Can anyone identify what my kid brought home from the yard?
My seven-year-old came inside with something she found under the porch. It's about the size of a grapefruit, dark gray, slightly warm to the touch, and it makes a sound like a very small engine idling when you hold it. She says it "wants to stay." It has no visible eyes, legs, or mouth. It did roll off the counter on its own when I put it down, and rolled back toward her. It seems to know where she is. Is this a pet. Is this a problem. Is this both.
Sounds like a tumblestone. They're native to this area, harmless, basically a homing mineral. They bond to the first warm-blooded thing that picks them up and they're pretty much impossible to un-bond from without professional help. They don't eat, don't grow much past that size, and the engine sound is just how they express contentment. Worst case scenario: it rolls into your path at night and you trip on it. They have no concept of personal space. Congrats. Your daughter has a pet rock and the rock chose her.
Does it have a slight purple tint when you look at it from underneath? Because if it does, that's not a tumblestone, that's a clutch node, and it's not the pet. It's the egg. You have about two weeks.
I am not going to look at it from underneath. I've decided it's a tumblestone. We're all moving forward on that basis.
For what it's worth, even if it IS a clutch node, what hatches is also harmless. Just more of them. Smaller ones. They bond to the nearest person, which in this case would be your daughter, and then you have a situation where your daughter is followed around by one large tumblestone and six to eight smaller ones. It's basically a parade. Some kids are thrilled by this. The only practical concern is tripping hazard. They roll in formation.
Update: her name is Pebble. My daughter named her. Pebble sleeps at the foot of the bed and rolls onto my daughter's feet when she gets cold, which is frequently, because Pebble runs warm on one side and cool on the other like a mineral heating pad. She is the world's most low-maintenance pet. She does not eat, she does not need walking, she does not make messes. She just vibrates and follows my kid around. I'm not looking at the underside. Some things are better left unconfirmed.