//------------------------------// // Why you little! // Story: Deer Me: Black Snow // by The Psychopath //------------------------------// Copper Blossom sat next to the Crystal Heart, doodling in her journal while everyone passed her by. She would actually stay there when not being tutored or sculpting. She seemed to like daydreaming there in front of everyone, although it seemed to have become such a regular occurrence that the inhabitants of the Crystal Kingdom ignored her. Today, she was giggling next to the pedestal and started to write into her journal. Her romantic fantasies were a wee bit unusual compared to the typical, foolish one who dreams of being whisked away by Prince Charming. Writing in her journal, she was imagining Stelimus was actually a mighty, powerful dragon lord who became infatuated by Copper and, to be with her, took the form of a deer. Why not a pony? Because that would've been too easy. The dragon lord was a fan of complicated things, after all. Shining Armor was patrolling the streets with some new recruits when he spotted and witnessed his daughter doodling and giggling to herself and sighed. He was a bit more than 'slightly' embarrassed with how she acted, although no one in the kingdom ever said anything about it. Most likely because they don't care. Yolumay was awoken from her recovery by an extremely loud, very girlish scream. "Huh. Must be Effervescence. What did Stelimus do?" Effervescence came out of the spa, quite literally making the vines and trees explode and cast pieces everywhere. She was completely covered in slime, and the products on her face, as well as her make-up, had drizzled down her fur, displaying what could best be described as a witch. Her subjects screamed in terror when they saw her and galloped away for fear of their safety. Meanwhile, Stelimus sat at the base of Effervescence's throne, relaxing and thinking to himself. His thoughts were put on hold when the god-queen saw him and barreled forth, slapping him across the face and sending him flying towards a tree. Luckily, with his newly acquired knowledge of spirit essence, he was able to summon a hand to swing him around the tree and back onto the ground. Stelimus rubbed the side of his face and looked up at his aunt." Ow. What was that for?!" "YOU DID THIS!" the god-queen bellowed. Her voice resonated through the forest and the surrounding lands. "Did what? Gah! What happened to your face?!" The vines and flowers all around Effervescence's body start to vibrate and tense up while the white flowers in question were starting to turn orange as well. She was even going so far as to bare her teeth. "What's wrong with you? After getting into that weird...shower slide...thing...I came here to stretch out a bit and relax. What better way is there to relax for a deer than to lie down in the forest?" Stelimus gestured to the plant life surrounding him. The prince had no time to react that he was already clamped within several vines that erupted from the ground beneath him and put him eye-to-eye with his aunt. Even worse was a sickle blade protruding from Effervescence's hoof. She likely just grew it with the aid of her plants around. "Did you already forGET that I have no qualms with killing the spawn of my brother?" Stelimus remained silent for a moment then gulped. He had indeed forgotten. "I don't like being mocked. It...degrades me." She approached the scythe close to Stelimus' neck and her expression became quite vile and disturbing. Judging by what Grimliss had told him, Gregary would simply be sent back to his world the second he was killed but...but... "I don't...want to...leave..." The scythe stopped by the split-hairs-of-an-ant's-butt from Stelimus' neck and started trembling. After much teeth grating from Effervescence, the doe dropped her head and dissolved her weapon as well as releasing her nephew. "Gah!" she shouted. Stelimus tatted himself after falling on his rear and looked up at his aunt. "What gives? I thought you were going to kill me." Effervescence turned towards her nephew, rage still seething through her every follicle. "I gave my word that I would not harm you to Grimliss." "Huh?" "If I go to war with you, he'll declare war on me and my domain and destroy everything I worked so hard to build!" "Wow. He really likes me. That's...borderline creepy that he would declare war over my death. I feel like Archduke Franz Ferdinand. So--" "Get out of my sight!" The deer galloped away as fast as he could, taking a random route through the forest to reach his sister. Meanwhile, Effervescence was about to both cry and explode until Diva came to help her with basic cleaning. She used a warm towel and some clean, soapy water to remove the slime. The god-queen groaned in irritation. "What am I going to do? Every sibling ends up hating me!" "I don't know what to say, my goddess. To our eyes, you have no faults. We cannot aid you with such an abstract analogy," Diva calmly explained. "Hmmm. Perhaps using the usual method won't work?" "He's a stag, my queen. Would it not be unnatural for him to have an interest in this relating to fashion and style?" Effervescence pondered deeply and tatted her chin a few times. "Yes. You're right. There's still the smith. Perhaps he will forgive my...misstep." "I think you mean 'short temper'," Diva corrected. Effervescence glared at her, but Diva stared right back, her face showing naught but the haughty expression many butlers and maids sported. "Fine. Be that way," the god-queen huffed. "What do you suppose we do about his sister? You do know where she is, don't you?" "I know the general direction of her position. I don't know the precise location. Still, I suppose he must've killed her by now." Diva paused her cleaning for a moment but quickly resumed when her shock had passed. "What do you mean? Why would he assassinate his sister?" "Because all of Anglacite's children have always followed in his hoofsteps and, more likely than ever, had a tendency to kill siblings that wronged them. Considering what I learned about Yolumay, she wrong my nephew quite horrendously when he was just born." Diva became confused. "When he was just born? Who saved him? And how would he even remember that he was wronged?!" "Yolumay never said nor explained. Regardless, the next time I see Stelimus, I'm taking him to the smithy. Stags love all things war equipment." "That does bring up an interesting question." "What question, Diva?" "You told me your brother, Grimliss, never bothered with his nephews and nieces. Even when Yolumay was struck down by her parents, he never reacted nor did he seem to care." Effervescence opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. "Wait...You're right. Grimliss was even more distant than I was was concerning Anglacite. What changed, exactly?" The god-queen turned to face Diva, a look of concern and curiosity saturating her face. "There might be more to Stelimus than I gave him credit for." While Effervescence planned, Stelimus was recovering from the terrible fright he had just endured. "I take it our aunt was the one to have bellowed to such an extreme?" "Yes." "And she didn't kill you?" "No. Apparently, if she hurts me, Grimliss will declare war on her and this place?" Yolumay started to think, but she didn't seem particularly interested in the potential war. "So, he would actually go into a full blown, war just because you would be killed?" Yolumay didn't think much about her conclusion at first, then the sudden realization hit her like a morbidly obese shopper running to the food aisle during Black Friday. "That means I have free range to do to her whatever I please, although, there's always a time and place for everything, and judging by her outburst, she will certainly kill me if I don't time the moments where I annoy her and let her cool down." Stelimus turned around to view his sister was just staring at him with wide eyes and turned-in lips. "What?" "N-n-n-n-nothing." "Stelimus?! Where are you?" a voice shouted. "Crap, that's her. I'll be back." The young stag left his sister behind and galloped away from the voice. After all, he had to be sure that his sister wouldn't be discovered, or, at least, that Effervescence couldn't use the excuse of 'accidentally' finding her and torturing her some more. Back in the throne...zone, Stelimus witnessed his aunt smiling at him in a creepy fashion. "Hello, nephew. I wish to apologize for my outburst earlier." "Apologize? She must be drunk again. She certainly wouldn't be apologizing if there wasn't an ulterior motive. This is sounding like a cartoon. Okay?" "How about we go to the smith I mentioned prior. It is time we give you your gifts!" She enthusiastically clapped her forehooves together. Diva rolled her eyes in response. "Come, come!" Stelimus shrugged and followed his aunt through the forest, passing by several of the god-queen's subjects and shops. Effervescence took a pathway where the plant life was starting to take on orange and yellow hues, then rusted hues. It was strange. If anything could be similar, Gregary thought that the pathway was like walking through the apocalypse's version of Autumn. At the end of the pathway was a bizarrely twisted tree. A large, gaping hole had formed in its trunk and someone had decided to use it as their home. There were a few rounded, uneven shelves...all over the inner wall of the tree. There was no sign of anything a blacksmith used, though. Stelimus looked around then jumped away when he saw a tree's trunk explode outwards and a weird, gigantic mangling of twisting tree branches started moving forward while an enormous, wooly creature followed behind. The wooly beast's body was completely white with wool, but its black fingers still pushed through the substance on its arms. "WHAT IS THAT?!" Stelimus shouted in terror. The wooly creature turned to face the duo. Only its eyes and small portion of its facial skin could be seen through the wool. It barreled towards the deer while the twisting mass of tree branches stopped in place. Effervescence smirked a little. "Those are the smithies I spoke about." "'Those'?! As in plural?!" "Aye, tineh dehr," the giant spoke. Stelimus was terrified. While he just reached his aunt's neck, or, at least, was slightly higher than the base of her neck in terms of height, this giant towered over even her. If he had to guess, Stelimus was certain it was at least three, if not four meters high. As tall as two Effervescences put on each other, if he had to use a comparison. "Oy'm theh assisant 'o theh blecksmith. E's ovah thehr." The giant pointed towards the shifting mass of branches. The branches started rotating faster until they locked into a bipedal form with three-fingered hands. Large amounts of small, cyan-colored veins started pulsating around the branches until seven large ones, roughly diamond-shaped with rounded points, appeared over the body. Two appeared at the highest area, akin to a head, but they weren't evenly placed. One was slightly diagonally placed while the other was perfectly horizontal. One appeared on the right shoulder and was vertical, two appeared on the right arm, one slightly crooked on the bicep, and the other one on the palm of the hand. Another appeared on the inner, left thigh, and the last was on the right knee. "What the hell is that thing?!" "Ach, Oy'm a Yusimon 'n moy blacksmith teacha ovah thehr's a Trimb." "R-really? 'Trimb'? That sounds like an unintentional pun..."