[Kova's Wishing Well] Deep as an Ocean (Open)

[Naledi]

13th Summer 510AV

It’s so deep, the cat thought, peering into the well. If I fell down there, I’d never come out again. Maybe that would be a good thing.

The cat was sitting on the side of the well. Overhead was the bucket used to draw water from the deep hole. It was overflowing, but not with water – vibrant flowers cascaded in waterfalls from the bucket in many shades of colors to remind people that the water was no longer good to drink. The cat’s tail twitched lazily back and forth as she basked in the sun, drinking it in like the bright flowers hanging above her. It was good to be alone for once, but she felt anxious. What if Skylar began wondering where she was? Don’t think about Skylar right now, you were just beginning to enjoy yourself.

It was obvious from the cat’s appearance that she was semi-feral. Her fur was slightly matted and its eyes jumped from passing person to passing person with the lazy alertness every cat possesses. When somebody came too close, the cat’s lean muscles tensed, ready to attack or flee. She was afraid of the clattering of wheels over the cobblestones, sudden motions, loud noises. She was strung tight, even when she was relaxing. There was only one person in this city the cat knew for sure she could trust, and even that person let her down more often than not.

The cat considered becoming human. She really did like it better in cat form. Humans were clumsy, overgrown and embarrassingly hairless. Cats, however, were compact parcels of muscle, grace and speed. They didn’t make human mistakes, they followed their pure primal instinct and more often than not this helped them stay alive.

So the cat stayed a cat, sitting on the side of the well, trying not to think that the reason she didn’t want to turn human was because then Skylar would have an easier chance of finding her.

[Skylar]

"Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy helllooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo." A voice boomed from somewhere. It had a sort of echoing quality to it. And after a moment's thought the Kelvic would be able to realize there really was only one place it could have come from.

The well.

There was an uncomfortable scratching noise as a pumpkin-headed figure crawled out of the well with alarming alacrity. Whatever Skylar's new body's bonus points were, clearly spider-like climbing skills were one of them. Once he'd crawled himself all the way up, he grinned down at the cat, holding her by the scruff of her neck.

How he managed this bit of acrobatics while not falling back into the well he'd just worked so hard to climb out of was something of a mystery, but the menacing pumpkin-face leered on, quite oblivious to the problems it had caused.

"Well, well, if it isn't an adorable little kitty. I have one just like you. Only she's a human. Are yooooou a human?" He asked, staring at the cat with an almost violent gaze.

"Humantime!" He shouted, poking the cat.

[Naledi]

She should have known.

The cat gave a startled hissing sound and made to jump from the side of the well but was caught by the scruff of the neck and she felt her feet leave the ground.

Her limbs relaxed in defeat. Typical. She was terrified, and strangely elated, and she wanted to run away and to push herself against Skylar’s legs and purr. She lifted her upper lip in a half-hearted cat-sneer, but she knew it wouldn’t work and so she took it no further.

With the customary display of brilliant light that obscured most details of her transformation, the cat became a girl, and directed her feet carefully to the ground instead of into the well.

“Hello, master,” she said in what she hoped was a happy voice. It almost was. “It’s such a nice day, isn’t it? I was just… I, er, I lost one of the beads from my necklace,” she indicated the intricately beaded necklace hanging over her bare chest, “and, er, I’m closer to the ground as a cat.” She grinned hopefully, but it slid off of her face and she sighed. “Sorry. I miss being a cat sometimes. But I’ll be sure to stay human from now on.” Should she mention the pumpkin? Was it safe? Human necks do not have nearly as much skin as cat necks, and the place Skylar was gripping her was starting to hurt.

She realised she was babbling in her moment of panic. She tried for an apologetic look. This wasn’t going to end well, she thought.