#feed-the-forge

Still... you're Chosen? You're something's favourite? You're the one that was chosen, like a hero in some kind of story?

Bitter Nightmare does not answer. Instead, she turns and begins to head back to follow mother. Skill learned: Morbid Curiosity.

[ Photograph credit: Federico Bottos ]

Of course, now you could follow her and mother. Or...

"This," she explains in calm purrs, "is the Eternal Winter-Night. This is why you cannot go exploring beyond the walls of are nest yet." Her words make unfortunate sense- the cold invades your nostrils and rings through your head. Mother is usually nice to be around, but now she's the warmest thing to exist. "The sun will rise for the first time in many cycles soon, and when that happens, you'll be old enough to wander. But for now, you must stay by my side."

"They're going to take Scorching Spot away soon," you hear Bitter Nightmare say, very quietly, just after mother turns away. She shows no sign of hearing- and then, it occurs to you, that your sister may be addressing you. But... why? "They're going to take her away now that we can walk. I heard them when I snuck out."

You beg mother to please, please, pleeeease let you see what's beyond these walls. You are big and strong and will behave very good. You won't even push Scorched Spot over when playing anymore. You'll bite Bitter Nightmare less. You're being CALLED! Please, please, please! Yet, mother loves you not, as she, without a moment's hesitation, crushes your dreams by saying, "Absolutely not." She is a jailor, and you, her unwitting...... jailee. She is unlawfully keeping you here. You nearly open your mouth and start screaming on impulse.

"My little darling, you need a guardian to come with you when you see the outside world," she continues, and your indignant rage calms enough for you to keep listening upon being told this. "In a couple waking cycles, we can go out together. All three of us. How does that sound?" You suppose this is acceptable, if only because she cleans your fur and purrs you a song. It lulls you to sleep, deep enough for you to temporarily forget the pull of the unknown.

Chronological

A Clangen-based blog about a bunch of bunker-dwelling cats who worship their god, the Forge. Feeding the Forge is more important than feeding themselves, even and especially when the cats fight to survive the eternal Winter-night. Mod Used: Selkirk's Genemod Megamerge (with extensive tweaks and changes by me)

Your name is Stray Slice. You are the sibling of Scorched Spot and Bitter Nightmare. You are the second of the litter to open your eyes and the second strongest, but you are the boldest and loudest. Even before your body obeys your commands, you attempt to explore, only to be unjustly kept in one room by your mother. You can smell new things beyond, and you want to discover them, but you are trapped by your mother's tail, paw, or simply scruffed during your every attempt.

Mother is quite serious. She tells stories of the world beyond, stories you and your littermates have yet to make sense of. You have no experience to understand, but you hold on to some of these words. She talks of the Forge, how it is how you are all alive, how it is God, and it is why you are all here. It is worshipped, fed things called 'branches', and in return it shares life with all cats. Stubbornly, you refuse to believe this until you see it. Something beyond is calling you, you can tell. The exit of the room forks, you can feel it on your whiskers. There is a cold breeze in one direction, but heat radiates from the other.

Perhaps sometime, when mother sleeps, you could sneak out...

It is so warm here, and it is so safe. Your paws knead into the belly of your mother, and there are soft purrs all around. You know no unkindness, nothing but the gentle radiation of soft bodies. Your mother is large enough to be the entire world, and with the strength of it she curls around you and your siblings. You begin to smell something else, something beyond the confines of your mother- soon, you will greet this second world. For now, you sleep. Once you wake, you will be...