The lioness walked through the darkness of the tunnels just as she had when she'd first been born into the caves. It didn't scare her but it did worry her that perhaps the generator in Polaris had gone awry. In any case they needed to investigate this whole situation and see if they could get to the bottom of it. After all, they were some of the oldest gems in the cave and she felt obligated to see if there was anything that they could do. So, off she went with Leon straight to the core where they both knew the Generator was. The lioness tried not to set too fast of a pace, not after what had happened to her poor husband. After she'd heard about the fight she was seething with anger, not because he'd protected a babe --no, that part was commendable-- but because the other creature had gone after the poor thing in the first place! Was there still evil in the caves after all these cycles? The lioness didn't want to think about it... It was too much right now. So, she silently brooded and thought about what this could mean. Should they do something about the dragon? Or just hope that he didn't go on a rampage again. From what she knew of the white beast he hadn't ever seemed particularly violent... So what could have happened?

She focused her mind on that bond they shared, feeling if she should slow down for him any more. She didn't know if the tough bear would say anything out loud so she tried to compensate for him. Before long the tunnel they'd been walking opened out into the main room, the Core. Even with the lights out it held the same resemblance as before. Her sensitive whiskers and nose were able to pinpoint the direction they needed to go. "Come on, teddy bear. I think it's this way." She swung off to the east, towards the river and she began to walk along the shore as she let it guide them to what she knew would eventually be the generator.

As she walked she felt something rising in her chest, something that hadn't come for cycles, and now it surprised her. Perhaps it was the emotions, the stressful ones that long lay dormant, but she found herself humming and then wordlessly singing a tune... Then, the words came as she sang the tune to keep them company as they walked. The Songcat had returned.

"When there's nowhere else to run.
Is there room for one more son?
One more son
If you can hold on.
If you can hold on, hold on..."

She paused then, ears perked as she stared into the gloom. Something had caught her attention, a twitch of movement that her sensitive night eyes noticed. For some reason she felt as if part of this song would be for someone out there, someone who could see more meaning than even she could.

"Another head aches, another heart breaks.
I am so much older than I can take..."

She glanced towards Leon, curious if he could see anything out there. For all she knew the dragon could be there but she wouldn't let that stop her as she stepped away from the river's shoreline as she continued to stare intently, wondering if there really was anyone there and if they would show themselves. Or else she would continue on for their destination.

---

578 | notes | @Fira @Leon

"I talk."
I think...

Fira hadn’t really moved since she’d ended up downstream in the Crystal River. In fact, she was still half-submerged in water, three days later, and her bottom half was beginning to get infested with sores from the constant contact with water. After only three days, the sores were not large or infected yet, but if she spent anymore major time with her body half-submerged, it was not going to be good. She’d been lapping at water when she got thirsty, but hadn’t eaten anything in over forty-eight hours. Despite her growling stomach, however, the leopard remained where she was, not really paying much attention to anything.

Her wife and children were gone, and now her life no longer had much meaning. She was too scared, or too smart, to end it all, but she wasn’t yet starving enough, or in enough pain, to do anything about her current situation. Instead, she just accepted her lot in life and lay with her cheek on a pillow of river pebbles and mud, and tried to sleep off her depression… So far, it was working, but only because the lack of food was making her exhausted. Just as she was about to fall asleep again, she heard the voice of someone singing not far off…

Telling her to hold on…

She sighed. Well, she wasn’t really gonna kill herself, anyways… Still, she’d sort of gotten herself into a shitty situation, and now she was too bone-tired to move. She didn’t even have the energy to speak, so instead, she just kept laying there, the river water a constant movement over her lower-half. When the paw-steps grew louder, telling Fira that whoever it was, they were coming nearer, she began to hum the tune of the song she’d just heard, as best and as loudly as she could, because it was all the noise she could make. She hoped it would be loud enough to hear over the noise of the river.

Words: 334 @Makyna

The lioness listened in the darkness, ears perked, eyes alert but she could see nothing. It wasn't until Leon's voice spoke beside her saying, "Do you hear that?" That she was able to detect anything over the noise of the water. There was something soft, like a voice humming along to the tune of her song. There was someone else here! The lioness put on a burst of speed as she tried to follow the sound of the voice, temporarily leaving the lumbering bear until she stopped. Her eyes became locked onto the form of a terrible looking leopard. Her body was half-submerged in the river and her fur looked like a ratty mess. The smell, if not sight, alone was enough to tell her that this creature was not doing to well. Her maternal instincts kicked into full gear as she bent down and grabbed her gently by the scruff, pulling her from the river so that her coat and skin wouldn't become anymore soaked.

The lioness drug her to the shore, ignoring the smell of unwashed fur until finally she deposited her far away from the shore. She could see the curvature of bone underneath her fellow feline's coat and immediately her mind went to Leon. "Do you think you could catch a fish or two Leon? She seems really weak and starved." She knew Leon probably was in no position to do excessive hunting but she needed to tend to this leopard right away. She looked absolutely horrible and the water and state of her coat weren't helping at all.

Hoping that her husband would go grab them some fish she settled down next to the feline, her tongue beginning to work on grooming out the leopard's coat. It was strange to be seated so close to someone that wasn't Leon or one of her children but she could almost imagine that this was one of her many children. That's what made her work harder to clean her pelt and groom out the water where she could. It pained her to see anyone so low and in such a state. "My dear, what happened?" She asked around licks, wondering what could have reduced this feline into this state.

---

372 | notes | @Fira @Leon

"I talk."
I think...

Fira was vaguely aware of being dragged out of the river and up onto dry land above the bank. She stared up at her savior and could barely make out the site of a lion in the faint glow of the crystals dotting Polaris. It was hard to tell for sure though because the lights were out and her natural night vision wasn’t doing too well because she was too tired to see anything clearly. She knew it was definitely a Cat, though. She was grateful to her rescuer for taking her out of the water, except now she was freezing from the change of temperature on her wet fur and skin. And the sores that were just beginning on her body started to sting horribly. She was just too tired to complain about them.

She barely heard the cat ask her partner about catching a fish, and then she immediately dozed off when she felt her rescuer grooming her. She’d never actually had anyone groom her before. Her wife had been a platypus, whose bill wasn’t exactly fit for sandpaper-tongue-grooming like a cat’s tongue is. It was so relaxing that she was asleep almost instantly, but then the other cat’s voice was closer and woke her up in just a few seconds.

What had happened, she wanted to know… What had happened… Fira opened her jaws to speak and whispered, “My wife… She’s dead. And so are my children, probably. My wife… her gem… it kept growing and never stopped and… pierced her brain. We knew she was dying the whole time but towards the end I…” She took a long, ragged breath, feeling suddenly even more exhausted than before somehow. “I couldn’t take it… I ran away when she needed me most, and came back and — and she was gone. Disappeared. But I know in my heart somehow that she’s dead. And my kids… I have… no idea where either of them are. It’s not as if I was around to be their mom anyways. They probably don’t even… know who I am…”

She sighed then, feeling angry at herself for everything, and stopped speaking, closing her eyes to try and shut out the pain. In a moment or two, she had completely passed out.

Words: 379 @Makyna

Every day, the pain was subsiding and Leon was growing accustomed to his freshly wounded body. It seemed the bear was destined to live a life of constant pain somewhere in his body, and he was realizing now how much he had taken emerging from the chrysalis for granted. The chrysalis had given his body an opportunity to heal itself. And then, no more than a few days later, Leon went out and fucked himself up again. He couldn't imagine that Makyna would be very pleased if he went back to his chrysalis a third time.

His left eye squinted from the damage. His vision blurred and darkened in it, making everything seem just a little fuzzy. He couldn't tell much now that darkness shrouded the cave again, but he knew that there was something wrong. Leon didn't say anything of it though. He didn't want to worry Makyna more than she already was, and even if she could possibly detect it through their bond, he'd shrug it off. It wasn't a big deal. Besides, Leon would keep training and growing stronger until he no longer had to deal with the sting of defeat, because he was going to be stronger than he was before the chrysalis. Strong enough to protect everyone. He wouldn't let his beloved family fall to the wayside again.

Her singing had allowed Leon's mind to wander, enjoying the resonance of her voice. Leon often tried to sing, but he felt bad entwining his voice with hers - it was so ethereal and perfect, and his was so rusty, so jagged and boyish and untrained. And his chest still hurt. So for now, he listened. Only to realize that it had cut off as Makyna noticed someone. Leon came up next to her, barely spotting the body of a large feline at the edge of the river. Leon nodded at his wife's suggestion and shuffled further down, hunkering over the edge and trying to catch a fish, but it was far more difficult now with his bad eye and the darkness.

The first shadow he spotted, he swung. He hadn't expected it to actually be a fish. But somehow, the fish's large, slimy body caught on his paw and flopped helplessly onto the ground next to him. Satisfied, Leon grabbed the fish in his teeth and returned to his wife and the leopard, barely catching the tail end of her quiet explanation, a whisper just barely audible against the din of the river. She had lost people too. Leon was horrible with words. Makyna was far more comforting, so he brought the fish to the leopard and rested it next to her, reclining onto his stomach beside her as he remained silent.

@Fira

The lioness continued to groom out the leopard's fur, pulling loose tangles and matts and hopefully making her feel a bit better. Her husband, thankfully, moved to go and catch them a fish which she was grateful for. What would she do without him? While still grooming her fellow feline she listened to what was said. It was a sad story, apparently her wife --or late wife-- had passed away. Quite violently from what she heard, the lioness couldn't even image having her gem just continue to grow until the thing that gave you life ultimately killed you. There was nothing she could even think to say to comfort her, to take away the pain of her loved one's untimely death.

"Sweetie, I am so sorry." She was an adult, she knew, but she couldn't help but tell that she was younger and that such a pain should not have to be known to such a poor creature. The lioness didn't know this leopard from atom but she wished she could take away her pain and let her be happy again... but it didn't work that way. Instead she did what she could and offered physical comfort by continuing to groom her and allowing her tawny coat to brush again the leopard's in a silent show of support. She was here and she would lay here for as long as she needed to help the leopard out.

Soon her husband returned with a fish that he placed next to the leopard. Makyna mouthed a silent "thank-you" at him before nudging the still cat with her nose. "You have to eat. I know you are sad, I know it hurts to lose someone you love. Trust me, sweetie, I've been there... but you have to think about how they'd want you to keep going and not to starve yourself." She reached out with her powers and pushed the fish closer to the leopard's face, hoping the scent would entice her. "If you want anything at all you tell us. We're here for you." And she meant that. All she wanted to do was provide some good in the caves to counteract all of the bad that she saw going on.

---

369 | notes | @Leon @Fira

"I talk."
I think...

Fira sucked in a breath as if she had been suffocating when Makyna’s words broke through her mind in her passed-out state. Her eyes blinked open and shut multiple times. She squeezed them hard shut for a moment, and had she hands, she would have pressed her fingers to her eyelids. Then she opened them again, finding the darker shadow of the lion amidst the general shadow of Polaris. She smelled food, and didn’t need any encouraging to begin eating the proffered fish. She forced her exhausted body upright, tearing off and swallowing hunks of flesh ravenously. Before she even had time to think, she’d eaten all but the bones.

She grinned sheepishly up at the lion even though she knew the Cat couldn’t see her. “Sorry. Thanks.” She paused then, feeling shaky and weak, but just a tiny bit better. It would take a lot more than one fish to heal her, but it was a start. “And,” she continued, “I wasn’t… I don’t think I was really gonna… kill myself.” She looked down at the ground that she couldn’t really see. “I uh… I made a little shrine to my wife in our den a few… days ago, maybe? I put a bunch of pretty river pebbles at the entrance. Cleaned out the inside. Left our kids’ chrysalis shards in the room where they were born…”

There was a long pause then, and once again Fira slowly inhaled like she couldn’t breathe all the way, but was desperate for air. When she let the breath out, it was steadier, but not completely steady. She was going numb emotionally again, but she was beginning to process what had happened a bit more. “Uh…” She tried to think of where she’d been in her story, shaking the thoughts of her childhood with her best friend out of her head. “Destiny, my wife, she loved the water. She was a platypus, you know? So, water was her everything, especially… towards the end when… when she was in a lot of pain. The cold water helped numb her head cos she had headaches constantly from the gem piercing her…” A sharp intake of breath.

“Anyways, I thought the river pebbles by the den would be a nice way to… commemorate her passing. And then I went back to the river afterwards and… One time when we were kids we almost drowned in that river.” Fira laughed, but it was hollow. “We kinda ended up saving each other, actually. After that I taught myself how to swim so that sort of thing wouldn’t happen again. So… I knew what I was doing when I stepped into that river three days ago. I knew if I wanted to, I could swim back to the shore. I know I’m strong enough. I train every day. I just… I didn’t want to train that day I commemorated her death. I just wanted to be numb for a while. So I lay down in the water and let the current… drag me away. It got faster and faster because I was being dragged to the middle of the river where it’s deeper and stronger, but I didn’t care. I let it drag me. Eventually it got so fast I was barely keeping my muzzle above the water, but I was smiling the whole time.”

Another pause, and Fira realized she’d been talking non-stop. Well, it was too late to take it all back now. “At some point I slammed my head into a rock or… something. And when I woke up, the lights were off. And I… I didn’t see a reason to move.” Normally, at this point in the narrative, she would have asked about the lights. But at this moment in time, with the death of her wife and possibly her children still looming over her head and in her heart, she didn’t really give a damn about the lights being off. So she said nothing about the darkness pervading Polaris. “I’m done now,” she murmured. “Sorry, I… guess I really needed to get that off my chest.”

She had no idea if they were even still there — if they’d been paying any attention — but it didn’t matter. She’d still needed to say it. And she felt a little better now that she had, honestly. She didn’t feel perfect, but better. And that was a start.

Words: 712+ omg Fira long post is long jeez my emotions, my muse! @Leon @Makyna

Makyna was happy to see that the leopard had an appetite and was ready to eat, tearing hungrily into the flesh of the fish that her husband had brought. A smile curved at the corners of her own mouth as she watched the feline, she always felt so glad to help others. It always made her day when others could come back from being sad to someone that was happy again. To see a joy in someone else's heart left a joy in her own, it had always been so.

In the pause that the leopard left the lioness nodded her head, voicing a quiet and understanding. "I bet she would have liked that." It was honest, who wouldn't like their loved one to leave them something like that? If she was gone she'd like someone or something that could remember her by.

Then, the leopard went on, telling more about her history and what more had happened. It was a sad tale, bittersweet, she thought the correct word would be. She was hurting so bad. Makyna had always thought of herself as a good listener and even now she didn't zone out of the story, or stop listening halfway through. No. She listened to every word and nodded her head when appropriate but she never interrupted. She felt as if saying this would help the spotted cat to feel just that much better and get on the long road to recovery.

"There's no need to apologize. Sometimes we all just need to say what's on our minds, I think it sometimes helps to get everything off of our chests." In the dark, she nudged the female gently with her nose in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture. "It also helps if we attempt to go on. You know, hunting, talking, laughing, living. It will hurt for a long while but if you have friends it can help as will time." She didn't know if the leopard wanted friends in them or even their help, but she would not refuse it and if the gal wanted to go along with them then Makyna would offer that as well.

---

360 | notes | @Leon @Fira

"I talk."
I think...