ORIGIN

The hairless cat, looking quite a bit like an overgrown rat, simply stared as the fluffy heater ate the last scrap of meat. A flash of a grimace crossed his face, but the expression was quickly lost, with nothing but passing nausea to keep it going. Gaze still pinned on his companion's face, the newborn blinked slowly, ears twitching, when she bent to groom between his strange, lemon-shaped eyes.

The smell of blood was strong, but it didn't bother him much. Perhaps it was more the idea of eating than the idea of hunting or killing, considering his purr only increased, setting up a strange, crackling rumble that mimicked the sound of a soft, open flame. His tail stilled and then swung to rest over his paws, providing no true comfort but a facsimile of the thing nonetheless.

He pushed into the grooming, eyes slipping shut for once, seemingly very, very content at the warmth he was receiving in return for the rat.

Whether the hairless cat hadn't noticed their surroundings or simply didn't care was unknown, but his purr continued on, oblivious to his companion's growing anxiety. The sound came to an abrupt halt when his space heater moved away, and the kitten's head snapped up in an instant to stare, just a touch annoyed, at the fluffy newborn. A shiver wracked his gaunt frame, and he got up with a stretch and a shake, slowly moving after his companion.

Where the other cat carried herself with poise, tail raised, ears and eyes alert, the permanently-cold loaf of wrinkles that drifted behind her moved... strangely. It was almost a creeping way to walk, more suited to a spider or a beetle, cautious and wavering, as if certain his very paws would sink through the ground. His pencil-thin tail dragged behind on the ground, skin rasping against the ground as it twitched, either unable or unwilling to do its duty and help balance the babe it was attached to.

His gaze was, for a moment, glued to his fleeing space heater, but the attention quickly switched to a nearby tunnel. It looked... warm. Warmer, anyway, and the kitten slowed, hesitated, tried to meow once more and produced nothing but a hideous cough.