Notes/Disclaimers:
- This contains quietly homosexual content, so avoid if that's not your cup of tea.
- In my world, and according to actual Robin Hood lore, Will Scarlett is NOT Robin's half brother.
- This was done as an improv challenge for LiveJournal community contrelamontre.
- As always, Robin Hood is up for grabs for any writer who wants to mess around with the characters. Thank god I'm spared all that legal stuff.



Forests Anew
by Maki



The scent of broken sapling in the deep wood had always been enough to satisfy him. It was one that ranked high on a list composed of such sophisticated odors as the rich musk of buttery mushrooms stuffed in slowly-grilled golden chicken, the subtle fragrance of begonia that hovered about some of the waiting girls almost as an afterthought, and the tang of the most expensive silver polish with which all the nobility swathed their ornaments and silverware.

Will played in the forest with all the joy of green, growing, and cold wilderness blowing by his face in sharp wisps of wind. He liked to track deer by the delicate bleeding of snapped twigs they left in their wake. He liked to come upon them unnoticed, and observe a soft-eyed doe break young plants with a flash of white teeth, her fawn instinctively close.

Because above all things, Will loved the smells of nature. He reveled in the thought that he was catching such a wild and uncertain entity unaware, experiencing a medley of scents that few or none of his kind had ever before. And how wise of him to appreciate it, he consistently congratulated himself.

This was why Will ran free in the forest.

And then came the time when among all others -- wafting strong and independent and so savage with youth and life -- he found himself searching for Robin. He did not know when the bandit had become so synonymous with his surroundings, but he smelled everyday like those moments Will strove for.

After a desperate run through tangles of elegant trees, perching carefully close to the sky and each other, peering down between branches for their pursuit, Robin's sweat would drive Will mad. It was not a rare sight for the young man, moisture glowing in beads along the tightened set of bone and muscle trembling in an effort to breathe low yet deep. But what emanated from his comrade at these times was more than an aura of practice and cunning.

Will's mind bounced between concentrating on potential movement below and inhaling that particular variety of wilderness. It was so deep and fierce, and every time it was different.

He loved it, and wanted to run with it forever. And so he pledged himself to Robin Hood.