Not What it Seems

[miss_sanguine]

His eyes scanned his surroundings frantically, the shadow of his attacker gone, moved back into the safety of the darkness and trees. It was hard to make anything out, the world around him shifting, the hints of tree branches appearing as snakes, unreal figments dancing in and out of sight. What was real and what wasn't?

Then his companion did something really stupid and dashed off into the shadows as well. "No—nk!" Pain sliced through his side, jagged shards of misery running up to brain and making it reel, as he'd shot forward to try and grab hold of the cat-man. His hand immediately went to his wound, as if to block the pain by pressing on it. "Dammit!"

The man was gone, also lost to the darkness. He was going to get himself killed, running into danger like a blind kitten. And Kabe was too weak to transform for any hopes of a fair defense. Hell, he couldn't even move. But he would have to do something, for the other man's sake if not for his own.

Apparently the bite he'd given the mage hadn't been fatal, hadn't even left him bleeding like Kabe now was. That worried him, unless the man he was dealing with also had the power to heal as well as kill. The memory of the sick, blackened wound on the woman fought its way through his thoughts and his heart sank deep into his stomach.

Not again. The shifter man may have been a pain in the ass, but Kabe wasn't going to allow another death to taint his hands. Not a death he could try and prevent, at least.

Adrenaline once again pumped through his body, clearing his thoughts to an extent. He could hear the jaguar walking back and forth through the foliage. "Get back here, dammit," he hissed. "Stay where I can see you."

Having no magical means to defend himself, Kabe reached up and grabbed the knife above his head with his free hand, yanking it out of the trunk with a small cry of pain as the effort sent another volley of pain his way. It looked to be the same knife that had been used to stab him earlier, though the blood had been washed off of the blade, its silver glint untarnished in the moonlight as he looked at it closely.

 "Here, kitty, kitty," he heard a voice jeer somewhere ahead. "Come play."

[Juno]

Julian was on a mission. Patrolling, he initially paid no mind to the sound of Kabeyage's demands behind him. Instead, he focused on finding the intruder, whoever it was that had tried to sink that hefty blade of that knife into his brain. Remaining as quite as he could, he searched. No matter how much he strained to catch a glimpse of the attacker or hear whatever it was leaving the area, Julian wasn't picking up anything and began to worry that he'd lost whatever it was. Then, he heard his new acquaintance's cry back by the tree.

Hissing and flattening his ears back flat against his skull, he bounded back over only to find the man alone, but holding the knife. Cocking his head, ears returning to a normal posture, he eyed the man in confusion. He could've sworn he'd been in trouble. Only a moment later, though, he heard a voice calling. It was a voice he was sure he hadn't heard before, which put him back into protective mode.

Snarling and baring his teeth to the darkness ahead of them as he turned around, giving Kabe his back, Julian's eyes flickered around in his desperate search for the owner of the voice. Growling in frustration as he was not able to locate it, he looked back to Kabeyage with concern in his eyes before taking a few steps closer toward the brush. He wasn't about to leave this guy to die, but it was obvious that something was after him, or so he thought, and he needed to protect the injured man still slumped against the tree.

Not giving it much more thought than that, the jaguar dropped himself lower to the ground and slinked off back into the dark and the brush. He was ready to face this, whatever it was. He was a jaguar! Nothing was going to hurt him! With that playing in his thoughts, Julian let forth another threatening snarl.

[miss_sanguine]

Waiting in the undergrowth was another jaguar, this one made of the shadows in which it hid. It would have been a perfect replica of the real jaguar, except for its black, foggy pelt. Tendrils of darkness whisked off of its body like smoke, sinking low into the ground around it. No pupils glared out at Julian, just misted schleras, opaque and lustrous.

The new cat hissed wildly, hunched back on powerful haunches, ready to spring. When its foe, Julian, stepped into view, it pounced, mouth wide, full of blackness, ready to swallow its prey.

Meanwhile, Kabe cursed again. The damned man wouldn't listen to him! How was he supposed to be of any help at all, or at least keep a good idea on where his attacker was, if there was a jaguar moving around making noise and confusing his already dulled senses?

He gripped the knife tightly in his left hand, eyes darting around. His other hand held his wrapped shirt tight against his bleeding wound. His nerves were on end, practically on fire, even if every other part of him felt numb. Only now did he realize that his body was shaking from cold, despite how warm it was outside.

Snarls and angry cat noises came out of the trees, echoing around him.

"I'll be wanting that back." The man was suddenly in front of him, gesturing at the knife that Kabe held. Under the hat, the man was smirking.

Oh damn, oh damn.

[Juno]

He was blind. This trap was something he never could have anticipated, never even thought was possible. Slinking onward, he didn't notice the shadowy figure until it was far too late. Catching sight of movement in his peripheral vision, he began a rumbling growl that was cut short as he jumped to the side in an attempt to evade the pouncing creature. It only took him a split second to realize it was a jaguar, though, another surprise as it latched onto his shoulder instead of the throat it'd been aiming for.

Struck, Julian immediately dropped to roll them to the forest floor. He was in a bit of a frenzied panic because he couldn't make out any sort of definite shape as the shadows cast down upon them blended in perfectly with the cat attacking him. Yowling, he kicked at the thing's belly, or at least what he thought was its belly, and biffed and scratched as best he could as they tumbled around.

Practically fighting blind and having no points of reference really besides what he could already feel of the dark creature, Julian did his best to latch onto the thing. He bit wherever he could, not merely nipping but aiming to kill, to tear at, to spill blood if it had it. His claws scraped at whatever surfaces he could reach, but he felt earth and tree and plants just as much as the beast attacking him. He had no idea what damage he might or might not do, but he was certainly trying his best to strike where he could. This cat wasn't going down without a fight.

[miss_sanguine]

The shadow beast felt no pain, only fury. As hard as its foe fought, it fought back just as hard, screaming its rage in Julian's face as it scratched and bit and kicked. Each blow to its body damaged it more than it damaged Julian, shadows raked away from its form, leaving it incomplete, yet still it attacked.

It went for any part of its prey that it could, not caring if it nicked a vital point or not. A distraction was all it was, a snarling ball of dark distraction. On its paws were claws as sharp as needles, its teeth daggers. Try as it might, though, Julian was more experienced in his form, while the beast was not but mist. Openings for attack were often lost as it tried to avoid the assaults from the other cat. Its life force was fading away with each scratch and bite it received.

- - -

Instead of relinquishing his only weapon, Kabe pulled it close to his chest, grip still tight. He gave a small laugh, putting on a friendly face though he felt anything but friendly. "Did I ever mention that I like your hat? I think I did. Back in the alley. Before you killer her."

The man took a step forward, the same smirk still on his face. His dark eyes looked empty, however, not holding the emotion that his lips portrayed. He looked like he had when he'd entered the alleyway, not a single mark or tear on his body or clothes from the scuffle that Kabe had had with him.

There was a new weapon in the man's hand: a black dagger that Kabe recognized almost at once. It practically sang with hunger, an almost haunting high-pitched ring, the same noise Kabe had heard it make right before it slashed into the woman's skin and left her dying. It made the hair on the back of his neck rise.

Was this how he was going to die? He'd planned on kicking the bucket in some bar, drunk as a skunk, with three women draped over his shoulder. Even a sexually transmitted disease had been a possibility. Not this.

And where was Cat Man? Were the noises coming from the forest his making? It sounded like two rabid animals were trying to kill one another.

- - -

After minutes of fighting, the shadow cat was all but disintegrated. Too many hits to its intangible body left it fading away. It stood facing Julian, hissing and spitting, before fading completely, dropping back into the shadows from which it had been born.

[Juno]

Scratches and scrapes flared out all along his frontside as this shadow cat clawed and bit at him as it threw its weight against him. He never winced once, though, just fought on. He had to. He needed to. There was no way he was going to let himself die of this ambush.

Swiping his claws at the thing wherever he found room to, Julian attacked relentlessly. His screeching snarls of fury echoed through the forest as he continued to beat at his attacker. He noticed that it was gradually changing, that solid surface was turning to air, but he tried not to let it distract him. Eventually, though, his work paid off.

As the thing dragged itself away from him, he followed, but in the blink of an eye it had faded away and was nowhere to be seen. Panting, his bright, pink tongue showed as he tried to catch his breath even as he searched the brush for the mysterious creature. Strangely enough, though, it was nowhere to be found. Not wanting to stick around for it to return, though, he turned himself around to run back towards Kabeyage, intending to tell him what had happened and that they were safe now, or so he thought.

Weaving in and out of the trees as he loped onward, he could feel small trickles of blood along his body. He'd received blows all over. His chest and neck, his arms and legs, his shoulders, his belly, and his back all bore scratches, scuffs or bites. He knew he'd end up sore, but at the same time he felt great pride in feeling like he'd rid them of danger in dispatching the creature. Still, his focus was getting back to Kabe, who he knew would have trouble moving on his own right now.

As he neared, though, he felt something else, smelled something else. It was wrong. Something had changed. Eyes darting around unnecessarily as he drew closer and broke the tree line, they immediately settled on the stranger in front of his acquaintance. Julian failed to catch the glint of the knife's blade, though.

Lunging forward, he remained as quiet as possible. Planting his back paws firmly on the packed dirt of the road as he bounded onto it, Julian launched himself without thinking. Snarling dangerously, he aimed for the stranger's legs, hoping to take him out by merely throwing his jaguar weight around.

[miss_sanguine]

Sounds of a large, panting creature trekking through the bushes came to Kabe's ears. He hoped it was the annoying guy, that the Cat Man had somehow survived whatever encounter he'd had in the woods. But while the noises of the animal came loud to Kabe, his foe didn't seem to take notice.

"Not going to transform this time?" The man chuckled. "Or can you not, dying as you are? Have some restrictions to your powers?"

"Hardly a restriction," Kabe said, trying to sound like he knew what the heck he was saying while maintaining his smile. "I simply don't feel like killing you."

More smirking, clearly not buying his bluff. "That's all right. Makes it easier for me." The man held up the knife, twirling it through his fingers while staring at it. It still sang, louder now. "An unnecessary witness, but a witness just the same."

And then, out of the foliage came Cat Man. There was a sense of relief upon seeing that he was alive, but the relief instantly vanished when Kabe saw him get into an attacking position. He couldn't really be that stupid.

Kabe's attacker sensed the cat, too, eyes moving to the side without turning. He was waiting for the attack.

Yes. Cat Man really was that stupid.

Before Kabe could cry out a warning, the jaguar leapt, snarling ferociously. And just as quickly, the man in the hat twisted around, blade ready and poised to make impact with furry chest. But Kabe couldn't let him use that blade, not if he wanted any chance of saving either of them.

Not bothering to think, not bothering to breathe, he thrust the knife in his hand as hard as he could at the man's back--which, admittedly, wasn't as hard as he would have liked. It was hard to throw anything when sitting on the ground against a tree. But it had as much of an effect as he could have wished for.

With a dull thud, the knife made contact with the man's leg. The guy gave a cry of rage and pain, back arching, then swerved out of the jaguar's way.

Well. He'd managed to save Cat Man. But now he was out of a weapon himself.

Not the smartest thing to do, Kabe, he thought to himself.

[Juno]

Those critical seconds felt like slow motion as he became airborne. He saw the man turn ad finally caught the shine of the metal of the blade in the moonlight. Sure he was about die, seeing the thing aimed for his chest, Julian knew he had to do what damage he could in that precious moment. Suddenly, though, the man had turned again, twisting his body in such an unnatural way.

Seeing the look on his face, as if he'd been struck somehow, Julian's own expression faltered before he gave his fiercest roar and aimed to follow through, reaching with his front paws for the man's legs. His mouth of sharp teeth open. He threw himself down on the man, this stranger he now knew was armed. Going for his thigh, the great cat tore and scratched however he could.

He wasn't stopping there, though. Leaning back on his back legs again, Julian jumped up and aimed to grab at the man's neck with his big paws, his fangs poised to attack and bite wherever he could at his neck and shoulders. He didn't notice, though, that Kabe was unarmed now as he tried to drag the attacker, tried to get him away and to the ground if he could.

Julian had no idea he was dancing with such danger, no idea just what kind of person he was messing with.

[miss_sanguine]

Ah, damn it all. Normally he would find this situation funny, would have laughed as he watched a big cat attack a man that had more hidden power in his left pinky than the jaguar did in its whole body. He'd have practically peed his pants when the man's Trilby hat fell off his head in the brawl—and okay, he did almost smile at that one—but right now, right now as he lay there in terrible pain, bleeding to death, it was just annoying.

Sure, he'd attacked the man as a wolf earlier, but he'd made sure that weapon of his was no longer a problem. He used his brain in life-and-death struggles, however fun they might be. Cat Man appeared to go feral when it came to fighting. Did he lose control of his human self when transformed, or was he really that stupid?

Knowing he would regret it later, Kabe used both hands to get himself to his feet as angry cat noises and pained man noises continued on in the background. It was slow work, painstakingly slow, and almost too much for him. Everything—noises, vision, thoughts—focused on this one action that normally wouldn't have been so damned difficult. All that mattered was being able to stand. And it hurt like no other, too. He almost lost his resolve, wanting to simply pass out and let fate decide everything. The tree was his new, closest, most intimate friend, and he clutched at it like his life depended on it. He felt like a blasted tree-hugging vagrant, hand clutching at the bark with all his strength while his other hand tried to hold his side, which felt like at any moment his insides were going to spill out of.

Blackness welled up in his eyes, head feeling light, but he willed himself, forced himself with all the strength he could muster, to not pass out, nor throw up.

In front of him, Cat Man clawed and scratched and bit, all the while not taking notice of the black blade in the other's hand. The man, while screaming in terrible pain, had not gone down yet. Words of another language, thick with a strange accent, were coming out of his mouth through his grunts of pain, and Kabe saw, in the darkness, an indistinguishable shape forming up out of the ground, white, bloodless eyes gleaming.

[Juno]

Julian hardly noticed the man's mutterings, not connecting their importance to what had happened earlier. He was focused, attacking however and whenever he could and absolutely mauling his victim. It wasn't enough, though, not nearly.

The cat had underestimated this man's power considerably, surprised that he wasn't going down no matter how much he let him have it. Snarling ferociously between bites, his ears entirely flattened as his expression twisted to something entirely feral. Still beating at the man and digging his claws into him to get a better grip, Julian failed to notice something forming in the shadows again, at least until he heard unnatural hissing.

Turning his head, distracted for a split second, he caught sight of a gigantic python just as it was dashing over to the scene of fighting. Growling at it did nothing as it was upon him quickly, the thing latching onto the back of his neck as its body coiled around him. Panicked, Julian tried to beat the thing off of himself, rolling and rolling and rolling further away from the dangerous man as he attempted to crush the creature.

Roaring did nothing but help it, allowing it to tighten its grip further, but he was able to make swipes at it with his back legs. He ended up kicking frantically at it, determined to not die so easily as being suffocated. That was when he caught sight of Kabeyage standing by the tree. Narrowing his eyes best he could as a cat, he pounded a paw down on the ground in frustration. He was supposed to stay! He was the hurt one and he was supposed to be protecting them!

Chancing a warning growl, he stared Kabe down as he continued to kick and scratch at the shadowy snake creature, his eyes pleading with him to get himself away. He could see the physical weakness, though. The hand still pressing at his injury was not lost on Julian, but he could still hope at least one of them would make it out alive.

[miss_sanguine]

A snake? Was he hallucinating again? He couldn't remember shadow creatures in his fight.

"Right," he muttered under his breath, watching as Cat Man struggled for his life in the grip of the giant black snake. It was time to join the fray.

The effort might kill him, he knew. He didn't know if he could even transform when this weak, seeing as he'd never tried it before. All he knew was that he wasn't going to let Cat Man die. The way he saw it, the way to get rid of the shadow creature was to render the conjurer immobile. Or at least that's what he hoped.

With one last deep breath, Kabe closed his eyes and centered all of his attention on his body. Every detail pulsed through his mind's eye like heartbeats of color. There was his wound, a deep, sickly shade of red, a blight on his otherwise perfect form. His body temperature was low from loss of blood, his senses dulled. Common sense screamed at him to not do what he was about to do, but he pushed it aside.

Slowly but surely his body began to change. Weakened arms thickened into trunks of golden-white fur. Great bushes of thick hair bloomed all around his face as it stretched into a wide snout. Teeth elongated, grew to the size of his fingers. His hands became paws, wide as plates. He bent forward onto his knees as his spine realigned to fit his new form.

Now standing there in all its majestic beauty was a lion, its color pale. He shook his shaggy, white-blond mane.

What power he felt! Though at the same time it took all his strength of mind to keep the transformation. Every part of him wanted to go back, go back to his other form so he could rest. He didn't know how long he could hold it, so without waiting he bounded forward, ignoring everything else.

The man went down easily under his weight, swearing loudly as Kabe pressed one heavy paw on the man's chest and the other on the arm that held the weapon. It pleased Kabe to hear him flustered, made him bare his teeth in a wide grin. Didn't think I had the strength to join in, did you? he thought. Well, here I am! The great Kabe!

Nevermind that his knees were shaking from the effort of standing. Casting a glance back at Cat Man as he fought with the giant snake, he flicked his tail and growled.

- - -

The shadow snake, unlike the shadow jaguar, did not put its focus on fighting back. Instead it used its solid form to squeeze, to constrict Julian until he could no longer breathe. It aimed to break his bones, smother his lungs, wring the blood out of this cat body like a wet sponge.

It hissed, tightening its hold, striking at the cat's face as it held on, coils spinning around its prey while its grip became tighter.

[Juno]

Fighting the snake twisted around him, he snarled and hissed and growled his anger and rage instinctively, but it only aided the thing even further in its efforts as he apparently couldn't learn from the first time. The great python only constricted further, the pressure on his lungs a crushing force that he tried desperately to squeeze himself away from.

When the thing started striking at his face, though, he began swiping at it, claws occasionally getting in a blow. As he finally caught hold of the thing just behind its head, though, Julian let loose on it, tearing at it roughly. The snake didn't loosen up, even as the cat dug its fangs into its body, but as it was thrashed around by the jaguar dropping to roll again, the tables began to turn.

Yanking every which way he could, Julian was finally able to get the shadow creature to begin to fade out, its grip loosening on him as he shook it all about, thrashing and jerking around in a crazed and determined to kill fashion. Eventually, the snake faded all together, and as he tried to catch his breath, his lungs burning from all the pressure that had been weighing them down, he turned to look for Kabeyage. The man was nowhere to be found.

It only took him a split second to realize that there was a lion, though. A big one, and it was on top of the man with the knife. Unaware that this was Kabe, and for all he knew it'd eaten him, Julian launched himself over as soon as he'd caught his breath.

Bumping into the big lion, he trampled over the legs of the man on the ground, claws digging into his flesh. Wait...

He stopped. Eyeing the lion, noticing it had an unusually light color to its coat, he took a step back. Who was this?! And why was there a lion in the forest, of all places?! Growling, Julian figured he could figure this out later, though, as he knew he should be focused on attacking the creature who had already posed a threat to him first. Swooping dangerously close, Julian snapped up the man's wrist on his armed side and immediately dug his teeth in roughly before beginning to twist and yank at bare flesh.

[miss_sanguine]

The bump from the other cat almost sent him sprawling. Were he not on four paws, he would have fallen over.

In this form he could not only see Cat Man's high-strung persona, he could smell it. It was a bitter sort of scent that made him edgy, burning the back of his throat. The lion part of him snarled.

Then the spotted cat's short attention span wavered, and Kabe watched in horror as Cat Man bit down on the man's wrist where the guy still held the knife.

Idiot!

How the man wasn't dead after being mauled by this energetic feline was beyond him, but the fact that he wasn't meant that the two of them were dealing with more than just a mortal man, and it meant he was still as big a threat.

Screaming in agony, the man twisted the blade around in his mutilated hand and pushed it with what effort he could into Cat Man's face. There was a dreadful hissing sound, familiar to Kabe's ears, as it apparently made contact through flesh, and the knife seemed to sing in jubilation. Roaring, Kabe pulled back his front paw and raked it across the attacker's face as hard as he could, listening to him continue to scream over the sound of the singing knife.

[Juno]

Thinking he was feeling a sense of struggle as the man flexed the muscles in his arm to turn to knife around, Julian blindly kept at his task. He did, at least, until he felt a sharp burning sensation, and he realized he was being stabbed.

Roaring, he jumped away from the man, swiping pitifully at the side of his face where he'd been cut. He wasn't able to see it, but he could hear a sharp hissing sound beginning to die down. It was at the edge of his cheek, just barely forward of his left ear, and it burned like hell. Yowling, unable to get the horrid pain away, he sat back on his haunches and panted as his eyes darted to watch the lion attacking the man.

All at once he began to feel a numbness, though. While the cut wasn't as deep as it could have been, it covered a considerable distance that would be a few inches long on his human face. Gradually, the tissue was turning grey, and then black. The fur high on his jaw had disintegrated to reveal the darkening slash on him. The jaguar whined, unsure of what had just happened as he sat there, swiping at the odd-feeling spot on his head still.

[miss_sanguine]

The man was bleeding all over the place, his face mutilated, his wrist torn to shreds. He appeared to have been turned inside out, blood the only thing distinguishable. He was moaning and cursing, trying to recite more incantations through a gurgling mouthful of blood. Kabe wouldn't have thought it possible, but the chant did seem to be working, wounds healing themselves. It explained why the wolf bite Kabe had given him had disappeared earlier.

Having heard enough, Kabe closed his eyes and swept his barbed claws through the man's neck, feeling warm blood gush onto his leg and stain his fur. After five seconds, the man made no more noises, lying there on the ground as still as the night. He was dead.

Kabe still didn't understand why the man had felt the need to come back. He could have been long gone from here, safe, a free murderer. And he hadn't fought back very well, either, relying on his shadow creatures this time.

By now Kabe was once again human, crouched over the dead body, panting heavily.

"Are you . . . all right?" he asked, turning to face Cat Man, who was yowling and pawing at his face.

[Juno]

Not even paying attention as the lion put the man out of his misery for good, Julian whimpered and twisted all over as he sat there uncomfortably with the gash on his face turning to rotten flesh. When he heard a voice, a familiar voice at that, he snapped his eyes up and saw Kabeyage there. He just stared in confusion for a moment before shifting back to his human form.

The cut was clean and trailed from his hairline in front of his ear to just above his jaw, but the flesh surrounding it was almost entirely black now. "GODS this itches!! And where did you go?! Why weren't you around just now, I really could have used your--!" He looked over at the dead man, realizing the lion was gone.

"HEY! Where the hell did that thing go?! It was so big...and a weird color... ACK this hurts!" Julian still rubbed at his face, so uncomfortable with the skin gradually rotting away even as he spoke. "I think... doctor would be good... do you smell that?"

[miss_sanguine]

Kabe stared. The wound was an ugly one, all right. Black, dead-looking. The night did not help to hide how horrible it looked.

Yet despite how bad a night this was turning out to be, despite the fact that Cat Man was twitching around in pain and complaining, Kabe started to laugh. An irrational laugh that started low, like a growl, and grew until tears formed in his eyes. He felt no more pain, couldn't even feel his own fingers and toes.

Then his new-found friend asked about the light-colored lion and he lost it completely, hunkered down on the ground, long hair shielding his face from view like a cage as he faced the dirt and roared like a madman.

They were alive!

When his laughter died down, he did not look up from the ground. Still he grinned, wide. "I'm afraid," he said between light chuckles, "you're on your own . . . finding a doctor. Sorry." And with that, he promptly fainted, thudding to the ground.

[Juno]

Julian just stared at him in his puzzlement. Why was he laughing? There was absolutely nothing funny about all of this as far as he was concerned! He just glared at him until he realized Kabe was passing out. "AH! HEY!"

Scrambling over, he dragged him away from the dead body and the knife that he'd been stabbed with to deposit the limp body back by the tree he'd originally found him by. "Ugh...why now?" Torn between wanting to help and knowing he himself also needed medical attention, Julian's face tightened with indecision for a while as he crouched by his new "friend."

"I don't even know your name!" he whined after a while, ruffling his own hair in frustration as he stood. "But I'll do you one good...just don't die." And with that he was off back to Moonspear.

~~~

Intending to return with whatever doctor he found for Kabeyage, he covered his left cheek with a hand as he walked the streets.

After being treated, which had hurt like a bitch getting the rotten flesh cut out and the good tissue stitched up along the edge of his face, Julian began to talk to the doctor, hoping to coax him into going out and treating Kabe in the middle of the forest. As they were speaking, though, there was a knock at the door. It was the police. As the doctor opened the door, he saw that a couple of officers were carrying Kabe in and setting him on the bed Julian had occupied just a few minutes prior.

Surprised as he heard their short explanation about finding someone they were looking for, claiming Kabe to be a "second victim" of sorts, Julian eyed the limp figure on the bed. He wondered if his suspicions had been correct, that this man had somehow been involved in that murder earlier in the night. But then, the officer speaking with the doctor claimed that the man they were looking for was dead. Wait...the one in the forest? The one that attacked me?

Things were so blurred and mushed together, and he was having a hard time thinking through the dull pain of raw flesh being exposed right now, though he was sure it would hurt even more in the morning.

Crashing in a chair near the treatment bed, Julian eventually drifted off to sleep as the doctor spent a considerable amount of time that night cleaning out Kabeyage's wound and stitching him up as well. He could tell that this long-haired man had lost quite a bit of blood, which worried him, but he knew it wasn't going to be fatal for him.

It certainly was none of his business, but he wondered what had happened to these two men, as the first patient seemed to be connected somehow to the second, but he wasn't sure how. He would let them stay the night, to heal enough that they could walk out the next day if they wished, but he left them up in the treatment room when he was done to sleep off whatever it was that they'd gone through.

[miss_sanguine]

Voices hummed through his thoughts, indecipherable. His mind recognized the words but couldn't grasp them, phrases sifting away like sand through spread fingers. At times he thought he understood snippets of conversation. "Been here three days," and "lost a lot of blood," and even "stabbed clean through. Just missed the kidney, lucky devil."

But the words were meaningless to him. Whomever they were talking about was of no concern to him. He preferred lying there in the blankets of cloud which his mind had conjured for him, no worries, no pain, no thinking. Until finally his consciousness pushed to the fore, up through the haze, forcing him to wakefulness. He didn't like that very much. Being awake meant pain. Somehow he knew that.  

"Nnn." Yes. Pain. Down on his right side. It was faint, as though dulled by something, but it was there.

Unfamiliar noises met his ears: hums, a silence too profound for the outdoors, distant talking. He lay on something soft, something that rubbed between his fingers like fine silk. A tart, sterile smell came to his nose and made him scrunch up his face.

He couldn't be outside, no. He was inside. Inside where, though?

Kabe wracked his brains, trying to recall where he'd been last, but nothing presented itself to him. All he could remember was an alleyway . . . a knife that sang . . .

And then her face burst before him. The woman! The forest!

His eyes wrenched open. Everything was white, blinding. He couldn't be dead. Then he wouldn't be around anymore, right?

A room. He was in a room. A spotlessly clean room, metal objects glinting from suspicious-looking jars. A clinic, maybe? How had he gotten here?

He tried to sit up, but the pain in his side intensified, making him grunt. When he looked down at himself, he saw that he was no longer covered in blood. His skin was clean, bare. His stab wound was stitched up like a doll, though more professional.

That was nice of them, he thought to himself with a smirk.

Where the hell was Cat Man?

"Uh . . . Excuse me!" he voice was dry, weak, having not been used in so long. "Anybody out there?"

[Juno]

Julian had awoken that next day feeling stiff and sore, so sore. It'd taken a lot of self control to not rub at the healing skin, thoughts of how horridly it had itched making him feel like he should do something with it. He would be a good boy and let it heal properly, though.

He was concerned for his new friend, though. The doctor had told him how bad his injury was and just how much blood he thought he'd lost on further examination in the light of day. He hoped the man was resilient.

After a bit of pleading on his part, the doctor decided to let Julian stick around. Coming and going through the doctor's home as he went about his daily business, he'd returned for good every evening only to be disappointed and find the man still out. At least he was alive, though. Watching him every day, eyeing his chest as if he expected him to stop breathing at any moment, Julian had waited patiently.

Now it was several days out from there arrival. Sitting in the small kitchen down the hall, tapping away at the cup of steaming tea before him, Julian was getting nervous. What if this guy never woke up? What if he didn't remember anything if he did? He furrowed his brow at this thought. I really would like to know what happened with that lion.

It was then that he'd heard something faint in the distance. Eyes dialating as he lifted his head, he sure there'd been a sound at the other side of the hall, where Kabeyage was. His chair scraping against the wooden floor as he scrambled to his feet, the shifter trotted down the hall and cautiously opened the door, peeking his head through to look at the laid-up man. He grinned.

"Well, hello, hello!" he said, cheery as he committed and strode into the room, softly closing it behind him. The stitched, healing flesh along the edge of his face was neatly drawn up but still quite noticeable. "How are you? Feeling any better? Do you remember me? You don't feel sick, do you?" His eyes flickered to the empty bucket on the floor beside the bed.

"Or maybe you're thirsty?" He looked to modest, wooden platter on the small table in the corner, its contents a simple glass and small pitcher of water.