✯ — got spirits in my head and they won't go

the sound of a voice drew the small gray tabby in, the frantic shout and explosion of water drawing him in even quicker. He wasn't very big or strong in this body but the one thing he was built for was speed, the lithe bodied Tom dodging through foliage and tangled shrubbery in his way. Slipping over the top of a thorned bush, he came just in time to see the mitated gstor lurking and the youthful Tom all the way up the tree.

Pausing to catch his breath, he panted for air, shivers running through his body as he stared at that oh-so familiar pelt. Sethiram. Seth. A friendly face in a place he felt so forlorn and alone, a family member. Indescribable anger bubbled up inside of his tiny body, not at the other Tom, no, more so at the gator. Fur rising along his spine, watching the gator as his tail lashed side to side in aggression, short snorts leaving the mute tabby before his claws dug into the peaty ground. Launching himself forward, his only thought to draw the gator away from the Tom he'd watched grow up for a while, consequence and self hazard be damned. Splashing through the edges of the water, an angry silent hiss escaping from his maw. He was too little to do any damage but the gators in this swamp were beginning to get onto his nerves. Hearing the splash of water as the gator turned, the merchant pushed himself to a faster sprint, hearing the growling hiss of the gator as it swam after him.

Ditching the water which would ultimately slow him  hoping the ground he chose wasn't a bog to suck him down within. Lucky him, the ground was mostly solid. Not so lucky was the paw that slipped out from under him as he ran forward, a startled gasp leaving him as he hit the ground hard and rolled violently before scrambling back to his paws in time to hear the bone-crushing snap of jaws just behind him. Hearing that same hiss, his eyes locked on a tree not too far away from himself, his shoulder and chest smarting from the impact they had taken from his slip. Clawing his way up the wet bark, hunkering himself onto a branch as he stared down at the unhappy gator below. He peered through the foliage of the tree he clung to, looking for Sethiram. Had he really seen the boy?

Well, now there were two cats up trees and one pissed off gator below. What a shitshow. Coughing and catching his breath, he kept his gaze on the gator before he stood up on his branch and estimated the distance to the next tree. Pacing back and forth along the branch, he wanted to get to Seth. He wanted to make sure for himself, small blooms of allium and leaves of thyme appearing in his pelt, scared yet convincing himself he had the courage. He'd jumped in without thinking but that boy was the equivalent of a nephew, perhaps even a son. Someone he cared for. Someone he wanted to see again.

Muscles bunching at the end of the branch he had padded along, he sprung to the next tree with a bushed up tail windmill-ing behind himself. Scrambling into place on the next tree, checking to see that the gator was still observing the last tree. Taking a few moments to rest and calm his racing heart, the Tom would repeat this process of leaping tree to tree until he felt satisfied that the gator had lost interest in the tree-bound snacks. Climbing down from the tree he was perched in, carefully observing his surrounds before limping towards Sethiram's tree and peering up while waving his still-puffed-up tail around.

✯ — MALE. TANGLEWOOD. MEDIUM DIFFICULTY. REF. LANGUAGE GUIDE. — ✯

✯ — got spirits in my head and they won't go

the hiss from sethiram had not fallen upon deaf ears, he knew the emotions behind it well enough. patting at his chest, still feeling the dredges of adrenaline rushing through him, his ears swiveling back and forth as sethiram spoke to him, before laying back as heard the approach of the wyvern. turning his head to look at cory, nodding his head in greeting to the creature before turning back to sethiram and scratching at the ground. 'it's fine as long as you're safe, seth. i've missed you, my boy.', he would scrabble into the soft ground under his paws.

it took everything in the tom not to investigate seth for injuries and new scars, his eyes skimming the other tom over in a concerned fashion. insane? was he? he didn't know the answer to that, in all honesty. 'i'm not insane. i just can't stand seeing you get hurt. are you okay? are you hurt? i'm just happy i can see you again.', the pain of finding the empty camp was no less strong as it was as the day he'd discovered the abandoned camp. breath catching in his lungs for a while, gaze darkening as he stared at the ground with the ghosts of the past chasing each other through his mind. stepping forward in an attempt to lick seth's forehead fur, and touch his nose to the younger tom's ear,. the tom couldn't chase away the fearful imaginations that had plagued him for so long since those two years in the past. finally turning to face cory, licking his chest fur down, he would write once more, 'i know him. i think he's here to join us.', he hadn't seen the wyvern before but there were always new faces around, that and he was often out traveling.

✯ — MALE. TANGLEWOOD. MEDIUM DIFFICULTY. REF. LANGUAGE GUIDE. — ✯