Pookastone Scowle but it's not real

AW! Marrah's yearbook RE: A celebratory balloon has drifted into the wilds of Relic Lore and is now caught in brush. What is this bright, shiny thing?!
Late morning, Overcast, -2F/-19C

I’m Done Putting Out The Fires You Start

The day was almost half over, or Marrah suspected it was. It was hard to tell with the thick cloud cover in this strange place that she had stumbled into. It was like a twisted maze of stones and trees, and though she had been wandering for hours it felt like she had no idea where she was. Surprisingly she didn’t mind. It was not as if her life had much direction these days, why not spend her time wandering around aimlessly?

The only thing that spooked her was a rustling sound, one that sounded eerily alien, nothing like she had ever experienced. Creeping around the next corner, ears pressed backwards in concern, amber eyes flit around restlessly. Her body froze when they landed on a strangely shiny, silver, half crumpled object caught in one of the cedarwood trees. It floated in the trees, scraping against the branches listlessly, taunting her.

She felt sorry for it, and scared of it. But she felt like she couldn’t leave whatever it was alone here either. It reminded her of herself somehow, and not just because she could see her distorted reflection in its foil.

When The Cranberry Vodkas Hit A Little Too Hard

The maze-like dips and hollows of this forest had been intriguing at first, but now Rochus was merely irritated and trying to find his way back out. It had been a nice reprieve from the little creek near home, but he was starting to get a little hungry and frankly annoyed.

A weird rustling sound had him pausing in place, ears pulling back at the strangeness of it. He had never heard anything quite like it, and it set him on edge a bit. Rochus listened to it for a bit more before slowly moving forward carefully. His golden gaze finally landed upon a strange silverly looking... thing up in the branches of one of the cedarwood trees. He had never seen anything like it before.

And it appeared he wasn't the only one investigating the strange sound either. Another wolf, darker and larger than himself, was looking at the silvery thing, but she seemed even more on edge about it than he was. He glanced between her and the object, thinking hard if he wanted to even bother talking with her or if he should just leave it alone and head back home.

I’m Done Putting Out The Fires You Start

The Maceio-Tainn teen was so wrapped up in staring at the rustling thing in the tree that she was taken by surprise when someone else joined her. She wasn’t even sure how long that he had been standing there, only realizing when the wind shifted and his scent was suddenly strong. Ears flipped backwards in surprise and Marrah sidestepped so she could see the man in her peripheral vision. But, he seemed to just be staring at the object too, with a sense of unease in the air.

Normally she would have just found a way to quietly slink away and not interact. But, she was so oddly intrigued by what she didn’t know was a balloon that she couldn’t help herself, ”Any idea what it is?” Surely it wasn’t alive, it didn’t really have a smell and didn’t move in a way that she expected from something that lived. Still, it did move, and it didn't look like a plant either. So what did that make it? She had no way of knowing that it was man made, or even what a man was and that they could make things. It was a relic from an unknown world come down to interrupt theirs.

When The Cranberry Vodkas Hit A Little Too Hard

She appeared to have made the decision for him. Her question had him shaking his head, but at least they were both on even ground in terms of information. Rochus barely had the words to even describe what it was, and the fact that it had no scent and moved strangely made him feel slightly uneasy. But it was just the one object. If more appeared then he would consider taking some sort of action against it.

"I've never seen anything like it." Rochus had no interest in even pretending that he knew what it was. "But it makes a most terrible sound, wouldn't you say?" That was his attempt at having a friendly conversation, even though part of him was still considering leaving and trying to find his way out of the mess of the forest.

I’m Back Between Villages

Marrah had been so distracted by the way that the silver shiny thing was moving that she did not even realize the wretched sound it was making until the man pointed it out. Curling her lip unhappily at the realization, she nodded once, ”It’s not the best.” And just like every time a sound gets pointed out to you that was previously just background noise, it was suddenly all that the yearling could hear. It made her want to cover her ears.

Almost out of exasperation she asked the stranger, ”Do you think we should get it down? At least so it will be quiet?” It was all she could think to do, and she turned to the clearly older man for his opinion. Partially because she wasn’t used to taking charge of things on her own, and partially because she really didn’t feel all that comfortable going near it.

The teen chewed on her lip thoughtfully for a moment, waiting for a response for the man before awkwardly adding, ”It kind of freaks me out a little.” Marrah was aware that she was being awkward, but standing here silently seemed even worse. Being a loner had not been good for her already awkward personality.

And Everything’s Still

She agreed with him, not that he had been expecting her to disagree for it was a most awful sound and if any wolf didn't hate it, or for some reason even liked the sound, Rochus would have scoffed and called them insane. It made his very teeth feel strange, and he had the desire to grind his jaws together to make the feeling go away.

The girl offered up a question, though had no solution to go along with it. He hmphed softly, more to himself than anything. Unless she had a very long set of legs hiding somewhere he couldn't see, he did not see how either of them would be able to free it and save their ears. There was no way he would even attempt to climb up the tree like some type of squirrel either.

"Not unless you have a way to both get up there, and back down, without injury." Not that he cared for her safety particularly, but it wasn't as if he went around wishing others ill will (most of the time, there were a few instances he could recall).

Squinting at the strange object, he noticed something thin and long dangling down beneath the silvery crumpled thing, lower than the branches but not quite down to the ground. Perhaps that could be useful, not that he had any interest in physically going near it in the slightest. In fact, his personal preference would be to simply move away from it and the sound it made until the blissful quiet (or almost quiet) of the forest was all he could hear again.

I’m Back Between Villages

Marrah’s ears flicked backwards against his skill when he pointed out the obvious. She did not have a way to get up and back at all, let alone do it safely, so instead she just shook her head sadly. With her ears pressed against her skull it didn’t seem quite so bad and so she resigned herself that this was just not a good place to be.

Taking a step or two backwards she offered instead, ”Maybe we should just leave it alone, whatever it is.” If it were alive, which she had her doubts about it was obviously dying or else it wouldn’t sound like that. While an animal dying was normally meant for celebration as it meant dinner for the wolf, she had zero interest in eating the weird smelling, shiny thing that rattled on along the cedarwood twigs.

She had been just turning to leave when the sound suddenly changed. It sounded like tearing, and then a weird kind of pop, followed by a dull hissing. Hair along her spine stood up in fear, whites of her eyes showing as the silver creature began to descend down towards the earth. Now she really wanted nothing to do with it, tail tucked against her back legs.

And Everything’s Still

Rochus grunted softly, nodding once to show he agreed with the girl. To him that was the clear good option, as even the very thought of interacting with whatever it was made the hair along his nape want to stand on end. To be honest he just wanted to get the hell out of there and never think about it again.

Before he could turn to follow the girl a sound reached his ears that had his jaws clenching together, teeth grinding as his ears moved back to lay flat against his skull. Somehow the object had made an even worse sound, which was followed then by a loud pop that had him physically flinching.

Nope, he was out of there.

The mere sight of it descending closer to the ground had Rochus turning, and upon seeing the girl cowering in fear he used his shoulder to gently push her in the opposite direction to the object, figuring a bit of brute force would be helpful in getting her to actually move away.

"Let's get out of here before it does something else." For all he knew the next thing it would do was attack them or something, and he was not going to stick around to find out.

I’m Back Between Villages

Marrah was terrified, every single nerve was on fire as she stared at the silver thing floating down towards the ground. She was so focused she did not even register the man coming towards her until he had given her the gentle shove. It was not hard, but it had been so long since she had been touched and tension was already extremely high. It felt like fire rippled away from the shoulder that he had bumped.

Unexpectedly, the yearling let out a snarl that took even her by surprise. Dropping her ears and tail again, Marrah whimpered miserably before turning and running as far and fast as she could. She didn’t even look back to see if the man was okay or if the silver thing was pursuing. She just had to get out of there.

And Everything’s Still

The girl responded to his gentle shove in a way he had not been anticipating, and he found himself quickly stepping back, ears falling flat against his skull and lips curling up to show his own teeth. Two could play at that game. But just as quickly as she had let out s snarl she was gone, scampering off with her tail between her legs.

Rochus shook out his coat to get rid of the antsy feeling that had crawled up his spine, giving the still descending silver object a quick look over his shoulder before hurrying off himself. He wasn't about to wait around to see what it did next, and he also had no plans to follow wherever it was the girl had run off to, instead breaking off in a different direction to give both of them some space.

Perhaps he would go find himself a nice fox den and sleep away the stress the whole situation had caused him.

Exit and fade