Ever since Hang the Moon welcomed him into her den in the swamp and introduced him to more friendly kin like her, Iron had developed more confidence in interacting with swamp denizens. Granted, many kin he tried to talk to still reacted as expected; either moving away immediately when they spot him approaching them, or politely--sometimes not so politely--leaving him while they're talking to him when they discover his odd way of speaking. But there were more kin here who were understanding enough to interact with him and treat him nicely. Some he even began to call his friends. Filled with this newfound confidence, Iron opted to roam the different parts of the swamp to see what his new home had to offer--and maybe make a few more friends along the way.

As he was walking through an especially woodsy part of the swamp, he glimpsed an unexpected, but not unwelcome shade of purplish pink in the middle of all of the brown and green of the mud and trees. His curiosity piqued, he moved toward the color and saw that it was on the hide of a beautiful kimeti doe with long, flowing blonde hair, a flower tucked behind her ear, and a star marking on her forehead. The way her purple coloration went from light at her legs to dark at her midsection had him strangely mesmerized. He did not realize how long he was just staring at her and he definitely was not fully conscious of the words left his mouth; "You are ... pretty..."

Never Not Known moved slowly through the trees, taking in the sights and the sounds the Swamp had to offer. She'd lived here her whole life and didn't travel far from the trees and grass she knew, only finding change when other kin passed through her territory. She did enjoy meeting others, but they were always just passing through, this place a resting point between their starting and ending points. That was fine, of course. Never Not Known had learned from talking with the strangers - or temporary friends as she liked to call them - that there were many exciting things that were beyond the scope of her understanding. The sea was a place she'd heard of recently, the desert, the mountains...while they had been described to her, she couldn't quite imagine them. It almost made her want to venture out of her little home, but so far she stayed put.

Today, however, was not one of those days where wanderlust nibbled at the edge of her mind. Today it was beautiful, the air warm but not cloyingly so, a gentle breeze rustling the leaves on the trees, moving her long hair with it but not so that it messed up her locks. She took a deep breath and exhaled with a soft sigh of contentment. Yes...why would she want to be anywhere else but here?

A shift in the wind alerted her to a scent she hadn't noticed before. Another kin was near by. Turning, she surveyed the surrounding area before spotting him. He was big, his horns imposing, his glowing eyes a bit startling as they stared at her from the slight darkness of the shadows of the trees. She felt her breath catch in her throat at first, eyes drawn to the large spikes on his back, the bone-like tail slightly visible from where she stood. What was he? The scent indicated kin, but she'd never seen someone as intimidating as him!

Frozen to the spot, she stared back at him as her heart raced in her chest. The other kin broke the silence, his voice deep and his sentence broken. Never Not Known forced herself to take a breath, trying to calm her racing heart. If he meant her any harm he wouldn't have complimented her...

Right?

"O-oh...um...thank you," she stammered, looking away from the visitor to try to regain her focus. "That...that's a very kind thing to say." Very kind. Don't judge a kin by his looks, Never! She mentally scolded herself as she looked back at the male, offering him a shaky but true smile. Just because he looked fierce didn't mean he was here to cause trouble.

doomsayer wrote:

His eyes grew wide and his torso glowed bright as he realized the content of the words he inadvertently uttered. He had previously developed a method of first thinking of something to talk about with a kin that he wanted to strike up a conversation with before he even made his presence known to them. This at least gave him time to prepare the words that he would have to say without the stress of thinking about them on the spot. But now that the doe had acknowledged him, he had neither the time nor the concentration to come up with common ground or small talk. His lower jaw hung open slightly as he spent the next few moments physically trying to form words even when he had nothing in his mind to say.

Eventually he just defaulted to how he would greet strangers before, his broken speech even more pronounced as he lost all confidence in his only recently obtained conversational skills.

"My name... is Iron. I mean you... no harm. I am... sorry for... scaring you. I am... sorry for... how I talk."

Hang the Moon had told him to stop apologizing for what made him him, but he couldn't come up with any other words beyond introducing himself and saying sorry for his various shortcomings. His head receded low and to the back a little into his shoulders and his tail tucked into his torso as he felt a not so little amount of shame at the moment.

He felt like prey trapped in a corner, even though only the trees were in the way of an expeditious escape if he really wanted to do so. But he also didn't want to leave the doe mid-conversation as so many kin had done to him in the past--he knew how confusing and painful such a gesture could be.

So he stood there awkwardly, hoping that she didn't shoot him a look of disgust or contempt before she dismissed herself and went away--just like so many kin had had done to him before.

Lutz wrote:

The response from the other kin - Iron, as it turned out - was a surprise. He seemed...ashamed? Embarrassed? Either way, his verbal confirmation that he wasn't a threat and the way he seemed to shrink in on himself had any lingering fear disappear from Never immediately. She was a shy doe, one who was soft-spoken and often trampled over in conversation by more outgoing kin. She could sympathize with Iron in being nervous.

"It's okay," she said softly, the smile shifting from shaky to gentle. "You sure are quiet for your size. It's very impressive." She took a few small steps forward to show she wasn't afraid and ducked her head a bit lower to let Iron know she wasn't a threat, either. Clearly she wasn't a physical threat, but she wasn't about to berate him for how he spoke or anything of the sort.

"I'm Never Not Known. But you can call me Never if you'd like. It's nice to meet you, Iron."

doomsayer wrote:

He was glad that she was kind. Her smile and her gentle demeanor put him at ease and let him physically relax. His glowing went back to normal and he was able to stand tall again, but not too tall as he didn't want to appear looming over Never. He did his best to remember what he talked about with other kin and the words he used there. Hang the Moon liked it when he talked about where he came from and what could be found there. His other friends liked it when he asked them about themselves.

"I can.. be loud... when needed. Usually... for hunting. But I... not good.. at talking because... I born in far mountains. Were you born... here in swamp? You have... very pretty hair. Is it... hard to keep... clean when... so much mud around? "

He wanted to be able to keep talking to her because she seemed nice.

Lutz wrote:

When Iron relaxed Never did as well, glad that she hadn't hurt his feelings or made him feel badly. Just because she'd been caught off-guard by his presence didn't mean she wanted to upset him!

As he spoke she listened politely, letting him get everything out that he wanted to say. It was slow but she didn't mind one bit. His question made her smile and she tossed her head just a bit to let her hair shake and shimmer in the dappled light that made its way down through the treetops.

"It can be hard," she agreed. Her hair nearly brushed the ground at times! "But I tend to stay away from the muddier places. It's fairly dry here." Indeed, though the ground was softer than the mountains he must be familiar with, there was a lack of puddles and muddy spots in this place that allowed her to stay fairly clean.

"I was," Never added, looking back at Iron. "I've heard stories about the mountains but I've never seen them. Big...rocky hills?" She tried to recall the stories another kin had told her. It was hard to picture what a mountain was having never seen it, but in her mind it was a bunch of rocks piled up on one another.

"It must be hard to walk around there."

doomsayer wrote:

He could feel heat rise to his cheeks when she tossed her hair. The way it shimmered, catching both the dimmed rays of sunlight and the muted light blue hue of his own glow made him feel things. He was glad for his exoskull as he knew he would have been blushing, but at the same time his glow usually gave away his emotions anyway.

He smiled and nodded as she responded to him, hanging on every word so he would know how to formulate a response. He liked the sound of her voice. He thought he would like to be able to listen to her for a long time.

When she started talking about the mountains and having never seen them before, he perked up at the prospect of being able to talk about a topic that he knew much about. But Hang the Moon's advice was also at the forefront of his mind; she told him that kin also liked talking about themselves, so he should ask them about themselves and what they like to do.

When Never finished speaking, he was already ready with a response, "The mountains are... much bigger than... what most kin... who have... not seen them... can imagine. Imagine that tree," he gestured to the tallest of the trees in the area.

"Now imagine more of... this tree.... put on top of itself.... over and over... a thousand times. That would be... about as tall... as the highest mountain... I have climbed... but not even.... the highest mountain... there is! The ground there... is not flat. It dips... and rises... and bends around... and sometimes even just... falls away to... deep holes. It is very hard... to walk around there."

He smiled as he finished his narration and took a breath to recover from the long sentences that he just delivered. He kept his mouth open to show his intent that he was going to say more. When she let him keep talking, he joyfully added, "The swamp is... also hard to... walk in sometimes. I am... heavy... so my hooves... tend to sink... deeper into soft mud... when I walk. But I like... to walk around... because I get to... meet new kin. Like you. I really liked.... walking around today.... because I met you. What do you... like to do?"

Lutz wrote:

Listening to Iron talk about the mountains was both impressive and endearing. Although Never had thought him to look fierce and intimidating upon first glance, she was realizing he was very sweet and gentle under the spikes and horns and bones. As he spoke the gentle glow that seemed to come from him would rise and fall in intensity as he spoke, clearly showing just how much he loved the place he was from. Rocks thousands of trees tall? It was hard to envision, but with Iron's descriptive words it helped paint a better picture for her.

"That sounds rugged," she said as he paused, though he looked like he wanted to continue so she nodded and stepped a little closer. His glowing eyes were very enchanting and the longer she spent gazing at him, the more she found his features appealing rather than scary. On a different, gruffer kin she might have been frightened and run off, but Iron was so gentle and pleasant it softened his harsh attributes.

"Oh!" His words drew a bashful glance from Never, hiding behind her curtain of hair slightly. He was so sweet...

"Thank you...it's certainly become a more interesting day with you around as well. I usually don't stray too far from this area of the Swamp so kin like you passing through is certainly a highlight. Sometimes they aren't very kind, though, so I tend to stay away if they seem scary." She did enjoy meeting others, but Never didn't want to run the risk of being injured or scared by a stranger.

"Otherwise I enjoy a meadow not far from here. There's lots of beautiful flowers that smell and taste delightful. I can also see the sky there so I enjoy watching the clouds." She led a very simple life compared to Iron, it seemed.

"I do tend to stay away from the wetter areas because of my hair but it seems you should too if you sink. There's some areas I've heard of where kin actually become stuck in the Swamp, the muck is so powerful it holds them fast. So please be careful if you continue to travel." She paused, peeking out at Iron bashfully again from behind her hair.

"But you're welcome to stay here for a while. I'd love to hear more stories about your mountains."

doomsayer wrote:

He was shocked that kin would be unkind to her. He understood why they were like that to him--he was large and strange looking. But she was so slender and beautiful that he couldn't even imagine why someone would be mean to her. He felt furious about it. He felt like such treatment was undeserved and that he wanted her to be able to interact with more kin without having to feel the fear of rejection or insult that he constantly felt. He felt like he wanted to protect her from that.

"I would like.... to see the meadow... and smell and taste the flowers. Last time I... ate a flower...my face swelled... and my tongue numbed." He laughed a little, reminiscing about an embarrassing blunder, but also wanting to maybe make her laugh as well.

"I am going to... different places... I haven't been to... in the Swamp before. If you would like... we could go somewhere... you have not... been to before. I will protect you... from any big animals... or scary kin. I can talk more... about the mountains... and you can tell me... more about where you live... and we can see new places... together." He flashed her his gentlest smile. He didn't want to force her to come with him, but he certainly did want that she would choose to spend more time with him.

Lutz wrote:

"Oh no!" Never said with a little laugh as Iron told her of his misadventures eating flowers. She only laughed because he did, clearly he was fine now, but she hoped the ordeal hadn't been too terrible for him.

"That sounds awful. I'm glad you're okay now," she added just to make sure he knew she wasn't laughing at him. His offer to go with her and explore beyond what she was familiar with was a surprise and she hesitated for a few moments. He said he would protect her if there were unfriendly kin or predators...and he was certainly big and strong enough to do so...

She glanced around her little clearing in the trees before looking back to the other kin. He was waiting for an answer. Come on, Never, be brave!

"Okay...maybe we can go a little ways," she said, nervous but eager to make Iron happy. He was so sweet, how could she not want to? "Let's go to the meadow." They could start there, get to know one another a little better, and then maybe venture out of the back of the fields that she never strayed from. It was scary, but with Iron falling into step beside her as she led him through the trees, she found it was also exciting.