Kitty remembered Pegasus in the Hunt. It'd been strung with oranges and golds and reds, just like her, letting her bury herself in the leaves of the trees in its vast forest and hide, really hide. Skitter along and not disturb the leaves, the taste of prey on her tongue as she ran, ran, ran.

She had been given a gift in the aftermath -- wings. She'd seen some Gembound use them already, growing halos or armor or, in some cases, horns. It seemed to associate with what they'd done during the Hunt; Kitty knew more or less what was to be expected as her shoulders bunched up in the tree. Her heart was stuttering in her chest, and there was something like freedom on her tongue. The opportunity to fly... it was a great one.

The red panda had been fascinated with flight ever since she'd had her vision of the many-limbed monster flying over the fields of Pegasus and, abruptly, through a wall. She could see that wall now, could see where she hoped the illusion was. She'd not yet been brave enough to test it -- Kitty had assumed for one reason or another that one needed to be flying to get inside. But she was no fool -- she was on a low branch, and was planning on flying equally low. First, though, a test of her magic -- no need to make the leap if you didn't have wings to show for it.

Magic became physical form all around her. The wings are a little wispy and slightly too see-through, and the horns were small (whether because of the poor cast or because of her own general softness she was unsure). Either way, though... it was time to take a leap of faith.

Kitty pushed off from the branch, her wings open wide, and felt her stomach drop at the feeling of weightlessness. The ground approached quickly, and she beat the wings once, twice, suddenly feeling panicked -- desperate to stay above, desperate to not make a fool of herself, and then suddenly she was flying.

She was about ten feet in the air, her wings moving in a steady pace as her tail dragged behind her. Surely she looked rather silly, but it didn't matter -- she had wings, even if only for a few moments! She was flying! It was everything she'd dreamed of since her vision all those cycles ago with Madhukar. It was... everything.

Now to hope she could keep it up for the three or so rounds it'd take her to reach the Sanctuary.

It was exhilarating. It was everything she'd hoped for. It was, in short, freedom -- these caves were huge and the spell required concentration and all that was well and good, truly, and she could deal with it, even if it was just a little bit tragic. But even a taste of this, even getting to just barely feel the wind in her fur every so often? It was enough. It was everything she could have wanted.

Magic surged out a second time as she started to feel less and less drag from the wings. Thankfully, she maintained them -- she was alright, at least for now, and she surged up a little further. Her paws were moving rather like she was running as she flew, because it was all she knew how to do -- treetops passed under her, and she officially transitioned out of them and over the seemingly endless field of brightly-colored flowers that lay beneath her. The rock wall was approaching -- maybe a little bit further, and she'd get there. It was much faster than being on the ground, that was for sure.

Her heart was pounding in her ears now -- without having noticed, she'd started to creep higher, emboldened by her success and desperate, in some ways, to touch the sky like Icarus. She wondered what it would feel like to fly all the way up to the very top of the cave and dangle from the lights -- she wondered if she could. How far up was the ceiling of Cetus? Of Fornax? How far could she really go? Not far, whispered her sensibilities, warning her that this spell only lasted as long as her luck did.

Let me enjoy this, crowed her heart as the flowers passed by beneath her. They seemed to get closer and closer, as if waving up at her -- and then Kitty realized that she was falling, and hit the ground with jarring force as she was sent tumbling.

She laid on her aching side and scowled at a small herd of meadow deer who were staring at her warily. "Mind your own business," she sniffed, hauling herself to her paws and looking around. She was lucky on three counts -- one, that she'd been relatively close to the ground. Two, that she was small enough that it took more height for her to be hurt. And three, she just so happened to be built for tumbling out of trees.

Comet carried the stone in her mouth, on her way to find a safe place for it somewhere in the forest. Her stash of stones was getting rather full, and she knew that this one contained life, so she wasn't just going to leave it somewhere. As she looked up, she saw the red panda come crashing onto the ground. "Kitty?" The wolf ran over to the red raccoon. Who was definitely a raccoon. No doubt about it.

She cast her own version of the spell and flew into the air, heading in Kitty's direction, when she felt it faltering herself. Suddenly she was falling, and Comet landed with a loud thump right next to the red raccoon. Her back hurt a bit but it was a good thing that there was some grass and mulch. "Guess I can't fly either." she smiled.

@Kitty

Her ears pricked up as she saw Comet take to the air for a moment and then fall back down. "Hey!" she said brightly, stretching out a bit and then taking a step over to pat at Comet's face. Her toe that was missing the claw actually didn't look quite so awkward anymore; it fit in neatly with the rest, although if she'd unsheathed her claws it would have been much smaller than the others. "You okay? You're not built to fall out of trees like I am," Kitty said, grinning at herself.

Despite the fall, she still felt good -- flying was exactly what she'd expected it to be, even if the ground rather wanted to keep her.


@comet

"Yep!" Comet shook herself off. She looked at the toe that the claw had been ripped out of the first time they had met, and it seemed to have recovered well. That had been all the way back in Eridanus though, so she wondered what the red raccoon was doing here. Didn't Kitty live in Eridanus? She couldn't really remember. "So, what are you doing here in Pegasus?" Comet asked out of curiosity.

The stone she was carrying in her mouth was placed onto the ground in front of her so she didn't accidently swallow it while she was conversing.

@Kitty

She pulled back so Comet could get up herself, and started to smooth her fur down from where her fall had ruffled it. She was fastidious, really -- staying clean and well-groomed was a necessity to the panda. "I like it here," she shrugged. "Cetus is so dark and dingy all the time -- plus, less fear of hitting a tree as long as you aren't flying through the forest." There were trees scattered about everywhere in Pegasus, but there were definitely areas where they were thinner, as opposed to Cetus which was totally filled with them.

Kitty grinned. "There's also less mud here, and a lovely source of clean water. The Voidmother has been missing for a while, but once we find her -- we're like ninety-nine percent sure she's somewhere in Canis and is still alive considering her familiar is still hanging out with us -- I plan on asking her if we can move here. She has her aesthetic and everything, but there's plenty of nice places here, and it's way bigger."


@comet

Getting up, she shook again, getting some dry grass out of her fur. Comet nodded, she hadn't really liked the cave of Cetus as it was too dark and gloomy. Plus, it was too foggy and the decreased visibility always made her feel like something was going to come out and attack her. It wasn't a good feeling. But she wasn't even going to think of Fornax, no, that place was even worse.

"I hope you find her." she wasn't exactly sure who Kitty was talking about with Voidmother, as she didn't even know who that was. Perhaps she did some time ago, and had forgotten it, or perhaps she had never known at all. After all, she knew Voidmother as Sunny.

"I really do like Pegasus though, it's super nice! Where do you live? Do you live with anyone?" she couldn't recall if Kitty was a gembound who had a family or not.

@Kitty

Kitty blinked at Comet, a little confused. "Uh, yeah! Pegasus is really nice, but I don't live here. I live in Cetus, with the Voidmother and the rest of the Voidcrawlers, like I just said." She stretched. "I want to ask her if we can move." Naturally, they had not yet relocated the snail.

She nodded at the stone Comet had. "What's that?" Whatever it was, she seemed to be taking good care of it -- it got Kitty curious. "Is it a life stone? I can tell you its past, if you want." Or, at least, she hoped so. Kitty was, as of yet, unaware that the stone could hold more memory than the magic could.

She spoke with Comet for the next several minutes, and then, with a new chalcedony in her uncertain paws, took her leave.

/exit kitty due to inactivity [offscreen stuff cleared w/ comet]


@comet