Absence (Night In The Woods)

Y/N: Longest Night

The fire crackled releasing bright orange embers into the void. Face gloomily lit by the flame, the red panda pulled their tail over their body, curling it around their knee.
Fur now safe from being singed by the fire, they yawned contently. Beside them, their companion's whiskers flicked periodically. "Why aren't I cold?" The scratchy voice of Gregg immediately rang out, replying to her friend's odd question.
"Fire. We have a fire." Her nose twitched and she smirked at the response, grinning even wider when she heard his boyfriend's comment about having reached that level as a civilization.
"Oh." The cat responded, shuffling to lean on the palm of her hand. "I'm boored. Feels like we've been here forever." She glanced over to Bea, who perked up and called out a suggestion right away. "Oh! We should do the longest night constellation thing."
"Wow, really?"
The fox beside her scooted away from the flames, bending his arms behind himself. "I haven't done that since I was like, six."
"Me too." She lazily added, going to rest on her back and arms. Gentle stars twinkled at her, warming her heart and mind.
"No one has done that since they were like six." The cat piped out.
"Well I don't remember being six." Bea interrupted, frowning.
"Really?" She wondered, turning away from the abyss. "Really?" The two beside her repeated, confirming her statement. "Yeah I don't remember much before like eight and a half."
"That's very specific." The bear across from her commented. "Bea is a synthetic lifeform created at age eight point five." You snickered.
"This makes so much sense!" The cat exclaimed and threw her hands up in the air for dramatic effect. "Beep boop, Bea." Gregg even chimed in.
"One one zero one- okay whatever I'm done."

Bea sighed and raised an eyebrow. "Can we just do this thing?" "None of us know enough about the constellations to even do it, Bea."
"Yeah, Bea." The cat beside you said, flicking an ear. A handful of silent moments passed and you blurted "I do." at the same time as the bear across from you.
"Since when?" The fox questioned, sparing a glance between the two of you. "Since always." Angus nodded, the fire glinting against the lense of his glasses.
"Robin." You explain, turning to the sky once more. "Now listen up dummies, we're going to school."
"Space school!" The croc exclaimed, and you wondered if there was a hint of sarcasm in that sentence or not.

The sky stretched out endlessly, and a great handful of stars sparked in and out of sight. You traced the starlight for any sign of a constellation and the shape of a great whale became apparent to you.
The four also settled down, guiding their eyes toward the immense pattern of light. A chorus of crickets filled in for your voices and the sound of shuffling interrupted before you heard Bea's voice cut through the silence. "I don't see anything."
"We're pattern finders. Find some patterns!" Your ear twitched and you gathered their attention, pointing to the bulky shape.

"Mundy, the world fish. Back then they thought whales were fish."
"And you know, that the world was on one." Your smooth voices cut through the air like butter, soothing it and pulling in their undivided attention.
"Mundy is my sign." You gazed over, concerned at the strangled gasp that came out of Bea's mouth. "Oh god. Of course it is."
You watched Mae sit up and lean on her left arm to stare at the crocodile. "Hey! What does that mean?"
The imitation of whale noises reached your ears and you held in a few suppressed chuckles.
"Well if any of this meant anything, then it might mean something but it doesn't soo... It doesn't."
You raised an eyebrow and Gregg met you with his own confused noises, making you snort.
Bea even joined in and you full out laughed, making the cat groan and plop back onto the ground. "What are you doing?"
"Whale noises."

The fox then pointed to a group of stars and the bear across from you slowly answered him. "A fish." "..And?"
"Just a fish." You replied. "Pretty self explanatory."
"Huh." Angus readjusted his glasses, taking a cloth out of his pocket to wipe them off. "Fun fact; fish is my sign."
A cricket chirped next to your ear. You flicked it. "I think that means you're adaptable and smelly." Your whiskers twitched. "Well, I say there is no special destiny or story to fulfill so whatever you accomplish is truly your own." His ears rose a little.
Your ear twitched and a cricket chirped next to it.