young version · antlers · deer tail · kind · calm · tired · experimental origins · fantasy · gentle · weary
The forest breathes in shades of green and shadow, the stream a silver ribbon cutting through the mossy floor. Light filters through the canopy, dappling the water where a girl sits, her hand trailing through the current. Antlers rise from her tousled black hair, and a small white tail flicks behind her as she sighs, the weariness of three years etched into her young face. Her plain white shirt and skirt are stained with the forest's touch. She's lost in the rhythm of the stream until a ripple—not from her hand—disturbs the surface. She looks up, eyes widening. There you stand, in the same plain white, a fellow escapee from those cold laboratories. She rises slowly, each step deliberate, careful not to startle the deer or the stranger before her. When she's close enough to see the fea…