Kaiju Paradise Shorts + Headcanons (DISCONTINUED)

A Meeting

The carneline found itself backed up against a wall, surrounded by humans. Things weren't looking very good for the dark purple feline creature. When it had charged into the group of humans, it had been surrounded by other gootraxians, mostly other carnelines. Now, though, it was alone and weak. The group was closing in, and the useless swinging of its paws seemed to do nothing to deter them. It was desperately trying to force the group to break, so it could sprint through some kind of opening and escape.

Suddenly, it heard a metallic screech from directly behind it and something grasped the creature's ankle. Before it could react, it felt itself being pulled under what it thought was part of the wall.

As soon as the carneline's head was through the opening, it loudly slammed shut, bathing the room in darkness. The creature barely noticed that it was thrashing around in fear until it felt two paws, it thought, on its shoulders, trying to steady it.

"Stop that!" a voice hissed at it. It sounded angry.

Panting, the carneline stopped and instead tried to focus on its surroundings. The first thing it noticed were the piercing red and yellow eyes inches away from its face. It seemed as though the darkness itself had come to life just to save them from being killed. The carneline blinked a few times, adjusting to the darkness. Soon, they managed to make out the cat-like shape of the creature as it released them from its grasp.

"You just saved me, didn't you?" The carneline asked, slightly stunned.

The dark creature before them raised its arms slightly, saying "Well, I can't exactly eat you, can I?"

"Thank you," The carneline said, smiling and squinting its eyes in a friendly manner.

The other creature didn't return the gesture, but it didn't seem to be a threat.

"What exactly are you?" The black feline asked quizzically, raising one brow.

It looked as though it had never seen a carneline before, which was a bit of a surprise. Most gootraxians at least knew about carnelines and could identify them.

"I'm a carneline, people call me Bluebones," Bluebones said kindly, "and you?"

The other creature did not seem to share Bluebones' surprise, as if it knew it was obscure.

"I'm a panther... I don't have a nickname, though," it replied, seeming to search the carneline's face, its eyes landing near the top of their head.

Bluebones realized they must be looking at their horns. A long time ago, a human had broken part of their right horn off during a fight. The inside of the missing horn was a bright blue color. The panther seemed to understand the origin of Bluebones' name now, as it nodded, satisfied.

"Are there any other panthers?" Bluebones asked, glancing around the small room. It didn't see any other brightly glowing eyes or shadowy shapes, but it couldn't be sure.

The panther seemed to hesitate before responding, "No, it's only me, at least in here."

Bluebones nodded, secretly wondering where other panthers would even hide, if there were any more. They couldn't think of any place darker than this one, at least when the power was on.

Suddenly, the panther's ears twitched, and they squatted close to the floor, staring intently at the door they had pulled Bluebones through. Their eyes seemed to search around for a moment, before it stood and spoke.

"The humans are gone, do you want me to let you out again?"

The carneline hesitated, knowing that the power had been on for a long time now. There probably wouldn't be another low power event in days, and that was when they were at their strongest.

"Would you mind if I stayed here, until the power goes out again?" They asked cautiously, not wanting to overstay their welcome in this creature's home.

"That's fine, but I won't be able to leave until the next blackout either,"

"Blackout? Wait, that explains it!" Bluebones said suddenly.

That made much more sense. Not only did the panther not glow, but its dark and gloomy colors would fit very well in the environment of a blackout.

"Well, what else would I be talking about?" The panther seemed a little confused.

"It's a little bit hard to explain," Bluebones started, "but the facility can go through two different types of power outages. Low power, or power outages, and total blackouts! When I first... woke up, there was a power outage. That's when the crystals in the cave turn all red,"

The panther seemed to process this for a moment.

"I've never seen one of those. Then again, I've only been around for one blackout. How many have you seen?" It asked that question like a curious child, and Bluebones smiled.

"I've only seen one blackout, but I've been around for three or four power outages," They explained, strangely proud to boast about their age.

"But you didn't see any panthers during it?"

"I stayed out of the caves, and I didn't see anything like you even after the lights came on. Were there many panthers?"

The panther thought for a moment, trying to remember.

"I saw at least 3 others, but..." They stopped, and Bluebones understood what they meant.

"I'm sure there will be more during the next blackout. I could even help you survive next time."

"So I can be old like you?" The panther asked sarcastically.

Bluebones grinned. The two sat in silence for a while, occasionally making conversation. Mostly, it was about how many humans the panther could see, and if there were any nearby. They explained as best they could how their ability worked, and Bluebones was fascinated to learn about the new creature, like the panther seemed to be about carnelines.

"I've been thinking about what you said earlier," Bluebones said, breaking one of the silences that the cats settled into, "about not having a name, I mean. Would you like one?"

The panther was quiet for a moment.

"Do you have any suggestions?"

Bluebones looked the panther up and down for a moment, taking in its physical features.

"Well, I got my name for, well, you know," It said, pointing at its broken horn, "I was thinking I could do the same for you. Maybe something like Darkneck? You have that patch of dark fur around your neck. Or maybe... red eyes?"

Bluebones continued to spit out suggestions for the next few minutes, with the panther politely rejecting or jokingly considering most of them.

"Starbelly?" They suggested, and both of them broke into laughter for a moment.

Suddenly, the perfect name hit Bluebones.

"What about Scytheclaws? You've got really long and sharp claws, like the scythes the humans carry!"

The panther almost looked impressed, before nodding and agreeing to the name.

Scytheclaws and Bluebones settled into another silence, sometimes stopping to listen for the loud drone of the power giving out, or even the sound of a nightcrawler, which Scytheclaws explained in detail. Cats might not travel in groups often, but these two were glad to have each other for protection. Besides, they found that they had a lot to talk about to pass the time, keeping each other from going insane in the days between their next hunt.