Fallen Stars and Broken Shards (Cassie's Gathering Shards!)

FWOOOOOSH! KRSHH. CRASH.

The crypt shook, some of Cassie’s pets ran for the hills and some of the pets under their current care began panicking—racing around aimlessly. Cassie cooed at them, “It’s alright, it’s alright. It’s just a comet.” She looked up towards the ceiling, hearing the commotion outside, “Just stick with Tiana.” She ushered them back upstairs. Cassie looked out the window curiously to see one of their neighbors with a hole in their roof and the distant crashes of more stars landing in the hills in the distance. The candle noodle called out to her apprentice. “Pyre! Pyre get down here, quickly! Bring your supplies!” She gasped, grabbing her own research supplies before waiting on bated breath for her apprentice to get down. 

“Yea? Yea?” Pyre nearly stumbled over herself as she walked towards her mentor. “I hear a crash, everything alright?” Cassie nodded with an answer, “Yes, but it seems that one of our neighbors’ homes were crashed upon!” Pyre waddled over to peer out of their open window to see first responders and worried neighbors alike surrounding the home. Pyre’s eyes widened before scoffing, “You weren’t kidding! I’ll head on over, are you coming with or are you gonna survey the area?” Cassie shook her head in response.

“No, I’m not heading out to the fields, more have landed, I’m off to see the shards!” Pyre nodded and saluted Cassie, heading in the opposite direction to help their neighbors with their roof problem. Cassie took off, dirt picking up underneath her feet before noticing the charred ground below her. She sketched out what was before her as she looked over to see fellow researchers. She waved at them before heading down to their location. “No one was hurt right?” They smiled and shook their heads, “No Doc, all is well here! Only thing hurt here was the grass.” They joked, Cassie smiled in response. They continued. “Are you here for the shards?” Cassie nodded, “Oh you know me. Always on top of things, especially around Cometfall!” She was practically beaming at this, the other researchers laughed, shaking their heads lightly. “Well, save us one will you? Can’t have our research be postponed this late in the month. Cassie smiled and gave them a thumbs up, “Will do!” before heading out towards the fields before them. There were at least 5 shining stars in the dirt, charred marks left behind in the dirt. The smell of ash and soot rose as she got close. They were instantly cooling—how magical. Cassie chose the smallest one for herself, ever the selfless soul. She looked down at the star shining back at her, it was broken into multiple pieces but yet persistent upon its brilliance. Cassie absolutely adored this. The Researcher gently took her clawed paw and picked at the shards, placing them within her pouch with care. The handling of the fragile crystals was almost elegant. 

She made sure she left nothing behind before bounding over to a much bigger shard. This one was different, it was unusually large! Cassie had no hammer with her, so she’ll have to lug this back over to them! She took a deep breath to grab it and awkwardly walked back to her friends. “Will this do?” She half joked, causing them to gasp in response. “Woah!” They rushed her to help her bring the thing back on over. “This was one of them?” They asked, bringing the shard over with a resounding THUD onto a desk. “Great Arcane! This is well more than what we need!” They nod before fussing over it. Cassie smiles and nods, “Great to know! I hope to see what your research holds!” Cassie then waved them off and headed back home.