[graves]

Originally Posted by goose

@woly

jupiter couldn’t have said she wasn’t used to being alone. moons of treading aimlessly across the syndicate’s sparse territory had paid off-- she was independent before, and she could continue to be. though her upbringing had tried and failed to teach her that a cat’s claws were the only thing they could live by, the brindled molly found herself noticing that they turned out to be a valuable asset at times.

most of the time, actually.

she remembered almost nothing of that massacre, aside from the yowls, the acrid tang of blood in the air. even if she cared not to learn about strategy, jupiter was acutely aware of the fact that the dusk syndicate had been facing some severe losses in the middle of it-- until it was all over. until she saw saturn turn tail and run. until she heard the triumphant yowl of those accursed clans; until she herself had to sluice away from the seastones, battered and bleeding.

so jupiter was doing fine. she was surviving, she supposed. she hunted, she pilfered what little prey she found in other rogues’ hidey-holes, and she kept her own stash well-hidden. although she was awfully exposed to those who could track a scent well, jupi knew a couple of basic tricks: rolling around in the dirt, covering up her scent, leaving false trails. when she could, she left offerings to the forest, ragged and shallow-breathed but still alive. when she wasn’t in too much pain, she searched.

saturn. it was a fair bit of a stretch to say the molly loved her back yet, but if jupi could just find her, help her out and grow to actually trust her, she would try. living alone changed a lot of cats, she had found, and in the occasional skirmish with another ex-syndicate feline, jupiter realised they were more exposed, vulnerable. fearful.

hopefully it hadn’t had the same effect on her.

""

saturn had never felt so alone.

there were no groupies of friends surrounding her. there were no shecats fawning over her. there was nothing. the empires of of reputation that she had built for herself, the castle she had put everything in--gone. she was only left with rubble.

she was a mess, was an understatement. without the consent approval in her life, she felt empty. the syndicate was scattered, and she was left behind. perhaps her friends never cared for her in the first place, only befriending out of pity of a sense of self status. whatever the case; she fell apart. she had never felt so alone.

but she had never felt so close to someone either.

she had good tracking skills. it was the one thing that she prided herself over. and for once, she had to use it, was forced to use it, forced to push past her pampered comfort zone. she felt so close to her, yet so far away at the same time. she could smell her, she could smell her sweet fur,she could remember how soft it felt pressed up against her own. she didnt feel so alone anymore.

she call out again, opening her maw the scent was so strong she could taste it, giving off a small cough as dirt was in the air.

¨jupiter?¨