[FIN] You're Telling the Wrong Story! (Stargarden, Webweave)

[Darkmoon Dancer]

Webweave was never up this early! It was barely dawn, the sky still somewhat dark, with touches of colors beginning to appear on the expanse. She shook her head, not believing that her stupid mind would not let her sleep. Her mind was buzzing and almost spinning with all of the thoughts that were crowded together inside. She needed to let some of them out, to share them, with someone, with anyone!

She weaved in and out of the mangrove roots back and forth, back and forth. The water was all the way upto her chest, but she hardly noticed it. The more effort she had to put into moving, the less energy there was for her milling thoughts and ideas to swirl inside of her head.
 

[Appeal]

Stargarden had chased Bites For Fun for hours that night until he finally gave in and had laid down. His choice of bedding however, was not preferable. He was nearly headfirst in the swamp water - that his breathing made ripples on the surface. He made no discontent about his position and it was a good sleep until he felt a bird land on his horns, just heavy enough to push his face into the water. Roaring bubbles and then finally the buck stood up. What a good bird, waking him up right on time.

"I should look into getting one of those," he mumbled, and tossed his head around, bright eyes staring around.  

[Darkmoon Dancer]

Amid her pacing, Webweave had kept her concentration on whatever she could that was not her thoughts, and just then, a parade of ripples made their way across the surface of the water and lapped up against her legs. Her gaze dropped down and she slowly drew it across the surface, further and further up until she found the source. Or more correctly, the placement of the source.

From where she stood all she could see is a mass of movement by something dark and a lot of mangrove roots in the way. She strode forward, happy to have found something distracting. A few more paces, and she could hear some sort of murmuring.... Her ears flicked forwards and she ducked her head down when she peeked her head around a particularly large root to see what all the commotion was about.
 

[Appeal]

The bird on his horn twitched and he shook his head but the bird chirped. He had turned into a nest? Well, if the bird said so! He shook his head once more, and the bird flew into the air. It was gone! No wait, after a moment, the bird flew back and perched itself onto his horn again. Yep, he had turned into a nest.

"Greetings my friend," he announced. "Shall you be accompanying me this morning?"

To someone who might have been nearby, it could be mistaken as if he was speaking to them and not the bird that had turned his horn into a perch.  

[Darkmoon Dancer]

All of the motions had caused quite a commotion across the water, and as her curiosity grew, so her cautiousness shrank. Another pace... and one more... Just before she turned turned the corner and caught sight of the stranger, she heard him speak.

She didn't reply until she saw that she was in fact in the company of another kimeti, and when she did she said, "Well... I suppose so. Mother Swamp works in funny ways..." She had assumed that what he said was meant to be to her, having not yet noticed the bird sitting atop his horns.
 

[Appeal]

Stargarden turned his body when the sound of a voice echoing behind him arose. His bright blue eyes spotted something bright yellow under a blue sky and between curly branches! Another bird! What were the chances?

"Wonderful!" He erupted, and splashed around through the water until he was on the other side of a root, facing this new, bright friend. "What shall we attend to this morning then?" He questioned the yellow creature ahead of him with his bright, sincere gaze.  

[Darkmoon Dancer]

The buck before her looked dark, with some sort of shining white spots all over, but it was still too dark for her to pick out any specific colors. But he seemed friendly enough, so when he approached her, she didn't start or run away, she simply allowed him to come closer and impose a question.

"Well I had some doubts about this story that was swimming about in my head... Would you like to hear it? I know I've gotten something wrong.... That is so not like me... but here I am..." Her dark eyes followed the bright glowing pair before her, having caught her somewhat loose-mind at such an early hour in the day.
 

[Appeal]

The buck stared at the talking bird, and then tilted his head. Who was he to tell a bird, which usually does not speak, to stop? It was very appealing to have a bird offer him a tale! Perhaps of her journeys across the boundless sky.

"With pleasure," he replied. "Do you swim through the air though? I thought you'd fly."  

[Darkmoon Dancer]

"Oh good...." she mulled over her thoughts for a moment before she was ready to speak. His question interrupted her thoughts, but she calmly replied, "No, no, of course I don't swim through the air, silly." The rest of his question had slipped her notice and she just righted her thoughts once more.

"Well it was the story of the doe caught up with a tyrannous step-mother... and her three evil sisters... Cinderfoot. Yes, that's right. The story of Cinderfoot who had to live and slave for her tyrannous step-mother, and had to try to stay sane through all of the mad ravings and spell-casting of the triplets that were her step-sisters...."
 

[Appeal]

"Oh."

Stargarden stood still as the bird told him a tale. He couldn't keep quiet anymore. After the bird got to "step-sisters" he broke out.

"You mean a kind father and three gentle brothers who were tormented by their step-sister!"  

[Darkmoon Dancer]

"No, no no! That's not right at all... Well... I think there was a kind father.... but gentle brothers? But that would make it a family of four males and just one female.... No, that doesn't sound right either!"

She shook her head, thoughts milling, not sure what was right, but knowing that what the buck had added didn't seem quite right either...
 

[Appeal]

" A family of all females could not be right either!"

He scuffed his hooves around in the murky waters, the bird on his horn chirping in agreement!

"And the sister was not nice at all, she was horrible to her kind father and gentle brothers!"

Stargarden had never heard this story before, but he was SURE this was how it was supposed to go.  

[Darkmoon Dancer]

When the buck repeated himself, he sounded very sure of himself, so Webweave had to give in to her own uncertainty and accept his certainty instead.

"Well, alright. So it was a horrid step-sister who only lived to terrorize and torment her male relatives. But her name was Cinderfoot and she lived here in the swamp long ago." A pause, as she tried to recall the next part of the story, "Ah! Yes, that was it. Cinderfoot was always working, very very hard, back-breaking work all day long. This was the reason for her greatest displeasure: no time to laze about. She would moan and groan as she worked and toiled, always complaining that the others did nothing."
 

[Appeal]

Stargarden thought for a moment, tilting his head in thought to the point that the little bird on his head almost fell off. He gave a grunted sound that said "I disagree."

"I thought Cinderfoot was always complaining because her family insisted she help them more! But she didn't think it was fair that the only daughter had to work at all. She should get to laze about, and have her brothers wait on her! The brothers would complain that she didn't do anything and made them all.

He paused, thinking. "Maybe her father's little darling, twisting the truth to get out of her work!"  

[Darkmoon Dancer]

The doe looked down at the ripples that her leg was making as she dragged it back and forth along the bottom of the marsh. She was listening, but again, there seemed to be something off. Though this time, she could agree with parts of it... she was so confused!

"Hmmm.... the twisting truth part sound right, that's for sure. Don't know how that slipped my mind... but are you sure that she wasn't the one complaining about doing so much work?" The doe did not realize that she had merely repeated exactly what the buck had just said. Her thoughts were all a jumble and she couldn't set them straight very well...