Kallista lay crouched down, hardly having moved after the battle. Dried blood had crusted around the socket, as well as around her face. Her face was also burnt and had many other scratches. She was covered in scratches. She lay there, shivering occasionally, be it because she was cold, scared, or something else. She had never felt this way about someone before. She was angry, she was anxious, she was terrified. Angry that she had let someone do this to her, anxious because they could do it again, terrified because who knew what would happen now.

She wondered who all they had done this to. There was no way she was the first. The movements of the caracal were practiced, as if they had done it many times. Kallista didn't doubt that they had. She wanted to protect everyone, protect them from the claws of the caracal. But how could she protect everyone when she couldn't even protect herself? The image of them leaping at her, the feeling of the claws digging into her eye, the pain of the eye coming out. She let out a whimper as it continued to replay in her mind.

She was curled around herself, paws covering her face. She didn't want anyone to see her like this. She didn't have the strength to move, to do anything. She just wanted to lay here, hoping no one would see her like this. She felt as though she was going to die here. Die as a horribly injured cat. Die, and have no one remember her.

No, that wasn't true. There was someone who would remember her. Todd. The fox she cared about, the only one she could consider a friend. She had made a promise that she would protect him.

She had failed, hadn't she?

@Todd

Todd was meandering through the caves, as per usual for these days. Things had gotten boring, recently. He'd found himself walking through the same old caverns, chasing the same old mice, and admiring the same pretty lights. The novelty had quickly worn off. Even the pride and happiness of being able to run again had slowly faded into irrelevance.

Was this how everyone else felt?

No-one had ever seemed to possess the same wonder and curiosity as Todd had done. He'd never really thought about it, but as he wandered on his own, he felt... strange. Alone, almost. No-one ever asked the same questions as he did. Sometimes he even asked the same questions, forgot, only to ask them again later. The wonder of the caves was trickling from his heart like water down a plughole, and the older fox missed it, wondering where it all had gone.

He felt insecure, nervous.

He wanted that nice feeling back again. Gloomily, the fox padded through Pisces, snuffling at the ground and pawing at puddles to see if he could step on a fish or two. His paw clinked delicately against the ground with each movement, but even that chiming noise felt stale.

As he moved though, Todd's nostrils began to pick up a scent, a familiar one, mingled with something else. Blood! His mind, clouded with innocence, immediately associated the scent with the promise of food. Picking up the pace, the fox set off towards the scent; and the familiar one grew more potent as well. It was strange, but he didn't think much of it. That was, until he stumbled upon the source.

"Oh, hello there, Kallista!" Todd barked excitedly, something nice returning to his heart. Something was... odd, though. "You're all bloodied up! I can help wash you, if you want!" The fox trotted over, and without waiting for a response, bent down to lick some of the blood from Kallista's fur.

@Kallista

Kallista lay there for a moment more until she caught a familiar scent. Not a moment later, she heard the voice that she knew belonged to Todd. What was Todd doing here? She didn't want the fox to see her like this! She kept her paws even closer over her eye, not wanting him to see the damage that had been done. It made her cringe in pain as she did so, but she ignored it. She couldn't allow the silver fox to see.

She jumped in surprise as he begin to lick her fur. What was he doing? She opened her mouth to say something, perhaps to tell him to leave, but the words died in her throat. She had to admit this felt nice. Maybe she wouldn't have to clean herself, just have Todd do it for her. He was clearly willing...

No, this wasn't right! If he kept this up, he'd see her eye! Kallista couldn't allow that to happen. "T-Todd, what are you doing? Don't l-look at me," she whimpered. She tried to curl in on herself more, letting out a hiss of pain that she tried to bite back but failed. Her paws moved against the burns that were on her face, making them hurt even more. But that was nothing compared to the pain that came from the loss of her eye. She couldn't let Todd see.

@Todd

As he bent to lick her fur, Todd's tongue was met with the familiar salty taste of blood. Confused, the fox tilted his head, but was smiling at her nontheless. But... something was off. the way she behaved, trying to push him away... He'd never seen that before. it made him confused, and something new, and unpleasant... Something anyone else would know as concern.

The fox had never before busied himself with things like this. He didn't like it very much. So with a moment's hesitation, he continued licking her fur, trying to see what it was the cat, who'd been his friend since the very beginning. Maybe the herbivores had hurt her, like they'd hurt him. Suddenly, something else new. Fear and... anger.

It had to be them.

Were her legs hurt? He investigated, but they didn't seem scarred or bloodied, not even when he licked them. He moved around, and tried to nose her paws aside. that was where he tasted, and smelled, the blood.

"I... I feel funny," he whined. "I haven't found any spells that can make this better. Can I find the one who did this to you? Will that make it better?" Todd tried to help, as best he could, but he didn't understand what was going on. He just wanted to make it better.

Was this how everyone else felt? Was this how... growing up felt?

@Kallista

Kallista let out another whimper as Todd continued licking her fur even when she tried to push him away. With a sigh, she let him continue. Trying to get him to go away would just take away energy she didn't really have to spare. So she lay there, enjoying the feel of his tongue on her bloodied fur. When he got to her paws, she still wasn't quite ready to show him her face. So she tried her best to keep her paws still over her head.

Her ears pricked up as he began to spoke. Upon hearing her words, she let out a gasp. "N-no, don't find t-the one who did this! They'll just hurt you t-too! You can't go and find the one w-who did this...They'd hurt you, no doubt. They might even do w-worse to you than what they did to me!" As she spoke, she moved her paws off of her head and gazed up at the fox, her one eye wide. She had no doubt her attacker would do worse to him. They seemed to greatly enjoy fighting, and she definitely wasn't their last victim.

Upon realizing what she had done, Kallista let out a yelp and quickly covered her face again. She had let Todd see! She hoped he hadn't seen, but she had been staring right at him. He had to have seen. She let out a sigh, but still didn't lift her paws. She didn't really want to look out. If she had her eye closed, then maybe, if she ignored the pain, she could pretend that she had both eyes. If she looked around with her one eye, it would bring the reminder that she only had one eye. Not that she needed a reminder, as she could still very clearly feel the pain.

@Todd

Todd jumped back a little, his ears flattening and tail drooping at her strange reaction to his words. Moments later though, he puffed up. "I can handle it!" he insisted indignantly. "I can beat 'em up 'cause my legs are all better now!" Even as he spoke though there was doubt. Why was he saying this? He hadn't even been able to help himself, back then... it'd taken so long just to get back to this level of mobility, and he still lacked a lot of control over his hind limbs.

He'd lowered his head slightly, but as he reised his gaze, he noticed that Kallista had finally lifted her head. and then he gasped, shock and anger and all those weird negative emotions he'd never truly acknowledged before, there they were. All of it. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, then opened it again, then closed it again.

And then... something happened that had never happened before. Todd's eyes itched, his fur stood on end, and then he burst out. "I'm gonna get them! I'll hunt them down! I'll find all the spells and then they'll never be able to stand up to me!" he bawled, shaking all over. He didn't like this. Kallista wasn't food, so why was she bleeding. he raised a paw and wiped his eyes all over it, only to go around to Kallista's side and flop down onto the ground, legs sprawled in all directions. "I will get 'em. I will..." he growled. "You're not food..."

With that, he pressed his side up against hers, grunting stubbornly. but when he spoke, his voice became strangely tender with another runaway emotion. "P-promise I will..."

@Kallista

When Todd saw her eye, or lack thereof, Kallista's fur immediately flooded with shame. She had tried to hide it from him! Seeing his reaction only made it worse, and she was quick to cover her eye. When he spoke, however, she immediately lifted her head again and stared at him, her eye wide.

"No! You can't get t-them! They have this horribly fire m-magic, none of the spells could ever stand up to I-it!" she gasped. She hated seeing him this way, just as he likely hated seeing her this way. She struggled to get up, to go to him, press her fur against his, but he beat her to it. He flopped down beside her. She sighed as she heard his words.

Kallista closed her eye, but when he spoke again, the tone of his voice made her look at him. "P-please, don't go after them...They'll only h-hurt you," she sighed again before slowly leaning into him. Todd was the only comfort the injured cat seemed to have in this world, and she didn't want to lose it anytime soon. Or ever.

@Todd

Todd was shaking. He had no idea why he felt like this, what this feeling even was, but it was here. He didn't like it. Ferociously, he for ed himself to xontinue licking Kallista's fur, his own cheeks growing damper and damper by the second. "Th-then... I'll take their spells," Todd assured her, raising his head.

Jittery, the fox trembled to his paws and paced around her, eventually standing before her with the fur along his back bristling. He knew fire. Fire burned him, too. Those horrible rhinos had done it to him... Now something bad had happened to Kallista too, the same thing. This feeling... Todd didn't understand. He wanted to go and rip them to pieces, but he didn't want to leave Kallista even for a moment. Even less he understood her reaction to his words, so he simply stood with fur bristling and brown eyes stretched wide, wet, and confused.

"B-but..." he began, only to stop mid-sentence. He didn't understand any of this. This didn't feel like Kallista... It felt like someone else. He'd known her for so long, and she'd never been like this. But it was her, and it hurt. No-one was allowed to do this to Kallista! Why would anyone want to?

Todd gulped back a lump that was forming in his throat.

"I'm never gonna leave you again," he croaked. "I won't go for 'em but if they ever come back for you then I'll... I'll..."

@Kallista
Sorry for the lateness omg ;;

Kallista lay there for a moment longer as Todd continued to lick her fur. When he spoke again, one of her ears flicked, but she didn't say anything. To be honest, she was still exhausted from the battle, and she felt like she didn't have the strength to move or say anything. She looked up at him as he began to move in front of her, facing her. She watched him, a slight curiosity in her eyes. She began to slowly get up, wanting to go back to the comfort of having him pressed against her.

At his words, Kallista paused. "Hopefully they won't come back," she murmured. Would they come back? Would they come across Todd one day, and fight him? No. she thought. I won't let them.

Kallista got up and walked until she was closer to him. The movement made her wounds ache, but she ignored it and pressed her nose against Todd's fur. "I won't leave you either. And if they come b-back...whatever you c-choose to do, i'll be right b-beside you." she murmured. She didn't plan on leaving his side anytime soon, as he was all that she had left. He was all that she ever had.

---

words: 202
tagged: @Todd
ooc: it's fine! c:
muse: 5/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

Todd watched her closely, his jet-black ears perked up. slowly he sank back down onto his haunches, but was unable to think of anything dastardly enough to properly finish his sentence. no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't think of a way to make them suffer enough for this.

"If they come back, they're really, really stupid," the fox grumbled, blinking slowly as he heaved out an aggravated breath. "'Cause then there'll be both of us, and I'll hurt them a million times more than they hurt you! You'll see! they deserve it!" the fox, his mind ever-childish, felt his heart swelling with pride and defensiveness. He knew that he could do it because of course he was right! He was good and evil always died. Right?

Todd felt her breath on his fur as she moved closer to him, and although the fox opened his mouth to speak again, eventually he fell silent. The fox felt the cat nudge her nose against the soft fur of his neck, and Todd looked at her, his ears drooping back slightly. He shuffled his paws, a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. He didn't like seeing her like this. He hated the sight of the wounds they'd caused her, whoever they were. Kallista wasn't food! It was strange and upsetting to think that someone would do that. Todd was vengeful for her; he assumed that was what it was, that pit in his stomach.

"If they come back, we'll take them down together. They can never face both of us!"

@kallista