He'd been feeling a bit lethargic and on edge lately. The winter nights seemed to bleed into one another with nearly no sign of a normal day. It was his first winter, and he wondered if this was how it always was or if nature was being a freak. After Incendium's abandonment, Ifrit resorted to traveling on his own for a bit, at least until he had reason to seek out his father or choose a path he really wanted to pursue. He couldn't say for sure what he wanted to do though, his head felt foggy and he felt tired with all the weird shit happening lately. What really struck him as odd were all the strange blue fireflies, mushrooms, and crystals that seemed to be all over the place. Even now, the place he was in seemed to practically grow crystals. They were on just about every surface, from rocks to trees, and even saw them growing on bones. Of course, he thought it was really strange...and as the male climbed higher up the Rock Garden, he spotted an old coyote carcass riddled with glowing crystals...he approached it out of curiosity, crimson gaze reflecting the gentle, pulsing glow.

"Speech"

Sorine was not a creature meant to be kept in the dark. Of course there were always times where the shadows and moonlight could be a great benefit to her, she loved to bask in the warmth of the sun. To lay on sandy beaches, and prance in the water. She had been raised on riverlands, and the water had at one time been apart of her, but with the endless night drying out was nearly impossible and the harsh cold of winter would certainly kill her. Long story short, she was miserable. Maybe she deserved it for the way she had been in her former life, but it didn’t make her any less bitter.

She was trying to get to higher ground, foolishly hoping that she might be able to get a glimpse of some kind of something that might clue her in on what the hell was going on, or how to make it stop already. Her mission was diverted by the sight of something up ahead, a boy swathed in a deep red approaching a shiny glowing coyote corpse. Her own curiosity piqued, she moved towards him, slowing as she neared. "Do you have any idea what’s causing all of this?"

"Speech" || Thoughts

As he was looking over the old corpse, he hadn't noticed the approach of the other wolf until he heard her voice. Instinctively, he turned to face her with a growl. Though it ceased shortly after seeing her. He had never quite seen a wolf like her. She looked pretty exotic, with all manner of markings along her pelt, though she looked like she was part of this whole phenomenon. The horned devil studied her for a few moments, unsure on how he should be feeling right now. Finally, he looked away and returned his gaze back to the crystallized carcass. "No, I don't. I've never seen something like this before." He stated simply.

He decided to paw at the crystals, undisturbed by the fact they were attached to the bones of a rotting corpse. They pulsed with his touch, and a moment later he swore his ears started to ring. He shook his head. He was a little irritated, but he chalked it up to coincidence, that is...until he stoped touching it. Weird..."You...you didn't happen to hear that...did you?" He asked, glancing to the stranger.

"Speech"

Her approach was initially met with hostility, the sound of a growl causing her to stop. She wasn’t afraid of him, and waited patiently for him to see she wasn’t a threat, smirking when his expression turned inquisitive and his gaze began to roam her body. When he returned to looking at the crystallized corpse, she moved in closer, keeping a respectful enough distance in case the stranger wasn’t the friendly type. He confirmed he hadn’t seen it and she nodded, frowning. The answer didn’t come as a surprise, but some part of her had hoped she might be able to get some easy answers.

Her nose wrinkled as he began to paw at the corpse, understanding the desire to touch the shining crystals, but not finding the idea of smelling like dead coyote appealing enough to join in. A brow raised at his question, and she looked around for a moment to see if she could find any clues to what he was referring to. "Hear what?" Had something happened to him when he touched the crystal? It seemed impossible, but a lot of impossible things were happening all around her, so maybe it wasn’t as far fetched as she thought.

"Speech" || Thoughts

"Hear what?" He blinked at her before looking at the crystal again. "I thought I heard a ringing in my ears...maybe it's just me," He frowned as he studied the crystal, noting how it pulsed and seemed to glow from the inside out. If he looked hard enough, he swore it practically pulsed in sync with his own heart but...was that possible? He slightly turned his attention to her, looking at her from the corner of his eye. She seemed hesitant to want to get close to the crystal, and no doubt it had something to do with the fact it was in the corpse of a dead animal...he supposed he could understand that. While he didn't have much experience with women, maybe they weren't up to playing around with dead things. "Here," He leaned his head down and broke the bone that the crystal had been attached to, gently tossing it closer to her and outside of the corpse so she could better study it without rotting flesh in her face.

While she inspected that, he wondered if he could even damage any of these...for a moment, he contemplated leaving the other crystal be, but curiosity would get the better of him. He reached out another paw, a claw extended as he sought to scratch the surface of the crystal just to see what would happen, if anything.

Her brows furrowed as he explained that he heard a ringing in his ears. She’d had that happen before, when she was alone and the air around her was too quiet, too heavy. But it was always distant, and very much in her head. She could shrug it off and tell herself this was the same thing, but she felt like there was more going on here.

She watched him break off a rib, feeling the urge to touch the crystal grow. "Thank you." If it hadn’t been for the gore and rotten flesh, the sight would have been quite stunning. For a moment she imagined a glowing skull might have made for a nice decoration in her old den, but quickly shook the thought away. She gently brushed a paw over the crystal, wondering if she would hear ringing, too.

"Speech" || Thoughts

Ifrit

You swear you feel it pull away from you when you lean to touch it, the side of the crystal rubs uncomfortably against your claw and you fight a wave of revulsion. Crystals can't actually move... Can they?

Maybe you shouldn't have done that...

Sorine

You gently pass your paw over the smooth edge of the crystal and it feels... Cold. Colder than it should, even in the throws of winter the air somehow feels warmer than the crystal. It's so cold it actually feels like it's burning the skin of your paw pad.

He grunted when the woman thanked him, though he was focused on his own task now. As he went to scratch the surface of the crystal, he swore it leaned away from him, but by the time he realized that, he had scratched the surface and he suddenly felt repulsed. He felt bile rise up in his throat, the bot immediately jumping back away from the crystal as he turned his head to dry heave, though nothing came out. Casting a sharp look at the crystal, he couldn't be sure if he had actually seen it move or if he'd just been seeing things...maybe it was just the glow of it that made it look like it, or maybe he was more tired than he thought since daylight had barely been visible lately...

"Speech"

Ifrit - It Continues...

Huh? It doesn't seem like anything happened... Well, maybe that's for the best...