[PRP] Visions of a Buck (Last Whisper & Dreams)

[Darkmoon Dancer]

All is murky and grey, as if it were mottled with heavy clouds. Everything, that is, except for a glimmer of white. The beacon. It calls to her, even though she doesn't know what it is. She has an idea and hope, though.
"If only.... oh, come on.... pleeeeease?" Her voice calls, disembodied and distant. and it's always like this in her dreams. She never sees herself, but she sees what she can find. No. Needs to find.
And so, she chases after it. Stumbling, falling, tripping over roots, or her own feet, she can't tell. Always, always in vain. But it shows her the way. She knows where she needs to go when she wakes, and just before she does, there it is.
A skull, half stuck in the ground, just out of her reach. And she must have it. This is one that she has been looking for.
A Buck's skull.

She wakes rather violently, jerking upright and gasping for air. Her eyes blink furiously, trying to get rid of the sleep. When they adjusted to the light and stopped watering, she could identify her surroundings. Damn! She was still lying up against her den. Well, it was more of a hollow trunk where she kept her possessions, but it was home. She had hoped she had sleepwalked, as she sometimes did. Oh well. It just meant she would have to go out and look for it.
 

[StarrySeas]

Dreams-of-Dawn was awake at the crack of dawn like always. He was perched on one of his favorite spots, his tail happily swept across the short blades of grass on the rare little mound of mostly dry soil. Dreams waited patiently as the last stars faded away and the first rays of sunlight danced around the trees. It was breathtaking. He imagined a beautiful symphony to go along with the dancing colors and light, unconsciously humming the tune as he watched. There was a lot of pink that morning. Not a good sign, in terms of omens and superstitions. It meant bad weather. There was even a little saying for it; Pink skies in the morning are Mother Crane's warning, pink skies at night, Kimeti's delight. The young Kimeti had been having rather foreboding dreams lately. Mostly filled with poisonous pink skies, huge wings denser than the clouds blocking out the sun and incoherent whispers of advice flitting through the stale wind. With the sun slowly climbing, Dreams decided it was time to go find some breakfast. He trotted down his little hill. A twig snapped somewhere in front of him, towards an old tree. "Hello~? Is someone there?" He called out. It was probably just the tree rotting or something...Better safe than sorry and all that...

 

[Darkmoon Dancer]

Last Whisper was trying to sort out her dream, memorizing the directions she went to find her prize. Everything had been so dark! But she was sure if she just thought about it long enough, and wandered about, she would eventually have to find it, right? She was sure of it.

She stood up, in hopes of clearing her head with a little stretch, and as she did, a twig snapped underfoot. And immediately after, she heard someone calling. Instead of answering, the half-obsessed filly turned around, tilted her head at the tree and tried to locate the voice. Behind her tree. So she walked around it, peeking her head out around it first, to get a look at whoever it was that was talking to her.

For a moment, she didn't even realize what he was, as he almost seemed to blend in with the sky as his background. Except, of course, that he was much more purple than today's pink-streaked sky. She tilted her head even further to the side, examining this vibrant colt, and completely forgetting that she should probably introduce herself. This stranger had cut all of her thoughts short, and pushed them to the back of her mind. What was he doing here? She thought to herself, and continued to gawk.
 

[StarrySeas]

Dreams spotted Last Whisper peeking her head around the tree. When she didn't say anything, the colt shifted his hooves and said to the awake ward silence "Er...Hi there.." blinking and tilting his head a little. This was indeed a weird situation. He had no idea that he was blending in the the sky behind him, causing this stranger to be silent at his greetings. "Uh...My name is Dreams-of-Dawn. What's yours?" He said cheerfully, stepping all the way down the small hill towards the filly.

 

[Darkmoon Dancer]

He spoke to her, and only then did she come out of the trance that the dancing lights behind him had begun. She shook her head, and by then, he was already standing in front of her. "Last Whisper," she told him, as her eyes ran him over. He was very pretty, and verily caught her eye, if only because of his coat. She gave him a slight nod, and then turned around to walk back around to the entrance of her old tree. She dropped her front end down so that her head was inside of the trunk, and her rump stuck out and up. She rummaged in there for a moment and came out with two strings.

These strings each had a single tooth on them. Crocodile tooth, to be exact. She threw one of these necklaces up lightly, and deftly poked her nose through as it fell around her neck. The other one she offered to the colt. "Are you coming?"
 

[StarrySeas]

"Nice to meet you then, Last Whisper." He said cheerily. Then she rumaged in what he assumed was where she lived, producing two strings. Dreams-of-Dawn stared at the teeth on the end of the strings in awe. The colorful colt wasn't one for bones and dead things, he much prefered dancing and singing and obviously, sunrises. Yet something in the back of his mind told him to take the tooth, so he nodded and put the necklace on the same way Last Whisper had. He looked down at the tooth now dangling from his neck. "I hope his spirit won't mind us using them...Where are we going by the way?" Dreams had the sense to ask. Adventures were always fun, but he did like to know where he was going most of the time.

 

[Darkmoon Dancer]

She began walking away from the tree at a leisurely pace. She was in no hurry, she knew bones wouldn't run away from her. Looking over at the colt, she answered his question, "I've never been there before, but it's where I need to go. There's something for me to find there. I saw it in my dream." Her tail swished back and forth as the two kimeti continued on their blossoming adventure. She hadn't expected company, but she wasn't complaining. She might need help attaining her new treasure, so she didn't see the harm in him coming along.

"They've been happening really often. The dreams, I mean. They show me things, and they show me how to get to them. And they're almost always right." Her eyes fell to the necklace she had given Dreams-of-Dawn, and she remembered what he had said about it's spirit. She cocked her head for a second and said, "Don't worry about the tooth. It's a croc's. I always wear one when I go out. They represent strength and power." A little more cheerfully, she added, "And they can come in useful too!"
 

[StarrySeas]

Dream's eyes widened at the doe's words. "My dreams haven't told me anything as cool as that. They're just about the weather and stuff..." He trailed off. This adventuring stuff was fun, he would have to do it more often. Maybe he could find some pretty flowers sometime.

"I never thought about using a...Body-part as a symbol of something. Now I think it's really neat, actually. It's like the crocodile is lending us it's power then?" Dreams mused aloud, looking down at the tooth around his neck. He nearly tripped in the thick mire and straightened his gaze. Something not far off smelled foul, but stale. Like death. The brightly-colored colt wondered if that was what they were here for, but surely it couldn't be so gruesome...Regardless, he continued to follow his new friend.

 

[Darkmoon Dancer]

"Mhmm..." She nodded at how he explained the tooth's symbolism to himself. He seemed to think that it held a power, almost magical he made it seem like. She tilted her head at this thought and mulled it over. She wasn't sure if she agreed with it exactly like that... but it did sort of make sense... Things had a soul, afterall, so why shouldn't something of that creature stay behind after death?

A smell wafted over them, damp and old, a rather foul smell, at that. It trickled into Last Whisper's nostrils and filled them right up, heavy and clogging. This was the smell of death. She lifted her head and followed this scent, knowing that it would lead them to where she needed to go. She stepped forwards, and the ground got mushy under her feet. A few steps later, the ground took on a different style. It began to crumble and fall beneath the kimetis' feet. Last Whisper didn't yelp, but she did scramble her feet, trying to get a grip on the loose material. No such luck. She fell, ground around her and all into a space below. In that space, she landed upon something soft,mostly soft anyway. She shook her head and looked around to see if Dreams-of-Dawn had fallen as neatly as she had.