Sniffles lost track of the small thing. It was kind of sad, really. They'd just made a friend! And then the friend left! Small thing was cute, Sniffles didn't want small thing to go! And oh, this place was covered in mud and it was mixing with their goop making a really nasty, stinky mixture that wasn't fun to slither through.

They'd never been out of Cetus, before. This was scary.

Maybe they'd find small thing?

[Sorry for short post, lol] @Madhukar

The kitten, named Madhukar (yes, that was her name, and she'd known it for a while), had really just wanted to go. This marsh was unpleasant. Her first encounter hadn't been very nice -- mostly just confusing and smelly. The bugs had been a mixed bag, with some pretty, some not, and all surprisingly satisfying. She enjoyed their noises, but she really wanted to go elsewhere. A kind of wanderlust was nagging at her paws. She'd been searching a way out, following her instincts, her ears, her nose, her thrumming heart. She was desiring to go far from the pleasant buzzing of the bugs... and she didn't want to leave the buzzing behind. But leaving it behind was better than staying here in this glum marsh.

And what about that stinky one? It had been weird. Super weird. Kind of mean, definitely annoying. But... well, perhaps it was some kind of youthful imprinting instinct? Perhaps it was a lingering feeling of doubt; she didn't know if she'd be able to figure out how to get back, and more importantly, she didn't know where she was going to end up, so maybe her brain was trying to give her extraneous reasons to try to stay.

Ah, well. Perhaps this tunnel could lead to more buzzing. More purpose to satisfy an already aching soul.

But then she caught a whiff of it. Just as she was coming towards the mystery tunnel and the scent was there. Repugnant, oozey, familiar. Gosh. Darn. It. She tried to hide (maybe it'd move on soon and she wouldn't have to deal with this?), but it was too late, far too late. The eyes were on her. All she could do was the complete opposite of everything she liked doing: freeze, and go mind blank.

@Sniffles

Sniffles had never been outside Cetus before. Even while being at the entrance, almost able to leave, gave them worry and anxiety. It shouldn't have, though, since the snake adored exploring. Maybe it was the fact they felt safe within the marshes of Cetus, or that the sound of the bugs was gone allowing them to hear the movement of the small thing as they tried to leave. Sniffles didn't want the small thing to leave! How would they protect themselves? Loud noises were bad! Not right!

"Small!" They called out when they noticed the small thing there, unmoving.

Three sets of eyes blinked down at the small feline.

"Okay?"

@Madhukar

The stinky called her "small" on sight, which, okay, while true, was rude! "Stinky!" she responded instantly, her blood being put to a slow boil. She didn't know why the stinky was there. She never would've guessed it was searching for her, that it cared for her, that her presence was salient, or even significant to it.

So when it blinked at her and asked "Okay?" the kitten didn't really know how to respond. It felt like the stinky had just stated something and wanted her to affirm that she'd understood it. Except there had been no statement, unless she'd missed something? Okay what?

Maybe it'd be easier to just walk past the stinky thing and go. The tunnel was right there, and her mind wasn't making leaving any easier. The stench, however, was.

So Madhukar would attempt to march (at a medium pace) right past the stinky, without another word.

@Sniffles ((giving a chance for her to be stopped/called to/magic'd at/etc., whatever ye like))

Sniffles knew they were stinky! They got a huge wiff of their smell when they tasted the air. Maybe the kitty didn't know Sniffles' name? That had to be it! There had to be no other reason for the name of stinky! "Name Sniffles! No stinky!" The snake demanded. Sniffles was sniffles! Not stinky! Perhaps they were named after the constant sniffling they did because of the ooze, but maybe not.

Oh no! Small couldn't leave!

"No go!" They demanded again.

Sniffles moved to plop themselves in front of the kitten after quickly moving.

"No!"

@Madhukar [Sniffles doesn't have any spells so they can't do much >.>;;]

The stinky seemed to protest against Madhukar's name-calling, and subsequent attempt to walk right on by. It said "Name Sniffles." Was that... its name? Was that what it was trying to say? Then it said it wasn't stinky! Well, that was wrong. "You BIG stinky!" the feline insisted. To think any other way would just be inexcusably incorrect. "Name Madhukar," she'd respond, since they were (probably) sharing names and all.

The stinky-- or, uh, "Sniffles", then plopped itself directly in Madhukar's path. What! How could it-- how dare it! "Why?" Madhukar demanded right back, looking up with her poutiest expression on at the goofy stink fiend. She knew it wasn't great at answering questions, but she had to know why it wasn't letting her do what she wanted!

After all, how did this concern "Sniffles"?! All it had done was terrorize her and maybe show her what a mousey mouse was. Once. Yet again, the idea this creature cared for her in any way, shape, or form was flying high over her head, like a cloud zipping by without a second thought.

She would wait (for once).

@Sniffles

Sniffles didn't like being called stinky! No! They were Sniffles! Not stinky! Of course they knew about their own stench - they could smell it every time they tasted the air to sniff anything out. As horrible as it was, they'd gotten used to it, and had been used to it for some time. To the point of not really... Noticing anymore. But the small thing shared their name!! Name! It was... Hard for the snake to say. So, they opted out for a simple. "Name Mad!" to shorten it out.

Sniffles huffed when the small thing asked why. Why what? Why were they not allowed to leave? That one was simple! "Alone! Not good! Bad!" They shouted. Sniffles didn't like being alone, surely the cat wouldn't either? It was lonely in the swamp. Not much interacting to be done. But the screaming tree was cool!! Sniffles could show them the creepy tree!!

Contrary to what Madhukar thought, Sniffles cared a lot. They cared about a lot of things! Everything! Everyone!

@Madhukar

The stinky's shortening of the name bounded around in Madhukar's mind like an insult. Mad?! Was it calling her MAD?! Stinky was accurate, mad was just MEAN! Well, unless it meant the emotion, and then yeah, that was COMPLETELY accurate! And for good reason!

Because now it was in her way, this stinky Sniffles with all its goo and grossness. Its only reason for not letting Madhukar pass (which, alright, she could try, but she was up against a rather agile 80-pound tube with the power to crush her with relative ease) was 'alone', 'not good', and 'bad'. What the kitten should've asked was why did she keep asking it questions that required actual understandable SPEECH?! But no, she didn't ask that question, and now she was suffering through the consequence.

What did that MEAN?! The verve of the lightning in her eyes was intense, sparking with aggression and, yes, perhaps even a little bit of madness (this ooze fiend was making her go CRAZY). Her brain barely had the space to think, but at least Sniffles had made it clear that unless she thought, just a little, she wasn't going to get her way. So what did it mean?

Alone was not good? Alone was bad? Who would be alone, her or it? Which was it concerned about? No, NO! It gave the question, don't ask more. Apparently, one of them being alone was bad. Not good. And this was enough of a problem that the stinky couldn't deal with it. Madhukar quickly began to feel that she should've walked faster towards this tunnel because ugh, this puzzle was going to be impossible to deal with, wasn't it?

Was it?

"...Alone good! Why not good?!" If it was her aloneness, then that was way more than good. But Sniffles' aloneness... did Sniffles not want to be alone? Selfishly holding her back because it couldn't stand it?

So yet another why came bursting from the kitten's mouth before she could reconsider it. 'Please don't somehow find a way to make this harder,' Madhukar essentially mentally begged. She was already getting antsy, and the idea that Sniffles didn't want to be alone... well, uh, that idea must've been stupid or weird or something because! Because it was doing something to the kitten's heart! A little! Something she... didn't understand.

@Sniffles ((Madhukar needs to know what love iiiiiiis!!! And Sniffles is probably gonna show heeeerrrr [this is me parodying "I Want To Know What Love Is"]))

Sniffles could so easily prevent the small thing from leaving - all it had to do was wrap around the kitten. It was too long of a snake for the cat to be able to escape. Esther could also abrogate the kitty. Eat it - prevent it from ever being alone because it would be one with the snake. Of course that hadn't even become a thought, though, as sniffles was too baby to even think of such a thing. Despite being an adult, the red creature didn't have much knowledge of words, or even really... Anything.

Three pairs of eyes swept to stare at the kitty, blinking in different times to keep an eye out. Why was being alone bad? Kitty was so small! If anything tried to hurt kitty it would die!!

"Alone bad!! Get hurt!! Not good!! NOOO!" They shouted.

@Madhukar

The stinky was angry, it seemed. It began to yell in her face! It wasn't surprising; both it and the kitten had been volatile before. They were both being so right now!Nevertheless, it was INFURIATING! First it stands right in front of Madhukar, and then it thinks it can SCREAM in her FACE?! How could it?! How DARE IT?! Like a wave, anger came crashing back into Madhukar's heart.

But another wave met it, with just as much force. The wave that stemmed from the ears which heard Sniffles' words and understood them. It wondered.... was the stinky worried about her? About Madhukar? About the kitten it could be squishing, but wasn't. About the kitten it had fed. Did it actually care?

The two waves, carrying thousands of other substances, tiny micro-emotions, coalesced in such a great manner that had they been tectonic plates, they might've made a slightly smaller cousin to Mount Everest.

Madhukar's magic attempted to surge. It wasn't able to; it almost did, a distant fizzling sound to reflect the disappointment of the failed attempt. But it didn't matter to the kitten, as she hadn't wanted it nor had she known of it anyways.

She stared at the multi-eyed monster (but was it really a monster?) before her. It was ruthless, rude, and bad at talking, or really doing anything normal for a social interaction... but maybe it cared. And Madhukar didn't know how to feel about that. She didn't know how to feel at all. She was struggling to find words to say, and even more so to find the will to say them. "C-co...." No, why would she ask for that?! She didn't want this thing to follow her, she didn't want it around! Did she?!

...Did she?

WELL, Madhukar, if you're going to COMPLICATE this then you better do it FAST so you can LEAVE already!! "Come with then!" she finally spat out. Getting yelled at didn't feel great, but... feeling so confused felt even worse. She wanted to go, she wanted to stay. To be left alone and to have company...

And they were all beginning to cancel out and make her not want anything at all!

@Sniffles