savetheearth

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The other animals had driven Queenie out of the stand of trees she had been hiding in for the last few months. They had been normal enough for the earlier part of the year, but the little black bugs had changed all that; sure, on their own, even Queenie could give them what for, but the infected birds and beasts by the ton had cost her sleepless night after sleepless night, until even her stubborn pride could see that this was a lost cause. She had retreated after a couple of days.

For the next few days, she had been stumbling through hairless walker territory, where at least the packs were easier to spot. Staying mostly out of sight, making sure all the little insects she ran across died a toothy, fanged death (it hurt, and she probably has scald marks in her mouth from the process, but it was necessary), she made her way to a group of buildings that seemed mostly abandoned, taking shelter in the driest, sturdiest waterspouts she could fit in. She was getting hungry and very, very tired.

But a week ago, she hadn't awakened to the sound of crows desperately trying to ram their way into the water spout. A few more hours of investigation had revealed that half of the animals she had shared the Dead Zone with were outright dead; nests abandoned, holes filled with bodies. Not a pretty sight.

Today is the eighth day of blessed peace; right now, she's sitting as pretty as a very bedraggled princess in a space between a rain gutter and a roof, where she'd found yet another abandoned bird's nest. She's making a meal of some birds' eggs and watching the abandoned roads, considering going back to her forest. There's something in this group of buildings that's making her nervous... As easy as food was to come by around here, she didn't want to stick around while that feeling made her fur stand on end.

[[ ooc: lyall will be coming by to pick her up, but if your character has been in the dead zone at all for the last week and a half, feel free to assume that they've seen her wandering around, especially since the vermini disappearance. ]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Someday he'll get his werewolf grace and control back. Someday he'll be something more than a slightly awkward biology teacher with a lot of interest in sheep genetics.

That someday is not now. He huffs a sigh that's almost a laugh, and smiles down at her. "All right, so I didn't just scare you off... I'm all right. Just lost my balance, that's all." He pushes back up, and instead of standing, drops to his rear end on the pavement. "There, can't fall down from that."

... But if any creature could manage it, Queenie suspects he could. Still, by guile or guilelessness, she is now right next to him, and certainly can't just turn back now. That would be plain cowardice! She's gotten this far, after all. So after a bit of contemplation, she scampers around to the hand currently holding the strip and nudges it hard. Contact has been made! Great! Give her the meat now, please.

That's just adorable, okay? For the first time in days, Lyall feels like he's actually forgetting about all the shit going on, and just enjoying a moment. Even if that moment happens to involve embarrassment and beef jerky. "All right, all right, hold your horses, little girl," he chuckles, and opens his hand to reveal the meat, holding his arm steady for her. "Maybe you wouldn't mind too much if I took you home... I could feed you better, at the least. And it'd be warm."

Nevermind that bargaining with a ferret is just silly.

She starts chewing the meat with gusto, the lists in her head slowly starting to fill with more pros than cons... Hellfire. Why not? If he turns out to be an unsavory type, she feels as though she's put up enough of a smoke screen to give her an edge if it came down to outsmarting him. She lifts her head from the meat and gives him another trill. Let's leave him with the impression that she enjoys his company, shall we?

All Lyall can assume is that she really is tame and was just waiting for a friendly voice that came bearing food. He balances her carefully on his arm, leaning over to zip up his laptop bag. "I guess if you stay put long enough for me to pass by that statue and get you home, then that will answer that, hmm?"

He tucks her and her snacky-bit against his chest, hoping that doesn't scare her off, and started climbing carefully to his feet. This time, his balance at least is good.

Nope! She'll be good to travel... Until he mentions the statue. Ugh, that blasted statue. Not that she minds going past it, exactly, but she's noticed that the keep-away feeling seems to extend towards all birds and beasts... She's never seen a creature besides herself willing to get closer to it, though.

She's about to see if this two-legger has noticed that. She'll just remain still and quiet, happily chewing away at her meat strip.

Glad that she hasn't decided being closer is worse for her, Lyall gives her the second half of the jerky stick and settles his laptop over his other shoulder, then sets off. There's no more chatter to himself and her until he reaches the awful thing, and then he's tense and unhappy, casting about for local scents.

Of which there are actually very few. He frowns, taking a second and more obvious sniff of the air. "Where is everything...?"

She accepts the strip, but pauses in her chewing to look directly at the statue as they approach it... then back up at the two-legger. She wasn't aware that this one could smell properly, like any other normal beast.

If he tarries any longer, she'll give him a sound a bit like her normal trill and a bark. Hello? What are we looking at, here? Well, it's the statue, obviously, but it doesn't look like it's moved or changed since the last time she's seen it, and that was when she first got here a week and a half ago.

He does tarry, and her trill startles him. He blinks, shakes his head, and finally, after giving the statue a long, suspicious look, goes on his way again. "Very strange. Maybe that aura works no animals, as well... or else something is going around and actively chasing off animals. There aren't any new scents around here." It helps a little, to talk out what he's smelling. It makes him sound crazy, but since there's no one here to notice except a ferret, he does it anyway.

So he does know about that feeling, and more importantly, he can smell. She looks at the statue a little more closely... So it's definitely the cause of all of the strange feelings she's had? Does that mean it's connected to all of the bug encounters she's had as well?

-- And if this one can smell, she thought in a burst of logic, does that mean that he was different, too? Different like her? Perhaps he had been changed by that pink light, or... Well, he doesn't appear to be capable of fighting off a lizard his size, but something must have happened to him, too. It's a big jump to make, but she think she may be on the right track.

Suddenly, she grips the jerky a little more tightly and buries her nose into the crook of his elbow. This wasn't just happening to her. She wasn't the only one confused. That's... nice. It's good. She can get more information about this phenomenon without having to doubt that she'd be on her own forever. It'll be useful hanging around this fellow. Yes.

Startled, Lyall pauses in his walking. He brings his other hand up to stroke her back soothingly, with a soft, "It's all right. I know it's scary. We'll get you home where that damn thing isn't going to try and get inside our heads." It's the only thing he can think of that might be upsetting her, but that's good enough to him. He picks up the pace again, and heads for home.

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