in the graveyard sippin' pumpkin juice
Sunderrrrrr
Venturing out from the northern border of Abaven, the young diplomat had decided to see what the phenomena of this winter had done to the lake near the coastline that had already been home to millions of fireflies. Pale form nearly iridescent in the eerie blue moonlight, he found himself suddenly overwhelmed by swarms of spectral fireflies that danced closer and closer to him with each passing second. Their movements were hypnotic, and when he looked out over the dark waters of the lake, there were even more of them bobbing slowly over its crystalline surface. Ice had crusted over the top of the water, and without sunlight to melt it, it seemed to only be getting thicker as winter continued. One large forepaw reached out over the water, and he gingerly tested his weight on the ice. It didn't give, so he placed the other forepaw beside it. Still holding. Surrounded by a cloud of gently glowing orbs of blue light, the Destruction boy pushed onwards. A few careful steps onto the frozen lake, and he didn't sink through. As he drew further from the shore, the previously haunting display of the millions of ghostly lights became overwhelming. They were reflected back by the surface of the frozen lake, and he felt as though he were adrift in an abyss with only their lightly pulsing glow for company.
Overhead, the ever-full moon gazed down upon him. The lone eye of an unknown entity, passing its judgement upon their world. Some primal voice at the back of his head screamed to flee home to his siblings, and tuck himself away in his den until he forgot the image of the pale moon staring back up from beneath his paws as it did from the skies above. He stood his ground, lifting mercury eyes to watch the ebb and flow of the swarming lights that moved like a gentle tide all around him. Was it the light of the moon on his fur, making him appear to glow as they did? Perhaps he had made himself into a beacon of sorts, demanding their attention.
As per usual Sunder was wrapped head to toe in every garment and pelt he could find. It was a particularly biting day and while it would have been tempting to remain snuggled up somewhere safe and warm that wasn't really the little dog's style. A brand new day was far too promising for him to sleep away. Cold as he may have been Sunder was easily tempted from bed by the promise of mystery and adventure. That was perhaps why he was where he was today. Snow-covered and hushed the lake was startlingly beautiful in the moonlight if one could forgive the vaguely sinister ambiance, which Sunder, naturally, could. He was far too happy of a soul to see malice in the wild. And that was why when the fireflies seemed to beckon him he followed without hesitation. They seemed to pause near a yearling wolf who he regarded brightly. "Hello dere! Dese little buddies of mine seem to tink I should say hello befo we go on, so," his smile grew as he repeated himself, "hello." "" |
Drawn in by the eerie vertigo of the frozen lake and the countless fireflies lingering around him, he didn't notice the click of claws against the ice steadily growing louder. In fact, he didn't notice the figure of another canine until the small male was upon him. Tearing his mercurial gaze from the space between his forepaws, the boy looked to the stranger and found himself just as confused. Wrapped and bundled in furs like a pack animal being taken to market, with a cheery expression. He blinked a few times when the man spoke, willing his brain to stutter back to life and process the words before the silence stretched too long. The accent threw him for a loop, but the final greeting was easy enough to understand.
"Hello to you too," he said quietly, unable to keep the inquisitive sparkle from his eyes. As he finally digested the prior sentence, he found himself speaking up before he could stop himself. "What else have they said to you?" he asked with a tip of his heavy skull to one side, metallic eyes suddenly locking onto the gleaming jewelry that adorned the kohl dark ears of the stranger. "I don't think they've been quite so friendly with me, so far." he admitted with a tiny, sheepish smile. Realizing the poor manners he displayed by staring blankly at someone like this, he dropped his gaze back to his paws for a moment and then up to the bottle green eyes of the male.
Sunder chuckled heartily and shook his head. "Oh no, dey havna said anyting to me." He shrugged, still smiling, and tried to put his experience into words. "Dey just seem so," Sunder held a paw out to one and watched it buzz around it, "happy and friendly, ya know?" The fireflies just sort of buzzed around doing their own thing and in his happy-go-lucky mind Sunder defaulted to turning even the most neutral, ambiguous actions into positives. "And it looked like dey sorta stopped here, didnit?" The path, to him, was obvious. You stopped to say hello so here he was, saying hello. That the stranger was eyeballing him escaped Sunder notice. He was far too enthralled with the insects to see the way the wolf's eyes lingered on his flashier bits. His own gaze rarely stayed in one place for too long. It was hard not to watch the insects but rude to not make eye contact while speaking. "Dey havna been ugly to you have dey? I hea'd dey been mean to ot'hers, but I havena seen it yet and I canna bring myself to believe it." "" |
It appeared he had misinterpreted what the strange fellow had meant, but the smaller male clarified that the fireflies had not been using their words with him. Mercurial eyes followed the slow lifting of a dark, leather clad forepaw as the canine seemed to beckon one of the nearby spectres to buzz and flit around the offered limb. "And it looked like dey sorta stopped here, didnit?" the man asked, to which a tiny smile and light shrug were ushered forth in response. A few of the little blue orbs danced away from the movement of muscular shoulders, only to flit closer once more as he settled. "I suppose so, I guess I just hadn't been looking at it that way." he admitted quietly, letting the momentary lull in the conversation stretch for a few moments longer as he regarded the dancing fireflies with a new perspective. They were just moving about, though the voices they seemed to beckon from the aether with the gentle buzz of their ethereal wings were a different story. What if the fireflies were not the source of the otherworldly whispers and croons, but rather the conduits? Thought provoking, to say the least.
"Dey havna been ugly to you have dey? I hea'd dey been mean to ot'hers, but I havena seen it yet and I canna bring myself to believe it." the small canine spoke up, and the pale yearling found himself blinking a few times to force himself back into the conversation. He hesitated. They hadn't... definitively been mean, had they? Or, ugly, as the stranger put it. He opened his mouth to offer a response, and shut it again. "Well, the voices that seem to come with them aren't especially welcome." he finally admitted with a tiny frown and another light shrug of those broad shoulders, dropping his metallic gaze to his alabaster toes for a moment to watch the reflections of the fireflies dance in the reflected realm beneath his feet. "But maybe you're right, maybe it's not the.. uh, fireflies doing it. Perhaps they are just carrying the messages, not creating them." he said, brows furrowing as he looked to the stranger, wondering if he had any insight or wisdom to offer. After all, he already seemed to regard the dancing blue swarms in a very different light.
Sunder tipped his head to the side as he considered the wolf's words. Perhaps they were messengers of sorts. But if whatever was sending them wasn't friendly what did that say about the fireflies? That possibility dampened his opinion of them somewhat and he frowned. A thoughtful hum was his only contribution to the conversation for a moment as he thought about it. "Makes me wonder den," he said in a slightly more reserved voice, "just where we going, you know?" Perhaps he should stop following them. He gestured wordlessly to the cloud of fireflies that now stretched out before him; silently pointing out that they seemed to want him to follow again. They'd been like the entire time he'd been after them and it was only once they got to the big wolf that they bunched up some. So now they wanted him - or them? - to follow again? It took only a few more moments of thought for Sunder's adventurous spirit to return. There was only one way to find out what "was on the other side of the rainbow" and if he didn't explore further he knew he'd kick himself over it later. He turned a playful smirk Solo's way. "But good or bad I gotta know. Who knows, maybe dere's treasure at the end. If I go missing 'Sunda' is da name imma need ya to spread around, okay?" He said with a laugh before stepping in the direction of the firefly path. A thought stopped him from getting far and he turned back to offer with a grin, "Of course, ya welcome to explore wit me too, if ya feeling lucky." "" |
As you contemplate just how friendly the glowing lights are you feel a shiver run down your spine. The fireflies seem to tighten around you for a moment, a childish giggle echoing in your ear and you can't help but wonder if maybe the voices and the lights are connected as the pressure and unease lets up just as the fireflies drift away from you returning to a more natural nonsensical pattern.
Maybe you shouldn't have done that...
Listening to the musings of the strange male was putting him more at ease than he'd anticipated. There was some solace in knowing he wasn't alone in his trepidation towards the nature of these strange phenomena. Metallic gaze followed the small movements of the canid's paw as he gestured to the way the swarm of spectral orbs seemed to condense into a trail of lights, all but begging to be followed into the shadows beyond. Regardless of the ominous nature of their beckoning ebb and flow through the darkness that surrounded them, the smaller male seemed inclined to keep going on his adventure. He offered up a name, Sunda, in case he should mysteriously vanish while following the whims of the false fireflies. With a small grin, the boy bobbed his head lightly in acknowledgement. "And if you hear word that a search party is out for Solo, you'll know these little critters carried me off on my way home tonight." he offered in return, black tipped tail sweeping lightly over his heels. Sunder extended an invitation to join on the foray down the path that the fireflies had made for the pair, and for a moment the pale yearling hesitated.
In that next moment, as if sensing the opportunity to strike, the lights made their move. A chill tripped up his spine as the gently bobbing swarm of bluish orbs closed in suddenly around him. Like ice water poured into his ear canal, the high-pitched giggling of a child seemed to enter his ear and ricochet around his skull for a moment. He could have sworn he recognized the timbre of the voice, and the name that would have gone with it was just on the tip of his tongue.. But then it was gone, just as quickly as it had come. The tingling sensation of his hackles bristling unconsciously began to fade as the clustering insects began to drift away, back into their lazy dance through the air around him. "Did you... see that too?" he asked quietly, not daring to raise his voice beyond a hushed murmur for fear of drawing their attention again. Well, it appeared he would have a new recurring nightmare to add to the pile.