CosmicChaos21

Yeah poor Redpaw, she was so young. Honestly I can't remember all the characters and I'm the writer of this story so that's fair. Oof yeah that's not intentional I'm gonna fix that.

Page 4 of WildClan!

This series is not in fact dead! Didn't mean for this to become a Redpaw special but alas that's what happened so here ya go! !!!!!!!!-TW: Sickness, Blood, Death-!!!!!! “Why can’t we do battle training?” Redpaw asked as she followed her mentor into a small clearing. Tigerthorn sighed in slight annoyance, over the moon he had been apprenticing her he had gotten attached but was still annoyed by her constant questions about battle training. “Because eating prey without providing any could severely hurt the clan in times of food scarcity” Tigerthorn once again explained to the impatient apprentice which caused her to grumble but nod at her mentor. Tigerthorn put his nose into the air and sniffed around for any signs of prey in the area, which Redpaw copied though she couldn’t smell much. “Over there” Tigerthorn nodded towards the scent of rabbil, noticing that one was nibbling on the grass a small distance away. Redpaw excitedly started to walk towards the rabbil but was stopped by her mentor standing in her path. “You have to be stealthy or else it’ll run before you even get a chance to catch it” Tigerthorn said with narrowed eyes which Redpaw nodded as before quietly sneaking closer to the small creature. She was only a tail-length away when she felt a sneeze building in her snout. She tried to stop it but it was no use as she let out a loud sneeze, causing the rabbil’s ears to shoot up before quickly darting off into the tall grasses. Redpaw let out an annoyed hiss as she sniffled, noticing her prey had gotten away. “I hate this useless sickness” Redpaw said with a sniffle as she glared at the grasses where the rabbil had disappeared into. Tigerthorn opened his mouth, intending to say something, before his mouth snapped shut as the apprentice suddenly started coughing. He quickly approached his apprentice to check on her but was alarmed as he noticed the coughing become more frequent and more violent as well. “MOSSBEETLE!” He shouted the medicine nicheling’s name as loud as he could before returning his attention towards his pained apprentice. “Take deep breaths and lie down Redpaw” He said to Redpaw, who slowly lowered herself to the ground as best she could through her coughing. She took deep breaths before another coughing fit ruined her calm once more. Mossbeetle and a few other clan members soon arrived, with the medicine nicheling quickly striding over to the coughing apprentice to assess her. “Get the healing fruit quickly” Mossbeetle practically ordered Sandwing, but the deputy didn’t hesitate as he turned around and ran towards the medicine den as fast as he could. Mossbeetle returned his attention to trying to calm down Redpaw’s coughing, though it wasn’t showing any results. Sandwing soon returned with the brightly colored fruit and placed it in front of Mossbeetle, who nodded before giving a piece of it to Redpaw. Redpaw used the break between coughing fits to chew the fruit but another coughing fit prevented her from swallowing it. Mossbeetle’s eyes widened in alarm as he noticed the apprentice was coughing up blood as well now. He quickly focused once more as he tried to soothe the apprentice’s coughing. Instead of calming down Redpaw’s coughing only grew more violent, with more blood falling onto the grass below with every cough. Mossbeetle desperately clamped down the panic he felt swirling in his chest, refusing to let his fear show no matter how desperate he was getting to keep the apprentice alive. It felt like seasons passed as Redpaw’s body grew weaker and weaker until her body didn’t move at all. The three nichelings stared at the still body of the young apprentice, with blood dripping down the side of her mouth as her dull eyes stared at nothing. Silence reigned over the clearing as wind made the grasses sway. “…I should inform her family of her passing” Mossbeetle’s voice broke the silence before he turned around and disappeared into the tall grasses. Sandwing watched Tigerthorn for a few seconds before slowly turning around and following the medicine nicheling back to camp. Twigpaw was practically flying with how fast his paws moved over the ground as he made his way into the small clearing, with his mom just behind him. Firefang followed the two at a much slower speed. “Why?! You were play fighting with me and having fun earlier, you can’t be gone like that!” Twigpaw cried out as he skidded to a stop next to his sister, staring at her as if she would just get up and start talking to him again. Robinbriar didn’t make a peep as she sat next to Redpaw’s body and stared at the lifeless face of her kit. Firefang just stood a few tail-lengths away from Redpaw’s body without anything to say, he wasn’t as attached as he hoped he would be. Robinbriar groomed the fur on top of Redpaw’s head with a distant expression as memories of Redpaw flowed in her mind, feeling angry and hurt at the fact her kit was taken from her so young. Twigpaw’s paw shook as it got closer to his sister before poking her in the side and intently watching for a reaction, whether it be a grumble or sniffle, but a painful feeling emerged in him as he saw absolutely nothing come of it. As he glanced at his dad he noticed his almost blank expression. There was barely any sadness and not even a hint of pain in his eyes, making an uncomfortable feeling of wrongness go through Twigpaw as he turned his attention back to his sister. But he mentally noted his dad’s reaction, or lack of a reaction anyways.

Apologies for not updating for literally months but I kinda lost interest in niche for a bit there- I'm back with an update! It's kinda small but I wanted to give y'all something for waiting so long. - Along the edges of the territory Oat and Circuit were patrolling the territory. Oat’s ear flicked in irritation at the dead silence, so she turned her head towards the pink nicheling walking beside her. “Do we really have to patrol again? I mean we’ve been patrolling the territory like three times a day since Bumble returned, I highly doubt there’s any bearyena around here or we would’ve noticed them by now” Oat said with a scoff as she dragged her paws as if that would get Circuit to stop his continual march forward. Circuit turned narrowed eyes towards her without a word for a few seconds. “You can’t be sure of that, it’s better to patrol a few more times unless you’d rather a bearyena spring out and turn one of us into a meal” Circuit retorted as he kept his narrowed stare on her before snapping his eyes forward to instead stare at the ground in front of his paws. Oat glared at him for a bit before rolling her eyes and blankly staring ahead, just waiting for this patrol to be over. “-I mean you can’t just kill the baby when the mom can see you y’know?” Slug continued to recall the memory of how an angry mama bearyena almost ended his life while Bumble nodded occasionally to show she was listening, having nothing better to do as she was all but forbidden from doing anything but resting until her shoulder healed. “So yeah, that’s how I almost died because-” The sound of something emerging from the grasses cut off Slug’s rambling as he stood onto his paws with his fur bristling as he watched the shaking grasses. The sight of Oat and Circuit made Slug’s posture relaxed as he realized there wasn’t a threat emerging from the unknown. Bumble’s head tilted as she noticed the returning nichelings lashing tails and flattened ears. “…What got those two in a such a foul mood?” Slug said as he also noticed the angry body language of the two as they split off to go to opposite sides of the clearing. Bumble continued watching the two before turning her gaze back to Slug and giving a confused noise to show she didn’t have any better idea than him. “I know they argue but they don’t usually seem this mad y’know?” Slug said as he looked over at Bumble who nodded in agreement with his words as she watched the two nichelings. As if sensing the stare, Circuit looked over at Bumble with a questioning expression to which Bumble just tilted her head in a silent question. The pink nicheling responded by scowling before ripping out some tall grass as he realized what the silent question was. Bumble’s eyes narrowed in mild concern before she turned her head towards Slug, only to notice he was also staring at her. The two silently stared at each other for a few seconds before Slug awkwardly cleared his throat. “Well you need food to heal so I’m gonna go hunt a rabbil for you” Slug said before walking into the grasses while Bumble watched him leave. Bumble had a feeling it was just to escape the awkward atmosphere the returning nichelings had brought but she just yawned before laying her head down onto the soft nest.

(What's up y'all I'm making yet another playthrough, and we have 1 rule right now but that may change at a later date. Roll 1 trait per lifestage (Babies/children have 1, Teens have 2, Adults have 3) so they grow and change over the course of their lives.) Circuit, a pink nicheling with a white mane, turned around to watch the other three teen nichelings make their way onto the sandy shore of the new island. He tilted his head slightly as he noticed Bumble, a bright yellow nicheling with dark red markings, slightly miss the rock and slip into the shallow water that was only a few pawsteps away from the dry sand. Bumble sat up while spluttering, with her belly and chest dripping from the wet sand and water that had gotten into her fur. Slug, a red nicheling with barely noticable spots, easily jumped over her and landed in the dry sand, spraying dry sand into Bumble’s face. Bumble coughed and spluttered as she tried to wipe her face with one of her paws, forgetting that it was also covered in wet sand. “Sorry about that, but the stones are kinda crumbling behind us” Slug said without seeming like he entirely meant it as he looked over at the crumbling stones just in time to see Oat, a brown nicheling with darker spots and a platypus beak, jump onto the shore just in time for the last stone to crumble with the fragments sinking into the ocean. Bumble practically dragged herself up to the shore before shaking her pelt, spraying wet sand and water droplets everywhere much to the other nichelings shared dismay. “Just because you fell doesn’t mean we need to suffer too” Circuit slightly growled as he squeezed his eyes shut to try and prevent anything from getting in his eyes. The other two followed his example to try and keep themselves safe from the splash but all of them ended up with some sand or water in their fur. After shaking her pelt Bumble just stuck her tongue out at them before looking at the grasses ahead. “Here’s our new home I suppose” Circuit said as he stared at the grasses, feeling small as they towered over him and the other teens around him. The group just stared at the grasses for a little bit before Slug scoffed. “Let’s go” He said as he pushed through the group and started to walk into the grasses making the other three stare for a few seconds before following. Circuit wasn’t sure just blindly going forward was the best choice but from the little he knows of Slug he knows it’s probably best to just let him lead them for now, until Circuit could get a chance to lead them in a better direction anyways. On their journey they grew into adults, mostly because they were almost there already when they arrived on the island. “Looks kinda thin but we could stay here for a while” Oat said as she poked the berry bush with her paw, causing one of the branches to snap off. Oat stared at the now broken off branch that sat on the ground with surprise as her paw was frozen in the same spot. “Whoops” She said as she lowered her paw back to the ground before turning towards the other nichelings to see their thoughts. “Even if it didn’t just lose a branch” Circuit said as he stared at Oat for a few seconds, who simply stared back at him with an indifferent expression “I don’t think that’d be a good food source for all four of us anyways, and there’s no nests or anything else good around” Circuit continued as he stared at the leafless berry bush before idly pushing the broken branch. Slug sighed but couldn’t disagree, the lack of nests or other food sources made this spot less than ideal. “Look” Bumble spoke catching the group’s attention and making them all look over. Bumble had parted some grasses and revealed a nest hiding inside, along with a dodomingo who screeched at the group before fleeing. Bumble winced at the noise for a second before inspecting the nest. “Well well well, look at that. A nest” Oat said as she looked at Circuit with a smug grin, Circuit just responded by giving her the most deadpan expression he could possibly muster. Slug watched the two with amusement before looking over at Circuit. “Well even if it’s not permanent wouldn’t it be good to get our energy or something?” Slug said while ripping up some tall grass so he could see a bit better. Circuit hummed as he considered it before nodding. “A few berries and one nest is better than nothing” Circuit agreed causing Slug to practically push Bumble aside before laying in the nest, getting a pretty offended look from Bumble. Bumble easily shoved him out of the nest, causing him to let out a yelp of surprise, before laying down in the nest herself while giving him a smug smile. Slug narrowed his eyes at her and the two had a staring contest before Oat sighed and walked over to stand between the two. “No need to fight pups” Oat said causing both nichelings to turn their glares onto her instead. Oat just shrugged as she noticed the looks she was getting. “Act like pups get treated like pups” She simply said causing Slug to slightly bare his teeth as Bumble looked away with a pout on her face while Oat tried to stare down Slug. Slug eventually rolled his eyes before walking over to the sad berry bush. So the group had found a place to settle for now… (I FORGOT A SCREENSHOT IN THE FIRST POST WOW- Lol) After a few days of laying around and eating a putrid scent caught Bumble’s attention. Feeling curious, she decided to go investigate the smell as she assumed it was something like a smelly fruit or perhaps a chance at a free meal if it was a carcass. What she did not expect was a towering beast…a bearyena. She froze in shock which was enough time for the beast to bring its paw up before creating a slice across her left shoulder. She got knocked back from the force behind the blow before falling onto the ground with a growl of pain. The sound of pawsteps caused Bumble to weakly lift her head to see Slug now next to her, snarling at the bearyena. He bared his fangs at the beast and when it didn’t back down he sunk his teeth into the bearyena’s hind leg causing it to roar in pain as it tried to swipe at him. He managed to dodge as the sound of more pawsteps approached, it was the rest of the pack. They all took turns nipping and clawing at it until the beast fell onto the ground motionless. After making sure it was dead the pack turned their attention towards Bumble. “Did it give you any other injuries?” Circuit asked as he glanced at the claw wound that ran across Bumble’s left shoulder. Bumble shook her head, not noticing any other injuries or extreme pains on any other part of her body. Circuit breathed out in relief as he realized that there weren’t any other injuries to deal with. The pack took Bumble back to the place they were staying so they could keep an eye on her and her injury. “You better not die from something like this, I mean if you did that’d be a pretty dumb way to go” Slug said with a teasing tone as he sat down next to Bumble, who just stuck her tongue out at him in response to that. “How did you even find a bearyena by yourself?” Slug asked as he wondered why she was out by herself anyways. “Smelled something weird and went to find the source” Bumble answered with a shrug, which she immediately regretted as she felt a twinge of pain in her shoulder. “Don’t make it worse ya idiot” Slug snarked, but there was an undertone of concern if someone was looking for it. “Just take a nap or else you’ll be stuck here for the rest of your life” He spoke again as he stared at Bumble, who just made a big show of rolling her eyes before settling down and closing her eyes. Slug just sighed before scanning his surroundings and keeping his eyes and ears peeled for any sign of danger, deciding that he would keep watch just so nothing could sneak up on the pack.

Hello everyone, I'll be making a new niche playthrough soon but this time I wanted to make really detailed character sheets so if I take a random break I'll come back with a better idea of their personality. And man I am in pain filling these sheets but I know it'll be worth it. For reference I'll put the sheet template below(And so if y'all wanna use it for your own playthroughs you can :3)(Yes I am doing this for each character-) FORM/TEMPLATE: -NAME- -GENDER- -ORIENTATION- Basic: (Just put their trait(s)) OUTSIDE OF PACK(General, but can differ depending on past interactions/events): Reaction towards strangers/acquaintances: Reaction towards friends: Reaction towards family/considered family: Reaction towards romantic interests: Reaction towards partner(s): PACKMATES(General, but can differ depending on past interactions/events): Reaction towards strangers/acquaintances: Reaction towards friends: Reaction towards family/considered family: Reaction towards romantic interests: Reaction towards partner(s): Family (Specify exactly how and if biological or adoptive) Important events: (Specify if good/bad and exactly how much from 1-10(Also specify how it affected them)) Favorite place (if applicable) Likes/Dislikes: (Optional but good for depth) Misc: (Habits/fidgets/stuff that fits into none of the other categories)

Thank you! I'm happy you're enjoying it, I made it so descriptive to see if I could write that type of thing well and it's nice to know I've succeeded in that regard! :3 Also I agree I'm quite attached to these particular nichelings as well-

Quaint may have been pretty good at hiding it but she couldn’t hide the fact she was pregnant forever and eventually the whole group had noticed. “Why didn’t you tell us?! You could have gotten hurt from pushing yourself” Shine said, her voice raising somewhat due to her concern for the fluffy nicheling. Quaint just narrowed her eyes as she slightly shifted to look at the green nicheling. “I’m not stupid, I wouldn’t push myself to that extent, I know my limits” Quaint tried to brush off Shine’s concern, not really wanting to talk about it and wishing she could’ve continued to hide it. Shine scoffed, not amused with that answer in the slightest. “Even so if you’d started having the pup and we weren’t prepared we wouldn’t even have time to make a nest or anything to help” Shine continued as she stood to her full height, which Quaint just watched with an unconcerned expression on her face. Show was watching everything with a concerned expression as he didn’t exactly know what to do or if he should interfere at all with this whole argument or if it’d be best to stay silent while they worked it out. Sway was almost queasy with stress, wondering if this could have been prevented if she had told everyone or if it would’ve made things even worse. But she didn’t really have any choice as it had been made for her by the passage of time. “Fine! If you wanna not trust your own group than go right ahead” Shine eventually scoffed before turning around and stalking off, leaving a deathly silence in her wake. “…I’m gonna go check on her” Show eventually spoke before all but scurrying off in the direction Shine had headed. Sway opened her mouth before shutting it and turning around, wanting to be away from other nichelings for the moment after that whole ordeal. Quaint didn’t react simply curling up and staring into the distance as she digested Shine’s parting words. (Forgot like 2 screenshots whoops-) - Show followed the direction Shine went in until he ended up on the sandy shore, noticing some paw prints left in the sand. He quickly followed the trail until he saw the green nicheling sitting near the waves with an angry expression etched onto her face. He hesitated for a moment before approaching Shine and sitting next to her. Shine lifted her head to give Show a glance of acknowledgement before returning her gaze to the waves ahead of them. Show idly wiped a paw across the sand beneath him as he tried to gather his words to form a decent sentence that wouldn’t make Shine’s mood any worse. “So uh, yeah?” Show’s attempt of a sentence didn’t work in his favor even though he’d tried to think about his words first. Shine simply shook her head with a frustrated sigh as she recalled the events that’d just occurred minutes before. “Quaint always tries to think of the rest of the group and tries to help but now that she would need help she hypocritically refuses to accept it” Shine tried to explain her frustrations to Show as she knew he was surely concerned considering the way she had walked off. Show’s expression turned to one of understanding as he realized why Shine seemed so mad about the whole thing, it wasn’t because Quaint had a pup with an unknown nicheling but because she wouldn’t let anyone else help her with anything. But he didn’t dare interupt in case she had more worries to air. “It never changes! Ever since we’ve been a group she’s always been ‘the leader’ and wants everyone to lean on her without relying on anyone herself, I just…” Shine trailed off with a sigh but continued what she was saying “I just wish she’d let us help, I wish she’d let me help so she knows she doesn’t have to deal with everything herself. She deserves a break for once” Shine finished her thoughts as she raised a paw to wipe at her face as if she could just wipe away her problems as easily as a few grains of sand. Show waited a few beats to ensure there wasn’t more, not wanting to interrupt her thought process, before deciding to try and think of a way to soothe Shine’s worries. But he couldn’t exactly disagree with her statements, Quaint does have quite the problem of being a bit too independent when it came to her own issues and problems, preferring to solve it quickly and by herself rather than leaning on those who love her and care for her well-being. “She is pretty stubborn, but maybe we could try to subtly help her with the stuff she needs help with?” Show’s sentence started boldly but lifted more into a question at the end as he didn’t have a specific plan but more of a general idea to try and get Quaint to accept some help. Shine seemed to mull over his words as she squinted towards the ocean. “We could try I suppose” Shine eventually said with a shrug, not believing this would work but hoping there was a chance nonetheless. Show perked up as he heard her response. “We’ll help her how we can” Show said his agreement, in better spirits now that there was an idea of what to do instead of a cloud, unknown future with uncertainty. - Turns out Quaint would be having the pup much sooner than anyone had thought. The day the pup was had everyone had gathered with intense curiosity, Soar had been around when it happened, which he was pleased about seeing the pup. The pup was given the name Strike, a name Quaint gave no explanation for. She has light brown fur with darker brown markings, basically an inverse of her mom, but her markings were quite different and she had a paw with sharp claws. Quaint was definitely not the only one who’d gotten instantly attached as all the gathered nichelings seemed to share a softness with the presence of the newest addition to the group. “Who’s the other parent of this pup?” Show spoke the words that had at least crossed the mind of the nichelings gathered, well except for one who’d known the answer already, making the attention turn from little Strike over to her mother instead. Quaint let out a small sigh, having expected the question but being a bit stunned to have it posed so suddenly. She took a few moments to gather her words and thoughts to arrange them carefully. “The father is a nicheling outside of the group, but he won’t be helping raise the pup as he has no interest in being part of a group nor fatherhood” Quaint explained in a more formal, detached tone that implied that she held no strong emotional ties to the other nicheling who’d helped bring forth Strike’s existence. Sway let out a small scoff at hearing that, feeling it was quite rude but ultimately decided to stay out of it. The way it was handled was Quaint’s choice and Sway may have eavesdropped on a conversation but she didn’t know her dynamic with the other nicheling in its entirety. “Well the pup will surely be raised well in a group like this” Soar spoke up as he lifted his gaze to glance around the nichelings gathered. “You say that like you’re not a piece of it” Show said with a slight snort, but the words shocked Soar. Soar looked at Show with bewilderment, as if he couldn’t believe the words he was saying. Sway, noticing his expression, decided to chime in with her own words. “You are, the only reason you haven’t ‘officially’ been invited is because Quaint hasn’t found a perfectly formal and professional way to do so” Sway’s words caused the fluffy nicheling’s head to snap up and look at her with a mildly offended look at the way she worded it, yet she didn’t speak up to deny the claim which spoke volumes. Soar looked around with shock, trying to find if there was a nicheling who seemed doubtful of those words. But when he found none he realized it was true, they’d accepted him as part of the group even without a formal invitation or a special way of showing it. “Well I wouldn’t put it like that” Quaint said as she shot Sway a look, which Sway merely grinned at, before turning back towards Soar to continue speaking “but I do agree you’ve helped with a lot and interacted quite well with the group so I’d like to give you an official invitation to join the group and stay here, if you wish” Quaint may have tried to keep it formal anyways but a slight note of genuine earnestness had slipped into her tone despite her best efforts. Soar finally stopped being frozen in place and took a breathe. “If you truly don’t mind, I’d love to take you up on that offer” Soar tried to keep a completely relaxed and casual tone but he was slightly tearing up and his voice gave a small wobble as he spoke the words. The rest of the nichelings seemed happy, in their own ways. “WHOO! Finally” Sway said in an excited cheer as if she’d been waiting for this her entire life. Show beamed at Soar with an excited nod of agreement. And Shine simply gave him a nod of approval, not a huge gesture but fitting for Shine. The rest of the day was filled with cheer at both the new life and the new member of the group.

Sway had noticed something…odd recently. Sway is a bit of a restless sleeper at times so she can have issues staying asleep and therefore is awake at odd times of the night. This means that she’s noticed Quaint’s odd nightly behavior. Sway noticed that when Quaint must think everyone is asleep she sneaks off into the tall grasses at the edge of the group’s home. It’d be fine if Sway hadn’t noticed that she was doing this either every night or every other night recently, so it was weird, Quaint wasn’t known for being secretive. It was making Sway extremely curious, what could she not want anyone to know? Sway had to find out herself or she would be plagued by the thought forever. When Quaint snuck away that night instead of just trying to go back to sleep Sway carefully rose from her ‘nest’, a small patch of the ground decorated with grass and other various soft objects, and cautiously followed Quaint’s scent. Sway was careful of her every movement, just one wrong pawstep could alert Quaint of her presence and that’d be awkward to explain, and it would get her no answers to satisfy her curiosity. It didn’t take long for Quaint to stop moving before looking around, causing Sway to dart onto the shore and crouch down to avoid being spotted. After holding her breathe for what seemed like an eternity Quaint seemed to relax. “Alright, no one is around” Quaint said, confusing Sway before she heard pawsteps which made her ears perk up further to try and figure out what that was. Instead of anything dangerous a smooth voice spoke, the type of tone that projected confidence and calmness. “If no one has followed you yet I don’t see the need for such concern” The voice spoke, and Sway fought the urge to poke her head out and see who was talking. “It’s good to be cautious” Quaint spoke in a tone that suggested she wasn’t exactly thrilled with this other one’s calmness. “So have you told the rest of your group about the news?” The voice asked making Sway’s face scrunch up in confusion, not having heard any news or anything extremely important from Quaint recently. “No, not yet. I will when the time comes” Quaint said making Sway even more lost, and slightly on edge for what this news is, was it dangerous? And who was she talking to? Questions swirled in Sway’s mind, almost making her miss their continued conversation. “The pup might be hurt if you’re not careful though, and that’d be unfortunate” The voice’s words made Sway’s eyes practically shoot open as she heard, her mind racing as she tried to figure out if she heard that right. Quaint is gonna have a pup?! Sway couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t tell the group, it could be unsafe for her to push herself if she’s pregnant! Then she realized they were quite absorbed in their conversation and carefully poked her head out from its hiding spot and tried to get a peek at the nicheling Quaint was speaking to. She was relieved to see they were chatting too much to notice her presence, or perhaps it was due to the darkness of night. The nicheling seemed to be yellow with orange stripes, they also had antlers sitting on their head along with razor sharp claws on their right paw. Sway quickly put her head back into hiding as she processed everything. She decided now would be a good time to leave, the longer she stayed the more she risked getting caught. She carefully made her way back the way she came, making sure her paws were perfectly placed to ensure a quiet getaway. After getting back she curled up on her nest and looked at the stars above, pondering on what to do now. Should she tell the other group members? Or would that make Quaint hate her for telling something that was obviously a secret? Deciding it was too late to think about such big choices Sway laid her head down and tried to drift off again. Sway’s mind stayed stuck on what she’d found out a few days ago, it felt like a weight had been placed on her shoulders by learning about it and it was started to take a toll on her. The other group nichelings had been quite busy recently, Quaint said they should try to expand their home so they’d have more room, which Sway couldn’t help but wonder if it was actually because of the pup that was secretly on the way. “What’re you thinking about?” A voice startled Sway out of her thoughts and caused her to whip her head towards the sound. She was a bit startled as she noticed it was Soar, she forgot that was today. By now Soar had been helping the group for a bit now, nothing extremely eventful had come from his patrols but it was helpful nonetheless. Sway looked at him silently, contemplating on whether to tell him or not. If she told him she wouldn’t be telling the group, but would Quaint hate the fact she told someone outside the group even more? Soar didn’t push, he simply watched her think as he didn’t want to pry. “Can we go on a patrol together? A walking one” Sway specified as she didn’t want to talk about it in the middle of the group’s home, even if no one else was around at the moment. Soar slightly squinted his eyes in a confused manner but eventually gave Sway a decisive nod. “Sure, lead the way” Soar spoke, wondering what exactly this was about and why she didn’t want to speak about it here. Sway exhaled with relief before leading him away from the heart of the group’s territory and into the grasses. “So…” Soar simply stated after they had stopped in a small clearing away from the group’s home. Sway was silent for a few minutes as she gathered her thoughts enough to form some decent sentences. “I found out something a few days ago and wanted to talk to someone about it” Sway started as she shifted from paw to paw in a nervous manner, trying to breach the subject of what she’d found. “Oh, why not talk to a member of your group about it?” Soar asked, confused as to why she’d talk to an outsider, as he considered himself, about what she had found. Sway let out a slightly frusterated groan as she swayed back and forth on her paws a bit faster as a way to air out her annoyance with this whole situation. “I can’t! Or well maybe I could but I don’t know if that’d be worse or better or even if keeping quiet is a bad idea or a good one” Sway’s voice had a slightly harsh edge to it but it wasn’t directed at Soar, it was at herself for being unable to decide what the best course of action was. Her curiosity was satiated but at what cost? Soar’s face turned into one of concern as he listened to Sway, wonder what exactly could cause such a reaction from Sway, who had been nothing but excitable and sweet until this point. He reached one of his wings up and awkwardly settled it on one of her shoulders as an attempt to soothe her worried a little bit. “Bottling things up isn’t a good idea but I don’t know what you’re talking about so do what you feel is right” Soar tried to give some comforting words but they were a bit unsure as he was still missing many of the puzzle pieces himself. Sway firmly planted her paws on the ground, stopping her swaying motions, and took a deep breathe. “Well I found out that Quaint is going to have a pup and she was talking to this unknown nicheling” Sway forced the words out, wanting to not overthink her choice any longer. Soar blinked a few times, shocked, before taking his wing back and settling it on the ground to digest the information he’d just been given. “I’m guessing the pup’s other parent?” Soar asked as he sat down while looking at Sway, who sighed before giving a shrug. “I don’t know, I left quickly after learning about the future pup because they didn’t know I was there” Sway said making Soar slightly tilt his head. “Were you eavesdropping on them?” Soar asked to clarify, wondering why she would be eavesdropping in the first place. Sway winced at the phrasing but couldn’t exactly deny the accusation. “I suppose I was, but it was because Quaint had been sneaking away at night and I was concerned that she was keeping this a secret from the rest of the group” Sway quickly tried to explain, wondering if Soar would tell Quaint about this whole thing and the fact she’d secretly been listening to her and that other nicheling’s conversation. “I guess that would be pretty concerning, don’t worry I’m not gonna tell Quaint” Soar said making Sway relieved, and wonder how he’d known what she was thinking. Sway’s shoulders slumped with relief at his words, not knowing how she’d try to explain away that one. The rest of the patrol was uneventful and filled with more pleasant chatter. Sway felt she had grown closer to Soar from that conversation at least. After that patrol, and his usual air patrol, Soar was strolling along the shore to relax for a little bit before flying back to his home. As he strolled along he noticed a familiar yellow nicheling sitting at the edge of the shore. “Hello Show” Soar greeted, making Show’s attention turn from the waves in front of him over to the bat-winged nicheling instead. Show gave Soar a grin as he waved a paw in greeting before speaking his own. “Heya Soar, how was the patrol today?” Show asked as Soar approached him by his spot on the sand. Soar didn’t have to think about his answer much as he took a seat a comfortable distance from the fanged nicheling. “Same as usual, nothing exciting or threatening” Soar replied as he felt the sand slightly sink under his paws and wings. Show gave a friendly nod at the bat-winged nicheling’s reply. “That’s good right? That means no aggressive creatures are coming to try and kill us” Show idly said as his attention was once again caught by the tide as a wave came close enough to almost touch his paws. Soar simply gave him a polite nod and turned towards the sea himself, not expecting there to be anymore conversation. … “Do you have a group yourself?” Show’s question slightly startled Soar but he answered quickly and without hesitation. “Nope, just me myself and I” Soar said as he kept his gaze towards the waves, not exactly enjoying that conversation topic but not wanting to come off as rude. Show noticed his slight tone of discomfort and spared him of answering any further. “Alright” Show simply spoke as he didn’t want to make Soar uncomfortable, turning his attention back towards the sea as well, pushing away any curiosity that may have tried to get his attention. The two nichelings spent some time watching the shore until Soar decided to make his way back home after exchanging some goodbyes.

Shine quietly hummed to herself as she idly explored around the group’s home, aimlessly wandering without an actual destination in mind when she noticed something. Show was walking along the shore with an oddly serious look on his face as he walked, grabbing Shine’s attention immediately and making her paws move before her brain could make anything of it. She was quickly stepping side by side with Show, who didn’t even seem to notice a thing as his gaze continued to be trained on nothing as he continued walking along the shore and sending some sand scattering with every paw-step. Gathering her thoughts, Shine spoke. “What are you thinking about?” Shine’s words seemed to snap Show out of his stupor as he flinched and scrabbled to make sure he didn’t slip and slam his snout into the sand they were walking on. “Don’t worry about it” Show said in an attempt to brush it off, but that just concerned Shine more as he wasn’t the type to really do that. “As your friend I will, you’re not usually this out of it” Shine said with a determined tone, not willing to let Show brush off whatever it is he was thinking about. Show sighed, knowing this was probably some form of karma for when he pressed Shine about her thoughts before. “…My little brother, I did just kind of abandon him to come on this journey” After minutes of pressing silence Show broke and confessed what had captured his attention so strongly. Shine’s face relaxed into a softer one as she listened to his words, having heard him mention his little brother a few times before, quite the quiet pup apparently. “Oh” Was all Shine could really say though, comforting words aren’t exactly her strong point. Show understood that and continued to explain the exact thoughts. “He wasn’t that old when I left, he was almost ready to get his second gem” Show said with a slightly bitter chuckle as he recalled how his brother excitedly told everyone he was going to get it soon. “He was devastated when I told him what I was doing, he wouldn’t leave my side at all the last day before I left, and when I had to go he wouldn’t stop crying, begging me to not leave him” Show said as his face contorted to an expression of agony as he recalled the memory in crystal clear detail that made his heart painfully squeeze in his chest. Shine felt her heart slightly hurt just hearing it, she had an older sister but she never had younger siblings, but it sounded painful. Seeing as words aren’t her thing Shine just leaned against Show to try and show some support. Show gave a shaky smile at the attempt of comfort. “Do you regret it?” Shine asked, not wanting to press but wanting his honest thoughts. Show looked at her with an unreadable expression as he sorted through his thoughts, deciding whether to be honest or not. “I…I’m happy to have you all of- of course! But…I miss him. Spotlight was the light of my life, and my greatest joy. Not having him around feels like a forever bleeding gash has been put onto my heart” Show decided that being honest would be best in the long-run, though it may hurt now. Shine pushed away the part of her that was hurt, knowing that Show was hurting enough and didn’t need anything to make him feel even worse than he already did. “That’s understandable, family is important and it must hurt to be away from them” Shine tried to offer some words of comfort as she pressed closer to Show to try and reassure him. Show’s shaky smile became a bit more genuine and soft as he accepted the comfort Shine was trying to give him. The two sat in silence and watched the waves of the sea rush in before retreating once more, creating a steady motion that helped calm the thoughts of the two. Before they knew it the sky had turned from a vibrant blue into a soft orange that cast the world in a warm glow. “…We should probably get back before the others think we died or something” Show eventually spoke, his tears having dried at the point as he continued to watch the waves. Shine was snapped out of the trance she had fallen into staring at the shore at Show’s words. “Yeah” Shine simply murmured as she pulled away from Show’s side, ignoring the slight disappointment that internally rose from that action, before turning to walk back home with Show in tow. As expected, the other two nichelings of the group were quite concerned about the other two being gone for some time. “Just, warn us next time you decide to go off for a while” Quaint said sounding a bit exasperated as she had almost run herself ragged trying to find Shine and Show. Show ducked his head with a sheepish grin as he listened to Quaint’s words, having meant for it to be a quick walk to clear his head. “Sorry” Show said with a nervous shrug. Shine meanwhile just nodded to show she would, feeling a bit bad she’d worried the other two but not feeling extremely guilty about the whole situation. That seemed to be enough for Quaint as she straightened up with a nod before walking a bit away and sitting down to rest. Sway was concerned at first but her concern had melted into a teasing expression as she looked between Show and Shine, which made Shine give a questioning tilt of the head. Sway gestured for Shine to come over to her which she complied with. “What is it?” Shine simply asked as Sway had moved the two to a quiet part of the clearing away from the other two nichelings. Sway’s grin grew at the question. “You and Show seem pretty close, that’s all” Sway said with a hum as she lived up to her name, swaying back and forth with excited energy. Shine narrowed her eyes at Sway’s words, a bit confused. “Yeah? He’s my friend” Shine replied as she tried to figure out what the teasing expression was for, not quite connecting the dots at the moment. Sway noticed her confusion and decided to elaborate a little bit. “Juuust your friend? Nothing else? Or is he someone you like more than a friend?” Sway said with an excited and teasing tone, making Shine’s eyes widen as she realized what she was implying. “W-what makes you say that?” Shine asked in a defensive tone as she tried to ignore the fact her fur felt warmer than before. Sway snickered at the reaction she got from the usually more collected nicheling. “No reason, byeeee~” Sway chirped in an extremely pleased tone before walking off to the berry bush, leaving Shine to process everything that just happened. Shine just forcefully shoved any thoughts that Sway’s teasing may have produced away and flopped onto the ground to try and sleep away that entire conversation.

The group was enjoying a peaceful day when a flapping of wings caught the group’s attention. Shine immediately started looking around, causing the other nichelings to become concerned. “What is it?” Quaint asked as Shine’s actions had put her on edge, prepared for any potential danger that could befall their small group. Shine didn’t answer at first, too busy looking around. “Sorry, it’s habit” Shine said as she stopped looking around. “At my home island there were blue birds that took pups, but I suppose that wouldn’t really be a concern for us” Shine continued as she tried to relax again, but old habits die hard and it was hard to resist the instinct to scan the skies again. “Yeah, we had those too…” Show said, getting lost in past memories of those huge birds before shaking his head to try and clear his thoughts of heavy feelings. Shine tried to give a sympathetic look towards Show before gazing at the sky once more. “That sounds terrifying” Sway simply said, never having seen a bird on her own home island, though maybe it had been too hot for them to survive there. Quaint had similar thoughts, she’d never seen one either. Quaint strained her ears to listen and heard the wing beats growing a bit louder, causing her posture to tense just in case. Suddenly something landed in front of the berry bush the group ate from, causing the group to all stand to their paws, having been at least a bit startled by the appearance. When the creature, which they all noticed was a nicheling, started eating some berries Sway quickly bolted over. “HEY! Those aren’t yours!” Sway exclaimed as she suddenly stood in front of the unknown nicheling, causing said nicheling to let out a startled yelp and drop the berries that they were holding. After recovering from being spooked the nicheling finally spoke. “Sorry! I didn’t know these were someone else’s” The nicheling said as they put a wing up in a surrendering motion, not wanting to get into an unnecessary fight if it wasn’t needed. Sway was slightly appeased at how easily the nicheling gave up. “Who are you?” Quaint’s voice suddenly questioned causing the new nicheling to flinch before turning and noticing the rest of the group, who were follow Quaint to see the new nicheling. “I’m Soar, who are you all?” The new nicheling, Soar, asked as he glanced around at the group of nichelings with a somewhat tense posture. “I’m Quaint, the one you saw first is Sway, this” Quaint gestured towards Show “is Show, and that” She next gestured towards Shine “is Shine” She finished the introductions before assessing Soar to try and figure out if he would be a threat to them. Soar listened attentively before taking his turn to speak. “It’s nice to meet you all” Soar first said before deciding to take a risk and ask a favor. “Would it be alright if I took some of your berries? In return I could perhaps help with any tasks you would need help with” Soar questioned, having barely been able to keep himself from starving and hoping to get something in his stomach. Quaint hummed in thought, carefully thinking over the nicheling’s offer. It could be a trick but Soar didn’t seem to be lying and all they would be giving was some berries, they could eat the smelly fruit if need be. “If you could help with patrolling the area and clearing grass then I don’t see a problem with it” Quaint eventually answered with a somewhat formal tone seeing as this was as exchange of sorts. Soar perked up at her acceptance of his idea. “Great! With my wings I’ll be able to see a bunch of stuff” Soar spoke with a relieved smile, having been slightly worried that the idea would’ve been shot down immediately upon suggesting it. Shine had just been watching the exchange with a disinterested expression, but noted that this nicheling wasn’t a threat, at least at the moment. Sway meanwhile was torn, on one paw the nicheling would be taking some of the group’s food, but a new nicheling to talk to would be interesting. “It’s nice to meet someone new” Show voiced his thoughts as he took a small step towards Soar, who tilted his head as he just noticed the venomous fangs that Show had. Soar hoped he would never be on the receiving end of those fangs, the thought made him a bit nervous but he didn’t let it show. “Agreed, I’ve never seen you four before, are you by chance new?” Soar asked as he once again looked over the four nichelings. Quaint simply nodded at first. “Yes, we’ve been traveling to find a good island to settle on, this one shows promise so far” Quaint clarified as she decided that wouldn’t be bad information to share with this new nicheling. Soar nodded to show he heard the words, he was curious but wouldn’t push his luck by prying as he had already gotten lucky to have struck this deal. Soar took a few berries though his movements were slow and careful as he watched the other nichelings to see their reactions, when they didn’t react he relaxed somewhat and started eating. “When exactly would you like to start patrolling and clearing grass?” Quaint asked after Soar had finished eating his fill, making him perk up and turn his attention towards the fluffy nicheling with a straightened posture. “I could start right now if you’d wish” Soar said making Quaint’s mouth curl up into an appeased smile at how quickly this had all been put in motion. “I would love that, if you find anything of interest I’d love to hear of it” Quaint said with a polite nod as she looked over at Soar, who listened to every word before giving a nod and taking off into the sky to begin his patrol of the area. “…What if he just takes off and doesn’t return?” Shine finally spoke after some silence making Quaint answer easily, having been mentally preparing for the scenario herself. “Then we chase him off any time we see him” Quaint replied as she turned her attention from the skies to the green nicheling. That seemed to placate Shine as she gave a nod of acknowledgement before turning her attention to the berry bush instead, drifting off into her own thoughts once more. Now all that was left was to wait and see what happened. After some time the bat-winged nicheling had returned to Shine’s surprise as she was convinced he took the berries and ran. Soar landed upon the green grass with a slight thump before straightening up and reporting what he’d seen on his patrol. “Nothing interesting really, no threats or other nichelings” Soar said, having not seen anything of interest from the sky. Quaint was happy with that assessment, as that meant there were no threats to prepare for. “Thank you, though I do have a proposal for you” Quaint said, having thought over an idea while Soar had been patrolling. “Oh?” Soar simply said, being interested about what offer Quaint had for him. “If you wouldn’t mind perhaps we could make this a regular occurrence, we give you food and in return you patrol around our home from the sky to make sure nothing sneaks up on us” Quaint offered as she looked the bat-winged nicheling in the eyes. Soar blinked in slight shock, having expected to be sent away and never interacting with this group of nichelings again. “If you would be fine giving up some food occasionally I wouldn’t deny that deal” Soar eventually answered after pondering it for a little while, deciding a steady source of food would be a great way to ensure his survival without a group of his own to rely on. “Great, so how often would you want to do this?” Quaint asked, wanting to get the details sorted out to ensure everyone was on the same page and to avoid any confusion that could occur. “How often would you want me to?” Soar asked, not having any particular preference of his own and not minding extra food that he could perhaps store away if needed. “Would once every seven days work for you?” Quaint suggested though the end of the sentence lifted up into a question to see what Soar thought of it. “That works for me” Soar agreed easily, it wasn’t that often yet enough to ensure a steady supply of food for himself. Quaint gave a nod, pleased that this went off without a hitch to speak of. “Well than it’s settled, every seven days you will get berries in exchange for patrolling around our home to help ensure our safety” Quaint spoke to settle the agreement with an air of formality. Soar nodded his agreement as he watched the other nichelings reactions to this revelation. Sway was happy to be able to potentially talk more but a bit pouty about having less food, Show was ecstatic at the chance to talk to a nicheling he’d never met before, and Shine didn’t care either way but was definitely going to keep an eye on him as a precaution. “Well I’ll see you all soon than” Soar said before taking off into the sky once more and disappearing from view. The rest of the day was uneventful and filled with idle conversation.

The group had stayed at that same spot for a few more days before getting a surprise. “WOAH! I’ve got my third gem!” Was what woke up Quaint one morning. Blearily blinking sleep from her eyes, Quaint slowly lifted her head from its resting position to look and noticed the third gem that was now resting on Sway’s chest, but she noticed some other things as well. “You’re not the only one” Show spoke Quaint’s thoughts for her as everyone noted that they all had their third gems now, a sign that they’d truly become adults now instead of just late teens. Shine glanced around to see what had happened and let out a thoughtful hum as she noticed what had seemed to appear overnight but didn’t comment verbally. “Guess we’re all mature adults now!” Sway said with a grin as she posed with what Shine would consider far too much energy for having just woken up. Show seemed to be energized by Sway’s words as he hopped up to his paws and posed as well. “Yeah! Though it’s not as if anyone was really watching what we do when we came here anyways” Show said as he slightly tilted his head, voicing his idle thoughts. That statement made Quaint think, it had been oddly peaceful and calm since they’d arrived here, not a single hostile nor friend had shown their face. That thought made her get onto her paws, making the other nichelings turn towards her curiously. “We haven’t seen much of anything living since we’ve gotten here, I’m going to patrol the area to make sure there’s nothing trying to catch us by surprise” Quaint explained as she noticed the attention she had garnered simply by standing up, finding it mildly amusing to watch. Sway immediately walked closer to Quaint, practically buzzing with energy. “I wanna come with!” Sway said as she shifted from paw to paw excitedly, like a pup. “Sure, more paws would be helpful anyways” Quaint agreed before looking at the other two nichelings in an unspoken question. Show shook his head, wanting to get some extra sleep if he had the chance, having lost the energy he had only a second ago. “Nah, I’ll stay here and watch over the food” Shine waved Quaint off as she grabbed a berry and started chewing it idly. Quaint nodded before turning around and walking into the grasses, making Sway stumble in her attempt to follow. “So…what are we looking for?” Sway asked as she followed Quaint, trying to make conversation with the focused nicheling. Quaint didn’t respond at first, seeing as she is the type to rather focus than chit chat. “Potential threats, but if we find something useful it’d be good to note” Quaint simply replied as she knew Sway enough to know she wouldn’t be beyond pestering her to try and get her to talk. Sway hummed to show she heard before looking back and forth for anything more interesting. “…This is more boring than I thought it would be” Sway spoke again after a little bit causing Quaint to roll her eyes in response at her complaining. “That’s good, that means there’s no threats around” Quaint said as she started to turn back in the direction that they came from, appeased by their patrol for now. Sway huffed and shook her pelt. “But that also means there’s nothing fun” Sway said as she took on a more sulky posture while walking before noticing something poking out of the grasses. Feeling curious she gently moved the grass to the side. “Oh there’s a nest here!” Sway’s words caused Quaint’s ears to turn in her direction before her body did. Quaint turned around and walked over to see that there was indeed a nest. Quaint inspected it with a hum while Sway poked at it, as if it’d move or bite her. “That’s good to know, in case someone has pups” Quaint spoke as she started to clear some grass around it so they wouldn’t lose it. Sway snorted before helping clear grass as well. “Pups? No one is anywhere near ready for that” Sway spoke with an amused tone and a few snickers as she stole a glance at Quaint. “Maybe not yet but someday I’m sure one of us will have some” Quaint said as she finished clearing enough grass in her opinion. Sway stopped as well with a shake of her head. “That’s a wild thought” Sway simply said as she tried to imagine any of them being parents, it felt weird to her honestly. “Now it is, but later it might not be, and being prepared is good” Quaint said before turning around and going back the way they came. ~Meanwhile~ Shine simply stared at Show, who had passed out practically the second the other two left. She wondered if this island would be good, the others they’d seen were…unpleasant to say the least. One had swarms of biting bugs that made them feel exhausted and the other had been so cold that most of them were freezing their paws off, except for Quaint oddly enough, she had practically been the only reason they survived as she was quite warm. Shine took another berry and popped it into her jaw as she continued to let her thoughts wander away from her body and far away. She wondered what her life would’ve been like if her parents didn’t agree to let her travel with these three, it would’ve been safer and more secure of course but…it would have been a horrific, mundane cycle that repeated itself the same way every day. Wake up, eat from the plentiful food, patrol even though nothing ever happened, sleep, repeat, day in and day out. She knows she would’ve hated living like that for the rest of her life, no even living a second longer like that. She prefers the adventure and unknown that this life brings, even if it was more dangerous. And she feels closer to these three than she ever had with her own pack, though her chances of admitting that out loud weren’t exactly high. “What’s wrong?” Shine jolted as Show suddenly spoke, having woken up from his nap and making her realize she’d been zoning out longer than she thought. Shine tilted her head towards him, noting his worried expression. “ ‘M fine, just thinking” Shine answered to try and ease his worries, but he only seemed more concerned by that answer. “What about?” Show asked, wondering why Shine had looked so…lost while thinking about what she had been thinking about. “About my old life, that’s all” Shine tried to wave away his concern but Show wasn’t gonna have it this time. “You can tell me anything, you know that right?” Show asked, making Shine slightly flinch at how easily he said those words before tearing her gaze away and looking at the berry bush instead. “It’s nothing important” Shine said, feeling as if it wasn’t anything important or tragic. Show slowly stood to his paws. “Even if it doesn’t feel like it, it can be really important….So tell me please?” Show pleaded as he stepped in front of Shine and the berry bush. Shine stared at him blankly for a few seconds before sighing. “Just wondering how life would’ve been if I stayed with my pack” Shine slightly elaborated as she offered him a berry. Show quietly accepted the berry and tilted his head to ask if there was anything else before speaking. “And?” Show pressed as he started to eat the offered berry, wondering if she had regretted her choice to come with the small group. Shine noticed his expression and cleared her throat. “It’d be boring, this life is more interesting” Shine clarified as she idly plucked a leaf from the berry bush and watched it flutter towards the ground. Show’s posture slightly sagged in relief at her words. “You’re probably right on that, it’s definitely been real interesting” Show agreed with a small smile as he finished eating his berry. He idly wiped his paw against the ground to remove any remaining berry juice as he thought of something else to say. “Well-” But before he could even finish that sentence Quaint and Sway suddenly appeared from the grasses, having finished their patrol. Shine and Show turned their attention towards the returning nichelings with curiosity showing on their faces. “Nothing hostile, but we did find a nest pretty close to here so that’s good news” Quaint announced as she noticed the attention that was on her now. “Oh cool” Show simply said as he gave them a grin as he turned completely towards the arriving nichelings. “I’m going to rest for a little bit” Quaint said before walking over to the spot she slept in before and curling up. The other nichelings just did their own activities for the rest of the day, it was a nice and relaxed day.

SO! For this playthrough I had a really neat little idea, instead of rolling for all three traits for the nichelings immediately I will instead only do one per life stage. By that I mean each nicheling will only have one personality trait as a baby and child, an additional one as a teen (or two in total), and a third will be rolled when they become an adult! The point of this is because while dangerous events and stuff will be thrown in for ~Spice~ I want this playthrough to be more focused on how the nichelings personalities and bonds develop over their lives, which is why this playthrough it titled as such :3 Hope this won’t be too boring for those of you more used to my more intense playthroughs lol. - Shine, a bright green nicheling with beige spots, quickly leaned over the edge of the shore to grab onto Show, a yellow nicheling with light brown spots, seeing as he had almost slipped into the water as he was more focused on excitedly rambling his thoughts about finding a decent island to settle on instead of paying attention to where he put his paws. “Sorry about that Shine” Show said a bit bashfully as he looked over at Shine after she had pulled him over to the shore. Shine didn’t seem any more irritated than usual as she stood onto her paws once more. “It’s fine” Shine waved off his apology with a dismissive tone as she turned her gaze from the sheepish nicheling before her over to the other teens that were reaching the shore themselves now. Unlike Show who had lived up to his name the other nichelings had made it across without any issues, though one of them had been trying to show off a little. “Did you see how fast I was going across those stones? I could probably go even faster if they didn’t just crumble like that” Sway, a yellow nicheling with black spots and an odd snout, said with a pout as she looked back at the stones, which were now sinking into the sea and confirming that weren’t going back that way. “Don’t get too cocky, you’d probably fall if you tried again” Quaint, a very fluffy brown nicheling with lighter brown spots, spoke as she sat down while sending a glance towards Shine and Show before returning her attention to the most adventurous of the four. Sway scoffed at Quaint’s words as if it was a great offense to her personally. “I’m not as bad as Show, I pay attention!” Sway said causing the mentioned nicheling to suddenly sit up with an offended ‘Hey!’ but that went ignored as Quaint rolled her eyes at the other nicheling’s claim. “Maybe not but the more you try to show off the higher the chance you’ll fall on your face and embarrass yourself” Quaint said, but the slight twitch at the edges of her mouth showed her amusement with the other nicheling’s offense. “I’ll just have to prove it to you when I get the chance than!” Sway said, deciding to take it as a challenge rather than a warning. Quaint just shook her head before deciding that she probably wasn’t winning this particular battle. “Well anyways we should probably actually try to find a place to rest and see if this island is worth sticking around” Quaint spoke up as she turned her attention towards the other two nichelings, making them look over at her.The two looked at each other in an unspoken conversation before answering her. “I don’t see a problem with that” Shine spoke first with a shrug, not really caring whether they stay or leave the current island. “Sounds good to me!” Show said with a grin while taking a step towards Quaint, curious as to what the island ahead had to offer, any potential tiredness he may have had before diminishing in an instant. Noticing that everyone seemed on board with the idea, Quaint decided to start leading the group into the unknown grasses ahead. It had been a few days of traveling now as the group wandered aimlessly through the tall grasses, only having their noses to guide them through the unknown area. “How do we even know if we’re going anywhere? We could be going in circles for all we know” Sway complained as she idly batted at a few strands of grass while they continued their journey. “We’d smell our own scents if we were going in circles” Quaint simply answered as she continued her path forward, more focused on getting somewhere than conversing with the other nichelings at the moment. Sway huffed at the answer but remained silent, though her posture was clearly showing her displeasure at the situation. “What’s that?” Shine suddenly spoke after being almost entirely silent for the journey, catching the other nicheling’s attention quite quickly. “What do you mean?” Show asked with a tilt of his head with the other nichelings turning towards the green nicheling as well. Instead of answering Shine put her nose in the air and took in the scent that was flowing in on the breeze before following it. “Huh, it’s quite a sweet scent” Quaint noted, having now noticed what caught the other nicheling’s attention as she turned to follow the scent herself. The other two nichelings looked at each other for an explanation but noticed they were both as confused as each other and simply followed Quaint and Shine. “Oh! That smells good!” Sway said as she started to smell it too, pushing her way through the other nichelings to reach the scent, almost as if it was a competition. Show was lost as he couldn’t smell whatever the other nichelings seemed to be able to. He just shrugged it off and continued to follow. Soon enough they reached the scent, a berry bush! “YES, FOOD!” Sway yelled out excitedly as she reached the berry bush first due to her racing ahead of the others. Her yell caught the attention of Show who quickly trotted over to see she was right. “That’s a relief, I was worried we’d starve” Quaint said as she approached the berry bush to join Sway and Show, with Shine not far behind her. The green nicheling took in the situation in front of her before slowly walking over as well. Sway grinned as she took three berries and shoved them into her mouth without a moment of hesitation after the other nichelings arrived. Quaint’s lip slightly twitched in irritation before she just shook her head, used to Sway’s antics by now. Show noticed something else though and bounded toward it, catching the attention of Shine and Quaint. “LOOK!” Show shouted almost making Sway choke on her berries before turning towards the source of the sound with alarm, along with getting the other two nichelings attention. He was situated in front of a large plant with odd yellow fruits hanging from it. “What are those? They smell unpleasant” Quaint said as her nose scrunched up at the scent wafting off of the fruits. Shine nodded to show her agreement as she shook her head, as if that would make the scent magically disappear from her nose. “They’re called smelly fruits, but they taste better than they smell!” Show said excitedly as he took one of the fruits and munched on it easily. Sway grinned and rushed over at the thought of trying new food. “The name definitely fits, count me out” Shine said with an amused snort as she watched Show and Sway eat the fruits, not wanting to eat something that smells like that. “Yeah, I’ll stick with berries” Quaint agreed with her nose still scrunched as she plucked some berries and split them between herself and Shine, which the other nicheling nodded a thanks towards her for. “More for us!” Sway said before going back to devouring the smelly fruits, while Show was eating at a more advisable pace. “We could rest here for a bit at least” Shine suggested as she chewed on some berries, making Quaint lift her gaze to look at the green nicheling with a nod. “Sounds good to me” Quaint agreed after swallowing the berries she was eating.

Jerboa was walking with Dizzy, talking about Gerbil. “I don’t know I just…feel like I’m failing as a mother, I mean I can’t comfort her or even entertain her as well as Sunset can” Jerboa sighed, oddly discouraged for how she usually was. “It’s not your fault, Gerbil simply got extremely attached to Sunset, that doesn’t mean you’re doing a bad job” Dizzy said as an attempt to reassure the dark red doe, making Jerboa just look as the ground as they walked. “I know but I should be able to comfort and calm down my own fawn better than a teen buck can” Jerboa said with some bitterness, though it wasn’t at all aimed towards the young buck, just bitter in general. Dizzy looked over at her with a sympathetic expression. “Isn’t it good for her to have some other deer to comfort her though? You will die someday and if she relies on you too much she might not know what to do, Sunset will help keep her grounded” Dizzy replied as she turned her gaze back towards the clearing in front of them. “Yeah you’re…you’re right” Jerboa agreed with a slightly defeated tone as they arrived at a berry bush. They ate in silence. The next moon it was time for Pebble to practice fighting with Sunset, due to his promise. “Now who are you gonna cheer for?” Pebble asked as he turned towards his fawn, hoping she would cheer for him. The fawn looked between the two with a thoughtful expression before answering. “Sunset!” Gerbil exclaimed making Sunset stand tall with pride while Pebble slightly deflated as he realized his own fawn was cheering for Sunset instead, but then he just chuckled because it was a little funny. “Guess you’ve got some extra luck on your side” Pebble said as he turned towards Sunset, making the younger buck puff up more proudly if that were even possible. Pebble then lowered his antlers into a fighting position, making Sunset do the same. The two were still for a little bit, waiting for the other to make a move. The Pebble charged, making sure to put as much force as he could into the charge. Sunset barely moved out of the way in time, making Pebble slightly stumble and giving the younger buck a chance. So Sunset charged at Pebble and caught him off guard, so Sunset ended up giving Pebble a cut on his shoulder, though it wasn’t anywhere near fatal and would heal soon enough. Instead of giving up the older buck turned towards Sunset and charged him again. This time Sunset wasn’t able to dodge in time so their antlers collided and made the younger buck struggle to gain a foothold but once he did he tried pushing forwards to make the older buck stumble. Sunset made a little progress but then Pebble suddenly backed up, after untangling their antlers, and started to circle the younger buck, making him nervous. Pebble suddenly charged and before the younger buck could move, he ended up stabbing one of his antlers into the younger buck’s back leg making him let out a noise of distress. That caused Pebble to immediately take a few steps back before noticing the injury, it wasn’t fatal but it was bleeding. “Are you okay?!” Pebble asked as he carefully approached the younger buck, making sunset wince as he put weight on it but nod. “It’s fine, I’ll get a cool scar now” Sunset said with pride, not minding it much. “That’s enough for today, maybe this was a bad idea” Pebble mumbled as he backed away again making Sunset roll his eyes. “Well it’s good experience! So now I’ll be more prepared” Sunset said as Gerbil started to carefully approach the young buck, seeming nervous for him. “Are you gonna be okay?” Gerbil asked in a small voice as she looked at the wound on Sunset’s leg. “I’ll be fine don’t worry!” Sunset reassured the fawn as he walked around a little, though it hurt to do so, to prove his point. The fawn seemed to relax somewhat at his actions. “Okay” Was all Gerbil said as she stood next to the young buck. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and making sure Sunset didn’t overexert himself, which was hard considering that any time Gerbil tried to move he did too. Only a few days later Pebble died in his sleep. “What happened? My scratch didn’t kill him did it?” Sunset asked in a slightly nervous tone as he looked at the former lead buck’s body. Dizzy shook her head at his words. “No, we’re just getting old now” Dizzy said with a tone of acceptance, she knew there was no way to stop the effects of age from affecting her and the other adult deer. Jerboa’s ears slightly lowered at the reminder, it felt like it was only a few seasons ago that she was a fawn frolicking through the grasses without a care in the world. “Does that mean you two will die soon?” Gerbil asked anxiously, she didn’t want to lose her mom and Dizzy too. Jerboa’s gaze lowered as she decided to tell her fawn the truth. “Maybe not soon but it will happen” Jerboa said in a quieter voice, making Gerbil give her a look of horror before turning her gaze to Pebble’s body again. Sunset moved a bit closer to the fawn so they were practically touching, making Gerbil look up with a grateful expression before looking at Pebble one more. The herd was silent the rest of the day. It felt far too soon. Gerbil had become a teen which she was happy about for a little bit but soon life had taken that happiness from her as both Dizzy and her mom had died from old age. “B-but they were supposed to see me grow into an adult!” Gerbil sobbed, making the now fully grown Sunset’s ears lower at the cries from the teen doe. He hid it well but it wounded him too, he just lost his mom as well after all. “I know, but life…it’s not fair or kind. It takes others away when you need them most, but I’ll do my best to make sure I stay around for a long time” Sunset tried to reassure the young doe, making her look up at him with tears still in her eyes. “You better” Gerbil simply said as she leaned against the buck’s side, making him look at her before turning his attention towards his surroundings, being caught off guard because of their emotions wouldn’t do them any good. Sunset relaxed as he noted there was no odd sounds or anything to show a dangerous presence, so he looked at the bodies of his mom and Gerbil’s mom, mourning with the young doe for the sudden shrinking of the herd. As Sunset and Gerbil were travelling, both because the berry bushes were running out and due to their mother’s deaths, they ended up coming across a young deer. “Oh look, a doe your age” Sunset said, though he was on guard just in case. Those words caused the young deer’s face to scrunch up. “No! I’m a buck but my antlers won’t grow” The young deer said with some irritation that implies he was used to hearing similar things before. “Oh, what’s your name then?” Sunset asked, feeling a bit bad but it wasn’t too common to see an antlerless buck. “I’m Cobra, who are you two?” The buck asked as he curiously looked over at Gerbil, making her take a step behind Sunset. “I’m Sunset and this is Gerbil” Sunset introduced himself and the nervous doe, knowing she probably wouldn’t do so herself. “Can I come with you two? I kinda got left behind by my herd, for the lack of antlers” Cobra asked with a tilt of his head. That bit of info made Gerbil take a step out from behind Sunset, feeling bad for the buck. “Well we were looking for more deer to make the herd a herd again so sure, but don’t try anything” Sunset warned with a stern look making the younger buck quickly nod his head in agreement as he took a small step closer to the two. “Alright, well we’re traveling to find a good place to settle for a little bit so if you wanna join c’mon” Sunset said, a bit more relaxed at the agreement from the young buck, before starting to walk in the direction they were going before, with Gerbil walking next to him. Cobra quickly walked up to trail behind them as they made their way forward. (Not really sure if there’s a mutation that can cause bucks to not grow antlers irl but here that’s a (very rare) thing! So yeah Cobra is a buck whose antlers never grew in)

A short update!) (I didn’t feel like looking up the apprentice ceremony so it’s gonna be off) Time felt like it flew as Redkit and Twigkit were now being made apprentices in the clan. “Do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect your clan, even with your life?” CanaryStar asked as she looked at Twigkit from on top of a large rock, making the young nicheling straighten his posture. “I do!” Twigkit said excitedly as he looked up at the leader. “Daisyfall please step forward” CanaryStar said as she looked over at the pink nicheling, making him momentarily have a look of surprise before stepping forward. “Do you promise to teach this apprentice everything you know?” CanaryStar continued as she looked him in the eyes. “I do” Daisyfall said as he glanced at Twigkit for a moment before turning his gaze back towards the leader. “Then from this moment until you earn your warrior name you shall be known as Twigpaw” CanaryStar said after turning towards Twigpaw, making him beam and puff up proudly before going over and touching noses with Daisyfall. There were cheers of ‘Twigpaw!’ from the clan nichelings. CanaryStar then turned her attention towards the other young nicheling, causing Redkit’s gaze to snap up from where it was. “Do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect your clan, even with your life?” CanaryStar asked making Redkit stand a bit taller. “I do” Redkit said with a nod. “Tigerthorn please step forward” CanaryStar said as she looked at the striped nicheling. Tigerthorn quickly stepped forward and looked up at CanaryStar. “Do you promise to teach this apprentice everything you know?” CanaryStar asked as she stared at Tigerthorn. “I do” Tigerthorn said causing CanaryStar to look over at Redkit again. “Then from this moment until you earn your warrior name you will be known as Redpaw” CanaryStar said causing cheers to erupt from the clan nichelings again as Redpaw and Tigerthorn touched noses. “The clan meeting is dismissed” CanaryStar said after a few more moments before jumping down from the rock, almost falling because of her belly. Less than a moon after the apprentice’s ceremonies CanaryStar had her kit. “So, what are you naming her?” Mossbeetle asked as he looked at the kit snuggled by his sister’s side. “Blossomkit” CanaryStar simply answered as she looked at the kit, her emotions waging war in her mind. She loved the kit and she knew she loved Berry but she was afraid of what the future would hold for Blossomkit if the clan found out about her origins, she knows that some of the current clan were loners but this felt…different. Mossbeetle could see the thoughtful expression his sister was making but he wasn’t exactly sure how to, or even if he should, address it. So he turned towards the herb stores and idly began to sort them instead of talking about it. “What should I do?” CanaryStar’s oddly small and nervous voice made Mossbeetle’s ear turn towards her. “About what?” Mossbeetle asked, trying to figure out exactly what she was asking about. “About where Blossomkit came from. Should I tell the clan and potentially make it harder for Blossomkit her entire life or do I hide it and potentially ruin her future?” CanaryStar asked making Mossbeetle still in his current task. “I…don’t know” Mossbeetle eventually answered, not really having any idea and both of those options didn’t exactly sound ideal. CanaryStar deflated as she looked at the kit with a swirl of emotions as she tried to think of a solution to her problem. Mossbeetle’s ears slightly lowered with guilt as he didn’t have any idea how to help his sister with this difficult situation. Then Mossbeetle stilled again as he had an idea. “If you wanted I could ask Sandwing if he could pretend to be the father of Blossomkit, she looks kinda like him” Mossbeetle suggested, though for some reason the idea gave him a bitter taste in his mouth. CanaryStar slowly looked up. “What if he doesn’t agree?” CanaryStar asked making Mossbeetle hum in thought. “Why don’t we try first” Mossbeetle said, not having any idea what to do if that failed. “Okay” CanaryStar simply said making Mossbeetle get up before walking off to find the deputy. / “Sandwing” Mossbeetle’s voice felt like it almost startled the fur off of Sandwing as he jumped, dropping a piece of prey, before whipping his head towards the med nicheling. “Oh it’s you, what is it?” Sandwing asked as he noticed that Mossbeetle sounded more serious than usual, which concerned him a little bit. “Come with me” Mossbeetle said as he turned around and started walking back to the medicine, making Sandwing slightly scramble to follow, feeling more concerned now. / CanaryStar slowly tilted her head up as she saw her brother and the deputy walk into the medicine den. “Oh how cute! What’s their name?” Sandwing asked as he smiled at the kit. “Blossomkit” CanaryStar answered as she looked at the kit once more. “What a fitting name! But you did sound pretty serious when you brought me here” Sandwing said as he turned towards the medicine nicheling, making him nod. “To put it bluntly, CanaryStar had a kit with a loner so now she doesn’t want to chance Blossomkit being ostracized for it so she wants you to pretend to be the kit’s father so no one suspects anything” Mossbeetle explained, stunning the deputy into silence for a little bit as he tried to process all that. “But…I already love someone else” Sandwing said in a pained tone as he really didn’t want to choose between even a chance of getting with the one he loves and potentially watching a kit be left out for their heritage. CanaryStar turned her gaze to the ground as she realized what this would mean. “I see, well then you can go but don’t tell anyone else about this” Mossbeetle said as he turned towards his sister without even giving Sandwing a glance anymore, which kind of hurt but Sandwing understood so he nodded before leaving, making the medicine den deathly quiet.

Yeah Sunset is a very protective deer, he'll keep Gerbil safe :3

Huge apologies but I lost so many screenshots so there's a huge amount of text but I'll put breaks between them to try and make it a bit easier to digest.) Old age had hit both Mouse and Twine meaning that there were only four members of the herd left now. “…We should go somewhere else” Ferret spoke a day after the two had died, she wanted to go somewhere different so they wouldn’t have to see their bodies all the time and be reminded of their deaths, she may not have been extremely attached to Mouse or especially Twine, but she would still rather not stick around, and she knows Jerboa must be hurting because of it. The now teen doe was being oddly quiet considering her usual personality. “I’d rather not have their corpses stink up the area we live in” Sand agreed as she casted a cold look towards the teen deer in their tiny herd, only feeling a wink of sympathy for the young deer. Jerboa noticed that look and hid more behind Dusk in an attempt to get away from it. She wasn’t dumb enough to miss the blatant hatred that seemed to always ooze from the doe, though she didn’t understand why Sand hated her and hated her dad, he was kind wasn’t he? “Yeah, the reminder would only hurt us, and I’m sure Jerboa wouldn’t enjoy seeing or smelling that” Dusk also agreed as he looked at the teen with sympathy, hoping she would be able to overcome this someday and not get stuck on it, he remembers when he found out Sunrise died and wished he could’ve protected her from that pain. Hearing that everyone agreed, Ferret started off in a random direction to get away from the dead deer, and hoped food would be plentiful wherever they would end up going. - They traveled for a while, such a long time in fact that Jerboa grew into an adult deer (AKA oops forgot to keep an eye on lifespan-). While she was looking for some berries to eat, she ran straight into something causing her to jump up in alarm before seeing what it was. She was shocked to see a buck, she’s never gotten to see a new deer before! “Hello! What’s your name?” She asked the buck with a tilt of her head, curious about this new deer and wondering if the herd would let her bring him into the herd. The deer blinked in shock, and Jerboa noticed he had an offset jaw as he opened his mouth to speak. “I’m Pebble, who are you?” The buck asked, a bit confused at the extremely friendly demeanor of the other deer, he had grown used to being chased away because he was competition to the head buck so the kindness was odd. Jerboa grinned before answering, hoping this buck would be allowed to join the herd. “I’m Jerboa! Do you wanna join my herd?” Jerboa asked as she looked at the buck expectantly. “Would the head buck mind?” Pebble asked a bit concerned but also willing to fight if he needed to, being head buck would be nice… “I’m sure he wouldn’t, he’s a very kind deer” Jerboa reassure, Dusk was more peaceful anyways, he wouldn’t really enjoy picking fights for fun so he would probably accept. Pebble was tempted to just say no and leave but the look this doe was giving him… “Alright, I’ll come see if I can join” Pebble caved with a sigh, knowing this was probably not going to go well if past experience served. Jerboa perked up at the acceptance before beaming and turning around. “Alright let’s go!” Jerboa said before walking towards the herd, knowing Dusk would be fine with it, the herd was small anyways. Pebble hesitated before following behind the excitable doe. / “It’ll be good to have more herd members anyways” Dusk said, happy to have another member finally. Ferret just nodded as a sign of acceptance, she knows more members were better for a herd anyways. Pebble perked up at how easily they accepted him into the herd, no fights, no yelling, just acceptance. ‘Well I won’t question it, if I do I might jinx it’ He thought to himself as Jerboa turned towards the buck. “C’mon I know a great spot to find berries!” Jerboa said before starting to sprint in a certain direction, making Pebble have to bolt after her to keep up. - A few days after that Ferret found another wandering deer. “Who are you? I’m Dizzy” The deer introduced herself as she looked at Ferret with some interest and an unhealthy lack of caution. Ferret looked at the doe for a bit before deciding that she seemed fine and not like a hostile threat or danger to the herd. “…Ferret” Ferret simply spoke as she stood up a bit straighter and taller to see if the doe would get nervous or skittish, she wasn’t trying to scare her off but she did want to see how this doe would react to it. Dizzy just tilted her head, wondering why this doe was trying to intimidate her, it’s not like she’s being hostile or anything to warrant such behavior, but some deer were just like that she supposed. “You’re probably part of a herd right? If you are I wanna join, being a wandering deer can be fun but only for so long y’know?” Dizzy asked anyway, it’s not like she hasn’t gotten chased away before or wasn’t used to it. Besides, if she doesn’t ask she won’t ever know if she had a chance in the first place! At least that’s what she reassured herself…Meanwhile Ferret was shocked at the bold actions of the doe, most wandering deer would usually be a bit more cautious about asking to join a herd so quickly, or at least that’s what she thought. Though she definitely wasn’t opposed to it and she doubted that Dusk would disagree. “Sure, follow me” Ferret said before turning around and starting to walk back towards where the herd was resting at the moment. Dizzy grinned before following after with her head held high to give off an air of more confidence. / It didn’t take long for the two does to reach the rest of the herd, causing the other deer to all turn their heads toward the new deer and their lead doe with interest and curiosity in their gazes. Dizzy felt a bit of anxiety worm its way into her but she continued with the same confident posture as before, not letting it falter for even a mere second, confidence was key right? “Does this deer want to join the herd?” Dusk asked as he looked between the two does, making Ferret nod at his question. “Of course you can join, the more the better” Dusk easily agreed as he looked at Dizzy with a smile, which made her both happy and a bit flustered, which she chose to ignore for now because she refused to believe she had just had love at first sight with him only speaking a single sentence to her. “Thank you” Dizzy said with a nod before turning to see all the other deer still staring at her, she knows she’s the new deer but she wishes they wouldn’t do that, pushing the nerves she felt away she stood up straighter and smiled before going over to a calmer edge of the clearing the herd was relaxing in, making the other deer return to their activities, much to Dizzy’s relief. Dusk noticed the nervousness that Dizzy seemed to display a little bit and walked over to her. “Are you hungry?” The buck’s words caused Dizzy’s head to snap up and meet his gaze. Dizzy hesitated for a second before responding. “Yes I kinda am, why?” Dizzy asked as while she appreciated it and wanted to believe these deer were good, she was raised to be cautious of the intentions of unknown deer. Dusk noticed her hesitation, he wasn’t as perceptive as Ferret was but he did notice when others were more afraid or nervous so he quickly picked up on her hesitation. “You don’t have to come with but if you feel like it I could show you some good places to graze” Dusk offered, hoping it wouldn’t come across as unnerving to the doe. Dizzy tilted her head before deciding that she might as well, starving herself wouldn’t do any favors either. So she slowly stood to her hooves before responding. “Sure, lead the way” Dizzy spoke in a cheerier tone to try and convince Dusk she wasn’t nervous at all, which Dusk wasn’t buying but wasn’t commenting on either. Dusk started walking in the direction of some good grass to graze on, with Dizzy in tow. / Dizzy scanned the area they arrived in, noting it did seem like good and soft grass instead of the tough to chew stuff. Dusk turned towards her before speaking. “The grass here is nice, and much easier on the teeth” Dusk’s words confirmed Dizzy’s thoughts for her so she walked over to a patch and started grazing, realizing it was soft, well as soft as grass can be anyway. Dusk also started grazing but kept an ear out because as much as he’d love to just relax bearyena love to strike when they’re unsuspecting. They grazed in silence for a while and just relaxed. - About a moon later it was a peaceful evening, was. Until 2 bearyena appeared anyways. SOME GORE WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! “BEARYENA!” Dusk’s terrified yell woke up any deer that was sleeping and caused everyone to look over right as the bearyena clamped down on his throat and shook him, spraying blood across the once clean green clearing. Sand charged at the bearyena, angry that it dared to attack her brother, they may have not gotten along recently but that was still her brother. She jumped at it, ramming her antlers into its chest, making it roar in pain but as she tried to dodge it turned towards her and slashed right down her chest and stomach, making blood start to pool under her before she collapsed. Ferret felt terror and anger and realized what she had to do to keep the herd safe. SOME GORE OVER!!!! (2 Bearyena got the jump on me and took out Sand, Dusk, AND Ferret in one swoop-) “RUN!” Ferret yelled without thinking for once, startling the herd before they listened and bolted in a direction that the bearyena hadn’t come from, though the other two had to all but force Jerboa into moving as she just watched everyone she loved get slaughtered. As they ran they heard a scream of pain, making Jerboa try to turn around and head back but Pebble pushed her forwards, though she tried her best. They continued running until they couldn’t anymore, to make sure they would be safe and alive once they did rest. - While the other two deer noticed that Dizzy seemed to be more tired running than they were they didn’t know exactly why until after they found a good spot to rest. “You had a fawn with Dusk after knowing him only a moon?” Jerboa asked with a curious tone, though it made Dizzy wince. It was quick but she already liked him and had a bad feeling, which she now knew the reason behind. And besides it was bringing new life into the herd so it was a good thing anyways right? “What’s the name?” Pebble asked as he looked over at Dizzy, making her hum in thought for a moment. Then she remembered that Dusk said his mom’s name was Sunrise so… “Sunset, for his bright red fur” Dizzy said with a fond smile toward the brightly colored fawn she now had. The fawn just made a noise at her in response. “Sounds like a fitting name to me!” Jerboa grinned, though she wasn’t very happy right now she could appreciate new life in the, now tiny, herd. Dizzy felt herself relax at seeing Jerboa smile again, she’s only known her a month but seeing her without a grin or smile seemed wrong and unnatural for the cheery doe. - Pebble felt like his soul left his body as Jerboa suddenly appeared out of the grasses with an excited grin. “Hey Pebble!” The dark red doe exclaimed as she walked over to the startled buck, making him look at her after recovering from his mini heart-attack. “Yeah?” Pebble simply asked as he tried to figure out what Jerboa had come to talk to him about but decided it was probably just idle chatter. “Could we have a fawn?” Pebble swore he almost choked on air after hearing the doe’s words, he thought he would be prepared for whatever she said but he was just proven completely wrong. After making sure he didn’t die by choking he looked up and into the doe’s eyes. “Why do you suddenly want a fawn?” Pebble asked as he had never heard her mention anything about it before this very second. Jerboa’s posture perked up, seeming more than happy to explain. “Well it’s not like it’s new, I just never said anything and the herd is small anyways so new fawns would be a great thing for the herd!” Jerboa explained with a happy expression at the thought of having a fawn. “Well I mean I guess you’d be right about that, and if you’re sure you’re ready to have one than I guess I wouldn’t mind?” Pebble said, happy at the idea of having his own fawn but just wasn’t expecting her to suddenly ask about it now. “Great, we’ll have to come up with the best names for them though” Jerboa said as she seemed extremely excited to see what the fawn would look and act like. Basically the second Jerboa found of she was pregnant she went to talk to Dizzy about it because even if Sunset wasn’t that old she still had more fawn experience than the other two deer did. “Dizzy guess what?” Jerboa asked as she practically sprinted over to the other doe, making Dizzy turn her head away from her fawn and towards the dark red doe. “Is there something wrong?” Dizzy asked with a nervous edge to her voice as she became more alert and looked around for any potential threats to the herd causing Jerboa to shake her head, feeling a bit bad she made the other doe worry. “No we’re safe! I just wanted to tell you I’m pregnant!” Jerboa said excitedly making the white and brown doe’s eyes widen in surprise before a small smile appeared on her face. “Good for you, what are you gonna name them?” Dizzy asked, feeling happy for the other doe as while having a fawn can be stressful she knows it can also bring light and joy to your life. “Eh me and Pebble are still bouncing name ideas around, but there’s a few ideas! Like squirrel, mole, grain, and boulder” Jerboa said as she still had no idea herself, she and Pebble decided to see what fit after they were born. “Those sound like good names for a fawn, hope they’re born healthy and strong” Dizzy said as a wish to wish them luck, having a sick fawn would be bad for both their emotional states and bad for the health of the herd. “Thanks! But I wanted to know exactly how to take care of a fawn, since I’ve never had one I don’t want to mess up” Jerboa said with a rare tone of nervousness from the usually fearless and bold fawn making Dizzy realize she was serious about this. “Well make sure you play with them and keep an eye on them but don’t hover over them every second of the day, I know Sunset gets irritated if I don’t give him a bit of space every now and then” Dizzy said with a chuckle as she turned her attention to her fawn, who was currently digging at the ground with his hoof as if he was trying to find something. “Oh yeah that makes sense, thanks for the advice” Jerboa said with a more relaxed smile before turning her gaze to the fawn as well. “How is Sunset doing anyways?” Jerboa saw him every day but still wanted to know how he was. “He’s doing good, though he’s growing more bold by the day, he’s already becoming quite hard to handle” Dizzy said with a slight chuckle as she watched him continue to dig at the ground with his hoof. Jerboa and Dizzy just idly chatted for the rest of the day. Time felt like it flew as Sunset had turned into a teen buck and was constantly raring to go for a fight or to practice using his growing antlers. “C’mon please! I wanna fight against another buck so I can practice!” Sunset begged as he followed around Pebble to try and convince him to fight him so he could get stronger than he already was. “You might get hurt and that won’t help anyone” Pebble tried to discourage the young buck but the spotted red buck was impossible to convince to back down when he truly had his sights focused on something. “So what if I get a little hurt? That’ll make me tougher and even more prepared when I get into a real fight with another buck!” Sunset said as he stomped a hoof in irritation at the fact Pebble had been refusing to fight him. “If I fight you once will you stop?” Pebble asked with a defeated sigh, which only seemed to make the younger buck puff up with pride. “Yes I promise” Sunset said as he felt excitement course through his veins at the thought of being able to practice his fighting skills with the head buck. “Fine” Pebble caved as he did care for Sunset but the younger buck could grate on someone’s nerves when he refused to quit. The sandy buck turned around and lowered his antlers into a fighting position making the spotted red buck do the same in response. Sunset moved first, running as fast as he could towards the other buck with his antlers in front of him to try a direct charge at the older buck. Pebble simply braced himself and dug his hooves into the dirt below him, prepared to face the charge head on. When the two bucks antlers collided Pebble was a bit surprised by how strong the younger buck was but quickly recovered and started pushing back against the younger buck’s antlers. Sunset may have been stronger but when Pebble suddenly turned his head to the side it caused the younger buck to make a noise of surprise and stumble, which gave the older buck a perfect chance to use the blunter part of his antlers to shove Sunset off balance and make him fall onto the dirt. “That…was awesome! I wasn’t prepared at all so that means I’ve gotta get even better so I can win next time!” Sunset said with a laugh as he slowly got back onto his hooves, feeling more pumped than he did before as he realized he had much more to improve about his fighting abilities. “But you promised to stop asking me once I did this” Pebble reminded him making the younger buck deflate as he remembered his promise. “Aw c’mon please? Just once a moon or something” Sunset said and the older buck tried to stay stern and firm with his choice and words but the sad way the teen buck looked at him made his stern facade crack pretty quickly. “I just- Oh fine, once a month but no more, and you better tell me if you get hurt or are tired” Pebble said with a sigh as he saw the younger buck perk right back up. “Yeah! I promise, like really promise this time!” Sunset said with excitement at the thought of getting better at fighting and getting stronger. “Alright, once a moon and no more” Pebble confirmed before the younger buck went off to graze. Not too long after Sunset turned into a teen Jerboa had her and Pebble’s fawn. “She looks almost like a perfect copy of you” Dizzy commented towards Pebble as she looked at the tiny fawn curled up next to Jerboa. “Yeah” Jerboa simply said as she smiled fondly at the fawn in front of her. “So what’s her name?” Sunset asked as he sniffed at the fawn curiously, seeming almost calmer than his usual rowdy nature. “We decided to name her Gerbil” Pebble said as he watched the way Sunset tilted his head at the fawn. “Can I play with her?” Sunset asked as he tried to get closer to the fawn but his mom stopped him. “She’s not old enough yet, she won’t even be able to walk until when the sun sets later” Dizzy said as she looked at her son with a stern gaze that made him huff but back down. The herd was happy to have new life in the herd. Forgot a screenshot for this-) Sunset seemed to instantly attach himself to Gerbil practically from the second she was born. As soon as she could walk he was almost always right next to her, only separating when he needed to. It was practically impossible to see Gerbil by herself as Sunset followed her around everywhere she went and tried to explore. Gerbil and Sunset were a little bit away from the herd, but not too far because Jerboa didn’t want to risk her getting hurt even with Sunset hovering around her at all times. If there was one thing the herd noticed it was that Gerbil seemed to be quite the skittish fawn even compared to how nervous fawns could normally be. As Gerbil idly wandered at the edge of the clearing, occasionally poking her nose into the grass to see what was hiding in it, a rabill suddenly popped out of the grasses. The fawn immediately panicked and made a snort noise out of fear which quickly made Sunset on high alert. He charged at the rabbil too quickly for it to run and practically launched it into the grasses with his antlers before turning his attention back to the terrified fawn. The rest of the herd quickly rushed over after hearing the noise but while they felt bad for the fawn they were relieved it wasn’t something like a bearyena. “Don’t worry you’re safe” Jerboa tried to comfort her fawn but she was always bold and almost never afraid so she was a bit…lost. “Yeah I took care of it, why don’t we eat some berries?” Sunset’s suggestion seemed to calm the fawn down almost completely. “I want berries” Gerbil said as she took a step towards the teen buck. “There’s some right over there” Jerboa pointed out a nearby berry bush that was away from the tall grasses causing Sunset to nod before leading the fawn over to it. Jerboa watched them go off with mixed feelings. She was happy he could calm her down but felt guilty that she had issues comforting her own fawn. She shook off those thoughts and just kept an eye of the two from a slight distance.

I know it's almost been two months but behold an update!) Sandwing felt mixed feelings about being freed from the medicine den, on one paw he didn’t have to sit around all day and could do his deputy duties again but now he wouldn’t get as many chances to try and chat with Mossbeetle due to their seperate duties that would take lots of their time. “Are you ever gonna organize the patrols or are you gonna sit there and mope?” A voice jolted Sandwing out of his thoughts, causing him to snap his head up to see Tigerthorn staring at him with a raised eyebrow. “Of course, I was simply…thinking of who to put together to minimize any fighting or arguing” Sandwing covered up his actual thoughts, knowing that it wasn’t exactly a good idea to keep thinking about it anyways. Tigerthorn didn’t believe him in the slightest but also didn’t really care enough to call him out on it. “Well can I be on the next patrol? I’m bored and hunting some prey would be something to do” Tigerthorn asked as he wanted to just enjoy hunting instead of trying to socialize with the other clan members, he doesn’t know any other nichelings well due to that fact. “Sure, more fresh kill is always better. I’ll lead the patrol and take you and Daisyfall with me” Sandwing agreed, maybe hunting would help clear his own head and get him back to being focused on his duties as a deputy, his feelings can be shoved aside. “I’ll go grab him” Tigerthorn said, not wanting to talk to others but wanting to just get the patrol started so he could hunt, before walking off to get said nicheling. / Soon after Tigerthorn got Daisyfall the patrol set off into a small clearing to sniff around for any prey to bring back. Tigerthorn separated from the patrol pretty quickly, focusing all his attention onto hunting and tracking down some prey. ‘Finally, some peace and quiet’ He thought to himself as he sniffed the air, hoping something decent was around. His wishes were answered as he caught the faint scent of a rabbil. ‘Perfect’ He simply thought before starting to follow his nose. He soon snuck up on his prey, unable to stop a small grin from stretching onto his face as he saw the white coat, which stuck out against the greenery around them. He slowly got closer and closer, minding his front paws to make sure he didn’t step wrong and make them hurt, until he was only a few tail-lengths away from the unaware creature. He quickly pounced, shocking the creature and snapping its neck before it even had a chance to run. ‘Wonder what else is around…’ He thought but decided his paws weren’t really strong enough to dig and hide his current prey. So he decided to slowly start walking back to the other nichelings. / While Tigerthorn was hunting the other nichelings were talking, though they made sure to try and catch something first before deciding to converse with each other. “So, what’s it like being the deputy of a clan?” Daisyfall asked as he turned towards the sandy nicheling causing Sandwing to tilt his head towards Daisyfall. “Stressful, to be completely honest with you” Sandwing answered with a slight chuckle, he just returned to his duties but he had them before and could say with confidence, it wasn’t something he really enjoyed and the thought of becoming the leader of the clan was a bit sickening due to the stress he was sure he’d be under, he didn’t know how CanaryStar does this. Daisyfall nodded in response, he was sure it was, caring for oh so many nichelings and watching over the whole clan. “But wouldn’t it be nice to have the chance to make bad choices and still get to live?” Daisyfall asked as he remembered the whole ‘leaders have multiple lives’ thing. Sandwing sighed at the question. “I’m not sure, it would be nice to be able to make a bad mistake and have a chance to fix it but it also terrifies me. Where others die you’ll live and surely you’d have to watch as some of the nichelings you care about die knowing that they don’t have the same chance you do” Sandwing replied with a nervous edge to his voice, he was so afraid that he’d have to watch the nichelings around him die and live longer than they ever would. Daisyfall made a noise of interest, he didn’t really consider that but he supposes that would make sense. “I see, that would be quite terrifying wouldn’t it?” Daisyfall asked rhetorically as he looked up at the clouds that slowly rolled above them. It was silent until Tigerthorn returned with a rabbil in his jaws. “Quite the plump rabbil you caught” Sandwing commented causing the orange nicheling to simply nod as he couldn’t really talk well while holding it, though he did seem to puff up a bit at the praise. The patrol quickly returned to the camp, with the prey they had caught in tow, before all separating to do their own activities. Soon Robinbriar had her and Firefang’s kits, two tiny kits were snuggled into Robinbriar’s side after. “I think Redkit is a perfect name for this one, and this one could be named Twigkit” Robinbriar said as she looked at the tiny bundles of fur that were by her side, her and Firefang had discussed the names so they’d be ready when they arrived. Firefang smelled the scents of the new lives, frozen stiff as he didn’t really ever want kits but here he was, with two. “They’re not very noisy” Firefang commented, he had heard they make lots of noise so he was quite confused, and also trying to ignore the fact he now had kits. “Twigkit is healthy and fine but Redkit is sickly so she may not make it through the night” Mossbeetle warned, deciding to let them name the kits first before he dropped the news of Redkit’s condition. Robinbriar froze halfway through grooming Twigkit’s fur. “She might not survive?’ Robinbriar repeated with shock and some heartbreak at the mere thought of losing her kit so quickly. Firefang winced slightly at her tone, he wasn’t too attached to the kits but he knew Robinbriar was, from the way she kept talking about them and saying how she’d make sure to be a good mother to them, and she is his mate so he doesn’t want her to be sad either. “Yes, so know that you may only have one kit” Mossbeetle said bluntly as he turned towards his herb store, he wasn’t trying to be hurtful but he didn’t like sugarcoating things and giving false hope to a dire situation. Robinbriar was silent as she started to groom Redkit’s pelt. / The next morning Robinbriar felt nothing but relief at the fact Redkit was still breathing next to her, showing she had survived the night. “She’s alive! I’m so happy” Robinbriar said with affectione as she started to groom the sickly kit’s head, causing her to squeak and fuss at her mother. Firefang had to admit he was happy, he didn’t want kits but he didn’t want them to die either. “Once she’s off of milk she’ll need to eat berry bush roots sometimes to keep up her strength” Mossbeetle said as he started to sort the herb store. “As long as she lives I don’t care what we have to do” Robinbriar said as she finished grooming Redkit and started on Twigkit. CanaryStar had visited with Berry quite a few times now, finding him to be quite kind, if not a bit of a troublemaker. “A nicheling couldn’t be that rabbil-brained” Canary slightly scoffed with disbelief at what Berry was telling her about a loner he’d met a while ago. “Oh yes they can be, not only did he steal from a vicious group of rogues but then he insulted the leader’s kit, on purpose!” Berry continued with a snort, knowing the nicheling practically signed a deathwish with that comment. CanaryStar’s jaw slightly hung open with her shock at what she was hearing. “Did he survive?” CanaryStar asked as she leaned forward a bit with her curiosity. Berry sighed but nodded in response to her question. “Yeah, but he has a pretty nasty scar across his chest now from it, got pretty lucky” Berry said with a chuckle, wondering what would’ve happened if he was just a bit slower in his running. “Wow, you’ve got quite the array of stories from being a loner” CanaryStar said with a slight bit of envy, she knew she needed to be the leader but the thought of leaving clan life was tempting at times. “Comes with that type of life” Berry agreed simply. CanaryStar let out a yawn, feeling exhaustion pull at her limbs from the little sleep she’d gotten recently. “You seem tired, why don’t you lay down and rest for a little bit?” Berry suggested after noticing it. “Tempting, but if I fell asleep too long the clan would lose their minds” CanaryStar said with a tired grin, mentally fighting off the drowsy feeling in her body, from her snout to her tail. “I’ll wake you up by sundown” Berry offered making CanaryStar look thoughtful. ‘A quick nap wouldn’t hurt right?’ She reasoned with herself before deciding. “You better keep your promise” CanaryStar decided as she started to lay down and curl up. Berry simply nodded before going next to her and sitting in a loaf position, like cats do. CanaryStar slightly stiffened at the feeling of their fur touching, she had only known him a few moons but she felt warm and fuzzy whenever she met with him, and after trying to subtly ask Daisyfall about the feeling he told her it sounded like a crush, she was slightly afraid considering he was a loner and she was a clan nicheling but the feeling was nice. Berry picked up on it and slightly grinned as he looked away from her, he knew she must be feeling something for him and that was honestly a perfect chance to put his plan into action, it would make quite a few things easier to play along. After some time CanaryStar drifted off into a calm sleep. / At sundown Berry was tempted to just let her sleep anyways but decided that would win him no favors so he turned towards her and started poking her in the side with his paw. After some grumbling CanaryStar opened her eyes with a grumpy expression before remembering what happened. “Thanks for letting me take a nap, but I should go” CanaryStar said as she got up with a stretch. “Of course, see you soon” Berry said as he too got up from his sitting position. CanaryStar nodded before walking back to camp. “You can’t catch me, I’m an evil rogue who’s gonna split apart the- the” Redkit’s playful monologue was cut off by a sneeze, causing Twigkit to giggle in response. “Shoosh” Redkit huffed at her brother’s laughter. “As I was saying! I’m gonna split apart the clans so there’ll never be peace again!” Redkit finally finished her monologue as the two kits were playing good guy and bad guy. “No! You’ll be defeated by me, and your group of evil rogues will never rise again!” Twigkit said before letting out a battle cry and launching himself at his sister, causing her to squeak before getting bowled over, not expecting the sudden attack. She didn’t easily give in though as she batted at his face without her claws out, trying to push him off of her, the two tussled for some time before Redkit managed to push him off and bounce back onto her paws. “You’ll never win clan nicheling!” Redkit squeaked before pouncing on him and causing the two to play fight once more, not noticing the way Robinbriar was watching them with an adoring and amused expression. “She’ll surely survive, she’s quite tough for being sickly, don’t you agree?” Robinbriar said as she turned towards her mate, causing him to get snapped out of his thoughts. “Oh yeah, of course” Firefang agreed as he listened to the voices of his two kits, still struggling to get truly attached to them, he wanted to adore them like his mate did but no matter how much he tried it seemed impossible for him to bond with them. “What’s wrong, ever since they’ve been born you’ve been acting off” Robinbriar called him out, trying to wait for him to tell her himself but by now she knows he wouldn’t tell her by himself. Firefang froze upon hearing her words. “I just am uh worried about Redkit” Firefang easily lied, it wasn’t entirely wrong. He may not have a bond with them but no kit deserves to die. “Oh, well she’s tough, she’ll make it” Robinbriar reassured her mate as she nuzzle him. Firefang just nodded before listening to his kits again, from what he could hear Twigkit was losing. “…I’d ask but I feel like you won’t tell me” Mossbeetle said after doing a check up on his sister, and her silence told him a lot. “I didn’t mean for this to happen” CanaryStar said in a small voice, knowing the potential consequences of what this could entail. Mossbeetle sighed, not good at comforting but knowing his sister probably needed it. “Well you don’t have to tell anyone who the other parent is, and besides I’m sure you’ll take good care of them” Mossbeetle tried to comfort his sister, but even as a med nicheling he wasn’t the most comforting in the clan by a long shot. CanaryStar let out a small laugh, appreciating the effort anyways. “Thanks, I just hope Sandwing will be okay with taking over when it gets near the end of my pregnancy” CanaryStar said with worry, not that she didn’t trust him but she hated the thought of dumping that on him when he seemed stressed enough about his duties as deputy, neither of them really got a choice in their roles. “He’ll get used to it” Mossbeetle said as he turned towards the herb store, idly counting and seeing if the clan needed any specific herbs. CanaryStar simply nodded as she got up before going back to her leader duties.

The herd was shocked to see Crimson return from grazing with a fawn in tow, though they all seemed quite curious about it. "Why do you have a fawn with you?" Chip spoke up first, her tone curious and calm though the words may have sounded accusatory in nature. Crimson looked at the lead doe with a firm stare, she knows Chip would probably be fine with it but she was ready to fight for the fawn's right to stay if needed. "He was alone in the grasses, his mom told him to stay in the grass until the bearyena leaves but she hasn't come back yet so I didn't want to leave a fawn in such a vulnerable state" Crimson replied with a voice that implied there was no room for argument here, which Chip picked up on. "I understand he's a fawn but look at his front leg, we're still running from a bearyena and he'll only slow us down" Marigold spoke up before Chip could say anything, and it caused Crimson to whip her head towards the golden doe with a furious expression on her face. "So what? The bearyena will lose interest eventually, or would you rather live with the knowledge you left a fawn alone to die?" Crimson sneered, making her son step up next to her. "Yeah! Just because he isn't related doesn't mean he's any less important than me or Marshmallow or Daffodil" Captain quickly agreed with his mother, making her angry expression lift into a proud one for a few seconds, which Captain stood taller at. Daffodil huffed at the young buck's words. "Mom's right, he's gonna be dead weight. We'd be better off without a liability" Daffodil scoffed causing Captain to look at her and aggressively stop his hoof at her, a gesture she returned as they tried to stare each other down. Oak was all but cowering behind Crimson and Captain at this point, wondering if he should just leave, he didn't want to be the cause of a fight! "C'mon guys, we can't just leave him" Marshmallow finally put his two cents in, not wanting to be in the fight but not exactly wanting to think about leaving the fawn to fend for himself either. "I say we let him join, if we need to leave him we'll do it when he's a teen with a better chance of survival" Storm finally spoke after listening to the argument, deciding to give the fawn a chance but also understanding that if he becomes to much he may need to be dropped for the sake of the herd, though he'd gain no happiness from the idea. "C'mon Oak, you should eat" Crimson spoke gently to the fawn, which made him look around nervously at some of the less friendly stares he was getting from Marigold and Daffodil before Captain gently bumped against him. "I know the best spots to find some amazing berries" Captain spoke with a proud stance, making the fawn beam before following the young buck towards a different part of the clearing. The tension could be cut with a claw at this point. Yes Oak aged up in a day but pretend he's still a fawn for one more post-) After a few hours they started moving again to try and lose the bearyena for good. All the deer ran as fast as they could but Oak was obviously lagging behind due to his front leg, which Crimson quickly noticed. So Crimson slowed down enough to try and encourage him to run a little faster, feeling nervous at being so close to the jaws of the beast chasing them. Oak ran as fast as he could without tripping and it almost seemed like they would be able to catch up but then the bearyena growled and went to take a swipe at Oak, Crimson noticing that turned around and hit it in the legs with a well aimed kick, causing the beast to stumble. Sadly, when Crimson turned to return running with the herd she didn't notice how quick the bearyena recovered meaning she wasn't ready for it to clamp its jaws on her hindleg. Oak gasped as he turned his head while running and went to stop but Crimson spoke first. "No! Go on without me, we can't both die" Crimson said and Oak hesitated but Crimson gave him a firm glare that made him hesitate before bolting as fast as he could to try and catch up with the herd, feeling terrified at the fate that would surely befall the one who took him in. It took quite a bit of running but he did catch up to the herd eventually, getting their attention quite quickly. "Where's Crimson?" Marigold asked, seeming to have no concern for the young buck, which he would've been irritated at it it weren't for the situation at hand, or hoof? "Probably dead, she sacrificed herself to save me" Oak's words cut through the air, causing a dead silence as the herd truly processed his words and Crimson's actions. "She sacrificed herself for you? What a waste" Daffodil spoke with some irritation, Crimson was tough and strong so Daffodil couldn't believe she'd throw away her life like that. Captain was dead silent with a blank expression, which honestly unnerved Oak more than Marigold or Daffodil's words ever would. "Well at least you're okay" Captain spoke as he approached Oak, which made the younger buck have a nervous posture before Captain simply stood beside him, sending a glare towards the yellow does, which they ignored completely. Tensions continue to rise in the herd. Oak grew into a teen shortly considering he was almost there anyways when Crimson found him. The herd had been more tense and even though Oak was a daring deer it was easy for Captain to tell that it was getting to him so that's why he was taking them to a small clearing a bit away from where the rest of the herd was staying. "What are we doing?" The younger buck asked as he looked up towards the other buck, curiosity obvious from his tone but not in a wary way, as he trusted Captain more than any other member of the herd, though he'd never admit that out loud. Captain simple gave him a beaming grin before returning to trotting forward, causing the younger buck to give a playful scoff but continue following nonetheless. Once they arrived Oak surveyed the area with interest before looking towards the pink buck. "We're here to practice your fighting skills!" Captain announced with a grin as he turned towards Oak. "Practice my fighting skills?" Oak simply repeated, wondering why they would need to do that. "Yep! Not only could it be useful but I'm sure it'll be fun. So hit me with your best shot" Captain said as he lowered himself into a fighting position, positioning his head down to show off his much larger antlers. Oak wasn't sure this would go well with his smaller antlers, not to mention his front leg. But he lowered himself anyways despite his doubts, he trusts Captain wouldn't hurt him on purpose. Oak decided to try it, if only to appease Captain. Oak charged at the pink buck, his slower speed meant the collision wasn't as powerful but he tried pushing forward anyways. Captain grinned before pushing back causing the other buck to stumble but right himself before he could fall and causing him to feel more determined, so Oak pushed back as hard as he could with all his strength. Captain wasn't moved in the slightest but he pretended a little, for Oak's pride, before starting to push again causing Oak to almost fall but stop himself from falling completely. "You're so much stronger, I can't win" Oak huffed as he de-tangled their antlers and stood back a few paces causing Captain to hum before having an idea. "Well there's no rules against playing the game a little differently" Captain said causing Oak to stare at him quizzically. "You may be weaker but perhaps if you try something a bit more...surprising you could catch someone off guard" Captain continued which didn't really help Oak's confusion. "What do you mean by that?" Oak had no idea what in the world Captain was thinking, this was how bucks were supposed to fight wasn't it? "Something like making them think you'll charge and then suddenly running towards their side instead" Captain gave an example causing a look of understanding to cross the younger buck's face. "I wanna try that" Oak said as he lowered into a fighting position again, causing Captain to do the same. Captain felt he knew what Oak would do as he charged at him, so he prepared to turn towards the side but was caught off guard when while Oak did suddenly dart off he darted off into the nearby grasses much to his confusion. Captain didn't have time to even ask something as Oak darted back out right next to him, giving him no time to react as the younger buck used his smaller antlers to trip up the older buck causing him to make a noise of surprise before falling to the ground with an 'oof'. Captain laid there for few seconds before lifting his head to reveal a proud smile towards Oak. "Just like that, that was pretty good. Keep doing that and even the biggest bucks won't have a chance" Captain said as he got up causing Oak to beam at the praise, still shocked that had worked if he was honest. "WHERE DID YOU TWO RUN OFF TO?!" The sound of Storm's voice caused the two teens to wince before grumbling. "More practice tomorrow?" Captain suggested as he fully got up and turned towards the sound of Storm's voice. "Tomorrow" Oak repeated before the two went back to the rest of the herd.

The next day Chip cautiously approached Crimson. "Hey Crimson?" The red doe's ears flicked in Chip's direction but she didn't respond nor raise her head from the ground where she was currently grazing, making Chip sigh before speaking again. "I know you're mad about me getting lead doe, but maybe I could convince Storm to let me give the title to you instead" Chip offered causing the other doe to raise her head and turn it towards Chip, whose posture screamed guilt. The red doe sighed in an irritated manner. "No, you deserve the title more than I do, I won't be a whining fawn who only got the position because I couldn't handle someone else getting it. You'll be a good lead doe. Besides, that just means I'll have more free time to do what I want anyways" Crimson replied as she lowered her head the return to the task of grazing once more. Chip blinked a few times in shock before a smile graced her face at the other doe's acceptance of it. "Well if you're sure. I'm sure you'll still be a great help to the herd, you're pretty tough" Chip said as her eyes darted towards the scar that ran across Crimson's back right leg. Crimson noticed where she had looked but decided not to comment on it, it is a pretty big scar. "Of course, no one tougher in this herd than me" Crimson said proudly with a small grin, making the brown doe relax at the obvious playful comment from the other doe. "Well I should probably talk to Storm, figure out where we're gonna go once the fawns are born and old enough to start traveling" Chip said simply causing the other doe to nod as she turned around and walked off to the buck. The herd felt more complete after the birth of the three new fawns, it almost felt as if it had confirmed that they were truly a herd now. "I'm going to name my fawn Captain, for he will surely be the strongest and most fit to be lead buck one day" Crimson said proudly as she looked at the pink fawn that rested next to her side. Marigold raised an eyebrow as she looked over at Crimson's fawn. "Your fawn has quite the large ears, hope he'll grown into em" Marigold said causing the other doe to metaphorically bristle as she looked over at the golden doe with narrowed eyes. "So what if he does? He'll still be the leader one day" Crimson all but growled causing Marigold to sigh and shake her head. "I wasn't being rude, just pointing something out" Marigold said honestly, she was simply making an observation. "Anyways! I'm going to name mine Marshmallow" Chip suddenly piped in as a way to try and defuse the situation before it got to the point of a fight, which Storm looked relieved at. "Well mine will be named Daffodil" Marigold said as she looked at the yellow and grey fawn next to her, wanting to keep her flower name legacy going, one side of her family named all their fawns after flowers and she liked the idea. "They're all wonderful, and none of them seem sickly so that's one less worry" Storm said with a fond smile towards his first fawns, hoping they would survive into adulthood, though he was worried for the day they would have to fight for the role of lead buck. The rest of the day was spent making sure the fawns knew how to walk, as a precaution. (I JUST REALIZED I NEVER DID THE SETGENE COMMAND FOR THEIR ANTLERS FOR THE SCREENSHOTS I DID TODAY SO UH PRETEND-) Storm was idly patrolling around the clearing where the herd was resting when a rustle of grass caught his attention. Curious, the buck approached the noise with caution and was terrified as he saw the turned back of a bearyena. Knowing this was a risky situation he started to slowly back up but sadly he was so focused on the bearyena he wasn't watching his hooves and accidentally hit a berry bush with his foot, causing the plant to shake and rustle which alerted the bearyena of his presence. The bearyena turned around with a snarl causing the buck to jump back before quickly turning around and darting off. "BEARYENA!" He yelled causing the does, who were not too far away, to all jump up and caused the now teen aged fawns to look around with confusion at their mother's alarmed states. "We have to go, follow me" Chip said as she started to bolt in a certain direction causing her fawn and the rest of the herd to follow as fast as they could, though the fawns were lagging behind due to lack of running experience compared to the fully grown does. As the herd ran the bearyena started to catch up and swiped a paw at Marshmallow, which connected and caused pain to bloom across the top of his back right leg. Chip heard the scream of pain from her fawn and turned her head back. "You lead them, I'll be right back" Chip said to Marigold before running off to her fawn. Chip hit the bearyena with her hooves a few times before pushing her fawn to run causing him to hesitate but do so. Chip soon turned and ran, catching up with the rest of the herd before going back to the front and leading the herd in a different direction to confused the predator. As they took a small rest Crimson's attention was caught by a small noise. Feeling on edge she cautiously approached but relaxed once she saw it was a fawn. "What happened to you?" Crimson asked as she noticed the awkward way the fawn was holding their front left leg. The fawn looked up with a scared expression for a few seconds before speaking. "Mom told me to wait here until the bearyena is gone but she hasn't come back yet" The fawn replied as they stood up taller, as if to be intimidating. Crimson knew the herd was struggling to get away now with Marshmallow but... "Would you like to travel with my herd, at least until we find your mom?" Crimson suggested, having a feeling the mom wasn't going to return to this fawn. The fawn hesitated for a little bit. "Only until mom comes back" The fawn finally agreed making Crimson resist the urge to sigh in relief. "Well then what's your name?" Crimson asked making the fawn perk up. "I'm Oak" The fawn said seeming a bit more confident now, which made Crimson give a slight smile before starting to lead him towards the herd, hoping they would be fine with a new member. She couldn't help but soften her heart towards fawns as much as she wouldn't admit that out loud.

Yep another deer challenge, which I'm not completely following the rules of again. Should I update my other playthroughs? Yes I should. Will I?...Not today.) Four deer who were in their late teens had finally arrived on a new island, a place they hoped to call their home and the start of a new legacy with a herd whose name would echo throughout the generations. "This place seems hopeful, there's no snow or blistering heat. And there's a lot of grass to hide in if necessary" The only buck of the group, with mostly white fur and striking blue eyes, said as he surveyed the area with calculated stare. The other deer started to look around as well, wanting to make their own assessments of the place they may permanently call their home. "A place like this would be safe and calm, good for raising healthy fawns to grow the herd" Crimson agreed after taking a look around, though she did appreciate the safety it seemed like it'd be quite the boring way to live. But healthy fawns are always a good thing so she supposes she could exactly complain about this place. "Just because it looks nice and safe doesn't mean it is" Marigold said, not in any malicious way but more in a realistic way, no matter how much planning you may do life doesn't always go the way you'd hoped it would. "I have to agree, something about this place feels off" Chip chipped in as she gave the area a wary glance, it should be safe but it feels wrong, almost as if everything is too peaceful to be right around here. "Well either way we should give it a chance, it may be our safest bet" Storm replied to the two doubtful does, not really wanting to risk crossing the stones again for many reasons, but mostly because he'd rather not risk traveling to an island that's worse. The does didn't disagree with that statement and the herd continued looking around for anything of interest. Chip's shout about how she had 'Found something good!' had caused the other members of the herd to rush over to what she was investigating. "I found a berry bush and an abandoned nest, which could be good for the day that we have fawns" Chip said as she raised her head proudly after announcing her find, which Crimson just rolled her eyes at as the others looked impressed with it. "That's great! Perhaps we should stay here for a while, seeing as it has more food and a nest" Storm suggested as he turned his head to see the other does opinions on his Idea. "Sounds good to me, this place would be a good choice" Marigold agreed easily as she looked over at the nest and berry bush before turning her gaze back to the teen buck. Crimson simply nodded in agreement, though the movement seemed stiff as she was a bit bitter that she had been shown up by Chip finding something important first, Storm didn't notice the stiffness in her movement as he turned back towards Chip. "It seems we've come to an agreement, we will stay here as long as we feel we can" Storm announced before the deer all went to eat from the berry bush. The teen deer had matured in fully grown does and a fully grown buck, which they were all happy about, but it had given Storm a bit of a dilemma which he felt needed to be addressed now that they were a true herd now. "Since we were teens roles didn't really matter seeing as we were unsure if we would even find a decent place to settle or even survive to this age" Storm began after gathering the does, much to their confusion and intrigue, making them all stare at him with varying degrees of curiosity. "But now we're adults and are truly a herd now, so we need to figure out the roles. I'm obviously head buck because there's no other males for me to compete with, but the one I'm most concerned with at the moment is the role of head doe" He continued making Chip and Crimson look at each other while Marigold was pretty disinterested in the idea. "So I've thought for a long time and decided that Chip would surely be the best choice for such a role" Storm's words made Chip stand tall and almost puff up with pride whole Crimson looked almost offended. "Why her? And who gave you the right to choose!" Crimson said with an angry stomp of her hoof as she looked at the buck, causing him to sigh, having expected the difficult doe's negative response to his choice. "I'm simply thinking of what's best for the herd, you've helped on our journey I'm aware but so has Chip, and she found this spot for raising the fawns proving she has the skills to help lead the herd in a good direction" Storm tried to reason as he looked at the angry doe. Crimson opened her mouth then shut it, she knows that Storm is right and that Chip would be a great choice but she was just bitter, she wanted to be lead doe and prove that she could be more than an irritable doe but now she felt she had that chance shattered. So instead of lasing out she simply walked off the the edge of the clearing and laid down to try and calm herself. "That could've gone much worse" Marigold said with a slight hum as she felt nothing about this whole ordeal, she didn't care for an extremely important role. She was more than fine simply being a part of the herd and maybe helping when she could. "I suppose that's all" Storm said as he looked at Crimson, feeling a little bad about the whole thing but knowing it was for the best, for the future of the herd and the fawns that would be born hopefully soon.

On the note of that writing project anyone got any good songs for when you're writing? Music usually makes my motivation flow easier so any recommendations would be appreciated y'all!

Of course! I'm probably gonna post it anyways honestly so I'm sure you'll get to see it! It will probably take a while though considering my motivation is a bit inconsistent, so could takes months to complete, but if you're fine with that then you'll see it sometime!

Star felt relieved at the sound of her pawsteps fading away but that was washed away by Javai saying she could stay, making him whip his head towards Javai. At first Star was a bit irritated, why would he allow her to stay? That seemed like a pretty risky move in his opinion, but after hearing the condition Javai had given her Star felt better about the whole idea. "That sounds like a pretty fair condition, quite kind considering what your sister had done, but I suppose being out by yourself at night would probably just end up with you dead and I'd rather not indirectly have another nicheling's blood on my paws" He agreed as he looked over at Undergrowth with a stare, knowing that he probably wouldn't sleep well, if at all, with her around. "Better safe than dead" Star simply said in response before vaguely gesturing to the shelter they'd found for the night. "Just lay down or sleep, or whatever you want to do" He said as he suppressed a yawn as he felt tiredness start to somewhat weigh him down. Sorry for such a late response, school is kinda tough at the moment y'all)

I'm kinda taking a break from writing for my playthroughs but don't worry they'll still be written sometime! I just felt a bit burnt out and didn't want to give y'all worse plot and stories so yeah. Anyways onto another topic. So about 2 weeks ago(?) I decided to start a bit more of a long term project and it is to do with niche stuff so I thought y'all would be interested in knowing about it. So I decided to actually plot out and outline a story (A rarity because usually I just wing it and hope for the best-) that is about some nichelings I found while messing around with the nicheling explorer! And not only that but the goal is 10,000 words or more so it's gonna be huge! Anyways I'm only about 871 words in, but that's because I'm trying to make it flow a bit better, but no guarantees. So anyways since I wouldn't want to spoil anything I won't be talking about anything plot related, but I can give y'all the title! ~A Tale of the Split Between the Stars and the Earth~