Not So Alone On Warrick Hill: Sethos

Sethos' blue eyes were adjusted to the darkness, the moon overhead casting enough light to illuminate the forgotten town. Arietta had pulled him up along side an old barn, the roof long since caved in and the walls held up by bittersweet. The twisted vines searched upwards, leaves curled yellow and falling into the dying annuals at the ground. She had twisted around in the saddle, searching the packs she'd slung over his back for the flashlights and water.

Arietta's mind was fixed on finding the water, the kibble bags fastened evenly across his haunches. She felt Sethos tense and held onto he back of the saddle, the back raised just enough to get a good hold. Something shifted in her field of vision, bright and glowing like the moon above. She twisted again, wondering if she was scared enough to be seeing things.

Sethos chattered away and she swung her leg back around after tying the bag closed once more. Her fingers wrapped around the reins, knuckles straining against the gloves she wore. She should have gotten down and taken a walk, there was a chance someone else had wanted to get here. Right? Right...

"What in the...?" Arietta narrowed her brown eyes, then widened them after blinking rapidly. Something was coming towards them, making her words dry up and the little hairs on the back of her neck rise.

Sethos crested again and tilted his snout down, ears pressed forward as he watched the object come into sight. Arietta watched, the small circle seeming to glow in the minimal moonlight. A silvery blue, with wisps, winding like a snake towards them...

Think of it better, she told herself, patting Sethos whose ears twitched to and fro. It was a beautiful color, bobbing closer towards them. Sethos rippled with tension as it hovered before him, finally lashing out with a hiss and turning himself as it pulled away to circle around. She backed him up and finally got him still, whispering to him and managing a laugh.

She reached forward, his head twisting and glaring at it pointedly. The orb practically fit in her palm, fingers curling as it hovered. Her fingers phased through it and she froze, finally accepting this wasn't a trick of the light on both of them.

"Okay," she gasped in a shaky breath as she lowered her hand.

Sethos' head twisted back around, another orb coming from the building they were beside. He went to side step, before two more seemed to lift from the ground and curl around his feet. He lashed out with a front paw, posed like a cat ready to swipe. It made for an awkward sitting position, to say the least.

She watched though, having to get off the saddle before he decided to throw her. Intentionally or not, she didn't enjoy it. Soon as her boots touched the ground, her hand was on his muzzle to hold his head down. The orbs bobbed and weaved, leaving faint light trails that chased after them. They were almost playful, swirling around the pair.

Arietta finally giggled, breaking the tension as she reached forward to let one pass through her fingers again. The sensation was strange, almost as if she'd picked up a moon jelly that slipped through her fingers in the water. Only there was no fish smell in the air, only crisp autumn air and pine trees. Sethos hovered close by, eyes darting between the orbs as more came to join the party. It was beautiful, Arietta noted, and they weren't doing anything besides weaving close and away. Tempting a came of cat and mouse, one Sethos tried to engage repeatedly, even if for different reasons. She indulged a few times, watching as Sethos froze when two spiraled up his tail, under and over his back, before coming around his neck and playfully pulling away from his nip.

And then like that they faded or phased through the walls, out of sight, but not out of mind in a way that seemed so slow... methodical. The rider smiled and looked to Sethos, who was straining his head around even with her fingers holding his halter. She knew the look even in the dark, beginning to protest. Before the words could leave her mouth she was yanked forward, squeaking as the green sindow pulled himself free to charge down the street once more.

"No! No Seth!" She cried after she got her barrings, racing after him. He didn't go far, pouncing to where she spied something faintly glowing.

When it didn't escape, Sethos snorted and shook his head to trot back towards the woman. Arietta blinked and patted his head as it pushed into her awaiting hands. She sighed, feeling her blood pumping as she looked down the side of her boy towards the glowing object. A mushroom? Arietta blinked and let him go for a split second to bend forward in the grass. She stood with a glowing mushroom, a curious thing. She stored it into her pack, grabbing his reins and moving to find a place to set up her camp. The buildings down the street looked nice...