(TW: Tongue injury, lava burns) As the strange purple squirrels swept across the island, many cats were driven into chaos. Some cats disliked their new forms and were desperately trying to change back, others tolerated the change fine. However, amongst all this, there was one cat, who was walking as if nothing was going on. Perpendicularparadox did not get the fuss about the purple squirrels. Sure, they tasted good, but she wasn’t sure what was so special about them. She had eaten one this morning, and she was feeling just fine! Sure, it felt strangely warm, and her fur felt strangely… well… scaly, but honestly, it could say it felt no different at all. One thing she had to deal with, however, was the fact that she felt very thirsty. Perpendicularparadox had not gone out for a nice drink of lava for a while, and it felt that was the very thing she ought to be doing right now. Her footsteps brought her closer to her favorite lava pool, until she was standing over it. It was bubbling, welcoming, and radiating with an unfamiliar heat. A hint of hesitation tugged at Perpendicularparadox, but she chose to be oblivious to it. After all, she needed to be hydrated, or rather, lava-drated. So, the oblivious perpendicularparadox leaned over, and stuck out her tongue to lap up the lava. The pain hit her. As soon as it stuck its forked tongue in the scorching lava, the pain hit. It pulled back, in panic, but it was too late. The lava had already scorched her tongue. She yowled from the pain. It backed off, lashing its tail. Its tail. How had she not noticed? She didn’t have a tail normally. Just tail feathers. Not an actual, scaly, tail. How was she so oblivious? It pawed at its tongue, or what remained of it, yowling, desperately trying to extinguish the burning pain. “Go away.” She thought, “Stop hurting. Stop burning.” Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, the pain subsided a little and she was able to pull everything together. Her mouth still throbbed with pain, and it was far from comfortable. It ran, with all its might, away from the lava pools, hopefully into the medicine den. It wasn’t ever going near lava again. Not even if she regained her heat resistance. Never. Not ever again.
