Wandering Souls of Path Waga

[Cloude]

Me and Kat writing all night go brr-
This is by both of us so yes. Kat is great- glad I can write with her. :'D

 

 

“This group shall do nicely… Not like it matters anyways…”

 

Nine nichelings, all gathered at the tail of a whale.. At least there was land there.

Some of them began to stir, adjusting to the overbearing heat and constant sounds of water lapping at the edge of the land.

 

The big black one woke first, blinking and rubbing his wing over his face. He didn’t seem fazed by any of the others, simply staring out across the sea. Wait, why wasn’t there a beach? Oh no. Turning around, he stared at the eight others, hissing under his breath. Great, strangers. His favorite.

“This is literally the last thing I wanted to wake up to. Please tell me this is just a dream and these are nichelings I have to murder brutally in my plan for mass extinction.”

 

Next was the one with the fangs- no, the other one. The one with water body and a glare that looks like it could put you six feet under. She woke up, looked around, then immediately kicked the bright yellow one in the face. Maybe her fur hurt her eyes or something. 

“Where the hell am I? Who are you? Oh wait…”

 

“OW- Dukku stop kicking people!” The yellow nicheling yelled, bringing her paws up to her face. She stood up, shaking her head a bit and opening her eyes. She then looked around at the other nichelings, giving a confused look. Eh, probably other nichelings like mom! She looked out at the water. “DUKKU GET BACK HERE!”

 

A brown and grey nicheling sprung up from her spot halfway between land and water, turning her head towards the yelling. She looked like she was about to ask something, but then her eyes widened and she looked around at the others. Who are these nichelings? Also, why does it feel like she’s slipping? She looked back down at her paws, realizing that she was only partially on the land. She internally panicked for a moment, pulling herself all the way up onto the land, then looking back up at the others. “Why is that one yelling?” She lifted a paw and motioned towards where the yellow nicheling was.

 

The big one-wow, like, really big-just gave her a look, staring with eyes that could burrow into your soul. “She got kicked in the face. If she doesn’t shut her mouth I am going to break her neck and toss her decapitated head into the ocean.”

 

The brown and grey nicheling stared back for a moment before attempting to walk up towards the yelling nicheling. She stopped and looked down when she felt something fluffy under her paw. Oh- yet another nicheling- and this one was white, too! She stopped and shook them a bit, completely forgetting about her goal to quiet the yellow one. “Hello?”

 

Said white nicheling started to stir, blinking open his eyes and staring at whoever woke him up. Huh, not often some random girl you don’t know wakes you up. Not that he was complaining. Sitting up,  he stretched, giving a smile to the brown nicheling. “Why, hello there. To whom do I owe-” And then he finally realized that he wasn’t at home. Oh no.

 

The female would have responded with her name, but she was a bit more worried about the fact that they cut themselves off. “You okay?” She tilted her head a bit.

 

“Um, no, I…” He blinked, staring at his paws. “Shouldn’t I be dead? That..how did I?”

 

“Dead? Why would you be dead?” She un-tilted her head to tilt it again. She then realized that was weird and un-tilted her head again. But she was asking a question so should she tilt it? She spaced out for a moment, trying to figure out if she was supposed to tilt her head or not.

 

The male shook his head, tapping his tail against the ground nervously. “N-nothing. It’s nothing. Maybe we should just focus on whatever is going on.”

 

The female flicked her ear, snapping out of the existential crisis. She sorta tapped the ground with her tail as well, thinking he had said something about a game or something. “Yes.” That was indeed the best reply she could think of, as she was lost in the void of tilt-ception at the time the words left his mouth.

 

Then, the other brown one woke. Like, the really brown one. Brown spots on brown fur. Lots of brown. She didn’t take it quite the same way the others did, merely scanning her surroundings with a surprised face. “I suppose it was a dream? Either way, this is...not good. I have no idea who anyone is. Well, it never hurts to meet new people.”

 

The first brown one flicked an ear and looked over at the fellow brown-furred female. “Hello. That monologue you just had is nice.” Social skills? Through the roof.

 

“Oh, thank you? I think?” She smiled, sitting down and turning her head to all the noise. “What’s with the screaming?”

 

The yellow nicheling abruptly stopped and turned to face the others. “Where’s Dukku?! I need to call him a rock for kicking me!” She pouted, looking around.

 

A blind brown nicheling seemed to pop up out of nowhere and push the yellow nicheling’s head down with a feathered wing. “Shush. Your continuous barking is offending the locals.”

Seriously- was he there the whole time or did he teleport? Why does that nicheling have two different wings? Why do they speak so weirdly? Oh the questions that could fill one’s head..

 

Again, the big one shrugged, seeming utterly done and like he wanted to commit murder. “Does this place even have locals? Looks pretty barren to me. Then again, I’ve never been on the back of...what is this? A whale?”

 

“Whale?” She turned and peered over the edge of the strange island, reaching a paw down to touch whatever was below it. She then yanked her hand back and making a weird noise before shaking her paw. “Well whales feel weird then! Like, really weird! They should get that checked out!” She shook her fur, seemingly unnerved by the feeling.

 

The big nicheling just sighed, turning away to glare at the horizon. Surprisingly, he didn’t block out the sun. Why was he so big anyway? Is that normal? Maybe it was his horns, they were massive too. “What a mad banquet of darkness.” He mumbled to himself.

 

“What?” She tilted her head a bit. Then untitled it, followed by another tilt. She stopped herself by shaking her head and looking around for something else to distract her. Oh hey, there’s still two nichelings snoozing! She walked over and shook them both with one of her paws. “Hey! Sun’s up and we still got an island to explore!”

 

Only one of the two nichelings responded. It happened to be the one with red fur and what looked like a skull marking covering his face. He slowly lifted himself up, looking down at the one whom had woken him. “Oh, why hello there~” he gave a small smile, though it was a bit unsettling.

 

The female looked up at the male, chills going down her spine. Something about the way he said that just didn’t sit right with her. “Hi… Uhm- Sun is up. Yes. It has decided to exist and bless us with our presence once again, so I advise you uh- have fun enjoying it because I gotta go talk to someone else now.” Yes, a rant about how lovely the sun is should deter the male. She turned and crept a little closer to some of the others, sitting down a fair distance away from the male.

 

The female with water body (and a powerful kick, apparently), hissed, glaring at everyone as best she could with only two eyes. “What is going on? If nobody has an answer, then I suggest you all shut up. It’s annoying. I can already tell that I’m not going to like any of you.” She hopped up onto a slightly higher spot, standing tall like that gave her literally any authority. 

 

“You can’t see the future, silly! Only nichelings with the tail feathers on their head can!” She smiled innocently and hopped up next to her. She doesn’t mean to come off as a threat, she just wants to be included in the fun. “We’re on a weird whale, right? We can start with that!”

 

The other female shot her a glare-which was less filled with absolute loathing than it usually was. She was less angry and more impressed that the other nicheling had the courage to even stand near her. Or maybe she was just dumb. “Telling each other our names seems more reasonable at the moment. Exploring can come after.” She raised her head even higher, almost like she was trying to seem taller. She wasn’t. Still short. “I’m Lilium.”

 

“Almond!” She said with a sweet smile. She tried to copy Lilium, raising her head a bit. She wasn’t very tall either, but she didn’t have the intention to be tall. She just wanted to have fun.

 

“Snickerdoodle.” The white male piped up, smiling. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.” Hearing a snort, he turned around, staring at the massive ball of angst behind him. “What?”

 

“Nothing, nothing.” He responded, even though it was obviously something. “Roik.” With that, he turned back around, still glaring across the water.

 

“Savior.” The other tall nicheling spoke up. He wasn’t taller than Roik- that’s almost impossible- but he was indeed also taller than average. He looked down at the nicheling sleeping next to him, nudging them a bit to see if they’d wake up.

 

A startled saber-toothed male sat up, shaking his head. He looked around, then got lost in thought. Well- at least the last nicheling is awake?

 

The brown spotty female shot him a look, honestly thinking he was dead there for a minute. Turning back to Lilium, she smiled. “Faithri, it’s nice to meet everyone!”

 

The yellow nicheling pushed the wing off her head, jumping up and looking around at everyone excitedly. “Names- yes- I have one- it’s uh-” She stopped to think for a moment. “Larry..? No- I don’t think that’s it.. Larry meow? No, still not right… Uh- hm.. Larry-meow.. Larry-merowr.. Lare-meror. Oh!” She jumped up a bit. “Laremerer!”

 

“Took you long enough.” Lilium mumbled, staring down at the bright yellow nicheling. “Oh and, I would say that I’m sorry I kicked you in the face, but I’m not. You look like several people I hate.” Not waiting for a response, she gestured to the winged nicheling. “You?”

 

The winged male looked up a bit, though he couldn’t exactly see where she was with his milky white eyes. Wait- how did he know she was talking to him? “Jmuie of the DoWii tribe. I would say it’s a pleasure to meet you all.. But my thoughts do not dull down to the mind of a bluebird.” It was hard to tell exactly what he was saying, but it could also be related to calling the others dumb?

 

Almond stared at him, tilting and un-tilting her head several times again. She was trying to make sense of the gibberish, but it just wasn’t happening. “Well I heard a J in there somewhere!” She smiled, straightening her head and looking around. Who hasn’t said their name yet? She repeated the names again, eventually realizing it was the sleepy nicheling they didn’t know. She turned to him, waving a paw in front of his face. When she got no response she tapped him on the head. “Hey, tooth boy, you there?”

 

Roik turned around, finally standing up-wow, he was even bigger now-and pushing his way through to where the silent nicheling sat. “Is he dead? That would make my job a bit easier.” He raised his wing, running it over the other nicheling’s head. Not sure why. That was kinda weird, Roik.

 

The saber-toothed male blinked a few times, shaking his head a bit. Feathers felt kind of different- but okay then. He looked up at the tall boy. Oh, a hot chad, nice. “Oh. Hi tall nicheling.”

 

Roik blinked, bringing his wing back to his side. “Doesn’t hurt to hope. Then again, maybe you being alive isn’t so bad. Cleaning up dead bodies isn’t fun.” With that mildly concerning line, he walked back over to his spot, sitting back down with a bored look. 

 

Lilium sighed, getting fed up with all these weird nichelings. “Dead boy, what’s your name? We should get moving soon.”

 

The ‘dead’ nicheling stared blankly up at Lilium. “Huh. That’s what father used to call me… But uh- Blackhole. Or at least that’s the name Mouse gave me.” He then looked around, trying to figure out exactly how many nichelings were there. Oh, nine, that’s a fun number, isn’t it? Well.. It’s kind of a loopy number. He went back to spacing out, thinking about the number nine. And feathers- because now his head has a weird feeling.

 

Lilium nodded, staring down each and every nicheling. “Since we’ve all introduced ourselves, I think it’s about time we get going. We need food, and there could be all kinds of predators. Unless somebody is willing to pick from the cactus.” She turned around, shooting one last look to the group. Then, brushing past a cactus, she disappeared into the grass.

 

Almond was going to offer to try and ask the cactus politely to give them fruit, but following Lilium seemed slightly more important. She glanced back at the cactus. “Sorry Timmy!” She said before running after Lilium.

 

And so the rest followed, because the only soul able to woo a cactus was Almond, and most of the others didn’t even want to try. This is the start of something great, don’t ‘cha think?

[Cloude]

Leave it up to me to be the one person to constantly forget that screenshots are a thing- AAAAAAAAAAAA

[Katumai]

Ah yes, our masterpiece

[Cloude]

3 minutes ago, Possum Girl said:

Ah yes, our masterpiece

It is beauty. It is grace. It puts a lot of words in peoples' face.

[Cloude]

Later in the day, Almond and Lilium had found a dried berry bush and yet another cactus. Right next to each other. Plant marriage, it totally exists.

 

Almond used her nimble paw to collect some berries from the bush, but she wasn’t exactly paying attention to that. She was paying more attention to Lilium and the cactus. “Hey, Hey Lilium. Hey. Lilium, hey.”

 

“What?” Lilium hissed, looking away from where she was observing some of the others. “Are you picking from the cactus? Have fun taking care of the blood on your paws.”

 

She shook her head and smiled. “Nah, the thorns would hurt. But you should come meet Gregory!” She had an excited look on her face, continuing to absently pick berries off the dried bush.

 

“Gregory?” She blinked, walking a few more steps to where Almond stood. “Did we miss someone?” She asked, briefly looking around for some other nicheling that had woken up late.

 

She giggled a little and shook her head. “Nope! Just met him, actually!” She pointed at the cactus. “He and Timmy have been arguing a lot. But he likes making new friends too!”

 

Lilium stared at the cactus in dismay, glancing between it and Almond. She pointed at the cactus, staring directly into Almond’s eyes. “You...named the cactus?”

 

“Nope! That’s his momma’s job! Or.. No wait- momma’s don’t name- His poppa’s job!” She was smiling, looking between Lilium and Gregory. “His poppa named him. He just told me his name!”

 

Staying silent for a few more moments, Lilium sighed, rubbing her face with one paw. “I’m not going to dignify any of this with a response.” She then turned around, walking off to speak with someone else.

 

“Wait- Please don’t go- You don’t have to talk to Gregory if you don’t wanna, it was just an offer.” Her smile had quickly been replaced with a frown. Sure, she felt bad for the fact that Gregory wouldn’t be able to make a new friend, but is that really as important as someone who actually talks and moves?

 

Lilium stopped for a moment, turning around and staring at Almond. After a few heartbeats, she sighed again, walking back over and sitting down next to her. “Don’t expect me to talk to the cactus.”

 

“Okay.” She sat down and went back to smiling. She was happy as long as someone was with her. “Gregory’s tired anyways- He can just go ninight for a bit.” Yes, that was a serious statement. She really does not know how to act like an adult, does she? She held a berry out to Lilium as an offering.

 

She stared at the berry for a moment, then grabbed it, eating it like she had been starving for ten years. “Poisonous ones are still better.” She mumbled, looking slightly less like she wanted to kill everyone than earlier.

 

“I can try to find you some later then!” She went back to picking more berries, putting them in a small pile to keep track of them. She may or may not have been trying to stack them as well. “They’re the ones with the tiny thorn things, right?”

 

“Mhm.” She responded. She ran her claws through the dirt, absently staring across the sea in silence.

 

Almond stared at the claw, thinking she was trying to make a drawing of some sort. “Tree?”

 

“Hm? What?” She blinked, turning around and narrowing her eyes at Almond. “Tree? What is that supposed to mean?”

 

She pointed at the claw. “Are you making a tree?” She’s not smiling nor frowning, just focused on the lines in the dirt. She even stopped collecting berries to focus. “Or uhh.. One of those acorns? From the smaller trees Steel told me about?”

 

“I’m not making anything.” She hissed, lashing her tail against the ground and probably whacking Almond a few times. “Just...thinking.”

 

Ow- being hit kinda hurts but alright. She just shook her head a bit and went back to collecting berries. “About what?” She is yet again trying to stack the berries. Very dead-set on making a tower. Or something tall at least.

 

“Oh, well, you see-that’s none of your damn business.” She snapped, looking back out across the ocean. Even so, she continued. “Just..about life, I suppose. Where things went wrong. How I ended up like...this.” She hissed out the last part, looking like for a second, just a second, she acknowledged how bitter and angry she had become.

 

She tilted her head a bit. “Well I think- this is pretty!” She smiled, un-tilting her head. She internally fought the urge to do the little tilt dance with her head, but she kinda couldn’t help it. It was just something she does. 

 

Lilium froze, flicking an ear and slowly turning her head towards Almond. “That...thank you, I suppose.” With that, she regained the expression she usually wore, turning away and staring into the water, tail curled tightly around herself.

 

“Is someone making you sad..?” She flicked one of her ears a bit, putting on a more serious expression. Well- serious as in she’s worried. She didn’t want to get any closer in case that’d make the other nicheling uncomfortable, but she felt like giving them a hug.

 

She scoffed, not breaking her gaze from the water. “More like I’m making them sad. Then again, maybe they deserve it. Maybe they should take a hint. Maybe they should understand that I don’t want them around!” She snapped, striking out a paw and running it through the water.

 

Almond thought for a moment, walking over and sitting down next to Lilium. “Did you tell them how you were feeling..?” She lowered her head a bit, thinking that might make Lilium a little more comfortable since she was trying to be tall earlier.

 

“Several times. He seemed to get the hint a few days ago.” Her gaze hardened, and she was somehow glaring even more intensely now. “He’s been gone for a while now. Not that he’s dead, he just vanished. Now I’m stuck with the damn kid.” She finally raised her head, looking more...solemn? Melancholic? “Lemonzest was a fool.” She whispered.

 

“He.. Disappeared..?” She stopped to think. “My friend disappeared a while ago too..” She mumbled that a bit, then shook her head. No- this isn’t about her home. “You have a kid..?”

 

“Oh yeah. I do.” She shook her head, finally facing Almond. “A daughter. Never wanted her, but here she is. Quite an irritating kid.” She slouched over, staring at her paws. “She thinks I hate her.” She said quietly, voice breaking just a bit. Wow, did Lilium actually feel bad about something?

 

“Never wanted her..?” She looked down a bit. She used whatever paw was farther away to start scratching the image of a tree into the dirt. “She thinks… Did you love her..?” She seemed to be on a different train of thought, but still trying to follow the conversation.

 

“I’m...not sure, exactly. I don’t hate her, but the fact she even exists is frustrating. Lets just say that her father wasn’t someone I liked.” Her gaze drifted to the sky, watching the clouds. “I wonder how she is right now. Maybe Xinnicai will find her…”

 

Almond was a bit confused. Were parents not liking each other not normal? “Well… Mothers normally get mad, don’t they? I don’t think I’ve seen anybody very close to their momma.. Well- other than maybe Honey? But Honey’s kinda mean..” She brought a paw up, rubbing the side of her head a bit before going back to drawing in the dirt. She was done with the tree, and now she was drawing a nest at the bottom of it.

 

“My mother was quite patient. She had...Gods, how many other children? But either way, she found a way to spend time with us. Trust me, it’s expected that mothers be kind to their children. But...it’s difficult when you didn’t expect they would ever be here.” She sighed. “I try. I really do, but I can’t help but resent the kid. I barely take proper care of myself, why would anyone expect me to raise a child?”

 

Mothers.. Being kind to children? That confused Almond a lot- almost like the thought of that refused to fully register as a valid statement. “I’m.. Not sure. Don’t children raise themselves..?” This entire conversation is extremely confusing. She tilted her head again, followed by doing the small tilty dance thing. She hit the side of her own head to make herself stop, then went back to her drawing. Now she’s drawing something in the nest.

 

“No, not usually. It’s dangerous for a child to be alone. Even when my mother couldn’t take care of me, she would at least have one of her friends or my dad watch me.”

 

“But.. But poppas don’t stay? Why would they watch?” Around the nest she was drawing some sort of cliff- like the nest was on a small cliff. “And isn’t the danger why they send them out? To see if they’re strong enough?” She is still very confused.

 

“No that’s...not normal.” She blinked, giving Almond a confused stare. “I would ask what your childhood was like, but I think I would rather not find out.”

 

“Oh..” She stopped what she was drawing for a moment, bringing her paw back over to the nicheling that was sitting in the nest. She put a little cross over the head before starting on drawing a smaller nicheling at the bottom of the cliff. Hey- looked kinda like Almond. Was she drawing herself?

 

Lilium watched silently, narrowing her eyes at the drawing. “What are you drawing?”

 

“I’m.. I’m drawing what I remember.. Before Honey was mad..” She seemed sad, though also like she was trying to go back to smiling. She put a small cross on the right side of the mini-her’s head, then drew a small circle above it. She then added a palm tree and a claw. The claw had nothing attached to it- only a claw.

 

“Hm…” She stared, silently wondering to herself. “Who’s Honey?”

 

Almond flicked her ear a bit, looking up at Lilium. She had a bit of a blank look before looking over at the water. Who’s Honey? Oh- wait- that’s the yellow one that uh- did the thing? “Yellow..?” She was trying to think, looking back down at the drawing. “Yellow.. Claw.. Yellow claw?” She pointed at the drawing of the claw with a confused look. “It hurts?” She absently rubbed the side of her head again.

 

She leaned forward, narrowing her eyes. “Yellow claw? Yeah, that’s specific.” She stared at the drawing again, not saying another word.

 

“She.. The tree.. She hurts..” She shook her head a bit, standing up and backing away a bit. “It.. It hurts.. I don’t.. I don’t wanna hurt..” She started scratching at the side of her head, flicking her right ear a lot- almost as if it was irritated by something.

 

Having absolutely no idea what to do, Lilium moved a bit closer, resting one of her paws on her shoulder. Her tail thumped against the ground, which seemed to be the only noise she was willing to make. She didn’t face Almond, but she stayed there, still trying to provide at least a bit of comfort.

 

Almond stopped scratching her head, but instead started tilting it again. Tilt, un-tilt, it’s just a weird little cycle. “I didn’t hurt him.. I don’t even know where he went.. Why’s she mad at me..” She looked like she was going to cry, but also seemed to be fighting herself to force a smile. She then just suddenly dropped, going to sleep. Something apparently made her exhausted.

 

Lilium blinked, staring down silently at Almond for a few heartbeats. Okay, now she was even more hopeless on what to do.

After checking to make sure she hadn’t died or anything, she walked off, deciding to sit a few feet away from the others. Almond was okay, so why should she have to stay? She’d be fine.

[Cloude]

ALWAYS FORGETTING THE DANG SCREENSHOTS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[Cloude]

The tribe just continued to press further through the grass, collecting from whatever bush they found before moving along. Once Almond had woken up, she raced to catch up with the others before stopping next to the cacti.

 

“Hey! Hi! What are your names?” She glanced over at some of her tribemates before looking back at the cacti.

 

Seeming to hear her, Snickerdoodle raised his head, turning around to smile at her. Noticing she...seemed to be talking to the cacti? Was she okay? Better go check. Standing up, he walked over, standing next to her. “What are you doing?”

 

Almond jumped a little, turning her head to look at him. She looked back at the cacti, then back at him again. “I’m talking to Ebony and Mushroom! They’re nice.” She smiled, looking back at the cacti again.

 

Snickerdoodle blinked, turning to face the cacti. He laughed quietly, genuinely thinking she was joking. “Oh, that’s nice. Strange names for cacti.”

 

“Cacti? No- they’re nichelings!” She looked up at him, pointing at the cacti. “Don’t you see all the brown fur? Er- Brown, black, and yellow fur?” She looked back at the cacti, tilting her head a bit. Yet again, she ended up doing the little tilt dance with her head.

 

“Ummm….” He blinked, narrowing his eyes at the cacti. Was Almond crazy? Or was he crazy and seeing nichelings as cacti? Deciding to humor her, he sat down, smiling at the cacti. “Well, hello uh...Ebony and Mushroom. How are you today?” Gods, he felt stupid-

 

Almond’s eyes seemed to light up with joy for a moment before she stared blankly at the cacti. She then gave a bit of a worried look. “Wait, what’s wrong?” She reached out to touch one of the cacti, quickly pulling her paw away when it poked her. “Ow!”

 

“Are you okay?” Snickerdoodle reached out, gently lifting her paw and inspecting it. It didn’t seem to be bleeding-at least not too bad. “Should be okay, might hurt to put pressure on it.”

 

She glanced over at him, but she didn’t seem too worried about her paw. She looked back at the cactus she had been trying to touch. “If you didn’t want to talk you could’ve just said so..” She flicked one of her ears, looking down a bit.

 

She was still worried about the cacti? He sighed, dropping her paw and nudging her. “Why don’t we go talk to someone else? Or look for some food that isn’t on a half dead bush?”

 

“But she’s crying.. I can’t leave her like this..” She looked up at him with another worried expression before looking at the cactus again. “Mus-” She seemed to cut herself off, taking a step back. Something seemed to have startled her, but nothing happened?

 

Snickerdoodle stepped back beside her, glancing from Almond to the cacti. His gaze drifted to the sky. Was night going to fall soon? Hard to tell, especially since he had never felt cold in his life. Heat body and all. Now that he thought about it, he looked a lot like the cacti-oh wait, Almond, uh…

“Well...would you like me to stay?”

 

She flicked her tail a bit, then hid behind him. She seemed to be trying to hide from the cactus. She didn’t even seem to be paying attention to the question- she was just suddenly scared of the cactus for some reason.

 

“Um…” Snickerdoodle stood up, gently nudging Almond towards the other nichelings. “We should go. There might be something out here.” He was terrible at this, oh no-

 

Almond looked up at him again and nodded silently. It wasn’t normal for her not to talk- but there’s a first for everything apparently. She stood up, starting to walk towards where he had been trying to nudge her.

 

Sighing, he followed her, glancing back at the cacti. What was that all about? Best not to dwell on it. He decided it may be best to sit near probably one of the least threatening nichelings here-Faithri. Damn cacti making people cry.

 

Almond sat down a little bit away from the two- not too far away, only a few paw-lengths. She stared blankly down at the ground, dragging a claw around in the dirt. She was back to drawing things. This time it was two nichelings blocking a child, a distant figure reaching a paw out for the hidden child. Yet again, there was a figure that looked much like Almond- said figure was the child.

[Cloude]

Finally spotting Almond, Faithri shifted her attention, tuning out whatever Snickerdoodle had been going on about. She got up, shooting a quick apology to Snickerdoodle before walking over and sitting next to Almond. “What are you doing?”

 

Almond lifted her head, tilting her head as she looked over at Faithri. And there she goes with the little tilt un-tilt thing. When she finally stopped, she gave a small smile, though she still looked somewhat scared. “Just getting thoughts out..”

 

Faithri nodded, staring at the drawing for a few moments. “What is it? It looks nice.” She looked back up, smiling at Almond.

 

“My thoughts.. Well, less thoughts and more what I can remember. If I don’t draw it then I won’t be able to remember it again.” She stared down at the drawing, adding smaller details to the figure who had been reaching out. One eye was just slightly smaller now.

 

Faithri nodded, looking back down at the drawing. She felt a bit uneasy about it, like there may be more to it than she understood. “Where did you come from? I mean, before you ended up here with us?”

 

“Home.” She took a moment to think after that to see if she could remember any details. She then started drawing large trees around the main drawing. “Big dark home. Very dark. And big. Tall, big, same dark.”

 

Faithri nodded, deciding to not question how...unsettling, that description sounded. She didn’t want to pry. “I came from a place a lot like this, except there was no whale. It was nice, lots of flowers and food. But then a drought came and...things got bad.” She went silent, looking at the ground.

 

“No whale? No whale either. Other than brown..? Brown whale! I think.” She moved a little so she had more space for a new drawing. This new drawing had two nichelings, though neither of them had very clear details. It was hard to tell if they were even nichelings or bearyenas. “Brown whales are mean. They hide a lot and get really mad.”

Faithri nodded, though she didn’t understand much of what she was saying. Brown whales? What? “Do you mean the bearyenas?”

 

“No bearyenas… No.. Brown.. Whales.. Whale, I was on it, I was on the whale.” With every movement of her paw she seemed to get faster, like she was trying to piece something together. She drew a whale under the two nichelings, and then gave one of the nichelings a claw. “Hurt.”

 

Faithri moved a bit closer, honestly concerned now. She still had no idea what Almond was talking about, but something definitely wasn’t right. “What hurt? Did someone hurt you?” She asked gently, trying not to make her scared or uncomfortable.

 

“Hurt.. It hurts.” She pointed at the claw. “It won’t stop.. It doesn’t. It won’t stop hurting.” She brought a paw up to the right side of her head, closing her right eye and flicking her ears. “Somewhere… Brown. Something is brown.”

 

“Brown?” Faithri blinked, registering that for a moment. She didn’t feel much closer to understanding what the hell was going on. “Hey um, how about we talk about something else?” She tried changing the subject, not wanting the poor girl to have a mental breakdown or anything. “We could go talk with someone else?”

 

Almond looked up from the drawing, staring at some of the tall grass. “Talking to someone? Who’re we talking to?” She looked around, but the only nichelings she could spot were Snickerdoodle, Faithri, and a distant Savior. Red dude isn’t close enough to talk to? Probably not the best idea to talk to him anyways. “Already talking, you and fluff are here.”

 

“Well, we could find the others and meet up with them. Some of them are pretty far ahead…” She stared at the grass, trying to see anyone that wasn’t Savior. It seemed everyone else had already made a distance between them. “It’s safer to be in large groups, especially one with Roik in it.” She chuckled at the last statement, standing up and stretching. “That guy could one-shot an ape.”

 

“Please don’t hit an ape? Pretty sure that makes them more mad.” She stood up, looking over at Faithri. “That, and you gotta try talking first. Talking is good.” She then looked back at Snickerdoodle. “HEY, FLUFF BOY, GET OVER HERE!”

 

Snickerdoodle’s head shot up from where he was staring at his paws, getting up and walking over to the two. “I’m assuming you meant me?” He smirked, settling down next to Almond. “I’ll take the name as a compliment.”

 

“Well I’d hope you wouldn’t think I was insulting you?” She stared at him for a moment before looking forward at the grass. “We gotta find the others, so don’t get too comfortable there.”

 

Snickerdoodle nodded, standing up again and looking back at Savior. “What do you think he’s doing? He hasn’t moved for a while.”

 

“I don’t know, but he’s giving me the chills. He had a staring contest with me at some point, can’t remember exactly when though.” She’s not going to look back because she knows it’ll give her a bad feeling, so she’s just staring at grass.

 

“Yeah, he creeps me out too. Something feels off about him.” He stared for a few more moments, then turned back to the others, gesturing to the tall grass. “C’mon, we gotta go. It could be dangerous out here and I think I’m dying from the heat.”

 

“Well I’d hope you’re okay! Dying doesn’t sound fun.” She smiled at him, then turned and ran into the grass.

 

Snickerdoodle watched her go for a few moments, then turned to Faithri, quietly laughing and following Almond. Faithri trailed after them, but not before staring at the sketch Almond made in the dirt for a few heartbeats. It still didn’t feel right.

[Cloude]

Once the tribe was all caught up, they slowed down a bit to collect more food. That, and possibly annoy each other to the point of no return.

 

Specifically a yellow purr-snouted nicheling. You know, the extremely annoying one who was shouting a bunch when they were at the ports?

“Hey! Tall boy! Down here!”

 

Roik paused, turning around. Uh, where did that voice come from-oh, right. He looked down, narrowing his eyes at the female. Her fur hurt his eyes. He automatically hates her. “What?” He didn’t even bother to try and sound nice-since she would probably be dead soon anyway. Bright fur and being loud are just inviting predators to come eat you.

 

“Hey, wanna play? You should play. Play with me!” This small, bright yellow, fluffy nicheling was bouncing up and down with energy. It was hard to tell if she just acted like a child, or if she was a child with a leaf over where the third gem would be.

 

Roik just cocked an eyebrow, thoroughly unamused. Seriously? He didn’t have time for this. “No.” He said simply, turning away and staring across the sea again. Yeah, looking real busy there, buddy.

 

The small yellow nuisance walked up and headbutted his wing. “C’mon, I need someone to play with! Blackhole and Jmuie were being meanies!” She furrowed her brows a bit in frustration, trying to move his wing.

 

Starting to really get annoyed, he tugged his wing away, hissing at her. “I said no! Go bother someone else!” He might just snap her neck if she touches him again-wouldn’t be a surprise. Big, strong, angry nichelings usually do that at some point in their lives.

 

“What if I don’t? Giraffe boy gonna do something?” She took a step back and smiled up at him. “Or are you just gonna sit there and be a bum?”

 

Roik finally snapped, snarling at her and swinging his tail around. Never a good thing when someone starts moving a hammer tail. Without hesitation, he swung at her legs, either intending to make her fall or snap them in half. He didn’t care which at this point.

 

There was a loud crack from one of the legs and she was knocked off balance, though she still didn’t seem any less full of energy. She backed up a bit and smiled again. “You didn’t even tell me what game we’re playing! Rude!”

 

Roik just kinda stared at her. Was she alright in the head? Maybe he should break that too-

“It’s called ‘leave me alone or die’. Either option is fine with me.”

 

“Hmmm… Well that’s just the name, silly! What’s the game about?” Her smile only got bigger. Fear didn’t really seem to register in her mind. Neither did making smart and rational decisions- She’s never had that ability.

 

“Simple. You either go away and bother someone else, or I cave your skull in.” Trying to prove his point, he hit his tail against a rock, but it just kinda bounced off and he ended up hitting himself. Oops.

 

“Sounds pretty complicated to me! Can you provide a detailed explanation, please?” Apparently she also doesn’t take hints. Like, any of them. “Mostly the second one- Are skulls caves? Momma told me it was something to be broken.”

 

“You know what?” He sighed, finally deciding to just give in. This girl obviously wasn’t going to give up-maybe she lost a few brain cells at some point.”How about we just fight? Fighting is fun.” Maybe he could get a chance to kill her.

 

“No. Fighting is to be saved for The Night of Blood.” She looked around a bit before smiling back up at him. “You look a lot like the grass dude! Just.. Taller. And black fur instead of grey. And a wing..”

 

He wasn’t even going to ask what she was talking about. Without a word, he grabbed her by the back of the neck and lifted her up-probably not too difficult with how big he was. He considered breaking her neck or just poisoning her, but he opted to just dangle her over the water. He wasn’t even sure what he was doing at this point.

 

She stared blankly down at the water, staying silent for a moment before reaching a paw down towards the water. The water looked so peaceful and still compared to her mind.. “There aren’t fishies here… Where’d they go?..”

 

He stood there for a few moments, still contemplating if he should drop her. Could she swim? I mean, probably, considering she had frog legs. Stupid frog legs. You know what? He was too tired for this. He sighed, sitting down by the water and making sure to keep her at least a little bit above it. He didn’t drop her or put her down. Just held her.

 

“The fishies are gone…” She went still, staring down at the water with an expression of sadness and confusion. “Why are they gone? Are they mad?..”

 

He shrugged, wanting to say some sarcastic, insulting comment-but honestly, he couldn’t bring himself to. He wasn’t soft-he just hurt her enough already. Physically. By breaking her leg. He might be kind of brutal, and uh, want mass extinction-but he had some empathy. Sometimes. 

“Maybe they’re just asleep or something.” He shrugged, trying very hard to make it sound like he really didn’t care.

 

“But when they sleep the red ones come out.. Because if the red one lures them away then they’re too tired to fight back… But there’s no red ones either.” She reached one of her paws down and poked the water. “It’s calmer than calm.. It’s not supposed to be that calm..” 

 

“Well...do you wanna go in? I could drop you. I’m sure you can swim.” Now he was starting to feel a bit like himself again-he was more scared about dropping her and then having to jump in and grab her if she starts drowning. Or not, he doesn’t care if she drowns. Nope.

 

“I don’t know how.. But I can find out!” She smiled, staring down at the water. “I’ve never been where it’s calm.. I wanna go there! Drop, drop!”

 

He hesitated for a moment, then let her go, dropping her into the waves. He just hoped the whale wasn’t moving too fast, it would be a pain to get her back out. If this ends up being the second time he murders someone, that would be kinda disappointing. Boring death.

 

Laremerer dropped quite a bit before kicking at the water to get herself back up. She probably didn’t realize that she wasn’t going to be able to breathe, because she actually seemed scared. She lifted one of her paws out of the water and clung onto the side of the dirt. “UP, UP  PLEASE!”

 

Roik sighed, leaning his head down and grabbing her scruff. He pulled her back up, dropping her a few feet away from the water. “You okay?”

 

“It’s cold, very cold. Extremely cold. Cold- Cold stays with dad, not me, no cold.” She backed away from the water and sat down, lowering herself towards the ground. She stared at the water, eyes wide. “It’s too cold…”

 

“Do you wanna go find that Snickerdoodle guy? He could warm you up.” He sat down next to her, spreading his wing over her back to try and warm her up at least a litte. He wasn’t very good at comfort-or social interaction. Or being a good person. Or-you get the point.

 

“The one with the snow fur?” She didn’t look away from the water, and stayed as still as possible. It’s like all of the energy she had just suddenly vanished when she went in the water. An abnormal calmness from the energetic nicheling- neat.

 

“Uh, yeah, that one.” He scanned the field, trying to spot him. Seemed like he wasn’t around-great. Probably flirting with the dumb one or something. Honestly getting tired, he just lay down, keeping his wing over Laremarer’s back and shutting his eyes. He just wanted sleep. Hopefully she would take the hint and move a bit closer, apparently he made a good enough heater. His brothers informed him of that a while ago.

 

But nah, yellow one doesn’t pick up on hints. Of any kind. She just stayed still and continued to stare at the water. “Snow fur was talking to others.. That’s why I didn’t bother him. Well- I was trying to bother the weird twitchy one- but still. You looked lonely, unlike pretty much everyone else. Well, other than Savior, but he’s busy staring at someone.”

 

Roik opened his eyes, staring at her for a few moments. He hated to admit it, but those words managed to pry some kind of emotion from his cold, dead heart. Maybe he won’t kill her. Yet. He didn’t say anything, just pulled her closer with his wing and shut his eyes again. He hadn’t gotten much sleep lately.

Laremerer put her head down on her paws, continuing to stare at the water. She wasn’t going to sleep any time soon, but if he needed to sleep then she could shut up for a while. Well, at least physically- She won’t talk, but she’ll think. Probably about where the fish went, because she really liked fish.

[Cloude]

I JUST REALIZED I FORGOT THE SCREENSHOT AGAIN AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[Cloude]

Meanwhile, the nicheling that had been spacing out before had been running far ahead of the tribe, though before he could get too far he was stopped by Jmuie.

 

“What do you accomplish through running?” Jmuie stared ahead at Blackhole, milky white eyes unmoving.

Blackhole had stopped running, sitting in a nest by a cactus. He looked back at Jmuie, pondering the question for a bit before shrugging his left shoulder. “I scout.” 

“Scout? Is that your word for traitory?” Jmuie took a step closer, though they remained within the tall grass.

“Traitory? No, I’m just looking for threats.” He glanced over at the water, then looked back at Jmuie.

“Do you not consider him a traitor?” Jmuie inched slightly closer, staring directly at Blackhole with his blind eyes.

Blackhole was silent for a few moments, though eventually spoke up. “What are you talking about?” His expression was a mix of nervous and confused.

“Was your father not a traitor to your tribe?”

. . .

Blackhole stared at Jmuie, trying to figure out how they’d know anything about his father.

“He didn’t do anything traitorous.”

“Is that why you had to follow him? He wasn’t a traitor?” He narrowed his eyes, making direct eye contact with the black-furred nicheling.

“Thorne is not a traitor, nobody betrays Pression.”

“Did he not betray you?” Jmuie lowered their head a bit, tone growing more serious. “Is your death not traitory?”

Blackhole stood up, doing his best to stop himself from growling. “Bye.” He turned and shoved the cactus that was next to him down, then proceeded to continue his running from earlier.

[Cloude]

Later in the day, Almond had stumbled up to Lilium with one of her paws curled up into a wide fist. No, she wasn’t about to hit the grumpy one.

She stumbled a little closer before reaching her open paw out and tapping Lilium’s shoulder. “Lily, hey.”

 

Lilium turned, narrowing her eyes at Almond with a hiss. “What is it? I’m not exactly in the mood for your presence.” 

 

Almond smiled and held her other paw out, opening it to reveal quite a few poison berries. “These! For you. Yeah!” She tilted her head ever so slightly, but it wasn’t because of her normal head tilt. This time it was from dizziness.

 

Lilium blinked, taking the berries and staring at them for a few moments. “Thanks.” She said, immediately going to town and eating them like she hadn’t had food in days. She looked back up at Almond, narrowing her eyes. “Uh, are you okay?”

 

“Yes, ‘kay.” She looked over at the boulder beside them, narrowing her eyes to try and make the boulder stop shaking. “Berry like?” She tilted her head a little more, putting her paws down in a weird position to keep herself from falling.

 

Lilium blinked, taking a step forward. “Uh, yeah-but you don’t look so good.” She sat down next to her, just in case she tumbled over sideways. “You should lay down.”

 

“Nooo, no.” She tried to get up, but she just kind of fell back down in the same spot before sitting up. She looked around, then down at the ground. She closed her eyes to try to get everything to stop spinning. “I’m just sit. Bit.”

 

Lilium stared for a moment, before the realization finally dawned on her. “Oh no...you were poisoned weren’t you? You really aren’t very smart.” 

 

She was going to object, but both things were true so she didn’t. “Berry?” She tried to act like that would help her case at all, but quickly came to the conclusion that it probably didn’t. “Yeah, am dumb.” 

 

Lilium just gave her a look, before sighing and nudging her forward. “C’mon, let’s go find Laremarer. She can help you.”

 

“Where?” She opened her eyes and looked around a little, but that really didn’t do well with her vision. She squinted, trying to figure out where anything was.

“I’m not sure.” She was already getting annoyed by poisoned Almond, so she just dug her teeth into her scruff and dragged her away into the grass. She was already poisoned, Lilium’s venom wasn’t going to do much more damage.

[Cloude]

Oh yeah, to just,, anybody that reads this playthrough- If the days are wonky that's because I'm dumb and keep mistaking the day counter for the senses button. I'll be trying to go back to sight but click the day counter because I'm just,, dumb. Sjshkivgnhjtkh