The little catermouse had found a young fern that had turned out to be particularly tasty, and had selected it as its home. He had grown fast since his emergence, and was larger by a few millimetres than he had been back then. In addition, a layer of fine yellow fur covered his wrinkled form. The large orb on the end of his tail was also a lot easier to manage when you got used to it.

But what Flit couldn't stand was the seemingly bottomless pit that was his stomach.

The catermouse found himself constantly eating. as soon as he was full, he found himself snacking again mere minutes later. He was starting to fear that his leafy home would soon be eaten right down to the roots, and he didn't want to have to find another; not when the world was so big.

But he was trying not to think about that for now.

For now, he had a hunger that needed to be satiated, as he gnawed away at the leaves of his fern, clinging stubbornly to one of its leaves, which was already gnawed at the edge and marked with holes.

---

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts look like this."

tags: @Felina
notes: here

Felina had been wandering for days. The runty female bobcat was quite thirsty. She searched for the scent of water.

A different and new scent stopped her for a moment. It was weak, as if from a very small creature. The smell was coming from the Fern Trench.

The scent was closer now. It was coming from a foot or so from her. With the keen eyes that are a feline's heritage, she searched about. A speck of bright yellow and deep pink (?) stood out against all the green around her.

"Hello, there!", Felina said. "Who might *you* be? (to Flit). My name's Felina."

Safe on his floral home, the little catermouse kept on eating, his podgy, wrinkled body relatively well camouflaged against the many hues of green and ivy-yellow. He cold easily have been mistaken for a normal caterpillar, but for the gem upon his tail. His head began to turn wildly though, as a voice, loud and booming, filled his small, rounded ears. The little creature clung to his leaf, swallowing his last mouthful of leaf-matter, and peered as far as he could peer. He made out a shape some distance away, big enough to tower over the small fern that he was sitting on.

He stared with unblinking pink eyes, frozen as prey-creatures will when they feel afraid. But the booming voice was words, and Flit understood them, despite their young age. And the words brewed excirtement in their teeny chest. The catermouse crawled to the end of their leaf, the object swaying with the weight of the coral on their tail. "H-hello?" they peeped, voice tiny and wary. "Felina? I'm... Flit. That's right."

---

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts look like this."

@Felina
tags: notes: here

"Please don't be afraid, Flit. I won't harm you. Are you new here? I've never seen a Greater Gembound like you before.

What kind of Gembound are you? You appear to be a mouse, but you're kind of...longer than one. You are most certainly not a cave rat. I've seen them before. You're are definitely different from those."

Felina paused for a moment, as if deciding what to say next. Then she made up her mind. She said: "I'm a bobcat."



@Flit

Flit tilted his head to one side, Felina's voice sending a tremor through his small form. Felina was using so many big words! things they'd never even heard of before. "Pretty new, I think," he said hesitantly, sounding deep in thought. "G-greater Gembound?"

He shook his head. "I've never seen a mouse or a rat before!" He stopped in confusion, then looked down at his little green paws. Was he a mouse? Somehow he didn't think so, and neither did Felina. She'd said it herself. He looked up curiously at the blurry shadow, trying to make out more of her form. "I've met a snake before."

---

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts look like this."

@Felina
tags: notes: here