"ah!" startled, belladonna skidded to a halt, right at the paws of an unfamiliar fawn-pelted tom.
she processed what was going on and mewed drowsily, "who are you?..."
melete and weasel rushed to the black tortoiseshell's side. "oh..oh dear. it seems the fever has come back." melete mewed, red eyes anxious. "here, try feeding her this watermint." weasel put out a paw and let belladonna lap the herb up, then turned to the rogues. "yeah, who are you?" she asked warily, narrowing her lime green eyes.
the rogue in front, the same fawn tom that belladonna had nearly crashed into, stepped back and meowed, "oh, we mean no harm. we're just trying to climb the mountain. which, i assume, is what you were doing before you came down."
weasel's fur relaxed and began to lie flat again. "ah, i see. you're going to get some etherblooms too?"
the fawn tabby nodded. he opened his mouth, then shook his head. "oh, how rude of me! i forgot to introduce me and my companions." he meowed, looking slightly embarassed. "i'm atlas, and these are falcon, caribou and hare." he gestured with his tail, and a mottled brown tom, a skinny, pale gray molly and a ruddy tabby tom with large emerald eyes emerged from behind atlas.
weasel turned around to see that now belladonna and melete's attention was now focused on the rogues. "nice to meet you. i'm weasel, the rosetted molly is melete, and the...tortie who almost bumped into you guys earlier is belladonna. ..heh...sorry about that."
melete perked up and rushed over to meet the other patrol, belladonna trailing behind with a dazed look in her mismatched eyes. "oh my goodness, hello! who're you?" she chirped cheerfully. the other three went over to talk to her, while atlas gave belladonna a concerned look. "is she alright?"
weasel glanced at the patrol leader uncertainly. "yeah..i hope so. she's been having these weird hallucinations recently. it's weird. she keeps on thinking there's something watching her in the ether." the chocolate molly looked up at the shifting stars. everything seemed normal to her. maybe it was just the fever, and mania messing around in her dreams...if that part was real, of course.
atlas nodded, concern in his eyes, but he was completely taken aback when he saw cheeto.
the bird squawked and spread his golden wings, making them glow in the sunlight. "is- is that?! a phoenix!? a real one?"
he asked in awe, yellow eyes wide.
weasel swallowed a purr. belladonna seemed to have snapped out of her daze. she smiled and mewed, "yes! cheeto's a rarity," and continued to blather on to a captivated atlas about cheeto and phoenixes.
"oh, right! let's eat!" melete called, padding over to weasel and belladonna.
"do you want to eat with us too?" she turned to the rogues and asked.
caribou grinned. "of course! that's kind of you all. but we brought our own prey, so don't worry about sharing."
weasel bit into a mouthful of mouse. it was cold and plain, but somehow it seemed to taste sweeter with all these cats around.
as she looked around and watched as the rogues and their little trio mingled and chattered with each other like a flock of starlings, a warmth bubbled up inside of her. she glanced at melete next to her, talking excitedly with hare and falcon.
it all gave her a sense of camaraderie.
she smiled.
...maybe eating together isn't so bad after all.
suddenly, everyone fell silent. sensing that something significant was happening, weasel whipped her head around.
oh no.
belladonna was hissing, glaring at no cat in particular. in fact.. she was glaring at...
the ether.
it sent chills down weasel's spine, seeing her friend act so angry and enraged at something.
melete let out a cry and rushed over to the tortie as she continued hissing. the rogues fell silent. "how dare you?! you dare taunt me in your dreams? stars cursed mania, get out! go away and leave me alone! let me sleep in peace."
she spat out the last words like she'd just bit into a rotten piece of her shrew.
and then she sank back onto the snowy ground. "stop it. stop it. stop watching me." she shivered, continuing to gaze at the ether and not breaking her gaze even once.
"oh..oh dear. i see what you mean." atlas mumbled, nudging weasel with a shoulder. the chocolate she-cat ran over to belladonna and yowled, "belladonna, it's okay. there's no eyes in the ether watching us. the gods have better things to do."
belladonna blinked, expression unreadable.
"mania is going to pay. i know what we're going to do next." she whispered, so only the three of them could hear.
"we're going to find mania."
"h-how?!" melete meowed anxiously.
"we...tomorrow. we go to the paracosm."
———
"go to the paracosm?!" are you insane?!" falcon cried, his face filled with alarm.
both groups had spent the night in the cave the three wanderers slept in a few days ago.
"it's going to be dangerous." hare sighed, shaking his head. "anything to do with mania could go wrong easily. the paracosm — and mania themselves, actually, are unpredictable."
"i know.." weasel sighed, pelt spiking in worry. "but i have a feeling if we do....we'll be able to fix belladonna.
...hopefully."
as she met the rogues' concerned gazes, weasel sent out a silent prayer to the pantheon.
i seriously hope this goes alright and nothing too horrible happens.
please.
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[ # 916 words ]
-- cats on patrolbelladonna | she / her | HP 100% | HUP 30% | Sick: Yes (again </3)
melete | she / her | HP 100% | HUP 30% | Sick: No
weasel | she / her | HP 95% | HUP 30% | Sick: No
-- custom predators / prey? n/a
notes :: no exp today!! also slightly shorter post today </33
but TATSU HOW DARE YOU MAKE BELLADONNA SICK AGAIN.
inventory items used
x1 watermint
x1 mouse
x1 shrew
x2 bugs
[/quote]
