Letting the Cat out of the Bag

Damien was surprised and stunned by Anevays gesture. He had never seen her so … caring. It filled his heart with warmth and he lowered his head with a smile while they listened to her words.

She was as chaotic as ever, and her rump-bumping nearly tipped him over, but her kind Aura at that moment did not even make him think twice about her intentions.  

However, she was switching over to talk about a cat by the new Sacred Dew Tree. Damien had no idea how this was relevant right now, but she would have her reasons. And he listened closely to what she explained about that cat. 

A cat! 

They had to investigate a cat!   

Now that was something Damien would find to be a more appealing assignment!  He loved animals, all kinds of them. Though, it sounded like this was indeed no ordinary cat. 

Zealin did not seem to be so eager for it, but everybody could see that Damien was excited as his ears perked up, and even his tail swung from side to side, spreading small flames behind him. 

They moved away from Anevay to travel to the Sacred Dew Tree, and this time, Damien even dared to step forward instead of walking behind the others like he usually did.

“A cat…!” he said excited.  “..what will its business be at the young tree? Why would it disappear to anyone coming close..?” he asked in thoughts. He was rather convinced that he could try and talk to it..  His experience with animals in the past were all pretty positive, he just simply loved them. 

A one eyed cat that couldn't be caught? Oruka was intrigued by the scenario, and it provided a good hint of what could potentially be causing all this mischief. They needed to get to the bottom of this, and find out if this cat was behind the regions being upside down. He could only hope that the Sacred Dew Tree had not been harmed by the feline, and neither was its intentions malicious. Oruka was pleasantly surprised to find that Damien moved ahead of them, and overall appeared to be looking forward to their assignment. The stallion followed after the red quirlicorn. ‘’You like animals?’’ he questioned kindly, glancing at Damien. As a herd leader, he couldn’t say that animals were his top preoccupation, but he still enjoyed and respected them. 

Zealin had to admit that she did not expect Anevay to deliver a message about investigating a cat. She nearly jolted backwards when Anevay began to flail but didn’t—she held her ground. ‘A ghost cat,’ she thought to herself once Anevay mentioned that the cat might be a ghost. Then again, she didn’t know if the cat simply disappeared due to Anevay’s dramatics or if it was something else entirely. Perhaps a cat who rolled in magical puddles during its kittenhood. No matter. Her curiosity was piqued by this. 

Her right ear flicked in Damien’s direction when she heard him exclaim ‘a cat!’ She hummed when she heard Oruka’s follow-up question towards Damien, although she suspected that he was asking to be polite. After all, that didn’t have much to do with the mission’s aim. It didn’t hurt though. “Cats are very intelligent creatures,” Zealin noted, “I wouldn’t be surprised if this cat is able to tell who we are.” She paused and realized that she should likely be more amicable and sociable with the other two. Although she doubted that she’d see them after this encounter, Zealin logically knew that they didn’t deserve her wrath just because she disdained the desert. “Even normal animals, once trained, can utilize their abilities and minimize their inferior characteristics. I know of someone who has a raven familiar, and she’s one of the best spies I’ve seen. Those who have cat familiars often let their cats gather information along the streets or blend in with the crowd to find out who the animal abusers are, if any… only that the animal abusers find themselves heavily clawed due to the cats.” 

She tilted her head at Damien. “The cat will likely disappear. If not even Anevay, a deity, can find it, it will slip past us if it has a chance.” She grimaced slightly after, recalling a piece of information. “In many story tales, cats often avoid others if they sense that their own doom is coming. I can only hope that this does not apply here.” 

“Oh yes, I do!” Damien smiled at Oruka as they moved along. “..I.. uh well. I dont have the best past..  Animals have never been judging and being full of prejudices, like a lot of our own kind can be.” he admitted. Now that he was a lesser Deity, and had a lot of magic, others respected him more. But when he was younger and still learning, he had made a lot of bad memories with his own kind. Which was one of the reasons why he was shy and reserved to strangers at first. 

“I am sure, Anevay would have felt such a thing…” Damien responded to Zealin, at the mention that the cat could dislike others around, if it felt its end coming.  “...Anevay…  she is chaotic and not only full of good intentions…” he dared to say. “...maybe that aura scared the cat.. I mean..  I don't want to assume too much before we at least saw a glimpse of it…  If it is moving around the Sacred Dew Tree, it must be attracted by either the potions.. Or by the magic within..  It would not be drawn by the surroundings of the tree, would it..?”  he mused, while they walked through the desert heat towards the position of the Dew Tree. 

Oruka nodded as Zealin spoke about various animal facts. He hadn’t expected the formerly stoic mare to know this much about it, but he appreciated that she was putting effort into adjusting her behavior. ‘’You know a lot about animals.’’ he commented. It was rather interesting, as he had never thought of those things regarding animals. 

‘’I’m sorry to hear that,’’ he softly told Damien. The red quirlicorn was a powerful deity, and yet, his demeanor reminded Oruka of a few of his foals. He nodded slightly, ‘’That is a possibility. Perhaps we will find out once we arrive at the Sacred Dew Tree.’’ he told them. There were always chances that the cat had nothing to do with everything that was happening, and that it was simply a coincidence. It was too early to tell. Soon, the black and white quirlicorn noticed a tree in the distance. ‘’We’re here.’’ he said. He hadn’t seen the Desert’s Sacred Dew Tree before. It resembled the Icy’s, the only difference being that instead of being rooted into packed snow, soft and burning sand surrounded it.

Zealin stared at the Scared Dew Tree. Her mind briefly thought of the Mountain’s and of Sherbert, and she wondered how the latter was doing. She shook her head silently. She needed to concentrate on the current issues rather than tackling past ones. She blinked when Damien mentioned Anevay not having good intentions; she hadn’t expected such a blatant comment from Damien, but she didn’t touch upon it. “How would you two like to approach the cat?” she questioned. “I suppose that I can give it an inclination to stay through my Puppet Mastery.”

Since that was her first ability, Zealin was highly confident that her magic would function on the cat. She glanced at her two weapons strapped by her sides, each wrapped intricately with her mane hair to let her use Puppet Mastery. “If the cat only speaks cat though, I won’t be able to translate,” she added, uncertain. “If either of you have Zoolingualism, you should likely approach the cat first. And if anyone can ease the cat’s nervousness, as Anevay has mentioned that it keeps disappearing, that might make the cat more comfortable and willing to speak to us. If the cat refuses to speak, we can simply keep it there until Anevay arrives.” 

“Thank you.. I appreciate it.” Damien smiled at Oruka, though he was not sure if his kind behavior towards him would change if he was aware of Damiens poor condition. He could only hope it would not show itself during their adventure. So far, he had been lucky in his errands with the Deities.  

Luckily, soon they came into the tree's reach and stopped far enough from it to not scare away any cat.

It was a sad sight to see, even to Damien who was of this Region.  Their Sacred Tree had to withstand all the harsh conditions the desert had to offer, no bigger tree or even a  cactus would offer it some shade, no oasis was providing water to it, and still, it was alive and thriving!  

Damien lowered his head in a respectful gesture to the tree, even if others might think it was a stupid gesture, he did never believe that something so mighty to them would have no life itself. 

“..I dont have that magic yet, sadly…  But I would still rather try to approach it on friendly terms…” the red stallion was sure.  Even if he could not understand their words yet, he always had a deep understanding with animals. Yet, of course not with all of them.  But he was optimistic to try, and he approved of Zealins mention to approach it like that.  He looked closely, and he could indeed see a small figure by the tree! 

“...I will change its feelings towards us…” he announced, “...I should be able to change its emotions and if I can take away its fear of us, or insecurity, we might be able to come closer..” he hoped.  Of course, he could also approach that way differently, and try to circle the cat with fire and lava to keep it close! 

But, that would not be him. Such an aggressive approach would only scare the poor thing.     He remembered that Oruka had Zoolingualism as a Icy Major.. And he looked at him with a nod. “...I will move a bit closer.. Give me a moment before you t

ry to speak with it..” he asked, before he slowly walked  a bit closer to the cat. Still far away enough to not see too many details of it, and he reached out his own empathy to try and feel it.  As soon as Damien felt that he had its intention, he laid down on the hot sand, his purple flames gently burning on his tail and neck as he looked at the creature.

He could not see much from so afar, but… it looked like there was an eyepatch.. And.. some body parts had a weird transparency to it?  Damien could not really tell, but he did not dare coming closer. It was important to keep the cat where it was until Anevay was ready to come there. 

He used his body language to appear friendly to the cat, offering it a nod before he lowered his head. He remembered that one should not stare into a cats eye, but blink slowly for a gesture of telling them it was okay, and such, Damien did while starting to manipulate its feelings into positive ones towards him, Zealin and Oruka.

‘’I have zoolingualism,’’ Oruka answered Zealin. He paused to observe his surroundings, trying to find traces of a cat’s presence. He was surprised to find that there indeed was a little feline, but upon a closer look, it didn’t appear to be just a normal cat. An eye patch covered its left eye, and a few places of its body were transparent. ‘’How odd,’’ he muttered to himself.

The stallion nodded in agreement to Damien. ‘’Good idea.’’ Oruka watched as the red quirlicorn laid down and lowered his head. He waited in silence, not wanting to interrupt Damien and cause the cat to run away. That would be far from helpful, and then they would have the hassle of running around after the creature. Soon, the one eyed cat seemed more interested in the quirlicorns, and Oruka stepped forward, activating his zoolingualism. ‘’Hello, my name is Oruka, and this is Damien and Zealin. Who are you?’’ he inquired. He waited a few moments, but no replies came. 

Honk.

Oruka blinked, and stared at the cat. Had he heard properly? No, a cat meowed. That was- It honked again, and confirmed that he wasn’t crazy. ‘’Can you understand me?’’ he tried again. The odd creature simply looked back at him, and did not look like it had the intention to begin a conversation with the quirlicorn.

As Oruka approached the odd cat, Zealin lightly activated her puppet mastery. Although she wouldn’t restrain the cat’s movements, she did give the cat an urge to not wander too far away and to interact with Oruka. She nearly bolted up when the cat honked instead of meowed, and she rubbed her ears. She glanced at Damien, wondering if the other lesser deity heard the same noise. Oruka certainly seemed surprised, if his pause was any indication. 

Suppressing her urge to approach the cat herself, Zealin sat on the ground and remained hidden. She checked her magic once in a while to ensure that it was still activated. At the very least, the cat didn’t seem to notice it yet, and she hoped that her orders were soft enough to not frighten the cat. She would prefer to not explain to Anevay if she spooked off the cat entirely, after all. 

Damien could not do much but try. He did his best with trying to influence the cat, but also send him his own vibes of pure intent and no threat.  

Yet, as his magic interacted with the cat, he blinked confused and looked up again, tilting his head a bit. 

“...This cat… its no use using our magic on it…  it is powerful like a deity, the magic within it… its .. its stronger than mine or any of yours…”  Damien told them, and he sighed out. Not in frustration, but in understanding. He did not know of any business the cat had with the tree, but this cat was not scared by Quirlicorns.  

“...Oruka… could you tell him just that Anevay, the desert deity, would like to talk to it?  I doubt that we can hold it in place if it doesn't wish to stay…” he feared. 

Oruka observed the cat, and the cat looked back at him. He wondered if for some reason, zoolingualism didn’t work on the creature, or if it simply did not want to converse in them. He was surprised by Damien’s words, and his ears curiously perked toward the cat. Powerful like a deity? He never would have suspected a small feline to wield so much power. Oruka nodded at the red quirlicorn’s suggestion, and he respectfully dipped his head at the cat before speaking. ‘’We would simply like to pass on a message. Anevay, the Desert Deity, would like to speak to you.’’ with this, the stallion took a step back to return to his companions, to give the animal more space if it needed it. However, he didn’t lower his guard, and kept a close watch on the cat in case it tried to escape. Hopefully, Anevay would arrive soon and the creature’s intentions would be unveiled.

Zealin kept her Puppet Mastery up regardless. The cat didn’t seem to notice her magic either way, so she supposed that it didn’t hurt—even worse, the cat might notice the magic if she lets go of her power now. She would wait for Anevay’s verdict, so that the major deity would not blame her if the cat escaped them. 

She would not be surprised if the cat did turn out as powerful as a deity. Zealin knew that cats were exceptionally intelligent for an animal and had met enough cat familiars to know that they could get what they wanted most of the time. Besides, since Anevay was unable to capture or speak to the cat, it stood to reason that the cat was powerful. 

Zealin did not dare exit her hiding spot from the bushes. First, she did not want the cat to redirect their attention to her and sense her hatred at the desert itself. Second, she knew that the cat was already in a fine position. Why compromise an already-fixed problem? She glanced at the skies, knowing that Anevay would return soon.