This has definitely been a different scene for me. Co-wrote this with RVDLegsTrish. Show him a little love and check out his profile.
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Got Milk?
I walked quickly through the forest, enjoying the break from watching my rambunctious fawns. It was early summer now, and the fawns had grown in leaps and bounds since they had been born a few months ago; they seemed to have endless energy. I loved both of them dearly, but they were both so playful and energetic that even I, as much as I loved running and playing right alongside them, was having a hard time keeping up.
It was such a nice day to take a walk; the sky was a bright blue, and the air was fresh, rich with the scents of thriving plants. It was good of Bambi to watch the fawns for me so I could have a break, especially on a day as nice as this one was. Though I knew he was probably having the time of his life, playing with our children. Bambi loved them as much as I did, and took as much time as he could out of his duties as the Great Prince of the Forest to spend time with his family.
I bounded a log, landing lightly on the other side; I headed to the forest's river. Once there, I stopped to lap up the sun-warmed liquid. Then I shook the water droplets off my muzzle, letting out a contended sigh.
I was a little hungry now, but I didn't feel like eating my usual fair of leaves and grass, so I left the river bank and headed back into the forest to see if I could find anything better; perhaps some honey if I could find a way to distract the bees. Bambi told me once what a bad idea that was, worried that I'd get stung by an entire swarm, but really, who was Bambi to be giving a warning about being careful after the things he got up to as a fawn?
After a while of searching, I found something even better than honey; an entire patch of blueberries, ripe, plump and a bright purplish-blue. Mouth watering at the sight, I leapt forward enthusiastically and pulled berry after berry off of one of the bushes. They were delicious, their strong, sweet taste flooding my mouth.
Lazily munching, I reflected on recent events; I couldn't believe how big our children were getting. So big that their teeth were really starting to hurt whenever they nursed. I had tried to cut down on the time I let them nurse because of it, but they were really aggressive. They were still a joy, but partially a pain. But wasn't that true about most things?
I was picking the berries with so much enthusiasm that the branches I pulled the berries off sprang back with a loud rustle, their leaves rattling against each other so loudly that the sound was all I could hear.
It was so loud I did not notice that something was stalking me, watching me. As I continued to eat the blueberries with abandon, I happened to catch my reflection in the water. My muzzle was a light blue and brown mixture in color. Chuckling to myself, I leaned down into the clear, rushing water to clean off the berry juice. Only when I had raised my head from the rapids, did I notice the way the bushes across the stream rustled. Startled, I jumped away from the water and sprang into a panicked sprint. As I loped and bounded away my senses came rushing back to me. Where was I headed? Straight towards the thicket, that's where. All the lectures Bambi and I had given to our fawns about this place came back to me.
"Don't go into the Thicket. Hunters go there, and large animals also live there." We would always tell the twins in a way that we hoped they could understand. After our talks, Bambi would get this far off look; I suppose he was thinking of his own mother.
Snapping out of my flash back with a jolt, I hadn't been paying attention. Only stopping for a few moments, I caught my breath. Looking around cautiously and listening to my surroundings revealed I was safe, or so I thought. The sudden movement of the bushes behind me announced that my pursuer was close at hand. I wasn't sure where the other directions led, but I decided to take my chances with the Thicket. Since it wasn't hunting season, the dangers awaited me were considerably less.
The dry landscape was mostly dead grass, with a few downed logs littered throughout the field. Carefully picking my way across the uneven, hidden terrain, I managed to get halfway to what appeared to be the end of the clearing, when I heard a powerful, angry roar. Trembling with fear, I bolted, in my haste I stumbled, but managed to hold my footing enough to keep going. My instincts and adrenaline made me look back to catch a glimpse of my pursuer. But to my surprise and startled relief, there was nothing in sight. Turning around, I pranced through the grass in the direction of the forest, I hoped.
While trotting along, I happened to look up, and noticed the most beautiful thing; a green apple. It looked so scrumptious, my favorite fruit, an unripe apple. The apple hung between two trees that grew so close together that their trunks were merged into one; creating a "v" shape. Ignoring any possible nearby danger, I wandered over to the tree. Placing my forelegs, onto the tree trunk, I desperately craned my neck to reach the fruit. Unfortunately, I was too short to reach it, but I wouldn't give up. Pacing for a couple of minutes, I thought of what I could do to reach the precious, green fruit. Since I was a deer, climbing was out of the question. Planning had never been one of my strong suites.
As I thought about ways I could reach my gourmet delicacy, I didn't notice the small, horned figure that entered the clearing only a few yards away. The animal let out a small affectionate lowing noise. That startled me, but before I could react the brute did something even more strange.
"What are you-" I started to ask, trying to stagger away. But the baby followed me step for step, its head thumping against my stomach. I went into a half-rear, twisting away from its reach, and sprang away. Landing on all fours and turning my back on the baby elk, I tensed to bound away, but I had barely taken a step when the elk tossed itself between my hind legs and resumed its drinking. Its shoulders, being much wider than those of my fawns, thrust my hind legs too wide apart, and I couldn't get enough balance to run; I could only concentrate on staying standing. The elk nursed gently, but its larger teeth were horrible compared to my fawns. When it paused to switch nipples, I took the chance to escape. But the calf wasn't going to have any of it. As soon as I moved away, he charged at me, so I ran. Past the tree, I turned to race around the other side, but he suddenly appeared in front of me. Quickly turning, I bounded for the side I had just come from, but he cut me off again. This time the elk stepped around the tree and stomped it's foot at me. Intimidated by it's horns, I didn't know if running would do me any good at this point. Just as I began to lose hope of getting out of this situation, a high-pitched noise filled the air. The young buck looked at me confused, but returned the call with one of his own; the next reply was a bit closer. Looking between myself, the direction of the sound, and back again; the calf made the affectionate lowing noise it had before. This time though, I backed away and stomped my hoof. It now seemed to understand that I was not his mother, and with a sad little lowing sound, he bounded away on powerful legs; to find his real mother. When the high-pitched noises ended, I was relieved, to say the least. After a short break from all the excitement, I thought about going home... Until I looked up and saw the green apple, again.
When I finally got around to trying to get my apple, I decided if I could steady myself in the center of the "v" formation, then I could jump to reach the apple. After many a try, I finally succeeded in balancing myself on the trunk long enough to be able to try for the apple. I took a deep breathe, bent my knees, and lunged forward toward the fruit. I missed by quite a bit; the apple had been more overhead than I realized. Mounting the middle of the two trees once more, I jumped straight up. Snagging the apple in victory with my mouth, I found gravity pulling me back down for the landing. My hooves held me up for only a second before they slipped out from under me. With a great whoosh, my lungs expelled all their oxygen, as the tree trunk hit my underside. After spending a few minutes struggling to breathe I recovered enough to realize I was stuck. The prized apple, which I had fought so heartily for, lay only a few feet in front of me. It taunted me with the glare of the sun glinting off of its surface. My back hooves could not touch the ground, I pushed my weight back onto them, so I could touch the ground. Feeling just like a teeter-totter, I tried to shove myself over both sides of the trunk, but to no avail. Frustrated, I began to cry, the tears didn't get that far though, they just soaked into my fur. I sighed, and listened to the snapping of twigs in the distance… Well, this was it; I'd never see Bambi or my fawns again. I jumped a bit when the creature made an unfamiliar sound. What kind of animal was it, I wondered? I'd already been suckled on by an elk babe, what more could possibly happen?
Suddenly, I gave a shrill scream of pain and lurched forward, it was going to eat me alive! It had nipped the back of my thigh, which was bleeding lightly. The strange noise was made again, before it grabbed the front of my hind legs. That wasn't too strange, except for the fact that the creature had grabbed me from underneath. This animal was very short, but aggressive? I was taken by surprise, when it suddenly took one of my nipples into its mouth and began to suckle. That also wasn't too bad, until the small animal used its teeth to pull on my nipple. Letting out another shriek, I frantically tried to get away, but it didn't work, I was still firmly trapped by the tree trunk.
Feeling my movement, the animal switched nipples, giving it the same gentle-then-harsh treatment it had given the other side. Pausing for a moment it backed off just long enough for me to try kicking at it. The animal groaned, but in the process the kick gave me the boost I needed to push myself over the other side of the tree base. Scrambling to my feet, I peered around the tree to spy a young brown bear cub trying to get up. I felt sorry for the poor thing, but I knew it was probably the mother bear that I had heard earlier; and that meant she couldn't be far away.
I began to move from the area, when I remebered the very reason I had gotten trapped by the tree. But to my dismay, I had accidently trampled the precious fruit in my haste to get away. I bent down and sniffed it, but I knew it was too smashed. Defeated and drained, in more ways than one, I decided to call it a day. Making my way back to our field was no easy task; however, I eventually saw familiar landmarks. Although as I got near to home, I worried about how painful it would be when my fawns needed to nurse next.
Entering the clearing as the sun set behind the mountain line, I saw the twins frolicking about as their father lay contentedly in the grass. The moment they saw me, they bounded over to say hello. After nuzzling them, the twins promptly announced that they didn't need to nurse today because they had started eating grass now. More than a little relieved, I told them how proud I was. They resumed their frolicking, as I went to lay down next to Bambi.
"Did you have a good day, dear?" I giggled a little, he had called me that before, but it was odd to call a deer, dear. Recalling my adventurous day I replied,
"It was ok, but not very eventful," maybe I'd tell him about it some other time.
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