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Post by Solaris on Apr 11, 2023 1:57:01 GMT
Day 25 of Flower Moon 2021 Disease and Misfortune
Flower Moon 2021
Day 25 | Newleaf
Rat sent Shirley out to find fresh-kill for a sick Patch. He now waits anxiously for Shirley to return from her hunt.
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Post by Solaris on Apr 11, 2023 1:59:24 GMT
 R a t
He/Him | 60 Moons | Rogue
More than a moon had passed since Patch’s group settled into carrionplace, and already, their lucky had turned to misfortune. At the turn of the new moon, Patch fell ill due to a mysterious disease, and his grave symptoms included vomiting, fatigue, and a burning fever, of which Rat and the other cats found themselves unequipped to address. Patch pushed through, that damn stubborn cat—Rat knew he’d make a good leader—but his sorry state was difficult to watch.
The disease worsened over the days, until Patch could barely speak without wheezing. His sleeping was restless as well, and there wasn’t a night where he wasn’t thrashing about or murmuring nonsense in his dreams. It was horrifying to witness the progression, seeing the life almost ebb away from Patch. Looking at him now, it was hard to see the cat who overthrew Stone and led a gang of rowdy rogues for two moons before being chased out.
Rat, as second-in-command, who had the most frequent contact with Patch. He acted as an intermediary between the leader and the rest of the crew, quarantining Patch so that everyone else wouldn’t catch the same sickness. The concerning part, however, was that Rat started suspect the same symptoms of himself. He found himself weakened and fatigued, as though his bones were brittle as browned leaves during leaf-fall. He started coughing an awful amount as well, but he chocked that up as a product of his aging body. What elder hasn’t struggled with abad cough? Not that Rat knew many elders. Most died young on the streets before they could age.
Now, he paced to and fro the entrance to Patch’s makeshift den, anxious for Shirley to return with some bounties from the day’s hunting. He had sent her out to catch fresh food for Patch. The poor cat had barely eaten a morsel all day! Rat himself hadn’t eaten much, but his hunger could wait until Patch ate. When he saw Shirley’s silhouette appear at the entrance of carrionplace, he perked up.
“Ah! There you are. How was your hunt?” he asked, maintaining a face of thinly vein politeness. It was clear from the agitation of his tail-tip that he was nervous.
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Riley
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Post by Riley on Apr 15, 2023 20:06:28 GMT
It had taken Shirley an embarrassingly long time to find any prey. Back in Twolegplace her role had been to look cute and pretty and occupy the twolegs while her friends stole food from right under her noses. She hadn't even known HOW to hunt until they'd come to the forest!
Patch and Rat had taken turns teaching her, splitting their time between her and setting up a camp in carrionplace and all the other super important things it took to make sure they survived. But then Patch got super sick and Rat was following and Shirley still hadn't found her proverbial footing.
Or even her literal footing. Hunting in marshes was HARD. She was still struggling to scent out anything that wasn't mud. Then there was the matter of stalking stealthily enough that whatever she was hunting didn't flee into the muck and goop.
So she'd had to go a little farther than she would have liked to fetch prey, and it wasn't even a whole lot of prey. She'd tried a bird, a brown thing with a red front that she didn't know the name of, but it had flown away before she'd even come within pouncing distance. And a squirrel had outrun her, scurrying up a tree and chittering at her from above.
In the end Shirley had only managed to catch two mice. They were kind of small, probably young. But it was food! Food she carried by the tails toward where Rat was keeping guard of Patch's den, pacing in agitation. She couldn't help the downward turn of her ears at her meager catch. "It. Um. It went? I caught mice!" she meowed rather pointlessly. Like he couldn't see the fresh-kill in her mouth. "I'll go back out, I promise! And, and I'll get something bigger! More filling! For all of us!"
It was said almost pleadingly. And Shirley wasn't quite sure what she was begging for. For Rat to not be mad? For him to go with her? For him to not throw her out? She had no idea.
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Post by Solaris on Apr 16, 2023 6:58:19 GMT
R a t
He/Him | 60 Moons | Rogue
Fire 25, 2021 | Riley “You… caught a mouse?” said Rat, trying to squint into the void that was Shirley’s mouth. The mouse was smaller than he was hoping, especially for how long it took Shirley to catch the prey. He tried to hide his disappointment, but he found it hard to force a smile on his face. He was supposed to put a strong face for the other members of his group, but that wasn’t quite working in his favor. “Patch will appreciate your efforts, Shirley.”It was getting harder to regulate his emotions when the gravity of the nature of Patch’s disease taking hold of his whole body, and with the fact that fresh-kill was difficult to catch in this strange land, leading to an unrest at camp. Trying to find edible meat that wasn’t crowfood was like digging around a trashcan for treasures. He wasn’t sure which was harder; finding food in the carrion piles or hunting in the marshland. Maybe the differences didn’t matter, because either way, the group was scrambling around in circles for any semblance of food. “I'll go back out, I promise!” Rat shook his head. “Don’t waste your energy. You’ve been gone since sunrise, and the most you’ve caught in that span of time was a meager mouse,” sighed Rat. “But at least we’ll have food to give Patch. Real food, and not any of those crowfood scraps we keep eating for a meal.”He eyed the towering carrion piles of crowfood. Every now and then, a paranoia seized his chest, fearing that one day the piles would topple over and smother him with putrid stenches. He never told anyone else this, it was a minor and silly concern, and he certainly hadn’t the chance to bring it up to Patch. The poor cat had too much to deal with. In the meantime, Rat had to figure out a task to assign Shirley, to keep her busy, and away from witnessing the depravity of Patch’s condition. He was also keenly aware of her need to prove herself. In that sense, he sometimes saw an image of his younger self in her eyes. “Would you be able to get new moss for Patch’s bedding? I will give him your mouse, and once you return with the moss, I’ll add them to his nest.” |
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