i stole my piece of sun; any

[Lichen]

There was the wind, and her.

Then there wasn’t. Because he came along. Gentle but shadowy, except for the patches of white that gleamed and glowed. Nutkin couldn’t help how she stared; she’d never been taught otherwise. Stared, and smiled.

“Hi,” she echoed softly, afraid to speak much louder in case it scared him off. He seemed as meek as a mouse despite his brave approach. All she could was smile at him, not quite as terrified as he was though she’d never know it - he hid it that well! - but scared enough that he might all of a sudden turn tail and leave her there. It was the loneliness that she feared above all else. 

(mama was off chasing after the does; a herd that graciously tolerated her presence but knew she was not truly one of theirs)

She stretched her neck out to him in just one quick light-as-a-ghost nuzzle. Nutkin liked his smell, wild and boyish and woodsy. It brought another smile to her face in a long chain of endless smiles that came easier and easier the longer she was around him. “No. I live in a forest.”

A forest, she’d said.

Not the forest.

That distinction had yet to be made. Couldn’t because she was looking at his feet planted close together as he went on to point out the difference in her own and how he liked it. “Thank you,” said as shyly as he surely must have felt - as she now felt, one cloven hoof worrying the earth. “Paws would be neat... but I like my feet too. You’d look good with paws though.”

Nutkin didn’t bother to add that it was because he reminded her of shadows and slinking; things that ought to offend her more cervine nature but somehow (thankfully!) he didn’t.

@[Cimmerian] ❤️