Way of the Slugcat

New Heights

Again, the slugcats woke to the shelter opening. Again, Thorns pushed himself from the ground and rubbed his empty stomach. Same old beginning. It was getting a bit old. Contrary to the last times, however, there was a twist in the room with them.
        "No! Bad lizard! Keep your tongue off of me! Get back in the corner, now!"
        Night had, as usual, gotten up first. His black form stood in front of the bright white of the lizard. It had its eyes locked onto Night, It's mouth opening and closing with visible confusion. It did not seem to understand why this black rodent was ordering it around. It was prey, after all! A nice, juicy meal just inches away. Despite this, the lizard hesitated on whether or not it should take a bite. The slugcat was being much more aggressive than anticipated...
        "Thorns!" Night called back to his friend without taking his eyes off the reptile. "Get out of the shelter. I will follow."
Thorns followed the directions. He squirmed his way out of the shelter and crawled a little ways from the entrance, being careful not to step on any of the sharp debris that had washed up after the recent storm. There were shards of metal, rocks, sticks, plant fibers, even some pieces of old masks. The one by his feet was large and brightly colored, most likely worn by a noble of some sort. It was a cheek piece, modeled to fit perfectly over its owner's visage.
The shard felt heavy in Thorns' paws. He never noticed the weight of the masks before, not even his own. He traced the orange swirls on the piece's side gracefully with the tip of his finger. Up, down, swirl around, double back, and then-
"Ready to go?"
The mask shard clattered to the ground.
"U-um, yes!" Thorns turned to see Night hopping out of the shelter. The curious nose of their uninvited guest attempted to follow. "Is that thing...coming with us?" He sure hoped not.
"Absolutely not!" Night seemed fairly adamant about that. His black paw pushed back forcefully on the lizard's snout, sending it back down the way it came. A few frustrated gurgles echoed out of the tunnel. Night turned back to Thorns with a forced grin. "Anyway, shall we get going?"

A little ways down the path, Thorns' stomach began to complain. He tried his best to suppress it, as Night seemed a little grumpy this cycle. He doubted his friend wanted to hear his stomach shouting. Before long, they reached the pool. The little body of water was much smaller than Thorns remembered it being. He could also see all the way the drop that had previously cascaded them into darkness, which surprised him. He was sure they had fallen from much higher up! At least ten stories. However, the crumbling bridge above them was no more than six stories high. Regardless, the fall would still hurt, as the slugcats had discovered the hard way.
"Ah, yes!" Night exclaimed. "I know where we are now! There is a hazer I sometimes find around here, a little green one. I have eaten it a couple of times. Needless to say, it's not fond of me."
"Mhm." Thorns remembered a time when he had home cooked meals every night. Raindeer meat drizzled in honeyed nectar, sautéed pupa fruit paired with sliced jelly... he remembered them all so well he could almost taste them. What had they been reduced to? A shriveled, tentacled cephalopod that reeked of bad fish, apparently. They found it laying upside down on the other side of the pond, dead as a doornail. It's two fist sized eyes were still wide open, their deep purple matching the raisoned spots on its green skin.
"Oh. That is unfortunate." Night commented as he shook water off of his hide.
"Yes, very unfortunate." Thorns wrinkled his nose.
"When I find it alive it looks much more appetizing, I promise! It is also easier to get the ink out. When it's dead, you-" He grabbed the hazer in both paws and squeezed its midsection. A slow dribble of black liquid oozed from its mouth, pooling around Night's equally black feet. Slowly, the puddle began to evaporate, transforming into a half gas, half liquid substance that smelled of gas. "-have to do that."
Thorns coughed and stepped away from the mist. That pupa fruit from last cycle would have been up and out of his stomach if he had eaten it more recently.
"Ahem, Night?"
"Mhm?" Night already had one of the hazer's tentacles stuffed in his mouth.
"Have you ever considered the fact that food is supposed to taste good?"
Night paused mid chew. His pupils drifted up to look at the ceiling.
"Mmm, no, not really. It's just lucky if it does."
"I... I am just going to look for something else..."
"Alright, suit yourself." Night ripped off another tentacle.
The room across the pond was quite small. It consisted of two iron crates, a small pit full of metal scraps, and a single tunnel leading outside. Thorns hopped atop one of the crates, attempting to block out the noise of Night's chewing.
"Aha!" There! Three pupa fruit dangled from the ceiling, obscured by the crate's large size. All three looked perfectly ripe; not too close to hatching, yet not too fresh. One by one, Thorns excitedly plucked them from their vines. They really were beautiful specimens. Perfectly smooth and perfectly blue! But were they perfectly juicy? In order to find out, the Slugcat stuffed one in his mouth.
"Oh good karma, I told you to stay away!" Night hollered.
"Whamph?" Thorns startled. What had he done wrong? He would have asked, but his mouth was full of pupa fruit. It was, in fact, perfectly juicy. Maybe a little too juicy... Thorns wiped some juice off of his chin and turned around.
Oh. That thing again.
The white lizard had returned. Night held his hazer in one paw and was making frustrated gestures at the beast with the other.
"Seriously, what do you want with us? Just go away! Leave! Shoo!"
Their guest did not seem to get the hint. It had attached itself to the side of the wall and was looking down at the black slugcat with a peculiar expression in its eyes. It leaned a little ways off the wall and sniffed the air. Tracing its line of sight, Thorns could now clearly see what it was after.
"What? No! This is mine, you can't have it." Night growled as he held the hazer behind his back. "I have already taken a bite out of it. Find your own food!"
"Grrrrssssssss!" White bubbles flew from the lizard's head. It did not seem as if it were going to charge, but Thorns' eyes darted to the tunnel nonetheless. The entrance was clear. He swallowed his pupa fruit as quickly as he could and hopped down from the crate.
"Throw a rock at it or something, let us go!" At this, Thorns saw Night bite his lip. He seemed to be pondering something. The lizard took a step forward.
"Alright!" Night exclaimed. "If you want this, you can go and get it yourself!" He took the hazer and waved it about the air. The lizard's eyes followed its pattern, saliva drooling out of one side of its mouth. Then, it took to the air. Night hucked it past the reptile's head, landing it in the water with a loud splash. Immediately, the lizard turned and bolted after it, disregarding the slugcats completely. As Night and Thorns ran to the tunnel, they heard the familiar splash of their guest careening into the water.