not glowing stones before. It was a very unique thing. When she tried to speak Vazi couldn't help but feel sympathy for her. Here she was trying to speak and she wasn't very good at it... it was... cute. However, he felt a flare of pity and a want to help when she didn't know her name. Didn't everyone have a name? If they didn't everyone deserved one.

"Do not know? Well, simply that will not do. Everybody needs name." "A" name. "I can help you find... a name." There. That was better.

The other deer surprised her when she started nudging the glowing stone to him. Oh no... He couldn't take that! Or was she just showing him? He politely looked down at the stone and briefly lowered his head to touch it with his nose. "Yes. It is very pretty. Must... You must have a good friend." Thing? He wondered if she knew the correct term for a "stone". "This is... a very beautiful glowing stone." There he gave her the term. He barely had time to get those words out before the other deer licked him underneath the chin.

He was hooked. This one was so sweet and again he was reminded of Wyn. Would she like to come back with him? He was Wyn's protector perhaps he could be her protector too!

With a joyful smile and a happy wag of his tail he leaned forward and returned the lick to the middle of the doe's forehead. "I like you. Who is... your protector?" Would she know that word? Would she even deem him a worthy protector and want to travel with him? Pft, she probably wouldn't even make the connection between the two but he could try.

.

---

words: 419
tagged: All Deer
ooc: ---
muse: 6/10

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

Stone...stone, stone. She rolled the word around her her head for a bit, and it sounded just right for her little beauty. Maybe the Vazi would know what to call the things she couldn't find names for? Maybe it could help find her name? She laughed, all sweet and bubbly, when he licked her forehead, and her face grew very warm, and she knew they were friends now.

Maybe she could stop being so flustered so that she could ask the questions she'd like answered. The Vazi was...what was the word? She deemed the Vazi incredibly good looking, and she didn't really know how to deal with that. It was confident, polite, standing strong even on thin looking legs, with pretty blue eyes, and when she looked at him she was incredibly tongue-tied. Its smile made her fur bristle.

Intentionally looked away towards the brilliant...stones, on the walls and ceiling, she said, "Fff-friend is best. Wolf is k-kind, and cocky and sad and...and nice." Why wouldn't the words come easily? "Love friend."

Who is your protector? It asked, and she looked back at the Vazi oddly.

Tilting her head to look at it better with her good eye, she asked, "Puh-pro-ttt--" She huffed. "Don' think so. Don't...I don't need." There wasn't anything dangerous that she'd encountered so far, besides the danger of falling to the ground. What would she need protecting from?

But she couldn't help feeling ridiculously flattered that the Vazi wanted to protect her.

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

It was difficult to keep Tamelyn in one place for long. Despite the enclosed nature of the Cave, it also seemed to be potentially endless, with countless new rooms for her to explore. Having no concept of day or night, she slept when she got tired and browsed whenever she got the chance. She had never been in this particular room before, but she found herself wishing she had, for it was simply magnificent.

She was staring, wide-eyed, at the sparkling constellations of gemstones above her. In many of the other caverns, the ceiling had simply been covered in darkness, creating the illusion of an endless void overhead. Here, there was a definite top, but one that shone, both enclosed and boundless. It almost made her dizzy, so she tore her attention away from the ceiling to continue walking, navigating a stairway of cracked stones. She ducked in and out of buildings, poking her nose into everything she could as she made her way down into the heart of the city.

As she walked, she heard voices, and looked around curiously. They seemed to be drifting down a nearby alleyway, so she took off in that direction, hooves ringing out on the stone floor. She skidded to a halt as the alley opened up into a larger space, and within that space, two shapes.

Tamelyn's eyes opened even wider, and she gave a wild whoop, her enthusiasm causing her to leap in place, kicking out with her gangly legs. She was in motion again as soon as her hooves returned to the ground, running up to the two deer. "Hiya!" she said, briefly assuming a stance that was almost like a canine's play-bow, a motion she had picked up from Majora and Arkrael. "My name's Tamelyn, and I've never been in here before, and I've been wonderin' if there were other deer 'sides me and Nyx--" she paused for breath. "And it's really cool to meet more like me, and isn't this place just awesome?"

Having exhausted the last of her sudden burst of energy, she stepped backwards, though her eyes still shone brightly at the sight of two more deer. Now, she took the opportunity to have a closer look at them. The girl was closer in appearance to her, though solid white, rather than splotched as she herself was. The male was a bit larger, and subtle differences in their structures made her wonder if he was a different kind of deer. It hardly mattered to her, though.

"Listen to me."

table by lisa

Fortune had wandered back into that sparkly cave she'd come to call Orion, after what she'd heard some others calling it. It had fun places to explore, and plenty of bright, twinkling rocks to examine, and being just a hop away from the Bone Beds helped too. So, when she emerged from the tunnel between her new home and this dazzling cave, she certainly hadn't expected to see triplicated clones up ahead.

Well, she supposed as she quietly inched closer, they weren't clones, but they certainly looked very familiar. In fact, she noted cautiously, they looked rather like she did, with cloven hooves and stumpy tails and those big, tear-drop shaped ears topping doggish heads. None of them had her horns, but they all seemed plenty similiar otherwise.

Maybe she wasn't so special after all? Whatever the case, she listened intently to the ends of their conversation before stepping out into the open.

"You're all being awful loud." She commented awkwardly, shy as she came to a click-clacking stop just some feet away. "Are you all duiker too? Where are your horns? Why are you all so white?" She suddenly realized their differences, and closer now, she noted one such difference was size. She was tiny compared to these towering giants. Oh gosh, I knew it. I'm still different. Her look of disappointment was obvious.

VAZI HASIRA

"shattered innocence"

---

Vazi had no idea why the other was nervous or the effect he had on her. The young deer just took her as being incredibly unsure of herself and nervous but no idea why. Was she afraid of something coming for her? Or was she just a nervous individual? Wynry was fragile but he didn't exude nervousness all the time. He seemed more sure of himself. Vazi didn't have a grand amount of experience with other creatures. Counting the white doe he had only met two other gembounds so he was still figuring out other emotions and how others interacted.

The young stag's ears twitched when the other spoke her soft words. He nodded his head in agreement with her words. Wolf friend, he sounded troubled and at the same time... nice. Vazi figured that as long as you got along with your friends then it was alright. "You are supposed to love friends. Is why they are friends." "That is why" he corrected himself mentally. It was true that friends were supposed to be the ones you loved. You loved them and they loved you back. Were he and the little one friends? He figured so, he had love in his heart enough for more than one person. He had enough love for many persons! He wanted to meet and make all of the friends he could. It made him happy to be able to call someone a friend.

When she mentioned not needing a friend Vazi simply nodded. The little doe seemed extremely timid to him but that was fine. So far he'd seen nothing in the cave to be afraid of... He didn't even know why he felt the need to protect Wynry but the urge was there. Just as the urge was there for the white doe. Perhaps it was just a thing he felt for all of his friends. "Okay, if you don't need--" He stopped when a loud greeting interrupted his words. His head turned to find another little doe! This one was white and brown but spotted! That was new.

His eyes sparked with interest as he watched her near though the play-bow confused him. Perhaps that was part of a greeting too? He turned to her and mirrored the stance for a brief moment. It felt weird though so he straightened up though a friendly smile was on his face. It was so nice to find others like him! So many others. "It is awesome!" He said calmly but no less excitedly than Tamelyn. "I am Vazi. It is nice to meet you and see another deer... also." His little tail waggled with joy as another one of their kind walked up. This one was absolutely tiny! She also had two little horns sticking up on her head. Strange! He didn't have horns... He wondered if he would ever get them.

"No... I am..." Well, he was a deer, yes. But what sort of deer? He pondered for a moment and after a bit the answer came. "A red deer. I do not know about my horns..." He honestly did not know. He had no knowledge that one day he would have a full rack of antlers, that would be a surprise later on in life.

He caught her look of disappointment and stepped forward, head lowering to her level. "I think it is neat that you have horns... and are different. Makes you... special." He raised his head to look at the others now. "We are all special." Tamelyn with her spotted coat, the white one because she was of one color, the tiny one with her horns, and him because of his size.

.

---

words: 613
tagged: Deer Thread
ooc: ---
muse: 6/10

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

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

Nyx decided to visit the beautiful part of the cave again, with the shiny ceiling she loved to watch so much. But something was different when the fawn entered the cave - very different. There was a group of gembounds gathered and- "Ah!" Nyx had never grinned so widely, she'd never been this happy and surprised. She'd found her paradise.

Nyx looked at a group of gembounds that looked very similar to her. All of them were unique and beautiful and the fawn even recognized one of the deer. "Tamelyn!" She called out and ran over to the other female, nearly crashing into her. The beige-pelted doe nuzzled Tamelyn's neck and grinned at her. "I'm so happy to see you again!" Then she turned around to face the other three, her trademark-dorky smile illuminating her face.

One of them was really small and her gem looked like a horn, which Nyx thought was really cool. Another one was taller than the others and a male, unlike the rest of the gathered gembounds and the fawn wondered if he'd grow to be as tall as her and Tamelyn's huge stag-friend. Deer Daddy.
The last one was completely white and the most beautiful thing Nyx had seen since her birth - save for Majora, no one was as beautiful as the pup in Nyx' eyes. "I'm Nyx and it's cool to meet all of you! I didn't know there were so many of us!"

"Listen to me."

table by lisa

( OOC: Turn order, in order of appearance: Clover, Vazi, Tamelyn, Fortune, Nyx. )

When everyone showed up one after then other, she hardly knew what to do, or what to say. They all spoke much more eloquently than she did, all incredibly friendly and wonderful and different and yet the same, just like her dreams in the reflective ink back at her green home. They all looked like her and she knew that, and that made it all the more important that she make the right first impression.

But the flutters jangled her nerves too much, and she felt too warm and bristly and tense to form anything like a coherent sentence even if her tongue was able to do so in the first place, and before she knew it she was hiding behind the Vazi. She looked at them all carefully with her good eye, admiring them all, thinking them all incredibly beautiful in their own ways.

The Tamelyn was a wild burst of energy, throwing herself into her own introduction, with fur very much like hers, but dappled with reddish brown kisses. The Tamelyn looked incredibly and wonderfully confident and enthusiastic, and she liked the Tamelyn immediately.

The....was it a duiker? Wasn't it a deer like they were? But it looked just like she did, like the Vazi and Tamelyn, even if it was tiny and delicate, even smaller than her. Was the duiker disappointed that it was a duiker instead of a deer? It was being very confusing, but it was okay. She rather liked the duikers horn, and perhaps envied it just a little bit. She agreed with the Vazi about it making the duiker special.

Then the Nyx jumped in out of nowhere, apparently very close friends with the Tamelyn! It was nice seeing others being as good friends as she was with the Wolf and Vazi. Seeing that made her relax a little bit, for she couldn't help it! The Nyx was just so happy and exuberant and lovable.

She muttered to the Vazi, carefully and quietly, "Cuh...ccc...ceele-celebrate." This was something to celebrate, she thought, the fact that they could meet so many like themselves, and there was no doubt in her mind that there were many more of them in the caves. If this many of them had met by accident, there must be more! "Gaaa-gamme. Play g-game."