Arrow: 21
Rudolph: 20
Zoey: 20
Clarice: 19

white snow fell softly on lush green tree tops as the brisk chill of night swept accross the landscape, in a small clearing stood two reindeer, a boy and a girl. the boy had blonde bangs and a red nose, and the girl had silky fur and gentle eyes. the two looked at each other, then the boy broke eye contact, looking down with a blush.

"uh- uhm, so why did you wanna meet me out here zoey?"

the doe in question smiled brightly, lowering her eye lids half-way, she truly was very beautiful and she'd only grown prettier as they'd aged into adults.

"well, i wanted to ask... if you'd kiss me?"

she winked at him, then stepped closer, he felt a bit shocked and instinctively took a step back. he'd always had a crush on zoey, all of the stags did, ever since school! it was customary, really, and now he felt his heart rate increasing as they stood staring into each others eyes, his childhood crush leaning in to seal the deal.

"HEY!"

a sharp voice cut through the woods making ravens fly from the trees, the two reindeer turned quickly just in time to see another, bigger and stronger buck racing toward them. the red-nosed reindeer only had a few seconds to back up, as his rival slid to a stop in-between them, lowering his head as he snorted aggressively.

"you stay AWAY from my doe, freak!"

he growled, then turned his attention to the female.

"come on zoey, let's get you home before your dad worries."

the two walked off, her boyfriend taking the lead while zoey lagged behind, once they were a good distance away she turned for a moment to whisper.

"see you later, rudolph."

she winked again, then hurried after the dominant stag.

once they were out of sight, rudolph found himself letting out a deep sigh that he hadn't realized he'd been holding. he too turned and began his own trek home, while as they grew older the village had grown to accept him more, rudolph still had some enemies and thus chose to live on his own in a shack a few miles away from the village. he traced his chocolate eyes upwards to watch the twinkling stars as they moved slowly through the inky abyss. a chilly air swept past him, causing him to shiver, and reminded him of that time he was lost and longing for zoey... the snow crunched under his hooves as he gazed forward again, something buzzed at the back of his mind, but when he tried to pester it it faded away into nothing.

finally he reached his home, pushing open the door with his antlers and kicking it closed behind him. rudolph looked over at his kitchen table, his gaze catching a group photo of his friends and family. a smile pulled at his lips, and he continued his trek into the bedroom. finally he plopped himself down onto the bed, closing his eyes and taking inhaling deep. only a few seconds passed before the stag was out like a light, the night forever stretching on beyond the realm of his fuzzy dreams.

rudolph groaned as beams of sunlight spread warmly accross his face, he shifted and opened his eyes, yawning and slowly stretching. after a bit he got up, headed into the bathroom to brush his teeth and shower, then started making breakfast in the kitchen. with his coffee brewed and his pancakes done, he sat down on the couch and flipped on the tv, noticing their was a news broadcast.

"as you folks know today is indeed the big race, the event itself will be starting in only fifteen minutes so quickly grab your popcorn and find a place to sit!"

rudolph spat out his coffee as he realized the day, quickly he chugged what was left of his drink and scarfed down his pancakes, bursting out the front door and galloping as fast as he could toward town. how could he forget about the race!? he'd been preparing for it for weeks! the buck nearly tripped as over his own hooves when they met the ice cold snow that layered the ground outside.
his shack wasn't very far away from the town, so his run wasn't too long, but still being half awake and now pushing himself to the extreme; rudolph was certainly feeling the stress as he ungracefully skidded into the village.

zoey stood in the stable where the boys were preparing to run, her mate, arrow, was in the center of a few stags as he bragged madly about his skills and how he was gonna win. she'd never really understood why others seemed to look up to him, sure he was strong and handsome, but he was also a major jerk! zoey wanted to be with rudolph but arrow had "claimed" her the vary day they'd met all the way back in school, she'd never had a say in the matter and it really didn't help that everyone seemed to support his "success" with snagging the prettiest girl around.

she sighed to herself as she looked back at the entrance, wondering where the hell rudolph was. just then the disheveled stag in question barged into the stable and slid to a stop, panting dramatically as if he'd just run the whole way there.

"rudolph!"

zoey shouted happily, she began walking over to him, but arrow caught sight of this and quickly darted between the two.

"zoey, outside, now!"

he commanded, the doe lowered her head and left the barn, the other stags standing behind arrow to watch the scene curiously. they never bullied rudolph themselves, some of them did have respect for him, but no one really stood up for him whenever something went wrong, aside from his parants and friends of course.

"i don't know what the buck you think you've got going on with my girl, but i better not see you fucking around with her alone at night again! i'm watching you, and i'm gonna beat you in this race!"

rudolph frowned, still tired from running, the two glared at each other for a while, arrow slowly lowering his head so his antlers were pointed at rudolph. he was ready to spar if the younger buck tried anything, however luckily for rudolph, he was just too tired to fight, and he walked away and sat in a corner to rest until the race started. these races were held every five months or so to celebrate a very special occasion, a solar eclipse that would burn the day sky a midnight black and was said to make any romance bleed brightly under it's inky gaze. the single stags who won the race got to chose who they wanted to be their mate, and the ones who were already dating got to impress their mates with their awesome skills.

a few minutes later the announcer began reading off the race rules, which was the cue the boys needed to walk out onto the tracks and line themselves up at the starter line. arrow glared daggers at rudolph from his position, rudolph ignoring him and focusing on the track ahead.

"ON YOUR MARKS!"

"i hope you're ready to taste my dust, freak!"

"GET SET!"

"can you lay off dude? nobody fucking cares at this point..."

"yeah well you're-"

"GO!"

arrow was cut off as the others quickly bolted past him, he stared in shock for a second, then high-tailed it after them as fast as his legs could move. he bolted up beside rudolph, scoffing at him like he was a peice of shit on the sidewalk.

"you distracted me! you're gonna pay for that twerp!"

rudolph ignored him once again, focusing all of his energy on pushing forward, eager to win and finally prove he could beat the arrogant asshole at something. this only served to piss off arrow more though, and the other rammed himself into rudolphs side causing the smaller buck to faulter.

"OW! watch where you're going!"

"nehneh neh neh-neh"

arrow mocked, he noticed the second lap was coming up and began to push his legs harder. the crowd cheered as the racers zoomed by leaving clouds of dust in their wake, rudolph was starting to get tired again, panting as he worried that he might not make it to the end. there were only three laps in total, so he still tried to keep his hopes up.

"wow you're tired after only one lap? what a sad sack of fat shit you must be, no wonder zoey HATES you!"

arrow grinned as the words left his mouth, rudulphs nose scrunched up in protest, he was starting to get really annoyed.

"zoey does NOT hate me! she likes me better then you!"

arrow gasped, he grit his teeth hard as his blood boiled in rage.

"SHUT UP IDIOT, SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!"

once again the older buck lunged himself to the side and slammed into rudolph, causing the other to stumble and almost lose his footing. the third lap was coming up and rudolphs body ached from the two attacks, plus from his run earlier.

"will you STOP!? that's cheating you know! why can't you ever just be nice and ENJOY the events that happen around you!? you know zoey fucking sneaks out into the woods at night to see me, i swear she's such a smart girl it's only a matter of TIME before she dumps you!"

that'd been the final straw, just as the racers passed the third lap the rage-fueled reindeer shoved himself into rudolph for the third time. however this time was different, they were running atop a road with steep snowy hills on each side, and when rudolph finally stumbled so hard he fell, he ended up rearing off course and tumbling down the hill hitting the grown violently.

"WOAH WOAH WOAH! stop the race, someone's been hurt!"

the crowed had all gasped when they saw what happened, the other racers skid to a stop, the announcer calling out as rudolph lay still in the snow. Everyone quickly rushed down the hill to check on the injured stag, rudolph had landed on a thick layer of ice lightly hidden in snow, he groaned as medics hurried to help get him on a gurney. arrow panted as he stood alone on the road, staring down the hill at the scene below, he heard the frantic clopping of hooves as zoey ran up to him.

"ARROW!?"

he turned, grinning meekly, sweat pouring down his body.

"hey baby, don't worry the freak's fine. just a little rough-housing is all!"

he had not expected his girlfriend to suddenly head-butt him in the chest with all of her might, knocking him on his rump.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THAT!? YOU COULD'VE KILLED HIM!"

"babe calm down jeeze, it's fine-"

"NO, shut up arrow! i'm sick of you, you're the biggest jerk in the whole village, even stormella had more class then you when she was EVIL!"

arrow looked dumbfounded as zoey darted passed him, crying out one last thing.

"I'M BREAKING UP WITH YOU!"