the scattered fragments of a clouded daze

[Luminous]

Warm blood leaked down ẗ̴͈́he cat's lower jaw as her fangs sunk into the prey. it was plumper, th̷̺̎ough not e̶̹̾nough to feed two when one was built like her and the other one was (hopefully̷̧̿) still gṛ̵̓owing. but thȅ̸̪ mice around here were slowly getting fatter, and with the snow gone and streams no longer twisting through their own ice... it would be brighter. eventually. even if it meant the stars wouldn't stick with them for as long each day, she was still grateful for the warmth.

the cat had sunken down over her catch, a voice inside -from her bel̴̹̃ly, no̴͔̚t her mind- urging her to eat. and the jaws̵̗̑ that had just ẗ̸͎́aken the mouse's life automatically began to remove the skin, lapping at the blood before she snapped back. before she remembered that this wasn't her food.

[Luminous]

river was st̸̖͗ill curled under the little cover of brancḥ̵̉es, lḙ̸́aves, and moss where she'd signaled for him to wait. he didn't move when the mollỵ̵̎ came near, but as a paw brushed aside the cov̶̘̐er and mute̴̡̾d hues searched under them, blue and yellow looked back.

she nodded. the same pol̴͍̒ite way as she wo̴̩͆uld greet an another Claw. and laid down the mouse before him. his mouth opened, taking the tinieș̵͊ breath in to inhale the scent, and he -what the molly had assume was instinctively- leaned forward. then he froze, jaws closing. ṯ̶͒hen opening again. and closing. a pause, then the mouse was nudged towards her. she shook her head no, but he wouldn't move. fine.

once she had ṯ̸̇aken a bite, ch̷̨́ewed, and swallowe̶̺̊d the m̸̹͒ousemeat with aś̵͕ nė̴̤utral of an expression the the searing hunger inside her would al̴̺͝low, he gav̶̳̐e in, and be̶̺̊gan to eat as̵̝̚ well.

[Luminous]

it was night. and it was morning again.
making two nests. sleeping. then covering all marks that they had ever been there. and continuing on.

she always walked towards where the sun had set the previous day. but that was a recent decision. for quite a few months she had just walked in the opposite direction of where she had come. walked more when the leaves were colorful, and less when everything died, but now more again. and river always stayed right behind her.

he glanced over her shoulder at river, trotting a tail-length behind her. the same way as always. if he'd spoken, she might have asked him why he was here, but for now it was just continuing to move.

[Luminous]

It was time to hunt again, but river was no longer just behind her. Not just following this time, but walking like she did; mirroring her paw-placements, looking where she looked. When she found a scent trail, his nose twitched too, and when she crouched low to stalk, he dropped into position behind her - just as quiet, just as focused.

The first shrew got away, startled by a dry leaf crunching under river’s paw. The molly flicked her tail, pointing, and he didn’t make the mistake again.

The second prey appeared, a small flicker of movement in the underbrush, and River followed her cue, watching, waiting. This piece of prey was caught - by her, for now.

[Luminous]

It rained today. A thunderous drumming of raindrops against the ground, and soft earth that quickly turned into mud.

It was hard to see further than a few leaps or hearing properly over the downpour, and even harder to smell anything. The forest was also stiller than usual, the undergrowth was pelted by raindrops but not a single rodent stirred the leaves; trees swayed and crackled above them but no birds rested on their branches. Everything that could afford to hide from the weather did so.

They licked water from the bushleaves every now and then, but nothing was eaten. So needless to say, with mud-caked paws, drenched coats, and growling bellies, they didn't get too far that day.