Gray was walking through the woods and looking for the next job they were supposed to do-- after the car crash, it was a starved little kid that had run away from home into the woods-- when they stepped on something moving-- something breathing.

Gray danced back a step in slight alarm, head snapping downwards and allowing their gray eye to dance over the dark silhouettes on the ground. They hadn't noticed whatever they stepped on in the dark-- was it the next job they had to do, still alive? They couldn't tell-- with the shadows of the night, and the canopy of the trees above them, making out anything specific was more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack.

As Gray's vision adjusted to the darkness a little more, they realized it was a little baby deer-- a fawn, nestled in a... well, a nest of vines and thorns. From the faint, bleeding scratches on the deer, it had already attempted escaping from the thorns and vines without actually getting anywhere and simply hurt itself in the process.

The reaper let out a long, slow sigh as the deer tilted its head back, staring up at them with big, dewy black eyes. They could just leave it here for one of the animal reapers to deal with, but it was only a baby deer and it wasn't dead yet, and it wasn't as if Gray had an actual time limit to deal with the next job-- they just had to do it as soon as they could.

Gray knelt down next to the tangle of brambles and vines, the fawn blinking up at Gray innocently. Interestingly, it didn't react the way it would if a human attempted to try to help it, but then again, reapers had that effect on animals-- since they weren't human, animals somehow sensed that they weren't human, and were generally calmer around them.

Well, they at least didn't act skittish around reapers most of the time. It was as if reapers gave off a sort of smell that made them... one of them? Gray wasn't sure. It had happened often enough that it made them curious about it, but not enough to make Gray actually develop anything more than a mild curiosity about it.

Slowly, Gray reached out and took ahold of the topmost vine in the tangled mess, giving it a gentle tug to identify where exactly it was stemming from. Thankfully, it seemed to be one of the looser ones, so it came off more easily than Gray had been expecting.

"How did you even get stuck in this mess...?" Gray grimaced down at the tangled knot of vines and thorns, which looked as if it'd take at least a half-hour to untangle. 

The fawn didn't answer the question. If it had answered, actually, Gray probably would have blinked before suggesting a different way of moving out of the vines.

Sure, Gray could try to use the scythe, but as inhuman as reapers were, a weapon was still a weapon, and if Gray attempted to pull it out the fawn might freak out and try to get away, injuring itself even more in the process. Besides, if Gray were to accidentally cut the fawn a little bit while cutting away the vines, they'd end up killing it, and that was not what Gray was aiming for.

Letting out another sigh, Gray reached for the next topmost vine and gave that an experimental tug. This one didn't give as much as the other one had, instead catching and pulling several thorny brambles and a couple of tied-up vines with it, many of them being dangerously close to scraping up the fawn.

"Did you try the creeper under this one? It appears to be a bit less raveled."

If a bystander had been in the woods with them at that moment, they would've leapt six inches in the air at the sight of a tiny ghost the size of Gray's head literally popping into existence, even if it was the most adorable, cartoony, dot-eyed ghost that they'd ever seen. Even the voice was high-pitched, almost squeaky.

Gray didn't even blink, but the fawn let out a worried sort of bleat and scooted back, causing a few more thorns to dig into it and make it bleat again.

"Be careful," Gray immediately turned to the fawn, reaching out and giving it a light pat on the head, "you don't want to hurt yourself more than you already have."

The light pat and Gray's calm, slightly deadpan voice calmed the fawn down, enough for it to stop attempting to squirm away. That didn't undo the damage that the squirming had already done, though-- there were now some more noticeable scratches on the fawn, and the soft brown fur on the fawn was getting stained a reddish color.

"Please don't just go popping into existence like that next time, Smokey," Gray told the little ghost, turning away from the fawn and raising their eyebrow at the tiny ghost next to them, "if I'm doing something more important than just untangling a fawn from a nest of creepers it might make my job much more difficult."

"Speaking of jobs, I thought you were on your way to your next job," the little ghost said to Gray, still in that high-pitched squeaky voice as Gray went back to contemplating how to pull them off without injuring the fawn too much.

"I was, and then I nearly stepped on this little one, so I figured I'd better lend a hand," Gray replied without missing a beat, and went back to gently tugging off the vine that Smokey had indicated. 

It did actually turn out to be a lot looser and came off with no trouble, dragging three brambles with it and leaving more room for Gray to reach in and grab a different vine without hurting the fawn.

"Try that bramble next. Gray, you know the rules, you are not supposed to interfere with the living-- oh, it appears that one might not work. Attempt the one twisted up on itself. No, not that one, the really thorny one. Yes, that one. As I was saying, you're not supposed to interfere with matters of the living unless it concerns one of your jobs."

"And yet here you are, helping me as I figure out how to get this fawn out without hurting it," Gray countered smoothly, before frowning a little bit at the mass of brambles, thorns, and thick vines. On any normal person, they would've looked as if they were concentrating deeply, but on Gray their lips barely turned downwards and they looked as if they might lay down and fall asleep at any moment. "No, that bramble is tangled with about four more, it's going to scratch the fawn if I try pulling it out..."

Smokey didn't respond for a moment. "I am merely your assistant and your supervisor. As long as I do not feel like I must report you, I see no point in obstructing your decisions. Try that vine on the far left, I think it can lift off a good deal of the brambles in one go with that one."

Gray simply hummed in return, acknowledging the comment as they reached down, carefully giving the vine a tug. "Hmm... you're right, it'd lift off quite a few of the thorny branches, but it's stuck and I don't want to risk just yanking it out... besides, you never report me to anybody."

"Well, I don't usually see a point to it. Careful, that vine is attached to that bramble, you'll scratch the fawn for sure if you aren't cautious."

To any bystander, this would've been the weirdest scene-- seeing a tall, college-student-like person with a scythe strapped to their back and the blade dragging through moss and mud and other things on a forest floor that don't start with 'm' crouched next to a tiny fawn in near-pitch-black darkness and working with a mess of creepers as if they were trying to knit something, with a tiny cartoony ghost floating by their head and offering advice while also halfheartedly arguing with said college-student-like person.

"I think... ah, there we go," and finally, Gray managed to extricate the last thorny bramble off of the deer, resting it on the growing pile next to them and giving the fawn a... 

... well, not a smile exactly. A patient look, perhaps. "There you go, little one. Be more careful in the future."

The fawn stayed lying down for a moment, blinking dewy eyes thoughtfully at the reaper, before struggling to its hooves on thin, knobbly legs. It wobbled a bit but came to a steady standing position a few moments later.

Gray gave it another pat and stood up, thwarting the fawn's attempt to give them an affectionate lick on the cheek.

Although, to be honest, it was a little doubtful that Gray had actually noticed the attempt. They were more focused on the small ghost hovering right beside them. 

"Alright, Smokey, I suppose we should get moving now."

"It's high time we do." Even though the little ghost's tone was a little crabby, they didn't actually seem that annoyed as Gray began to walk through the woods again, the leaves on the forest floor crunching softly as they made their way through the woods, leaving the fawn behind. "The next job shouldn't be too hard to complete, it's only a small child."

"That starved to death after running away into the woods."

"Well, at least they did not get mauled to death by a bear."

"Yes, but at least getting mauled to death by a bear would've been a quicker death for a child, after some initial terror."

A small sort of bleat came from behind them, interrupting the beginning of what seemed to be a debate, and both the reaper and the ghost swiveled to see the fawn trotting after them, thin legs propelling them after the reaper at a good clip.

"... uhh... shoo." Gray turned around to face the fawn, gently waving their hands in its direction.

In response, the fawn butted its head into Gray's knee, which was the highest point it could reach, before blinking back up at Gray.

Gray blinked at it right back, before looking over at Smokey. "We have a deer now, apparently."

"... oh dear."