The Demon and the Mute

[Vaermina]

Tariq glided through the trees silently, his small size helped him easily slip between branches without so much as a rustle. Being eight moons old, most cats would be nearly twice his size at the same age, but his growth had halted at four moons. He wore a purple collar around his neck, it had a tag on it that read "Fiver". Some would find this hilarious considering he was a follower of HABIT, and thus, a Rabbit. Fiver was the runt of the litter in a movie that his last human had watched. Tariq found it slightly degrading to live with a human, but he bounced around from town to town as he tried to reach HABIT's home. He knew he was close and had tried everything he could to get the collar off, but it persevered. He had given up quite a while ago and just let it be.

[The HABIT]

Sorrow was laying limp on a branch, her limbs dangling, silent. She had this...air around her. Loss, grief, pain. It was so thick, anyone could easily get caught up in it by speaking to her. She was never the same since her son was taken from her. All throughout her pregnancy, she vowed to protect her kits.....and now...He was gone..Her little Asher... She had not stopped avoiding Baxter's gaze, despite what he said about it not being her fault. She never told him what really, really happened in that cold attic. She sighed heavily, looking down at the ground to see a figure moving quick. She tilted her head, then slipped her long, black tongue across her jaws. Dinner...

[Vaermina]

Tariq suddenly stopped, he could feel the eyes of another. He glanced to his sides, then up. There was a she-cat on a branch, a pretty silver tabby. He observed her for a moment, a queen, the she-cat had had kits not long ago. His eyes were the color of a sunrise, and seemed to glow in the night. A growl of thunder echoed in the distance and he slipped into the shadows thinking that it was an ordinary cat. If he had chosen to study it closer he would have known to take more precautions as he continued his journey.

[The HABIT]

Sorrow crouched and leapt from the branch, landing silently and slipping after the Tom, her metal claws every now and then clicking against stones. She slipped through bushes and brambles, low and unseen among the shadows. She followed the tom's scent easily. Her senses surpassed others' immensely, and it was extremely easy to keep along his scent trail and to not alert him.

[Vaermina]

Something was going off inside Tariq's head, something wasn't right. He began moving faster.

[The HABIT]

Sorrow chuckled, flipping her mask over her face and her hood up, gaining speed also.

[Vaermina]

The small tom could hear his heart thumping in his chest, 'Stop being so paranoid, you go through forests all the time.' he thought to himself. As it started to rain, he looked around with a snarl on his face and began to seek shelter. He began cussing the best he could, the only sound he would admit was a painful squeak every now and then, but otherwise he was completely silent as his mouth moved. Ticked off and soaking wet, he slipped into a rabbit hole and stared out of the entrance, waiting for the storm to pass.

[The HABIT]

Sorrow loved the feeling of rain, and even thogh the air was damp and began washing away scent, she could still smell them, and leapt into a bush and hid when her target dissapeared into a rabbit hole. She stepped out, her tail swishing, and her overly-long, jagged metal claws gleamed.

[Vaermina]

Tariq found it incredibly boring in the rabbit hole, if he had a voice he would probably make due with talking to himself, but noo. He just had to be born mute. Water began pouring in the hole, hitting him in the face from his crouched position. He quickly leaped out of the hole, once again trying to scream obscenities. Not even a squeak resonated from him this time as he stormed about on a silent rant.

[The HABIT]

Sorrow jumped when he stormed out, fluffing up in surprise, she wasn't expecting him to suddenly pop out. She backed up and crouched down, about to leap at the Tom kit

[Vaermina]

Tariq turned his head to see a masked figure staring at him, it was about to attack and he could tell. He turned his entire body to face the cat, but stayed calm and relaxed. He was much calmer than before, in fact he seemed to have completely shut off his emotion. He just stared at the presumed attacker with a blank expression while he tried to think of a way out, 'The rabbit tunnels? No, they're probably flooded by now. The trees? You have no tail, idiot, and with that comes almost no balance. Running? You'd be dead in seconds. Well what can I do? You sit, and let this play out.'

[The HABIT]

She was about to leap...But..stopped. Why did she stop?
She tilted her head and stood straight, and curled her tail in sudden curiosity. She sat down, her tail waved back and forth.

[Vaermina]

Tariq stayed where he was in case this was some clever trick to make him come closer, but did reach forward and draw on word in the mud, hello.

[The HABIT]

Sorrow didn't remove her mask, but her remaining forest green eye sparked in even more intrigue. "Hello to you, too" she said, her voice still muffled. Her claws slid in their sheaths, but they were so long that the ends still protruded jaggedly from the sheaths. It took her a moment, but she decided it would be ok. She lifted a paw up and brought the eerie mask off of her face, and shook the hood of her hoodie down.

[Vaermina]

Tariq looked at the she-cat without her mask for a moment then wrote, "Did HE get a hold of you?"

[The HABIT]

Sorrow put a paw up and wiped the blackness that never stopped moving down the side of her face with a sigh, "If you're talking about HABIT, then, yeah.." She said with a chuckle. "I'm not very alive, sorry about me going to hunt you down and cannibalistically open you up and steal your liver than eat it in front of you" She chuckled.

[Vaermina]

Tariq just looked down and wrote, "Oh no! Scary kitty, don't eat me!" though his face had broken into a small smile.

[The HABIT]

"If I was going to, you would be as alive as I am right now" she cheekily smiled, her tail curling in her interest. "So, how did you know HABIT?" She asked

[Vaermina]

Tariq looked at the she-cat, if HABIT had done that to her, he doubted that it would be very smart to reveal his alliance with the murderous tom. So instead he bent over to write two meaningful words in the mud. "My Family." the look on his face turned grim as he looked back up at the queen. Though this was all an act, he tried to change the topic by writing a few more words, "What are their names?" he knew that this was the cat that was laying in the tree.

[The HABIT]

Sorrow sighed. "My little tom, Asher, and a shekit named Emerald. Emme is still wth us but...HABIT took my son.... Well, I guess it was technically his son, too, but--I--didn't really--...Have control over that...." She said quietly, her ears flattening, and her eyes darting down.

[Vaermina]

Tariq dipped his head in respect and wrote, "I wish you the best of luck, and that you may someday meet your son again."

[The HABIT]

She nodded quietly, before asking "So, where are you off to in such a big rush? It wasn't hard to follow you, but man, you were going quick. I doubt it was because of me, I literally spent my whole life learning how to stay hidden" she asked, waving her tail.

[Vaermina]

"It was about to rain and I didn't want to be standing in it." he wrote, his fur now plastered to his sides from the liquid.

[The HABIT]

"Haha, I love the rain, almost as much as I like liquor, which is a human thing I brought over when we were all changed" she said and smiled, looking to the sky and letting the rain wash away the black ooze that trailed from her missing eye.

[Vaermina]

He cocked his head and wrote, "Changed?" though he was quickly running out of room.

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