?

The creature slid his nose from the fern. He angled his ears, his bold, round eyes with an almost golden glow to them as they hunted the shadows for danger. Nothing was was more important to the animal than getting his group to safety. But here, in the dark, and in the woods, they were threatened: It seemed likely to him now that they would be overcome with panic or exhaustion. They'd travelled since the Drop, just after what should've been Feeding, and this group was the weakest he'd ever seen. It was a bit ridiculous - had these ones been run at all? Probably not. In fact, it seems she'd stopped running these Dropped ones anyway - he certainly didn't appreciate it. But the weather had been cold, so the male assumed that was the cause.

"Okay," he whispered, turning his head behind him. "The coast is clear. Nothing here... right now." A female stepped out. Her coat was laced with odd markings. She was a deal younger than the male, and smaller. "Get the other Drops." She nodded and disappeared into the thicket of ferns. Several others followed, varying in size and shape. Even in the darkness, the male could see the shapes of certain Drops. They dragged theirselves after him. The great male was large, and many had expressed admiration to their fellow Drops when he was out in the front, surveying for enemies.

He expressed no fatigue as the group moved into the forest. Everything went fine for awhile. He constantly kept his ears erect, his eyes hunting for danger.

But it failed him.

Before they'd reached the homeplace, there was a strike against them. The male was in the front, hoping if anyone was in the line of danger, it would be him. He kept the female who he'd spoken to earlier nearby - she seemed more promising than any of the others. More willing to keep going.

Then it happened.

As quick as anything, there was suddenly a squeal from behind, and turning sharply, he only had time to see one of the larger Drops snatched up by a dark form and it was gone nearly immediately. Only then did a wave of feline scent crash over them. There was only a few seconds to sit. "We have to keep going," the lead male told them. He immediately went on, ignoring the loss that they'd just endured. He couldn't sit or wait, lest he wanted to lose another.

This was commonplace, after all. If that was the only one he lost, then this would have been a very successful run.

Bambi's Forest

All around Bambi, there were antlers crashing. This year, the rut came  on early - the weather had gotten cold early, and does were going into estrus accordingly. Bambi himself had already rubbed the velvet off of his now-impressive rack - he hadn't even realize he'd grown so much. But now as Bambi thought of it, it was clear that his frame had grown strong and large. A prize among stags, indeed - if not for the ban on hunting in the forest. In fact, many bucks in the forest were now growing to size - he scanned the clearing from atop the boulder - including Birch, Campion, Herla(who was already impressively muscular due to training), Huckleberry, Calemvir, and many others.

As he watched, he noted Huckleberry and Herla in particular - Herla was, again, with Korin, and Huckleberry was rutting already, fighting another buck with Yew standing close by. The hawk, Volare, had gone off to hunt. This was all good.

But Bambi couldn't help but think - Faline was back, as was Ronno. It seemed to him Ronno wasn't who he used to be - as if he was no longer jealous of Bambi for anything. He seemed to not feel as if Bambi was his competition. He hadn't a clue whether he should attempt to approach her or not - Ronno, too, had grown to quite a size. And, he'd be quite a fight if both wished to be with Faline.

Now, though, his thoughts were ended when a scout came up. Bambi looked at him. "Yes?"
"Sir, there's been no signs of enemy activity since the rutting began," he told the prince. Bambi nodded approvingly.

"Good. They must be just as busy as we are, then," he said, rotating his ears thoughtfully. He stood up and leaped down from his perch. "You are relieved." Those words felt sour to Bambi - shame! - his herd had turned into a military unit. And Bambi had no choice. It was painful to him - militant social order and battle was for wolves, and even some chicken flocks he'd seen on the nearby farm, but deer? Never. It made his blood boil, deep down. But it wasn't his choice - it had really been the fault of Trar and Nacht.

By now, Bambi had wandered into the woods.

He continued to think about the whole dilemma as he walked. He knew no buck in the herd was large enough to kill Nacht in antler-to-antler combat. That was a given. If only there was a way to get him into an environment where his strength and size was compromised, turned from an advantage to a weakness... Against him in that situation, there had to be someone with an advantage...    If they could coax him into a-   

Suddenly, his thoughts were inturruped by a loud scuffling, a mix of shreiks and strange snorting growls. He pulled his ears forward with a frown, and worked through the undergrowth. The large buck found himself before a violent if not thoroughly strange battle: Before him, a strange rabbit was viciously mauling Volare, another smaller rabbit with clawmarks in the back staring on with glazed eyes. Volare was flapping hs wings and struggling profusly as the rabbit attempted to drive it's long front teeth into the hawk's neck.

Bambi stood for a few seconds, dumbfounded. After those moments, though, he realized what was happening. "Volare!" he shouted, stomping forward. The small rabbit leaped back, swinging around and dove into the brush. The large, strange buck leaped off, breaking away and snarling as the hawk scrabbled to his feet and lifted messily into the air to land on Bambi's shoulder. "What just happened? You're a-"
 

"He attacked my warren," snapped the buck below the two, who now sat up on his hind legs. Bambi had never seen a buck that size. And now, looking at him, Bambi realized just how strange he was: He had white fur, sleek over his skin and gracefully arched back. His long, wide ears, which almost looked like they should lay down like a lop, stood erect and laced with gold and black. The color ended roughly at the base, not very neatly at all. Around his eyes, the fur was shaded with the same black and gold. He had a black and gold muzzle, and down his back was a rough line of those colours with a blatant white cut about five to seven cenimeters long. His fur was lusterous, and his sides had three or four black and gold spots, each about two inches across. "I defended it. That's what happened," he told Bambi, flicking an ear.

"I see," Bambi said slowly. "Volare, go ahead and get a fish, instead..." The bird was immediately gone, obviously having his pride hurt deeply.  "And you are...?" he turned his attention to the rabbit.

"My name's Loki." The buck told Bambi, narrowing his eyes. His scrutinizing coldness made Bambi uncomfortable. "Why?"
 

"I don't recognize you, that's all," Bambi told him.

"That's because I'm a Misfit," Loki snorted, sitting back down. "No one ever sees us. Laga was out grazing and I had to save his tail is all. But really, your stupid bird's got us all on edge."

"I'm sorry for that. I can't get rid of him," he added. "We need him."
"For what? Killing off the local rabbits?" Loki snorted, letting one ear lay back.

"No," Bambi said. "But that's another story. For the time being, I simply must know where you came from."
"Oh, you mean the warren, yes?" Loki asked, and the deer nodded. "We came from the farm. Birdwood! Laga! Melani!" he yelled. Behind him, two does and a buck appeared. The buck was the small black-and-white one from before, with no sunlight between his stomach and the ground. His belly laid against the dirt, his back curved down over the hips. His ears were short and thick. One doe was much like Loki, except her muzzle marking was split up the middle white, she had no side markings, and her spine marking tapered out over her hips. The other was all black, with the same ears as Loki and the other doe, but only her underbelly was white. She had orange hairs all through her coat, and half her face had a heavy concentration of them. Never had Bambi seen such a group of oddities.

"How'd you get out if you're from the farm?" the deer asked, bewildered. "Nothing gets by those dogs. I know from experience."

"They're really quite fat and lazy," sniffed Loki. "Anyway, we didn't 'get out.'"
"Huh?"
"We're called 'Drops'," the doe with the split nose marking spoke up. "We're... well, misfits from the barn."
"I still don't understand," Bambi told her, struggling to grasp what they were saying.

"Wow, deer really are stupid," snorted Loki.

"Loki, that's just wrong," snapped the white doe. She batted at him with a paw. "Anyway, I'm sorry for him. I'm Birdwood, by the way. But, as I was saying... We - myself, Loki, Melani here - are from a breed of rabbits called Rhinelanders. We all generally are supposed to look like Loki, except-" She reared up, putting her paws on his back by the white break in the spine. "-This. It's supposed to be filled. I am called something like... 'Charlie', I think, and Melani 'Sport.'" She hesitated. "Or is it the other way around?" The others shrugged. "Oh, it doesn't matter. Anyway, we're all here because the Breeder - the Farmer's Daughter - is too soft and kind to kill a rabbit in her barn unless it benefits the animal."
"How could death benefit an animal?" Bambi inturrupted, confused.

"Ol' Tomato," inturrupted Loki. The four temporarily fell silent, as if giving respect. "There was only one incident - a buck called Tomato. His teeth were very bad - they didn't line up right and grew too long for him to eat. She tried her best to keep him from starving, but eventually gave up and put him down. He would've starved if she hadn't."

"Oh." Bambi frowned. He kind of regretted asking.
"But anyway," Birdwood continued, "she takes us out and releases us after she gets us conditioned to be outside. We call it The Drop. Loki was sent to get the last three." She looked at the buck, who seemed unimpressed by admiration.

"I see," Bambi told her, thinking on this. "That's interesting. Do you suppose," he added quickly, "That you'd be interested in helping us, then?"
"With what?" Loki snorted. "Your military problem? No way."
Bambi looked taken aback. "How did you..."
"Everyone knows, prince," he told Bambi. "It spread like wildfire. Everything  knows."

"But we need more help," Bambi insisted.

"And what could a rabbit do, little prince? Bite? believe me, we're no good."

"Or spy," Birdwood said quietly. "Find out the plans of the enemy... keep an eye on the herd."

"No," Loki repeated. "That's my final answer."

Bambi raised his head. "I see." He turned to leave, and threw back, "Well, it was nice meeting you."

           Nacht's forest  

"Now, Skander," Nacht began, turning his head lazily to his son as he lounged in the sunny glade. Skander was surprised - he never imagined the great enemy Nacht just laying about lazily. "How do you feel about the does? Anything you're interested in?"

"Well, I..." Skander blinked. "I hadn't thought much of it. I mean... Why?"

"Well, you are my son," Nacht informed him. "Thus, I have the ability to give you any doe in the herd. Any buck who stands in your way can be punished on the pain of death." Skander nodded.

"Well, I've no preferences... I'd have to think about it." Skander told him. At that, Nacht nodded and stood.

"Very good. I, however," Nacht added, "Have business to attend to." He stopped suddenly. "And Skander?"

"Yes?" Skander looked up.

"How did that Herd know we were coming?" Nacht looked at his son.

"A... a hawk, sir."
"A hawk." He growled. "I see... I will take care of that."

Slavia

"So... they were from the Farm?" asked Salvia, blinking.

"Yes," Bambi told her. "I learned a good deal about that farm. Salvia, if the daughter of the farmer had found you, you would've been fine! From what I've heard of her, she's very nice."
"Is that so?" Salvia sounded rueful. "What a concept. Man, doing anything good for a deer..."
"She can't even kill her rabbits," Bambi replied. "She sounded gentle enough."
"Nothing about Man is gentle," Salvia insisted. "But nevermind that. Let's go, then. The rut's waiting."
Bambi nodded and followed the doe. He couldn't help but recognise she was quite pretty, and healthy as he'd seen a doe. He considered taking her, but didn't know how she'd feel about having another fawn. He decided he'd later ask.

Kaiser and co.

Kaiser looked around, feeling a bit overwhelmed. He didn't know what to do with all these bucks, all at once - it was more chaotic than battle because it was all directed at only one other buck, one focus, and a spirit of mirth. He'd never been such a part of it.
"I'm going across with the other does," Noir told him. "I'll keep you in sight in case I need you. Maple and I want to go talk to Rosehip." He nodded and nosed Noir.

"Be safe!" he bleated. "I do hope Rosehip will be okay."
As the two bounded off, with Leaf following - Kaiser had to admit, he'd been different since the battle, and he had become more loyal to Maple, less demanding - probably to be on-site in case either of them needed a buck who would protect them in a moment. Kaiser felt relieved that he was there, really. "You going to fight for that doe of your's?" a voice sounded beside Kaiser. He turned to see Gobo.
"Oh. Ahh..." Kaiser flicked an ear and hesitated. "If she needs me to, I suppose."
"Come on, Kaiser," Gobo laughed. "She's wonderful. You two have something good, you know. You'd be excellent parents - you'd be an excellent father, Kaiser. Fawns love you." Kaiser shrugged passively.

"I suppose..." he mumbled. "I don't want to do anything stupid though. This isn't the time to raise a fawn in - if we can't end this war quickly and cleanly - and let's face it, there's nothing clean in ending a war - they'll grow up in fear."

Gobo nodded. "You're right, but we have to go on, Kaiser. We can't halt life until Nacht is dead, otherwise the herd will die and he will have won." Kaiser flicked an ear.

"Suppose you have a point."
"Yup," Gobo said proudly, bounding off. He called over his shoulder, "Now go get her, Kaiser!"