Open Turning Stones

[Jesslyn Skyglow]

Winter 54th, 512AV Jesslyn sat down on the log she had just tripped over and huffed. The snow had pilled up over the night and made it hard for Jesslyn to see. "How am I supposed to find my way home now?" Jesslyn expressed her trouble by throwing some snow forwards. "I mean really? Who let's a blind person go out on their own after a blizzard?" Jesslyn grumbled and pulled her cloak around her more. The air was cold and where she was sitting she wasn't under the high noon sun. "You know what snow! I'm so done with you! I'm moving! What are you going to do about that? Follow me? Not if I move somewhere where it never snows!" In the distance some birds flew off in a scared flock from her loud mouth. Jesslyn sat with her arms crossed for a little while before her eyebrow started twitching. Rubbing that eye she narrowed her eyebrows even more. For a few seconds the forest was silent until Jesslyn finally broke, "You know what! What ever! I'll sit here and starve. Who need's a blind painter anyway! I mean.. it's not like my frozen body will be missed anyway!" Jesslyn picked up her staff and threw it away from her. Jesslyn sat with her shoulders moving up and down under her angry breathing. Her eye's a heated dark red. Jesslyn's eye's snapped to the direction in which something snapped, "I swear to Morwen. You better have a good explanation as to why you are..." Jesslyn's voice caught in her throat as a loud annoyed huff was let loose. ' Morwen be my witness in saying that I wasn't really going to leave. I was lieing. Oh frost.' Jesslyn crossed her fingers but quickly put them in front of her with her palms facing the heavy breathing. "So uhh... I don't mean any harm.. I was just.. walking and... uh took a wrong turn..." Jesslyn's voice croaked. 'Oh Morwen, I'm talking to animals... one's that could possibly eat me too.' OOCSo the animal that is in front of her is a Frostfawn Deer. A single one that has a broken antler and is all alone. I realize it's unlikely but I'm kind-of going out on a whim to say this one lost it's herd and is a free lancer at the moment. Also her staff is on top of the snow to her left about 20 feet. I'ts kind of hidden under some loose snow because she hit a tree and some snow fell on it.

[Sera]

oocI thought I'd jump in, hope that's okay! The snow was beautiful. It reflected light in such a way that the ground literally looked like it was sparkling. Sera couldn't help but smile as she walked. Somehow, she had lost track of how far she had walked because of how enthralling the fresh snow was. The Vantha wrinkled her nose and stopped in her tracks. "Hm." She looked back at her footprints that she had left on the forest's floor. It was obvious that as she had walked she had danced a bit, for the tracks has twisted and blurred, creating their own sort of drawing in the snow. She couldn't help but wish that it would ice over, leaving the image there for a while, but even then she knew the wind would blow snow over it anyways, erasing the lines and creating a new palette of snow. Sera began walking again, humming to herself as she did, when suddenly there was a flash of movement to her left. She flinched and jumped back as what looked like a staff was flying through the air, hit a nearby tree and then got buried by some snow. Sera folded her arms with a curious expression plastered on her face, and then she looked forward. There was a woman a little ways away, sitting on a log. And then, very close to her, there was a Frostfawn deer. She almost missed it at first, for it blended into the area so well, but because of a few random sunbeams from between the tree's branches above, it sparkled enough to be seen. Sera narrowed her eyes, then looked around, observing the nearby area. There didn't seem to be any others in the close vicinity, but that didn't mean much. She knew how well they could hide in plain sight in Taldera. "Eh..." Sera looked back at where the snow had covered the staff. She cautiously moved, trying to keep her eyes on the deer as she did, then knelt down and dug the staff out. Then she glided towards the Vantha Woman. "Oh my Goddess, can you believe this?" She whispered in Vani as she approached. "I've never been this close. How...?" Her attention turned to the woman completely, a bit worried. "I'm sorry, is this your staff? Are you alright?"

[Jesslyn Skyglow]

The small whisper of a woman's voice nearly had Jesslyn on her feet and running but it was soft and not aggressive. "Oh staff.. heh, right. Yeah." Jesslyn made no move for it because she couldn't see. All she could see was the log. And the vibrations weren't traveling through the dirt under it for her to bed able to see anything more than a foot around the log. Jesslyn turned her head to the direction the voice came from with dull light eyesthat bled away from the heated red, though still kept a small hint of it, "We're safe right?" she whispered. Jesslyn didn't know what the breathing was coming from but it hadn't stopped. But now it just seemed... playfully annoyed? Jesslyn couldn't place it.

[Sera]

The way the woman didn't reach for the staff made Sera tilt her head to the side, curiously. She looked into her eyes, thinking, observing. An idea hit her and Sera opened her mouth to speak, but then the woman spoke instead, asking about the deer. Her eyes darted for the creature. Once again it seemed invisible until the wind moved the branches in the right way to allow the sunlight to hit it. It was definitely a Frostfawn. Something seemed wrong. Why was it so close, willingly? Was it hurt? Was it angry? She couldn't guess. The fact that it hadn't retreated was odd. "It's a Frostfawn." Sera spoke quietly. Her eyes began to change from gray to violet. "I've never been this close to one before, though. Have you?" She asked, then looked back at the woman. "And if there's one, there's probably more, but..." Sera glanced around them again, trying to pick up another glimpse of a deer, but she couldn't see any others. "I don't see any. They usually travel in groups though. Where's his mate? His family?" Of course she should have asked why the woman was out by herself? And she should have asked why she had thrown the staff? She also should have asked why the woman wasn't getting up, or why she couldn't see, but Sera wasn't bold enough to do that quite yet. At least not while she was so close to an animal so beautiful and possibly dangerous. Could a deer be dangerous? It had antlers, didn't that mean it could use them for harm? "What should we do?" Sera asked.

[Jesslyn Skyglow]

Jesslyn pursed her lips. 'A frostfawn.... isn't that the invisible deer thing? The one Sylvia is always saying are so beautiful and have helped the Vantha many a-time?' Jesslyn also wondered why it was alone... and also why it hadn't attacked Jesslyn with all her aggressive movements so far. Finally getting out of her thoughts Jesslyn shook her head to rid the cloak hood of the snow settling on top, "I honestly don't know. Maybe we could make a run fo.." Jesslyn was interupted by a loud huff and an angry stomp, "or it... You have to be kidding me!" Jesslyn turned her head to the direction of the animal. She thought she had been whispering but her voice is naturally loud. So naturally Jesslyn was peeved, "Why don't you go eat some veggies ya frosting loner!" Jesslyn huffed back at the deer when is huffed after her comment. Crossing her arms Jesslyn started a blank staring contest with the deers 'head'.

[Sera]

The Frostfawn deer moved closer a few steps. The light hit it just right, revealing to Sera that the antlers were uneven. One side looked like half of the points were broken off. There were also icicles on it's side. It huffed again, obviously frustrated about something. She saw the imprint of it's hooves in the snow. It looked like the Frostfawn had been there awhile, moving to face all directions at one point by the shaped of the prints. Sera's eyes brightened and she tossed her braids over her shoulders, then moved a bit closer. The Vantha that sat on the log seemed annoyed for some reason, though she didn't understand why. The deer didn't seem to be of any harm to them. "It is said that Frostfawn deer help people in need. Or that they have in stories at least. That's definitely true." She spoke as softly as she could, being careful not to scare the animal. The whole situation gave her an uneasy feeling. She looked back at the woman staring at the Frostfawn. "What if the roles have been reversed? What if this deer needs our help? Maybe Dear Morwen sent us, unknowingly, to it's aid?" Sure, Sera knew she may be jumping to conclusions but nothing that was happening made any sense. Two strangers in the forest after a snow storm, running into a Frostfawn with a broken antler that's all by itself? It was too weird to be real. So, Sera decided to be brave. She started to approach the animal, keeping her head low as she did, hoping not to alarm the creature. She took every step as if she were dancing, trying to be as light on her feet, as un-threatening as possible.

[Jesslyn Skyglow]

Jesslyn had almost forgotten the other Vantha when she began to talk again. The sound of snow crunching had her reaching out and grabbing blindly for the other Vantha, "We don't know if it's safe or not. I don't know how long it's been watching or following me." Jesslyn voice stood strong. 'I don't care if stories say your safe. You almost had me panicking.' While Jesslyn didn't share her thoughts she narrowed her eyebrows at the deer. "Plus... I can't see. So if it need's our help I would have to touch it.... not happening." Jesslyn swore that if she could see she would have seen the deer roll it's head like she does when she wants to express an eyeroll. " Plus... it's fine right? I mean.. it can find it's own herd on it's own right. I'm not meaning to be cruel but... I can't trust a lot of things at this point." Jesslyn was worried. When she couldn't see she was most vulnerable and her staff was close but if she tried to search for it then she would be even more vulnerable. her choices were thin for her survival, even if there wasn't that much of a threat.

[Sera]

The Frostfawn seemed uneasy and began to stomp one of it's feet. Sera stopped moving immediately, and then backed up a couple paces again, if only to look back at her fellow Vantha. She let out a bit of a sigh. The situation had turned frustrating, as well as confusing. But, that wasn’t going to change Sera’s outlook of the day. It was going to be good. Sera touched the woman’s shoulder and handed her the staff. Her eyes turned to their normal, calm, two-toned set, one red, one blue. “My name is Sera.” She said, finally deciding to introduce herself. Of course she had seen this woman around, but never actually talked to her, at least in her memory. "What do you suppose we do, then?" She asked with a smile.

[Jesslyn Skyglow]

Jesslyn was happy to have her staff back. It helped calm her down and let her eye's slowly turn to their dull purple with hints of a faint scared tone. Jesslyn liked the woman who she deemed equally as crazy as she. "Well Sera, I'm Jesslyn." Jesslyn could slowly pick up the figure of the other woman because of the two talking. The vibrations traveling both through Sera's arm and the staff. Until both were retracted. Jesslyn vision slowly turned to utter darkness and she held back a whimper. Sitting back down Jesslyn sighed at the deer, who simply sighed back. Jesslyn was half tempted to huff at it and see if the frosting deer huffed back, 'Copy cat.' she grumbled in her mind. Tapping her chin for a little while an idea struck her. "Ha!" Jesslyn took her eating knife out and turned on the log. She ignored the slight snort from the animal that probably said, "An eating knife? You expect to kill me with an eating knife?" Jesslyn started tapping the log with her right hand as her left worked the knife to create a battle plan. "Do you know the closest thing to us? Like a major building or Hold?" She carved out an 'x' for the deer and then put two 'z''s away from it.

[Sera]

Sera shifted her weight back and forth, idly trying to think of something to do, when Jesslyn asked about the closest building. "Hm... good question." She leaned over, to see past a tree and looked at her prints in the snow. "Well, I came from that way which means..." The sound of the deer moving stopped her. The Frostfawn was stepping forward, towards them. Without much thought, Sera scrambled behind the woman and touched her shoulders. "I don't think it likes me very much." She grumbled. Alright, she was probably just being jumpy. And she was probably jumping to conclusions but... The Frostfawn stopped within arm's reach of Jesslyn. In Sera's eyes, it looked almost as if the creature wanted the woman to touch him. It huffed. "Uh. Are you sure you haven't met this animal before?" She asked.