#koinatsu

The earth was a beautiful thing if you needed it to be, or if you wanted to make it become that way. And in a way, it was both to you in the end. The sweet smells of flowers and grass encouraging your lungs. Combined with the warmth of the sunlight warming your muscles and urging them on. Both made you feel as light as a feather on your mere feet and the ground felt soft under you. You were smiling. Arms out splayed against the wind blowing around your hair like crazy and cooling your body against the warm sunlight beaming down on you.

You stood there staring at the beautiful blue sky with fluffy clouds rolling by with the wind guiding them along and the sun shining upon them giving them that beautiful white color. It made you smile seeing the sky in all it's beauty. Taking a deep inhale of the air blowing over you, you slowly out your arms down before slowly turning back around to the task you were doing. Lush greenery stretched as far as the eye could see. The sounds of wind rustling through the wild fruit trees and the occasional sound of falling fruit hitting the ground accompanied birds singing. The smells of fruit and flowers floating about and filling your lungs with the sweet scents. 

You stopped by the trunk of an apple tree after filling your basket full of apples. Lately you hadn't been able to afford much food so it was either you gathered off the land,begged for money on the streets, or starved. You chose the first option and opted to gather as much wild fruits and vegetables as you could, fish, and set snares for small animals. You had just hoped no one else would find out about this wild orchard you discovered long ago. Your neighbor had once told his friend of his secret fishing pond and then within a week it was fished out and drained of life now he struggled to provide for his family. You were not going to do the same. Taking your other basket, you approached another tree. You were in the middle of gathering up some pears when you first heard the loud voice calling out.

"Help! Someone help me!"

You froze..before turning your head to the left. After a moment of silence you shrugged and went back to picking fruits. 

"Hello? Is someone there?"

Your head turned around wide eyed and shocked. That sounded like a woman's voice. But who could be out here? Was someone else also gathering food or hunting? Oh no. Could one of your neighbors have discovered this place? The trees would be picked bare by hungry and greedy villagers then! ...But what if someone was lost or hurt?

"Hello?!"

...Deciding to investigate in case someone was hurt, you put your baskets down and followed the loud voice through the brush until you reached a treeline and found something that you would never forget. You noisily stepped through the brush until you got stepped out from behind some trees and paused at who..or more specifically what you saw.

Brown eyes snapped to you staring at f/c orbs before a woman sighed in relief pressing a hand to her chest. "Oh thank goodness. I feared you might've been a hunter. Please help me. I'm stuck."

You just stared at her. Blinking and blinking again before shaking your head hard hoping to clear your imagination up before looking back up and staring at the brown deer like ears twitching on her head...What the- The woman tilted her head at you as you reached out to rub your eyes hard before you stared back at her not believing your eyes.

"Are you alright?"

"What are you?!"

What you were looking at was a woman or what looked like a woman. She had soft brown eyes with darker brown hair styled up and decorated with a gold comb. Purple and pink silks hung from her shoulders. She was rather lovely however she clearly wasn't human because of the fact that her lower body was that OF A DEER!! A brown slender doe's body stood there awkwardly and soft deer ears perked up from the top of her head as she stared at you. What the heck was this thing?!

"Forgive me. I suppose to a human I must appear very unusual," she apologized to you, "But I won't harm you."

"What are you?," you repeated again scanning her body before shaking your head. "This is too bizarre."

"Hm. I suppose so, but could you still help me?"

You blinked. "What?"

"My leg is stuck in a trap." She turned towards her hind legs making you look too. Her right hind leg shook out revealing that it was awkwardly being made to stick out at an awkward angle due to a rope.

"Hey. You tripped my snare!"

Her head snapped back to you. "So it was you who set this trap?"

You winced back under her gaze. "Well...It wasn't supposed to be for a deer-... Person?? I set it there to catch rabbits or squirrels, I wasn't expecting-..." You rose a brow gesturing at her. "You."

"Perhaps you should be more careful when setting up your traps."

"Everyone has to eat. I'm sure if our roles were reversed you'd be very surprised to see a human caught in your trap."

"Hm. I would suppose so. Now could you please-" she pulled her leg again. "Please untie me. It's rather tight and painful."

"Oh. Uh sure. I guess so." You hesitated approaching her for a moment not sure about getting close to such a strange being but eventually you shuffled back to where her leg was suspended and slowly laid your hands on the tight knot. "Um...So-Sorry about this I guess. I really wasn't expecting a deer- woman to get tangled up in my traps."

"It's alright. I'm much happier that you're not a hunter otherwise I would've been in much more danger."

"Well i guess I'm lucky you aren't a wolf or wild cat otherwise that would be worse for me."

"Indeed. It seems we both lucked out then."

A silence fell as you busied yourself with untying the tight knot around her leg as she continued to stand there patiently watching. Eventually it slowly loosened little by little until it unraveled in your grip and her leg fell to the ground. You watched as she wobbled a few steps with her arms out to regain until she stood upright.

You held up your hands. "Are you alright, Miss?"

She nodded. "Yes. It was just sore from being tied up."

"That's good to hear." Awkwardly you lowered your hands. "Um..No offense but may I ask why someone like you was doing here?"

"I often come here to eat but this is the first time I've ever been trapped. Hmm. If humans are starting to come here then I probably should find somewhere else to forage."

"Actually..I'm the only one who knows about this place as far as I know. You can stay here for as long as you want if you want that is. I mean...If you don't make off with all the food and share it with me."

She smiled brightly at you. "I think that's possible if you agree to move your snares elsewhere."

"I can do that."