01-12-2019, 02:49 AM
Gods, it was hot.
The noonday sun walked its searing fingers up her spine, setting the skin beneath the fur alight. Her tongue was a rash of nettles in her mouth, scraping raw her teeth and throat. Poison had always been a skeleton of a cat, but it had been a long time since her ribs had strained so desperately against the walls of her pelt. All she'd eaten in the past day was a lizard that had taken more energy to catch than it was worth. That, and the sand blowing through the dunes and into every crevice of her body. Mostly sand. She was a desert herself by now.
She dismissed it as a mirage at first. A hallucination, her mind conjuring up miracles where there were none. But as her paws lurched onward, the vision loomed closer. She had to pass by several trees, strung with vines, and towering shrubs, buzzing with insects, before she finally stopped to concede: Yes, this was a jungle. Yes, this was real. The humid air choking her lungs was a welcome change from the monotony of the desert.
Water from a recent rainfall had collected in the wide leaves of a nearby shrub, magnifying the green veins of its container. The first hasty sip sent her coughing and sputtering. As she drank, fresh vitality surged through her, washing away the haze in her head. Washing away the strain of the past few weeks, the sleeplessness and the solitude. Her muzzle was soaked when the small pool finally ran out. Clearer-eyed, she glanced up.
A treehouse creaked in the canopy above her.
Well, fuck.
The noonday sun walked its searing fingers up her spine, setting the skin beneath the fur alight. Her tongue was a rash of nettles in her mouth, scraping raw her teeth and throat. Poison had always been a skeleton of a cat, but it had been a long time since her ribs had strained so desperately against the walls of her pelt. All she'd eaten in the past day was a lizard that had taken more energy to catch than it was worth. That, and the sand blowing through the dunes and into every crevice of her body. Mostly sand. She was a desert herself by now.
She dismissed it as a mirage at first. A hallucination, her mind conjuring up miracles where there were none. But as her paws lurched onward, the vision loomed closer. She had to pass by several trees, strung with vines, and towering shrubs, buzzing with insects, before she finally stopped to concede: Yes, this was a jungle. Yes, this was real. The humid air choking her lungs was a welcome change from the monotony of the desert.
Water from a recent rainfall had collected in the wide leaves of a nearby shrub, magnifying the green veins of its container. The first hasty sip sent her coughing and sputtering. As she drank, fresh vitality surged through her, washing away the haze in her head. Washing away the strain of the past few weeks, the sleeplessness and the solitude. Her muzzle was soaked when the small pool finally ran out. Clearer-eyed, she glanced up.
A treehouse creaked in the canopy above her.
Well, fuck.