Outcasted Misfits

[RandomWiktor]

The Story So Far:
Artio, a lonely pronghorn wandering the grasslands, finds company with a trio of strange strangers: a group of (fabulous...) herd-rejected misfit deer. Desperate for companionship, he hangs around the group despite some social barriers. But just as he thinks his only shot at herd life might be among the deer, two more pronghorn - one who admittedly looks more at home with the deformed whitetails - arrive on the scene. Will this be the end to Artio's solitary life?
Origional Thread

Last Two Posts:
Artio
As confused as he was about most things, Artio was definitely certain about one particular thing. He was glad for his funny deer companion. Moki managed to salvage any hope of communicating with the other pronghorn, and Artio was now eternally in his debt if it went successfully. Breathing a choked sigh of relief at Moki's interruption, Artio took the much-needed moment to gather his thoughts.

Another deep breath...damn, he couldn't believe how much anxiety was rushing through him...he focused on the female. She didn't seem too happy to be wandering toward them, but at least she didn't seem hostile. He couldn't count on that fact with the male. Struggling past another wave of nerves, Artio ducked his head politely and took a few steps forward to meet her as she approached.

Ears perked in a friendly manner but head held low, his eager gaze caught the female's. Time to try again with words...

"...Yeah. S-sorry for...uh...I'm...I'm just elated to see other pronghorns, is all."

Oooh....'elated.' Good word.

"Do you two live around here? With...uh...are you part of a h-herd?"

[RandomWiktor]

_Drazapah watched the deer cautiously as he cheerfully introduced himself and made an excuse for Artio's sheepishness. Of the group, it was probably the most normal, if you could call velvet in the middle of the winter normal. At any rate, the animal was apparently harmless, and had even been providing company to the other pronghorn. It seemed peculiar, but when he considered how lonely he'd been without a herd even with his sister, he imaged that without her he could be driven to such extremes as cohabitating with the outcasts of another species. Thus he accepted Moki's words, and was pleased when the other pronghorn did indeed finally speak up.
___ Granted, he stammered. Wide eyed and stuttering, he confirmed the deer's words, exceptionally nervous but evidently competant. He didn't blame him for his surprise and joy at seeing others of his kind; it just wasn't right for pronghorn to live alone, yet with the decline of their species, it was only increasingly common. Plus, Drazapah wagered he'd lost some of his social normalcy from hanging around with the odd deer. Speaking odd, the piebald creature with the odd rack and his similarly velvet-clad companion were having some kind of sparring match with one another, which seemed frivolous given the lack of does. Shaking his head and returning his attention to Artio, he smiled politely and bobbed his head in greeting.
___"Loneliness is no stranger of mine, so I understand fully where you are coming from." Ok, not really; he could still speak without stammering like a moron, after all. "My sister and I traveled some distance to get here, sadly enough. We were driven from our herd."
___"And we sure did come to a great place to start a new one, didn't we?" Said a sarcastic but feminine voice. Muliebral approached, her dainty hooves striking the barren soil softly. She looked at Artio, sizing him up. He looked healthy enough, so it couldn't have been all bad living here. Still, a three pronghorn herd wasn't much defense against predators, and who knew? Maybe he was content with his bizzaro herd of freak deer.
___"Sorry I'm a bit late with the introductions. I'm Muliebral. And you are...?" She looked at Artio expectantly, but suddenly a flash of white and brown came bounding over, followed by an irritable buck with velvet-covered antlers. The former had a twisted nightmare rack of too many uneven, interlocking tines poised atop his patchwork skull. She wondered if they always grew in that way, like her brother's own deformed antler. One this was for sure, he was just as "let's go greet strangers" happy as Drazapah, smiling broadly with his large ears snapped fowards.
___"So good of you to join us, love!" Hotah exclaimed. He nudged Artio with his wet black nose. "She's a cutie, huh?" Ahote snorted from behind him.
___ "Yeah, for a pronghorn and female, neither of which catch your interest. Why don't ya shaddup and let poor Artio get a word in edgewise?"

[Sreltna and Thief]

(Let’s pretend they were floating off in the distance and finally got the courage to approach, shall we?)

– The two deer hesitated downhill and downwind, Sreltna-Nelost mincing with impatience and nervous energy but wary of intruding, Thief as wary as her brother -- but for different reasons. She, despite her antlers, did not feel any sense of kinship for this trio of bizarre bucks. Her coat did not mark her out to predators, and her antlers, for all their small size, were not deformed. She’d have left, then, if not for Sreltna-Nelost -- he rarely wished for anything, and he clearly wanted this. Perhaps, a strange male himself, he felt more affinity for these fellows than she.
– Thief nudged her brother’s shoulder with her nose -- courage, she thought at him, while the wind brought her the pronghorn’s stuttering words. Don’t make yourself such a fool as that poor creature has made of himself. Then, head high, she strode towards the group. “Hello,” she called out, and paused briefly to dip her head in greeting. “Don’t often see such a group as this.”
– At her heel, Sreltna-Nelost made a pained choking noise -- had thought she meant her comment in a way she hadn’t. She had intended to imply she’d never seen pronghorns and deer conversing together, but could see how it might be taken… otherwise. Her eyes flicked to the bucks’ piebald coats and odd antlers, then away once more. She’d never make such a remark with ill intent, anyway -- she was confident, not a hypocrite, and she knew her antlers made her little more normal than they. And what would that say about her opinion of her faithful brother, besides?
– Sreltna-Nelost stepped forward -- intended to gloss over any offense her comment might have caused, Thief would bet, and barely refrained from rolling her eyes. He kept his head and eyes equally downcast, but his perked-forward ears betrayed his eagerness -- not that his voice did, when he spoke. A deep voice, unmistakably male, at odds with his posture as much as his lack of antlers, and ever-anxious in the face of strangers. “We’ve just come to the area -- and it’s been some time since we last saw our own kind. Or any hoofed folk.” He dipped his head to the pronghorns, although he reasoned they’d be too caught up in their own affairs to care much for deer. “It’s good to meet you.”
– Although she didn’t feel sure ‘good’ was the correct word, Thief bobbed her head in agreement.

[Misfit Deer]

___As the pronghorn became acquainted, Ahote nearly having to spar Hotah to get him to leave the poor trio alone, Moki's attention was directed elsewhere. It seemed the pronghorn were not to be the only rare sight that day - slowly advancing with hesitant steps were two deer who, superficially, appeared quite normal at a glance. A buck and a doe, one bold with an impressive rack, one nervous and trailing behind: except that the voice and scent of the impressively adorned lead was distinctly feminine. Fascinated, the dilapidated deer departed his two feuding queen compatriots, elegant neck craned and large ears propped forwards to better hear the duo over the stammering pronghorns and arguing deer.
___The female's comment struck him as a bit... off. He wasn't sure what to make of it; they were indeed an odd group, both in appearance and in composition. He hoped given the antlers quite out of place on the doe's head that she meant it was peculiar to see pronghorn and deer gathered together. If she were commenting on appearances, she'd be eating crow, not the lush grasses surrounding them. It seemed the second deer picked up on the potentially mixed message in the female's words, for he huffed and moved past to speak himself. Yes, definitely himself - though his smooth skull defied it, Sreltna-Nelost was clearly a male.
___"Well, greetings to you both as well," said Moki in a fashion that was both polite and reserved, suggesting that perhaps he didn't share the male's enthusiasm for the meeting but at least wasn't about to drive them off. Moki silently approved of the "our kind" bit; it was nicely inclusive compared to how most deer approached the odd group. Still, he could sense some hesitancy from the other, and experience told him not to get his hopes up when it came to other deer.
___"Well would you have a look at that!" Experience had apparently taught Hotah nothing; the boisterous piebald buck skirted around Ahote's velveteen antlers and strutted right past Moki in the direction of the two strangers. "I see you're here for the freakshow - audience, or audition?" He let out a brash laugh then winked at the two. "I'm just kidding, loves." Looking back over the splotched expanse of his sloping back, the deer called back to Ahote. "Well, are you going to come say hello or what?"
___Ahote heaved a sigh, eyes rolling skywards as he reluctantly advanced. Here he was, a buck in his prime, cursed with small, weak, perpetually velveted antlers, and a doe with a rack that could put any buck's to shame was approaching their group. She may as well have just castrated him instead of coming to say hello; nothing is a more staunch reminder of a male's failures in masculinity than a strong female. Still, he was the dominant of this herd - more or less - and composed his posture. Stately and dominant, with his head held high, steps firm, and eyes piercing the two unflinchingly (who, luckily for him, were already advancing submissively with postures lowered and eyes averted), the buck did his best to make it appear like a jubilant, feminine deformity hadn't just called him over like a lap dog.
___"Hello," he said gruffly, sizing up the two from a distance with a curt bob of his head. "My name is Ahote. Who might you be?"

[RW]

Since we have two groups going on right now, basically, I would not think it rude to post deer while we wait for the other pronghorn to become active again (just in case you were waiting for Red's turn).

[Thief and Sreltna]

((Sure thing; I’ll just blame you if Red protests later ))

Sreltna-Nelost winced at Moki’s unenthused response; he’d expected something – moderately more welcoming. In fact, it struck him that he’d been altogether too optimistic about the strangers’ response to his and his sibling’s approach; perhaps they would be driven away, as much outsiders to these oddballs as they were to normal deer. In fact, what guarantee did he have that the strangers were not all related? —used to the company of each other, but unwilling to accept the presence of others? The buck turned his head away, ready to leave before the other deer could drive him off. His sister, however, had no patience for such cowardice; she’d not suffer the trouble of approaching strangers at her brother’s request without something coming of it, good or bad. She crowded against his shoulder and forced his head straight, unfazed by the exasperated glance he sent her way.

Both deer startled somewhat at Hotah’s exuberant approach. Once over his surprise, and having finished silently berating himself for his cynicism, Sreltna-Nelost smiled shyly in greeting before he’d even processed the words, glad of the friendly face; nor did he take offense when the words did penetrate. He snorted a surprised laugh, unaccustomed to this light-hearted acknowledgement of deformity. With nature so harsh to those who varied too wildly from its designs – well. Sreltna-Nelost, at least, had never taken abnormality as a laughing matter. Not when he’d never get a chance to sire offspring, and his sister regularly found herself challenged by bucks rather than fought over by them. He could very well admire Hotah’s optimism in the face of such adversity, even as it boggled him. Or, he reflected sourly, he just refrains from over-thinking matters.

Thief, on the other hand, wasn’t so quick to admiration; she found Hotah’s brashness rather tasteless, and abstained from commenting only because Sreltna-Nelost clearly didn’t mind. She had an ego hearty enough to withstand a jest, even one meant in worse humor than Hotah’s, but she had observed her brother – when in a less upbeat mood – let such comments touch his heart. Perhaps she deluded herself to think she’d have had time to bring the buck to task, anyway; Hotah turned away almost immediately to call over the last of the strange trio, a dominant male who Thief would’ve found quite agreeable if not for his velvet-covered antlers. A shame, really; if he’d been normal and willing to spend time with the odd bucks, he might’ve been an answer to certain problems.

Sreltna-Nelost, with his emotions always subject to the whims of others, drooped under the effect of Ahote’s gruffness; since he and Moki were both disinclined towards more company, might they ignore Hotah’s opinion and just drive the siblings away? Might the flicker of camaraderie and optimism Hotah had offered be Sreltna-Nelost’s last glance into a happier world before it was shut away by the solitary nature of deer? Would he be forever stuck in the lone company of his socially maladjusted sister? No matter how fond he was of her, the doe’s harsh attitude, cultivated against strangers and subsequently turned against him – it wore away at him, day by day. Quite firmly mired by these panicked and anxious thoughts, Sreltna-Nelost failed entirely to respond to Ahote’s greeting.

Thief took her brother’s fluid mood in stride and dipped her head to Ahote – and managed, incidentally, to jostle Sreltna-Nelost and prompt him to act in kind, although his expression stayed hangdog. “I’m Thief,” said the doe, who had long since become used to the name and the insult her mother had intended it as, so that she no longer hesitated over it. “And this is my brother, Sreltna-Nelost.” She canted her head towards the bucks who had yet to introduce themselves and began, “You—”

Sreltna-Nelost scrambled his way out of the anxiety-mire via sheer horror at the idea of his sister doling out an insult; the buck knew that idle, drawling tone, and what it signaled. He broke in before she could perpetrate some terrible impoliteness. “I, ah, didn’t catch your names?” He gave the company in general a hopeful, downtrodden sort of smile, then turned his attention particularly to Moki and Hotah.

Thief thought this interruption terrible thanks for having saved Sreltna-Nelost from descent into mute anxiety and faux pas, but let it pass; this meeting had occurred on his insistence, after all, so who was she to interfere?

[Artio]

If Artio had known what some of the other nearby creatures were thinking about him right then, he would have been mortified. As it was, he was fairly certain that he was botching his first impression, but was still managing to hang onto the hope that it wasn't really so bad, and this would turn out perfectly alright. All he had to do was show them how ridiculously glad he was to be speaking with them, and was really a very open and friendly creature, and would do anything to be part of a herd, maybe even take a mate someday, and find the happiness he had always been looking--...

Slamming on the mental brakes suddenly, the awkward pronghorn silenced his hyperactive internal rambling, and fought to control the reigns once more. He was beginning to feel lightheaded. He managed to compose himself again, but couldn't help wondering in the back of his mind if pronghorn could faint, and what would happen if he did.

Swallowing hard, he focused hard on the other male's words. The acknowledgment and mirrored sentiment regarding Artio's loneliness perked him up a bit, but the feeling was immediately dashed when the male explained how they had been driven from their herd. And then...the female spoke up.

As thorny as Muliebral seemed to be about this whole situation, Artio couldn't help feeling a bit starstruck. He hadn't seen a friendly female anything, let alone another pronghorn, in quite some time.

"Oh. Oh! Um. I'm Ar--A-Artio. Uh...ma'am." Miss? Muliebral? He didn't know what was proper to call her.

Hotah exploded into view then, however, and Artio's regretful thoughts didn't have time to go any further. His patchwork deer friend embarrassed him so suddenly and totally, that he choked.
Literally choked.

The gasp that hissed in his throat at the buck's playful nudge shut off abruptly, and came back out as a strained cough. He coughed for several seconds, actually, and panicked all the while.

When he could finally breathe and form strangled words again, the deer was no longer at his side. Which was a good thing, because he suddenly felt like goring the animal out of embarrassed anger.

"Uh..." he croaked. "Sorry, I mean...sorry, he's just..." Another cough. "I mean, n-n-not that you're um...I m-mean." He snorted and tossed his head again, the same compulsively frustrated gesture from before.

Pull it together, man!

Another moment to catch his breath, and his thoughts. This time, without a savior in the form of a talkative deer to help him save face. In the end, he hung his head slightly, beginning to come to terms with the fact that he had probably royally screwed his chances of...anything, really.

"Really. Sorry. Um..." His voice grew quieter and more defeated as he went on. "I'm just..." He didn't have a word to finish his sentence this time. Nervous didn't cover it, and neither did Lonely.

- Meet Artio -

((again, sorry. I needs my pictures.))