Shroud of the Lost it was tangible truth for a youth who refused to belong

all welcome!
Random Event! A celebratory balloon has drifted into the wilds of Relic Lore and is now caught in brush. What is this bright, shiny thing?!

He had informed @Llinnea that he was going to scout beyond the split. It would do them well to know if there would be any competing predators nearby the waterways.

Only so far it was a whole lot of nothing. Occasionally he smelled a coyote or stale scent of deer, but it seemed like they were well and truly alone out here. Which raised the question of why. So he'd set out to find that out too.

What he hadn't expected was to find something tangled branches above his head. Bright and shining. He had never seen anything like it. He could not help but get a sick, sinking feeling in his gut. As if this thing had something to do with why the world seemed so sleepy here.

The further she ventured into the heart of the Lore, the worse things got. And so she ventured outward again, making for the relatively emptier western lands she had travelled through earlier. Maybe she'd run into some old friends, or at least lunch. One thing was certain, she could not go too far into the mountains this late in the season. This far north, winter was no laughing matter.

The Shroud was familiar, but eerie, with its cold mists and dense, desolate trees. Lana knew they would at least provide her some cover. The tricolor woman followed a thin trace of a trail through the trees, letting her paws and senses guide her way.

She was hoping to catch the scent of another rabbit, but instead she smelled a wolf.  After her last encounter with a loner, she might be wise to steer clear. But, Lana was willing to play another round here in the wilds of the Shroud. Perhaps this time she would be dealt a better hand. Deciding to approach, she veered off to track him down.

All first impressions were put aside for the moment, however, as her attention was drawn into the branches above him. There was something very strange there, shining and moving slightly in the eddies of mist. What on earth was it, some kind of strange flower, or? She could not say, but it did not seem to be alive, tangled and gently bobbing about as it did. She stepped closer, clearing her throat, "and I thought I'd seen everything," she began.

(This post was last modified: Jan 13, 2023, 06:16 PM by Lantana.)

Currently traveling with Loach, Llinnea, Clouse and Claw.

Nervously he chewed at his lip. Uncertain of what on earth that could be. Why did it move? Yet it shimmered like a fish's scales beneath shining water! Somehow though it did not comfort him like the aquatic beasts.

A voice rang out behind him, seemingly just as perplexed as he was. You and me both... He grumbled, almost unwilling to move his eyes away from the object. What if it left? What if it...attacked? God, he felt paranoid for its presence!

So then I guess I can't ask you what it is, huh? A brow pitched softly as he glanced towards the voice.

Oh. A pretty face. He shifted a bit awkwardly and looked back to the bobbing object.

Lana pulled her gaze away from the shimmering thing and looked at the man as he spoke. He seemed almost nervous. It was true, the thing seemed strange, but it also looked fragile. She didn't see how it could be dangerous, but perhaps his intuition was telling him something hers was not.

So, she didn't step much closer. Only enough to get a good look at him, and answer without raising her voice as much. She didn't like how it was beginning to feel out of use, in the cold. Echoing a bit of his skepticism, she raised her own brow as she responded.

"You could ask me, but I doubt I could tell you," she glanced back upwards. "maybe it drifted down on the wind," speculation was rarely a fruitful game, but it could be fun. She wondered if he was quite as old as he looked, with all that silver. Somehow she didn't think so.

"Doesn't seem to be much else around here though," she added. Exchanging information was much more worthwhile.

Currently traveling with Loach, Llinnea, Clouse and Claw.

She seemed almost...nonchalant. As if a sudden, bobbing shimmering thing in the sky of a lonely place didn't strike her as odd. Worrisome even. Maybe he was just instilled with too much pessimism from his father and grandfather. He wondered what Llinnea would make of this. She was a kid, they seemed to like shiny things. Although she was also seemingly feral so. Maybe she would have ate the shiny thing and all his worries could dissolve.

I can safely say there's a whole lot of nothing around here. No clue why. Hunting is good on the river. Tempted to invite her back to Fisher's Split, but that felt a bit presumptuous. Maybe a boundary crossed too.

You don't think this weird thing has something to do with that lack of faces around, do you?

A whole lot of nothing, well that was boring. Sometimes boring and safe was good, though. She let out a breath, the cold air fogging around her muzzle as if met warm. The thing above bobbed and shimmered, quiet settling all around.

"The river, hmm?" she pondered it aloud, maybe she would try there later. "All the prey in the forest here seem very cautious and elusive, but I don't know that this thing is the cause of it." She gestured up toward the shiny object and stretched her head up to give a sniff. Lana had not seen anything like it before, but she remembered the dense woods as a dark and quiet place.

Standing on two legs for a moment, she tried to get the best look she could at it. She couldn't reach it, nor could she smell anything odd. Then there wasn't reason to expect it would be edible, as strange-looking as it was. Edible things usually smelled good, and she tended to trust her nose.
Returning to earth, she flicked her tail once. Maybe there had been more which had gone away, and this one was left behind, stuck as it was? Being left behind was a rather sad thought. But more of them, now that might be something to fear. Life could be a numbers game like that.

"There was a pack a ways southeast of here, in the willows, but they have disbanded," she ought to offer something up in turn, to keep the exchange going a little longer. She wasn't sure whether to refer to the ridge pack as they or we, as she had not stayed with the group for very long. "Not due to strange apparitions or any great catastrophe though. Just attrition," that was her understanding of it, anyway. She hoped the Archer family were surviving well, at least.

Currently traveling with Loach, Llinnea, Clouse and Claw.

He felt prepared to gawk, as if her mention of a disbanded pack would somehow connect into this odd thing. He felt nearly childish for having any fear towards it, but he could not help it. Never before had he witnessed it.

Maybe it was a...star?

Another childish thought! To think that stars could come down to earth like this. He hushed his mind for now, turning his attention towards the woman brave enough to investigate it closer.

Were you a part of them? That how you know so much? He cocked a brow, curious about her now. For maybe if he settled his mind on the shiny object, he wouldn't be plagued by fear of it later when he returned to the river. Then he wondered where all of those wolves were too, though.

Why had she come out here to this strange, desolate place all alone?

"For a short while," she answered. The loner woman had hoped to spend the winter with the wolves of the ridge, but to what aim? Lana had told herself it was just to make sure she had some insurance for the coming winter, but in the back of her mind she worried about them and hoped for them. But when they had disbanded she had drifted into the wind like others before her as easily as she always had.

It seemed this thing wanted to drift onward, too, but it was tangled up and tethered down. Would it be as still and dull as the rest of the world around if it was stuck here long enough? If one were to snap the branches that held it, would it be set free again?

She looked at the dark ashen man again. "I was never really part of the group, and they disbanded quickly after I joined," She kept her voice light, but in truth she preferred not to dwell on it.  "I heard there were other packs deeper into the Lore, but I haven't been that way," she tried to steer the subject onward. What about you? was the unspoken question beneath the statement.

Currently traveling with Loach, Llinnea, Clouse and Claw.

Deeper into the lore. How deep? Were any of them missing a child that he could pawn back? Although he if he looked inward, he found he'd be bored without Llinnea around. Not to mention the hunting was better with two. She was old enough to learn to be useful around a camp.

Yeah, well, I think I'm keeping me and mine 'round here. Which sounded like he had a group, but it could hardly be called that. Two grumpy loners. A girl and a begrudging caretaker. Whatcha plan on doing? Going to hang around these parts for the winter or plan on going and shacking up somewhere?

He wasn't judgement in this though. Arguably the smartest thing would be to go hang around a pack till the thaw started. He, however, had not been known to do the easy or smart things.

He and his were going to be keeping around here, then? She tipped her ears as he spoke, on to more questions. Give and take, a fair transaction. Something she'd certainly not got with the last loner she'd tried to chat up. Except maybe he wasn't a loner?

She'd just assumed as much, as he didn't smell too strongly of others and there was no sign of any borders or souls out here. Though now that they were standing here in closer proximity talking, there was a hint of something, wasn't there?

And what were her plans? She could only shrug. He made it sound as if she might not be chased off if she did decide to hang about, was that really true? Spending the winter with the ridge wolves had been the plan and it hadn't worked out, so she was just out here rolling the dice.

No need to bring a streak of bad luck to another pack, better to go it on her own, or so she'd thought. "I suppose I'll hang around here or there, my last plan didn't really pan out so well," she offered up a bittersweet smile, it really wasn't that bad. Just as long as no one stole her lunch.

Currently traveling with Loach, Llinnea, Clouse and Claw.