Wolves didn’t often to go out to this island and Ghoul wanted to know why. With the idea that he would try and teach Cricket some hunting moves, he led the girl out toward the mainland shore. Standing on the beach and staring out at the eerie green island, he makes a few clicking noises under his breath. “Not sure there will be prey out there. Maybe some frogs,” he offers with a shrug before moving into the water.

The swim out there will be good for his sore legs. At least, that is what he tells himself. “You can hop on my back or swim yourself,” he calls to Cricket, waiting for her to make a decision before moving out into the deeper waters. The going is slow and laborious but he makes it successfully. Trudging onto the green stained shore, he shakes off the excess water successfully and looks to Cricket. “Alright, where should we check first?” Ghoul asks before looking out around the island to see if he can notice any movement.

G H O U L

Cricket didn't mind swimming but when Ghoul offered her a ride, well she wasn't going to look a gift donkey in the mouth... or something. As the got closer to the strange green-tinted shore, she jumped off his back and began a poor attempt at initiating a swimming race to the finish line, but her short legs had the smaller wolf at a disadvantage.

When they finally arrived at the funny looking island, the girl's green striped tail waved in wide arches as she darted closer to poke at the blue tinged leaves of a small patch of grass and interested little humm gurgling at the back of her throat, almost a contemplative giggle. The objective may have been hunting, but she wasn't sure this wasn't entirely more entertaining... even if prodding the plant to kick up dust did leave her eyes and the inside of her nose itching. "Hey Ghoul, I think this could all be poisonous, y'know... I don't think anything here would be worth eating... but it could be handy t' have on hand... just in case... for pranks..." Her grin was toothy, but how best to harvest whatever it was that had turned this whole place green?

”Speech”  ’Thought’

It's time to raise the curtain

It was hard for Ghoul to admit that he may be possibly losing his sight. Well, at least during the day. During the night, he saw just fine, if not better than normal. So, unfortunately, he had been wrong in his idea that there was something out on this island. Why he couldn't have used his dang brain to realize that there was a reason no one came out here was beyond him. Rather, he wanted an excuse to go out with Cricket while also having fun. Something more than just a silly hunting lesson. Hunting was easy anyway. Exploring wasn't.

"Yeah... I don't think anything lives on this island," his rumbling tones drift off as he kicks at a dusty plant. The debris that flutters into the air makes his nose itch. "Just be careful. I don't need you getting poisoned either," Ghoul warns as he looks down at the cheeky Cricket. "If you think it's safe enough to gather, we could bring some back," he smiles back at her before moving a few feet away to look at another one of the plants. Everything here seemed to be the same though... What was this stuff?

G H O U L

The tiny wolf wiggled and bounded forward with Ghoul's blessing. Her nose crinkled at the dust she was kicking up with her rapid, jerky movements, but she would tough it out for the chance to have something nobody else was brave enough to collect. What she did notice, was that here and there, a few plants seemed to be doing better than others. The white flowers stood out starkly against the green tinge of the rest of it, a couple of willow trees seemed to be doing ok too. "Well not everythin's dying." She said a little hopefully. There were even funny little plants with round leaves that looked like they'd be full of water, almost like aloe, but not.

She was sure she had run into a healer at one point that used something similar to this? Had she called it stonecrop? The ground sure was rocky enough here. Cricket dug carefully around the base of the plant, wondering if it would be able to grow once they got home. She did the same with the white carpet of flowers... Alyssum? She was pretty sure it had something to do with treating colds, and coming into winter it would probably be helpful to have around if she could get it to grow herself. She'd never been anywhere long enough to plant a garden, maybe it would be something to keep her busy, since it seemed like she was over her middle of the night panic scrambles finally.

"What do y'think happened here?" she finally asked with a tilt of her head. Most places had urban legends, surely there was one about this place too?

”Speech”  ’Thought’

It's time to raise the curtain

Ghoul keeps a careful eye on Cricket as she bounds forward. Watching the girl happily move about makes his chest twinge. But twinge in a good way. He couldn't quite explain it, but she made him... happy? Was that a good word for it? Is that what his mother felt when she looked at her offspring? At... ugh, never mind. Moving forward to follow after the little sprite, Ghoul pauses to sniff at a white flower. Suddenly, he sneezes and the bluish-green dust spreads all around. Pulling back quickly, he scrunched his face in disgust. Once he has recovered from that, he notices that Cricket is digging up some kind of plant. Being the farthest thing from a healer, Ghoul lets his brow furrow. Hopefully, she wasn't digging up anything poisonous. As he closes the distance between them, his ears perk up and expression relaxes when she asks about what happened here. Ghoul takes a quiet moment to think and look around some more. Everything was nearly dead and covered in a thick dusting of mineral deposits. Something had to have happened here, right? This surely couldn't be natural. "I believe I heard a tale of a cloaked man full of fireflies living here," Ghoul trails off as he continues to look around the landscape. Ghoul Klein