Deep in the marsh of Cetus, mist and murk ruminated and pervaded and dominated. An orchestra of insects played their cacophonous tune, their harmonious discord bouncing enthusiastically about the sky, a secret fanfare for a newcomer to the arena.

Sticking out of the dirt somewhere was a teensy little chrysalis. Its color was obtrusively pastel compared to the gloomy backdrop of the misty marsh. If it were a painting, one might've thought the brush or glob of chartreuse against the canvas a mistake; in reality, it was the main event.

A head slammed against the walls of the chrysalis, and seconds later, a single paw joined the party. With an immense display of kitten force, a tiny baby busted from the rock.

It crawled out, having a bit of difficulty for some reason... some reason that might not be obvious at first glance. It managed, however, to get over the first of many hurdles in its life: breaking free. After it did so, the kitten would flop down on its rump while its eyes grew familiar with sight, ears with sound, paw with sense, and nose with smell. Eventually, its tongue would have a chance to learn taste as well.

For now, the ears would take charge, quietly listening to the buzzing... the buzzing... all of the congratulations, the adulations, all of them were made loud and clear in that constant buzzing...

Sniffles, a good goopy being, slithered through The Heart. It wasn't unusual for the snakelike being to be there, having hatched in Cetus themselves. That was around four cycles ago, the snake being fully grown now and and their full size. They were a big snake. Very long. About twenty feet long. It made them have to take a bit of time to bring their entire body to a place, though Sniffles didn't mind.

Their body moved through the place, bugs making a lot of noise like usual. Sometimes they landed on the goop Sniffles produced and got stuck, making it very annoying. They sometimes wondered if the bugs were attracted to the awful smell that the same goop produced.

As they continued to move, oh! Something interesting! A small little colorful thing, really. Ears on the top of the head, and a tail. Sniffles wondered what it was!

"Ey!" The slithering creature called out, watching the thing while slowly moving closer. Claws also moving though not aiding them in their venture.

@Madhukar

The kitten's diligence would benefit it soon enough. An odd sound, which might've gone undetected if it weren't accompanied by such a powerful stench, wriggled and writhed its way into the cat's ears. The smell hit hard, its impact almost dizzying, causing her muzzle to wrinkle up a bit.

What in the heck was this?

The eyes then got their chance to show off what they were learning, shifting madly towards the source of scent and sound. Something big was coming, something the child did not understand. It called out, it seemed, to the kitten. She felt, instantaneously within her, a response begin to grow, to bubble and boil. A feeling rose to her face, to her mouth, and her nose. She called back, "Ah--" and cut herself off, as her body demanded.

What was happening?

"--CHOO!!" and it was complete. What had that been? It hadn't felt bad. Good, actually. Some form of catharsis. Not bothering to contemplate the existence of her sneeze (although she didn't know it was called that), the girl turned her head, eyes, and overall attention to the creature before her.

It stunk.

@Sniffles

Oh the small thing was cute! So cute and small and adorable and all things good. And oh she looked so very confused! Did this one not have anyone else? How sad. Maybe Sniffles could keep her company! And then the small thing started making noise. Oh oh oh? Was it going to speak? And then Sniffles got their face sneezed on.

Rearing back and blinking all six bright red eyes, Sniffles didn't like that one bit!

"Nooooo!" They chided out, childishly. Nothing could convince the snake they weren't a baby. "Don't sneeze! Not good!"

@Madhukar

Apparently, something about the noise the kitten had made was upsetting to the creature. It recoiled, and then it had the audacity to chew the kitten out!! Well, fine, if that was how it was gonna be! The small kitten began to buckle down and fly into a hissy fit! "FFFsss fss fss!!" spat the cat, its expression changing from a stare to a glare.

The kitten then decided to raise on her tippy-toes and raise her tail, then bristle her fur and hiss some more for good measure! However, unbeknownst to her, this position would make the oddity of her left paw entirely too obvious. She was holding it up off the ground, in the strange position that might look a bit too tense.

In response to her sudden jolt of anger, magic would generate a brief shock and attempt to register it toward the creature in front of the kitten. Take that, thingy!

Not that the shock would do anything... but still!

@Sniffles

Sniffles eyed at the small kitten with all six beady red eyes, each of them blinking in different times so they could watch the small diluted thing. Of course not before long, it began to make a strange sound that the snake couldn't name. How weird. So strange. Very cute! A very cute sound! Small things made cute sounds! With that new revelation, Sniffles wondered if they should seek out other small things, to see if they also made that strange noise the feline did.

Oh the thing fluffed up too! Sniffles kind of wanted to give it pats. How cute. Sniffles almost didn't notice the spell that was casted, as it did nothing and didn't block anything from being done - they hadn't tried to use a spell from the start. Tongue flicking, the snake wondered if the feline wanted them to try to use anything - their fire? That was the only thing they could do!

"Small thing no use magic." Huffing out.

@Madhukar

The stinky creature seemed to observe the child's blatant attempts at intimidation, but it wasn't reacting. Darn it! That was unfortunate. The kitten had no knowledge of what else she could possibly do to get her point across to the lousy lug. Hiss more? Maybe a swing would do?

But then it spoke, said something about "magic". "Maj..." The kitten paused its fury in order to try to imitate that last word. It had caught her attention, mainly because it sounded like the beginning of her name (it actually absolutely didn't but whatever!), which the kitten knew, of course, but felt no reason to say. "Wuh's that?" She understood words quite well, actually, but using them was another story. It was difficult, but she would manage.

The "small thing" stopped spitting and hissing and decided to sit on her rump and pay attention to the stinky thing, whom she was certain would answer her question. Because... uh, well, because if it didn't, she make it pay! You know, by scratching it with her ferocious kitten claws! Yes!

@Sniffles ((rawr XD *nuzzles you*))

The small thing seemed to stop being rude at the words that came from the snake. The goop that came from the pits on their body was constantly oozing, and that wasn't any different now. There was a pile of it everywhere the snake had touched, a pool of it now on the ground around the snake and near to the kitten. The small thing didn't seem to understand what magic was! Oh boy!

"Magic!" They replied to that. How on earth was the goopy snake supposed to explain that? "Use it? Again?" The questioned. Sniffles didn't even know how to words correctly it was going to be impossible to explain magic when they didn't use theirs themselves.

@Madhukar

The disgusting gunk flowing from the stinky thing was getting way too close for the kitten's comfort. It reeked, although what of the feline didn't have the mind to consider. Her fur prickled again as a whiff of it managed to wheedle its way into her nose before she could prevent it. In fact, she was finding herself trying to breathe less in order to keep the smell out, which was the most inane idea. Her body wouldn't let her be so absurd as to risk her life to avoid one bad smell!

The thingy said "magic" again. Use "it" again? Magic? The word or the substance named by the word? Yes, the kitten had already tried to say the word. She wasn't gonna try again, if that's what the stinky wanted. Why not? Probably just defiance. She wanted an explanation, a definition, not a lesson in words. Come on stinky! Give her what she asked for!

Before she could say anything, however, the kitten looked down at her paws. WOAH, had it moved CLOSER?! Panic began to rise and grasp for her heart. She did not want to touch that stuff, whatever it was. It didn't smell good or look friendly. So, the kitten leapt to her paws and began squeaking and spitting furiously again. She backed up, away from the goop, of course. Her tail sprung into action, back up in the air, while her maw wrinkled to release the volley of spit and fussing. "Stop! STOP!" she mewed at the stinky, obviously demanding it to cease the gross goop.

And with that abrupt switch, the child's magic attempted to activate on the goop snake once again. The shock was even weaker and pointless this time, which was kind of astonishing, as it was already excruciatingly pointless before!

@Sniffles

Sniffles didn't even notice the goop that was slowly getting closer to the kitten and more and more out of hand. Maybe it was the lack of movement making it pile up and over like some kind of drink with too much ice inside. Maybe it was because they were so used to the stuff being around - it was like a blanket of safety to the scary outside world, even if Sniffles was the least scary of anything around.

They had no sense of self preservation, really.

And then the small thing started throwing another fit, and set off another zap of magic that would have done something if Sniffles had any spells to use.

"That!"

@Madhukar