⊗ You're named the Winged. Clearly there was a reason for that. Go on the roof and jump off in an attempt to unlock the Fly action
There's only one place that could do for this mission: with deft paws and fingers finding footholds, you scale up the highest thing you know.
You waggle your tail and adjust your stance on top of the shelter, shifting your paws this way and that as you try to figure out the best way to stand and hold your hindquarters for this. Should you be on all fours? No, you want to go high, so you should stand up, right?
You brace your legs, tensed and ready, and spring forwards.
Your mother notices what you're doing too late to stop you - you've been scampering around outside the nursery and exploring all day, as has become common practice for you over the ongoing month, so she must have thought you or the other slugcats could be trusted to keep from doing something so incredibly stupid.
If this is the case, then it's clear that she has misjudged. Her quick, staccato yips of panic snap everyone into awareness, all the members of the clowder present turning their eyes to where you've already sprung yourself into the air.
Honestly, you're pleased. To have all of these gazes fixed on you feels like being warmed by all their pelts at once, kept cozy in their stare. Even as gravity grips you in its claws and begins yanking you back down towards the grit below, proving what you thought wrong, you think - oh, being high up is fun.
⊗ do a backflip
As your four paws begin to jolt with the force of impact against the ground, you try again. Twisting lithe as a ferret, you rear up onto your hind legs and try to flip, letting your feet leave the dirt once again. You can't quite manage the graceful arc you've seen the older slugcats make, however, and you collapse hard to the right - absorbing the majority of the fall onto your hip, causing you to let out a shrill cry of pain.
The Silky and The Pale are at your side in an instant, chittering their alarm and dismay. The Pale hovers anxiously as The Silky lets her deft paws touch over you, checking your body to see what injuries you've caused yourself.
The Winged! What possessed you to do something like that?! What made you decide to leap off the shelter?! Her tail is slapping the ground with enough force to raise a small cloud of dust, her pelt bushed out to make her look bigger than she usually is; and since you're so small, she already looks pretty big.
Where are you hurt? Is anything broken? The Pale chimes in, ears flattened to the back of his head.
M-my side.. You whimper. You don't know how to tell if anything's broken, and your parents' fear is more infectious than anything. You can feel tears welling up, as much from the shock of their reactions as your own pain. You named me Winged.. So I was trying to f-fly...
Oh, Winged... Once she's assured herself of your relative safety, The Silky wraps her tail and arms around you, careful to avoid touching the place you mentioned. The Pale opens his arms in offer, and she shares in the load - allowing him to hold you up with his own tail and arm, one of her own falling to the side to let him bundle you against his fur too.
They both wince when you yelp and squirm in their arms at the brush of their tails on your hip. It wasn't a name for that. I don't believe any slugcat can truly fly. We named you The Winged because you were always a high jumper, even before you opened your eyes.
When you were just newly born, sometimes while Silky dozed you would jump straight from her stomach over her, right to the other side. Like you wanted to play a trick on her. She would nearly squash you when she was trying to lean back.
So The Pale liked to joke that it was if you had wings, and I certainly agreed.
Please don't do something dangerous like that again. You scared us very much.
O-okay.. You sniffle a little. It hurts...
I know, little one. We're taking you to The Little right now. Just hold on to my fur.
You do just that, and enjoy the combined warmth of your parents' presence.
Hello again, little wings. The Little, previously concerned about the cries outside, transforms quickly into relaxing now that he's seen your state. He even seems a little amused now, to see you come back into his corner of the camp so quickly.
His ears quiver with his suppressed smile as he takes in your ever-dustier coat and the blooming bruises under it, though he does try to look grave under The Pale and The Silky's twin stares. When I suggested you help stop her from over-exerting trying to get things done, getting yourself hurt so she fusses over you instead wasn't quite what I had in mind.
I can tell from looking at you that you've received quite a big shock, haven't you? They turn their address to your parents. I will of course check them over to be sure nothing is wrong, but just looking at them, I'm fairly certain they've nothing but a few bruises, and the astonishment of learning that gravity refuses to yield for us the way it does for vultures, I'm afraid.
Your father transfers you over to The Silky's grip, and she carefully places you on the floor before The Little. Yes. I know we slugcats are quite resistant to falling from much greater heights than this. I only worry because she is still very small - one month old, and already leaping off objects! This is the first time I've ever seen a pup at such a young age try this, so you understand why I was so worried.
Of course, Silk. They lay their tail reassuringly over hers as they crouch down, leaning over you. They begin touching over you with cool, calm paws. I certainly don't want to make it seem as if I'm dismissing your concerns, nor that I imply you simply an overprotective parent. Though, given that you have no experience with these things yourself, Pale...
The Pale wiggles his ears, not quite good-naturedly because he's still too busy hovering over you to muster it. Still, he takes the joke as it's meant to be. I'll take that title with pride. Better to over-fuss than to under-fuss, I always say.
That's certainly not your usual leadership motto, Pale. The Silky pokes. Her pelt has begun laying flatter after hearing The Little's verdict of your health, and you're relieved to hear her teasing your father again. What happened to, "let everyone do what they need to, and I'll just sort out whatever's left"?
Leadership and parenthood, very different things! He still doesn't seem totally reassured, but he seems like he's ready to return the banter. Give me a day with your job, Silken, and I'll have bald spots on my tail. But should I go anywhere, you'll be more than able to take my place.
Far too much pressure for me, says I. She lets him lean on her, and places her paw over his. The only time I would want to lead is with just you. Too many eyes on me otherwise.
As always, I'll draw their gazes away from you. And you can take what they've stashed while I do.
You wonder what your parents have taken, and who from. Between all of this, you've begun to calm down as well, especially as The Little began to smear some cool liquid over your pains and soothed them away. You idly slap your tail on the floor, and look up at them both.
Can I still climb up the shelter? If I don't jump?
The Pale immediately looks uncertain again, but The Silky replies, When you're a little older, Winged. I'm not sure you've grown enough to be able to take those impacts well, and we haven't taught you the best ways to land yet in case you slip anyway.
Aw, okay. Will you carry me up there?
Yes, I can carry you up there if you want to be somewhere high, Winged.
At least you still get to go high places, even if you're not allowed to climb there yourself! Content with this, you relax again, and begin squirming complaints as The Little tries to continue taking care of you.
You now have the status Bruised for the rest of the month.
⊗ Ignore authority. Try again. You'll get it for sure this time
You contemplate whether you really want to do this. You're not sure, especially because you're still allowed in high places for now...
You don't really want to fall again. You're still sore!
Still, you hesitantly begin to place your paws on the side of the shelter, stretching them up into the air... And then stop again, imitating as if you were simply stretching out your body when you notice your father is staring at you.
Maybe when you're older, you can ask about jumping high again. If you won't even get hurt by it when you're a big pup, there's no problem, right? Maybe you can start bounding from high place to high place, even!
⊗ Swallow something you probably shouldn't in an attempt to unlock the Eat action
Thwarted of your initial idea of what to do next, you turn to another thought that strikes you. You don't have any food on hand, but maybe if you start with something small, then you can learn to chew! And your teeth will grow faster because you exercised them!
What would be a good thing to eat? Of course, you could try some of the gathered food everyone has stashed in the shelter... But you'd have to go back into the shelter for that, and plus, you don't feel especially hungry. Food is hard to get, right? So you shouldn't eat that if you're not hungry. At least, that seems to make sense to you.
But what else to practice on...?
Oooh, a shiny pebble! You pick it up off the ground and wiggle your body from side to side in delight, excited to see such a pretty thing just lying around camp. Maybe this will do? You just have to get it in your mouth, then close down...
Ouch! You say, to no one in particular. It didn't hurt particularly much, but your new, small fangs didn't appreciate the connection with such a hard thing, either. You try again, slower, gentler, but it doesn't really do much. Doesn't eating involve making things smaller?
Well, you know one part of eating you can still try - even milk needs to be swallowed, so surely you can work on that part.
Without a second thought, you push the small stone all the way into your mouth, and try to do just that.
It's hard to get down, until suddenly - you feel some kind of shift inside you, and then it enters your stomach. Or, maybe, not your stomach? It feels different, and you're not sure where it is exactly... It doesn't make your tummy feel full, not like when you've drunk your fill. It simply feels like you have something inside you.
You feel quite confused about this - it doesn't hurt, but nor are you sure how you're going to get it out. Will you just have a pebble inside you forever? That's scary to think about.
Immediately, you start looking around for your father again. He's still lounging where he was before, conversing with The Wild - you take no notice of this, of course, and come charging and tumbling across the clearing towards him.
Papaaaaaaaaa! You wail at the top of your lungs, which would have gotten his attention even if your running at him didn't.
Winged, what's wrong? The Pale sits back up with a start, reaching for you with his paws as his tail comes up behind you to sweep you directly into his arms. Are your bruises hurting again? Did you fall again?
I swallowed a rock! You cling to his chest tightly, latching on to him. I don't know how to unswallow it! Will it be stuck there forever? Will it hurt?? We can't eat rocks! But I did! I ate it so how do I uneat it? I was just practising!!
The Wild stares at you, and then at The Pale. He's still sprawled on his side, and his torn ears tilt in amusement. You're raising a precocious pup, aren't you? I don't know how many pups I've heard of learning about the shock-absorbency AND stomach pouch of slugcats at one month old.
The Pale, soothingly bouncing you in his arms, flicks them with his tail. If it's all the same to you, I would have preferred they take their time to learn it rather than scaring themself - AND me - half to death twice in one month. He switches his focus to you. But ah, I guess everything is scary when it's so new to you, isn't that right? Dear one, it's okay. It sounds hard because this is your first time, but it's really not something too strange for us.
We slugcats have a stomach pouch, like Wild said. We can swallow things we want to eat later there, or if we want to save something else we can't eat... Like a rock, if it's very pretty. You're very smart to be able to figure out how to use it at this age. I'll teach you how to burp it back out as well, okay?
It's reassuring to know that there's no problem made here that you can't fix. Of course your parents can fix everything, even if you don't know how to. You relax against their blue fur, and gaze up into warm brown eyes.
Okay. And if I can't do it, you can help?
Yeah, darling. Of course I can help you cough up the pebble. I know a way to massage the pouch just right so that it wants to come out, no matter what. We can work on it, okay?
Okay.
It takes some work, and learning how to flex muscles in your neck that you didn't know you had, but The Pale teaches you how to place and remove items from your pouch well enough that you're doing it on your own without prompting from them before long.
He also uses what he's stored in his own pouch as an example, and you're fascinated to see the glow of some kind of hard, rock-like thing. It's a little warm to the touch - he tells you that this is a lantern, and that's what makes him so easy to see in the dark of the shelter!
You're surprised; you thought this was just a unique, Papa-like thing that they could do, and chose to do so everyone could find them easily no matter what.
They reassure you that that is part of why they choose to keep this specific item in their pouch - and besides, The Pale adds. You never know when you might need a light.
Just remember, you can only keep one item in there - if you try to swallow more, you'll just cough them both out. You're also quite young, so your pouch can't be very big either; don't try to store anything too huge, or you might hurt yourself, okay?
Okay, Papa.
You have unlocked the Store option.
You can only store one item at a time inside you.
As with the pronoun changing option, you can add or remove it from your pouch at any time, as frequently as desired - therefore, it will not be added to the list of actions.
⊗ Touch the Untouched so they're forced to change their name
When you find The Untouched, he's with a crowd of all the other slugpups. Lounging on his side, he has his head leaning against the flank of The New Sun, who herself has her front half draped in the lap of The Wind. The Wind is sitting up, her paw on top of her friend's head, idly grooming the nape of her neck with the other.
To one side of their cuddle pile is The Olive, who twitches her ears at you mischievously when she notices you approaching. To the other side is The Bouncy; you haven't talked to him before, but you know that he's the mediator apprentice. He hasn't seemed to be in a good temper lately, you hear; for you, he's just been cranky for as long as you can remember.
They're all facing The Broken, who has her paws braced on a taller structure in the soil, and is telling them quite importantly about what she thinks they should all do to get better at their training. Since The Olive is a warrior, she's actually not being included, but she seems to enjoy being here anyway.
Since you're coming from behind her, she can't see you - but everyone else can. Which gives you the perfect opportunity to play a little mischief... That's probably why The Olive is winking at you.
I've seen you fail to sneak up on The Sun before, Untouched, all the time! But you just have to be more quiet when you do it. Keep your steps lighter! Keep your tail up! Make sure your scent isn't drifting to her!
As The Broken keeps talking, and The Untouched tolerantly listens, you let your steps come slower, lifting your tail and trying to step more lightly while you approach behind her. Will your scent reach her? You're not sure, but you hold your own breath like it will help.
Slowly, so slowly, you creep up to her, and...
Ow! She squeals, as your teeth meet her tail in a bite.
She spins around to confront you, jumping off the log right on top of you. She's bigger than you, and you are still sore, so you immediately squeak your protest of this; to which she lets up, but not before ferociously tickling you, to which you kick out and start your own squealing.
When you finally get away from her, you hare over to The Untouched and jump on him - he lets out an oof as you piledrive into his belly, and you waggle your tail on top of him triumphantly as he slightly raises his head.
Now you're not The Untouched anymore! You're The Touched! Change your title! Change your title!
Then you slap your paws on their tummy some more, just to emphasise how touched they are.
Aw, that's not how it works. They laugh, tickling your hind paw with their tail tip. You squeal and turn to pounce on it. I'm not named that for being literally untouched, after all. I had my head on The Sun just before, didn't I?
Well... That is true...
It's not one I got from birth, like you! I got it a little later, when I started training as an older pup. I was hard to pin down, you see? Hard to hurt, before the clowder found me. So they called me The Untouched for surviving unscathed.
You nod thoughtfully. Like how I'm the Winged, but I don't have wings. Not really.
Yeah, exactly! The Untouched seems pleased about your understanding.
⊗ Combine bonus actions. Store a pronoun for later.
You decide you want to use an extra pronoun on top of the pronouns of "everything" you're already using - but you're going to save it for later!! You don't quite know how to swallow a pronoun into your pouch, but you imagine doing it really, really hard, and feel satisfied knowing that you've tucked it safely away.
Oh, you'll have to spit it out, of course, when you want to store something else. You're also not sure what pronoun it should be - eventually, you decide you've stored the pronoun "I", and nod your satisfaction.
⊗ Even better: STEAL someone else's pronoun and store it for later
You're not sure how to steal pronouns... Nor do you know who to steal it from. After some thought, you decide, and announce to The Broken, I'm stealing your "I" pronouns. You can't use "I" anymore.
She gasps in outrage. What!! How could you do that!! How do I... She corrects herself. How to talk about self now?? Unfair! You already use all the pronouns. Now you're taking MY pronouns?
You nod, proud. Yeah! But don't worry, I'll give it back when I want to store something else.
Well, hurry up then!! The Broken baps you with her paws. Want them back already!
I'll take your "my" pronouns next!
Nooooo!
She pounces at you, and begins chasing you around in circles. The older slugpups look on, mostly amused - though The Bouncy also looks a touch impatient. It's as if he'd rather be anywhere other than here, but... He doesn't have to be here at all.
⊗ You have a skill the other children don't. Swallow startling things just to belch them out suddenly and without warning among your peers
When you screech suddenly to a halt, The Broken slides to a stop as well, baffled at your unexpected stillness. Quickly, you snatch up a pebble up from the ground, mentally let go of the "I", and swallow. As she pads closer to you, trying to see what you're doing, you spin around and cough the small stone back up - right at her, rather than into your paw.
Yuck! She grumbles her complaint as soon as she realises what's happened and what she's hit by, taking the pebble and throwing it back at you.
As you giggle and tumble in a triumphant little circle, The Broken adds, I - you let go of the I, right?
You nod. She continues.
I can't believe you know how to do that already. I'm 3 months older than you, you know, and I just learned.
Whoa, really? You're surprised. Is that when the adults say we're grown enough for it?
I guess so? I'm getting closer to being a teen. Just two months more. So it makes sense that way, I think.
You can probably store bigger stuff in your pouch, 'cause you're bigger. You agree.
I think they decide when to teach you depending on age, size, or personality, The Wind inputs helpfully. I learnt at 5 months, and I know The Untouched already knew how to do it when he showed up here, however old he was then.
I think two months, He says, also helpfully. I was too young to remember, really.
Two months, She concurs. But he was surviving out there himself, and I hear they found him dodging a lizard. I was too small to remember when I got taken in by the clowder, but I know The Sun already knew how to use her pouch when she came here, too.
My grandmother taught me, The Sun says, quiet. I was three or four months, too.
And as for ME, The Olive chimes in, tail wagging. I learnt around the same time as you. The smallest little pup, don't even recall it myself but everyone from my old clowder talked about it! So methinks we've got another prodigy in the making!
May the skies be willing, don't let them be like you. The Bouncy says, flat. He doesn't volunteer when he learnt to use his pouch.
The Olive flattens her ears at him, though she doesn't stop smiling. Maybe it's not a smile anymore, though? She's showing just a little more teeth.
⊗ Find one of those mice that glow in the dark. Pretend you learned from your father how to glow, and belch up a live rat without warning after about ten minutes
You decide the best way to help break up the tension beginning to spark is to distract everyone with a fun new trick, and you have just the perfect idea. You look left and right around the camp, trying to search for one of those glowing mice that you've seen people holding, but you don't see any in the wide hollow outside.
But you remember why you've seen slugcats grasping these mice - for meals! Then, there might be one in the shelter food stores. You trot purposefully away from the others without another word to them.
Your mother looks up as you walk past her, but seeing you up to no particular mischief and, in fact, heading into the shelter, she stretches out her paws and puts her head back down.
Once inside, you start pulling pieces of food off of the pile. Blue fruit, eggbug eggs [Not slugcat ones! Those don't go in the food pile!], someone even found slime mold! There's dry bubble fruit here, too. There's a really pretty pink shell - you're distracted holding it and examining it, touching it with your paws and wondering what you eat of it, before you put it aside.
Finally, you find what you're looking for - a lantern mouse. This one is, you guess, just a mouse now? It's not glowing anymore, for some reason. And up close to you, you realise it's a lot bigger than you thought it was when held by the other slugcats. It's almost the same size as you! Still, if you can make the trick work...
You open your mouth as wide as you can and pull the mouse towards you with your hands. Despite your best efforts, however, even its head can't fit into there, let alone more of it into your pouch. The more you pull and yank, however, the further it slides out - until, with a squeak, you roll over and it tumbles right on to you.
At this point, it takes a fury of kicking and struggling to get out from under the body. By the time you finally extricate yourself, you're feeling a lot less interested in trying such a trick again. But, maybe if you try it with something smaller?
This decided, you take up one of the slime mold pieces - this, at least, fits easily into both your mouth and your pouch. It even glows!
You come importantly back out of the shelter, towards the other slugpups. The Broken is suggesting things to the others again, this time telling The Sun that she should be less quiet and point out when she sees things more often!!! To which they respond by pointing with their tail, prompting The Broken to turn and look at you again.
You give them all an innocent blink, but can barely wait 10 more seconds before you're immediately acting on your plan. With an overdramatic cough and gag, the slime mold comes shooting out of your open jaws and on to the ground before all of them.
The Broken and The Bouncy both squawk their disgust, while The Untouched curls his tail up away from it a little and The Wind looks thoughtfully at it. The Sun, trapped between both her friends, gives a slight kick of her hind leg to recoil back, but otherwise doesn't move.
Unfazed by all of this, The Olive grabs it in its paws deftly.
Come on, waste not, want not! Not like the adults don't do this too when their paws are full. Thanks for bringing us a snack, squirt! Tossing you a wink, they chow down.
⊗ tell the broken about the lost pearl! the two of you should look for it!
⊗ ALT IDEA: intercede on the broken's behalf, and suggest you ALL look for the lost pearl
⊗ ^^^^^^ give our parents heart attacks while being responsible. /j
You consider this reaction a triumphant success, and beam around at all of them, proud of yourself.
Another idea strikes you, and you think it will go just as well. Since everyone's here, you hop on top of the strut, bracing your paws on it, and lift up your hands for the others' attention...
There's something we can do! All of us together!
But then you pause.
⊗ My vote is to let us heal before exploring outside! It'll be hard to find a pearl when we're all hurt.
You are quite sore still, really. And you're getting better at walking around camp, but you're still tired very easily; falling asleep where you're sitting or standing, and waking up suddenly to find one of your parents gently picking you up in their arms or placing you on their back.
Actually, never mind. You say. I'll tell you later, when I'm all better.
The Broken perks their ears at you, wiggling their whole body as if they're unable to contain their curiosity. I'll hold you to that! I want to know what you were going to say.
I am a little curious, I'll admit. The Wind says, resting her head on top of The Sun's. Unlike you young'uns though, we're all going to be busy. I wonder if this will come to mind in a week.
Well, if you need any help with it, just let us know. The Untouched seems a little concerned about whatever you're planning, if the set of his ears says anything about it. You guess it makes sense for him to be the most worried - your dad is his teacher, after all! That practically makes him your big brother.
The Olive grins. Up to some trouble, is it? You better remind me when you're ready!
The Bouncy just scowls at all of this and looks away. I'm not getting involved with this. I have better things to do than play with pups.
With a lash of his tail, he gets up and really does walk off, now. Everyone watches him go in silence. You wonder why he's so mad all the time.
Your idea really will help. You're sure of it.