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Somewhere far away, on an alien planet with alien people, stands a girl with a mission. Her name is Nepeta. Nepeta Lejoin.
She stands in her room, fairly bare of furniture but covered in the scribbles of a girl from another time. That girl is no longer her. That girl was empty, sad and alone, resorting to anything to fill the void in her heart. Nepeta hopes to never go back to being that girl.
But enough time for pondering, this girl has a mission! The sun has just set, and she's made up her mind. It's been months since she's seen her moirail, and lately he wont even answer her messages! Something must be wrong, and she's not gonna sit around doing nothing while he struggles. With a last hug good-bye to her lusus and a promise to be back in a week, she set off.
As Nepeta leaves the shady room she calls home, we can finally get a better look at her, though the forest is too dark to make out much. An alien girl with human proportions, grey skin and yellow eyes stands tall in the gloomy and threatening forest that surrounds her home. She knows this forest well, and will be able to travel through safely and quickly. The problem is the rest of the journey.
Nepeta makes quick work of ducking and dodging through the roots and leaves blocking her way. Her rounded, triangular, cat-like horns shine in the moonlight, accentuating the feline appearance granted by her cleft lip, claws, and sharp, shiny white canines. All the prey in the forest runs ans they feel her approach, though she has no time to stop and hunt now. They already know what we are just learning. This girl in a predator.
As she gets closer to the edge of the forest, the trees thin out and the moonlight shines through, letting us see what she's wearing. A simple black shirt, with her sign printed in olive green is barely visible under her hilariously oversized trenchcoat, the same green as her rich olive blood. Her dark blue hat, adorned with cat ears of it's own, sticks out like a sore thumb against her black-and-olive attire. The blue of her hat is the same shade as Equius (her moirail)'s blood, a reminder of their everlasting bond. She will make it in time... right?
Taking her first step out of the forest in years, Nepeta is preoccupied. She's barely halfway there, and the pink moon has just set. Not long now 'til the green moon sets too, and then it'll be a matter of minutes until the sun rises.
As she treks through the grassy plains that will lead to Equius's house, she cant help but start to worry. The green moon is starting to set, and the animals around her feel the incoming danger, hiding in their burrows or scattering to hide under the bushes. Because none of them want to be out when the scorching sun starts to rise, rapidly burning anyone that dares stand in it's path to a smoky pile of ash. The sun here is a deadly lazer, and it's about to rise.
The green moon has fully set now, and a hint of orange has appeared on the horizon. Starting to panic a little, Nepeta breaks into a swift jog, then a run. Everyone knows staying out during the day is like a death sentence, and she's still so far from her goal. Her oversized olive trenchcoat may protect her from the sun's burning rays for a couple minutes, but it'll be at least half an hour until she makes it to equius' place at this rate...
NO! She refuses to give up. She WILL make it in time, even if she has to run under the scorching sun for hours! She will hold on, for her friend. As the sun starts to rise, and the suffocating heat of the sun's rays start burning at her neck and making it hard to breathe, Nepeta sees a glimpse of hope. There it is! Her friend's house, just out of reach! She takes a shaky step, then another. The sun rises quickly, and soon every movement is accompanied by a bright, sharp, burning pain that turns every step into a cacophany of agony.
Step
Step
Step
Every little movement, every little
Step
Step
Step
Makes her world turn white with pain,
Step
Makes her want to give up,
Step
cry,
Step
run,
Step
hide,
Step
ANYTHING to make this pain stop!
Step
Step
For a moment, she stops. As the pain reaches farther than she's ever known, every square nanometer of skin burning, blistering, boiling with pain, she thinks of giving up. Of curling up, hiding under her coat, and wishing for a quick death, just to end all the horrible, hopeless, hideous pain.
But
She cant.
Step
Step
Step
His home is so close,
Step
just ten meters away!
Step
She can do it. She has to.
Step
Step
Step.
She's made it. Her pain is over. As she limps over to the door, body flooding with adrenaline that makes the pain bearable for a few seconds more, she notices something.
The bedroom curtains are open.
Her mind fills with dread.
Equius NEVER leaves the bedroom curtains open in the day. He values his sleep too much to let it be disturbed by the sun! (the same sun that's killing her right now, she thinks absently.)
Her hope starts to falter.
The adrenaline is wearing off, the golden glow of victory no longer so sweet. Fighting off the agony returning at full tide, she manages to lift a hand, giving a feeble knock on the door. Equius has amazing hearing. He cant be sleeping, since his curtains were open, so he must be in his room. He has to be. Or else she's doomed.
Nepeta barely lasts three minutes under the deadly sun. She collapses on his doorsetep, sobbing quietly to herself as she feels the pain drag her into unconciousness that would surely turn out to be deadly. Just before she passes out, she sees a towering fighure above her, a troll with a broken horn wearing a black shirt adorned with his sign, this one dark blue, the same blue as her hat. But she is too far gone to recognise him. As she passes out, one thing is clear: it is too late.