hiiii i’m jesse :)
. he/xe/they, very very gay
. autistic spoonie

i enjoy world / lore building + making silly little drawings!! (and also resource hoarding shhh)

i'll probably be a lurker i don't bite tho i promise

talking and tone can be hard sometimes, so i use emojis a lot!


Mirrormere
(wip!)

The not-cats of Mirrormere began as a ragtag group of leftovers from colonies that had disappeared into the Gate before them. Be it forgotten by a group they weren't tethered to anymore, or stayed behind to cling to what they knew, all were welcome to linger in the city of never ending rain and fog.

It was almost cozy, venturing out into abandoned parking lots and climbing trees to watch the planes blinking in the sky at night, or collecting tops of umbrellas to run around under as a group. But even as a year passed and their little group grew and almost-settled, they couldn't help but feel something was missing. (Not-cat families weren't supposed to be separated like this, were they? Across realms, across time, across-)

Nestor still visited. Still saying nothing, still bringing what they couldn't steal or scrounge, still serving as a weekly reminder of the gift they were rejecting. The colony didn't speak either.

After the loss of a colony member (Eddy's sib, Ripple) and the numb shock of finding that all the other not-cats in their city had left, Salt (the newest and quietest addition) began a vote. Stay in the city that takes, or follow the pawsteps of those they'd lost to the Gate.

It wasn't unanimous. Clove, her stone lonely by the abandoned glass pane to represent the city, stared at the pebble-circle around the empty milk carton and sighed. She went along - if only to keep them safe. (She couldn't be alone again).

They set out the next nightfall.

The new world was green, unfamiliar, and hot. They were lucky to land near a lake. They named it Mirrormere for the glass-like quality of the waters that almost reminded them of the skyscrapers back on Earth.

Ruins bordering a deep forest, eyes or wisps of smoke that disappeared just fast enough to leave them wondering if they were imagining things - but they were tired. This was safe. They huddled up on sun-warmed stone and fell asleep.

That night was the first of many that they were attacked. The greenery itself came first, trying to drag them further into the trees, then wave after wave of beasts that were only getting larger and hungrier. They clung to life til morning, watching the monsters flee to protect their cold, pale eyes. The not-cats built their own sun before night fell again, and posted a watch to keep the embers burning. What was in those woods?

After a few more days, Nestor began guiding one, two, then many lone or lost not-cats to the colony. The newcomers' lack of memories of their past lives or of the existence of a city or Earth was concerning, but the city cats were too exhausted from the journey to the Gate to do more than make room.

There was no going back. It was all they could do to carve something out of this unfamiliar place to lessen the ache for home - and for the family they realized they may never see again.