Username: SkyWishes21
Cat Name: Dustbowl
Gender: Trans Molly, she/her
Rank: medic
Clan: Overlook Station Prompt: High off the double victory of the herb gathering competition and the snail races, Dustbowl bounded into the herb storage. Her big paws went galumph-galumph and the basket she carried in her mouth went swish-swish as her joy lifted her off her feet…
CRASH!
…and directly into the carefully arranged shelves of herbs. Turns out, when you mix the speed of boundless joy, the itty-bitty interior of the storage, and Dustbowl’s own oversized body, you get a recipe for disaster.
“Oh sweet gastropod gods.”
Herbs were everywhere: the floor, jumbled in piles that should be meticulously sorted, even her own fur! Her breath came in panting heaves as she surveyed the damage. Dustbowl herself was only lightly bruised thanks to her thick coat, but the herb stores… well, in accidents past, the mess was something she could tolerate cleaning up with no one the wiser. Right now, it looked like a tornado had swept through the place.
Dustdevil was going to kill her. Her fellow medic was typically a bright, bubbly sort - until her perfect organization was wrecked. There was no way Dustbowl was going to tell her exactly how the herb storage got to such a state. Now to find a perfect excuse…
As if the snail gods or perhaps her ancestors were smiling down on her, the faint scent of rabbit drifted into her nose. It couldn’t be that far away - maybe through the exterior entrance of the medic’s hall? Dustbowl shook the herbs from her pelt and crept past the thankfully empty nests to investigate.
Wildly close to Overlook Station was a big, fat, juicy rabbit. It was downwind, hadn’t noticed her yet. Perfect. Dustbowl could pounce on it, drag it inside, let it run around for a minute or two before she caught it properly and wailed her woes to Dustdevil, who would be none the wiser.
Step one was easy. She was an experienced rabbit hunter thanks to her years of living off them before joining the Station, so cornering it and catching its scruff in her jaws took less time than crashing into the herb storage had.
Step two was… more of a pain. The darn thing was huge and kept struggling as she carried it back inside the medic’s hall and back. A couple times it nearly escaped her jaws and it was only by the grace of snails she managed to hold it in place.
Thankfully, once she got it inside step three was as simple as opening her jaws and watching the terrified prey run around for a minute or two. As soon as she let go, the rabbit started running around, trying to find the other exit. Perfect. Dustbowl settled in to watch.
At first, things seemed to go smoothly. The rabbit ran around in circles, knocked into the shelves, and spread its rabbity scent all over the stores.
Unfortunately, just as Dustbowl was languidly preparing to pounce and strike, the rabbit discovered the other exit. As in, the exit that led to the rest of the station proper. It zoomed out like its feet were on fire, forcing her to leap into action.
“Get back here you stupid bunny!”
Dustbowl chased the rabbit through the station, past baffled onlookers and around in circles, until she finally had it cornered. No escape. No mercy. Only a scapegoat that she triumphantly snapped the neck of with a triumphant yowl.
“What are you doing?” a familiar voice mewed.
Her head snapped up to see- ah, crud. She’d chased the rabbit right where Dustdevil was chatting with another member of the clan. Dustbowl coughed awkwardly, sides heaving from the exertion.
“Well, I-uh-” Dangit, her lie wasn’t prepared yet. One moment - oh there we go. “I was putting away today’s herbs when this huge rabbit came into the storage! It must’ve smelled food or something, I don’t know. Anyways, I tried to catch it but it knocked over the herb shelves and made a big mess before running out here and, well, you saw the rest.”
The tiny bouncy birds that made up Dustdevil’s brain must’ve been working overtime the way her expression shifted. First it was bafflement, then ‘oh snails, how bad is it in there?’ Then she looked between Dustbowl and the rabbit with nothing short of suspicion before finally deciding that it wasn’t worth interrogating anything Dustbowl said.
Dustbowl let out a sigh of relief just as Dustdevil sighed an exhausted sigh.
“All right,” Dustdevil said, only half her typical smile. “Let’s go see the damage.”
