#bergen_county

"Be wary. Mortal moose are large, much larger than the deer we see. I do not know if moose chimera will be the same."

"We do have a lot of Nordic influence..."

"Never seen an actual moose..."

Stormwake is willing to show this moose that horses are the best hooved ones here if need be

"Nearly as tall as you. And yes, I mean your fae height. Powerful."

"Daaaamn."

Brekke follows as Dagmar takes the lead.

"What else did Ramona share?" Knowing that Ramona never shares only one thing.

"T-... Jimmy found a quote, 'weird bird' and is watching it, and Tikki saw something at one of the bars."

"A weird bird. Hm. And...a something. You have much to do." She approves.

as they move on, they find more steps...

more prints.

And they are glowing softly

"Even if it is, y'know. I mean, Tikki might have seen an actual dragon, but, well. Pooka."

"Hey, these are glowing."

"They are," Brekke nods, and she kenns the glow.

It is interesting that a prey animal, even a huge one, should leave a trail that lights up. It...

"It does not seem to want to conceal itself."

A frown. "It may be a lure."

and then she sees the eye in the glow, not like a gorey unnatural eye, but like the reflection of an eye in water, if the print were water....as she kens it, it, from a distance , is kenning her

"Dagmar, hold." She draws Stormwake to a halt.

"Can you kenn that?" she indicates the glow. "Tell me what you see."

Dagmar nods, and focuses.

"Ramona said the moose had, like, peacock eyes on its antlers..."

And Dagmar sees, and feels the same. Watching it, watching her.

The comparison to peacock eyes makes Brekke stiffen automatically, but she regards them again. "They do not seem aggressive. But they could be...a distraction." She turns in her saddle to see if they're being approached from behind.

"It's watching us."

"Mm." A nod as she continues to scan the area.

Nothing behind them. Just a trail ahead

"What do you wish to do?" Brekke is deferring to Dagmar. It is her pursuit, after all.

"Well, I have an accurate report... but... if it IS watching us, well - like, why?"

"What if it's a threat?"

"Perhaps it is curious. Or cautious."

A nod. "I think we should find out more."

"Prey animals tend to be cautious, sure. But... we have people to protect."

A nod.

"Did Ramona say anything about the moose's behavior?"

She shakes her head. "Nothing alarming."

"Just that it was impressively large, which - like you said."

Star nickers as if to ask if we're moving on up or heading back?

She considers the tracks. "This means it can see what follows it, but not what lies before it."

Again, Brekke defers to Dagmar.

"Well, then no real need to be sneaky."

Forward!

"True." She follows.

Abandoning sneaky, they soon find him... and he is huge.

"Oh, he's beautiful!"

His antlers do flicker with eye like designs, but brushed on like paint that moves, like peacock feathers but... not so green

It is ... if you count the antlers, 20 feet tall