Through the Looking Glass

You're nowhere you've ever been before.

Thick, gnarled trees with deadened trunks and no leaves loom over you. A chilling mist swirls around your feet, sending a ripple of unease up your spine. Remnants of old red and orange foliage crunches below you with every tentative step you take, and all around you stand all the cats that you had been with at the Hideaway-- except for Lumi. She appears soon after, drawing in quickened breaths through her nose as if she were attempting to swallow down all indications that she wanted to start panting.

"This way!" Callisto calls, and you turn. When your eyes are on him, you realize something that stands not so far behind him.

A human house, as worn and weary as the warehouse back at the Hideaway, sits in the middle of these endless woods. All around it there's a thick, concrete wall that acts as a fence, and at it's helm-- just a stone's throw from where Callisto is standing-- is a huge, iron gate. The slats seem just big enough to slip through.

Though you're not sure you want to.

"Took you long enough." A voice chimes from beyond those iron gates.

As you allow yourself to be coaxed through the gate, you half expect to see Kohaku standing there, though the voice isn't his. Lounging at the doorstep to the house is someone else that a few cats would find familiar-- Orpheus. He flicks his tail to and fro, and beside him is another cat bathed in all white fur.

"Orpheus!" Lumi snaps, though she doesn't seem angry so much as... irritated. "Where in the hell have you been?" He shakes his head, but doesn't answer, and instead rises to meet each of you now approaching the front door. The front yard is overgrown, and littered with human garbage and old cat toys. Rootsnarl's eyes are settled firmly upon the white cat, whose eyes are peculiarly split at her pupils, with one side being golden-yellow and the other being bright blue.

"Getting me, of course!" She chirps with a wave of her tail. Her gaze scours you and all of the other non-Keepers. "Oh. My. Goodness. Look at them!" The stranger seems enthusiastic. Kohaku lands somewhere above her and Orpheus, peering down with a discerning yellow gaze.

"Chasm?" Rye'wynn queries with confusion.

She answers with a nod. "Orpheus told me all about what's happening, and I'm here to help." Chasm speaks with great flourish, her whiskers quivering in delight. "It's been so long since we've seen such potential, no? After what happened last time..." Her gaze trails to Kohaku above, whose eyes narrow.

Rootsnarl pushes past the group. "That's enough. We're not here to chat." He rumbles, and Chasm laughs. "The more things change, the more they stay the same, huh, big guy?" He doesn't offer her another look, but Chasm seems hardly phased. "Yes, yes, go on and do your thing, cuties!" She adds after a moment, tail shaking in a sociable manner. "We've scouted the area and for the moment, she doesn't seem to have her eye on this place. Not sure why that is, though."

"Thank you." Lumi answers sincerely, and Rye'wynn and Callisto nod their agreement. Chasm gestures it off with a dismissive paw. "It's the least I can do!"

Rye'wynn motions towards you and every cat around you.

"The entrance is over here."