[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Gloria threw the pouch down in disgust and despair once she had returned to the cave. The mage had been of no help at all, and now she was back to where she started.

She nosed the pouch open, and lifted the pendant away from its base by the chain with her jaw, then wiggled and twisted until the chain had slipped over her head and the pendant hung loosely around her neck, a weight that settled all the way to her stomach in more than one way.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

'Be light, and small' she thought, willing it to do as she bidded - the Mage had seemed to be sure about how to manage the pendant, and she was late enough as it was, the light levels as she had returned to the cave indicating that it was almost lunchtime already.

Slowly, so slowly it seemed that nothing was happening, the pendant and the chain shrunk and lightened, until Gloria could breathe easily again, and she looked in the mirror shard to examine the tiny pendant that was now more of a choker.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

'Fine, I can manage with that - useless thing. I can't even see it when it's around my neck' she thought to herself, not missing the way the tiny arrow spun to point downwards, as if it were indicating the base which lay behind her. She grumbled to herself, and left her den, making her way towards where she was meant to have met the ship that morning and cursing herself along the way for ever having found the pendant.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Her foul mood only deepened as she spent the day searching fruitlessly for artifacts, the only item found being a worthless paper book which crumbled as she carried it to the surface, rotting leather finally disintegrating and leaving a foul taste in her mouth.

The pendant meant she was also unsuccessful in catching dinner, the glow from her markings working against her, for once, as it glinted off of the shining pendant in the dark and alerted everything nearby to her presence.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

That night, Gloria went to bed hungry, stomach growling and sleep evading her. She spent hours tossing and turning on her sand pile, feeling the pendant vibrate, until at last she gave up and went to look in the mirror to see exactly what the problem was.

Once again, the pendant was pointing at the floor, and Gloria snorted. 'If you want to be attached to your base so badly, why do you keep bothering me then?' she thought, spinning in a circle in anger.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

"I wish you could just show me what you want" she yelled, finally frustrated to bursting. It was as if a light switch clicked in her mind, or the pendant's mind, or whatever mind had belonged to the person or being who crafted it, as all of a sudden, she felt herself being pulled ever so slightly by the pendant itself, towards the mouth of the cave.

Curious, and silent now, she moved forward to lean over the pendant's base, but still she felt the tug towards the mouth of the cave.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

'It's not your base you're after then, it it?' she asked, mentally, and as if to confirm she felt two short tugs around her throat, leading her towards the mouth of the cave.

It was dark outside, the moonless night casting no shine that could penetrate the depths, but Gloria herself was practically a lamp - it would no doubt attract things to her, but she was confident she was bigger, and if not at least faster, than most things she could encounter out there.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

She left her den, and began testing this newfound connection she had with the pendant. 'I want to find the large coral over to the left, there' she thought to herself, and was rewarded with a tug towards it, the tugs rotating in direction depending on whether she swam away from it or hovered around it.

Happy with her new understanding, she tried a different tactic; 'I'm hungry, I want an easy meal' she thought, and followed the tug of the pendant cautiously into the darkness.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

'I said I wanted an easy meal, not to be an easy meal for something else' she thought to herself, angrily, as she hid inside a crevice between two large rocks. The Whallos that was chasing her bashed against the rocks, large tongue attempting to push them apart, and one beady eye looking into the crevice at her before it seemingly swam off; at the very least, she was no longer able to see it through the narrow gap she had squeezed herself into.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Gloria considered that incident to be a lesson learned; the pendant could point you toward what you wanted, but it wouldn't take into account the danger along the way, at least not unless you asked it to.

Gloria resolved to try another test, as she cautiously ventured out of the crevice and watched the Whallos' tail disappear up towards the surface.

'I want a safe place to hide' she thought, and sure enough, the pendant pulled towards the crevice behind her, though it had been a tight squeeze and she was sure a couple of her fins were scraped.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Spotting a long-tentacled Jellyfish in the distance, she decided on another test. She swam towards it, mindful to keep away from reach and in the shadows, and thought to herself 'I want to touch the jellyfish' feeling a tug towards the jellyfish. She then thought 'Is it safe to touch the jellyfish' and she felt another tug, though this one pulled her upwards, almost towards the bell.

'Is it safe to swim close to the jellyfish' she thought, finally, and the pendant reacted, pulling her away from where the jellyfish was now floating towards her.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Gloria swam a little further towards where her cave should be, but she was disoriented in the darkness, having wandered out of her usual territory following the pull of the pendant. She cursed herself, and then thought 'I need a safe way to my cave' and followed the tugs, changing direction when pulled.

Soon enough, she had made it safely back home, and she collapsed on her sand pile exhausted without bothering to remove the pendant from around her neck before she coiled herself up to sleep.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

The next morning dawned, and in the flickering morning light Gloria was much less visible to her prey, successfully catching enough to fill her stomach. She returned to the cave to collect the pouch she used for gathering when she didn't have a crew with her, and made her way in due course to the wreckage site she had been poking about around when she found the pendant, and thought 'I want to find buried artifacts that are safe to get to'.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

The pendant began pulling her around the area, pulling down towards the sand to indicate where things were buried, and for once Gloria had to call off her search when her pouch was almost too full to carry. All manner of things, from eyeglasses to jewelry and a sextant had been found by the pendant, and she returned to her cave with glee - another haul or two like that, and she would be sitting pretty, her next intended purchase already clear in her mind.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

A bag which kept whatever was in it fresh, which she had been told about by the mage, would make sure she never had the problem of being unable to eat again. She had been saving up for it, but items like that were expensive, even if the person selling it was giving you a deal, and Gloria had counted her Keystones up for months.

As if sensing her thoughts, the pendant pulled her towards the mouth of the cave again, and she followed it cautiously.

[Wild Pet Found]