Her paws just sort of carried her places, occasionally, not that she ever really complained. A nice walk, space to think, new things to discover. Oh, the wonders of the world around her all the time, making her brain buzz and whir and spin. Youthful curiosity to match her appearance--a bit on the smaller side, wide eyes that, instead of holding any sort of childish glee or innocence, were slightly haunted, daunting, and always searching. Searching for something, for knowledge, power, control. 

She never hid this stuff from anyone, mind you--she was proud of it, open and free and completely uncaring about what anyone else thought. She didn't particularly care. Besides, they weren't much use to her regardless, why should she meddle in their affairs when she could be focusing on her own. Affairs such as her earlier failed test on a few mice. See, she could now cleanly and almost affectively remove a limb, but the only issue was reattaching it elsewhere. She simply didn't know how, but she supposed it was progress nonetheless. Besides, they always died soon after anyway, ridiculous creatures. 

Too caught up in her thoughts, she hardly noticed where she was walking until she looked up to see a further off silhouette in the distance. Another cat. Usually she wouldn't have cared much, they hold no interest to her unless she decides they do, but then she noticed the sad lump in front of it. Oh? She lowered herself closer to the ground, walking over quietly until she could get a better look. It didn't look too good--half dead, even. Hold on. Half dead? She peered up at the tom, ready with a killing strike. Oh. 

"Now hold on, hold on!" She called, rushing over and impolitely shoving him out of the way. "Oh no!" A gasp, feigned despair. She touched a paw to the cat's face, oh poor thing was near flat. She pushed a paw near it's chest cavity, feeling for the heartbeat. Faint, very faint. 

"I'm not a doctor, haha." She reassured, moving around to take a look at it's stomach and hind legs. She didn't pay much attention to the cat above, someone who obviously couldn't see a good opportunity if it smacked him in the face. She pressed a paw to the cat's lower back. "Can you feel that?" She asked, hmphing when she received no response other than a strained, almost ghostly sound. "Guess not! See," she started, less talking to the guy sitting before her and more to herself, "I've never been able to really catch this type of stuff, but I always wanted to check out injuries like this. I'm honestly wondering if, under specific circumstances, one could survive stuff like this. Like, could you stop all that gross internal bleeding stuff or whatever, if the stuff inside could be saved. Especially that back, jeez," she prodded it a bit, feeling for the bone, "that doesn't feel too good. I wonder if you could fix a break like this and have it work again, even! Obviously not on this specimen," she glanced at it's face. Blank, almost. Though it's eyes were wide open, they were cloudy and unseeing. 

"Seriously? They can't ever seem to hold on!" She was like a death magnet--or maybe it was just the regular blood loss involved with being hit by a car. But she may never know. "Now I see why you were trying to put it out of it's misery, wouldn't have survived much longer anyway." The city buzzed around her, too loud and inorganic and mostly sad, really. "Hmm, maybe if I start with those who have lesser injuries, like a simple break or something, and work my way up?" She didn't even give a nod to the tom, instead thinking aloud as she usually did. Helped her focus better anyway. 

She hardly noticed when the other cat started speaking, half walking off from where she had came from, before stopping. Eris swivelled her head towards him, a slightly suspicious glare on her face. Couldn't he see she was busy? Some people just had the nerves, didn't they? "Stop looking at me like that." She didn't like the way he seemed to be studying her, with a strange knowing look in his eyes. He certainly didn't know her, and he probably never would--as it should be, mind you. She was better off doing her own things, these types always got in her way anyways. 

"Well, I also don't think you've seen every cat in existence ever, have you?" She didn't step closer, but did turn to face him and the body practically next to him. She payed no mind to it. "One could have, y'know, and you'd never know, because you are a tiny fragment in the big, huge world, and one day you will be nothing but dust." Of course, she would be too, but her knowledge and findings would certainly live on. 

"If you must ask, though--" she heaved a hefty, slightly exaggerated sigh, "--I just saw an opportunity and took it. Didn't work out though, obviously," she nodded towards it. "But I usually never come across stuff like that, don't really go near roads much, too loud." She complained. 

"Now, my question for you is: why are you asking so many questions? Unless you need something, or unless you can be useful, I don't need you snooping around in what I do in my spare time." 

Oh, so he was one of those cats. Who seemed to always have some witty comeback, or who laughed in her face. Idiots, the lot of them, they never seemed to take her seriously. We'll all be dust. "Well, yeah. But I'm going to leave something behind, something larger than life. Something worthwhile." Eris couldn't say the same for him--whoever he was. "I'm not even worrying," she was, "I'm just stating facts." To see the end of the world, to see all the bad and good and everything in between wash away before your eyes, would be beautiful, wouldn't it? Maybe she'll unlock the secrets of immortality one day, be the one to witness it--but that wasn't really on the table, right now. 

Curiosity killed the cat, after all. "And satisfaction brought it back--though I'd assume you're more stupid than curious." Maybe she shouldn't be so mean, but the way he kept looking at her like that, like she was stupid and small, didn't bode well with her temper. "Maybe," she said instead of all the nasty words running through her head, "but I don't even know who you are, why would I waste my time?" 

"Hywel?" She tested the name on her tongue, pronouncing it several different ways under her breath until she found the best sounding one. Hay-wel. Hi-wal. Hy-weel. Hy-well. "Interesting name." She liked the sound of it, as much as she hated to admit. 

"Pretty please?" She wanted to be difficult, she really did, but refrained. May as well, it wasn't like he could do much with it anyway. "Eris. Sounds stupid, though." She'd always hated it, hated the way it sounded, hated the way people said it. Hated the bad feelings it brought up. "And I'll only be addressed as such, nicknames aren't tolerated." She glared at him, up and down and back again. The way he stood there, with that dumb look on his face, grinded her gears. 

"Stop looking at me like that!" She snapped, suddenly, without even thinking of voicing her thoughts out loud. She took a step forward, trying to appear at least a bit threatening. He was relaxed, way too relaxed for her taste, but not in the forcing it type of way--in the you're no threat type of way. One thing she couldn't stand was people thinking they were better than her, because they weren't. Simple fact. She was smarter, she looked at the bigger picture, she was going to do something they couldn't even dream of, she was going to be something. And they weren't, they couldn't see that. She'll build her towers, watch everyone else's crumble, and she'll be the one laughing at them as they fall. 

She rolled her eyes--usually large and curious, but now filled with irritation. No nicknames? "None." She said, firm and snappy. Her emotions had always been difficult to control, to contain, and always tended to come out at the worst of times. It was a weakness, really, a distraction. She wasn't good, didn't know how, to deal with them, so Eris resulted in continuously pushing them down instead, throwing herself into work and research to distract herself. 

"I feel bad for her, then--having you as a brother." Eugh, family--bit of a touchy subject. 

What do you mean? Her fur still stood slightly on edge, mirroring a furious kitten. "Oh, that's even worse!" It wasn't, but she wasn't going to say that. "I don't know--all stupid?" She'd always been awful at putting her feelings into words, something that related back to her lack of understanding. "You think you know better than me," she gave a sneer. 

Eris tried to flatten her fur. They weren't getting anywhere like this, and if he was just going to enable the endless loop of arguments than she had no business being here. And then he was speaking stupid things again. Maybe it's all in your head? "Now what are you talking about?" Maybe it was--though, most things were always filtered through her very specific lens of seeing things. Always strewn about, a bit wrong, distorted to fit her idea of the world. Her ideas were grandiose, based on a reality that didn't exist. 

"I'm not crazy, if that's what you're getting at." Stupid tom, thinking he knew better than she did. "Ugh! What am I even still doing, wasting my time with you!" She snapped, tail lashing behind her. Really, there was nothing keeping her here, nothing at all, but she couldn't seem to just drop him and leave. He had nothing to offer her. 

Right, she was being ridiculous again. Or maybe--just maybe, he was gaslighting her. Again. Did the last time count? Whatever, there were more important things to worry about. Like that dead guy. Eris peered at it from where it lay behind Hywel. "Why can't we just leave it?" She had planned to come back later, check the damage in peace without this idiot here. Gods, he was one of those 'respect the dead' guys. 

She moved closer, giving it a last jab with her paw before turning to Hywel. He was taller than her, as most were, and a fairly charming face. At first glance he wouldn't seem so bad, but then you took the time to talk to him and all you wanted to do was rip your ears off. Or maybe that was just her. She gave an exasperated sigh, "Fine, we can move it. But you can carry." She bounced ahead, turning back to wait a little less than patiently for him. 

She couldn't help but stare where she stood waiting, as Hywel dragged the body from where it lay. There was something unnerving about it, something wrong--like it wasn't supposed to look like that, all limp and lifeless, a stolen flame that used to be someone, but now was nothing but a lump on the side of the road. Everything from the look, the smell, the coldness just didn't feel right. And maybe that's what drew her in, made her think, made her fear. Though she would never admit to the latter. Every living thing died, every single one, it was probably the most natural thing in the universe, yet it was so odd to her. Maybe not to others, maybe it was more simple than she made it out to be, but they simply didn't get it. 'You think about things too deeply,' some would say, paired with a scoff or an eyeroll or something else ridiculous, and she would argue she thinks about things the best amount--she was not stupid, nor did she simply let things pass her by without a care, she didn't like to miss things, or misunderstand things, or not know every detail about something. A curse to some, she mused, but definitively her blessing. 

Eris had nearly missed his question. She blinked to get rid of the blurriness (the type she usually got when she thought too much, or not at all) that clouded her eyes, and turned back around to lead the way. "Right." She mentally swatted away those stupid thoughts; sometimes they got a little too much. She moved a bit ahead, leading until the trees grew bigger and closer together, until they reached the first signs of the forest. She stopped at the first proper patch of dirt she could find, a little out of the way, a bit clearer than the surrounding area. Enough to get some good sunlight in, but still covered slightly by the shade of the leaves. Honestly a wonderful place to rest, or whatever. Plus, it was still near where it died, so it should be easy to find for later. 

"This is good." She didn't ask, simply stated as if nobody could ever prove her wrong. The dirt underfoot was a bit dry, crumbly. That may be a bit of a problem if they--or, well, Hywel. She didn't really care to do much--were going to be digging an entire grave. "I think this is good." Just as another confirmation, like a second opinion but it's just her. She was right, after all. Obviously. She knew what she was doing. 

She settled a little ways away, watching with her head slightly leaned forward and her tail tapping next to her. Her eyes were wide, a darker golden colour, and slightly unnerving in the way they hardly blinked. She wasn't at all very interested as Hywel mumbled to himself, dragging to body along with him, and eventually she dragged her gaze along their surroundings. The shade of the trees had mostly blocked out the sun, sending a slight shiver down her spine. There was a moment of silence where all she could hear were the leaves and the far-off sounds of a bird. She eyed a group of mushrooms growing off an old tree, surrounded mostly by moss. She made a mental note to check that out later. 

if you don't bury a cat deep enough and the light of the full moon touches them, they might come back to life. What an interesting little story, but she couldn't help but giggle at it. You couldn't just come back to life! Right? You from the city or somewhere else? He'd continued. Now why would that be any of his business? Her defense rose again, ever so slightly. Though, she was prideful of the fact that she didn't snap at him again. See, she was very under control. 

"Somewhere else, I guess," she sat back up straighter, not bothering to turn and look at him, "don't know why you'd want to know, though." Well, almost under control. She cast him a slightly suspicious glance, but ultimately let it drop. She thought, briefly, of an old empty building, not quite a house and definitely not a home. With dust littering the corners, and a stained-glass window so broken she could never quite tell what it was meant to depict. She'd cut her paw on it once, and if she were to look she would find a light, mostly faded scar. 

"Are you from the city?"