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Arti stands at the gate, a party starting from an idea about a week back was held beyond said gate. More specifically Nightcat’s party, she always seemed to be having them. A tall hot pink slugcat stood next to her, she looked at him, his left eye had a line crossed through it, the injury left him half blind. She thought as always that the two were meant to pair, his left scar from a particular encounter with scavengers matched a scar on her right eye almost perfectly, backstory and all.
She held his arm, both were nonchalant about how well known the couple was. Her dark maroon almost blended into the bright red. She remembered distant days when just this contact was enough to have her tail spark a little. She looked at him, for the brief moment he looked back up she thought.
Cutie.
She looked back at the building towering over her, much like the other buildings she could see a makeshift rope Monk had built on top when pioneering the exploration of the city. She could see about halfway up the lights stopped and everywhere below there was a degree of loud, she could tell even with only one ear that half of the buildings were blasting with noise, the only thing louder than the music was the chatter.
“They set this up well, didn’t they?” she looked slightly down onto her partner who was suddenly struck out of a trance.
“If they didn't, this building would not have survived an hour without you.” Hunter looked back up at her, a small smirk edged onto his face. The face was familiar, one he knew how to put on perfectly. And the comment she could only giggle to herself in response.
It had its merit though, even as hyperbole. People respected her, she was a bit of an authority figure and often a parental one too. She ran the orphanage, a direly needed one with how scattered and young most of the slugcat population was below pebbles. On top of all of that she knew herself a good mom too. Her appearance was quite frightening to those who did not know her but to those who did she seemed like a protector, someone who could fight off anything.
With her, no one could hurt you. She made sure of it. And so she was unofficially employed as a peacekeeper, where there was a party too loud or an argument too heated, she was there.
She lightly nudged Hunter, silently telling him to knock. He used his right paw to deliver three light knocks. The gate soon opened.
Taking the lead, she let go of Hunter’s hand and crawled through the pipe. Inside a familiar sight was present, a bunch of young adult slugcats chatting to one another. She got a few glances due to her tall stature, she could tell none of them were of malice though. She soon took Hunter's hand and pulled him though the floor to the exit, it wasn't too hard to navigate as the entrances often were.
The second floor was far more populated full of rowdy kids who have finally stopped masquerading as adults. For most of them, it's been a while since they could be dumb, stupid kids. Chewed up and spit out by an indifferent god most of them never got to figure out how to have a bit of fun. The god of nature had no place for sympathy of the young, so the young became old and Arti always had some joy at seeing old kids learn to be young again.
This time she pulled through the crowds instead of avoiding it. Given she and Hunter found it quite easy to push though, with there natural advantages.
The third floor was just about as crowded as the second, but now it had a dance floor. She considered indulging in a dance with Hunter but they had people waiting on them, they had to be on their way.
Forth was a little less crowded with it mostly being far drunker slugcats. She did a look over to see if anyone was a bit too drunk to keep parting but it was mostly stable so she passed onto the final floor.
Here is where a ragtag group of slugcats, slightly more vibrant than the rest, held station. They all would sometimes joke about making the rainbow and a little extra.
She found the group huddled in a corner in the far far less populated fifth floor. She slowed down and Hunter almost crashed into her.
“Hey, it's been a minute since we could all meet up like this.” Arti spoke up, nearly the entire group looked up to meet her gaze. She saw that almost the entire group was there and as expected, only missing Gourmand.
“Hey Arti!” the bubbly blue slugcat almost sprung up to meet her. Making the still concentrating Spearmaster almost jump. Riv ran up to her and in an almost trademarked way slammed all of her momentum into Arti with a hug. She returned the favor and waved at the rest of the group, most of the group waved back. Knowing that Riv would hold onto her for as long as she could, Arti let go and lightly pushed away. Riv was, as always, giving a small frown at losing her intensively warm coat.
“Sorry gourmand couldn’t make it, he is getting so caught up in his work, he really needs a break.” Arti informed the crowd with a slightly apologetic tone. They were mid card game, UNO as it appeared.
“It's fine we get it, part time scientist, part time mayor. Dude has a lot on his plate.” Survivor spoke up before anyone else. The kid was sitting on the floor around the stack in the middle, it was quite large with about 2 full decks spread throughout the slugcats and was far bigger than the expected pile in the middle. Survivor himself looked to be losing and bad, having far more cards than anyone else, he was obviously taking it in stride though.
“So, what y'all up to?” Hunter spoke up with his raspy voice, torn from a now far gone parasite. He gave them all a slight glare, annoyed as he was almost completely overshadowed for the apparently far more popular Arti.
Monk took her turn to speak up. “Oh, we were playing UNO, you’re free to join when we finish this game.” He was careful not to disturb a Saint sleepily resting on his shoulder, barely present. Arti saw the two young lovers as a mystery and a tragedy paired up. Saint had so much going on that Arti was sure only Monk had the full story and Monk herself was an expert at dousing his personality in make-up. The bubbly optimistic slugcat knew how to hide his emotions, with really only Arti, Survivor and Saint (assumedly) as the only ones with a clue at what he has been through.
Insistent on taking the stage light, Hunter spoke up once more. “So who’s winning?”
A soft spoken voice, placed between Inv and Survivor, decided to let herself be known. “Oh uh, that would be either Inv or Spearmaster, both are quite eager to win.” NIghtcat voice trailed off into a giggle. She leaned on Inv, almost slouching on his shoulder and he fought desperately to avoid the blush from falling across his face, he didn’t look up though, only focused on his cards.
Rivulet pulled Arti and by proxy hunter to a now open part of the circle where Spearmaster moved out of the way so Monk didn’t have to disturb Saint. She sat down and pulled Hunter down next to her. She leaned on him for a bit of comfort, his silky smooth and almost slimy fur contrasted nicely with her rough coat.
The game continued for a while, with Nightcat and Saint preferring to stay on the sidelines. The room slowly became more and more competitive, as Inv and Spearmaster fought to place down all their cards faster.
It was Survivors turn, he took a card and slowly placed it down, put with as much intensity as he could. Eventually revealing it to be a +4, delivered to the one and only Inv, who had only two cards in his deck. Mouth agape Inv shouted “I WANT A DIVORCE.” and Arti had to hold back her gigging, an action that most others did not do.
Survivor took a moment to laugh and eventually responded. “Inv, we’re not even married.” To this Inv only crossed his arms and looked away, with only a bit of hyperbole in his movements. This only got even more laughter, especially from Survivor and Nightcat.
And despite Inv’s best efforts a +4 was just too hard a hit to recover from, Spearmaster soon placing his last card. Inv refused to look Survivor in the eyes for the rest of the night.
The next game started off with the two aggressive players at each other's throats, the two were often fiercely competitive and as always formed a bitter rivalry in whatever game they played in. Unfortunately the hands of fate rebalanced themselves into the once unlucky hand of Survivor, who suddenly decided to play to win.
In the end the match ended with relationships in ruin (for the next 5 minutes or so) as betrayals followed the players outside of the match. With bridges burned and knives in backs Survivor stood atop a pile of bodies, only looking down did he see the path he carved to get there. Most cowered in fear at a man gone mad with power, one who will do anything for a victory.
He sat atop his ivory tower and looked down upon broken trust and shattered hearts. He-
“So about that movie?” Monk asked, ready to move on with the card game drama. She now held a sleeping Saint in her lap and wanted to move off the floor so he could properly give Saint some rest who was now lightly purring under Monk’s hand.
Survivor got off the high of victory to respond. “Oh yeah uh Nightcat had the pearl. She seemed really excited to show you all.” To this a very expected mix of blush and nervousness spread across Nightcat’s face.
“Yah I uh well.” it was obvious she could barely contain her excitement. “It is an old form of animation and art, back when it was popular with the ancients, it was called ‘anime’.” She looked at a crowd who were practically expecting this, except for Inv, who was silently cheering her on.
Arti saw where this was going and decided to ask important questions before she answered unasked useless ones. “We are going another floor up, right?” After a nod in the affirmative she took Hunter's arm and stood up. “Hunter and I are going to get it all set up, don't mind us moving some furniture.”
With that, they were gone before Nightcat could ramble about her obsession. “How many couches do you think we will need?” Arti started to assess the 6th floor.
“You think the two lovers need their own nest to cuddle in?” Hunter asked dripping in sarcasm.
Arti gave him a glare before defending two slugcats who she had no bias in. “the two have been through enough, give them a break.” Hunter kept a small frown at her until she added. “Yes… the two would likely need a full couch.”
“You just want to see the duo’s children.” Hunter quipped back.
Arti looked at him with a frown on her face, his smug face was not helping. “Is it too wrong to want to see a bit of young love succeed.” to this he changed to reflect her own expression.
“And?” He saw right through her.
She gave up. Looking away she admitted in a mumble. “I just think they would be good parents.”
Hunter laughed at her for just a moment then, seeing her frown, he felt a little guilty and walked up to her, taking her hands. He took a moment to look her in the eyes and enjoy the painting in front of him, then pulling her hands in for just a little he pressed his lips to her. Backing away Arti took a moment to readjust from the assault on her mind. “I'm not saying you're wrong, the two have been through a lot, you don't need to be a genius to know that.” He took his head and pushed it a little below Arti’s face, nuzzling her neck and his short coarse coat rubbing against Arti. It crashed into her like a wave hitting her head on, she was only barely able to stand on her feet. “And you're probably right, the kiddo and the cabbage would probably make good parents.”
Letting herself blush a little, Arti responded. “Maybe we can even learn a thing or two from the soulmates, they might even make half as good a parent as you, Hunt.” She felt him push as far into her as he could before backing out. The feeling he left had her face a little redder than normal and her heart beating a little faster. She felt her tail swoosh behind her and Hunter’s did the same. A familiar tingling feeling coursed through her blood.
“You're right… I think kids would be nice.” Hunter blushed at the implications.
“You think you're ready?” Arti asked.
“No. Probably will never feel ready… You?” Hunter looked back at her, his eyes seeming to fail to see anything but her.
“I… Don’t know.” Arti could only respond with that. She loved him, she truly did, but her past always seemed to haunt her, she still wondered though, about Hunter, about
her
kids, about… kids.
He would be such a good dad, she didn’t feel like a good mom though.
It's like Hunter said, maybe she never will.
Maybe they just have to trust each other.
Maybe him thinking she is a good mom was enough.
“Then again, this is a party, we can sit down and feel sad all we want later. So for now you wana get the popcorn ready?” Arti realized the tension built across the room was to be saved for later. Maybe another day. For now a party was in order, and food, in store.
Hunter laughed to himself, they both got so caught up in each other that they forgot to have a bit of fun. “Yah, shit, you're right. Nightcat can only maintain a stable audience for so long.”
Arti chucked “those poor souls.”
Arti went back down as Hunter did the last of the preparations. There she found the rest of the group in silent impatience as Nightcat rambled on and on about the movie, while Nightcat herself had an almost exaggerated smile on her face. The only one who seemed to enjoy the lecture was her mate Inv, who seemed more entranced with how she spoke then what she spoke of.
“Hey kiddos, we got the movie set up.” Arti’s shout was loud enough to catch everyone's attention. Some gave her disgruntled looks at being called kids. Still they all got up and followed her lead to the upstairs.
Spearmaster of the few signed to her i'm not a kid . Which she promptly ignored.
She rallied the group up to their stationed couches, where she quickly brought Hunter to sit down with her in the middle couch. Nightcat dragged her two boys with her (Inv and Survivor) as the second eldest pair sait next to Arti and her mate (spearmaster and riv). And of course Monk came in last dragging a very tired Saint along after getting a blanket, taking the right couch. Predictably Saint almost immediately falls onto Monk making him lay down, spooning him.
Arti couldn’t deny a small tinge of pride in her heart when she saw such public affection. She could even spot a little bit of movement where Saint’s tail ended and a bit of blush painted over Monk.
Overall, the movie was good, the animation was high quality and the story played out well. Both Riv and Monk cried in the end and were both comforted by their respective partners. Arti herself found the movie quite enchanting, enough to prevent her from lingering on a certain thought that she kept finding. And when it was done she took hunter and decided to not stick around for the after party.
Arti was walking back when she found herself a problem, a certain conversation she had with Hunter kept making her think. She… She is a good parent. Right?
She keeps walking, a subtle feeling of pressure on her chest makes breathing a little harder. She keeps thinking, why, why is she such a bad parent, why she would be the worst thing you can do to a child. The impossibilities threaten to eat her alive.
She quickens her pace, she feels as if everyone is staring at her and she tells herself that now is not the time to be thinking about it. Still the thought chews on her, taking a little bit of her composure every second.
“Arti, you ok?” Hunter stops her when the reach the last floor, she pauses, his voice returns some control back to her.
“I'm fine.” she says with a plastered smile, Hunter feels something off but he knows he has no place to pry.
If she won’t tell me then I won’t know. He thinks as he has utter confidence that she will tell him anything she needs help with. And with that she takes his hand though the rest of the floor, opening the door he feels a slight cold breeze, muted by Arti’s natural warmth.
Hunter looked at the streets surrounding him, the dark only staved off by the lanterns littered on poles randomly placed around. The winter streets let the white snow blend nicely into the black of the night. He looked around and around, only finding that his eyes only lingered on one thing next to him.
A familiar sight walked behind him, nonetheless ever so enchanting. He pushed a shoulder to the maroon blob traveling with him. The mess of fur and scars next to him returned the favor with a hand.
“Hey Arti, do you think I could be a good dad?” he asked slowly like he didn’t know the answer, still he wanted to hear the words from her mouth.
“Yes, you might be a better parent than I could ever be.” That could never be true and he laughed at the implication. But still, the words did wonders to sooth his mind.
“Hunter…” She stopped and looked at him. “Do you think I’m a good person?” she was on the verge of tears.
“Yes. But you have done bad things.” He answered with the confidence that she needed to hear.
“Hunt, I’m scared, what if- what if something… happens to your children.” Her insecurity was so evident it was watering up her eyes. She didn’t even want to consider the fact that they would both be parents.
Hunter pulled her into his arms, trying to shove as much safety into her heart as he could by shielding her fur. He let her cry like this, for just a moment, and then pulled back to set her straight.
“Nothing will happen to our children, we have spent the past years building up a world that is fit for a child, we have made a home, not a shelter, not some refuge, but a home. And no matter what, no matter how, it will not, it will never be like your past. You have us, a whole colony to support you.”
She looked him in the eyes, tears rolling down her face. “ I’m scared, I’m so fucking scared.”
He brushed her tears back with his hand. “And that’s ok, we have all the time in the world.”
She wasn’t comforted by this though, instead she almost paused, for just a moment. “NO no, Hunt, Hunt… I-” She teared up a little more. “I’ve been hunting.” Once more she paused to look Hunter in the eyes, the support she needed was held in his look of concern. “I-... I don’t bring back the meat, I don’t eat them either.” She looked away from him before shouting. “ How can I even act like an adult when I can’t even deal with my own fucking issues!”
Her cry was broken off by Hunter hugging her, she was crying loudly. Hunter felt like an asswhole, he didn’t do anything but he still did. His guilt was suppressed to do something much, much more important; calm his girlfriend down. “You have issues, we all do, some days I still forget that I have more than 20 cycles to live now.” he squeezed her as hard as he could, the fluff felt warm and nice against his cold body. “It sucks, you never truly recover, that's a lie that’s for the heroes in fairy tales. But you do get better, a lot better with people around you.” He looks her in the eyes with admittedly fake confidence that she needs right now.
“Hunter, I, I nee- ed to hear that.” The look on her face said it all.
“Let's go home dear.”
“Y-Yes”
He slowly helped her stay steady and after a moment of consideration, picked her up. If it weren't for his genetic modifications he would have failed immediately but instead he moved with moderate ease.
As soon as they got home Arti stood up by herself. “I’m… going to sleep.” and without a word they both walked to the nest.
They both got as comfortably as they could, with Hunter wrapping his arms around Arti’s chest as she simply grabbed his palms. She plays with his fingers, interlocking them and pulling them apart. Seeming to rather intensely focus on the fingers themselves.
“Hunter… I don’t think I'm ready to have children.” She spoke in a sorrowful tone.
Hunter used his hand to reach up and hold Arti’s cheek. “That's ok, I have you, and that’s enough.”
Arti hugged his arm as he squeezed her from behind and she started to purr.
They both felt the allure of sleep take over them as they both close their eyes to the rhythm of the other's voice, vibrating with a soothing sound lulling the idea of sleep ever closer.