So yeah, Kelly was doing just swell.

On top of all that physical liability, Kelly was finding himself in a mental strife. The single creature that he seemed to have sort of gotten along with -- although one who had consistently followed and lied to him -- had been absent from Kelly's life recently. Caelab-Kelly was hoping that was by choice. He was hoping that a lot. More than he was hoping that the man would return. Or maybe... just as much? No, more. It had to be more. Kelly was selfish, like anyone, but he couldn't be that selfish. He wanted -- no, he needed Percival to be gone. Just like he needed everyone else to be gone. But especially Percival. Why? Because that peacock was a culmination of what Kelly idolized about life. A stunning, drop-dead gorgeous avian. Free with the knowledge that he is a blessing to the world, not a curse, like Kelly. Percival had come close to breaking Kelly's ideology, making even the tiniest dent, and that could be fatal. Caelab-Kelly needed his "hero" to remain on its pedestal. He just didn't know what he'd do if it all came down to the same trash level that he resided on.

Funny that he would consider the one who abandoned him his "hero". Well, it wasn't actually funny, that was just the loneliness biting him. Kelly hated feeling lonely, but he did, all the time. He hated feeling lonely because it was of no use to him to do so. He would never not be lonely. It wasn't like he was going to actively seek out or allow friendship. When Percival had decided to traipse around after Kelly's tail, that wasn't friendship. That was half-willing companionship. Caelab-Kelly couldn't refuse such a marvelous creature what it wanted, even if what it wanted was ridiculous and outlandish. But that companionship, even if mostly one-sided, had managed to find its way into the veiled hole in Kelly's heart. He had never managed to be alone for so long before, he'd realized. Whether on purpose, or on accident, he'd always found some kind of a group.

That was his problem. This was the solution. Not only solitude, but isolation.

Kelly had to get used to being where he belonged. Out of sight, out of mind. A legend long forgotten in a cave somewhere. He was the beast of the night, the creature that parents made haunting tales of to scare their rotten children into submission and good behavior. He was the challenge for the protagonist to find and hopefully overcome. He was the treasure-guarding tamed fiend and his master was chaos and death, just as he'd been raised to be. His mind didn't fit the role, but his body did -- now less so, thanks to the injury. But it still looked as though he did. So he still did. That wouldn't ever change.

So, like a beast of myth, Kelly would disappear from memory. Hopefully, if he left the minds of others, they'd leave his mind in turn. And then he wouldn't have to worry about all this "feelings"-y bull honkey. He could just torment with his presence, wither, and die, as he was supposed to. Alone.

Kelly was so caught in his mood that he didn't notice where he was standing until he brushed up against a root of a tree. He looked down to see what it was, saw the root, and followed its path up. Far up. Up into a tree! Of course. But seeing this tree led Kelly's eyes to wander and his vision to expand until he could see exactly what he had walked into. Golden, crimson, and lush orange hues threaded together in a beautiful weave, stretched across the sky and made it resemble a masterfully painted canvas. Mother Nature was a hell of an artist. Kelly's eyes widened as he tried to soak in all the brilliant colors and shapes in child-like awe. He knew not where he truly stood was in the center of the land he was in, where a ring of these autumnal Japanese maple trees stood tall and healthy, surrounding a clearing. The maple leaves' coats, Kelly assumed, were a little too early to shed. He hoped that they would not be a little too early to wither and fall as well. They were spectacular. Little did he know that they were always like this.

Around those particular trees, oddly enough, there was the same verdant green as one would expect for leaves in summertime to possess. Kelly didn't understand it, but he figured he didn't really need to. The "manticore" decided to take shelter from the still-summer Sun in the shade provided by one of the "early-Autumnal" maple trees.

Caelab-Kelly would stare out at the sky for a while before realizing that he didn't really know what to do. He was bored, and lonely, and he was always tired because he never had enough energy to sustain himself. So perhaps he could entertain himself enough to stay awake for this lovely time of day and not end up falling asleep in a beautiful garden in which he did not belong. A game, then, perhaps?

Yes. A game.

Kelly would quickly come up with a game for himself, a game that he figured only he would ever be interested in doing in the state he was in.

Kelly began carefully prodding around his surroundings, searching for any morsels of certain stories to be threaded together. His game was simple. Find something interesting-looking, and then spin a tale on its arrival or creation. And once he had done that, he could save the story away for later use, and continue to look for more.

The game begins!

- fade out / fade in -

Kelly would wake up with a mad headache and complete confusion clouding his senses. He would drag his paws out from under him. Why were they there? Why was he here? What the heck had just happened to him? Caelab-Kelly didn't really have any time to answer any of those questions, because queasiness came in like a punch to the gut, and suddenly Kelly's stomach acids and past meals were splayed out across the ground in front of him, for all to see. He felt very weak, confused, and dizzy. And now, because all the things that should've stayed inside of him were outside, he felt more frail than ever. Unsure of whether he could get up or what he was supposed to do now, Kelly decided to slowly, lazily adjust himself so that he could lay down without shoving his head in his wretch. Then, he would fall into a more or less peaceful rest, with surprising ease. His last promise to himself before his consciousness left him for the time being was that he would go find somewhere to bathe off his regurgitated horror in "the morning". So, whenever he woke up again.

- exit via sleep -