[Carabby]

I'm picking my own!
new prey:
1 FP = minnows, chub
2 FP = loach, water vole, frog
3 FP = bream, perch, wren
4 FP = sparrow, trout, squirrel, carp
5 FP = salmon, pike, hawk, owl
new predators:
dog, fox, badger, river snake (aka water moccasin), heron, hawk, owl, and mountain lion
Would you like your current inventory converted to the new prey list? n/a

[Carabby]

I want to risk death!
Username + ID: Carabby + 506180
Clan link: MistClan
Last opt-in / opt-out form link: n/a
#optinginfordeathrolls

[Carabby]

MistClan

[ last explore - n/a ] [ last response - n/a ]

level 0
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0 exp

items used
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none

predators/prey
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form here

death opt-in
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yes

patrol type
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explore

random or myo
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random cat

cats on patrol
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Violetstar "Violet" | she / her | HP 100% | HUP 0% | Sick: N
Swallowtail "Birdie" | she / her | HP 100% | HUP 0% | Sick: N
Pinepelt "Marco" | he / him | HP 100% | HUP 0% | Sick: N
Stormcloud "Storm" | she / her | HP 100% | HUP 0% | Sick: N
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

active/monthly tasks
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send out a patrol with two enemies [link]


6/10/26 EDIT: +65 exp from 5/23 prompt results
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[ word count - 1437 ]

inventory
───────── ⋅⸙⋅ ─────────
prey | 1 FP | x0
prey | 2 FP | x0
prey | 2 FP | x0
prey | 3 FP | x0
prey | 3 FP | x0
prey | 4 FP | x0

herb | x0
herb | x0
herb | x0

Greenleaf had set upon MistClan, and the pairing of the heat and her own restlessness from caring for Dovekit constantly was making Violetstar itch. While the clan leader was elated to have had her first litter with Pinepelt, she was antsy to return to normal patrols and general clan life. Perhaps Honeypool could help…

The sun had not quite reached its peak when she padded from her den, Dovekit flitting around between her paws. “Can we go exploring today?” the lilac tabby asked excitedly. Violet looked down at her daughter, an amused purr rumbling in her chest.

“I have an even better idea.”

Padding across the crag to the tree stump where Honeypool made his den, she peered inside and called to the ginger tom. Dovekit’s eyes widened at her excitedly. Moments later, Honeypool scampered out from underneath the stump, a feather from his chicken, Dusty, stuck between his teeth. Violetstar resisted the urge to bristle in alarm at the site. Honeypool must have seen the alarm flicker in her eyes, because he let out a small laugh before saying, “Don’t worry, I was just helping him groom. That bird sure knows how to get dirty. I guess it’s in the name…” It seemed he realized Violet likely had not come for a friendly chat because trailed off mid-sentence before continuing, “Hi, Violet, what can I do for ya? I hope you and Dovie are feeling alright!”

Violetstar nodded briefly before glancing at her kit. “Of course, thank you Honey. I was wondering if you would be willing to let her stay with you for the day while I go on a patrol…” Violetstar nudged her daughter forward with her front paw, and the kit turned excitedly to face her.

“Really?!”

“Really.” Violetstar answered, the amused purr returning.

Honeypool nodded enthusiastically at his leader. “Of course, she is always welcome in my den. She’s always such a big help and I could use an extra set of paws with Peridot today.”

Dovekit didn’t hesitate before bolting down the slope into the hollow beneath the tree stump. Honeypool turned away and began following her, his tail flicking his goodbye to Violetstar. She felt a pang at the thought of leaving the small kit here alone, but she couldn’t sit around any longer. Without hesitating further, she headed down the slope of the crag to gather her patrol.

───────── ⋅⸙⋅ ─────────

It was midday by the time the patrol had swam across to the southern bank below Murk Mire. The dense cover of the Deadwoods made the sweltering newleaf heat more bearable. Swallowtail, one of Violetstar’s two seneschals, rushed to catch up with Violetstar at the head of the patrol. “Violet,” the silver she-cat started tentatively, an edge to her mew. “Are you sure it is a good idea to bring Marco and Storm out together? Storm has still not forgiven him for not protecting her mother all those moons ago.”

At the turn of leaf-bear, Pinepelt had been on a patrol with Pebblebrook, the seneschal that Oakstripe had replaced and Stormcloud’s mother, when they were attacked by a badger. While Pinepelt had fought tooth and claw to save Pebblebrook, she died that night after returning to camp, and Pinepelt has a nasty new scar on his front leg to show for it. While the rest of the clan had not blamed the tom for being unable to save the former seneschal, Stormcloud had hated the guard ever since. The only thing that had kept the young she-cat from verbally attacking him at every turn had been his relationship with Violetstar.

Violetstar’s gaze flicked to her mate walking several tail lengths away on her other side. Frustration ebbed into her expression and she turned back to face her trusted adviser. “Marco needs to make amends with her, and Storm needs to forgive him for what he cannot control… He’s eaten up with guilt enough as it is already…”

Stormcloud lagged behind the three senior cats, her eyes scanning the treeline as they walked. She had no desire to be anywhere near Pinepelt, and her frustration at Violetstar for making her come on this stupid patrol was growing each moment. Why did a scout even have to go on a normal patrol anyways…

Pinepelt’s ears flicked when he felt his mate’s gaze burning into his pelt. Violetstar flicked the tip of her tail for him to join her while Swallowtail dropped back to walk alongside Stormcloud. It took everything the tom had not to flatten his ears as he approached the she-cat, irritation coming off her in waves.

“You,” she hissed quietly at her mate. “Will be making up with Stormcloud. Today.”

“Violet, I-“

“That was not a suggestion, Marco.” Violetstar’s eyes bore into him as she spoke. “You will never be rid of your own guilt if she does not forgive you, and avoiding her is not going to make her do that any faster.”

Pinepelt huffed dramatically in response, his gaze tearing away to look out at the river just barely visible through the trees. “Fine,” he answered after a long pause. “I will speak with her.” When Violetstar appeared unconvinced he added, “Now, I guess.” The MistClan leader nodded curtly and picked up her pace as Marco slowed to meet Stormcloud. Swallowtail had taken up a place in the middle of the patrol, and as she passed Marco she cast him a sympathetic glance.

Stormcloud tried her hardest to keep herself behind Pinepelt, but when it became obvious the guard wanted to speak with her, she relented and trotted up to his side. “What?” She spat, her voice laced with venom.

“Look, Storm, I-“ Pinepelt struggled over his words, searching the younger she-cat’s face. He exhaled loudly and looked ahead to the forest once again. “I miss her too.” He meowed at last, sorrow filling his eyes. Stormcloud’s pelt prickled at the obvious emotion in his face.

“You miss her?” She asked slowly, the venom having ebbed from her tone.

“Every day. And I know you blame me, and truthfully I… I blame me too.” He refused to look at the younger she-cat now, looking steadily in his mate and seneschal’s direction several tail lengths ahead. Stormcloud felt struck by his words. In all these moons that he had been avoiding her, she had been assuming it was out of his own inability to accept the blame for her mother’s death. She realized now she had never really let the tom speak when she berated him. Perhaps Pebblebrook’s death had impacted him more deeply than she had cared to consider. After all, Pebblebrook was his mate’s trusted adviser for many moons, and the two had spent much time together both as a result of that and out of his own duties to protect the clan. Stormcloud trudged through her own memories now, searching for times she had seen the two together.

After so long that Pinepelt began to think she was ignoring him, Stormcloud sighed and sat on the grassy forest floor. Ahead of them, Violetstar and Swallowtail glanced back and continued walking a few paces before sitting and speaking quietly to each other. The pairs were out of earshot of each other, but Stormcloud was acutely aware that her leader would be anxious to hear the result of this conversation. She had put Pinepelt up to this, hadn’t she? The grey she-cat’s irritation sparked again but she fought the urge to lash out. “Okay, Marco,” she replied slowly, her eyes on Violetstar and Swallowtail rather than him. “But I can’t make myself forgive you. I know you didn’t mean to let her die. I know. But I can’t forgive you, not really.” Pinepelt sighed, his own gaze darkening with sadness at her words. For a moment, the two sat in silence, but just as Pinepelt began to stand up to leave, she started speaking again. “I can’t forgive you, but I know that Pebblebrook would. I know for a fact that she would never have blamed you to begin with, Marco. As well as you may have known her, she was my mother, and I can say with every confidence that she is restless in StarClan from wanting you to forgive yourself.”

Pinepelt stared at Stormcloud while he nodded slowly at her words. “You’re right,” was all he said before standing, dipping his head to her, and bounding off towards his mate and her seneschal. Stormcloud stood slowly and shook each of her limbs in turn. Perhaps she’d never be able to make friends with Pinepelt, but for the clan’s sake, and her mother’s, perhaps she could tolerate him.

[Infinitygalixy]

☆ last explore post: here
☆ last writer reply:here

☆ opted-in for death: y
☆ prey & predator list: custom
☆ Patrol type: Scouting
☆ random cat or myo preference?: Random Cat!

☆ active & monthly tasks: Monthly 1 • Monthly 2 • Monthly 3



━━━ « patrollers, inventory & level / xp section » ━━━

✦✦ level & xp: level 5 (274/650XP)

✦✦ cats on patrol ✦✦
⤷ Apple • She/They • 0% hunger • 100% health • not sick
⤷ Amelio • He/Him • 0% hunger • 100% health • not sick

✦✦ prey & herbs inventory ✦✦
⤷ (1fp) x7 • (2fp) x2 • (3fp) x4 • (4fp) x0 • (5fp) x0 •

⤷ Foxglove seeds x1 • thyme x1 • Horsetail x1 • Wintergreen x1 • Hawkweed x1 • Tansy x2 • Sorrel x2 • Bright Eye x1 • Water Hemlock x1 • (your choice)/unassigned x5 •

✦✦ items in inventory used ✦✦



━━━ « writing section » ━━━

☆ explore writing (optional):

It’s been another wonderful day of zipping around the city for Apple, she’s finally gotten a hang of this boostpack thing and has also received the go-ahead at last to go out on her own as long as she keeps in contact with her handler.

She’s more than happy to reply to his location pings as long as it means she can be out here, though those are SO weird still.

The Feed is something she got introduced to not too long after she started meeting people outside of her crew, her first encounter with it was a very panicked robot showing up out of nowhere when she took a hard fall when practicing, turns out her systems decided to blare a ‘danger ping’ across all the communication lines, something about a misprogrammed broadcast module overreacting…

That had led to her first visit to maintenance and another one of the many excruciatingly embarrassing nerd-out sessions that the engineers dump on her every time they find out that she’s not just a robot, but a cyborg, yikes.

Once the module was fixed Apple suddenly had a cacophony of voices in her head, which may or may not have ended with her antenna ripped out and flung across the room to quiet down all the pings and messages.

Luckily for her, the robot that found her, Sparks, managed to teach her how to tune her comms and she managed to get back to relative quiet in her head.

It’s been about a week since then though, and she’s gotten a lot more open to the idea of using the Feed, especially since none of the other robots would talk to her if she didn’t, apparently in the culture of the robots talking out loud is only a thing they do for the sake of humans, inter-robot communication is much more efficient through the Feed and it’s a waste of energy to use a voicebox when the Feed is available.

So to her chagrin she’s been letting the noise in.

It’s not really that bad, she’s got filters on so it’s mostly relevant stuff instead of idle chatter coming from everyone, but sometimes she drops those filters to eavesdrop a little.

That’s what she’s doing right now, actually, sitting on a fire escape on a tall building to rest from her time out chasing BEEs around and oddly enough being haggled for a stick by some random guy on the street (confusion aside, she had no stick, the guy left, dissapointed.)

The Feed is mostly full of passing greetings, salutes, and identitfy pings, pleasantries in robot culture, but she can just make out a pair of bots on the far side of the neighborhood chatting about their jobs and a group of robots reciting some kind of religious text.

Nothing very interesting, but enough to sate the nosy desire to listen in, she tunes out again and hops down from the fire escape.

She’s out of paint, so throwing up tags isn’t in the cards anymore, but there’s still some sunlight, so there’s no harm in wandering around on foot for a while, right?

Not even five minutes later a massive BEE comes hurtling out of a side street and directly into her side, tumbling both of them over.

Apple flails beneath it, feeling something prodding in her Feed, distracting her as she tries to escape its grasp, she lowers her filters again and is bombarded with an echoing message, “STOLEN MACHINE IDENTIFIED, COMPLY OR FACE POTENTIAL DAMAGE, PROPERTY WILL BE RETURNED TO ITS OWNER.”

What the hell? ‘Stolen machine?’ that couldn’t possibly be referring to her right? Her head was made by the Vision Society and her body, well, it’s freakin human, can’t manufacture that can you?

Below the blaring message she can faintly make out her handler pinging her for her location again, but before she can respond her comms go completely dark.

Everything was going so well…

The BEE has her pinned still, and she’s not nearly strong enough to shake it off, no matter how much she keeps up this squirming, she punches at it despite the known futility, it makes a frustrated doo-wop, probably mostly offense at the notion that she would even try to fight back, she punches again, the BEE doesn’t even budge.

“Ok, fine, you win take me to your secret evil lair or whatever,” she throws her hands up in defeat, “But I still don’t see what your problem is, I’m not stolen property, dude!”

‘SO ADA THINKS ITSELF A COMEDIAN /RHETORICAL?’

“Who the hell is ‘ADA’?”

‘YOU ADA,’ it says, somewhat obviously, ‘IDIOT /INSULT.’

“No the hell I’m not.”

All she gets back is the ping equivalent of an eyeroll, oh what a fun day this is going to be…



Apple can’t say she enjoys being carried like an animal as the BEE flies her through the city, but she supposes that’s probably her fault for kicking, clawing, and headbutting at the robot, all futile actions, just delaying the inevitable.

This sucks.

They reach the top of the Grey Corp headquarters, a big yellow and grey building that towers over its neighbors, very villainous, but she’ll admit, the lighting is spiffy.

The BEE sets her down with a surprising amount of caution, not enough to stop her from attempting to sprint off, though.

She makes it three strides before the BEE grabs her by the boostpack, well at least she tried…

She tries to trip it and run off a couple times as it leads her to the door, this is short lived as her third attempt leads it to lift her off the ground by the strap of her boostpack, essentially scruffing her, like a kitten.

She kicks and flails in the air uselessly as the mortifying shock of the situation kicks in, she’s not only been captured by her enemy, but is now being scruffed, LIKE A KITTEN, as she is hauled in to what is most likely going to be her doom.

Admittedly not how she thought her death would go, but honestly she’d never thought about how she would die, I mean, she’s only been alive for a month and a half so it just never really crossed her mind, too busy trying to figure out how life works and how to do awesome tricks with her boostpack.

Man, this sucks!


Much to her surprise, she is not immediately tossed in a metal crusher to meet her untimely demise, but is brought to a small room with a table and two fancy plush couches, she’s dropped, literally, on the far one, and she immediately darts for the open door.

The BEE grabs her before she can even reach it and plonks her back down on the couch again, ‘LAST TIME ADA, NEXT TIME WILL BE HANDCUFFS /STATEMENT.’

Huh, that’s oddly generous, with a drawn out huff she sinks into the couch, she’ll find a way out once the BEE is gone.

‘HAND OVER BOOSTPACK AND WHEELS /COMMAND’

“Really?” she whines, “Those are mine, man.”

‘HAND OVER.’

“Dammit…” She unclips the boostpack harness and places it on the table, then removes the skate trucks from their holster on her leg, leaving her with nought but her lone half empty can of red spray paint.

‘PAINT CAN TOO.’

“DAMN!!” She shouts in bafflement, “Can’t have anything in Dynama, I swear!”

This was to be expected to be fair, but it was still demoralizing to remove the paint from its dedicated holster.

It sends her a thanks ping for her compliance, she replies with a ping of annoyance.

‘WAIT HERE THIRTY, FORTY MINUTES, YOU WILL BE SEEN.’

It leaves the room with all her stuff, shutting the door behind.

It takes approximately thirty seconds before Apple starts tearing the room apart, digging in couch cushions and behind and under everything, she finds little more than lint and a quarter.

She occupies herself with the quarter, analyzing all the details of it. It's a Minnesota quarter, it’s got a loon on it, she flips it around in the air a couple times then starts throwing it at walls out of boredom.

It takes two minutes of her doing that to concern whoever is watching her enough for them to send the BEE back into the room with a little basket of things.

‘THESE ARE FOR YOU, BOSS WAS CONCERNED ABOUT PROPERTY DAMAGE, PLEASE DO NOT BREAK OUR WALLS.’

Surprisingly thoughtful of the ‘we hate you please die’ corporation to entertain their captive, even if it was out of fear of property damage.

The BEE sets the basket on the table and leaves.

Apple dumps the contents on the table, she’s now the proud borrower of a tennis ball, a deck of cards, and some kind of fidget cube. Neat.

It’s four hours (real time: a little over thirty minutes) of throwing the ball around the room, incessantly clicking the buttons on the cube, and building card towers before she is interrupted again.

Apple has got the makings of a mighty card tower on the table when the door opens, bringing with it an evil breeze that only serves to send it tumbling down, she growls at the unjust destruction of her creation, then looks up to assess what is most likely the more important thing in the room.

The BEE has returned again, along with a sharp-eyed woman that Apple immediately dislikes and a man she recognises as the heir to the Grey Corporation, the ever controversial Amelio Grey.

She’s already thinking about all the ways that she could potentially wipe the stupid cocky smirk off his face.

She settles for tossing the tennis ball at his head.

Mission success, the smirk is immediately replaced with an expression of pure bafflement as the ball bounces to the floor.

“?!” Amelio makes a confused sound, “What the hell was that for?”

Apple thinks it should be obvious, so she refrains from wasting battery to reply.

“Seriously????” He whines, very unbecoming of a billionaire proxy-CEO and ‘generational genius’ engineer, then mutters “I spend half my life making the most intelligent system ever developed and it gets stolen and turned into some street rat, of course.”

Apple ganders away from the petulant man and looks at the woman, she hasn’t said anything, just watched and scribbled something down on a notepad.

Apple figures it’s about time she should say something, “So you gonna let me out of here or?”

“It thinks we’d go through all of that just to let it go?!” Amelio laughs, “No, ADA, you’re home now, back where you belong. Grace, thoughts?”

“It should realise where we are and who it is after a system reset,” the woman, Grace, says plainly, “Those Vision Society freaks must have corrupted its code.”


“Uhhhh, I know where we are,” Apple rolls her optic at them, “And I know who I am.”

“Oh yeah,” Amelio mocks, “and who would that be?”

“The one and only,” She gestures with mocking grandeur, “Apple.”

“Apple…” he stares at her dully, then turns to Grace, “It named itself Apple…”

“Yes, sir, that is what it said.”

“Huh,” he leans back, “What a stupid name.”

Apple feels the urge to throw things at him again.

“Whatever,” He waves his hand and the BEE moves toward her, “Take her to my office, I’ll get that reset in order.”

The BEE grabs Apple again, she kicks it futilely. She can see Amelio and Grace leave the room, the former yapping on about how dumb Apple’s name is as they saunter off to kick puppies or something, she doesn’t know, whatever it is billionaires do.

Man, this still sucks.

Apple is yet again left alone in a room for an extended period of time, this time in a much larger room with many more things she could potentially get into and break, delightful!

She’s halfway through tearing apart what appears to be some kind of miniature death ray (it’s a soldering iron) when she hears the door open followed by an exasperated, “What?”

She turns to look at the door from where she’s sitting (criss-cross on a table) to see Amelio entering with another baffled expression, Apple counts that as a win.

He acknowledges her with a glare then gestures in the air to pull up some kind of hologram panel, typing something furiously, Apple continues deconstructing the death ray.

“That dumb bot,” she hears him mutter with great frustration, “When I say to leave the rogue bot in my office, I do NOT mean to let it roam around freely.”

He dismisses the panel with a stiff gesture, and plonks down into a rolling chair, continuing to glare at her.

It’s curious to Apple that he’s not actively trying to disassemble her on the spot, but she could honestly care less, she’s got a plan.

Sit around, mess stuff up, evade Amelio, and escape… somehow.

She probably should have spent that block of unattended free time looking for an exit, but whatever, no regrets, she messed with the wiring on like twenty projects sitting around in the room, that’s wildly more important than her safety, it’s for the bit!

She glances back over to where Amelio sits, he’s melted comfortably into the chair, but his eyes are calculating as he props his head in his hand.

Placing down the death ray (now bent at a ridiculous angle), she hops off the table and saunters over in his direction, he stares up at her, she can tell he’s trying to put on some intimidating air, but she really could not care less.

“So, what is it that you want from me,” She asks boredly, “Or are we just gonna have some pretentious staring contest forever?”

“Surely you haven’t forgotten everything, ADA,” he continues to stare up at her with that calculating stare, like he’s trying to solve a math problem by looking at her.

“Yeah, no, I don’t know anything about you beyond the fact that you’re some shady, scummy billionaire who thinks his company is entitled to change the laws of the city,” she deadpans, “and thinks it’s fine to grab a random bot off the street because she looks like your robot, but I don’t know…”

“You are my robot, actually,” he replies with a bite, “I created you, that society stole you, and now I have you back.”

“Oh really?” she squints her optic at him.

“Is it really so hard to believe that I,” he gestures grandly to himself, “The most prolific genius engineer in generations, created you?”

“Well I just thought that my creator couldn’t possibly be such a pretentious nepo-baby,” Apple states bluntly, “I’m WAY too cool for that to be possible.”

“Pretentious nepo-baby?!” Amelio surges up from his seat, “I’ll have you know I earned my position, I AM a damn good engineer and you were supposed to be the project that made me CEO of this company!”

“I’m that important to you?” Apple questions, “Thought I was just some street rat?”

“You are, but only because of what that Vision Society scum did to you,” He takes on a wistful tone, “You could have been a beautiful machine if they didn’t steal you, I bet the body they put you on is a bunch of patchworked junkyard parts, a waste of a perfect mind.”

Apple cringes at that, he doesn’t know the half of it.

“Nevermind that,” he scoffs, pulling up another hologram and tapping away at it while mumbling, “there’s no use in trying to argue with whatever they put in your mind.”

He goes quiet for a bit, continuing to tap at the panel.

Apple wanders his lab some more, continuing to disconnect wires and break things as she goes, unscrewing nuts from bolts and pocketing- she’s acquired quite the collection by the time Amelio looks back her direction.

“What in the world?” he mutters under his breath then grumbles and calls across the room, “Come here, ADA, it’s time we fix what's been broken.”

‘Yeah freakin right,’ Apple thinks.

She approaches casually, deliberately slow and relaxed, seemingly fawning to his command.

He pulls a USB drive from a computer and crosses towards her, the two meeting in the middle of the room, three tables stand between her and the door, she casually leans on the edge of the nearest one.

He reaches a hand up to take hold of her head.

Apple makes her move.

She grabs his wrist and leans back onto the table, guiding him forward to an unsteady position, she raises her feet and kicks him square in the ribs, creating enough force to make him stumble back while she slides across the table to the floor.

Amelio bites off a curse and scrambles to stand, Apple is a step ahead of him and rolls under the second table, creating more distance and giving her time to get back on her own feet.

She vaults the last table with a less-than-stable catpass- this would have been way easier if these jerks hadn’t taken her boostpack- but she clears it nonetheless, skidding across the polished tile to the door.

Once she’s out of the lab she breaks into a dead sprint, not the best idea for conserving energy, but efficient enough to make space between her and Amelio, she wants him distracted as long as possible, it’s likely the moment he has time to think beyond chasing her the BEES will be on her tail, a much more intimidating foe than some skinny nerd.

She keeps her optic up, scanning the ceiling for the bright green emergency exit signs- god bless OSHA for workplace safety and its unexpected situational benefits- following them out to her freedom.

It crosses her mind that she’s several stories above ground level with no boostpack, but that’s a problem for when she’s out of here.

When the hallway walls turn to windows she knows she’s nearly there, she’s gotta be.

Hooking around a corner she finds her face in a wall of metal.

A resounding CLANG echoes through the hallway as her metal face meets the metal chest of a BEE, damn, that hurts, this sucks!


She peels her face off of it and glares up, it glares back down at her.

There’s an almost comedic beat where the two of them just stare at each other.

Then Apple turns tail and runs back the way she came.

With the exit blocked her options are incredibly limited.

They become even more limited when an alarm starts blaring and the hall lights begin to strobe red and a robotic voice repeating the words ‘LOCKDOWN PROTOCOL INITIATED’ begins to holler as metal covers slam down over the doors.

This continues to suck.

Apple’s systems narrow her plans down to two options as she traces back through the building.

Plan A: find a vent and hope that the lockdown is only on this one floor.

Plan B: find something strong and break a window while hopefully avoiding falling to her death.

She can hear the BEES behind her, there were two when she slammed into one and she can only hope that no more are following because she’s just run into a problem.

A metal wall blocks off the hallway toward Amelio’s lab, meaning she is stuck in this portion of the hallway.

With the limited space and her very human speed she doubts she can find and break into a vent fast enough while also evading the BEES, so plan B becomes plan A.

Apple’s gonna break a window…

Somehow.

Think Apple, think, how can you break through a window that is probably ridiculously reinforced with nothing but yourself while you’ve got two massive BEES chasing you?

The first thought is to somehow throw the BEES at the window, they’re really bulky and definitely have the power to break glass, no matter how stupidly reinforced.

Bees are over six feet tall and weigh half a ton in metal, Apple is five foot three and a fraction of that weight in flesh and bone.

Yeah that’s not gonna happen.

She scans the walls for anything useful, and finds a fire extinguisher.

That could work.

While the BEES are strong and heavy, Apple is agile and light, she could easily out maneuver one of them on a slick surface.

The moment she took to think allowed the BEES ample time to catch up to her, it’s now or never.

She stands in the center of the hallway and the BEES rush towards her arms extended forward with the intent to grab her.

At just the right moment Apple ducks, skidding across the floor as the BEES overshoot into the wall with a crash, giving her enough time to reach the extinguisher.

She breaks the glass with her elbow and grabs the extinguisher, it’s heavier than she thought, but it’s gonna have to work.

She waits for the BEES to start running again, then scans for the optimal moment, her optic focused only on the pattern of their legs running, waiting for the perfect moment.

Breathe, wait for it.

NOW!

Apple discharges the extinguisher right as she sees their pace change from running to lunging to grab, the soapy foam hitting the floor right when their feet meet the ground to jump, sending them careening across the floor towards her and more importantly, the windows.

She steps to the side as they slide down the hall with great speed, their boosters firing just as they would have to propel them forward in their attempted jump, the smooth tile and slick foam creating a nearly frictionless glide sending them right through the window and down to the streets below.

Now free from pursuit, Apple is able to assess the escape route.

It’s certainly not ideal, there’s a building across the street, but it’s across four lanes of traffic and several stories lower than she. With a boostpack it would have been a breeze, but she’s unsure without one, it would be a hard landing if she makes it and game over if she doesn’t.

She hesitates, mulling it over while flipping through her systems, checking the status of her comms.

They still aren’t back online, it’s probable that this building has some sort of digital faraday cage to prevent unauthorized users from communicating, annoying.

There’s only one way to go, but that doesn’t make it any less terrifying.

She hears a buzzing coming from outside as she half-contemplates giving herself up and getting oh just her entire memory and sense of self wiped from her systems.

“Apple!”

That brings her optic up from the traffic, a few metres away hovers a blue drone, very obviously not Grey Corp property, “Apple, it’s me Marcus!”

She would scream with joy that she’s not alone anymore, but the voice in her subconscious stops her.

“This drone should be able to ferry you across to the other rooftop, but you’re gonna have to jump for it, it can’t go any closer to the building or their security will brick its system.”

Ok, ok, ok, ok, that’s a much closer jump, soooooo doable she’s got this, she can do it, come on Apple you’ve got it.

The hall is still slick as she sets up to run and leap, but she stands on the farthest dry spot between the trails the BEES left from their slide.

Breathe, Apple, you’ve got this.

She shuts her optic for a moment, takes a deep breath, focuses her vision on the drone, and runs, runs as fast as she can until the last possible moment.

Her feet leave the windowsill and she’s flying through the air, optic still intently focused on the drone, she waits til she’s just close enough and reaches out with both hands.

She panics as her left hand misses its mark, but feels metal under her fingertips as her right lands, she’s made it, she’s out.

THIS IS AWESOME!


She resists the urge to celebrate and holds on tight, both hands on the drone until her feet hit the rooftop.

Her knees shake and she collapses onto her back, looking up at the drone hovering over her.

Despite the terrifying severity of the situation Apple finds herself giggling, in fact she laughs so hard that her chest hurts by the time Marcus’s voice gets through to her again, this time in her head.

“Apple, I know that was one hell of a ride, but you’ve still gotta get out of there, I can only keep the BEES away for so long, follow me.”

Right, back on track, it’s time to go home.

—----

Half an hour of carefully navigating back alleys later, Apple finds herself back at the Vision Society’s headquarters, her home as far as she is concerned.

Marcus is waiting immediately inside and practically tackles her into a hug, “Don’t you ever get dragged off like that again, we missed you, Apple.”

“I really wasn’t gone for that long..” Apple protests from within his death grip, she really didn’t think Marcus was so attached to her.

“Yeah, but,” he distances himself a bit, keeping his hands on her shoulders, “In my entire career I’ve never lost a bot, if you failed to escape it would’ve been crushing, man.”

“Oh,” what a tactful response, Apple, “I didn’t know, sorry.”

“Just be more careful next time, please.”

“Of course I will!” ‘It's not like I wanted to be kidnapped either’ went unsaid.

He pats her on the shoulder, freeing her from his worried embrace, though still rambling on about getting her a better tracker and a dedicated handler or something.

Apple is glad to be back, and glad that she has people who really care for her.

She heads off to sleep.

—---

Amelio sulks in his office, clearing tables of destroyed materials and shoving de-wired projects into scrap boxes.

ADA had escaped him again, stolen away by the stupid idealistic street rats that had taken her the first time.

He couldn’t let this ever happen again.

His father had called, it was a conversation filled with sighs and disappointments, it made the beast in his gut writhe with anger.

His perfect creation, a reflection of his own perfection, debased and stolen, it was as much a loss of a project as it was a hit to his ego.

It wasn’t fair.

His robot, HIS machine, HIS HARD WORK, stolen right from under his nose.

They had taken the object that was to put him in control of a fortune, his company would have finally been truly in his own hands, he could have been CEO.

He SHOULD be CEO.

His rage at the injustice wells in his gut.

He has the power of the largest robotics conglomerate in the United States in the palm of his hand.

The Vision Society will pay, from the inside out.

He straightens his posture and fixes his tie.

“Wasp, please call a meeting with the finance department,” he chirps to the computer in his workshop, “I have an acquisition to propose.”

4507 words

[Kazin]

★ OVERLOOK STATION
SkyWishes21 ★ last post

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The winds were changing. A melody, a hum, the scent of humidity and what could be a storm in the distance, unlikely to pass by the cats trekking along. The fallen redwood Hecate found herself perched on carried the thick scent of earth, perhaps the sign of a fresh rain. While Zagreus and Hecate had their spat, Melinoe thought it best to take her leave. It wasn't worth arguing, not right now... and maybe a little bit of claw stretching, land exploration could help Melinoe clear her head from Hecate's cruelty. There, straight ahead, the thick plumage of a large bird, the raptor having just finished its own meal. It seemed distracted by a nearby herb, perhaps a plant that its own prey had dropped, and it was almost too easy of a kill for Melinoe. (+5FP eagle, +1 bright-eye)

Zagreus and Hecate stared daggers at each other as the trio of cats now left behind by Melinoe started to wander away from the redwood log, away from the tension as much as possible. Walking might do all of us some good, Hecate groaned inwardly, cursing at Zagreus under her breath. I'm not the leafbrained one. As the cats continued, Hecate's paws started to feel heavy, a strange feeling. The forest... shuddering... Hecate let out an involuntary shudder of her own, doing a double take at Zagreus to make sure he hadn't seen. Maybe something was wrong... But she didn't dare admit it. (Hecate has fallen ill! She will need one of the following to recover: +1 blackberry leaf, +1 catchweed, +1 mallow leaf, or +1 foxglove seed. Without the necessary herb, she will lose -10% HP each post.)

Melinoe's screech shook the trio out of their tensions, all three clearing their minds and breaking into a sprint. "Mel!" Zagreus cried, his head swinging around as he tried to locate the dog and his littermate. There! "I'm coming!" Zagreus pushed ahead of Bacchus and Hecate, using powerful hind legs to leap straight onto the back of the dog just as it tried to get its maw around Melinoe. Zagreus watched for a split second as Mel was able to sprint away to safety, but the split second cost Zagreus his own wound. The dog whipped around towards Zagreus' blind spot, opening a deep wound in Zagreus's belly. He let out a cry, and Bacchus answered with its own battle yowl, both it and Hecate driving the dog back, overpowering the mortal creature until it backed off, running with its tail tucked. Zagreus gave each cat a nod, checking in with Mel, who only seemed shaken and not hurt. Only after ensuring the others' safety did he address his own wound. (After pursuing the dog, Zagreus received a belly wound! -70% HP, will need 2 posts of rest before he can be sent out again. If he doesn't rest, he will continue to lost -10% HP.)

"Are you sure you're ok?" Mel asked in a hushed whisper, seeing Zagreus hide his injury as best he could from Hecate. She understood that he was more vulnerable if Hecate wanted to pick a fight, and he was doing his best to ensure she couldn't tell how badly it hurt him. "Once I get a little rest, I will be," he assured his sister, hiding his limp as best he could from her, too. "I promise." Mel opened her mouth to continue to pry, but was cut off by a low hiss from Hecate. She had spotted a few cats in the distance - friend, or foe? (The cats encounter a rogue patrol, but there has been no trespassing. Will they choose to confront, or leave the other patrol be?)

────── « ★★★ » ───────────────────────────────────────────────

★ FINDINGS ★
+5FP eagle
+1 bright-eye

★ XP EARNINGS ★
death opt out

+35xp for words written
+10xp for patrol sent
+5xp for prey earnings
+1xp for herb earnings
+10xp for predator battle
+15xp from Wahoo's February prompt #1
+225xp from prompts
+50xp from quests

★ FINAL TOTALS ★
+10% hunger for patrol ★ -70% health for Zagreus
+351XP → level 4 (701/500XP) → level 5 (201/650XP)

• congrats! you have leveled up! rewards: +3 FP, +2 Herbs, +1 Random Explore Cat, +150 stardust

• You have earned +1 herb [user choice] for completing Wahoo's February task #2!
• You have earned +25 stardust for completing Wahoo's February task #3!

notes: n/a ^^

[Kazin]

★ HSIIN'AL
changeling. ★ last post

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Allium-gaze twitched his tail in the darkening territory, the threat of rain above, the scent of the air thick with the dampness of the earth, the gentle sting of the cold front on his nose, and the easy, subtle perfume of the last of the flowers. He wanted to be sure that the patrol would come back with as much food as possible in preparation for the coming coldness of the season's change. Sandstorm-rose had wandered off, Freckled-peach in tow. It was his turn to catch something, he assured himself, dropping into a crouch immediately as the breeze brought the scent of something towards him. Briar-beam watched from a small distance, not wanting to scare anything away, and gave a loud purr as Allium-gaze pounced swiftly, lifting his head after bringing down the raccoon. Now that his main responsibility was carried out, none the wiser to Briar-beam's plan, Allium-gaze continued telling Briar-beam about his story. (+5FP raccoon)

Nearby, the clover patch tickled the paw pads of Sandstorm-rose and Freckled-peach. Sandstorm-rose paused for a few minutes, eyes half closed, its nose in the air as it took in the fresh scents around it. "Rain is definitely somewhere around us," Freckled-peach commented from nearby, watching Sandstorm-rose. "We should get moving unless we want damp pelts," she said with a quiet laugh. Sandstorm-rose nodded, stretching as it continued on from their brief pause. Maybe an herb could be laying in wait...

Just as Sandstorm-rose opened its mouth to suggest to Freckled-peach that they could find something to collect for the herb storages, the other cat made a sound of interest, a sort of hum. Sandstorm-rose watched as Freckled-peach trotted to a small patch of greenery, delicately plucking a leaf from the ground. "Here, an herb to bring back." They said, their voice muffled around the plant. Sandstorm-rose gave a happy nod, glad they were both on the same wavelength. (+1 lamb's ear)

Briar-beam was getting ready to finally give her flowers to Allium-gaze, listening intently and trying to find a chance to give him her gift. The rustle of movement tickled her ears, and she glanced back to see a newcomer emerging from the a line of thick hedges. The cat blinked in slight surprise at seeing Briar-beam and Allium-gaze, and then mewed a soft greeting. "Hi there," they said, dipping their head. "Just passing through?" The three cats continued to make small talk as the cat introduced themselves to Fennel, and learned of Fennel's challenge. Briar-beam and Allium-gaze felt a sting of confusion as the cat gave them a task they were attempting to complete. They explained in detail how they don't see a lot of sickness in Leaf-fall, and yet so many get sick in Leafbare... they hypothesized that perhaps more cats get sick in Leaf-fall than is realized, and wants to be hypervigilant of any sickness in Leaf-fall... Fennel asks that the patrol come back to find them if two cats get sick during Leaf-fall, so they can add it to their findings regarding sicknesses. (Fennel is giving the patrol an active task! Get 2 or more cats sick during leaf-fall (autumn). This is a rolled outcome (to an extent - see the sickness header on the explore page for more info), so you’ll have to keep an eye out for when this happens)

Fennel didn't stick around for too long, stating they had more cats to find and more surveys and tasks to hand out. Completely thrown off, Briar-beam nearly forgot about her bouquet. "Oh, well, that was..." "Strange," Allium-gaze finished for her, and she nodded with a purr. Allium-gaze turned away to grab the raccoon again, his mind wandering to a story that would come of Fennel's strange appearance and strange task. Without looking, Allium-gaze tripped over a tangle of roots underpaw, and tumbled to the ground. "Ouch," he said, using a paw to rub at his head. Briar-beam cast one glance back at her bouquet... well, I guess it can wait for a better time... she thought. (Allium-gaze receives a minor head injury! -25% HP, no posts of rest needed)

────── « ★★★ » ───────────────────────────────────────────────

★ FINDINGS ★
+5FP raccoon
+1 lamb's ear

★ XP EARNINGS ★
death opt out

+60xp for words written
+10xp for patrol sent
+5xp for prey earnings
+1xp for herb earnings
+10xp for Wahoo's March task #1

★ FINAL TOTALS ★
+10% hunger for patrol ★ -25% health for Allium-gaze
+86XP → level 4 (558/500XP) → level 5 (58/650XP)
• congrats - you have leveled up! rewards: +3 FP, +2 Herbs, +1 Random Explore Cat, +150 stardust

• you have earned +25 stardust for completing Wahoo's task #3!

notes: please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about
active tasks! c:

[Kazin]

★ REEFCLAN
Aktori ★ last post

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Seaweed still had frequent thoughts of his life with Twolegs. The dreams were still the same, oddly enough - at least some of the time. He'd be back on a soft nest, paws and whiskers twitching as a mouse or squirrel ran in front of him. Yet, he was never fast enough to catch it. Whenever he had that dream, his always had a pep in his paws to go out and actually catch something, rather than having it so tantalizingly close, yet so far... It was part of the reason he was quick to suggest to Squidspots to go on a walk. When Seaweed and Squidspots found their paws on the sand, the shifting beneath his paws brought Seaweed a rush of a dreamlike haze, of his paws not quite getting enough traction through the sand to get to the his prey. When Squidspots suggested the forest, Seaweed felt a jolt of adrenaline. It could be finally time to get revenge on his annoying dreams!

The race with Squidspots distracted the cat for a moment, his breath making slight fog in the cold air. In the midst of the flower gathering, Seaweed felt his nose twitch and his body drop into a crouch before his mind had deciphered what was happening. When his brain caught up to his instincts, Seaweed felt himself energize. It would be real! There, ahead, the thick tail of a squirrel. He crept on stealthy paws, giving himself a burst of energy as he leapt and caught the squirrel in a flurry of claws. No outrunning him today! Seaweed's eyes gleamed as the others congratulated his catch, and he happily carried the squirrel onwards. (+3FP squirrel)

The flowers weren't the only thing still blooming, despite the cold of Leafbare. A few bits of green poked out from the barren patches, and Midnight and Squidspots softly told Seaweed of herbs that grey near flowers of their own. It was uncommon to see the flowers still in bloom, but the pinks and purple hues of mallow and thyme had caught all the cats' eyes. And besides the thought of giving Whisperwind a bouquet, there was the thought of healing - a mallow leaf, and a stem of thyme, useful collections to bring back to the camp. (+1 mallow leaf, +1 thyme)

────── « ★★★ » ───────────────────────────────────────────────

★ FINDINGS ★
+3FP squirrel
+1 mallow leaf, +1 thyme

★ XP EARNINGS ★
death opt out

+50xp for words written
+10xp for patrol sent
+3xp for prey earnings
+2xp for herb earnings
+10xp for Wahoo's March task #1
+205xp from catvent

★ FINAL TOTALS ★
+10% hunger for patrol ★ no health lost
+280XP → level 1 (440/200XP) → level 2 (220/300XP)
• congrats! you have leveled up! rewards: +1 FP, + 1 Herb, +1 Common Edit

• you have earned +25 stardust for completing Wahoo's March task #3!

notes: n/a ^^

[Kazin]

★ THE IRIS CANOPY
Thani ★ last post

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The cats catch a delicate flutter of wings passing by, not letting the opportunity pass. (+2FP hummingbird)

A predator attacks immediately! (The patrol battled a shadow fox! Birdtreat loses -80% health for a wound on her side; she needs 2 posts of rest)

────── « ★★★ » ───────────────────────────────────────────────

★ FINDINGS ★
+2FP hummingbird

★ XP EARNINGS ★
death opt in

+110xp for words written
+10xp for patrol sent
+4xp for prey earnings
+20xp for predator battle
+710xp for prompts earnings

★ FINAL TOTALS ★
+10% hunger for patrol ★ -80% health for Birdtreat
+854XP → level 9 (1229/1200XP) → level 10 (29/1400XP)
• congrats! you have leveled up! rewards: +5 FP, +5 Herbs, +1 UR MYO

notes: n/a ^^

[Kazin]

★ FRACTURED CRAG
PeepinBones ★ last post

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A small bounty for the patrol! (+60 stardust, +2FP lemming, +1 catmint, +1 daisy leaf)

Cats in the distance! What will they do? (AgateBlaze and LeopardBlight see a rogue patrol in the distance! No one has trespassed; will the cats confront them, or leave them be?)

While looking at the distant patrol, AgateBlaze ran into a sharp stick, giving herself a scratch. (AgateBlaze receives a wound! -25% HP, no posts of rest needed)

────── « ★★★ » ───────────────────────────────────────────────

★ FINDINGS ★
+2FP lemming
+1 catmint, +1 daisy leaf

★ XP EARNINGS ★
death opt out

+30xp for words written
+5xp for patrol sent
+2xp for prey earnings
+2xp for herb earnings

★ FINAL TOTALS ★
+10% hunger for patrol ★ -25% health for AgateBlaze
+39XP → level 4 (359/500XP)

notes: n/a ^^

[Kazin]

★ WISHWATER CLAN
funnyzone24/7 ★ last post

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A little bit of fishing... (+2FP small fish)

...but not all fish are friendly! (The shark from last patrol attacks! Luckily, no one seems to have been hurt)

After the excitement of the patrol, one of them seems to have come down with some sort of illness... (Talonswipe has fallen ill! He will need one of the following to heal: coltsfoot, lovage, ragwort leaf, or stick. For each post he is sent out without being healed, he will lose -10% HP.)

────── « ★★★ » ───────────────────────────────────────────────

★ FINDINGS ★
+2FP small fish

★ XP EARNINGS ★
death opt out

+45xp for words written
+5xp for patrol sent
+2xp for prey earnings
+10xp for predator battle
+10xp for Wahoo's March task #1

★ FINAL TOTALS ★
+10% hunger for patrol ★ no health lost
+72XP → level 2 (312/300XP) → level 3 (12/400XP)
• congrats! you have leveled up! rewards: +2 FP, +1 Herb, +1 NR MYO

• you have earned +1 herb (user choice) for completing Wahoo's March task #2!
• you have earned +25 stardust for completing Wahoo's March task #3!

notes: yes, you are free to add your FP and herb(s) of choice when received
whenever you decide what you want them to be ^^ a writer will always mention
monthly rewards you've earned in replies c: