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 Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 2:38 pm
Winter hadn’t just touched the land. It had brutally grabbed the land like a helpless insect and squeezed. Around here, winter didn’t delicately drop hints over a month or so. It turned up overnight, rather like an unwelcome and rude houseguest. And, much like an unwelcome and rude houseguest, it overstayed its welcome as well. Donner shook his head and blew the ice away from his nostrils, snorting harshly. So much for going to ask Sesilida about Anlach this year… well, there was always next year. And he had to consider Blitzen’s advice as well. As sensible as it had seemed at the time, now that he thought about it, she hadn’t given him very much advice at all.
Still, if there was a bright side to this situation, it was that Dasher hadn’t talked Sesilida into being in his harem either. Dasher only wanted her because Donner liked her anyway. The bull shoved the thoughts out of his mind; they were depressing anyway and there were other things to focus on, like keeping an eye out for wolves. Although no younglings had been born this Anlach, the wolves didn’t know that, and there had been a lot more scented around here lately.
Maybe he could get more advice on Sesilida from another cow… Blitzen wasn’t the only cow in the herd, after all. Mulling this over, Donner barely registered Dancer’s scent on the wind. His ear flicked, a sign of mild anxiety for him; the lone cow in Dasher’s harem didn’t agree with him any more than the bull did. Still, it was good to know that she was alive.
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Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 3:53 pm
Dancer was a bit lonley. Fenna was all grown up and Dasher was too busy wooing another cow into his harem. She sighed, "Why am I all alone?" Her body shivered against the cold and her breath came in puffy white clouds. Her scouting wasn't revieling much at all. No wolves. The Fallen wasn't here. Nothing but swirling white. She was facing the opposite way of the wind so Donner's scent never reached her as he approached.
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Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 3:46 pm
Donner’s bells shook, their sound almost completely swallowed by the wind. It really was a ravenous creature, one that wasn’t so easily satisfied with just consuming noise. It would much rather have flesh. “Dancer?” Donner’s voice came over the wind only with some difficulty. As he came closer, Dancer’s form became more visible, all long-legs that had given her her name. With her pale tan coat, it was easy to loser her in the white snow. “Are you alright?”
It wasn’t that he honestly thought she was hurt or anything; it was simply his nature to worry about absolutely everyone, even those he didn’t necessarily get along well with. “Have you seen anything?” again, that wasn’t likely. Donner simply liked to be thorough when it came to rounds.
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Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 2:39 am
Dancer spun about to stare at the bull deer. Her antlers were down at first thinking he was an intruder of some sort. Seeing that it was just Donner, she raised her muzzle to look at him. The wind whistled around her collar shaking her bells as well as the bull's. She was surprised to see Donner. "What are you doing here?" she gasped. Donner asked her a question in reply. 'He didn't hear me,' she pouted inwardly.
"No. Clear," she shouted this time, almost like a soldier. Bowing her head slightly she stared at Donner's submerged hooves. It was cold, even for their kind. She shivered slightly and shook out her antlers. The snow that was dislodged was quickly replaced. Dancer was not one happy little cow.
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Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 12:53 pm
Donner nodded at her answer, pleased that there was no sign of anything… dangerous. Of course, in this weather, the wolves were probably all taking shelter somewhere. Most wolves, anyway. Donner had doubts about that big white one. It was strange, but not seeing the large white wolf was almost more disconcerting than when he could see it. At least then he knew exactly where it was and knew it wasn’t sneaking around the flank of the herd to snatch someone.
“The other Outriders are already back with the rest of the herd. It’s too cold to be out here alone.” Ha. As if Dancer didn’t know that already. Despite her horrendous taste in bulls, she wasn’t dumb or anything. She did her duty as an Outrider Cow and all of that, even while raising her children. That was rather impressive. Shaking the snow off, Donner turned back towards the herd and started walking, pausing only to make sure that Dancer was following. “How are your daughters doing, Dancer?” he asked, since this seemed like a good thing to know. It had been a while since he had seen either of the girls.
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Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 7:22 pm
Dancer blinked and began to follow Donner back to the main herd abandoning her post. "Well," she sighed in reply to Donner's question, "Seren is just fine. She's been spending a lot of time with Dash learning the ways of the Outrider. I doubt she'll become one though. And Fenna, after the Fallen attack, has been distant. Right now, she's wandering out along the Outrider posts. I think she's planning on leaving the herd." Dancer shook her head.
She was worried about Fenna, but Fenna didn't seem to see or care. Dancer sighed heavily. She didn't see the Fallen, but what asher had told her, it had been bad. "Donner, what do you think I should do? That Fallen....Gluttony I think it was, he did a number on my daughter. And who knows, he may come back!"
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Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 3:59 pm
“I wouldn’t be too surprised if Seren becomes an Outrider. It runs in her family.” That, and if she was spending a lot of time learning to become an Outrider, then chances are that was what she would become. And if not… well, at least she would learn to protect herself. That was something that every youngling ought to know, male and female.
Donner’s ears twitched at the mention of the Fallen attack. Sure, he had smelled something a little off around the fringes of the boundaries, but he had blamed the wolves for it. This was the first time he had heard of an actual attack. “What happened?” needless to say, he was shocked and dismayed. Oh, and rather disappointed with himself, for not being able to protect his herd. Logically, it wasn’t his fault since he couldn’t be everywhere at once, but… well, it was his herd. He had led them from the humans to this land.
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Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2007 8:54 am
"I only know what Seren, Dasher, and Fenna have told me. A Fallen, Gluttony, wandered too near the herdlands and Seren and Fenna ran into him. Fenna called out to him asking if he wanted to start a game. At first, she said, he was pretty peaceful, head hund low and no violence in his gait. Fenna even dared to say that his eyes were as kind as his voice. But he took a turn for the worse. He attacked Fenna and cracked one of her antlers and struck at Dasher. He won't tell me the extent on his injuries. Too proud I suposse," Dancer explained with a shake of her handsomly antlered head. Her violet eyes were filled with pain. To hide the fact that she was hurting, she shook out her tan fur to rid herself of the snow.
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Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 3:40 pm
Donner wasn’t sure what disturbed him more: the fact that a Fallen, a walking abomination to everything wholesome and good in this world, had wandered into his herd and had attacked his herd members or the fact that he didn’t even know about it until now. By the sound of it, this had happened at least a week ago, perhaps at the same time as the wolf attack. Something was wrong… and, naturally, Donner blamed it on the red deer. “This deer… did he have long legs and a lighter figure than reindeer?” he asked, his paranoid mind already concocting a theory to lay blame at the hooves of the black Outrider who had wandered too close to the herd.
“I’m very sorry that this happened… it’s a horrible thing,” he rumbled, not too sure of what else to say. “For the rest of the winter, at least, everyone will be together. More able to protect each other.” Teamwork. That was what would save them now. Donner couldn’t blame Dasher for not wanting to be completely honest about his injures---Donner himself was still aching from that wolf attack, but refused to say anything on the grounds that he didn’t want to get barred from Outrider duties. “When the snows come in,” he added as flakes swirled around them, “Fenna will have to stay with the herd for a little while longer. That will give everyone time to try and convince her to stay.”
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Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 11:46 pm
"I saw her run off with a strange stag. I didn't raise an alarm because... well.... I trusted Fenna," Dancer explained with a stomp of her hoof, "She has returned but she reeks of him!" Dancer tossed her antlers with a blaze in her violet eyes. Suddenly, the blaze went out and the feisty Dancer looked like any other weather-worn cow.
"As for the Fallen," she sighed bowing her head, "yes, he did look foreign. His bones showed through and his fur was black as the underdepths. His eyes glowed red and his skull was more slender than that of our dead. His legs wer long, very long. He kept pace with Dash. Yes, he was not of our kind, dead or alive."
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Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 8:45 pm
A red deer! From that Firebringer herd! Donner snorted and stomped a hoof angrily, just as annoyed as Dancer was. Not about the reindeer, of course. If Fenna wanted to run off with a reindeer, that was fine. He would prefer it if she brought her… her bull home because the herd… it needed new blood. Not to mention, if there were other reindeer here, they knew the land better. It would be intelligent to invite them into the herd, to learn from them. But the description of this Gluttony described a red deer! How dare they send one of their own to attack a calf?
“Talk to your daughter. Let her know that you know. Tell her to… to invite her bull into our herd. We’ll need all the help we can get, especially if the Firebringer are striking against us!” And, to Donner, this certainly sounded like a strike. The cowards didn’t even have the guts to attack a full grown reindeer! Instead, they went after their younglings! And their weak… Donner’s mind flashed on the weaker members of the herd, little Tumi with his bad leg and, far more importantly to the brown bull, Sesilida. She couldn’t defend herself. Someone would have to do it.
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