{tGB} Change

[ Pink - Fire ║ Viciss ║ CoS ]

Fear.

It was the only feeling coursing through her body. She couldn't move, yet she could feel her body changing. She had been grinning to her siblings a moment ago, but that wasn't the case anymore. Claws were piercing at her back, originating from a much greater cat. She couldn't move; the kit couldn't struggle, scream, run away, squirm...

She was immobile. It terrified her.

The moment the claws eased their grip on her, the moment the tom withdrew his weapon from her small body, the moment she felt herself regain control of her body- she ran for it. Viciss forced her paws to move, her muscles to work, or whatever wasn't numb to work just enough to get her away from everything. With her tail curled between her hind legs, she scurried away, only to crash against a fellow kit. If she had bothered to pay attention for once, she would have realized that the other was now a fellow Fire-Triber; instead, she shook in place, trembling every second. Almost instinctively, the kit buried her face on the other's fur.


[ Blue-Fire | Elliott | CoS ]

He didn’t know what happened.

One moment he’d been backing away from the terrifying Silver-Fire and realizing neither Lily nor Remmy would be accompanying him to his tribe, the next his sister had been squirming in the jaws of a terrifying cat with a tattoo he’d never know the like of, and then he was opening his eyes to a world of chaos.

The sensation of something hurdling into his side caught his attention more than the smell of Mister Morton. With a squeak of fright the small tom sprung away, eyes wide with fear- what happened? What was going on- what was that?! It took a moment to recognize the form of the cat, but the moment he did Elliott returned to her side, his own trembles fading out. ”C-Caydin!” He mewed, surprised. Lily’s sister! What was - what was wrong?

It wasn’t until then that he noticed the slightest flash of pink on her face- her face! Not alone. That was a relief. Snuggling up to the Pink-Fire, the tom tried to purr. He didn’t know what was going on, but Caydin was upset. If Caydin was upset, then he had to try his hardest to make her, well, not. It was the simplest thing in the world for the young tom.


[ Pink-Fire || Viciss || CoS ]

Viciss could only crawl into the warmth provided by Elliott, it reminded her of life, of the life she and the other cats had. Her ears perked up, catching the sound of her name. But that wasn't her name anymore... could she still use it?

Viciss slowly rose her head from the brightly colored fur, watery eyes glancing upwards trying to find the source among blurry lines. "...Lee?" She whispered, slightly relieved. "Lee! I..." she tried to speak, but her mews would only leave as mumblings in whisper-like tones. To her, she had already explained most of the situation to the other (although in an incomprehensible way) and simply clung to his fur all the more.


[ Blue-Fire | Elliott | CoS ]

Touching his nose to his dark-furred tribe mate’s cheek, the tom nodded. ”W-well. Eh—el-liott-t now I guess.” Spirits how long would it take him to say his own name without stuttering? He’d only just recently gotten a hang of saying Lily’s. Now that’s not her name either. The thought made him sad, for some reason.

The tom frowned, confused sightly, before his mind flatted him an image- something he’d seen only moment’s before his eyes had landed on his sister in the jaws of some foreigner - and pressed himself all the closer to the pink-fire. ”I’m s-sorry, Caydin!” He mewed, trying to calm her down, rasping his tongue over her currently accessible ear. The cat- the mean cat- he had had her, too!


[ Pink - Fire ║ Viciss ║ CoS ]
R-Really!?

The kitten had reduced her shaking, talking about other things seemed to help her forget about the numbing sensation. She raised her gaze, green eyes staring at brown ones, as if trying to look for something she wasn't aware of. " Elliott... Elliott is a really fitting name...," she muttered.

She lowered her head, the small kitten deep in thought. "My name was... Viciss....??," she looked back up with a sheepish grin, somehow unsure about her true name now. Yeah... I think that was it.... Parsley must have been right about my bad brain-, she made a sad expression to herself, now confused.


[ Blue-Fire | Elliott | CoS ]

Smiling shyly as the Pink-Fire met his eyes, Elliott though about his name once more. It was kinda nice, he thought, she was right there! And it had “Lee” In it too! Maybe, one day, he’d even be able to say it right! That would make him really happy.

”Th-thanks.” He purred quietly, pale brown eyes flickering around once, twice, before looking back at his new Tribe-Mate. ”V-vic-ciss.” He mewed slowly, trying and failing to sound out the name without stuttering. ”Pretty.” She looked a little calmer now, that was good! Kneading the ground ever so slightly, the tom let himself look around again. ”Who w-were those cats?”

[ Pink - Fire || Viciss || CoS ]

Viciss grinned, forcing the rest of her nervous shake to stop and pushing the fears away. She enjoyed the way it sounded, though she somewhat missed being called Caydin by her friends. " Ah- them...? " the pink-fire turned around, her ears lowering as her eyes scanned the area. Narrowing her eyes to the spot, she glared at those who willingly moved forward, those who joined them. "...... ;" there was a silence from her part before she continued: " I don't know but.... they possibly can't be trying to do what's correct ."

She glanced back to the blue-fire and gave him a smile. " I know how we can find out! ," the feline exclaimed, a mischievous plot already creating in her head. She crouched some and started walking towards a nearby group of cats who seemed to be talking about the intruders.

[ Blue-Fire | Elliott | CoS ]

A small squeak of surprise escaped the apprentice as Viciss’s presence was removed from his side. Where was she going? Feeling suddenly exposed in without the touch of his tribe-mate by his side, Elliott crouched down, pressing his belly against the ground in a desperate attempt to simply not be noticed by anything or anyone.

She was - she was going up to strangers! Eyes wide as moons the little cat whimpered, tail pressing against his side in an fear. He could still see the Pink-Fire, she was directly in his line of sight, but she was moving farther and farther away and he was feeling more and more terrified with every step she took.

Gathering his bravery in his chest, the little apprentice took a deep breath and pictured himself like his papa, proud and strong with a green tattoo. keeping that image in mind, he slowly crept beside the pink-fire, a look of terrified determination on his tri-colored face.


[ Pink - Fire || Viciss || CoS ]

Viciss wasn't really expecting the other to follow him into action, she had actually planned to simply sneak between paws and gather some information, easy as that. However, the whole commotion made sneaking into the conversations all the more difficult; the closer she got, the more she worried about getting stepped on and caught, but that was just enough to make her keep going. It was a thrill.

She crawled closer to a small group of cats before glancing back at Elliott with a wide grin. The Pink-Fir moved a bit closer to him before whispering: "If we stay at this distance, we can make out some of the words they're saying." Experience seemed to make her feel like an expert in this sort of things; leaning closer she managed to get a better view of all the cats that went after the group of thieves; however, when it came to words, her ears were practically deaf to their words. "L-le- Elliott," she corrected, "I can't really understand anything!"

Sadly, the she-cat had whined a bit too loudly for older cats directed their glances to their direction.

[ Blue-Fire | Elliott | CoS ]

Nodding faintly at his Tribe-Mate’s words, the skittish tomcat peered around his ears perked up, listening. There were so many conversations going on at once! He was pretty sure some cats were talking about butterflies — but what did they have anything to do with it?! Only able to catch bits and pieces of the conversations happening around them, Elliott blinked at the Pink-Fire in concision.

”B-bugs?” He offered, frowning a little. ”I think they’re t-talking about butterflies?” What was so frightening about butterflies? Sure they were creepy-loping if you got to look at them really, really close, and there were those really pretty ones now that could make things really cold, but they weren’t scary. Not really. Not enough to make all the big cats worried like they were now. Flinching a little at the loudness of Viciss’s voice, the tam backed away slowly from the gazes of the cats who’s attention they’d briefly caught.
”Ca- Vic-ciss!” He hissed suddenly, eyes widening as he looked around the clearing. ”V-Vic-ciss where’s your d-dad?!”

[ Pink-Fire | Viciss | CoS ]

A dumbfounded look clouded her face; she shook her head in an attempt to wipe it off. " Butterflies...? Why would they worry about butterflies?" the she-cat pondered for a bit, remembering how easy it was to chase away butterflies. The train of thought continued as she tried her hardest to make out any words from the bunch of grown-ups. " Golden?, " she repeated put loud and her eyes then glanced at the tri-colored friend.

" Dad? He should be over..." Viciss glanced back to the leaders, frantically searching for the mess of long blue-gray fur that distinguished her dad. She darted her glance around, searching for Basil as well only to find her mother with a worried expression, the possibilities downing on her. Her ears seemed to glue themselves to her skull and her tail wrapped tightly around her hind legs. " He's not around and I don't want to know where he is! "

The thought of her father no longer being there terrified her, suddenly remembering what it was like to not be able to move, to fall victim to another cat. "Elliott!" she muttered under her breath, "we're changing our mission... "


[ Blue-Fire | Elliott | CoS ]

The apprentice’s eyes grew quite wide as he heard the darker feline repeat the word. ”Golden? Golden whats?” Maybe they were talking about the story of the Golden Butterfly. That would make sense - right? Momma had told him the story once, when he was smaller. The kitten had interrupted her though, afraid of where the story would go. It sounded like it was gonna be a scary one, and he’d been sleepy. But what could these cats have to do with him? Frowning the small cat tried to piece together what had been said, but couldn’t seem to find any logical conclusions to come to. The golden Buttefly’s been dead for ages!

The quiet voice of Viciss brought him back to attention though, and the Blue-Fire’s golden eyes blinked at his friend. ”Wh-what?” He whispered back, the breathy voice making his stutter far more difficult to control. A mission? He could feel his heart sinking - the last time a cat had had a mission for him to go on, his sister had almost drowned. He couldn’t let Viciss go alone, especially not if it was something dangerous, but he could certainly try to persuade her to change her mind. ”Wh-what do you w-w-w-ant to do-o?”

[ Pink-Fire ║ Viciss ║ CoS ]

Viciss didn't bother looking looking at Elliott, she simply stood up again and started walking towards the crowd. "We're going to look for Dad!," no, she needed to be told her father was still around, that he hadn't been taken as well, that he would be back. She needed him back. But that was something she wouldn't admit.

Almost entirely blinded by worry and fear, she was about to dash towards the crowds of cats to search for Lully. If Elliott didn't want to run after her, now was the time to pull her back.

[ Blue-Fire | Elliott | CoS ]

”Wait!” Frown on his tri-colored features the patched tom jumped forwards at her sudden motion, his paws awkwardly landing him on her tail. ”V-V-Viciss!” He hissed again, eyes wide with intensity and sheer fright. ”We c-can’t!”

What if something was wrong? What if something bad had eaten Lully? Elliott really didn’t want to be eaten, and they were hardly more than kits! Finding the Silver-Water would be a task for someone older. ”The S-Silver-F-Fire can tell us Wh-where he went.” So could Mama Basil, Probably. And Mama herself! She was Papa Lully’s Deputy, she should know. right?

[ Pink-Fire ║ Viciss ║ CoS ]

Viciss was definitely ready to go on, but she was pulled back by a sudden grip on her tail, which made her lose her balance. Stumbling backwards, she finally paused and looked back at Elliott. " Right...." she muttered with tears on her eyes. They weren't strong cats, not even the older cats could do something about the strangers, how were two kits going to get Lully back?

The Pink-Fire shook her head. "Then, let's go back to the tribe! I'll race you there Elliott!" If she didn't think about it, everything would eventually fall back in place, or so she thought.