Oh Deer
By Axolotl
1
Notes:
‘Days’ and ‘Nights’ are referred to as ‘suns’ and ‘moons’, respectively
‘Heartbeats’ are used in place of ‘seconds’, and other forms of time are mostly absent
A “Doe” is a female deer, a “Buck” is a male deer, and a “Fawn” is a young or adolescent deer
Similar to tribal cultures in real life, there are certain naming conventions in place:
A male is named after a predator (mostly mammals)
A female is named after a plant (mostly flowers and herbs)
A runt of either gender is always named after a bug or insect
In addition to the naming conventions, a deer’s name often (although not always) represents an
aspect of their personality or nature
The deer in this story are normal in all respects save intelligence, where they are at or above
human average; all speech is printed in English, although the deer would be speaking in their
own language
2
Contents
A Peculiar Disturbance........................................................................................................................4
3
A Peculiar Disturbance
Lavender had been having what she believed to be a good dream. She had been following a series of
tracks, had reached the end, and was looking up, about to see what had made them, when- “Ouch!” A
voice came from outside her den. She immediately recognized the voice as Daisy’s. Daisy was Lavender’s
best friend, and the daughter of the leader of their herd, Badger. She was also, apparently, someone
who snuck around in the night. And did not seem to be very good at it. Lavender slowly stood up and
walked to the entrance of her den, and arrived just in time to notice Daisy slipping into the trees- and
Badger watching her leave. “Lavender? Why are you up too? Are you fawns having some sort of
midnight meeting?” He wrinkled his nose slightly, and there was a note of mirth in his voice. “Oh, yes, I
was planning on having a meeting when I normally am dreaming. Because I do so love having my dreams
interrupted.” She was about to roll her eyes when she remembered who she was talking to, and
stopped herself. He raised an eyelid. “That is not the right way to speak to me, Lavender. But I’ll let it
slide- if you follow Daisy and make sure she’s okay.” Lavender nodded. “Of course.”
Several heartbeats later, Lavender was forcing her way through tangled roots and thorn bushes,
grumbling all the while. “Oh, yes, Lavender, what a wonderful idea to walk through a nearly pitch-black
forest full of all sorts of annoying plants. Best plan you’ve ever made, in fact.” She was getting close to
Daisy, though. Who appeared to be approaching… a grove? But there weren’t supposed to be any other
groves nearby… what, exactly, was going on here? Daisy paused outside of the grove, as if nervous, and
then slowly pushed her way in. Was Daisy meeting someone? Lavender could not think of any other
reason for Daisy to behave so oddly. And, indeed, she noticed other tracks along the opposite side of the
outside of the grove.
Lavender slowly walked up to the grove, and carefully parted the leaves blocking entry, and saw…
mushrooms. Many, many mushrooms. And lying in the middle of them was- “Daisy? Daisy, are you
okay?” Lavender rushed to Daisy’s side. Her breathing appeared steady, and she showed no signs of
injury, but there was something in her mouth… it was one of the mushrooms. Lavender paused. Did the
mushrooms put you to sleep? Did they give you some kind of stable hallucinations? She froze when she
heard hoofsteps. They came from outside the grove, and were getting closer. She snatched one of the
mushrooms and went out her side of the grove, just in time to avoid the entry of another deer from the
opposite side.
After confirming that the other deer wasn’t harming Daisy, Lavender found a small hole under a bush
where she was able to curl up out of view. And so she did, and began to chew the mushroom.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Lavender eyes opened, even though she did not remember them closing. She found herself watching
Daisy and another deer… well, she wasn’t quite certain what they were doing. Everything was blurry.
However, it looked like the other deer was… bleeding? * White light flashed across Lavender’s vision,
and then she was watching Daisy and the same deer near a running river. They seemed to be talking, but
she couldn’t quite make out the words. She leaned closer, and- * Another flash, and now she was
4
watching a pack of wolves- in her grove! She charged forwards, determined to make them leave, and
then-
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Lavender woke up, still under the bush. The forest was no longer dark, and a thin ray of sunshine was
falling on her face. She shook her head and stood up. What strange dreams! Although they were
strangely realistic... she swore she could still feel the droplets from the river on her face, and she
reached to brush them off, and… her hoof came away wet. What? How could… it must have rained while
I was asleep. Yes, that’s it: it rained, and so my dreams tried to explain the droplets. She couldn’t quite
convince herself, however.
