Finding Home (Ebony, Kayalee, River)

[Meesh]

Ebony sighed in relief as River moved slightly, the sigh quickly becoming a hiss of surprise at Kayalee's coughing fit. He flicked his tail in concern. Perhaps she had accidentally swallowed some of the venom? Ebony picked up the uncrushed flower and walked over to Kayalee's front, nudging the flower towards her mouth and made chewing motions with his mouth. At least Kayalee had managed to orient herself towards the den before collapsing. Now Ebony knew for sure the direction.
A headache began to throb in his temples, but he ignored it, nudging his nose under River's belly and wiggling until he was under her, standing with the feline draped across his back. The headache throbbed more until he was seeing spots in front of his eyes- wait, no, not spots. Visions! A clear image of a triangle of Maple trees flashed once in Ebony's mind, along with clear directions, before fading away slowly. Ebony grinned. Looks like this evolution would be more handy than he thought!
But now for Kayalee. Ebony nudged her lightly again with his nose. He knew the snake venom wasn't as effective in that small dosage Kayalee had received through the little bit she had swallowed, but that hacking was frightening. He paused, wondering how to manage this. Kayalee looked like she'd never make it back to the den without support, and River certainly couldn't. If only he was bigger...Ebony remembered the promise he had made Nereah the day that they met...I'll be as big as you someday! If only someday were now!
Almost as if in accordance to his thoughts, a flash of pain burst through Ebony, sending him, yowling, to the ground. He writhed for a few moments, struggling not to bump into Kayalee or River.
Finally, mere seconds later, though it felt like hours to Ebony, the pain subsided. He opened his eyes. Odd, had the world gotten...smaller?
The thought was familiar to Ebony and his eyes widened in realization. Not again!
He climbed, cautiously, to his now much-bigger paws. Oh yes, this was real alright.


Congratulations! Occult Ebony has evolved to Absonding Ebony!
->

[Hazelstar]

Kayalee's hacking continued until she had been presented with herbs by Ebony. They didn't taste all that good, but she swallowed them anyway. The hacking continued for a few moments and the burning in her throat intensified then began to fade slowly. "Many thanks, Ebony. For your courage and quick thinking in River and I's time of need. I reward you with 20 tribe experience points." She wheezed, her aqua eyes glazed with tiredness. She began stumbling towards camp until a yowl from Ebony startled her senseless. She whirled and saw the feline on the ground, writhing in pain. Ebony had suddenly grown even larger. Kayalee gasped in surprise, leaped towards him, fell, then stood up shakily by him. "So there is another evolution for felines..." She wheezed, slurring her words slightly. She turned around, stumbled over a bit of loose soil then laid down on the ground. "What on earth did you feed me? I can't think straight or walk straight." She wheezed, trying to get back up on her paws in a slightly comical looking way. She huffed and just laid there, waiting for the weird drunken stage to pass.

[Deleted]

River wasn’t sure how she managed to keep from blacking out. The pain from her hunting wound was there, but more or less tolerable. What hurt now was all the movement and jostling and the stretching and tightening of the fang marks in her shoulder. She wasn’t quite sure what was going on around her. She had almost – almost – started to make sense of things, and then more of stuff happened and she lost her grip on what was going on once again. There was coughing, then speaking and yowling in some order…grargh…she couldn’t focus! In her current state, she didn’t even notice the evolution taking place so close to her.

[Meesh]

Ebony blinked, still getting used to the fleeing of suddenly being so much bigger - again - than everyone around him. He clumsily stumbled forward, gabbing River once again and slinging her over his back. "She should be fine in a bit" he meowed- his voice sounding much deeper now, even to him- "Are you alright?"
That's when he realized Kayalee had asked him something and he flicked his ears, embarrassed at not catching the question earlier. "All the flowers should do is relieve the snake venom, I believe. The stumbling is probably a result of the snake venom. I told you not to swallow any, you know" He half stumbled half walked over to Kayalee, still getting used to this new, much larger stride. "Do you want a ride back? I think I can carry you now, and that coughing sounded bad. I'll sniff out a few herbs for it later, once you two are back safely home." The image of the den flashed in his mind again. Odd, how it didn't disappear with his new evolution. "And thank you for the experience" he added as an afterthought, raising his head over his shoulder to sniff at River worridly.

[Hazelstar]

Kayalee stood shakily. "I think I can manage." She rasped, taking a few steps, then she stumbled, began walking again, stumbled, then fell flat on her face. "Then again maybe not..." She meowed tiredly attempting to again pull herself to her paws. She hissed at herself and tried again, and again, until she finally decided to just lay there. "Not a problem, you earned it." She meowed. "You can take River to camp. I'll catch up eventually." Kayalee meowed uncertainly, again trying to pull herself shakily to her paws and fell back with a huff."Or I may lay here for ever and ever." She huffed quietly to herself.

[Deleted]

River hissed as she was slung, a sound of pain rather than anger. The disorientation was still there, but she was very slowly getting better, and could tell she was on Ebony’s back. Again? Ugh…all because of her stupid anger issues!

The two larger felines talked. She could pick out individual words, but not enough to string together into a coherent conversation. Talking would be too much effort for her right now, anyway, so it was just as well. Her claws flexed as she attempted to hang on, unwilling to be thrown around again. The first few times were painful enough, thank you.

[Meesh]

"Nonsense" Ebony meowed, padding over to Kayalee and crouching, ducking under her belly and standing so she, too, was on his back. The additional weight made his knees wobble, but at least he could walk, sort of. "I wouldn't just leave you here" he began padding in the direction of the camp den. A hiss from River, still on his back, made him pause, glancing over at her. If she was mad at me before, she'll hate me now thought Ebony with some regret. Evolving sure would be useful when it came to taking the two felines home, but it wasn't worth it if it brought on the hatred of a tribemate! Ebony could only hope she'd forgive him.

Walking with two felines on his back, and one an occult, was some difficulty, but he gritted his teeth and continued tottering forward. "Stupid...vipers" he managed to hiss, tail flicking. Soon enough, the trio of trees appeared in view and Ebony gratefully tottered into camp, collapsing with relief once he was there. He lay still for a few moments, panting. "Where do...you sleep...and River? I'll drop you off there and...bring prey and...find herbs to make...feel better" he asked Kayalee, still through his panting. A few more seconds of rest and he got shakily to his paws again, still balancing the two felines on his back. After this is all over, I think I'll sleep for a moon!

[Hazelstar]

"I'm not a kitten..." Kayalee grumbled as the now larger Ebony pulled her onto his back. She laid there trying to keep as limp as possible to keep as much of her weight from him as possible. "I bet I could have gotten back by myself if you let me." Kayalee complained, even though she felt a rush of gratitude for Ebony she felt guilty for making the absconding having to carry her on his back.

Kayalee had almost fallen asleep when she heard Ebony complaining about the snakes. Then a few moments later Ebony collapsed, Kayalee moved her paws quickly to keep them from being squashed under Ebony's weight. "I can get there by myself, I probably have to show you it anyway." Kayalee meowed, pulling herself to her paws, much less shakily now. She padded to the center of the camp where the hole was then remembered something. "You won't be comfortable down here, being an absconding, there are nests dug under the roots of the trees for you to sleep instead." She meowed, using her tail to point to each of the three huge maples. She then disappeared down the hole. "You can try and come down here with River, but you won't be able to stay comfortably for more than a few minutes, I think." She called up, then padded through the corridor the main sleeping area to wait for Ebony.

[Deleted]

There was more movement, and the warmth of another body beside her. Rievr blinked, trying to bring the world back into focus. Of course she was being carried, but that should only account for one body. Unless…oh, good grief! Ebony was going to kill himself, doing this!

Not like she could do anything to stop him, though.

He mentioned prey. Would he be going back for the creatures she had caught, or just picking stuff from the prey rock? Well, if he didn’t get them, she could later.

The two continued to talk, and River thought she understood the gist of everything. They were talking about sleeping places. What did she mean, he wouldn’t be comfortable underground? Had he said something to that effect earlier? She couldn’t remember…

[Meesh]

Ebony nodded at Kayalee's words. "You probably could have" he said agreeably. "But it's much faster this way" he hefted himself forward again, this time padding towards the hole that been dug underground. "Anyhoo, I think I'll be able to manage a few minutes in here" he ducked inside the hole. The effect was immediate. Ebony's fur stood on end, his claws retracted, and he began shaking. This was underground...cramped...he could barely stand it. With some effort, he crouched to the ground to let River off. "Getoffgetoffgetoff" he muttered, teeth chattering. Oh, this place was bad, this place was -very- bad. Clearly, Absondings weren't meant to go underground, though Ebony wondered how Kayalee knew that, not being an absonding herself. Maybe Silva or Nerah had told her?

But that didn't matter right now. right now, all that mattered was River getting off his back so he could get out of here as quickly as possible.

[Hazelstar]

Kayalee saw Ebony shaking and quickly raced up, her motherly instinct kicking in. She grabbed River's scruff and pulled her gently from Ebony's back. "Ehyou Cahnot hay houn here meh heer." Kayalee mumbled around River's scruff, trying to say, 'You cannot stay down here, my dear'. She turned around in the space which was cramped with both absconding and occult, she accidently stepped on Ebony's paw and whacked him in the face with her tail. "Shorry!" She mumbled apologetically, making her way down the corridor and placing River in her nest as comfortably as she could. "Ebony, can you go get the prey River caught." She said, remembering quickly that River was hunting while she was bitten. "I would do it myself but the venom and the flowers.... I can barely move." She meowed, apologetically. Her cheeks reddening slightly because she hated feeling useless.

[Deleted]

Again with the moving! By all the gods, it hurt! But this time she managed the transfer with little more than a couple grunts. This was likely helped along by sheer tiredness. Now that she was out of danger, her body wanted to shut down so it could work on repairing itself. Perhaps she should let it. Too bad she’s stubborn. Still…it had been an interesting, physically and emotionally taxing day, and every creature had its limit. Her efforts had kept her awake until she was in her nest, and then the whole world faded around her and she entered a dreamless sleep.

[Meesh]

Ebony nodded, practically leaping out of the den. "Will do, thanks!" The Absonding called, only stumbling slightly as he sprinted out of there and towards the prey.


--- Three days later ---

Ebony gave a grunt as he finished retying the bandage onto River's paw. "There you go. I think you can start walking on it again. Just bite off the bandage and wash off the last of the paste in the stream whenever you think you're ready - to be honest, you'd be fine without either now, but it never hurts to be careful. Give it at least an hour or so- I don't think it will hinder your walking or hunting, though" Instructions given, Ebony padded over to the stream that ran through the side of camp, lapping up water to get the taste of the flower/herb out of his mouth. It had been thee days since the Feline had joined the Tribe, and he was greatful to see both River and Kayalee making speedy recoveries. He had adjusted to camp life much more quickly than he thought he would. It was great having others to live with. He had also learned a lot more about the herbs in the territory, thanks to a mix of his Occult powers- which still remained, oddly enough- and his constant exploring. life was good

[Hazelstar]

Kayalee padded towards the stream two rodents clamped in her jaws. The closer she got to the stream the faster she ran until she was sprinting towards it, she had not noticed Ebony lapping up water until she had bunched herself up for the leap across the stream. She launched clumsily and twisted herself to the side, narrowly avoiding ramming into Ebony. Cats always landing on their paws must be a myth, she landed on her side and winded herself for a moment. "That's the last time I try jumping across that stream." Kayalee hissed to herself when she was able to breath again. "Sorry, Ebony. I didn't see you there." She apologized to the larger feline. She stood up and glanced around, she knew the prey had fallen from her mouth at some point, she just didn't know where.

[Deleted]

“Thanks…” River would be lying I she said she was happy at that moment. She was actually quite upset. A little at Ebony, for evolving when she seemed unable to. Mostly at herself, though. She had been forced to rest this entire time while everyone else fulfilled her duties. It was her job to do most of the hunting, and it pained her that someone else had to fill in, even if it was only a few days. Still…what choice did she have? But she would only give it the hour that Ebony advised, and then she’d be off, making up for all the lost time.

In the meantime, he did say she could walk again…

River padded out of the sleeping area, and – with only a little difficulty – headed up and out of the hole, and then toward the stream. She was thirsty, and she wanted fresh water instead of the nasty moss-flavored stuff she’d had to deal with while stuck resting. Already, she could taste the stream, and it refreshed her, bringing a slight bounce to her step.