Frogspawn Swamp The Ultimate Wrench
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All Welcome 
Part of the ultimate wrench for NaWoWriMo contest. Wraen encounters a wild IPad.

Somewhere several feet above the swamp...
"Oh, man, this is awesome! Look at the scenery it is so cool. OH! There's a wolf! Look! Wait! And it is looking right up. LOOK! I will make a selfie... Wait! OH... Shiiit..."

Somewhere in the swamp...


The roar of the small airplane had drawn Wraen's attention, who had come here to hunt some rats before the snowfall got too heavy. Needless to say that she got very little hunting done and was focused more on the odd bird that was hovering above her and making an awful lot of noise. Her first instinct had been to run off right away, but after a moment's consideration she realized that there was no possible way she could outrun something that was flying.

So the next best thing was looking for a hole in the ground to camp out until the odd bird flew away. This plan, however, was hindered, when a quiet sound of a falling, light-weight object, caught her attention just in time to take a step back and avoid it landing on her head. The rectangular metal object landed flat on the moss. Wraen peered down, saw her reflection and then the thing went off with a sudden, bright flash. The she-wolf jumped away, waited for the strange object ot make any other sound, then drew carefully closer again. 

Now it was emitting a soft glow and purred, when she touched it with the tip of her nose.
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#2
Penn too had seen the bird in the sky, though he hadn't attempted to hunt it. He'd merely watched it warily while a low growl rumbled from his chest. He didn't know what it was, but he didn't like it. He was young still, but he knew birds, and that thing was no bird. Eventually, his mind had come to the only conclusion it could, and so he decided to take the only logical course of action available to him--find Wraen and ask her to confirm his suspicions. Not that it was all that necessary. After all, what could it possibly have been but a real life dragon?

By some miracle, Penn just so happened to be rather near the sovereign while the airplane had been flying around overhead. Still, were it not for the sound of the thing smashing into the ground, he wouldn't have managed to find her so quickly. The sight of her hunched over the whatever-it-was momentarily distracted him from his purpose in seeking her. Frowning, he crept up beside her, hackles raised warily. "The hell is that?" he asked her, not taking his eyes from the... the whatsit.
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Admittedly it was the most alien thing Wraen had ever seen in her life. There was a pungent smell of a living thing and fatty fumes all over the metal corpus of the object. Which despite it's scent was cold and lifeless. The Sovereign cocked her head to the side, brow furrowed and tried to put two and two together. She knew a difference between a corpse and breathing, moving body. However, this combination of fresh aroma and oddness of the thing did not make any sense to her. Hmmm...

Someone else had been around, when the airplane had flown over-head. Wraen looked up, wagged her tail and smiled in welcome at Penn. She noted that the Blackthorn fellow had grown quite a bit. No longer the pudgy, rowdy, dragon-fighting-machine he had been as a kid. Now he was tall, adult-like, still rowdy and still keen on fighting. His siblings though, which were more easily accessible than real life dragons. "I have not the slightest idea," Wraen shrugged. 

Then she leaned down to give another thorough sniff of it, touched it accidentaly and once again the thing went off with a bright flash and a quick click-click sound. Wraen recoiled and bared her teeth at the offensive thing.
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Wraen confessed that she was just as stumped by the object as he was, which Penn found to be a little alarming (though he would die before he admitted a thing like that). He had long considered his former sitter to be the wisest wolf around with the exception of his father. He was consoled a bit by her smile and the shrug of her shoulders. Whatever it was, she didn't seem all that concerned by it at least.

That is, until it flashed in her face. Penn tensed as she neared it, his ears pinning forward as his hackles lifted with his lips. He took a bold step forward, knocking into Wraen some as some instinct drove him to try and shield her from it. A more cowardly instinct stopped him at only a half inch ahead of her where he ducked his head and snapped his teeth in its direction, warning it to get the hell back or he was gonna... Well, he'd probably run for it. It didn't know that, though.

When after a moment or two it proceeded to do nothing, Penn settled a bit, though he kept a wary eye on it. "Where did it come from?" he asked, his voice soft and low in an effort not to startle it into another reaction. He then turned suddenly, his wary posture melting into youthful excitement as he brought his attention to Wraen and asked eagerly, "Wait--did you see the dragon??"
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Dragon? Wraen looked at Penn, feeling puzzled for a moment at, what he was refering to. Understanding quickly dawned upon her and some quick thoughts later, she nodded in agreement. IF it had truly been a dragon, then it had looked nothing, what she had ever imagined it to be. Tall, beautiful, lizard like creatures with leathery wings and fearsome, but somewhat royal appearance as well. That - on the other hand - had made a very loud and unpleasant noise, paid no attention to her (though, what if it had?) and flown off. It had hardly looked like a thing that could have been alive. 

She looked up in the direction, where the dragon had flown away, and it crossed her mind that many things that she had been told about, but never seen with her own eyes, might not be, what she had imagined. So, Penn could be right and it had been a real dragon. "This stuff fell from it. I dunno - doesn't look like an egg or anything," Wraen related the story. "It just vibrates and..." she looked down at, what was the screen of the tablet, and was surprised to see a blurry version of herself looking back at her. "Hey, I see my reflection in it. Have a look," she invited Penn to look also.
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Wraen didn't appear to know what he was talking about for a moment, but soon enough she was nodding and he was grinning. He'd known it was a dragon! Sure, it didn't really look like he'd pictured, but he could bend his imaginings if it meant he could claim to have seen a real life dragon. 

As she spoke, he turned his attention back to the thing that had fallen from the sky. He frowned softly, though his brows lifted in intrigue when she pointed out her reflection. "Is it cold? Like, maybe it's made of water or ice or something? Ice could reflect like that," Pox commented thoughtfully as he stepped closer, daring to lean near enough to slip his tongue across the tablet's surface a few times.It didn't taste like water, but he could see his own reflection in it too. How weird!
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"Never seen ice so clear, but it is a very good guess," Wraen agreed to Penn's line of thought. Whatever it was, the more time she spent in it's company, the more convinced she became that this odd thing would do nothing bad to her. Especially, when the boy went so far as to lick the top of it and it neither growled, nor snapped at him. It did occur to her that there might have been some poison, but - hey - if it had been, they would have been able to smell it. Simple as that.

"So, what do you think we should do with it?" she asked. "We can burry it and hide from everyone or... we could bring it home and show it to other pack mates. Maybe your parents, Niamh or Towhee have seen the likes of it?"
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Penn's ears flattened a little at being told his was wrong (he didn't like to be wrong), but he was soothed by the compliment she followed it up with. He looked up at Wraen when she spoke and considered the recommendations. He didn't much fancy trying to carry it home with it buzzing about in his mouth like a bee.

"I dunno, other than being super weird, it doesn't really do us any good," he commented, "It's not like it's edible. Is it?" Penn paused thoughtfully before reaching out again and grabbed a corner in his teeth, attempting to take a bite out of it. In an instant, he had determined that it did not taste good. It was cold and it was hard, like chewing on a rock. Highly unpleasant.

After about three seconds, the tablet in what the Blackthorn could only consider to be self defense chose that moment to vibrate. It rattled uncomfortably against his teeth like an angry bee before he flung it away from himself with a snarl. "Son of a bitch!" he shouted after it, annoyed.

"Not edible," he growled as he gave his coat a shake to settle his nerves.
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"You are right about that," Wraen nodded in agreement. Though the object was mysterious and captivating, she knew that there was no use of it for them. And, what if it turned out to be some sort of cursed object? She was not superstitious, but - let's admit it - even a skeptic would have a moment of doubt, when met with an unfamiliar object for  unknown purpose.

"You - know what - let's find an open pool of water and throw it in there," she suggested, casting a quick glance around the snow-covered area and not seeing a likely candidate. "Or we simply dig a hole, throw it in and leave it there."
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"Works for me, just as long as it dies," Penn grumbled, still stung by its attack. It hadn't hurt him physically, but it had made him feel stupid, which was by far worse. Glancing about them, he let his memory pull up the map he had drawn of the nearby area. He didn't know all of the swamp yet, but he did know the way he'd came. 

"There's a pool over that way, around that ridge," Penn remarked, indicating a stretch of land to their left. What lay beyond the curve was shrouded in trees, but he was certain there was a body of water there. Warily, he looked back at the thing. His lips peeled back in a soft scowl as he stared. He wasn't inclined to pick it up again was the problem.
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Penn did not wish to take initiative other than pointing out in the right direction. Even though Wraen was not thrilled to carry the object to the pool, but she encouraged herself with the belief that she was going to do it for the benefit of her pack and - who knew - the world as well.

She picked it up gingerly and began to trot quickly towards the pool. The thing vibrated again, but she did not let it go until she reached the water and dropped it in. It sank with a quiet "clonk" and "a buzz" and soon she could not longer see it in the dark waters.

"Let's go home," Wraen suggested to Penn, but she would go on her own, if the boy decided to stay out a while longer.

Last one from me. Thank you for the thread!
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#12
Penn watched warily as Wraen approached the thing and took it in her jaws. All seemed well enough, but his hackles remained high as they traveled. The thing didn't protest as much this time, which suggested to him that it was weakening. He growled back at it when it vibrated in Wraen's mouth, but it was otherwise silent.

He snorted with satisfaction when at last they threw the creature into the water. Good riddance he thought as it disappeared. He stood frowning at the water for some time before he nodded at Wraen and turned to follow her home. He felt no need to stay out here any longer. Besides, now that the danger had passed, he was growing eager to tell @Elwood all about their adventures.