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 Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 2:30 am
 Weeds wound around All’s ankles as she trudged through the muddy space between the trees. The trunks were so close together here that the branches twisted together creating walls that turned the area into a maze and blocked out the sun. Even though the sun was high overhead and the path was eerily dark, barely lit enough to see, but the heat passed through the canopy and made the air muggy. The passage was not easy, but All For Naught was not a girl to give up easy.
This was, as she knew it, the only way to get to her destination. Farther on was a clearing where a rare Kiss-of-Night bush grew, the flower of which was her treasure. A filly from back home had come down with a terrible sickness and it was said that the petals of the Kiss-of-Night flower could cure her. The sickness she had come down with was very rare but at one time it had been much more common. Many years ago it had spread through the swamp like nothing before it. Kimeti all over fell ill and died before the cure was discovered. The Kiss-of-Night bushes were very fragile and in their haste to save themselves they had not taken the proper care and most has been destroyed.
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Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 7:27 pm
 Places like this were what he considered HIS domain. Not for their darkness or sense of unease, but their secrets. That was what he specialized in, knowing what others did not.
Prophecy had been watching the doe closely, quietly. Assessing, calculating, observing. All his usual tactics, from a safe distance. There was a narrow list of reasons for kimeti to venture here, and he was confident that he knew them all.
He just had to decide which one best fit her.
The buck lurked just a few paces away from the only thing resembling a path within this place. While it was semi-inconvenient, the minor discomforts ceased to bother him a long time ago. His red eyes held a dull glow that focused on All For Naught. Time to see how observant she was.
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Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 3:26 pm
Once she had her mind set on something, nothing to distract All for Naught from her goal. In this case it was finding the fastest way through this forest. The dull aching in her limbs and chest from the two days constant travel and lack of proper food where minor inconveniences and pushed aside in lieu of the bigger picture. She came to a fork in the maze of trees, her passage forward halted by a particularly tick patch of torn bushes and tightly packed trees. Frustration pulled at the edge of All’s mind. She didn’t really know where she was going. She had lost track of what direction she was heading many twists and turns ago and for all she knew she could be heading right back to where she came from.
There was no sound or movement to alert All to another kimeti’s presence, but a tingling along her back let her know she was being watched. She had yet to see another kimeti in this patch of forest – most were smart enough to stay clear of it – but she had heard tales of giant snakes and fearful creatures that lived here. She shifted her hooves, ready for something to spring at her, but nothing did. Her eyes scanned the forest around her as inconspicuously as possible. She saw nothing and then something red caught her eye. For a moment her heart jumped and stories of Thistle swept through her mind. But she was just a story, and those eyeglows were real.
She turned around and looked at the two faint red points in the darkness directly. “Show yourself.” She said.
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Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 4:04 pm
It may have taken her a few, but the doe eventually noticed him. About time. Standing back was only so much fun. The mind games were when things really got interesting.
As she called him out, Prophecy's eyes narrowed, a grin hidden under the sheath of darkness. Of course, that cover would only last for a few moments.
The buck's front hooves slowly lifted themselves into what little light the forest had to offer. "You may see me with your eyes, but those eyes see nothing really." Was his way to an introduction. As his head left the dark, Prophecy paused there, only half in view. "But I see that you seek something." His head tilted slightly to the side as he spoke, grin unwavering.
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Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 1:34 am
By the time the buck stepped mostly out the shadows the fur on the back of her neck was standing to attention. His coat and markings were as gloomy as their surroundings and the aura around him was not much better. Now that she could see the eyes she had felt on herself earlier her nerves subsided. She did not know what this buck’s intentions where and maybe he would be of some help to her. As the expression went; don’t judge a flower by its smell.
“I do.” She said plainly. “I’ve come here looking for the Kiss-of-Night bush. One grows somewhere past these trees, I have heard.”
These woods were no a place any right minded kimeti would choose to make their home. By this logic she could assume that this buck was not entirely together, or that he was a stranger to these parts like herself. The former seemed more likely, as he seemed far to comfortable to be lost. Even if he was prone to making unusual personal choices, if he know the area he could make her journey a lot less stressful.
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Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 3:27 pm
"Ah yes." The still-shadowed buck said as he stepped out a little more. "You seek the cure. How noble." Her attitude thus far has not been cocky, so Prophecy could only assume this doe was on a mission. Straight to the point as well. This would be interesting.
"So you come here out of assumption. I imagine there must be a dire situation wherever you hail from, fair doe." He was now in full-view from head to toe, including his seemingly permanent smirk. "Tell me, do you trust every stranger with your business?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 1:52 am
“I came here out of necessity.” She corrected him. The details of the situation were not any of his concern, though if he should press the matter she would not withhold the information. A sick filly is usually a good way to invoke a kimeti’s sympathy and gain their help, but it was not her story to tell. Although the situation thus far had been contained to the single filly, there was that little not of worry in the back of people’s minds that it could spread. It was assumed after the last outbreak that the remaining kimeti had grown an imunity, but clearly it was not entirely effective. The community was keeping her – and her caretakers – in isolation out of precaution until the cure could be located.
No one was panicking, but the attention was there and even the slightest cough or fever was being treated with alarm.
“I only trust those who I think can help me.” All told the buck. Now that she could get a clear picture of him his markings seemed even more disturbing; the way his spines curved over his back towards his neck, like he might stab himself if he were to reach back. “You know these woods?”
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Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2010 1:32 pm
Was the doe insinuating that she trusted him? That was rather foolish. Certainly he knew about these parts, but that didn't mean he'd tell her what she wanted to know.
Though Prophecy wasn't the sort of buck to 'teach someone a lesson' outright. He didn't tell lies... But simply stretched the truth or left vague answers.
"As well as a tadpole knows the pond it swims in." He replied, hooves rustling the leaves on the ground as he walked past her and ahead on the trail. "However." Prophecy stopped moving forward, looking back at All with those bright spheres he called eyes. "I do not give information, I exchange it. So you have two options. Brave this dangerous place by yourself at the risk of never finding the Kiss-of-Night... Or play a little game with me."
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 9:16 pm
“A game?” All was not the kind of doe who spent to much time on silly games but she doubted anything this buck suggested would be as frivolous as catching fireflies in your mouth. She could not say that he had a friendly air about him but so far he had not done anything to prove she couldn’t trust him. It might be foolish to put your faith in people you do not know but it would be worse to let bias and snap judgments put a young filly’s life in danger.
She could not navigate these woods alone and there was no need to refuse his help before she had heard him through. “What kind of game?”
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