Spying A Change

[Wyndbain]

The loud echo of an axe as it stuck into the core of an old tree stump rang out at the edge of the woods and two halves of a wood block fell to the grass below. The boy leaned against the axe, which was now stuck firmly in the old tree stump he was using as a chopping block and wiped the back of his hand across his perspiring brow. The night was cool and the day had been warmed by an early spring sun, but chilly or not, chopping wood was a tedious chore. The boy was thankful that this could be his last night at the wood block, as the weather began to warm, there was less of a need for firewood. Using his weight to lean back and pull the axe free of the stump, he placed another log on the block and let the tool fall again.

This time, the creature hiding along the edge of the woods did not jump, startled as she was the first few times she'd heard the loud thuds of the axe as it broke another wood log in half. Curiosity had brought her to this place, but the instinct of survival and natural caution kept her from venturing further. She had journeyed through many places, but this unusual creature had been the first of her kind she'd seen and the odd, loud noise he made, she discovered, was not as deadly as she had first thought and she was curious to know what it was doing.

The wind suddenly picked up and caused the trees to whisper, shivering their leaves and bending their bows. The boy put his arm up to protect his face as leaves and small petals of the forest were blown against his skin. Both the boy and the wolf however, were soon disturbed by something new. There was a tremendous gust, sudden and so powerful that it knocked the boy clear off his feet and he yelled in surprise. The wolf yelped and dove against the upturned roots of a nearby tree, as the nearby sky was suddenly alight with color and furious sounds.

[shrinerbaby]

Alshain

The blue beast had spent the better part of the day flying low over the tree tops and skimming the plains. As he was recently accepted into the Shinkou pack, Al thought it best that he get the last of his wanderings out of his system for the time being. His tongue kissed the wind as he sailed with paws draw up to his body to give himself better speed. The winged creature was full of hope for the future. With a new home and a place within the pack, he felt a sense of security he'd nearly forgotten entirely.

His thoughts on this matter were cut short, however, when the wind gusted so harshly. He struggled to stay aloft in the current but with little luck. He pulled his wings in close and ducked down into the canopy of the sprawling forest, making quite a racket as he did so. He finally caught himself on the wide branch of an oak with his long, hooked claws. He clung with all he had as the wind buffeted him relentlessly, trying to shift him from his precarious perch. He was vaguely aware of the scent of the wolf hybrid and the human boy but the present situation seemed far more pressing.

Perhaps it would have been better to deal with the wanderlust when it struck him than to try and pre-empt it. Look at where it had gotten him. He gritted his teeth and curled his lips up, clearly unhappy about the whole ordeal. He was quite sure that his fur would be standing up in all directions by the time this storm blew over.

[Wyndbain]

The wind then died down so suddenly, that an eerie silence hung about the air, leaving those who had witnessed it possibly chilled by the unusual weather, maybe even afraid of this unearthly gust. Some low hanging clouds that were more like grey smog that normal clouds, flashed brilliantly with outlandish colors of blues, greens yellows and pinks. Even if this had been some freak storm of nature, there was no thunder to accompany the eccentric flashes of what could only be thought of as lightning through the clouds.

Then a hole appeared at the edge of the smoke and something was hurtling through like a small projectile, cutting through the air and heading straight for the forest. By this time, there was not a human to be seen and even the young boy had disappeared from his post. Clearly something supernatural was happening, and he wasn't sticking around to find out what.

The object hurtled over the trees, screaming in deep tones as it cut through the sky and breaking through the leaves and branches of the canopy. Only seconds after breaking through the forest, there was a loud bang and the ground vibrated from the force of the impact. The tree that Kyrith had been hiding under groaned and shifted in the ground, startling her from her hiding place.

"S-skree?" Her small voice shook as she stared at the sky, her eyes swirling in an array of colors ranging from light blues to purple grays as they followed the perfect trail of smoke in the sky, all the way down where it shot down into the forest. The wolf creature looked back at the village, noticing the boy had gone and turned back to look at the sky again. The clouds reflected that same light seen displayed in the earlier smog, unnatural colors only produced by the sun as it rose and sank along the horizon. Perhaps it was the kinship she saw in the rainbow array of colors in the sky at the wrong time of night, long after the sun had set. That color in the sky that was somehow similar to the unusual display of rainbow hues in her own eyes that caused her to follow, softly and carefully following the patch of destruction, through the forest and toward whatever thing had crash to the earth.

[shrinerbaby]

Alshain

Relief flooded him when the wends ceased their howling. Unfortunately, this feeling was short lived. The stillness of the forest planted a seed of apprehension and dread in the young beast's chest and he trembled quietly in the wake of it. The flashing of lights overhead clearly spoke that this was no natural storm. There was something quite peculiar going on, but he wasn't sure he wanted to stick around and find out.

With weak knees the windswept wolf rose up and hopped down from the branch, gliding easily through the quiet air until his paws settled on the leaf litter. His hopes for the show to be over were denied as the clouds opened up and the the object was released with vengeance. The noise it made as it came crashing down set Alshain on edge and pinned his ears back against his head. The earth beneath his pads trembled with the shock of impact and the hair prickled along his hackles.

He had seen rocks fall from the sky before, but never with such a show as this. Uncertainty settled over him, but curiousity was gaining ground. Before he'd even conciously made a decision he found himself picking his way gingerly through the underbrush to where the strange storm had spit the object.

Absent mindedly he took note that the hybrid's scent had grown stronger and he found himself startled to realize it. He'd not even paid any mind to it. Certainly there was no going back now and so it was with greater resolve that he increased his pace. He bounded and fluttered awkwardly, heading nearer and nearer to both the mysterious thing from the sky and the stranger. He certainly made enough noise to be heard a mile off.

The lanky young male caught a glimpse of the white wolf ahead and he called out eagerly to her, "Hullo! Quite a show, wasn't it? Are you going to see what gift the clouds thought to give us?" His voice was light and cheerful, despite the ordeal they'd just been through. "Wait up and we can go and investigate it together! Like adventurers from the stories. I'll at least have something wonderful to share with the puppies."

[Wyndbain]

Kyrith was picking her way through the mauled and broken forms of small trees when she heard a clatter of noise from behind. Her head turned, pointed ears raised as high as they could go and angling toward the sounds of paw steps. She froze as a figure ambled amongst the litter towards her, doing the same thing as she as they both had thought to follow this curious object. He then called out to her and Kyrith suddenly bolted.

"Bahe! Seh!" Her words faded rather quickly as she sprinted with practiced speed, conveniently heading closer to her original destination. She had seen other wolves before, but her experiences with some of the more aggressive packs had left her with a bad impression, the only instinct she had now was to run. Run from a creature she had no idea she had any similarity to.

Wings made of a scaly hide, with a light dusting of fuzz opened up at her sides, hidden amid the thick tufts of her fur, mainly because her entire being was a solid white color. They unfurled further from her shoulders, fully intent on using them as soon as she could.

Though she had run too fast, too far, finding herself tripping over invisible threads of mist, only to land in the dust and debris that had been thrown about by the object she had been so curious to find.

"Ahe!" She whimpered, pushing her nose through a soft fog that was light and airy, but had a solid form to it. The tendrils of mist were like a light silk cloth and floated over the ground up earth like tiny clouds. Still intent upon escaping, she did not notice how close she had come to the object that had screamed it's way through the sky. Laying in a small crater of broken soil, rocks, branches and other clutter, was an object about the size of a wolf's head. It was thickly bound in a shimmering leather, polished and stained to a deep, dark brown. Intricate Celtic designs wove in and about the border, cover and spine of the displaced book and a crisp, cool temperature radiated from the center.

[shrinerbaby]

Alshain

Of all the things he might have expected, this wasn't one of him. He stopped short as the white femme darted off into the forest like a spooked hare. Her words trailed after her unintelligable. His frowned and did the only natural thing to do--follow after her as quickly as possible. He bounded over and through dense underbrush, alternating between panting and calling out after her.

"Hey! Wait up!"

Perhaps she sought to claim the projectile as her own and she simply didn't want to share the adventure with anyone else. The thought brought out an indignant snort. Well, he wouldn't have any of that. The fool wind nearly broke his wings right off and he deserved a little credit for surviving it. By the gods, he wasn't going to let some greedy stranger take all the glory!

Alshain raced after her, dodging and weaving expertly through the thick trees and brambles, noting absently the increased trail of destruction that would eventually lead to the quarrey. The dark wolf's maw split into a grin, though it quickly fled in the face of the mist. He slowed his pace to a near halt and dropped his nose to the ground to investigate the source of this strange phenominan.

"What is with this weather today," he murmured under his breath.

The wisps did much to hide the white wolf where she'd tripped and fallen. He did, however, take note of the crater. His tail gave a tentative wag as he cautiously made his way toward it, gingerly padding through the treacherous mists. He'd never felt anything like it, and he'd just as soon not ever experience it again. He shivered with anticipation as he advanced on the leatherbound book. His nose worked to try and identify the object, but it was of a sort he was completely unfamiliar with.

He remembered Kyrith then and he lifted his head, glancing around the area to try and spot her out. Surely she hadn't given up this easy.

"As I'm sure you see, I have clearly won our race. You can come out now. I'll share it with you." Share? He didn't even know what the thing was. Still, at least he wasn't going to be stingy about it.

[Wyndbain]

Kyrith remained absolutely still, despite the chill she was getting as the thin threads of unusual mist floated lazily across her fur. The coils that had become wound about her paws had simply been caused by her own fear, but that still didn't comfort her about being surrounded by them. It had occurred to her, as the other wolf called out, that he could not see her and so she made an effort to remain quiet.

Only a few seconds had passed before something light poked her in the side. Kyrith turned her head slightly to look and saw two small eyes staring back at her, attatched to the end of thin white stalks that rose up from the form of one of the strange threads of mist.

"NAAAAAAA!" Startled by the discovery that the mist she tripped over was indeed alive, Kyrith tried to jump up, only to fall back over more of the coiled creatures that were still calmly floating about.

[shrinerbaby]

Alshain

The blueblack wolf nearly jumped out of his skin when Kyrith let out a cry and jumped up out of the cloak of white mist. But, just as suddenly as she had popped up, the wisps pulled her under again. He did't lose sight of her this time.

"Hey, calm down. Doesn't really seem like you can move through this stuff if you're panicked. You really have to watch where you're putting your feet."

He was trying not to notice the little eyes that drifted everywhere on the wispy tendrils. If he didn't notice it, it wouldn't freak him out. And if he told himself that enough, he might believe it.

"I'm Alshain. Come on over here careful like and come look at this thing that fell out of the sky. It must be some kind of human thing, so how did it get way up there?"

Al hoped that by talking to her it might calm her down a little. She seemed pretty.. jumpy, to say the least.

[ooc: Sorry. Midpost my belly decided to hate me again and I had to go spend some quality time with the toilet.]

[Wyndbain]

Kyrith simply stared at him while he talked, not understanding a word of what he was saying, but intent on trying to figure out what his intentions were. Though her attention at some point drifted over to where the book lay on the ground, in perfect condition despite having shot across the sky and nearly buried itself in the earth. The other creature seemed curious about it as well, and Kyrith was intrigued with the possibility that, in terms of their intent, he was the same as she.

"Tak uweh, skree." She said, looking at him with wide eyes and switching her gaze from the book, then back to Alshain a few times.

[shrinerbaby]

Alshain

Al just sort of trailed off under the white, pretty eye'd wolf's vacant stare. He shifted awkwardly, ruffling his wings a little to buy him a bit of time to try and understand just what the problem was. Did she just not like him. He was, honestly, a little creeped out. The mist that he was trying so hard to ignore didn't help. It was staring at him to. A million little eyes burning into him. He shivered at the thought and cleared his throat.

Then she spoke. Or at least he thinks she spoke. He frowned a little and tipped his head to the side curiously. "Er.. Sorry, I don't think I got that. Maybe the mist is distorting our voices." He didn't see why it would, but that would explain why he had been stared at so strangely. Well, if they couldn't understand each other, they'd have to figure out another way to communicate.

Now it was getting kind of fun. He always enjoyed these sorts of games. A smile lit his face and he nodded toward the book, beckoning her to join him over by it. He still couldn't figure out how a human's object had gotten up into the sky, let alone fallen as it had without looking roughed up.

[Wyndbain]

"Wush...auh?" She stood up, rather awkwardly while she still had the lazy streams of mist creatures floating around her legs. It took her a few moments to fully right herself and untangle the mess the strange creatures had gotten themselves in around her paws. She looked and saw the other wolf motioning towards the book and her curiosity got the better of her and smothered her fear a little. She had never interacted with one of these creatures like this before, so naturally she was a bit skittish, but so far he hadn't reacted the same way that others had and this caused her to think that maybe he was another creature altogether.

Carefully she tip-toed her way through the drifting forms of stalk-eyed creatures, trying to ignore them as much as they were apparently ignoring her. They didn't seem to be of any harm, but that didn't stop Kyrith from dis-liking them and try to avoid tripping over them again. Eventually she was close enough to the book to see the details of the embroidered leather, though she still kept a good distance of at least five feet away from Alshain.

The book still remained where it had landed, unmoved and undisturbed and still radiating a cool temperature. The long creatures that floated around the messy areas were avoiding floating directly next to the book, shying away from it in a perfect radius around the small crater it had made.