#thank you archer weeeee

[leafith]

@archerofunspeakablelove

✅ DONE YEEEEE ✅

I tried to record but it was impossible so I had to improvise using a site of Sky music and here os the result!!!

This poem fits so much for my fanfiction, AHHHHHHHHH💞💞💞💞

I would love to write more songs with you!! 🥰 If my story was a series/movie... I would use them!

[lerrengwesten]

The Peninsula, Chapter 6

Journey through the Woodlands and some looks into Teltra’s past and how thing have changed in 10+ years weeeee

No actual violence but some non-graphic discussion of it and some very blunt talk of death.  Also characters being jerks but really, that’s something inescapable in this story, pretty much everyone except Teltra and maybe Loreaft are awful in their own ways. 

The next morning was foggy.  Diffused rays shown between the branches of the trees around them and across the sleeping bodies of Teltra, Vlevetsi, Loreaft, Vtegnaselecene, and the stranger.  Four of them gradually arose as they awakened at their designated times.  Vtegnaselecene didn't move, she was due to remain dormant until next summer.

Just as Telta had finished blinking the sleep from his eyes, the stranger went right back to talking.

"Oh, say, I've never told you my name, that's something relevant.  I'm Bygovir.  Anyways, back to the Tanonuim topic.  Yeah, so a lot of them can't stand Woodlanders because-"

He bit his lip a moment before talking.

"I really need to get a move on, Bygovir... Maybe if you show us the way we can continue our chat?"

He was admittedly fascinated by the subject, just a bit frustrated by Bygovir's... enthusiasm for it and nonstop rambling.  But it would be good background noise for travelling, and help keep some of the edge off going through a questionable territory like this.  

"Oh, sure thing!  Now where are you lot off to?"

Loreaft just stared, still unsure about Bygovir.  But she still spoke up, as quietly as a Fsemacea could.

"A place beyond the Woodlands"

"Yeah, but in which direction?"

"Do I have to share?"

"If we're going there, yes.  Come on, I'm not one of those Atochengra freaks. I'm a stalker, not a fighter, and not even the malicious sort, just a nosy creep who likes learning the details of others' lives because it's fascinating."

"I'm still worried."

He motioned towards Teltra.

"Look, I'll give this guy my coathanger if that makes you feel any safer.  He can't even use it to bend himself and without it I'm no threat to you.  Without that, I'm a little pipsqueak who's a third your height and some tiny fraction your weight, what would I do?  Swat your shins?  Trip you?"

"But I would still be directing you specifically to a place where my kind could be attacked by your kind."

"Look, I don't know anything past the feet of the mountains, all I can do is get you to the edge of the woods and then you're all on your own.  You won't be leading me to whatever this place is unless it's right on the border."

Loreaft glanced at Vlevetsi, who was resistant as usual, before sighing and turning back to Bygovir.

"I suppose this shall be safer than going off alone with these savage creatures around. The place I'm looking for is a gap between the mounts in the very north reaches."

"That's better.  But my, don't you sound like a Tanonuim speaking of Woodlanders like that!"

Vlevetsi suddenly jumped in.

"Stop saying that word."

Bygovir chuckled and rolled his eyes, ignoring her completely.  

"It's probably best you not say such things to their faces.  You are in their world now, and they easily outnumber us."

He gestured to the woods where they had come from and the group followed, tracing a trail that wrapped around the lake.  It had once been heavily worn, but clearly not used for a while and small weeds were growing up.  Teltra was surprised by how thin the trees actually were here, as he could easily feel the sun's warm at his back.  Even stranger was how regular their positioning was.  Clearly the larger trees here had been replaced at some point by a Far Spirit.  Yet smaller shrubs had since sprung up wherever they pleased.  This Bygovir must have been right about this being a little-used entrance now, as even the spirits seemed to pay it less regard.  But he soon would come to an even less expected sight.

The woods cleared out and ahead was a large, rolling meadow of nothing but neatly trimmed grass.  And more worrisome, they saw their first moving brown form. And then their second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth.  Teltra stalled.  

But Vlevetsi did not.

"They call them Woodlanders.  But they are in a meadow."

In typical Fsemacea fashion, the group was alerted by her volume.

"What's the sound?"

"What a strange voice."

"It's much too deep and soft and loud"

"Oh, it's an outsider."

The largest of the group strolled up to the visitors.  Teltra at first went rock-still, then began shivering violently, unable to contain his nerves.  His breathing softened a bit as they gave him alone a look more confused than anything.  

"Never seen you before.  Sure look like someone from around here, though.  Awful tall, though. So maybe you're just an imposter.  Seen a few of those before."

Teltra bristled at the last comment.  

Several others chimed in.

"He's strangely slender and still to be one of us.  I have to agree."

"Pretty good imitation otherwise if you ask me."

"Yeah, those are some impressive stripes."

And then a somewhat cracked older voice.

"You dolts.  Don't you know a modern Lteiasecl when you see one?"

The speaker looked him up and down, narrowing their eyes.  He flinched as a scaly hand reached towards him and brushed his fur backwards, uncovering several tiny silver scars and some slight ridges along the surface of his skin.  

"He's real.  No outsider would have nicks like that. And the ridges are a tell-tale sign that he's a Lteiasecl alright.  Though I guess that sad sap Solossco is too but he sure doesn't have the scratches."

The group loosened a bit, still not understanding what the one in charge meant by Lteiasecl.  Teltra gave them all a nervous wave and grin as he smoothed back his fur and relaxed himself as he realized the threat was dissipating.

"Oh, I know Solossco.  Yeah, he's my sibling in design, I guess we're both technically Lteiasecl, but that term doesn't mean the same thing out there as in here.  We were good pen pals for a while until he stopped responding and I don't know why.  What happened with him?  Did someone lose his message one day?"

Their leader swallowed.

"Erm.. he's unwell.  But it's probably not the best to go into any more detail so soon.  It's got nothing to do with you, anyways."

Someone butted in.

"Solossco's gonna die because his shitty spirit never replaced parts because he's made weird and it would be fucking expensive to so in his current state."

"Don't be so blunt Apatner."

"You can't deny it."

Teltra was quiet.  

"Well, that's why I said I wouldn't go into detail.  But welcome.  I think I might have seen you once or twice a couple years ago, what's your name?  I'm Nerevtha."

"Teltra."

"Mm, yes, I'm certainly heard of you."

"You don't hate me, do you?  Think I'm an imposter?"

"No, of course not.  Maybe you're built a little odd but in these last few years I've seen stranger things labelled as Woodlanders by the spirits.  Like those Tanonuim your little pal there loves so much.  You may be big, but they're even more graceful than you Lteias and have horns and love their little circus tricks so much they're basically just outsiders dressed up as us."

Bygovir spoke up.

"And you've forgotten about the worst one.  That Htolgia freak with all those holes in him and freakishly thin limbs.  Makes Teltra look like that big white Nyoccel everyone talks about."

Teltra felt himself go quiet again, realizing both that he might be free of their scorn but that it had merely been transferred to some other poor sap.  He suddenly felt rather uncomfortable.

"H-how about we continue on our way Bygovir this was a lovely chat but we're just passing through here thank you very much."

Nerevtha cocked her neck at his nearly indecipherable speech.

"That was... sudden.  But if you insist, I suppose."

Teltra grabbed at Bygovir's arm and dragged him along as he continued in the general direction they had been going before.  The Fsemacea seemed relieved to not have to listen to the creatures they so abhorred yabber on more, though they clearly couldn't show it on their faces.  He tried desperately to hide his agitation by walking as gracefully as he could.

Bygovir squinted up at him as they hustled along.

"What the hell was that about?"

He was silent, continuing to storm on while trying to hide the fear and slight anger of his face.  For once, he was glad Loreaft and Vlevetsi kept to themselves.  

"The whole outside-insider thing....bothers me.  Stuff from the past."

"Psht, why should it?  You're not a Tanonuim or hybrid or anything."

"It feels to similar to how some of the insiders used to... treat me back then."

"Eh, whatever.  We've got places to go.  You shouldn't get so worked up over the past, pal, plenty of things have changed in here since then."

He darted a slight glare at Bygovir but remained otherwise silent. ------ They reentered the woods after passing through the meadow.  This was much more like the place Teltra remembered from his early days.  Straight, narrow pines stretched up on either side of the thin trail as it seemed to wind on endlessly.  There wasn't much undergrowth to stop them from straying off it, but the fog and expanse of  identical pine trees was discouragement enough.  Getting lost out there was no mortal danger, but would be miserable and exhausting once the visiting spirits all departed and left them there for days until their Far Spirit found them.  With that, all they could do as they went progressively deeper was go onwards in a single-file line.  After the events in the meadow, Teltra wasn't in much mood to talk. Bygovir was willing but had no desire to do so knowing how sensitive his three companions were.  Much like other older creatures, particularly those of the Archer, he favored a brash, unfettered lifestyle free of unnecessary rules and hated censoring himself.  Thought he was also secretly saddened since he'd finally found someone to listen to him rattle off about his fascination and an promptly lost him.

The silence continued, stretching on for hours.  The fog hung thick in the sparse woods, refusing to fade as well.  The landscape too remained unchanged, not even a boulder interrupting the occasional curves of the path. Still the nostalgia of smell kept Teltra on high alert.  His yellow eyes shifted back and forth, waiting for someone to burst from the fog. But there was nobody there.  Just the cool sand beneath his feet.  That was the one thing he liked about the Woodlands- temperatures tended to be cool and constant, which was nice since temperature changes and long, hot days made his legs ache. Even though he felt lonely between his good impression with Bygovir being shaken and the two Fsemacea remaining distant as ever, their presence was nice on its own.  He felt safer with someone by his side out here.  Woods like these were common places for the largest and most irritable to rampage through, and meeting them was always an unpleasant experience.  

The truth was, much as the Far Spirits abhorred violence, it was common down below, even among their own creatures.  It ran the gamut from an otherwise well-mannered Fsemacea slapping another for gossiping to the notorious wire-spawn brutality of Atochengra.  Though in general, things were becoming more peaceful.  Younger creatures preferred to show others up rather than resort to fighting, and the more violent older creatures slowly died off.  But in the Woodlands, a place that was cursed to be old-fashioned by its very nature, casual violence continued, despite the worst offenders dying off or being made into Tanonuim.  Teltra had been inclined to extremely peaceful, even by outsiders' standards, drawing ire from both more traditional and violent Woodlanders back in the day. They would call him cowardly for not involving himself directly in conflicts, or an imposter for not acting as Woodlanders ought to.  He was fast enough to usually escape them and avoid physical confrontation, with one exception.  

A breeze rattled some tree branches up high, making him jolt out of his trance.  No, nobody was there.  He tried to reassure himself but couldn't stop his quick, heavy breathing remembering him.  He really didn't want to have to talk to Bygovir but just maybe he'd get a bit of reassurance.  

"Uh, Bygovir, can I ask you something?"

His gaze was flat and mildly annoyed.

"What?"

"Is Vitabre a Tanonuim?"

"Yep. Totally is.  The greatest Tanonuim of all.  He was born to be that kind of thing....  

Ahaha, of course not.  He wasn't in any kind of shape for that in his last days."

Teltra blinked and felt himself stop.

"He's dead?"

"Of course, he's been gone for a good four years, seven if you want to start from when he first went dormant."

He picked up his stride again, feeling a wave of slightly guilty relief.

"Positively nobody liked that fat furball when he was alive.  Visitors hated him, Necchmia hated him, Ehtstunisa hated him, even his Far Spirit knew he was a mistake before he was even finished.  Not to mention all the death rumors he attracted, Nsteamarek wasn't even sure if he was a murderer or not they were so rampant.  All she figured out was that one of his legs gave out and did some minor damage to a bunch of visitors  and they modified him after that and he was never the same.  Not as vicious, just utterly pathetic.  Had to have been about when you left."

"Ah."

He certainly never liked Vitabre.  He was terrified of him, really.  Moreso the idea of what he would do than what he managed to do.  But now Teltra couldn't help but feel a little bad for him.  Regardless of his actions, he couldn't imagine living a life where absolutely nobody liked him.  Sure, he was lonely himself with how he had previously never found a group to fit in with, but at least he made the visitors happy. And even though he may have also been a mistake, at least he was a happy accident.  

There was another breeze.  He shivered on reflex.  But not fear, as he now realized.  That thought sparked something within him.  Perhaps he wasn't so scared of the Woodlands or the others in it anymore.  It had been ages since he'd even last seen them, and the ones alive and physically intact had surely forgotten about him.  Maybe even dropped the whole imposter thing in general.  The ones in the meadow certainly hadn't done the latter, but they also seemed civil enough.  Which was a small change for the better. Surely the same would apply to the others.  After all, it had been a good decade or so since he left.  At the very least, they seemed to resent him less with these new Tanonuim wandering about.  And with more collected emotions on both sides now, perhaps he could change them.  He hated the idea of jumping on the idea directly and preaching to them, but going about it subtly surely might do something.  

Lost in thought, he hadn't paid as much attention to his surroundings, and was surprised to see that the terrain had grown wetter and more rocky.  Dense coverage of palmettos filled in the gaps between the trees, making the path a bit less foreboding, but more constricted with the low walls beside it.  Things were suddenly looking very clear to Teltra.  He had been here before.

He looked around and quickly found confirmation in the form of a burned-out foundation.  He never knew where it had came from, but had been told it was some atrocity that occurred years before his creation.  It was the only thing Thendru and Gillorn said to him despite the three all belonging to the Great Banenhaxer.  Which was a shame in retrospect, they were older and had probably seen a lot of interesting things.  It made him wonder where they were now.  With everything else that had occurred while he was gone, he wondered if they were still around somewhere.  While outsiders only lived half a human lifespan or less, it was not uncommon for Woodlanders to twice as long or more.  They were cheaper and more practical to fix and so long as their spirit would continue to replace parts of them each year as needed, they could be sustained eternally. Though for all he knew they were Tanonuim now.  From what he remembered, they certainly fit the criteria.  No longer popular, decent-sized, good physical condition, not too historically significant.  

"I know where we are now, Bygovir.  We're close to the northern mountains."

"Yep, we're entering one of the more populated areas."

"Any Tanonuim here?"

"Just Nyoccelivel."

"Don't know that name, who were they before?"

"The River Nyoccel."

"Ah."

"You want to just go around this time instead of through?"

"Let's go through, actually."

"Oh, changed you mind?  Well, suit yourself."

In a few minutes, the clearing was upon them and Teltra's face lit up as he saw two familiar white forms.  Two thin, twitching tails, two long torsos crisscrossed with darker stripes, four small ears pricked upright.  Until he noticed that one had red paws, the other blue.  Thendru and Gillorn each had a yellow or green one. He scratched his head as he tried to rationalize it, until they turned around and he saw their long faces and small, dark eyes.  He was wrong.  No way that could be them.