she ate the lotus [private]

[plum]

@iliri

The thing about baggage, is usually those with baggage know what they've got. They know that they're carrying a suitcase full of issues with them wherever they go, and they know- even if they don't intend for it- that it can very well affect those around them. You would think, then, if someone no longer knew they had ever carried any baggage at all, it would no longer make a difference to the world around them. But their baggage isn't gone just because they don't know it exists. A tree still grows around the corner and out of sight. It still provides shelter, casts a shadow, and makes a difference. It doesn't cease to exist when the squirrel who planted the seed in hopes of returning for it in the colder season forgets it had planted anything there.

The squirrel could very well say, 'That tree isn't mine, I never left a nut there,' but the tree would not disappear.

A cat with golden fur and black rosettes wakes up beneath a thick beech tree. She feels exhausted despite only just waking up, and finds that beneath her chest, her front left paw folded at a bad angle. A couple of the cat's toes had dried blood smeared through the fur (her claws torn ragged) and her ankle swollen. A heartbeat of pain could be felt from the joint. A frown pulls the cat's lips down. She had only just gone to sleep... What happened? Looking up, she peers through the thick summer foliage of the tree, considering the possibility of falling. But none of the broad branches looked particularly difficult to navigate, and the cat was not sure why she would be in a tree in the first place.

Another option was a fight... But surely, such a thing would stand out to her? Standing, the cat pushes out a heavy breath and circles the base of the beech for clues. She comes up with nothing. Her tail, long and thin, flips one way and another as she tries again to draw up from the deep recess of her mind how her paw had come to become strained. Was it so important? Perhaps not.

The cat soon forfeits the half-hearted attempt of remembering this, though. Hunger was more prevalent, and drew her focus moreso than trying to figure out a mystery that mattered very little, in the end. She wanders, unsure of where she would find a meal (and unwilling to bet her life on managing to catch anything faster than she), eventually coming to a hesitant stop near a blueberry bush.