This wasn't really how he expected to survive the winter. It wasn't really his plan either, having been dragged in by some tyrant, but making this sound voluntary in his head made him feel better. He was being smart. He was being fed. He wasn't sitting here just because he couldn't leave...

Theron had set out to explore the moment he had free time away from his tasks. The initial tour he had been given didn't quite stick, having been corrupted by his vindictive thoughts. They sounded like a broken record, repeating how much he didn't want to be there whenever Azure had been in his presence. However, now that Theron was alone, it was a good time to memorize things with a clear mind.

First things first, the obelisk. He wanted to see the rules one more time and check out the structure for his own curiosity's sake. Yet, as he approached the stone, his eyes were pulled to a collection of crystals on its surface. Those... weren't there before. He had been right next to it when he had been first absorbed into the pack and there were no signs of the crystal's growth there just days ago. Could crystals grow that fast?

Cautiously, Theron approached, tilting his head in confusion at the cluster. They glowed a brilliant blue color, almost hypnotizing as they drew him in, silently calling out to him as though they were alive. It was offputting and intriguing in equal measures. His head lowered to give them an inquisitive sniff only to be met with a sweet smell and something else. Like a sugar-coated rabbit. Tasty and almost like the scent of a living thing... but not quite. Maybe he should give them a taste, just to see if they were as sweet as they smelled.

"Speech"

Lia was moving about the communal space. Adding wood to the blazing fire pit, before she moved down into the caller and grabbed out the things she would need for her Mistress’s dinner. Ensuring the seal of the celler was tightly closed once she was done. The Warlord was very peculiar about that.

As she lifted up the supplies, she noticed a wolf examining the obelisk. His eyes danced to the soundless tunes of the pulsating lights. Oh dear she thought, dropping her bundle. She didn’t recognise the wolf but she felt duty bound to help him. “My Lord, excuse me! Sir! Please!” she called out as she hurried over.

She eyed the crystal with fear and dislike, before wiggling herself in between them and the stranger. “Sir, I wouldn’t do that if I were you” she cautioned, before lowering her head submissively. He may very well take offense to her interfering.

"Speech"

Theron jolted at the sound of a voice, instinctively retracting from the crystal to instead swivel his head to the stranger. Despite the woman's worried tone, he was already anticipating scornful discipline. For all he knew, he was about to desecrate some religious artifact with his saliva or something.

Yet, as she used herself as a barrier between him and the pulsing cluster, he could find no anger within her. Only concern and, more surprisingly, submission. Did she not know his rank? If so, he certainly wasn't going to correct her. He was desperate to cling onto someone who didn't make him feel like prey the moment they walked into the area.

"Why not? They're not poisonous, are they?" he asked, before quickly recognizing what he had just said. "I was just going to give them a sniff, I've never seen anything like them," he added quickly, hoping the vanquish the idea that he was going to taste them... If she had that idea at all. He didn't want her first impression of him to be a childish dolt who put random crystals in his mouth.

"Speech"

Lia had wiggled herself in between the wolf and the contaminated obelisk. With her tail tucked as it was, and her head submissively lowered, her superious height was scarcely noticed. “I.. I’m not sure, Sir. they’ve been cropping up across the pack. The most particular thing happened to me when I touched one last, I had this terrible ringing in my ears. Another wolf had a headache that almost knocked them over. I only wished to caution you, Sir” she explained.

Dipping her head even lower, before bobbing it back up, the slave girl scooted out of his way. She wasn’t one to stop him, just try and warn him of the dangers. ”Perhaps you’ll be okay sniffing them” she added dutifully, doubt in her tone.

"Speech"

Theron gave slow, listening nods to the girl's words. The crystals apparently had an effect on wolves, which made sense now that he thought of just how... magnetic they were. It didn't quite make sense for a poison though. Usually if a creature or plant was toxic, it was to keep others away and secure survival. Why would it be attracting him so much?... Or perhaps that was just his own curiosities pushing his actions. The fireflies he had seen when the strangeness had just begun drew him in a very similar way. He couldn't ignore them. He had to figure out what they were.

"If they're dangerous, perhaps it would be best to find a way to remove them?" That seemed like a good enough excuse. He wanted to heed the girl's warning, but at the same time, he hated the thought of leaving these crystals unexplored. His steely gaze scanned his surroundings, furrowing his brows in thought. "Did you touch them in order to get its effect?" He didn't wait for an answer before finding what he was looking for, a stick that was a good arm's length.

"I'll break it off with this, I should be a safe distance away."... probably. Transport after the breakage wasn't thought of either, since in all honesty that wasn't his goal. He just wanted to mess with the weird-looking rock and figure out everything afterward. The worst thing that happens is he gets some weird crystal disease and keels over from it. He would live with that. Or, well, not. He picked up the stick firmly in his jaws before picking away at one of the smaller, thinner crystals.

"Speech"

The stranger-wolf gave slow nods at her words, but she wasn't sure how much was getting through. He seemed rather entranced by the strongly growing cyrstals, and it wasn't a feeling she could relate to. Any compulsion had been overridden by the horror of thinking - if just for a moment - that she might have fed contaminated meat to her Mistress. She watched as his thought the problem through and came to a conclusion. "You would know best, Sir" She said, taking another step back to clear room for him to approach the obelisk. She had reached the limit of interference she would allow herself. Already, she had spoken too loudly against her betters, and she was lucky to have Briars protection. In any other place she would have been beaten for her arrogance. That she did not know his status within the pack increased her anxiety. The Warlord himself had a rather large collection of children and grandchildren close to this wolf in age.

She hovered anxiously near him, prepared to catch and treat him if the cyrstals affected him negatively. Whatever would their Warlord say if she let a wolf that may well be prized to him die? So she sat, watching in silence as he picked up a stick and began to chisel away at a cluster. She tensed, suspence running through her vains.

Theron

You jab your stick against a thin crystal and warmth radiates out from it. It seems to engulf your stick, traveling up the bark and into your mouth where you have a firm hold. The more times you poke at the crystal, the hotter the feeling becomes.

Maybe you shouldn't have done that...

Unsurprisingly, the stick was not an efficient chisel, but a few determined prods were able to break smaller, weaker portions of crystals off the obelisk. However, what got attention was the heat flooding his mouth. Unnoticeable at first, but then each poke and prod got it a little warmer. The sensation traveled up his teeth and into his gums, warming his muzzle like a warm drink in the dead of winter.

His original "purpose" of clearing the crystals was gone, simply poking to feel the heat spread in his mouth, wondering how the crystal was doing such a thing. Was it magic? Probably not, but everything else going on couldn't be explained easily by natural phenomena either. It was weird, something that needed to be dissected and understood. Burning his tongue was not going to achieve that though.

He had managed to get about three small 'spikes' of crystal off the stone obelisk before the stick became too hot to bear. He dropped it and stepped back, his tongue lolling out of his mouth for a moment in a desperate attempt to cool the heated flesh. "Apparently the damn things just don't like to be touched. It didn't affect me too much, but it started heating up the stick." He prodded the stick with a paw, confirming the heat wasn't just in his head when the wood warmed his pads. "How do we get rid of them if we can't even touch them? We can't just leave them here." More excuses to investigate the crystals longer. It would be logical to just give them a wide berth and ignore them, but then he would have to walk off and go back to work. He would rather burn off his tastebuds with this useless task than do anything he was tasked to do.

"Maybe if I..." Theron trailed off as he nudged and packed snow overtop the crystals, making a crude snowball with the dangerous shards within. Then, picking up the stick that had cooled in the winter air, knocked the snow a few paces forward. He wasn't touching the crystal, surely it couldn't judge intent.

"Speech"

Firefly Shoppe - Theron

A firefly draws your attention nearby to reveal a cloaked figure with a small wooden table in front of him. On the table lay three items, with their prices beside them. "Choose wisely, and only choose one," the figure says. "If you can afford it, that is." Perhaps he accepts cŕ̷̕y̵̍͊stals and mushrö̸́̀ō̴̉ms... or perhaps its worth bargaining for something greater...


Inventory:

• Fun Shroom- 1 /
  An ordinary everyday mushroom that just has a little handwritten tag on it that reads “eat me”. It seems pretty risky, but it might pay off in the end. Maybe...
  
• Go Fast Juice- 1 /
  The liquid in this bottle is thick and dark, and has something that looks surprisingly like muscle
  
• Glittering Concoction- 2 /
  Smells like mushrooms, glitters like crystals.
  

As he knocked around his dangerous snowball with the stick, he noticed a small blue light catch the corner of his eye. His gray gaze followed, lifting up from the snow to instead land a sudden sight. Theron jumped, his hackles raising in surprise as glowing eyes met his own. The figure wasn't there a moment ago, yet seemed to have made himself comfortable with a table and wares. "Who- What-?" Words caught in his throat before the figure spoke, offering the strange objects on the wood.

Theron blinked, turning to glance at the she-wolf behind him. She didn't mention anything about strange firefly creatures in cloaks. However, it didn't seem hostile, if just extremely strange. However, what wasn't strange nowadays? The sun was gone, strange crystals were messing with wolves, he could handle a mysterious merchant "Alright... let's see what you have then," he murmured, walking up to the table.

A mushroom and two mysterious potions. One glittered and shined like a gem, his ears perking in interest like a pup shown a trick. He had to know what that did. Hopefully nothing harmful. "That one, the glittering concoction. In the snowball there are a few crystals for you." He could find more crystals if he wanted to play with them, the firefly creature could have the ones he just gathered.

"Speech"

Firefly Shoppe-

The man seemed surprised, but approached and made a selection. He offered currency in a snowball, which floated to the figure's side. "Very well," he said, but you could have sworn he was smiling as he vanished. As soon as he disappeared, 100 snowballs launched at Theron, nearly burying him in snow. At least these snowballs weren't dangerous...


You gain:

• Glittering Concoction- Smells like ̸̾͌m̴͑̋û̸́s̵̀͒h̸̏̒r̶̍͒o̷̢͊o̷͊̀ṁ̴̃s, glitters like ̶̿͘c̶͌̕r̴̔̉y̷̅͋š̵̾tals.
  
• 100 50 Snowballs- They were mostly thrown at you, but half of them survived!
  

You lose:

• Currency (x2)- Used in Firefly's Shoppe, and perhaps elsewhere...
  
• Body heat- That sure was a lot of snowballs.