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“And… here we are!”
Night’s own exhaustion was showing, the strenuous hike up the mountain certainly taking the air out of the adolescent slugcat. “Yup, yup, I hear ya. I just… huff… puff… need to get over the last stretch.” She muttered in between large gasps, trying to catch her breath and regain some stamina. With a final raw grit and determination, they ascended the last steps up the mountain trail to see Wheel waving at her, the yellow slugcat’s grin almost eye-to-eye. Nightcat sighed, walking over to the fallen log he had set up for both of them to sit down, taking in the scenery.
It was… stunning. A view that made her want to take up sketching like Gourmand had even though Night had no such interests before. The sun dangled on a rare cloud-sparse sky, turning the surrounding a rich, deep orange. The cloud buildup from the fortress almost looked like the tides of an ocean, the cloud’s fringes breaking in streaks of pink wisps much akin to waves breaking into foam on the beach. The jungle that lies beneath the steep slope of the rocky cliff was a blanket of red and brown, save for the fruiting pods of the orbtrees that shone brilliantly above the canopies, a sight to be transformed into an umbral void encrusted with yellow stars when night would approach, giving guide freely to the weary who sought shelter.
“Wow…” Night whispered in total astonishment, causing Wheel to slightly snicker. “See? I told you that going here today would be perfect.” The dark slugcat rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I guess you have guessed right on when we should go sightseeing.”
“Now, Nighty, that’s not very sincere.” Wheel teased. “You have to say it properly.”
Night crossed her arms. “Fine. You mumble grumble the weather grumble grumble piss baby.”
“You are hardly even audible there. C’mon, say it out loud.” Wheel chuckled.
“YOU ARE RIGHT ABOUT THE WEATHER AND I AM WRONG TO CALL YOU A STUPID LITTLE PISS BABY!” Nightcat shouted, causing Wheel to giggle. “Now that’s more like it.” Wordlessly, the dark slugcat snorted and began to unpack her satchel, ready to eat their packed dinners up here. Nothing too special, they just grabbed two packs of blue lizard jerky from the storerooms alongside some dried poleplant leaf for the fibers in their diet. The yellow slugcat hummed a cheery tune as they set out a woven cloth tarp on the log, unfurling two rolls of poleplant leaves and doling out the portions of lizard jerky wrap for both of them to eat.
Night stared at her own portion of lizard wrap being served, but the young slugcat’s eyes involuntarily drifted up Wheel's arms and onto his face, one blissfully unaware that he had gotten an admirer. Her breath briefly hitched, knocked off course by the sudden increase in heart rate as her lungs adjusted to this new rhythm. Night absentmindedly picked up her wrap while trying her hardest to ignore the feelings of batflies in her stomach. She had felt this not-quite-unpleasant sensation several times before but never told anyone, for her chatterbox of a mother would probably expose her hidden feelings towards Wheel to the entire tribe before she could even blink. While she was not paying attention to the balance of the wrap, a few pieces of dried meat fell out of the open end of the vine bundle, Night had not wrapped it properly thanks to her attention being misplaced.
Nightcat groaned as her eyes shifted to the floor, the pieces of jerky lying in a patch of moss on the rock face and slightly dirtied by grains of fine sand. “Five-second rule!” Wheel exclaimed, diving down to scoop up the sullied lizard meat and brushing them off with his fingers to get rid of the dust residues now clinging on to the chunks of blue lizard leg meat. “You know that was just a rule made up by pups for pups, right?” Nightcat playfully scoffed, but a tinge of worry and care was evident in her voice. “You will still get very sick if you eat stuff on the ground if you don’t clean it properly.”
“Do you think our forerunners cared about something as nitty-gritty as that?” Wheel waved dismissively. “They are true survivors, and if they don’t eat enough food, they will DIE!” The pale yellow adolescent said in a dramatic tone, mind stuck in an idealized image of an epic and gritty past that he had always had a fascination with. “I’m gonna become one of those wanderers one day, to make the wilderness my own and haul entire dead lizards with just one arm!” Collector tried his hardest to flex his quite frail and weak arms, attempting desperately to tone what little muscle he had developed. Night burst out in a fit of hollering laughter, much to Wheel’s incense.
“Bahahahahahahaha!! Oh, I think you need a bit more than a few hunting sessions to make your image actually match that of those seen-it-all adventurers.” Night covered her mouth to muffle her chuckle. “Maybe you should ask Gourmand what he did other than eating lots of food. He may be chubby, but his strength…” Wheel did not appear to appreciate how she said that, huffing and crossing his arms in defense. “What, do you like someone with Gourmand’s looks?”
“Oh, no.” Night shook her head. “Even if I was an adult, I doubt I would be into him. He is… bulky, to be sure, and I am sure plenty of scugs would swoon at that sight alone, but… it's just not for me, y’know?” She found it strange that a sort of tension was released from the pale yellow slugcat’s body, as if he was hoping for that answer. Was he…? Nah, she’s probably just overthinking it. “By the way, Wheely,” she playfully commented, “it has been a lot longer than five seconds since you grabbed the lizard jerky.”
“...shit.”
With a sigh, the pale yellow slugcat tossed the two hunks of salted lizard meat into the expanse below the cliffs. “Hopefully some green lizard would find that a tasty morsel.” The two munched through their assembled wraps, submerged in a comfortable silence. Wheel was, of course, the first one to finish with his meal. “Say, Night, my mom said that you would be the trail leader for the way back during the night. You sure you got the map memorized?”
“Mhm!” The dark slugcat nodded, mouth still full of food. After a few seconds of chewing and swallowing, Night finally responded properly. “Don’t worry about it. I got every detail down right here.” She boasted pridefully, tapping her skull. “I am gonna be a sentry for a reason, y’know? Just follow my lead, and we would be back on the trail to the colony in no time!”
“I hope there are not any predators lurking out here now. I get that it's lizard brooding season and most of them are underground guarding their eggs…” Wheel mused. “but I heard some rumor that there was a nest of spiders discovered nearby recently. I hope we can avoid them as best as we can, cuz…” the yellow adolescent shuddered, his tail’s fur slightly puffing up. “I am not scared scared, but they give me the heebie-jeebies.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get you. I don’t like them too much either.” Night muttered. “Better sharpen your spear, as centipedes may be out and about as well. I would have a lot to explain to your parents if I had to drag your fried body back to the colony.” With a smile, Wheel pulled out the spear he had been using as a hiking stick for the expedition here, brushing off the grime on the sharp end of the weapon to let it slightly glint in the light of dusk. “My spear skills has been honed quite a bit with Dragon Slayer. If there's an enemy my way, I’m gonna… WHAM!” the yellow slugcat jabbed at an invisible threat ahead with a surprising amount of force considering the lack of musculature, clearly wishing to impress his skills. “If you ever need rescuing, I’m gonna be your scug in shining armor, running whatever predator that was entrapping you through!”
“Don’t push your luck, survivor boy.” Night rolled her eyes. “I’m no spear chump, and I can handle the errant spider or centipede just fine.” The slugcat went back to finish the last chunks of her assembled wrap still held in her hands, chewing the food as she appreciated observing the sunset vista with only one other. It had felt like both forever and just an instant ago that she went out on her first expedition, from when she was a nameless pup dragged along by her parents to see whatever sights they or their group had wished. Time runs fast, and by the next time they would be here, they would have…
“A pearl for your thoughts?” Wheel called out to his friend, knowing by her often existential rants that such a view was doomed to trigger some tirade of philosophy and life, something she would often waste a sizable fraction of the day on to anyone who could sit still and listen. The slugcat had joked that such a skill was essential for a job as menial as a sentry, standing around doing nothing but patrol and keeping watch all day with only their own mind and conversations to keep company, but the depths she delves into these topics had made even the receptive talkers a little bit afraid. He finds the topics hard to catch up with, sure, but just hearing Night ramble on all enthused makes him feel all warm inside.
“Well… if you wanna hear it so badly…” Night smirked, knowing that this chatter would have to be received by someone no matter what. “You know how long lizard brooding cycles last, right? It would be at least a hundred and fifty cycles before the next mating season and the lizards go back to their dens and lay eggs again.”
“Yeah? That's pretty common knowledge.” Wheel responded. “Why?”
“We were only allowed out here unsupervised because most of the lizards had gone underground and were not prowling around. We can have supervised visits with an adult chaperone, sure, but it was just… not the same, y’know?” Wheel’s breath slightly got funny for a moment, but Night was too immersed in her debate to notice. ”After the eggs hatch and the lizards come back out the ground again, I don’t think any of the elders would allow adventures like these to happen in good conscience. And by the time they go back under again… we would be adults already.”
“Oh.” Wheel muttered, feeling the passage of time sinking into him. “Right… the maturation ceremony for both of us would happen within the next hundred or so cycles, huh? That’s… I am not sure how to feel about it.” The yellow slugcat looked down at his spear with now a mix of emotions. “I am… excited, sure, I would love to be a hunter, but… don’t you think I need more time to train? More time than the a hundred cycles I got left?”
“What do you mean?” Night inquired.
I mean… look at me right now. I am nowhere as fit as I had wished to be at this point, and looking at how soon I would have to accept my role I only realize how much catching up I need to do.” Collector rambled, waving one of his hands around and gesturing. ”I mean even look at my mentor Dragon Slayer. Compared to him, I am nothing. With only this little time left, would I even be skilled enough to carry that role? I look at the hunters and gatherers of my tribe, and then at myself, and still feel like I am a pup wearing a cloak that felt too big for-”
“Hey.” Night patted Wheel’s shoulder, a light smile on her face. “Where did my rugged survivor pounding his chest go? You have all the bravado and determination to tread in their footsteps, I’m sure of it more than ever.” Wheel blushed profusely as the dark slugcat made her move, caressing the slugcat’s face with gentle affection. “C’mon. Think of the bright side! Imagine all the cool things you can do when you become an adult. There will be a huge party after the ceremony, imagine the celebrations they would have set up for all of us. I know your mom well, she would be crying her eyes out seeing her youngest pup finally growing up to be his own slug.”
“Y-yeah…” Wheel mumbled out, slightly flustered. “Being an adult would have its bonuses as well. We can just head out and wander around without the tribe worrying.” He paused, suddenly thoughtful. “Shame that we have to play dress-up with the new names now. I mean, Collector is cool and all, I guess, but… Night and Wheel just rolls off the tongue so well, y’know?”
“You know that most pups don’t share your view, right? My older sister could not have waited a second longer to shed her pup name. I mean, she was named Tenebris which was honestly a bad choice on my dad’s part, but most would jump at the chance for their new---and usually cooler---name.” The dark slugcat looked downwards at the scenery while discussing this topic. “I… hated my adult name as well when my parent pitched the idea. I mean, what kinda name is ‘Watcher’? All slugcats can watch, it's built into us since we are born! What’s next? The Walker? The Breather? The Eate-” Night paused. “Actually, scratch that, Gourmand’s name is basically just a synonym of the last one, isn’t it?”
Collector snickered at that, covering his mouth as he packed up the gear he brought out for the dinner. “Anyways, that’s not my point.” Night declared, slightly annoyed. “Looks like I am not the only one with uncreative names, sure, but I am not talking about that. After my mom suggested that name to me and I found that other names like ‘Sentry’ or ‘Guard’ or ‘Sentinel’ were already taken up by someone in the past two generations, the name Watcher began to grow on me. Like, picture this.” She gestured her hands, weaving together a hypothetical tale. “A sentinel of silence that looms over the tribe like a shadow subsuming the colony like a bubble of ink, her eyes omnipresent such that you could never tell if she was watching you or not. Oooooooo~” Night raised both her hands to do the spooky fingers, evidently very into this persona she had crafted for herself.
“Honestly, Nighty? Sometimes I think you are more obsessed with this whole ‘darkness’ schtick even more than my deal with surviving! What, are you gonna dress dark as well? Grow out your head fluff? Spiked bracelets?” Wheel joked, causing Night to mock huff and shove him away. “Alright, alright, sore issue, I get it.” The yellow slugcat chuckled. “Alright… what else is gonna be given at the ceremony… you can have proper mates now… the whole thing with wandering… oh right! We are gonna get our gender!” The yellow slugcat slapped his forehead in realization. “Opinions?”
“It’s so weird to think that for all the “he” and “she” talk we had, both of us are as genderless as the newborn pups in the nursery in the eyes of the tribal customs.” Night commented. “Why not just make the gender thing another ceremony for younger pups? Why muddle it with the other privileges adults would be gifted at the maturation ceremony?”
“Well, it is not like we really abide by that too closely. Like I get it was extremely hard to tell when we were newborns, but I could tell I was male hundreds of cycles before this supposed day that I was supposed to get my gender.” Wheel suddenly realized something, quickly appending to fix his statement. “I mean, maybe they delay it so much for edge cases like you? Cause even though the healers gave up back then and just called you a ‘she’, you still are… both, right? I still don’t really get how your conditions work.”
“Don’t worry, me neither.” Night shrugged. “The healer said that since I can make pups that I am female, so… I just accepted that. No real reason to argue. Plus, it is not like you don’t have a point there. Waiting around didn’t really make the rare uncategorizable go away, I have been growing for three hundred good cycles since they identified this complication and I am no less an enigma.” She spoke. “When the time comes, honestly, my opinions will not change. We knew who we were long before any cultural customs proclaimed us, and it would only affirm what we already accepted as truth.”
“Well… I had to say, you were always one to hold engaging talks.” Wheel stood up, stretching his back. “We better head back soon. The less time we tread in absolute darkness, the better. Drink up the last bit of the sunset view, and I will be up ahead when you are ready.” Night nodded, suddenly feeling… extremely clammy. Unlike the fluency she had spoken with moments before, the dark slugcat felt like she may just vomit up her dinner. This… was perfect, the right moment. A perfect place to confess her feelings, and… she just could not build up the courage for it, to finally lay her cards on the table and request for reciprocation, no more games or subtle flirts or test that she could lie awake at night and ponder the possible causes for reactions over.
Such courage is something she would have had in no small supply if she were able to just nab a bit of Wheel’s. A wave of shame washed over Night, seeing as he stood oblivious in preparation for the journey home, knowing none the wiser of the depths of her infatuation. “Wheel. There is… something I would like to talk about.” Saying those words made Night feel as if their throat was scrunching up, becoming hard even to swallow saliva as her heart raced faster and faster. There is still time to back out of this. Improvise some philosophical diatribe. Reuse an old joke. Check equipment or discuss training. Whatever she did, she knew that the next statement was going to be the point of no return. “Oh? What was it, Nighty?”
Taking in a deep, shaky breath, Night got ready to pass the threshold. “Wheel… I have been struggling to say this for a long, long time. I am not even sure when I first got the thought of this, but… I like you. More than what one normally beheld for a friend.” The slugcat felt all her courage draining away, her neck feeling like holding up an entire mountain and unable to look into Wheel’s eyes. “I mean- I liked you as a friend for all my life. We have been best buds since we were young pups. But… then I felt something more and liked you a lot and wanted to look at you constantly and cant get you out of my mind and then I was like y’know I am a she right so that means I have shot with you in the future but then I am like no that is a bad thought to have why are you thinking this about a friend thats weird and gross but I just wanted to say this out there because we have been alone too many times and every time I just stop myself from staying it and I stay up all night questioning your every little move and if that means you are into me and I can’t take it anymore and want to get it over with so just know that I like you a lot and just want to know if you feel the same way.” Nightcat heaved, quite out of breath from her panicked ramblings. “Huff… puff…alright, that should be everything.”
“Wow… that… sure is a lot you had to hold in there,” Collector said, emotions unreadable. “Tell me about it.” Night muttered, head still bowed down. “Regardless, it is all out there now. If you can no longer see me as a friend after this… then I apologize for ruining everything between us.” Wheel quickly raised his hands in front of him, trying to console the dark slugcat. “No! No! Everything is fine! I am flattered about what you spilled out, I really am. It's just that…” Night winced, ready for the rejection that these sorts of consolations were known to follow. “I thought… we were already a thing?”
“What.”
“Like… I thought it was pretty cut and clear that we liked each other.” Collector tried to explain himself. “This was like, what, our third date now? Fourth if you really wanted to count the thing during the full moon feast as one.”
“You… so this was a date?” Night said incredulously, the conversation feeling almost surreal as her expectations went topsy-turvy. “Yeah… I invited you out for a date, you happily obliged, we hiked out here, and… we had a date. That’s how it works, right?”
“I thought… this was like a friends hangout… or something.” The dark slugcat mumbled, slowly realizing how little sense this string of words made. A friends hangout? With just the two of them, centered around sitting in scenic secluded places and talking alone? That sounded about as date-y as it could get, just… maybe she had been too nervous or too ingrained in her own thoughts to see the signs. She had thought that Wheel was being kind as usual, but…
“Wait, how come we didn’t like, kiss or something? If this was our third date?” Night suddenly piped up, suspicions rising. “Did Pondskipper send you out here to prank me or something? Tell me the truth.” Collector laughed with slight unnerve. “N-no, it’s just… I thought you wanted it slow, so I just didn’t bother to ask. I like what we already share as friends, and I wanted to make sure you are willing to be comfortable with getting more touchy as well.”
“Oh really now?” Night grinned, part mischief and part incredulity, a plan brewing in her mind. “If we are truly dating, then surely you won’t mind if I do… THIS?” She stepped forward with a confident stride, hugging the yellow slugcat and planting a kiss square in the face, releasing all of the pent up romantic feelings that she had for him across all this time. Night saw Wheel’s eyes shrink in bewilderment, before closing his eyelids and leaning in, hugging the dark slugcat as lips met lips. In the darkness only faintly illuminated by what rays of light slipped past Night’s closed eyes, red with the filter of skin. This moment of catharsis felt both instantaneous and eternal, centuries passed in this thought space of abstraction submerged within the deeply visceral sensation sourced from her corporeal form.
Night finally pulled away, face flushed red and gasping for air. “Oh… oh dear… so you are serious about all this.” Wheel nodded, weakly smiling. “Always am. I am sorry for not being clear sooner, but… at least we are now on the same page.”
The dark slugcat suddenly looked down, shame spreading across her face. “Our first kiss… and it was because I could not trust you… what does this mean for us?” She sighed, still content but wishing that such an act would have been based on more mutual grounds.
“I thought that we were on our third date, remember?” Wheel grinned. “To me, our thing has been going strong for a while now. Plus, what was this anecdote you said before? It goes something like…uhh…” The yellow slugcat stumbled, searching for the right words. “Ah, right, If two slugcats kissed in the woods and no one saw it happen, did the kiss really happen?” Night rolled her eyes in annoyance. “That isn’t even an apt adaption of the question I asked! The inherent existence of the two observers---said two slugcats---guarantees the existence of the kiss regardless of external-” She paused in her ramble, realizing the true meaning behind his words and smiled. “You know what? No, you are right. The kiss would not have happened.”
“Let’s do it properly, then. Make this official.” Wheel smiled, leading Night onto the edge of the cliff, overlooking the last remnants of the sun fading into the horizon. “You know how the adults do the oaths or whatever? I think that could be fun for our true first kiss.”
“Might as well.” Night smirked. “We are going to use these new names for each other for the rest of our lives, after all. You start first.”
“Alright, alright,” a low chuckle came from Wheel’s throat. “I, Collector, son of Snapthorn and Starcatcher, future hunter and gatherer of the Tribe of the Verdant Expanse, affirm my partnership with Watcher.”
She could already picture that vow being said for real when they were to become an adult and do this performance in front of a live audience, and Night smiled at the finality of that thought. With a deep breath, she spoke her part. “And I, Watcher, daughter of Gravedigger and Marksmen, future sentry and guard of the Tribe of the Verdant Expanse, affirm my partnership with Collector.”
Silence emanated through the vast openness as Collector and Watcher looked at each other, the two partners now knowing full well of the true depth of their affection for the other. “You may kiss the bride.” Watcher mocked, imitating the most deep masculine voice she could manage. In the gleam of sunset, Collector broke out a laugh, shaking his head before leaning in for both of their philosophically-sound actual first kiss. Somehow, the passion that flared within her and Collector was somehow even more profound than before as they came together, the romanticism flowing deep within the two slugcat’s veins.
As they finally pulled apart, Collector only had a look of pure bliss on his face. “I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”
“Save that talk for the maturation ceremony.” Watcher muttered, content evident. “For now… let’s spend our last few cycles as Wheel and Night together.”
As the first green stars poked through the fading lights of dusk, Night and Wheel lightly chuckled to each other as they donned their equipment and got ready for the light-deprived navigation back to their colony. The sounds of chatter slowly faded as the pair moved further and further away from the grove atop the cliff, only the sound of wildlife accompanying the empty scenery. Finally, as the sun was subsumed below the horizon, night fell upon the land for the time being, the sea of orb trees glowing through the canopies coming to life as promised and yet viewed by naught.