Sunshine and snakes -p-

[Cleo]

-not sure if I want this to take place before or after a fight, so sorry if it seems rather... jumpy-

Cleo ventured out into the badlands with little hesitation, though she was careful to watch where she was going. It wasn't exactly her cup of tea, but she figured she should make herself comfortable to the area.

Her muzzle was turned upwards, and she kept her eye on the sky incase of hawks. This was her first mistake. Without looking where she was placing her paws, she heard the loud sound of a rattle.

Before Cleo could react, a forceful smack hit her leg. It had been a warning before a bite. Looking down, she was a mere mouse-length away from a rather large rattle snake. She froze, unable to think as it's head lifted, tail rattling aggressively. She didn't even notice the smell of a familiar cat.
-Nightingale-

[Nightingale]

Rose liked the canyon, even if it were always blistering hot and the ground radiated with such heat her pawpads threatened to split open. She liked it for the emptiness, the freedom she felt within it, relished every drop of sunlight that fell upon her pelt.

And so the feline padded, long legs confident and brisk, through the valleys, comforted that there would be no one around for miles off. She didn't need to be around cats recently; instead of wanting their company, she simply tolerated it, endured it sometimes when she had to. So when she came across a familiar scent, she paused, wondering what to do next.

Her decision was made for her when she noticed the figure of said cat, next to what appeared to be a worringly close rattlesnake. She broke into a dash, not wanting, not needing, to witness a death today. She cleared the final few fox-lengths with a long leap that took her a mouse-length behind the snake, and she tossed it up into the air with her paw.

Now, normally, she would retreat and let the snake slither back to wherever it came from. But Rose had not been very normal recently, hadn't been feeling normal for a while, so she bared her sharp with teeth and killed it, scored her claws down its back, slipped her canines under its throat. Bloody and mangled.

Just like how that car left her brother.


//oh wow dark

[Cleo]

Cleo stumbled back as Rose suddenly raced forward, throwing the snake into the air. She expected the feline to stop and let it leave- she knew that the snake would. Though, it seemed Rose had another plan in mind.

"Rose, stop!" Cleo squealed, although by the time any words had left her mouth, the snake was limp, mangled and bloody. "You didn't have to kill it... it was just scared, that's all." Cleo whispered, approaching the deceased snake with pity in her eyes. It didn't deserve what it got.

[Nightingale]

"When is the world ever fair?" she muttered, voice a lot more scathing and bitter than she expected it to sound. Irony blood overpowering the scent of wildflowers that usually clung to her, she slicked back the blood on her paws, dissipating it over the fur of her front paws. When she looked back up again, her deep blue eyes were dark.

"Life is such a stupid, fickle thing."

sorry short

[Cleo]

Something had changed in Rose, that was for sure. Cleo swallowed down any fear she felt, reminding herself that Rose had in fact saved her. "Are you okay?" She questioned, half of it towards her physical health, and the other towards her mental health.

[Nightingale]

Rose laughed drily.

"Idyllic, my love."

Love was a title she had decided to give all the cats she'd ever met. She liked the way it sounded, liked the way the hollow syllables rolled off her tongue, liked how meaningless she managed to make the term sound.

"How are you?"

[Cleo]

Cleo was... diassapointed, to say the least. Rose was the one cat whom she thought she could really become close to, but now... She felt as though it was her fault.

Maybe she just hadn't tried hard enough.

"I'm okay... what have you been up to?" Cleo tried to be casual, reminding herself of the do's and fonts of friendships.

[Nightingale]

Rose's cutting eyes faltered for a moment at the disappointment radiating from Cleo, knowing fully the reason of her dismay. Annoyingly, she cared - even though it was a little bit, she cared, and that was certainly (to her) a huge step back from her journey of distancing herself from everything in the entire world. Her lungs heaved a sigh.

"I've been okay." Her voice a lot less cutting than it had been, her tone more tired than anything else. That's just what she was. Tired. So, so tired. "Not too great though. You?"

[Cleo]

Cleo watched her carefully, delighted when her tone changed. She had suddenly lost the fierce look in her eyes, and instead it was replaced with what seemed like exhaustion. Physically and mentally.

Cleo frowned, moving forward and touching the tip of her tail to the felines shoulder as a sign of affection. "I'm sorry, is there anything I can do?" Rose herself had admitted that things weren't going too great, and Cleo would do everything in her power to help. She didn't bother to answer the question as to how she had been; Rose's problems were more important.

[Nightingale]

Rose gave a half-hearted, dry laugh. "Can you bring cats back from the dead? No, I don't think so."

Her tail tip flicking against the dry ground, she sat down with it pulled across her paws, eyes alarmingly blue under the sun. "And you haven't answered my question.

[Cleo]

Cleo frowned with pity, though decided it would be best if she kept her mouth shut.

"I've been... Fine."

Cleo was a terrible liar.

(Whoops no muse)

[Nightingale]

(me neither :c )

A dry laugh pushed its way through Maleficent's lungs.

"Of course you are, love. Of course you are."

She turned her face back to the sky, watching it for a moment before turning back.

"What happened, Cleo?" she asked, tone tired, remembering their last meeting. They were both so much younger then.

[Cleo]

Cleo frowned as Rose asked her what had happened, sitting down awkwardly, trying not to look at the dead snake. "I found my sister. My family thought she had run away, but it turns out, all this time, two legs had taken her." Her voice was something it almost never was-angry. "I should have gone looking for her. Now I don't even recognize her. She tried to teach me how to fight! It goes against everything we were taught!" She was almost talking to herself now, staring angrily at her paws.

[Nightingale]

Maleficent's eyes softened slightly, but her lips were kept in the same, tired frown. She glanced away, focusing on a young flower in the grass before her.

"Maybe fighting will be useful in the future," she pointed out uncharacteristically softly. "You never know. Foxes, badgers everywhere - maybe one day you'll meet a cat not so happy to see you."

She turned back to Cleo, forcing herself to smile, a brilliant, million-dollar smile with empty eyes. "I'm sorry that happened to you."

[Cleo]

Cleo was glad for the soft voice that Rose now held, though she easily disagreed with her statement. "Animals don't attack without reason- and neither do cats." She stated, her eyes soft. She felt bad for Rose- her life had many wounds, that much she knew.

Cleo smiled fondly as Rose said she was sorry that it had happened to her.

"And what happened to you, Rose?" Cleo questioned quietly, eyes wide and sensitive, ready to listen. It wasn't hard to tell that Rose was in fact very different from when they last met.