AETHER

You were supposed to be the lid 😔

Limbs that are typically long and powerful, alight in the blaze of flaming fur were frozen and…flat? Ears that had an awful habit of being constantly folded back or in a constant swivel are stationary and…also one dimensional? A tail, typically spiked and angry, usually flicking about in annoyance was now still and…tube-like? The prickly coat of flames, indicative of the feline’s fiery attitude and low annoyance threshold along with his companion with a mastery of the flames, was now slicked down and…brown? Yet something was missing, but what that is was a mystery. Something just felt wrong, breezy, hollow. It wasn’t his fiery companion who now seemed to be a cutout propped against a stand to his side. No, it was a part of him gone. His missing puzzle piece. A piece that would make him feel complete, closed, secure.Yet the bigger picture had not yet seemed to dawn on the commonly crossed carnelian. That was until he was forbidden from moving when he attempted to take a step towards his odd looking companion. He could not walk. Why? Panic ensued as he searched for his missing limbs, resulting in him hopping from edge to edge and crumbling onto his side when a corner absorbed some puddle water only a couple inches away.A glimmer in the puddle caught his eye. Curiosity pulling at his focus, the tom spared a glance at the reflective liquid. One look provided him with all the answers he seeked, but drew up a whole other question.He was a box. A whole, now slightly soggy, cardboard box. Why?Upon further inspection he realized that the emptiness and incompleteness he was experiencing was due to the fact that…he was missing his lid.Where was it? Where was his lid? His second half, his completion. Another stroke of fate, another he couldn’t tell whether it was cruel or merciful. But Magus walked into his view. Anger immediately spurred in his chest as the answer hit like he was punched in the face. Brown, flat and square the transformed tom was infuriated. Before him stood his Magus, whole and completely themself. Flowing impeccable groomed fur of snow, thick unruly curls disrupting their vision and keeping their deep blue irises hidden. Flowers and accessories sat untouched on their lanky limbs, bushy delicately curled tail dropped low in bewilderment. Beside them stood their perfectly untouched companion, their simple innocence and goodness radiating off of the unicorn. This caused Mushu, who was now also cardboard but a cutout instead of a box, to rattle with anger.Yet before he was able to express such disdain, black flooded his vision before a blurry watercolor rendition of his surroundings began to paint over it. The tom fervently checked his limbs by sprinting in the direction of where he knew that traitor would be. “YOU! You were supposed to be the lid!” The tom cried, pointing his paw accusingly at the other. The other tom who was blessed with his typical feline frame appeared confused.“I- Aether, what’re you talking about?” The ever present perplexed look on the white feline deepened into concern as the boxed tom continued to shout.“You! Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about!” Mushu sputtered out a flame in the backing of his feline companion, glaring daggers at the gentle equine beside their own. “You were supposed to be the lid! Why were you normal?! That’s so unfair! I can’t believe you!” His rant was continuous and it seemed like he had intimate breath.“Lid?” The other mumbled softly to themselves in an attempt to try and understand what exactly their friend was so adamantly infuriated over.“Yes, lid! You were supposed to be it! God, you don’t care about me at all! Why weren’t you the lid?!” Finally the rant came to an end as the carnelian feline huffed and stomped his paws before storming off. Mush followed behind but not before spitting a small ball of flame at the two pristine mammals.With confusion angling their features, the white feline turned to the mystical equine and muttered a simple question.“What’s a lid?"