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 Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 4:51 pm
 Stardust was out wandering, as normal looking for a trail he'd been told about. This time it was a pile of turtle bones. This means sloshing through a river, which is fine. Even with the scare he'd had as a colt, he'd nearly become a crock's lunch, Stardust doesn't fear the large lizards.
In fact, there's not much that he does fear. Talking with dead things has warped him in more ways then one. Stardust sees no line between life and death, just one open road where he can see, hear and talk to both. It is for this reason that he doesn't fully understand that once he's dead, that's it. No more Stardust, or bone talking or seeing his mother.
Carefully he moves through the water, trying to disturb it as little as possible. It's bones he's after tonight, a skeleton to gift his mother. A Kimeti skeleton is what she wants most, but the turtle had said this was a crocodile skeleton. And best yet, it's complete. Now Stardust simply needs to find it. Another reason to take care, he must match his steps to the smaller creatures. Hard to do, but much easier then matching them to a mouse or foxbun's stride. He moves with short, slow steps, his noes nearly touching the water as he searches.
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Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 5:12 pm
Undecorated Desire wasn't paying attention when she fell into the river. She had been following a giant moth -- a particularly shiny and colorful one -- in hopes of perhaps catching it and training the beautiful thing to be her own. Unfortunately, with her gaze trained upwards to follow the moth's flight, Want hadn't noticed the sudden riverbank as it appeared below her, and had tumbled head-over-heels down the muddy slope, landing with a loud splash in the cold river water.
"Eeek!" Want shrieked as she flailed around in the water, scrambling to her feet and looking around frantically for the disappeared giant moth, mud dripping down her sides. "Damn it!" she exclaimed, stomping one of her forelegs in the water in frustration.
Unfortunately, her hoof caught in something and she fell again, face first into the water. As she pulled herself to standing, she peered down into the water to see what had caught on her hoof -- and screamed in terror. It was the skeleton of a crocodile, grinning up at her from the water.
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Posted: Sat Feb 05, 2011 1:32 pm
Hearing a screech, Stardust looks up in time to see a green blur tumble into the water. He watches as she rights herself, only to fall again. Catching sight of what caused her second fall, he grins and makes his way over. "Are you hurt?" he asks, paying more attention the the bones under the water then her. Stardust's question is aimed both at the doe and skeleton and he nods as if getting an answer, even before the doe speaks. "Hold still a moment, it's not damaged and I'd like it to stay that way." Seeing her hoof caught between two ribs, Stardust nods again. "If you slide your leg back you'll be able to get free. But please, do so carefully I'd like to keep this one."
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Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 3:54 pm
Want opened her mouth to answer the buck's question but shut it again quickly, noticing his focus more on the rather terrifying skeleton she was caught in than on herself. She stared at the strange buck, raising an eyebrow as he nodded in response to something that clearly only he could hear.
"You'd like to...to keep it?" she responded incredulously, her gaze flipping back and forth between the buck and the skeleton she was caught in. She understood collecting things -- she herself had quite a stash of her own -- but she limited herself to the most beautiful and pretty things she could find, and this skeleton was...well, pretty disgusting, to say the least. She shivered, glad there was at least no flesh left on the damn thing -- it was bad enough that bones were touching her, but rotting crocodile flesh would just have been too much.
Appreciative, at least, of the unusual buck's help in extricating herself from the skeleton, Want follows his advice, sliding her leg backwards out of the entangling rib cage and free. She lets out a breath of relief. "Oh goodness, thank you!"
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Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 4:34 pm
"Your welcome." He says again nodding, this time once to Undecorated Desire and once to the skeleton. "Of course I mean to keep it. Not for me, though, for my mother. She collects bones, I just talk to them." Stardust states this as if it is as natural as breathing. Which, for him, is true. "Anyway I'm Stardust." Again said as a statement, with no pressure for the other to share her own name.
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Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 1:03 pm
"You...you talk to bones?" Want asked, incredulous. "Do...do they talk back?" She took a few steps backwards, a little worried that this buck might not be all there in the head.
"Oh, um, I'm Undecorated Desire," the doe added in response to the Stardust's offering of his name. "But people call me Want."
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Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 9:45 pm
Stardust gives her ah 'well d'uh' look. "Of course they talk back. It was a turtle skeleton who told me about this one." There is absolute sincerity in his voice.
"Nice to meet you, Want." He flashes a smile, a look of amusement in his eyes. "Would you help me haul this out of the water?" Stardust asks, a slight teasing note in his voice. He'd seen her initial reaction and while actually help might be nice, Stardust was in a jesting mood. Skeletons had the best stories, but fleshed creatures were more fun to play with.
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Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 3:39 pm
Want continued to eye the buck as if he was a little off in the head and might, perhaps, explode at any moment. "You want me to touch it? Again? What are you going to do with it?" If she kept up this level of incredulity her eyes might get permanently stuck in an expression of confused shock.
The doe looked back down at the skeleton warily and grimaced. "Why should I help you anyway?" she continued with a flick of her ears. "What's in it for me?"
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Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 8:57 pm
"My mother would like it." Stardust states. "What is it you want? I've met many bones and all have told me interesting things." He looks from her to the submerged skeleton. "I'm sure one of them might know where it is, if you told me what you seek."
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:33 am
Want hesitated, unsure how to answer the question. What do I want? A million things ran through her head. As a general rule, she wanted pretty much everything.
"I don't know..." she replied, swishing one of her hooves back and forth in the water. "...I don't want anything in particular. Just...pretty things. I collect them."
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:18 am
"I've a collection of bird skulls, you could have one if you'd like." Stardust's tone is teasing, but with an edge that suggests he really does have a skull collection. "In all seriousness I have a small collection of shiny and pretty things." He shrugs, finding them is more a treasure to him then the things. "Or if there's nothing there to catch your eye I know of other pretties the bones have told me of. I'd be willing to find them for you."
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 12:51 pm
Want tilted her head in thought. Skulls weren't exactly what came to mind when she thought of "pretty," but she was open to adding new types of things to her collection.
"I suppose a bird skull could be considered pretty in some ways," she said, looking back up to Stardust and nodding her head in assent. "Yes, I suppose I'll help you," she agreed, smiling at the buck, her squeamishness in regards to the crocodile skeleton quickly fading at the prospect of getting a new treasure to add to her collection.
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:51 pm
Stardust stares at her a moment, mouth open in shock. He hadn't meant for her to accept a skull. Still if it'd get her to help, and broaden her view of pretty, it was a small price to pay. He nods and smiles at her. "They are a nice color, especially the beaks. Thank you." Turning his attention to the skeleton, Stardust ponders the best way to move it. "If I crouch down do you think you could get it over my back, so the skull is resting on my head?" It would be awkward to move but its the best way to move it.
Not waiting for an answer he moves next to it, lengthwise and lay down in the water. "Good thing its not too deep but still deep enough to help support the weight." The water just comes up over his back, giving a few inches of buoyancy.
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Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 3:02 pm
Want watches as Stardust kneels down into the water and then moves to the other side of the skeleton, pausing and looking at the position of the bones for a minute before ducking down and using her head and the top of her neck to maneuver the front half of the skeleton on top of Stardust.
"At least the thing's clean," she says as she steps back, examining her work. "But how far do we need to move it? It's going to be tough getting the whole thing very far in one piece like this."
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Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:01 pm
Stardust bites back a comment about it being clean and stands. If by clean the doe meant no chunks of flesh, then yes it was. But he doubted it was really clean. "Not far down the path." He grunts, the skeleton was heavier then he'd thought. Carefully, he climbs from the water and heads back home. It's slow going, mostly because his pace is deliberate, but also because he stops now and then to look back at the bones. A walk that would normally take just a few minutes ends up taking over half an hour.
Reaching his den, Stardust lays down and gives a little wiggle. The skeleton slides off his back, landing on the ground. He stands and inspects it for damage. Finding none, Stardust turns back to the doe. "Thanks. Most of my collection is over there." He nods toward a fallen tree, whats left of the stump is rotted out and glints and gleams can be seen from it. "Help yourself. Or if there's nothing there you like, we could go find something."
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