Out of Step (Open to Plot) (Public, hop on in!)

[Naeva]

Slither was having a time of it. She pranced and hopped and cavorted along the banks of a shallow lake near the edge of the swamp, her long black limbs twining in an intricate series of steps. Some were graceful, some less so, but they had a cohesiveness to them- a kind of meaning that was more felt than understood. It appeared in the rhythm of her hoofbeats, the curve of her spine, the tilt of an ear and even the way her silhouette-dark form blended with the swamp's own shadows and interrupted the patches of sun.

One hoof slipped on a leaf, and she went down in an ungainly heap of ebon limbs. She never slipped. Or, had never slipped. Not since she was a foal and had learned to use the Swamp Mother's gift to her- her natural grace, these four limbs of hers...

And yet, here she was, picking herself up out of a muddy patch of earth for the umpteenth time since the world had gone wrong. Since the Legendaries had appeared and the kimeti had begun to whisper the Old Tales again.

It was less that the world had gone wrong, she reflected dully as she heaved herself to her feet once more. It was just different. Ineffably, indisputably changed, thereby changing the rhythm of the swamp, and she couldn't find her step again.

Giving up on her dancing for the moment, the exhausted doe sloped along the edge of the lake, looking at her bedraggled reflection in the water. She was caked with mud and her fur was matted- she had been neglecting her grooming as she struggled with this disconcerting development.

Slither sat down at a spot where the shore protruded into the lake a bit, forming a small peninsula, and watched her drawn, tired face in the surface of the water.

"Now what," she asked of nobody in particular.

"Now what do I do?"  

[The Silver Falcon]

Dance was lost. Again. He just couldn't seem to find the way to where he thought his brother might live. There was nothing more important than finding him, but... the legends were coming back. Dreams and wisps of barely seen memory seemed to haunt the swamp. His normal good humor was fraying. He didn't dare leave the depts of the swamp. No matter how hazardous it was here, known dangers were better than the unknown places many were now daring to go.

A dark shape slipped past him in an odd prance. Then literally slipped. Ouch. He felt her pain. She didn't look very good. His own appreance hadn't yet gotten that bad, but he hadn't had much sleep lately. Dreams. The dreams of freedom and joy were beautiful, but it was the others that destroyed his rest. Perhaps he had too much empathy. Circles ringed his usually gleeful eyes.

He wanted to help the dark figure, but held back. After all, she might prefer solitude, especially nowadays. But when she asked what to do next he couldn't resist but respond.

"Keep dancing." he called with a shadow of his former smile. "What else is there?"  

[Naeva]

Slither hopped up, her hooves scrambling on the grassy bank only a little as she struggled to recuperate from her surprise. She had thought herself quite alone!

Her tense stance eased a bit and her ears cupped forward in curiosity to see another, very brightly colored kimeti. Only then did she remember what he'd said, and white teeth shone through her dark lips as they parted in a wry smile.

"What else, indeed? My name is Snake-in-the-Reeds, if it please you, good sir," she answered, bobbing in a coquettish curtsy. "Thank you for your wisdom. How do these strange times find you?"

Her ears fell back a little at that last. She hadn't meant to be so blunt- perhaps this unknown buck wouldn't want to talk about the strangeness of the Swamp. But words spoken were birds on the wing- good luck catching them again, she reflected ruefully.  

[[.Lady of Shalott.]]

Dusk was doing what she usually did; following something hoppy. She enjoyed the activity all the more because of the anxiety she felt when she was not doing. By keeping herself busy, she reasoned, there was nothing to think about and nothing wrong with the swamp. So she chased bugs. She hadn't actually seen another kimeti in quite sometime, she supposed everyone else was wrapped up in ignoring the bad feeling.

The bug was making a break for the edge, perhaps she had chased it before. The chances were high, Dusk mused, she had chased after a lot of things.

This was strange. She didn't remember this part of the swamp. She hopped over a fallen log as the bug went under, but it didn't come out. Dusk looked under, but couldn't find it again. Letting out a sigh, she decided to continue on. She could smell water, and her hooves picked up other's hoofbeats. Maybe they could provide welcome distraction.

Dusk picked her way through undergrowth and found herself at the edge of a black lake. She saw around the edge were a black doe caked in mud and a brightly colored buck, not quite so dirty. She realized she didn't recognize her level of cleanliness, but it was hard to tell with her coat. She decided to walk around and introduce herself.

Timidly, she trotted to the two kimeti, just in time to hear the dirtier of the two introduce herself as Snake-in-the-Reeds, and ask the buck about the strange times.

Great, they wanted to talk about what she was so worried about! Maybe she should just face her fears.

"I...I don't mean to interrupt, I'm Reflecting-Dusk, I was wondering if you were talking about the...wrong?"

She couldn't describe the anxious feeling she got when she felt the swamp, and she hoped the two would understand. If not, she was probably just going mad. Best to keep positive, though!  

[The Silver Falcon]

Anouther doe? The more the merrier! "Everything nowadays seems to be a disruption, so what's one more?" he answered her with anouther smile. He loved company, in the best of times and especially in the worst of times. Well, he supposed that they were on a path after all, but it must be the echo of Old Tales that caused so many to use it who wouldn't normally.

Relieved that the black doe wasn't annoyed by his intrusion, Dance bowed to both. "Good to meet you Snake-in-the-Reeds, and Reflecting-Dusk. I am Dance of Plenty. Please excuse my advice. I'm a dance myself, and not a dancer, so what would I know?" Anouther smile. Social interaction really helped. It didn't erase the nervous tension and urge to retreat deeper into the swamp, to just run and run untill the world was right again... but it helped.

"In any case, it is good to meet Kimeti here. Things are so wrong, on most days it almost feels like there is no one left. Or too many. It's hard to be sure of even the simplist things anymore." he finished with a sigh.  

[Naeva]

"Like the Dance," the dark doe said sadly in response to Dance of Plenty. She nodded to Reflecting-Dusk with a slight smile. "Yes, we were talking about the...wrong."

She tilted her head, regarding her two new companions, sending a couple of flakes of dried mud drifting down to the ground. "Are we so sure it is a wrong? Might it not just be a new? A different?"

She took a few steps back, knee-deep into the lake, and shook herself, ridding her dark coat of most of the dried grime without showering her companions. "I mean," she said as she emerged, "I dance, and I dance the Swamp. It's what I -do-. But I can't seem to make it work anymore. That might mean something is wrong, yes, but what if it just means the tune I'm trying to dance to has changed, but I'm still trying to dance the same dance?"

Violet eyes blinked as she wondered whether her compatriots had followed that admittedly skewed trail of logic.  

[[.Lady of Shalott.]]

"It could just as easily mean that the song to which you dance has quite playing entirely, " Dusk reasoned.

"This feeling of ...wrong... it is not a good feeling, it is not merely different, it is wrong. I don't know much about the other kimeti, other than yourselves, because I haven't been able to keep in one place long enough."

Dusk had not seen her tribe in at least a moon-cycle, maybe longer. It seemed to her that Snake-in-the-Reeds had been away for quite some time, too. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't sure if she had even felt the presence of her compatriots, let alone seen them. The swamp-signs were all wrong.  

[The Silver Falcon]

Dance nodded agreement with Dusk. "There is more going on than simply a difference to the normal. A change in the music might cause a dancer slight pause, but as long as there is a beat they can keep on. This isn't like that. This is like the music of a... or... well, like the musicians have suddenly been cut off in the middle, and a howling presence that was previously kept contained by them was unleased. Or... well, I don't know what's going on, or why, but it just doesn't feel stable. Something is going to happen. Probably something bad, though I hope I'm wrong."

Dance hadn't run into many kimeti in the recent days. He was on a quest, but recently he did wish he had not left at such a bad time. Maybe better to be traveling instead of staying one place, though. It was the only way to get news, and others' opinions. He wondered what they would make of his bad metaphor. It was what he felt, even if it wasn't eloquent.  

[Naeva]

Slither nodded thoughtfully as she mulled over her companions' words.

"I'm still not so sure that whatever it is is bad, but it feels big, whatever it is. And like the Swamp itself is holding it's breath- like the music has stopped as you said, Dance of Plenty," she said, offering a nod to the buck.

"I mean, it could be bad. All I'm saying is I can't tell." She shrugged, then let her shoulders slump a little in weariness. "We just don't know enough. Do we want to try to poke around and see if we can figure something out? I wouldn't even know how to begin."  

[[.Lady of Shalott.]]

"I do not know if poking around would help to find anything, Snake-in-the-Reeds. I have been all throughout the swamp during the last moon-cycle. The only thing I have noticed besides the overall wrong-ness of the swamp is that I can look out over the flat-lands."

Dusk looked pensievly towards the edge of the swamp. She had ventured out there, in a fit of desperation, to see if the bad-feeling would go away if she left the swamp. It was still the same, but it got worse the farther she went.

"I am thinking that maybe all we can do is wait, and listen. Maybe this is just a stage the swamp is going through?"  

[Naeva]

The dark doe's ears cupped forward at that. "You can look out over the flatlands? Really?"

A sudden, bizarre longing gripped her. Never before had she cared to see what lay beyond the borders of her beloved Swamp, but now...

"I... I want to go look. Will you show me?" She shuffled her hooves in embarrassment, feeling that this urge was somehow...aberrant, and might be viewed as wholly wrong by the brown doe.  

[The Silver Falcon]

Dance started with alarm. "No!" he yelled in near panic, before realising the way the others were looking at him and lowering his voice. "I mean... I'm sorry. Feel free to do whatever you want, but count me out. I'm not leaving the swamp. Who knows what's out there..." he shivered and shook his head. He might not be seen as very brave, but at least he was safe as long as he stayed in the swamp. Right?  

[[.Lady of Shalott.]]

"Um sure...I'll show you. It's not that interest-" Dusk said, until she was cut off. The male kimeti was vehement about not leaving the swamp. Well...

"Okay, Mr. Scaredy Foxbun, stay here if you want to, but I'm telling you if you stay close to the edges, there is nothing to get you!"


Some kimeti, she thought, were just too tight. They need to loosen up. Like the dark muddy doe. She was pretty cool. The buck could probably loosen up, he couldn't have grown up that colorful and be tight?


Could he?  

[Naeva]

Snake-in-the-Reeds jumped and scrambled a bit at the bright buck's vehement refusal. Her ears fell back- surely they'd run her off now, for being a freak. Her ears came up again, though, at the other doe's willingness to show her the sight, and her heart jumped again with longing.

"Please. I'd like... I'd like to see. You can stay here if you like, Dance of Plenty."

Her luminescent lavender gaze returned to Reflecting-Dusk. "Can we go now," she asked timidly.  

[The Silver Falcon]

They were still going? But... but... two does shouldn't go alone. Moreover, he didn't really want to be left behind. He wavered. Reflecting-Dusk said it would be safe on the edges, right? And he could always turn back. He hadn't liked being called a coward, and although he knew he wasn't courageous it wasn't nice of her to say it out loud. If only he were braver! More like Snake-in-the-Reeds.

Could he be? He stared at the ground for a few seconds wondering what Dawn would do. She did dangerous things. She would go with them, wouldn't she? And he didn't want to ruin their fun, even if it was over something frightening. Before he could change his mind he told them "No... you two shouldn't go alone. I'll go, too, and protect you. Just not too far. And we shouldn't stay long. And if we see anything bad we turn back. And-"