The system is done for / Crystal Cove, ghost encounter

[Ares]

Mama, they say I'm a terrorist - WHAT?!?
I've done nothing wrong but I'm put on the blacklist!

// tl;dr at the end//

It seemed she could get away with some things with how close she was to being an apprentice. She didn't lie and say she was one, no, but everyone saw how mature and well mannered she seemed and let her go out as long as she returned before nightfall. Easy enough. She didn't go too far as to scare anyone, but she got further and further from camp every time she explored. It was fun.

Ares, walking her usual trail along the base of the cliffs, squinted at a spot she hadn't noticed. Early morning sunlight revealed the sparkle of a dozen crystals, a rainbow, a kaleidoscope of color that entranced the child. Cautiously she treaded to the area, finding it a cove full of these sparkling crystals. Amber eyes searched the ground, spotting it covered in patches of moss and sands, loose crystals scattered about.

A child's voice sent her sprawling in the opposite direction, "You're new - what's your name?" Ares whirled to see her. An apparition, a ghost. A kitten about her age, silky white fur that appeared drenched, eyes hollow yet with a childish light. A wide spread smile on her face, as if she hadn't seen anyone in years. "Wh-Wh-What's your name, first? A- My name is Ares."

"Hey!! You said your name first, when you asked for me to tell you mine first! That's not fair!" The white ghost giggled, then shook her head. "I'm Heros. I once lived here, but the ocean swept me away." Heros spoke sadly, then took another look at Ares and the smile returned, even wider and the wonder in her eyes shined like stars. "You! You're a Goddess! You have to be, nothing else can explain your beauty!"

"What..? Heros, I don't.. I don't know what you're talking about. I.. I'm not anyone good.." Her voice choked, and she fell on her haunches. "I'm a monster.. People are scared of me.. Oh why am I telling you this, I hardly know you!" She felt soft fur against her side and she looked. "I knew someone like you. Always off about how monstrous they were, how people were scared of them when, in fact, no one was scared - they had a deity sharing their body and that deity warped them. The ocean swept them away too.."

Heros threw herself at Ares, encapsulating the girl in a hug as Heros wept, "Please don't let the ocean sweep you away, too! You're not a monster, no one is scared of you! There's good inside you, I just know it!"

Before Ares could respond, the ghost girl vanished, replaced with a white quartz necklace. Ares sat there clutching that necklace, turning it in her paw, tears leaving her eyes and streaming down her face. What.. tears? Ares pulled her paw to her face, gently padding at the tears. Huh.

tl;dr - Ares ventures out farther than usual and ends up in a crystal cove. Shortly after arriving there, a ghost named Heros greets her, and the two talk about the idea of monsters and gods. After Heros pleads for Ares to realize she isn't a monster, Heron vanishes and, in her place, is a white quartz necklace. Ares sits in the cove clutching the necklace and realizes she's crying.

— Reggan

[RHINESTONE.]

Rhinestone didn't know much about Ares, at least from the girl's initial introduction. All she knew was that Ares had come from Tanglewood, and she had promised that old connection wouldn't cause them any trouble. That had been good enough for the legate, who had let her in and promised her that she could become an apprentice once she was of age. It was truthfully of no surprise to the tasmanian tiger was venturing further and further from camp each day, since that was really just the way kids were. They wanted to explore as much as they could, no matter what their limitations really were. Obviously this did occasionally cause Rhine some worry, since she didn't want any of the little ones getting themselves hurt, but Ares seemed to know what she was doing. After all, she was almost the age of an apprentice anyways, not to mention the fact that she had made it all the way from Tanglewood to the Glades. If she had managed to make such a journey all on her own, it didn't seem like a big deal to let her go and do some exploring.

The Crystal Cove wasn't often a place that Rhine went to all on her own, since she had little reason to. Really, the place was far too close to Connection Cave for her liking, and ever since the Glades had broken their connection to Starclan, Rhinestone had tried to avoid it as much as possible. It brought up too many bad memories for her, especially considering she still occasionally struggled while looking up at the stars above. Regardless, when the scent of Ares had started to lead from camp towards the cliffs, the canine had decided that she needed to follow, just for the other's safety. After all, the Highwind Cliffs could easily turn out to be a death trap for those inexperienced with them, both because of the strong winds that gave the place its name, but also because of the predatory birds. The large ones would be eager to grab someone as young as Ares, and the thought of the child getting carried off motivated Rhinestone to move faster, a concerned frown on her muzzle.

Where Ares's scent led, though, was not high up in the cliffs. Instead, it curved around them, leading to the small and rather brightly colored cove. Although Ares didn't seem to be hurt at all, it certainly wasn't an uplifting sign that the child was crying all on her own. Approaching slowly, the legate frowned in worry before she spoke, her head tilting to one side, "Ares...? Are you alright? You look as though you've seen a ghost." In an ultimate twist of irony, it didn't even occur to Rhine that Ares could've seen an actual ghost. That in and of itself was pretty funny, considering the tasmanian tiger had her own run-ins with spirits and supernatural beasts in the past.

☆☆☆

[Ares]

Mama, they say I'm a terrorist - WHAT?!?
I've done nothing wrong but I'm put on the blacklist!

The child moved her head a little too quickly to face Rhine, her body following the momentum in full and almost falling, the quartz tumbling out of her grasp. She shook her head and rubbed the tears away, "No - No I just.. I'm fine." She lied, reaching to the quartz and keeping it close to her chest, against her dagger.

"Well... I did see a ghost.. Heros, her name.."

— Reggan