⊗ snoop on the broken and the storm
You wonder what The Broken and The Storm are talking about? You were planning to talk to The Storm yourself, because you've had a question burning in your pouch since your interaction with The Bouncy last month, but you don't want to interrupt them - especially when there might be something juicy you could find out by sneaking up on them first!
(You're not really sure what, exactly, you could find that's "juicy" from eavesdropping, but you've heard The Broken use those exact words before, so you at least know that this is a phrase you can say.)
You've gotten better at padding so quiet and so still up to people, such that they don't notice you at all, if you do say so yourself. You walk so carefully into the bushy tussocks of grass from ages away, then shuffle slowly through them until you manage to get close enough to the two slugcats to both listen and hear them.
Hurry up already! The Broken complains, stomping her hind leg down.
The Storm seems amused by her antics, and stretches out her own hind legs in mock-relaxation.
What was that, brat? She says it in an affectionate tone, so you don't think it's an insult. What did you want me to do again? Sorry, guess in my old age I've up and forgotten it, soon as you said it.
The Broken whines loudly, tail thumping on the ground. I SAID, Storm, you have to keep telling me the story! You promised! You said you'd keep going if I went to sleep early last night, and I did!
Ohhhh, It fakes mock-realisation, badly acted out because the smirk on their face hasn't abated in the slightest. You want me to keep telling you the story of The Stone? THAT story?
Yes! Obviously!!!!!!!!! The Broken jumps on The Storm's tail and starts attacking it with mock-bites, growling playfully while The Storm thrashes it around and mimes being in incredible pain. You were telling me about how they were born into a clowder that lived in a cave deep underground, in a world where there wasn't rain, and all the water came from crystals that glowed in a thousand sparkling colours!
Yes, yes, I yield! It tickles The Broken's back leg with its paw, and The Broken jumps back around to face it with another squeal and tackle. Now stop squirming around so much, and I'll continue where I left off!
Finally, the Broken settles back down, ears perked alertly, and sits in front of The Storm. You're captivated, too - you know from experience how good The Storm's stories are, though you didn't hear this one yourself.
What were you doing last night? You try to think about it, but you're pretty sure you were with your parents. The Broken doesn't have any parents to be with, so she probably gets lonely when you're distracted by your family.
You feel a little bad, but quickly forget your worries: when The Storm begins to speak, you become as drawn in as The Broken.
It's a strange time for a strange kit. The Stone looks up into the hollow sky of the ceiling, and considers the work of the spiders high above. All the other pups and even adult slugcats are deeply afraid of them, as they well should be - it's a wise animal that knows the small spiders group together to become big beasts, and even the fear of light can't keep their hunger at bay anymore.
But The Stone, named after the walls of their world, doesn't feel this fear. They observe the strange and the frightening carefully, and study them like any other pup would have studied a batfly, or a beetle.
They were not well-liked in the clowder, because everyone knew that its parent, that well-loved second-in-command, had had this pup with the enemy. What enemy, you're asking me? I couldn't tell you, everyone thinks something different.
Some say that it had been a place where predators were so few that we had become our own enemy, slugcat despising slugcat, and clowders were to live or die in. That would make the most sense, wouldn't it? It's a bit too sensible for me, though - and what a terrible group to be part of! My job is to make sure we get along with other slugcats, not fight each other to the death!
Others say that The Stone's other parent had been a scavenger, and this clowder's founder had been an enemy of them, so to love a scavenger was the worst kind of love. That The Stone, when they were older, would pupate just like a scub, and grow those tell-tale antlers between its ears.
There are a lot more possibilities, but you aren't here to listen to me list them off. I only know that the deputy had become shunned for what they thought of as a betrayal, and their pup with it.
The two-tone colouring of The Stone's fur, they said - that was the proof! Why else would a pup have two different colours right in the middle like that, except if their parent had been of two hearts?
(We know, of course, that THAT isn't true. A slugcat can have two different colours for a lot of different reasons - sometimes, one egg tries to make two pups, and then remembers that only one can fit inside its shell, so it combines them. Sometimes, it is something in the family that goes far back and has been forgotten until it appeared again.
Some stories even have a sibling beside The Stone, who has fur speckled green and white like an egg! And some stories have one of the OTHER pups in the clowder have two-coloured eyes as well! So what does that have to do with a split-tone judgement, huh? Nothing, that's what! Still, didn't wanna give you any weird ideas about your friend since we actually HAVE a two-tone pup in the clowder, with those eyes. What, that was obvious to you already? Oh, don't get me started on what these stories have made The Bouncy think, I don't put anything past anyone anymore.)
Anyway, the point is that no one likes The Stone, except their parent. So The Stone finds a draw, it seems, in the things that frighten the other slugcats - like the spiders, and the dark. They learn things that other slugcats know nothing about, because the other pups play with each other, and The Stone plays alone with the shadows on the wall, and the spiders above.
The Stone learns to make the same web shapes that the spiders walk, tracing them in the stone with their paw. They look at them, and learn more from them.
One day, they find a shiny pebble in the river running through their camp - it glows in the light of the crystals, and as The Stone looks closer, it realises that this is part of one of the crystals that create the water, itself!
When it picks it up in its paw, it can feel the water dripping, dripping, dripping into its fur, and because this is where the water starts, it doesn't stop.
This is a good gift for a best friend - but they don't have any best friends. The closest they have is their parent, who has no need for it, and the spiders.
So at night, they leave their slumbering parent's belly and roam out into the dark, holding on to that small pebble. The little light it gives out is what guides The Stone, deeper and deeper into a tunnel that no other slugcat travels through.
There, in that darkness, sits one of those spiders - with the tunnel so low, the spider of the ceiling might as well be the spider of the floor, though no rules between the two groups have been broken by this.
The spider is huge, bigger than The Stone - any sensible slugcat would have fled, but The Stone has been quite alone for so long that they have lost all such sense.
This stone is for you. They say to it. I have no one to spend my time with but you and your kin, so you might well be my closest companion. I know you will eat me if I come closer, so I will not. I leave the crystal here, as a gift to you, and hope you don't hate dim light as much as bright.
The Spider says nothing back, because no slugcat can understand a spider, but The Stone almost feels like they could, if they keep watching it, its waving patterns and skittering legs. They have to go back to their parent, however, so they do not, and they go home.
This part is different again, because sometimes it's the next day, and sometimes it is far longer - because this is when they have curled up and pupated, if they are part-scavenger and able to do that.
Whenever they wake up, once they do, the spiders on the ceiling are far fewer. Their little horn stubs have sprouted, so everyone knows exactly what they already knew. Their parent squeezes them tight to their chest fur, and growls to anyone who says anything.
The Stone feels as lonely as ever, or even more than before.
But, some time later, the gatherers comes back saying they have found a slugpup out in the tunnels, who had no parents, no friends, no family. It said it wanted to join the clowder, or at least this is what the patrol had heard, because no one is sure if it ever said anything at all.
It is an all-black slugpup. Sometimes with one paw too many, sometimes far more, if you look at it from the side of your face, not directly. Sometimes its tail seems far too thin for a slugcat, more a mass of twisting legs. And it only has one, glowing, white-blue eye, that twinkles like wet dew and shines like a crystal. It says its name is The Spider.
It says it is The Stone's best friend.
When The Storm takes a deep breath and sits back, eyes closed, you realise suddenly that she's said all she had to say about it - that the story, somehow, unbelievably, ends there.
What!! You burst out. That's it? But what about The Spider? Is it still here to eat The Stone? Is it really their best friend now? What do the other slugcats think, 'cause they hate The Stone so much? Will The Spider be brave and protect them? Will the Spider eat THEM, instead, 'cause they totally deserve it?
The Broken whips her head around to stare at you with wide eyes, and you realise you totally just leapt to your paws out of the grass you were hiding in to yell about this. You feel a little embarrassed, and your tail wags, but you really want to know more!! What about the rest of the story????
The Storm bursts out laughing at your sudden appearance, looking at you with amusement. Kha-hah! Didn't know my story-telling skills were good enough to lure little pups in out of the grass!
There's other stories about The Stone, of course, and other stories about them with The Spider too. There's even a couple with The Spider just on its own. But that's how this one ends, kiddos! If you don't like it, well, guess you'll just have to wait for next time to hear more about them, don't ya?
You whine, much like The Broken had done earlier, and slap your tail on the floor with a touch of reproachfulness. But when is that gonna be??
Ahhh, I dunno. Maybe tomorrow, eh? Tell you what, both of you go to sleep early tonight, and I'll tell you more stories again tomorrow, how's that?
The same deal as yesterday? The Broken asks, tilting her head.
Why not? Did I lie to you or lead you wrong today?
Well, no! I was just wondering! She huffs, sticking out her tongue. If you have to go to boring adult stuff, then whatever! I'll just leave with Winged and we can talk about The Stone and their awesome friend that kills everyone instead!
Yeah! You say, excited. They can eat all the slugpups that were mean to The Stone, and then they can show the adults just how much they shouldn't mess with The Stone!
You kids and your murder plots. The Storm shakes its head fondly. Alright, off you two scamper then. I've worn out my voice for you, the least you two can do for me is leave me to take a nap.
Fineeee, just don't choke on a beetle in your sleep before you can tell us more tomorrow! The Broken seizes you by the paw and starts pulling you away.
Ok, bye! You say to The Storm.
Wait, weren't you going to talk to her about something?