Curiosity Chains the Wolf with the Lamb | Tryout | DNP

[ShimmerSolarPets]

Art by Smol Kenma

You see a roll of paper tucked away neatly. Unfurling it, you see that it is a very accurate rendition of the area. There is a compass sign on the bottom right corner of the map, indicating the orientation of the map. In some parts, you can see some writings scribbled onto the map. There are also labels of all the different features and regions. This map has been used by Pandora to navigate around the area.

[ShimmerSolarPets]

Art by Smol Kenma

This is probably the second most interesting thing you have seen in Pandora's inventory. You see these small jars tucked away into a safe area in Pandora's bag. Lifting them up slowly, you find that they are filled with sand. Sand of many colors and textures. You found black sand, white sand, yellow sand... They also range wide in texture and size of particles. You found some fine, powdery ones and some that are gravelly. Some jars also contain sand with small chunks of broken shells in them. You curiously wonder what these serve for. However, as you study the jars, you find some labels attached to them, indicating the type of sand and the location from which she has taken the sample.

[ShimmerSolarPets]

Art by Smol Kenma

You find a journal in her inventory. The journal looks in a much better condition than Phobos Erebus's tattered leather notebook. However, you find some sheets of paper sticking out of the notebook. Those sheets of paper are extra notes Pandora has taken. You decide to take a very small peek into her journal. To your surprise, you flipped to a page which has the diagrams and drawings of leaves and animals. Perhaps they weren't very beautiful, but they were labelled very well. You realize that these pictures were drawn by Pandora herself as she travelled. Herbs, poisonous plants... She took note of things when she was out exploring. You flip the pages and come across a page that looks more like a journal entry. You read the first few sentences, before closing the journal and deciding not to pry.

[ShimmerSolarPets]

Art by Smol Kenma

You decide to open Phobos's journal / travel log. Flipping through the pages, you stop at this particular entry.

Meeting Callisto Pandora

Look, I did not know about the locked box, okay? It was an interesting object, and I like interesting objects. Besides, I despise having to spend another minute with this white Viscet. I never wanted to be stuck with her. I wish today had just been an absurd nightmare, and everything would be over soon. I wish I would wake up tomorrow morning to find this journal entry gone, and I would be alone in the vast wilderness with no company but myself. And certainly no Callisto Pandora. However, it had been too vivid and detailed to be a usually-fuzzy nightmare, but I still have my hopes up. Honestly, I didn't know stealing that box would impact my life like this. I swear that if I had known, I wouldn't have tried to indulge my desire to steal and I would have stayed far away from this Callisto Pandora. Far, far away.

It all started normal. This day that had gone terribly wrong? It started out just as a normal day. Well, as normal a day could get for Phobos Erebus, anyways. I woke up inside a humid, musty cave, and I couldn't wait to get out and see what kind of things would await me today. However, I started realizing that maybe today wasn't a very lucky day just as soon as I got up. How, you ask? Well, I would like to say that I found out the dignified way, but what really happened was...

A slimy bit of moss plopped down onto my snout from the ceiling of the reeking cave. Shriveling up my nose in distaste, I slowly put my front paw up and peeled the slimy object off my nose. It was quite easy to do so, seeing as we Viscets have opposable thumbs, but touching that thing was unpleasant. I could feel the wet, mushy moss in between the digits of my paw. Ugh, how disgusting. I quickly tossed it into a corner. Guess I would be moving out. I really wasn't keen on staying in a smelly cave with slimy moss dropping on top of me. I quickly grabbed my bag, packed up, washed up, and went out, not once looking back to that strong-smelling cave.

I padded through the forest, my bag slung over my shoulder. For a brief moment, I wondered what I would find. Would I find a village? Villages were always stocked with shiny objects. Perhaps I might run into a band of bandits? That would be very interesting. I've gotten into scuffles with some before, and I sent them off scuttling most of the time. Except for one or two who managed to get away with a small trinket. The nerve. If I ever see them again.... I promise I won't go as easy as I went on them the last time. I had a few names and faces on my "Grudge List" that I'm eager to wipe off. Meaning, I'd like to get my revenge on them, but they're too hard to track down, and I don't feel at all inclined to waste my precious time looking for them. Time is money.

It was a normal day. Birds chirping. Sunlight shining through small gaps between the leaves of trees overhead. Typical daytime stuff. It would be pleasant to most, but I feel most at home in the darkness. What with my dark coat, I stick out like a pine tree in a field of grass during daytime. However, what could I do? I need to keep wandering. My bag was weighed down with extra trinkets. I made up my mind to unload my trinkets when I see a wandering merchant.

Remember when I said that I knew this day was going wrong from the start? Well, I was lying. In fact, I still had my hopes up for most of the day. I figured that "slimy-moss-dropping-on-top-of-my-snout" incident was just a coincidence, and not meant to be taken as some sort of ill omen. Have you heard of moss being a bad omen? I haven't. I thought that this day would be a good one, because I found a wandering merchant right away. Long story short, I sold my stuff and got a sum of coins. I shoved them all into my coin pouch.

I continued on my way. That's when it all happened. The terrible, tragic event. I ran along happily, my pouch filled with coins. The day was nice.... well, not that nice. After selling so many items at once, I was inclined to feel that everything was nice. Well, except for what came afterwards....

I whacked my snout on a tree branch. Slapping the branch away with my paw, I gave it a steely glare, but then I saw the sight in front of me.

It was a sleeping Viscet. She had fur so white and beautifully orderly that I felt like my own ragged, messy black fur was terrible. Her fur was adorned with blue swirly ornamentations. Her tail was black, but even that was tipped with a big, fluffy tuft of whitish fur. Despite her elegant looks, I could tell that she was also a traveler. If she was a stranger to wandering, then I'm a sheep. However, the thing that caught my eye was the wooden locked box lying beside her. It looked so ordinary... just a wooden box.. with a lock. I huffed. What was so interesting about a wooden box? It wasn't even shiny. However, I had a small feeling bouncing around in my head. I wanted that box.

"Don't be silly, Phobos. It's just a pile of wood," I whispered to myself, trying not to wake up the sleeping Viscet. However, that small talk didn't work. My emotions took over, and before I knew it, I was creeping up towards that box. If I wanted to steal this box, I had to be careful not to wake up the white Viscet. That would be catastrophic to my reputation. I stretched my paws out and allowed them to touch the box. I felt a jolt as soon as they came into contact with the wooden box. However, it felt sort of... pleasant. It was as if the wooden box wanted me to grab it. Or, it could sort of have been my elation at successfully stealing an object. Either way, I slowly lifted up the box. It felt surprisingly light, making me wonder what could be inside. As soon as I lifted it completely off the ground, I felt a pulsing feeling around my front paws. Casting a glance at the sleeping Viscet, I slowly tiptoed away, hoping that she would not notice me or her box before I was long gone.

As soon as I got past some bushes, I quickly took off. Finally, I got to a small clearing with many rocks about. I stopped to catch my breath. Looking around, I did not see anyone nearby. I thought that was a good thing, but looking back on it, I guess it would've been much better if the white Viscet found me BEFORE I did what I was about to do next.

I examined the box, my heart pattering wildly against my fur. What was inside? I was very curious. Heard of the phrase "curiosity killed the cat"? I've always thought it never applied to me. I'm a Viscet, after all, not a cat. My double-ringed eyes casted a gaze down to the lock of the box. My snout quickly twisted up into a disapproving scowl. The key! Why hadn't I thought of stealing the key, too? Well, at least, that was what I thought. I examined the box thoroughly, trying to find a secret compartment with a key in it. Nope, nothing. I glowered at the box. Well, if I can't open it using a key, then I'll FORCE it to open! I thought. I was confident I could do it. I've been picking locks since I was a mere Viscling (long story. No need to get into that). I quickly got to work.

I used everything at my disposal. Sticks, teeth, claws, my tail... I bit, I scratched, I even rigged up this thingy in attempt to break the lock open. But, all my efforts were up to no avail. I sat down on a rock in frustration. "What do I NEED to do to get you to open, you accursed box?!" I shouted at the box. Then, suddenly, my eyes trailed to a tall rock pile. An idea flew into my head. If I couldn't pick the lock open, I could just break the whole box! I quickly jumped off the rock I was sitting on. I began to climb up the rock pile, nearly slipping once or twice. Soon, I got to the top. I threw the box down onto some rocks. Hard. CRASH! Splinters flew everywhere.

Suddenly, the white Viscet appeared out of the foliage. She stared at the broken remnants of the box, looking very shocked. Before either of us could do anything, a bright flash illuminated from the broken splinters of the box. I felt something new on my face. I put my paws up to my face and realized something.

I was wearing a mask.

I saw the white Viscet wearing a mask, too. It was a black mask that looked like a wolf's face, with a headdress and two attachments on each side of her head. The eye sockets of the wolf mask glowed with a purplish-blue light. For a few moments, I stood there and stared, blinking uncertainly. Was she going to get angry at me? Was she going to lash out at me for stealing her box? But, I wasn't worried about that. What I was worried about was the mask on my face. How did it get there? I felt the double-ringed eyes of the white Viscet staring at me, and I turned my head to meet her gaze.

She had eyes like mine, but even behind the glow of her mask's eye sockets, I could see horror swimming in her eyes. She shifted her gaze from me to her broken box. "N-no... This can't be-" she said, trying to drink in the fact that the box was smashed to smithereens. I didn't know what to expect. She lowered her head down so that her front paws could reach her face. She felt the mask, and I could almost see terror prickling up her spine.

"Did- did you do that?" she demanded, aghast. However, before I could answer, her mouth twisted into a frown. "You- you stole-" I tried not to stick around to find out what she was going to do next. I half-expected her to come charging at me and beating me up. I quickly edged away from her as she ran towards her box, distraught at the sight of it in splinters. However, something blocked me. I couldn't move. I could only stay there, feeling as if my paws were nailed to the ground. "You BROKE the Pandora's Box?!" she yelled, turning her head to me. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.

"Pandora's Box? What in the whole wide world are you talking about?" I asked, my temper starting to rise at the provocation of her shouts.
"You- you- you half-witted thief!" she said, reducing the volume of her voice. However, each word was punctuated with a sharp tone. "You broke the Pandora's Box! Did you have any idea-"
"HEY!" I roared, my temper finally blowing up. "You're the one sleeping there and letting your box lie around like that!"
"Have you got no idea what is inside that box?"
"How was I SUPPOSED to know?!"
"To think I thought I DROPPED the box... Turns out, YOU took it. It ended up in your filthy paws!"
We spent the next few moments shouting at each other. Well, I was the one doing most of the shouting. The white Viscet simply talked in a sharp tone that ruffled my fur the wrong way. As we did so, we... um... revealed our names. Hers is Callisto Pandora. Horrifying, right?

"What is that worthless box FOR anyways, Callisto Pandora?" I yelled. "Tell me!"
"Haven't you figured it out, Phobos Erebus?"

A lump formed in my throat. Even before Pandora said it, I had a horrible feeling that I already knew. Pandora could not get away from me, and I could not get away from her. We both had masks on our faces. The feeling of dread started to seep into me, and I stared into her equally-aghast eyes. That box was enchanted. It was a magical box. It didn't contain jewelry or treasure or even a treasure map. It contained magic. That magic looked for two creatures to bind, and ultimately decided to bind me, the opener of the box, and Pandora, the keeper of the box.

We're stuck together.