Haha yeah there's only those kind of people that like such games huh. And they all must be awesome naturally... ;D And I noticed that change in deer designs. Flyra is still hugely based on the real in-game look because I'm so not creative and lazy, haha. No just kidding, but I just never settled for any other design because I loved to see how different artists that drew her interpreted her looks as well. For any other deer now I think I'd like to add my own ideas, too.

Haha yeah people are always surprised to hear I'm still in highschool. It slowly starts to feel awkward but it'll be over soon so no need to worry about it for much longer. And I do think I'll figure out what to do after school soon. Problem is just, I've though that for a while... :/ And my subconscious which I'm waiting for to point me into the direction it wants me to go, like when it told me that Finland would be the place I'd most like to go for an exchange year, keeps quiet about the subject so far. I'm hoping it'll speak up soon!

Well the meaning of varieté is that it's some kind of circus theatre - it's a firm building that is always in the same place. It hosts shows that change every two or three months, usually, each time there's different artists performing. Those artists travel around the world and work wherever they just got a contract for a couple of months. I just always work there one to three times a week and see every show hundreds of times... It's really fun though, I enjoy it. I'd love to be an artist but I have no talent for any of their kinds of professions, haha. It would take a long time...

Your etsy looks great! You're very talented with plushies as you are with painting. And I'm glad people like to buy your things!

Oh, I see! Yes, teachers can give you hard times as well although right now, I'm lucky to have mostly very nice ones. And I'm glad they appreciated the result in the end.
It's not such a big deal for me, I have my friends from before and I get along with nearly all the people from my new school, we're just not the closest friends, you know. And yeah, it's not such a long time anymore anyway and I hope to meet all kinds of new, cool people in university. And I get along well with people from my workplace, too. So I'm not lonely or something.

Sure, I can't be happier with any other choice of a country to go to! Finland was perfect for me. And I think I will benifit from that experience in the future in whatever I want to do. We shall see!

Flyra:
Haha I’d never say people who go by in-forest sets aren’t creative! XD If anything, making something already existing unique and your own is a massive challenge. I think Flyra’s adorable. But it’s a lot of fun to change things around too. I revisited Poltergeist’s design about a year ago? She was always very close to the in-forest set as well, was a fun challenge to steer away from it. Kind of what she would’ve looked like was she still a character of mine. Gehirn had a change like that too.

Ah I’m sorry ;_; You just seem a lot more mature than what I’m used to from highschool students? Maybe because my younger sister is one now and I’ll always be eight years older than her :”) I hope it will too! For me there was a very specific moment where I choose. I was always going to be an archeologist, until well in my 15th I think. And then I was on a train trip, drawing in my sketchbook as usual and this guy sat on the other side of the seats , suddenly moving to sit closer to me. Of course defensive Mis glare, but he excused himself and asked what I was drawing. So I showed him and we started talking, and he concluded I should do art school. Since really, I had all the signs HAHA. In my upbringing I was always told you can’t make a living out of that, but I guess it’s really not the most important if you “can get rich” from it. I just want to do what I enjoy. If I work on that hard enough, I’ll get there. Of course, sacrifices must be made, so I work a shitty job right now to earn money as I work on my skills XD

Ah okay! I never heard of that before, a varieté. Every day’s a school day. But that does sound cool! I imagine you get in touch with a lot of different kind of artists. And uhm, a little note; talent doesn’t really exist. That’s some kind of fable. It’s hard work, always is. Everyone who can do something really well has worked hard to get there. I once saw an artist’s work who had really incredible sculpting skills at like, 14, and I almost went well there goes my theory of talent doesn’t exist. But this guy had given up his childhood when he was 9, stopped playing outside with friends to sculpt all day long. Some dedication there. So if you really want something, and I think that plays a role in “talent”, you’ll get there with practice. Talent to me is the interest in the subject. Not everyone is interested enough to be willing to work hard on it.
So really, you can do anything!

Haha thanks for the compliment ♥. I’m trying to focus mostly on plush and sculpting these days, my drawing is more a side-thing. I don´t enjoy it as much, really. Last time I felt like doodling, I accidentally designed a plus and just started sewing. Woops.

Good you´re not lonely XD But yeah, I understand that feeling. I´ve never been very good at making super-close friends myself though, I’m very happy just being on my own. At newyear’s I was home alone entirely, I was so happy HAHA. Could do whatever I felt like, nobody bothering me. Good times.
I think you will! I’ll be curious to hear what you’ll end up going with. I still kind of wonder what I would’ve done if I could go back in time. But perhaps doing something and realizing this isn’t what you want to do is also a really important lesson.




Carry:
Oh! No worries! I can go with whatever the other is up to as well. I rp in-forest weather when I’m in-forest mostly XD But I do go with the seasons. Especially for Verve it makes a big difference if it’s winter or summer. In winter her customers kind of change from cute jewelry to big capes too. But if you had gone with summer I would’ve adapted

She wrapped her pelt around herself tightly, pulling the cord ever tighter before she’d set out in the direction of the river. Even if it was cold, she’d do better to keep drinking. But every ounce of her hated it, the cold. And she’d have left long ago wasn’t it for that feeling of responsibility she had tried to evade all her life.
Her trinkets swung from her antlers, the beads on her cloak clicking against each other. The doe didn’t seem to be paying much attention to her environment, yet elegantly swished around every tree that crossed her path. She had a goal, get to the water, drink, get back home. All in a few minutes time, surely that’d be a working plan.
One of the trees she evaded with an elegant step, wasn’t that much of a tree at all. Of course, at first she didn’t realize, until she had passed it. Then she slowed down, a frown appearing on her face, as she turned her head to look what she just really evaded.
Maybe she let out a small yelp. Maybe. But she would’ve denied it upon question. She had just passed.. A giraffe? At first she had been confused about what kind of odd tree would grow like that, and why she hadn’t seen it before, but surely this was a giraffe. She would’ve bumped into her chest with her head hadn’t she evaded to the other side.

The tall doe stood puzzled for a moment, her eyes going from Ntombi’s feet to her face. Perhaps she was rude, staring like that, but she just couldn’t come up with words for a moment. After a long pause, she opened her mouth. “…Are you lost?” Verve asked, the most puzzled expression on her face. “I haven’t seen you here before and I’d imagine you’re hard to miss. No offense.” Not that that made it sound any less offensive. “..I’m Verve.” The doe decided to share, though didn’t make any motions towards a bow. “Where are you from?” Verve decided to ask, couldn’t have been born here.

“You’re not kidding.” The doe answered in a vaguely sarcastic tone to the giraffe saying she didn’t know her way around. Well in her defence, Verve was the one almost smacking into her.

Verve seemed slightly surprised when the other recognized her name. It faded quickly though. This was almost normal now, however odd it would always seem to her. “Ntombi. Interesting name.” She felt she recognized it, somehow. But couldn’t come up with the details. “Animal preserve?” The tall doe, or well, semi tall doe repeated, one eyebrow raised as she shifted upon her legs. Why would one preserve animals exactly..? “Like, preserve their skin?” She asked, the best way she knew of preserving them. “Are you a crafter too?” Verve decided to ask, though guessing it impossible. Her eyes wandered to their environment for a moment, perhaps wondering if she should invite her to sit.
“You look like the creatures from the savannah.” Verve concluded, pretty sure she resembled a giraffe with a flat face. Which was curious. How did she survive here?

“Ah, alright.” Extinct? Protect them from killing? Verve herself came from a time where hunting was only used to sustain themselves, like any animal in the food chain did. Why would anyone stop that? Were all the animals in her world more sentient, perhaps? Like in this forest?

“Gifted.” She repeated. A bitter tone in her voice. No, yeah, years of practice and to be called gifted. Well, she couldn’t deny that entirely, controlling insects had been something born into her. Even if that took her years to master too. At the next compliment though, she bowed her head slightly towards the other female. “Thank you, I try my best. It’s taken me most of my life, and years of practice.” She decided to chime in after that.
It didn’t seem like the other was going to reply to her notion of looking like savannah creatures. Maybe she was wrong, then. The tall doe looked around herself for a moment. “I was going to go for a drink actually. You can come if you want?” She decided to propose, no reason to be rude.

The tall doe turned to start walking in the direction of the river again, she’d see if the other would follow or not.

Yeah, it's like a Verve action figure! I want one!

I think Verve is who I'm sitting near, correct me if I'm wrong. Toir is intrigued by her looks. Thank you for letting him sit with you!

((hope you don't mind that I smash this down here))
--

After staring at the doe in front of him now for some time, he decided to be adventurous.
Clearing his throat as quietly as he could he managed a simple "Hello. I like all your...decorations." His giant ears swiveled forward and his eyebrows raised a little. He truly did like them, quite a bit actually. He spent a lot of time staring, and this was something he was unfamiliar with, making it all the more interesting.

"Do you make them?" He asked, quieter this time, the adventure was wearing off and he started to feel awkward for speaking up. "...I mean they're just very pretty..." and that was about all he managed before returning to staring, legs sprawled out in front of him, chin on the ground.

When she mentioned his interest his head practically bounced off the ground. "Yes." he barked, a little too loudly. His ears flipped back, embarrassed at his inability to hide his enthusiasm. "...uh, yes, they're very pretty." he corrected, quieter this time. Setting his chin back on the ground he introduced himself "My name is Toir. It means shrubs, like, bushes. He offered a little smile and relaxed a bit. "So do all the things have special meanings?" He didn't want to push too far, but his curiosity was getting the better of him.

Interested? "Oh yes!" his rump wiggled excitedly, "Oh yes and I will help!" he declared, bouncing to his feet and frantically retrieving some sticks and a rock. He arranged the sticks carefully in a lop-sided circle and positioned the rock in the middle in front of her. He looked at his work, looked at hers, looked back at his and scowled. An idea hit him, and he snagged the nearest leaf, put the rock on top of it, and made a muddy smudge across the rock. Satisfied, he returned to laying, head on the ground, looking up at her expectantly. "Your's are prettier," he smiled "but I can be good at helping?" He thought for a moment, "I'm not so good at ideas. I don't know what to want." He was captivated by her designs, but being asked what he wanted? He had no idea.

He listened patiently as she listed off her works to him. After a moment of staring at the stick-circle in front of him he decided. "Yes, ears. I have big ears so they should be decorated." He flipped his ears back and forth for emphasis. Scrambling to his feet again, he paced in random patterns, scanning the ground as he walked and muttering to himself "..ears, ears, ears, what for ears..." he had no idea what to put on his ears. Rocks? A stick? There's a bug over there, does that go on an ear? Maybe a bird. No, no birds. Giving up on his own artistic adventure, he looked back at her "What for ears?" he asked, trotting back to her and laying back down in a puff of green. "..I don't know what to get for ears." he said, realizing she's much better at this than he was and would probably have a better idea than walking in circles.

He nodded as she explained. When she got out the beads he picked up one of the sticks from his circle and drew a U shape on the ground with a circle on each end, doing his best to draw the shape of the beads strung from hole to hole. "Yes like this!" he said, stick still in his mouth, while motioning toward the holes in her ears with beads draped between them. He carefully put the stick back in it's original position.

"...holes? With..pins? Does it hurt?" He wasn't too fond of that idea, not one bit.

As she explained, he flipped his ears back and forth, back and forth, imagining something dangling off one of them. Would the added weight be noticeable? Back and forth, he did spend a lot of time snuggled in bushes. Back and forth, maybe ears are a not so good idea.
"Maybe...not ears. I think I would probably get stuck." The image of himself stuck in a bush by his ears made him very uncomfortable. "Maybe instead, a..." the word he was looking for escaped him. He wiggled one front leg and pointed at the bracelets hanging off her wrist. "...a thing. Like on your leg?" Yes, that seemed a good alternative. He wouldn't be in as much trouble if that got stuck on something. He smiled up at her again with the renewed enthusiasm.

((Edit: aahhh I gotta go to work but I'll try to get on later tonight))

Toir's enthusiastic smile dropped immediately. "Those are...big bugs. His ears drooped down and his tail stopped wiggling. He wasn't afraid of spiders, certainly not. He spent most of his time in the foliage, anyways, and that's where bugs live. But there was something just a little unnerving in the way they all seemed to parade out at the right time.
"Uh, yes a bracelet. A wood one. Okay." He tried valiantly not to stare at the spiders, but failed. "Birch..." the word trailed for a moment before he shook it off. Clearing his throat again he perked back up a little. "Yes birch. I like the birch." With one last surge of adventure, he was so daring as to lean ever so slightly forward to look at a near by spider, before settling back, a little less relaxed this time.

Trying his hardest to be polite, Toir forced his gaze to Verve while she spoke. The spiders work too? "Oh, the spiders help. How do they know what to do? Do you tell them?" He thought this was a pretty obvious question, how else would they know how to help. His eyes drifted back to the spiders, all moving back to her. The sound of the rock dragging made his head jerk up off the ground. His head cocked and he was about to ask what the rock could possibly be for when she started grinding the wood on it. "Does the rock make the hole? When it has a hole is it a bracelet?" Curiosity was overcoming the discomfort, and when the spider started showing him things he gently set his head back down and watched carefully. Little versions of deer, some teeth he had never seen before, and a...thing. The small smile that had been forming and slight tail wiggle didn't falter when he asked "What's this thing supposed to be?" Motioning to the tiny figure. As the spider turned to get another thing to show him he stretched his neck and lightly touched the bug with his nose. His ears dropped and he smiled sheepishly, the slight tail wag now moving furiously back and forth. "Yes," he thought "I would like some spider friends too."
The leaf caught his attention a little more than the previous items. "Oh!" his voice just a little too loud again, "This is a beautiful leaf! What tree makes leaves like this? A bronze tree?! What is 'bronze?!' He touched one hoof to it, tilting it into the light. "Oh! Beautiful!" He could hardly contain himself. At this point all the tail wagging had flattened the grass behind him and started to kick up small puffs of dust.

"Human..." he mused, "It has a face like me. Like you too. Do 'human' live in forests? I've never seen one." He furrowed his brow when she explained the leaf. He hummed for a minute before muttering "Not from a tree then. Not actually a leaf. Okay. 'Bronze' is not a tree."
He watched her sand now, confused but horribly intrigued. A little creep of envy tugged at his mind, something he didn't feel often. He brushed it off, convincing himself he was happy to just watch her work instead. He didn't have many ideas that could be made beautiful. His glance trailed back to the stick circle. He was pretty proud of that at least. Yeah, he could make stuff too if he ever got an itch.

"Yes I like the leaf, even if it isn't a real leaf. I still like it." Wait, colors? He wasn't too sure of his colors. He was embarrassed, he didn't know the names of most colors. He knew green, that was leaves, blue was the sky and water, orange was sometimes leaves too. Brown was...was...dirt! Right, brown was dirt. There were a few more, what were they...
The embarrassment of being so uninformed in front of someone so well-taught was making it difficult to get his thoughts together.

"Ehhh..." he blushed, "..I don't, well... I don't really know very many colors. I only know...a few." The tail wagging had finally stopped. He went back to focusing intently on the spider with the bags, trying to shake the unusual feeling crawling up his spine.
He shook his head violently for a second before blurting out "PURPLE. I know purple. NO. Blue. I want blue...please."

Satisfied with his choice he settled back down. The strange feeling receding now.

"Mmmm." He nodded along with her explanation of the leaf and deer. Of course the small deer wasn't real, it was much too little. And it didn't even move! "Yes.." he murmured, more to himself than anything, "...yes blue. Blue." He was quite fond of all the blueberries in the birch. He could wiggle down into them and disappear. Yes, he very much liked the idea of having a little blue on him.

At her motion, Toir wiggled and scooted across the ground until he was next to her. "Ah yes, okay" He worked one leg out from under him and looked at her expectantly. Ears tucked back, sheepish grin back on his face, rump wiggle back on high. He had to look almost straight up to actually look at her, and could only imagine how ridiculous he must look.

It didn't bother him. The idea of being decorated and beautiful smothered the notion of looking foolish.

(oh really? Cute!! Goodnight!!)

(I hope it's alright if I scoot in here with La.)

La had neared her wits end trying to identify the mysterious skull chunk. Her book had yielded nothing and she had never seen a passerby wear a skull like it. She didn't know anyone who knew anything about skulls, but she knew of an artist who worked with them--though La had never met the doe. Finding her was La's best lead to solve the mystery on her hooves and she figured there wouldn't be anything to lose.

The investigator bundled the skull in burlap from the basement room of The Ruins and carried the fabric in her teeth with her ears erect and swiveling to listen for sounds until she reached her destination, a hollow tree.

She set her bundle down and bowed in the same motion, and a hopeful smile appeared on her face when she said, "Hello! I was hoping I could ask for a favor."

La grinned and picked up the burlap again to approach and settle down next to Verve. Though La had to crane her neck to look up at the artist, she didn't mind. With a careful hoof she pulled the burlap away to show the large chunk of skull that she'd hidden away.

The smile fell off of her face as she regarded it with resentment and disdain. The surfaces were smooth, though many parts of the skull had been broken away from the back, the underside, and much of the snout so that only the orbits, and lacrimal, frontal, and parietal bones remained.

"I heard that you work with skulls a lot. I was wondering if you had ever seen any like this before in your work. I've been trying to figure out what kind of animal it could possibly have come from but I've had no luck." She heaved a sigh at confessing her failures and inadequacies to a stranger and felt the unpleasant warmth of embarrassment creeping up from her chest to her cheeks and ears. "If it were in better shape it might have been easier, but I'm pretty lost right about now. If I put much stock in the idea of luck, I'd say this is the unluckiest thing I've ever come across."

After a few further moments of glaring down at the skull, she realized that she had forgotten her manners in her hurry to solve the mystery and hurried to rectify that. "My name is La, by the way. I'm sorry, I was... preoccupied, and I forgot to say."

La nodded along thoughtfully to Verve's insights, watching her manipulate and examine it with more care than La had used.

"I didn't really find it," La said, and she shifted the way that she was sitting so that she appeared to bristle as she shot a glare at the skull. "I woke up with it stuck on my head a few days ago. Couldn't get it off like any other mask. I kind of panicked and ended up whacking my head against a tree to make it fall off. But, none of this damage is from me, there were no fragments of bone around the tree."

She huffed, but then took a slow breath and calmed herself enough to look back to Verve. "So, since I was asleep when someone--or something, though I'd rather not entertain the thought to be honest--stuck it to my head with some strange magic, the skull is my only lead. I am compelled to follow this trail. If I don't I just know it will keep me up at night for the rest of my life wondering how such a strange, and in my opinion morbid, thing came to happen. And why it came to happen to me."

Sorry for this to be so late, I had a really intense day yesterday and I am all sorts of broken XD

AlisonRobin:
At La’s response she started to realise this skull wasn’t actually a proud found she came to show off. She hadn’t been happy with it at all. It was a bit of an odd sounding story, not something she really had come across before. “Kind of sounds like someone cast it on you?” Nobody but the gods could cast that kind of mask, though.

“No that sounds a little weird. I can see why you’re concerned.” She answered, still looking at the skull. She wasn’t good at identifying magic, though. And maybe she silently liked the idea of waking up with a skull on her face. But she did need it intact for it to be of any use, so. “I can only imagine a god came to visit you in your sleep? Otherwise though, no idea. Maybe it belongs to someone else, maybe someone stole it and put it on you to be rid of it. But it does sound like magic was involved if you couldn’t get it off.”

She made a thoughtful ‘hm’ before giving the skull piece back to La. ”I’m afraid I can’t do much more in telling you where it came from. Maybe someone who can identify magic can help you better. Likely someone with a better connection to it can help.” She decided to suggest.

Hoactzin:
No worries! Thank you for interacting with us too, we had fun! He's welcome to return any time XD

Verve had to agree with that. Didn't seem like any ordinary deer their magic.

The tall does' ears hung low when she noticed the others' expression, their clear exhaustion. This had been playing for a while it seemed. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you further." She said with an apologetic expression. "Hopefully you figure it out. I can't suggest more but look for a more magic-inclined deer to look at it. You're welcome, and good luck. See you around." Verve replied with a nod of her head, a goodbye-bow.

Thank you too! I really like La as a character, really happy to have the chance to interact with her And of course we wouldn't mind! I'd be curious to see her adventure illustrated!

Dunno if I tracked this yet, so, Have a track! Pho might want to bump into her at some point. ^.^

Yeah, phobias suck. I have several (the weirdest is shopping carts, I have no idea where that came from in my childhood) and when I was 14ish I made myself promise to get rid of them gradually. It is a slooow process.
And yes, I love your crafts. The dolls you make are absolutely gorgeous. I like to sew when I sit and watch TV but my projects are more about strange geometry and irregular polyhedra and they never resemble anything real, let alone cute.