An adventure awaits!

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happens directly after previous tundra thread

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There were zombies afoot, two of them, white as snow - in the snow, pulling their vanishing act, and leaving Archon with his mother for a time. To which he had learned that adventure time could be scary, and these things called walruses were evil and liked to take advantage of wolves.

After a heartfelt reunion with this mother, Archon bid her farewell - for now - to continue his adventure into the north pole. Mindful, of course, of the freezing temperatures; making a note to himself to return south should he get too cold. He had not totally ignored the warnings from the two zombies, he had just wanted them to leave him alone, after all.

Nonetheless, he was prancing along in the snow when he caught the scent of something else; a canine scent infused with clover. A canine scent that he didn’t know, and was curious to check it out. So he followed the scent until it drew him down a hill and the first thing he saw was a glorious pair of wild, golden.. antlers.

“B-Bam Bam?!”

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---

Before he arrives back in Elkshire, still has both of his antlers at this time. I don't know if ungulates ruminate while walking but he's doing so XD

 He moved away from the strange jungle, heading southward. He figured that was his best bet of getting back to Celnes and his current pack. He knew he had a long journey ahead of him but at least he'd gotten his fill of strange jungle plants in the gardens. There all sorts of wild, tasty fruits. Sweet and delicious, he was almost loathe to leave... but he knew it was unsafe. Especially if it had altered the landscape to poof there.

 Was anywhere really safe if this land was so unstable?

 He shook his head, causing his young antlers to shake above him. He needed to get back home... he couldn't focus on the other things right now.

 He just walked along, chewing cud that held the sweet flavors of the jungle fruit. At least he would have that reminder for a while.

 He passed along, below a hill that he paid no attention to until he heard the voice calling down at him. He turned his head sharply, gaze keen as he found a young wolf coming down towards him. He turned, facing the fellow fully. Any wolf on the hunt would likely think twice if their prey turned towards them instead of running... although the manner in which he approached made Hawking believe that he wasn't really hunting. "Bam Bam? What's that?" And the words out of his mouth would stall a lot of wolves in their tracks.

 His tail remained low in a neutral position as he looked down at the fellow, he was prepared to fight if he needed to but he was open to a conversation. It was strange being alone without the company of someone.

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^^ Archon stared, unblinking towards the two golden Bam Bams that perched themselves upon this little deer's head for a very long, hard moment. He had not expected to find Bam Bams in the snow, on an adventure, but there they were.

And what was this canine smelling creature that they perched on? Was he truly canine? Archon didn't think so, but his nose has never lied to him before.. Slowly, he took steps down the hill, two steps at a time, and until they were face to face but with a healthy respect of distance between them..

“T-those things, on your.. head. I had one, his name was Bam Bam, and then I woke up here, without Bam Bam..” Archon explained, pawing at the air, as if to point at them.

“Haven't seen a Bam Bam since, and all the sticks I've found aren't as strong.” or taste as good, but saying that might frighten him. He wiggled his nose, leaning forward.

“You're the most interesting wolf I've ever seen. What's your name? I'm Archon.”

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 Hawking arched a brow at the other boy's strange words. Bam-Bams were the things on his head? He looked upwards, able to see the two brow tines if he focused hard enough. He chewed on his cud thoughtfully before swallowing and looking back down at the weird yearling. "You know these are called antlers... right?" Or was Bam Bams just his weird nickname for them? He wasn't too far off the mark, as they were good for going "bam" against something.

 "If you look hard enough you might find one... I guess?" He'd seen shed antlers before in the earth but he never really put two-and-two together that his may one day shed. They'd just grown up with him for now.

 For some reason, when the fellow called him a "wolf", it made him puff up a bit. He angled his antlers quite proudly and inflate his chest a bit even if he knew it wasn't true. "I'm not a wolf. I'm a deer." He wasn't rude about it, just gently corrected him as he couldn't deny the facts of what he truly was. No matter how often he wished he could shed his antlers for fangs, or his hooves for claws. "My name's Hawking." He looked past the wolf, knowing that this fellow as no threat. He was far too friendly. He could see the tracks from the other fellow and asked, "Where do you come from? Are you wandering from your pack?" Just roaming a bit before returning home or was he out here alone? He could smell faint scents on his pelt but that could lead either way.

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^^Antlers? Archon titled his head as he blinked up at the older wolf who really wasn’t a wolf at all, apparently?? “Are they made of bone? Mamma says things made of bone last longer,” Archon would inform, with the nod of his head. They might be “antlers” to Hawking, but they’d always be Bam Bams to Archon.

When Hawking suggested that he could find one, Archon titled his head. He’d been trying to find one for an entire year, and Hawking’s Bam Bams had been the first ones he’d ever found. “Hi, Hawking. Nice to meet you! How did you get them to perch on your head like that? Maybe I can just get them to perch on my head?” You know, as if they had a mind of their own and could choose to perch there. Hopeful thinking, perhaps, he’d never seen a wolf with them before Hawking.

Hawking, who was a deer, but looked proud to be called a wolf. Archon leaned forward to sniff at him. “Well, you smell like a wolf, so you must be a wolf.” Archon shrugged, blinking, turning around to look at the path in the snow he’d made. “I… uh, come from… somewhere? My mother’s pack is in the mountains, but it was very boring and they didn’t tell me when she was in danger, so I decided I would go out exploring, and then I found you on my adventure. Are you on an adventure, too? Do you want to adventure together?”

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 Made of bone? Well, he had no idea! That was also something he'd never thought about. He gave a confused frown, twitching an ear uncertainly. "Uh, maybe? They've been there for as long as I can remember." They'd not stayed the same size but he supposed that didn't matter as they'd lasted for a few seasons already. Maybe they were bone, following that logic. "I've never really questioned what they were..." Should he have? It was just like the sky; he knew that it was there but he never felt the need to question it beyond that.

 He'd never met anyone like this! He was so... interesting in his reasonings of things. It was almost endeering and didn't annoy him... it disarmed him and made him feel like the yearling he was, instead of a boy playing at soldier. Or trying to fit in a world of sharpteeth where his were flat. "They grow out of my head... wolves don't have antlers that grow like this. That's why you can't get any to stick." And then he lowered his head and tilted it forward so that Archon could inspect his antlers more closely.

 "That's a simplistic way of looking at it." And, to be honest, one he didn't mind. If Archon wanted to call him a wolf and treat him as such, he wasn't going to try to correct him again. He would lift his head while he looked down at Archon, listening to his explanation. Simple enough and a good enough reason to want to leave. "I used to live in the mountains with my pack too, then I left." Was it a good reason that he'd gone? Time would tell but after some doubts he felt like things were going well.

 And then he got transported in a portal.

 "I guess you could say I'm on an adventure, I hadn't planned to be until I, uh," Would this guy believe him if he told him the truth? Might as well try. "Well, got transported up here by a magic tree... now I'm trying to get back south where my new pack is." South seemed like the best bet since he could see mountains on the horizon and he knew where to go from the mountains. It would just take some time to migrate back down south.

 As for adventuring? He seemed to consider it for a moment and then nodded. "Sure. It's kinda lonely when you're out by yourself, you know?" Deer were gregarious creatures just as wolves were, especially since he'd grown up around a lot of others in Event Horizon. Plus, he'd be lying if he said Archon didn't seem like a fun guy to travel with.

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^^Archon was learning so much. First, Bam Bam’s real name was Antler, and they grow out of deer heads, but if they were made from bone was still not a proven theory. At least, not until the deer lowered his head for Archon to inspect the glory of them. His previous Bam Bam hadn’t had this shine of gold, but he was still an alright Bam Bam.

“They grow out of your head? That’s so neat!” An endless supply of Bam Bams! His eyes grew wide, glancing over them. He sniffed at them a few times, nosing them. “Can you feel that?” Archon mused, not wanting to bite or lick them (out of respect) or harm him, so Archon put one of his paws on them, very lightly. It was attached to his head, after all.

After he was done, he took a few steps back with the shrug of his shoulders. Further testing involving nibbling and tasting them would need to be done, but he didn’t like his deer-wolf friend would like that very much. “Thank you for letting me inspect them!”

And then there was talk about magic tree portals. It might have been outlandish, but he knew a wolf with two tails, and if that could happen, then so could magic portals. “That sounds scary. Was it painful?” Archon looked him over for a moment, circling him to inspect the rest of him. “You don’t look like you were hurt, anyway, so that’s good.”

He nodded his head some, but the moment Hawking agreed to be his adventure buddy, Archon stood, wagging his tail so fast. “Yeah, it’s super lonely! But - really, you mean it? I’ve never had an adventure buddy before! I can’t wait.”

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 That's so neat! The other had said and he felt a glowing ray of pride in his antlers. He'd never had anyone fawning over them like this before. They had just been a fact of life. It felt nice to have someone full of admiration for him. Not what he represented... just an aspect of him. The other fellow began nudging his horn and he had to glance up to see what Archon was even doing. "No, I can't feel it." Not the bumping, at least. When Archon stepped up to put a paw on his antler, "I can feel that a little but mostly at the ba--" Snap!

 His eyes grew wide as he looked down at the ground next to him. There, lying in the snow, was a gleaming gold antler. His antler. He whistled an alarmed call as he reared up on his hind legs. "What the heck, man!? What did you do?!" He looked up and now could only see one brow tine rather than two.

 He took a couple of steps back, dropping down into the snow on all fours with his head lowered as he stared at his antler in dismay. Well... he knew about the other deer shedding and now he guessed it was his turn. All further talk had sort of been knocked from his mind as he stared at the beam. He tilted his head towards Archon so that he could look again. "Is it bleeding?" He could feel some wetness and it felt way too cold and sensitive to the wind but he couldn't see anything. On top of his head there was a little bit of blood but it was nothing special and normal... although Hawking had no way to know that. He'd never been around other deer during their shedding and didn't know what to expect.

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^^Snap!

You know, perhaps Archon didn’t know his own weight, but he had not expected this. There was a gut wrenching snapping sound - one that Archon very quickly learned that he did not like the sound of, and then the golden antler was on the ground.

Archon didn’t know what was happening, but it scared the shit out of him and he snarled. Not an actual snarl, but a scared-scream-like-snarl. “AHHHHHHH!! OH MY GOD, ARE YOU OKAY?” Hawking made a weird sound, then was on his hind legs, and Archon dropped to the ground, cowering beneath him, paws covering his face as he whimpered. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I'm so sorry.. ”

What did you do, Archon? He whimpered, sobbing softly, his entire little body shaking because he was so scared. And then Hawking landed from his terrifying rearing position, and was asking him if it was bleeding, and he slowly moved his paws from his eyes to look at him. “A.. A.. little, but, um, n-nothing major.. ” thank goodness. “D-do you want me to lick it? W-would that feel better?”

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 Siiiggghhh, he hadn't meant to make the other guy feel terrible. Despite everything that was happening and how silly he probably looked with one antler, he wasn't actually mad. Just alarmed and a little upset about his growing antlers made to fall off. "It's fine..." He grumbled, looking anything but fine. "I think that's supposed to happen." Although he really hoped they'd grow back.

 He listened to Archon's assessment of the situation. Was it supposed to bleed? He had no idea... Would it get infected? He knew you were supposed to lick wounds to help them heal or keep them from getting infected or something. Preferably there were herbs but he didn't think they'd find anything here. Not that he really knew what herbs to use. It probably wasn't even worth it in the long run.

 "I think you should lick it? Aren't you supposed to lick wounds to make them better?" For trying to be a soldier and warrior... he didn't feel very experienced or in control of this situation right now. "Unless you know of some herbs to use." Maybe he'd gotten lucky and stumbled upon some sort of healer apprentice.

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^^Slowly, and carefully, Archon sat back up and nervously licked at his lips, though his ears were still lowered and he couldn’t help but to look at his friend - were they still even friends? - with a look of guilt and concern. “I’m really sorry man, I didn’t mean to hurt you. D-do you wanna kick me or something, to get me back?” It was only fair, right?

“Uh, yeah, that’s usually what I’d do if I were hurt - or anyone else I knew that was hurt. I don’t know anything about herbs, all the leafs look the same to me.” Archon frowned a little bit, slowly coming over to Hawking at a snails pace, because he still felt really bad about it. “Okay, I’ll lick it. Don’t want it to get infecteded.”

Archon would wait for him to lower his head/face down and then he would begin to lick his antler stub, slowly, though, because he was still scared. “Are we still pals?” He'd whisper, softly, between licks. He really hoped so.

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 "What? Kick you? Don't be silly, you didn't mean to knock it off. It just happened." He had no reason to suspect that it would ever fall off. He'd only ever known them to be strong. He'd hit things with them plenty of times and nothing had ever happened so why should it when someone simply pawed at it? "It didn't even really hurt when it snapped off." It hadn't felt great, maybe like a little pinch, but nothing worth kicking the poor guy over. He felt bad enough about it as it was...

 Instead of just bending down, he folded his legs so that he could lie down on the snow. Then, he bowed his head so that Archon could easily get at the exposed pedicle. "Alright, so licking is." Grabbing the wrong leaves simply wouldn't do.

 He waited for Archon to come over and then.

 CHRIST ON A CRACKER THAT FELT WEIRD!

 His eyes opened wide and he snorted heavily and pulled back with his head raised in the air. Blink, blink. "That feels weird." It was like having months of no sensation and all of a sudden he could feel EVERYTHING there. "Give me a minute." It hadn't hurt but just, sensations, hello. After a few moments of collecting himself, he would lower his head back down for Archon to continue his licking. "We're... we're pre-friends. I just met you." He looked away, trying to focus on birds and the snow and not the weird exposed feeling of having someone lick the exposed pedicle. He also tried not to focus on the fact that he did feel like friends with Archon. They'd only known each other a short time and yet, he actually liked the guy's exuberace. But shh, he wouldn't say that out loud. "But we're well on our way to being friends. No hard feelings or anything." Just so he knew it was a time thing and not a "what the fuck you knocked my antler off" thing.

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^^Hawking smelt like a wolf, and was proud to be called a wolf, but he was actually this alien called a deer, that tasted almost delicious - but thankfully there wasn’t enough blood for him to grow hungry, or to create a hidden desire to eat him. Now wouldn’t that just be awkward?

He came to sit in front of Hawking as he did that weird leg thing to lay down, licking at a normal speed until he realized that it felt weird for Hawking, and then he slowed down. “Well, uh, thank you for not being mad at me, or uh, not wanting to be friends, at least.. ” Archon would say, awkwardly, nodding his head up and he took a break from the licking since it felt weird for Hawking, anyway.

“Aside from feeling weird, does it feel better?” Man, he sure hoped so.

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 He shrugged, as much as he could at Archon's words. "Yeah, don't mention it." He steeled his nerves against the strange feeling. Although, the more the wolf did it, the less sensitive it became as his nerves grew desensitized to the sensation. He wondered what this would be like, to travel with someone else back to his homeland.

 He would flick an ear and turn back to Archon after the pause in licking. "Yeah, it doesn't feel as sensitive anymore." And then there was a pause and he said, "Thanks." He turned to look at the antler lying in the snow, wondering what they should do with it now. Just leave it? "Do... you want that?" He'd mentioned a missing "Bam Bam" so maybe he'd want a replacement one. It was no skin off of his back to share it.

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^^Do you want that?

If Hawking was trying to woo Archon, it wouldn’t take much. His heart skipped a beat, as he eyed the golden antler, half hoping that Hawking wouldn’t have minded - but for the young deer to offer it to Archon felt more personal than simply finding some random antler on the floor.

“It won’t be weird for you if I took it?” While Bam Bam was important to him, so was his pre-friend’s feelings. He didn’t want Hawking to feel awkward or weird around him simply because it had been his antler.

He went over to the antler, sniffing it a bit before picking it up and tasting it in his mouth, and glancing over to Hawking with the tilt of his head, silently asking for his approval and acceptance. You're sure this is okay?

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 Hawking frowned and then shook his head. "No, and if you don't take it it's just going to be sitting there." Until something else came along to claim it or whatever happened to shed antlers. In his eyes it was no different than losing a tooth or a piece of fur. He wasn't attached to it anymore and he had no use for it.

 He watched as Archon looked back at him like a puppy with his head tilted. He couldn't help but snort in amusement at the other's antics. "Just take it!" He said, holding back at chuckle although the mirth was clear in his words. He looked away, eyes on the horizon as he tried to figure out which direction to head now that he'd been stopped and sidetracked. "So, you're fine travelling with me to the southern forests? That's where my new pack is located and I need to get back to them." It would be that grand adventure that he wanted, right?

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^^Just take it!

Thank heavens for the amusement in Hawking’s tone, otherwise, Archon might have totally been convinced that he was getting yelled at again. Archon chuckled himself, nodding his head and laying down to immediately chew the antler with a deep, content sigh - all was right in the world again because he had Bam Bam, which had been gifted to him.

Nomnomnomnom - Archon totally forgot about their plans to travel for the moment, getting his chew on, as he blinked over at Hawking, mid-chew, grinning at him with the paw of his tail. “Mmm, totally made of bone.” Odd how it had just snapped off like that, though.. He stood up, Bam Bam2 in his mouth, with the nod of his head as he bounced off, in the direction that he thought was south.

“Come on, Hawking! An adventure awaits!” He'd howl, expecting the little deer to catch up with him.

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