Submission (#659) Approved

549 Words
A curious terra finds themselves on Earth in the Autumn, and may soon discover Halloween and what it represents to the locals. (Will likely continue this in next monthly prompt!)
-----

While most terras only visited Earth, picking out their preferred critter before returning to their home on Terrah, a few occasionally decided to stay behind. Past interactions with the humans that still resided there led terrakind to cut off future attempts. But keep your head down, and a curious and bold terra could eke out a comfortable enough existence.

Rosa happened to be one such terra. A rather curious sort even as a child, she found the foreign cultures of many of the worlds her spacfaring compatriots spoke of quite fascinating. Not the least of which being the humans, of whom she'd been told had inspired aspects of her appearance. She devoured every piece of literature and data on them she could find, until she at last had her chance to get closer.

-----
549 words. A curious terra finds themselves on Earth in Autumn, and may soon discover what Halloween means to the residents.

And now here she was. Her research could only go so far telling her what to do, or where to even start. In order to avoid detection she'd been dropped off in the wilderness, far away from any human settlements. After much time spent taking in the fantastical new plants and fauna of the area, she did the only thing she could. Wander.

And so she wandered off and on for many days. Her journey slowly took her through the dense forest, sustained by the earth-like plants contained in her visor. These days among the yellow and orange trees continued without much incident, until she stubbed her foot and found herself tumbling downwards.

Her arms reached out to catch herself just as her drooping ears dusted the ground. She carefully pushed herself back to her feet, brushing off the crushed bits of leaves from her knees and waist of fur. Once satisfied with her cleanliness again, a closer look at the culprit behind her fall revealed the following carved into a stone:

J MES NOV K
1 56 - 19 0

Some of the symbols on the mossy tablet had been lost to the ages, though they meant little to Rosa all the same.

She took a better look about the area. The blanket of leaves spread across the ground prevented Rosa from telling if more of these stones laid on the ground, but taller, more vertical ones littered the surrounding landscape. Their shapes and sizes varied wildly, ranging from shapes similar to Rosa's own necklace to elaborate obelisks and rectangles. Not unlike the one that had tripped the terra, many of these relics either bent down into or emerged from the soil below at peculiar angles. In format the inscriptions often matched the first, while some were far longer or had none at all.

Rosa continued her journey through the mysterious area, albeit more careful to watch her feet. The area continued to stretch far beyond her visor-aided vision, and she could not say how long this particular escapade had taken. When the place abruptly ended in a lightly rusted, wrought-iron fence, she felt almost as if she'd been yanked out of a daze.

She stared down at the steep hillside beyond, one that ultimately ended in a number of buildings that appeared far more well-kempt in comparison. And if one looked even closer, they might even be able to make out the tiny replicas of the sea of stones in a few of their yards...