#eclipse au

Buildings are marked with a massive "X," wood structures scorched into. You stroll down to an awning, and stressfully lick your paws, rubbing wildly at your ears. You feel dirty, covered in grease and ash and with each swipe of your tongue the flavor coats your taste buds, instantly making you thirsty and want to throw up.

The storm picks up. The sky booms, darkened and angry and you are so cold. The water collecting on your fur weighs you down. Struggling to crawl into an opening in the nearest building.

Inside is dark. A good sign. That means no humans are around to shoo you away, to kick you or hurt you or try to lock you within their homes. Your eyes glint in the dim light, two watchful irises.

You climb up a few boxes and crawl along the rafters. You may be inside, but the building is cold. Empty. You sniff the air, and all you smell is the soot and the rain. The floors below are damp, some areas collecting the water in excess.

You hop down to the floor in the next room over. You dip a paw in the collected rainwater, contemplating whether or not sating your thirst is worth the way the water smells. You bow your head down, and take a tentative lick.

It is just as bad, if not worse than the taste of the muddy grease off the tips of your fur.

You huff. Shiver. Look back up to the ceiling, as your scraggly tail wraps around your thin, skeletal form. You have to keep moving, all your instincts to survive are screaming at you to do so. With a twitch of your whiskers, you obey the call of curiosity. Creeping along the cold, concrete floors.

You nearly jump out your skin when a massive, towering lump of metal clatters to the floor. Puffing up with a hiss, you arch your back with all your might to appear as large and threatening as possible. Your claws unsheathe, and you side-hop away.

The fallen structure doesn't react. You creep closer, sniffing it. It looks like a human, but made all out of dull, dim metal. Your ears flatten down again. You bat at it a few times, to no response. This room wasn't safe.

Clattering back up the excess of boxes and rafters, you begin racing through the maze of this building. Getting lost deeper and deeper inside the labyrinth, as far away as the dead man made of metal as you can get.

Your vision blurs in and out of focus. You slow down to a crawl, barely able to put one paw in front of the other. You're starting to walk with a limp, too much pressure on your left front leg meant a tinge of pain through the nerves there.

Turning your nose upward, you peer around the space. Colorful blocks build a fortress of debris. Among them, you spot a crumpled up blanket; the promise of warmth and safety enough to tempt you over. Hobbling to the window of safety, you nudge the fabric with your snout. Digging underneath, hiding away in the temporary lodging.

As your breathing slows, your eyes drift closed.

You awaken to the sound of lumbered shuffling. A faint noise that has the tip of your ear twitching in irritation.

Before you can react, the safety of the blanket is lifted off you.

You manage to hiss, swatting at the silicone hands that dare steal your safety net. The blanket quickly drops down, and you proceed to back away.

Only for it to be lifted up again, and for a bright, yellow eye to be staring right at you. Your ears go flat, laying against the sides of your skull.

"O-oh hi there, little friend!" The strange metal man says. Leaning down to your level as he parts the blanket aside. When he moves, a cacophony of mechanical clicks spring out from his legs. The loud noises startle you, seeking refuge by hiding away into the stacks of colorful blocks.

"easy, easy..." he hums, patient in ushering you out. Hands reach toward you, large, too large. You swat at them, claws catching on the silicone outer casing.

Eclipse stares at its hand where your claws had raked across it. Barely making a dent in its infrastructure that is already so damaged, burnt, torn apart. An electronic whir sounds as its head adjusts to look at you, the bright glow of his optics softening.

"You're just scared, aren't you...?"

The metal puppet shuffles closer. "It's okay... we are scared sometimes, too..."

The crack of thunder. Eclipse's mechanisms seize up, almost clattering to the ground.

The mechanical man shivers, curling up into a tight ball. Murmuring to itself, words that hardly make sense to your feline ears.

You slip out your hiding spot. This was the perfect chance to sprint away. To be safe.

But you pause mid-step. Paw hanging in the air as your whiskers twitch. The robot continues to stay ever so still, except for the occasional rattle to its chest. Your ears downturn. Sensing that it was in distress. Cold and sad and alone, much the same as you.

You glance to the safety of the rafters above. The vent you can crawl through and make daring exit.

Instead, you choose to creep up to the robot. You butt your head against its knees, and begin to purr. As loud as your little soul can muster!

The sound of rain on the roof above calms from a torrential downpour to soft pitter-patters.

You grow more bold. You climb up into their lap, paws stamping across their twirly, metal leg and onto the soft velvet of their pants.

Eclipse slowly comes back to reality. Lost in the past. The robot peers at you with great curiosity, face inches away from yours. You blink slowly to make your concern and affection clear. Then bump your face forward, forehead patting against the center of his strange, round face.

You hear a crackle of static that reminds you of radios and gadgets. Clearing out from the static is a quiet laughter, raspy and sullen.