#richard deer

[skeleton-richard]

Shapeshifter AU where TBP turns into a melanistic stag.

YES.

Joan is a piebald doe. Edward of Angoulême is also melanistic and obviously Richard is leucistic.

@themalhambird

[themalhambird]

@skeleton-richard @shredsandpatches @maplelantern @nuingiliath Its a sparkly friend for Richard!!

[themalhambird]

Deer 4/07/2019 (via Vimeo) 

@skeleton-richard @shredsandpatchs  @nuingiliath @princess-of-france @harry-leroy Please enjoy this Richard footage I took coming home from Stratford earlier :)

[themalhambird]

Here is a hart!Richard ficlet, based on a post made by @nuingiliath a little while back (that I now can’t find or I’d link to) about Henry V apparently being able to run faster than a deer...

Hal froze as a twig cracked under foot, shattering the peace of the surrounding parkland . His heart jumped in to his mouth as the white stag on the other side of the riverbank turned and leapt further back away before turning and regarding Hal with alarm. The creature seemed poised to run away all together, and so Hal raised his palms in what he hoped the stag would understand as a gesture of No harm meant.

"I'm just watching!" He called softly. "I'm not going to hurt you, pretty thing. I just wanted to have a look. I've never seen a white hart before in real life; they said there was one around and I wanted- you're gorgeous," he said, smiling as the stag seemed to relax, though it still watched him intently. "You're the most beautiful thing." He wondered if his great grandfather had seen a white hart as pretty as this, once upon a time, before passing the law that said all such deer belonged to the crown and to bring one down was high treason. If so, he understood the reasoning. He had never quite felt so happy and light in all his life as he did standing there in the sunlight, the breeze blowing gently across the water and not a sound but the birds, and the buzzing of insects, and the creaking of old trees- with the rare, nervous animal regarding him with- was that curiosity, now, or was Hal simply projecting? Either way, Hal had never felt more content. Of course, his father's absence , and the discovery that his royal guardian was not so frightening as he feared, might be a large part of it. Hal had been scared, before coming to Court, but now he was here it was wonderful! King Richard was kind, and very beautiful- Hal thought he would be terrified of him, but he wasn't at all. And Thomas said that the King was a witch- ha! Hal smiled at the stag, which- now he thought about it, reminded him of his royal cousin somewhat- probably because the white hart was the King's emblem.

"Beautiful," he whispered again. Suddenly hunting horns sounded in the distance The hart snorted and took off- towards the noise. "No!" Hal cried. Hardly knowing what he was doing, he lurched forward, splashing in to the water- he was waist deep, shoulders deep- it was cold despite the warmth but he struggled across and clambered up on to the other bank. The deer plunged back in to the woods and Hal charged after it- hunting white stags was a treasonable offence but what if he got brought down by acccident? If the hunters shot at movement before they checked, or if the dogs got their first? Heart pounding, breath coming in harsh, painful gasps, Hal's arms and legs pumped faster than they'd ever moved before as he followed the hart through trees and foliage , all the time the horn getting closer, until somewhere Hal found the strength to out on a burst of speed and skidded in front of the hart, throwing his arms wide to block its way- "stop, go back!" He urged, as the hart stopped running and began to nuzzle Hal's hair. "You have to go!" He said again, reaching out to pat the soft, velvet neck.

"Harry!"

Hal spun around to see his uncle atop a large black horse, at the head of several others. The Earl of Kent raised his eyebrows at him. "Did my eyes deceive me, or did you just outrun a deer?" He asked.

"Er-" Hal said, flushing. He stumbled forward as the stag nudged the small of his back and then- as Hal turned to look- took off back the way they had come. When Hal turned back again, his uncle was disputing, tugging the cloak off his shoulders. " You'll catch a cold in those wet things," he commented. "Let's get you home and dry, or my brother will have my hide."

For a moment Hal thought the earl meant Hal's father, who was his brother by marriage, but then he realised that he must mean his half brother- the King himself. Despite the chill, which he hadn't felt until Kent mentioned it but now set him shivering, Hal couldn't help feeling warm inside at the thought that King Richard cared what happened to him. His uncle wrapped him up in his cloak, and picked him up and put him on his own horse, swinging up behind him. He wrapped one arm around Hal's waist, and took the reins in his other. "Come on," he said. "Let's get you back to Court and see if we can't spin a story to make the girls swoon- Harry Hartfoot."

Edward shut the King's door behind him. "Interesting story going about," he said. "Apparently Hal managed to outrace a white deer earlier."

He advanced towards the bed, where Richard lay sprawled out with nothing but a shirt on and mud splattered all up his bare legs- and leaves tangled in his hair. "Richard," Edward said, climbing on to the mattress and lying on his side alongside his king, stroking his stomach. Richard opened his eyes and turned his head to face him. He smiled, and licked Edward's cheek.

"I need a bath ," he said. " get me one?"

"Richard? Hal. He managed to outrun you?"

Richard's eyes sparkled.

"You let him win, didn't you? Softy ." Edward kissed his cheek. "Let's get you cleaned up, muddy creature." He swung off the bed and went over to the wash jug Richard always kept on the side. Better to wash first and then bathe, rather than have the servants questioning how the King of England got covered in mud.

"Kent was hunting," Richard said, "I was going to and distract his dogs for an amusement. I had no idea the boy would follow," he paused. "Of course it's lucky he did," he said casually. "He'd managed to get himself quite a way out, he may not have been able to find his way home." He sat up as Edward advanced with water and a cloth , and stuck his leg out. "I adore you," be said, as Edward sat down and set to work. "If the weather's nice tommorow, let's go hunting all by ourselves..."

[skeleton-richard]

Deer!Richard being confronted with werewolf! Anne. He goes very still and trembly because wolves are scary and might try to eat him but he also doesn't run away because there's something familiar about this one...

I am FINALLY beginning feeling up to writing/answering things. The recharging power of watching Richard ii with a friend, I tell you. 

Anyway.

---

It’s late at night in the woods and Richard is beginning to worry. He hasn’t seen Anne since sundown and he doesn’t like that, he doesn’t like being apart from her for any length of time. He keeps telling himself she’ll be back, of course she will, he’s found a lovely place to sleep and --

Richard’s ears twitch as he hears something, twigs and leaves crunching. He smells something too-- it smells like danger. 

He looks up from the bush he’d been munching on, terrified. Standing only a few yards away is a wolf, no doubt looking for dinner. Richard stays very still, except for the trembling, unable to run. He should, considering how scared he is and how if he doesn’t escape he will probably end up being that dinner, but something about this wolf seems.. familiar. Which doesn’t make sense and just confuses him more. All he can tell from the wolf’s scent is it’s a girl and that doesn’t -- 

The wolf sits down and looks at him, cocking her head to one side as if she recognizes him too. She wags her tail for a moment, then stands up and takes a step towards him. Richard lowers his antlers as a warning. The wolf’s fluffy tail stops wagging and droops, and she looks both scared and... sad. Richard isn’t sure why and he doesn’t really want to find out. The wolf slinks away, finally leaving him in peace.

Richard curls up in the nest of grass he’s made, dozing warily. He’s startled awake by something nudging him, and he tries to jump up (difficult, since his legs are tucked under his body). The wolf is back, and this time he realizes she has Anne’s eyes. 

The stag settles down again, with his mate curled up next to him.

[skeleton-richard]

i love how deer can turn their necks right the way around to look behind them, and now I'm imagining Richard forgetting that that's just a deer only thing and hurting himself trying to do it as a human. Anne has to kiss it better...

The problem is he doesn’t want to admit that he twisted his neck doing that. So he has to figure out how to get it kissed better without having to say he forgot how to human.

[skeleton-richard]

For two of my favorite people: @themalhambird and @shredsandpatches . I think we could all use some fluff. So have some completely unresearched and unapologetic deer!Richard fluff.

----

The afternoon sun broke through the leaves, scattering little patches of gold on the ground under the tree Anne had chosen to sit under. It was quiet in the garden, which was a relief after all the chaos of the last few days, having just recently arrived in England. Her attendants knew where she was, so she was content to relax and read a book she’d just been given. 

Anne still had yet to meet her husband, the king. She had been shown a picture of him and he looked very cute, and Sir Simon said Richard was going to like her a lot, but she was nervous all the same. 

There was the sound of a twig snapping and Anne looked up, expecting one of her maids to have finally come to fetch her. Instead, she saw a small, pure white fawn cautiously approaching her.

“Oh, hello,” she whispered, “aren’t you pretty!” When the fawn didn’t run away, Anne slowly extended her hand, wondering if it was tame and would accept attention. “Where’s your mama?” she asked. She hadn’t seen any other deer around-- and she’d never seen a white one before. “Are you all alone too?” 

The fawn looked at her with big, sweet eyes, and its ears twitched. 

“Oh, I’m speaking Czech, you must not understand,” she said. “I suppose you don’t understand German either.” She had no idea why she kept talking to the deer, but it seemed to like her voice. It finally came close enough to sniff her hand, and to her delight it decided she was fine, and it nuzzled her fingers. “You’re very sweet,” Anne said, gently scratching under its chin and stroking between those two huge ears. “I’m alone too. I came to meet someone, but I haven’t got to see him yet.”

The sleeve of Anne’s dress tickled the fawn’s nose and it sneezed. Startled, it jumped and tried to run away from itself. Anne couldn’t help but laugh, but she felt bad when she saw the poor thing, so she stopped, not wanting to hurt its feelings. Slowly it gathered the courage to approach her again, making an uneasy peace with her sleeve. The fawn lay down in a sunbeam next to her and curled up to take a nap. Anne gently pet its soft head as it dozed.

The sun was beginning to set and Anne had the feeling she should join her ladies. Before she finally decided to say goodbye to the fawn, they both heard approaching footsteps. The fawn looked up, ears twitching urgently, then it took off running, disappearing into the bushes. Her heart sank as she realized she might never see her fawn again. Anne looked up to see Sir Simon, who bowed in greeting. 

“Good evening, your highness,” he said. “How are you enjoying the garden?”

“Very well,” Anne replied. “It’s very nice.”

“Have you seen a fawn, by any chance? A young deer, with a white pelt.”

Anne wasn’t sure how to answer-- surely such a pretty creature would be in danger. 

“The deer is the property of the king,” Sir Simon continued. “Sometimes it likes to play in this part of the garden. I need to make sure it doesn’t stay out here all night.”

She was relieved to hear that her fawn was well cared for. It must be, if it belonged to the king. She nodded. Up ahead, she could have sworn she saw a flash of white in the bushes. 

----

Three days later, King Richard II of England was formally introduced to his wife, Anne of Bohemia. 

Richard was tall and gangly and just as pretty as his portrait suggested, and he stammered as he tried to introduce himself to the girl he knew he would gladly spend the rest of his life with the moment he met her. She didn’t understand a word he said but she felt the same.

A bit of dust hit the king’s nose and he sneezed, nearly jumping as if he had scared himself. 

Anne smiled. Maybe she would see her fawn again after all.

[skeleton-richard]

so the deer in the park I walk through are adorable, for starters, but also they are really, really hard to see against the grass. And it got me thinking: god!Richard blends really well in to the forest even in his human shape, unless he wants you to see him- but it doesn't work at all well when he's surrounded by buildings or pavements or whatever and the exposure is part of the reason he's so uncomfortable in civilization- he's a lot more vulnerable

Deer are really well-camouflaged, definitely. That’s why babies have spots, it adds to their hiding skills. But like all wild animals they’re pretty conspicuous in town. And Richard draws his power from the earth and forest so when not in his element, he stands out even more. Good point.