I LOVE THE HOLIDAYS!
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Prompt:
Name: Xenon Doyle
Xenon Doyle was treading home very softly through the December pre-dawn dark, during that time when the sun is just rising, but the light is becoming warm and rosy despite the fading twilight. A bookbag was slung casually over one shoulder, and his dark hands were stuffed into his coat pockets. As he exhaled, little puffs of breath like snowy smoke faded into the cold air.
Winter here in Celeste wasn't nearly so unpleasant as it could be elsewhere, but it was still chilly at night. Xenon just wished his little cafe didn't take so long to get started warming up in the mornings. One of these days, he was actually going to shell out the money to get the damned heater fixed. Or replaced. Whichever worked better in the long run.
Xenon rounded a bend in the path he took through the park, about ready to start jogging to warm up, his clothes getting mussed up be damned. This was not a morning to hang around in the cold.
However, Xenon was brought up short before he could start jogging. Was that a baby deer? It was, wasn't it? Xenon wasn't that into animals, despite trips with his more eccentric uncles hunting, but he was aware that deer that small were generally...well...baby animals. Deer that small were supposed to be babies, not adults...right? Damn. Maybe he should've read up more on his books about forest wildlife. That might've been useful right now.
The small deer stared at Xenon with large, liquid eyes. He stared back at the diminutive creature. His uncles' words of advice concerning wild animals came back to him, and Xenon didn't make any sudden moves, and nor did he approach the animal. Even a tiny deer such as this could kick, bite, or even attack him fiercely and dangerously with its petite antlers. Despite this, Xenon felt that he should do something for this baby deer, maybe offer it his scarf, no matter how meager the warmth it would give the poor, lonely critter.
Xenon was unsure whether it was five or fifteen minutes that he spent staring at the deer, before realizing that it didn't look like a baby deer, and looked more like a miniature deer. It took a little longer to start to move back the way he'd come carefully. Much as Xenon still felt he should offer the deer a way to keep warm, messing around with an adult wild animal, especially a small buck or stag, was a really bad idea. He'd managed to edge himself carefully backward along the path to the bend when something snapped in the trees just off the path.
The deer bounded away, probably startled by the crackle of the branches someone had carelessly stepped on. Xenon hadn't even realized he'd been holding his breath transfixed in a kind of wondering, nervous, shy awe. Deer weren't that common in Celeste, and seeing such a tiny one on such a wintry December morning, just made Xenon forget how cold his cafe would be until he arrived and unlocked the door. He shivered as he made his way inside, turning on the lights and various equipment to start his own day off with coffee, before serving the citizens of Celeste who frequented his little shop. He wished only after his employees started arriving that he'd taken a photo of the deer on that December morning.