((Madhukar has reawakened! Welcome back, boom kitty.))

Cri-crr-CRACK!

One paw, a drag, a pull.

Against her will, she'd finally gone dormant. Now, life was calling again.

Bright green-yellow eyes that would normally harbor a constant sharp tang now shimmered with lights, vacancy. A head that often buzzed with thought after thought, act after act, now hadn't the strength for a single move.

Whiskers quivered. Claws flexed. Back arched, stretched, and then released. The clouds began to lift... or maybe they were just all coming together once more, after so much time apart?

Madhukar stared at the ceiling and... grinned. And that's when the rain began.

At first it was a light pittering and pattering, a drizzle, pulled together from the lazily drifting moisture in the room. Then, it got stronger. And now, water slicked the coat of a little honey-storm kitten. Maybe she'd grown a few centimeters in that rock cocoon. Maybe something else had changed while she was in there too. Something deep, but not reaching the core. Something internal, now given a blanket and a pillow, and put to rest.

For now.

But for now was enough.

Madhukar watched the rain. Her rain. In delight.

@Chad @Twisted @Doug @Tahi-shei ((just tagging anyone who might wanna come, anyone can join and ruin/make Mad's day :3))

ever since he had found the kitten half-dead after a nasty lightning accident, he'd been visiting the site of the chrysalis for a bit, making sure nobody disturbed the chrysalis every once in a while. he didn't know how long she'd be in there.

this time, as he was heading back with some flowers (and some weeds, they just looked nice) to put next to it as a nice surprise, he heard it crack, and as he entered the general area, he felt the rainfall that had manifested in the cave.

he smiled brightly, running in the direction of the chrysalis, seeing mad happily watching her own rainstorm.

he ran up, dropping the (now slightly wet) flowers and weeds in front of her, smiling. "friend! you are okay!" he mewed happily. "remember me?"

@Madhukar

((anyone can come in at any point :P))

Madhukar blinked as she heard words directed at her from a rather unfamiliar voice. The sound of something softly landing on the ground. Someone addressing her as a 'friend'. Her eyes flashed to the speaking creature and then to the wet flowers (and weeds) on the floor. Her mind was foggy, but with time she might figure this out...

"Rememb'? No..." She tried to dust those mental shelves, blowing dust off her memories into billowing clouds. "...Wait. Yo.." What was this memory? Someone running, something hurting. Barely any feeling but pain. She didn't like it. She didn't want to think about it too long. "NO. I don' rememb." And maybe it was better that way.

She bent down and sniffed the flowers. They were nice. The kitten then blinked, yawned, all with languor, with sleep in her eyes. "Who is fo'?" She got back up, sat on her haunches, briefly glanced at the spotted creature and then looked up at the ceiling again.

Give her... THUNDER!

A small clap boomed from up above. Perhaps the rain had tamped down the sound so it wouldn't go beyond the perimeters of the storm. The release of magic itself hadn't felt too strong. But the thunder was there, still loud within its designated area, still exhilaratingly powerful.

Energy began to run its course through the kitten once more. Like a rainstorm, it began: first a pitter patter.

@Chad (for visibility)

Tahi-shei had been in the middle of magic practice/meditation when he'd noticed that he was suddenly being pelted by rain. Weather wasn't exactly unusual, but it certainly was when he considered that, just a few minutes ago, he'd seen through the fungus and gathered that it wasn't expected to storm. The crack of thunder nearby gave him pause, and then he was getting up to investigate.

In the middle of the storm, he found two figures, one larger than the other -- both feline. One was covered in spots, taller and somewhat awkward with youth.

The other held a similar scruffiness, but the pelt was instead madly splattered with cream and blue. His eyes lit up as he cantered over. "Madhukar! Hey! I--" Tahi-shei noticed the shards of chrysoberyl around her, and suddenly frowned. "Wait, did you-- did you chrysalize?! What happened!!" He rushed forward to prod her wet fur with his nose, apparently checking her over quickly for any remaining signs of injury or indications of mutation (although he was careful not to poke her with his antlers, which had grown nubs which would soon give way to their adult growth -- Tahi was doubtless in for a surprise when his antlers dropped eight cycles after they grew in, and came back slowly over the next four).



@madhukar @chad

"Well hey there, sparkles."

Let's rewind the clock a bit.

It had been a couple weeks or so since Twisted's birth, and since then she'd been surprisingly tame. Getting into a fight mere moments after being born puts a strain on the body, it turns out. She'd seen that strange magic ('bleh') competition, and that awesome chicken, but past that... not much else. Simply pacing up and down the tunnel and hissing aggressively at every lesser that dared even look at her. Various gembounds came through, most of which she avoided-- as much as she loved fighting, a lot of them were a lot larger and intimidating than an overgrown kitten.

Of course, curiosity eventually killed the cat. The Siamese kitten pawed her way back to Polaris on a few occasions just to look at it. Rocks, rocks, glaring crystals, dumb magic residue.... none of it was particularly interesting. Well, one thing did catch her eye-- namely, a funny yellow stone embedded by a riverbed. When she fought Madukar all those days ago, she didn't really get a good view of her stone. Still, it's shade struck a familiar nerve in her brain, so every few days she'd come by just to check on it. Maybe it was another kitten, you know. One she could beat up.

And today was the lucky day. Or unlucky. The kitten was curled up in the shadow of the near wall when suddenly-- drip-- rain began to fall. Rainfall wasn't too uncommon in the caves, but this one felt... different. And that rumbling thunderclap just proved her hypothesis.

Twisted stalked back to the River on swift black feet. She heard other gembound, and skirted away, trying to stick to the shadowy shore. Sure enough, that Madhukar was here, hatched from the stone. But she wasn't alone-- a large, lanky feline stood with some ugly weeds, alongside a worried deer. The kitten didn't know one could just return to a stone, though the other's words suggested she got hurt. Mad seemed to be having fun, almost, surrounded by her dumb magic and stupid "friends". A prickle of anger went through her. How come they were being so nice to her?! She shoved electricity up her throat!

Well, time to rain on the parade.

"Well hey there, sparkles," Twisted said. "Aw, did you get hurt?"

The young kitten stalked forward towards the bank...

And immediately fell face-first into the river.

She hissed wildly, completely forgetting her goal for a split second as she clawed vainly at the water. She was already soaked from the magic rain, but falling into a river was too far. Now all her cream fur was some disgusting brown-ish! She suddenly remembered the others, and hurriedly composed herself, despite being soaking wet. "As I was saying..." Twisted growled, turning a green eye to the cat, "... Hey, you idiot."

She gauged the deer and cheetah quietly. She kinda felt like continuing their earlier fight-- why not? She hated her. But, with two others here, both of them far older than her... it would be three-against-one. Twisted wasn't good at math (or anything, really, past clawing and spitting and running), but she knew she wouldn't last. Instead, the broken-tailed kit padded up to the trio, purring as if she didn't hate one of them immensely. "Are these your... friends, Maddy?" Her words were as falsely sweet as a kitten could manage. "Did they come to rescue you?"

@Madhukar

chad smiled brightly at mad, even if she didnt remember him he was still happy she was okay. "thats okay! glad you're okay!"

he mewed in surprise at the others joining, smiling, "hello new people! hello!"

@Madhukar

The creature that had met her first upon her rehatching hadn't really... answered any of her questions. That was alright. She was strangely undisturbed by that. Undisturbed by anything. The pitter patter of her own rain... maybe it soothed her, somehow.

Tahi's appearance helped with that soothing process even more. Her... her magic practice partner came over calling her name, seeming bewildered about her situation, violating her space-- it was a nuzzle. A check over. It was cold outside, thanks to her rain, but on the inside she was beginning to feel... warm. She was fuzzy on the outside, was it normal to feel fuzzy inside too?! Something was rumbling. Wait, was that her?!? Yeah! Wow. Purring. She hadn't expected it herself, but there it was.

She didn't really know how to answer. Her words came out a fumbled, jumbled mess of, "I- I, um,"'s and "I don'--"'s. She felt soft, and comfortable, but still confused, hazy, and perhaps also unwilling to remember. She didn't want any stings right now. She wanted Tahi's worry and this new-but-amiable-enough creature's welcomes, not the pain of... whatever happened, back then, back before the storm. She could tell Tahi later, but right now, she wanted to relish in this, this thing that was happening, this phenomenon. Like a monsoon, raining down positivity in the midst of what was usually a heat of hatred and spite.

'Well hey there sparkles,' then came another unfortunately familiar voice. Ah. So much for relishing, then.

Madhukar wasn't even sure if she wanted to turn towards the encroaching threat. She felt a compulsion to do so, sure, but at the same time, she just wondered if ignoring it would make it go away. Her mind whispered sweet words of vengeance to her, though; 'Turn the tables, Madhukar... take that thing out now, since you've just rehatched... pay it back for the DEFEAT and the HUMILIATION...' Her confidence was so great now, now that she knew she controlled the storm. She could do it, couldn't she?

She wouldn't even have to do it alone.

But maybe that was the problem.

The idiot then fell into the river, with a splash. Madhukar wanted to laugh, but for some reason, she couldn't make herself. It was too reminiscent... too reminiscent of herself. The juxtaposition of this scene was too great. Someone powerful, but young, beaten by themself more than by their opponent, and then declared the loser anyways. 'It was an infuriating position to be in, wasn't it?'

That's the thought that finally made the kitten laugh. It was a cold, steely laugh, like hail pelting and grinding in the flesh. There was no humor in it as she turned away from Tahi and the other creature and took one step after another towards The Cat in the water, struggling to find its way out.

It kept talking. Oh, how Madhukar hated it when it spoke. Absolutely loathed the undeserved smugness on its face. The poor creature in the background just kept giving greetings, entirely unaware of the situation, the tension between Madhukar and this... loathsome thing.

As the idiot tried to saunter up to the trio, Madhukar attempted to step directly in its path, to block it. She heard the purring. Her own had stopped. Madhukar didn't purr out of malice or spite. The fact that this thing did? Reaffirmed her suspicions. No, she didn't want Tahi to be here for this, for any battle she might have to face. She didn't like the power she felt this idiot could amass. What it could do with such power, if it were granted.

"Shut up." That was an order.

Her magic executed perfectly. The loudest thunderclap she had ever made, it rung across every space in the room, could be heard even from outside of it.

She grinned.

"Leave. Take it a mercy."

She could feel the power welling within her. She was back, better than ever.

Nobody was taking that away from her, ever again.

Twisted's broken tail twitched, excited. A silent smirk. She hated this kitten for reasons beyond her own understanding, and she wanted to rain on every happy event Mad had. Like this one, for instance. Ooh, maybe she could trip her! Give her a little scare and embarrass her in front of her friends! Nothing too noticable, so they wouldn't get on her case, but still funny. She liked the thought.

Of course, her personal parade had to crash soon.

Twisted didn't see it coming. A black ear twitched at the slight air vibration, and then a rippling BOOM rang out into the air. It was far, far louder than anything she'd heard before, a roar that dwarfed all others. She winced, hissed, drew her ears back and backed away from ground zero, but it was no use. The cat was fairly certain one of her eardrums had burst from the noise.

Caves, she's gonna get hearing loss from this.

Twisted growled, and stepped back from the powerful tortoiseshell. The words felt muffled, almost mute, as if the entire world had been taken down several notches by that blast. A claw scraped against stone. Hopefully her so-called "friends" would get their fair share of the blast, too.

... She wanted friends. It was lonely fighting the only people you know.

Nah. Now wasn't the time to get all "philosophical". Twisted flicked her head upwards, almost defiant, save for the curled-up ears and the fact she was slowly crawling backwards. "Fine," she hissed. Even her own voice sounded soft. "Enjoy your dumb 'friends', Maddy."

And then the siamese bounded away, tail between her legs. But no, she wasn't leaving just quite yet. Instead, she slipped her way behind a boulder and curled up, listening half-heartedly to the rest of their conversation. Whatever they were talking about.

@Madhukar
Twisted isn't leaving! She's just hanging about in the shadows and isn't interacting with anyone.