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The outdoors are bright. Bright and full of life, full of noise.
The noise of the other Critters playing, from CatNap’s spot in their house, they can hear Hoppy, KickinChicken, Bobby, and CraftyCorn. They can hear them scream and laugh, evidence of them having a damn good time. A damn good time CatNap isn’t participating in due to it being so noisy.
Truth be told, CatNap has never been one for noise—
(“You’re making too much noise.”
CatNap stands at the fountain, in front of a makeshift stage. The periwinkle dragon on stage scoffs, the jewels and gems on her tail glimmering in the starlight, broken fragments of stars and moons stitched and woven into the fabric of her dress, the bell on her collar glowing. Glitter from stardust covers the spot under her eyes and across her spikes and horns.
“It’s not noise,” she harshly corrects, ears flattening and eyes narrowing, “it’s music!” The dragon snaps back, and CatNap raises a brow as KickinChicken holds an acoustic guitar, blinking behind his red star-shaped glasses. He’s looking between the two, clearly observing.
“Very well,” CatNap crosses their arms and narrows their eyes at the two, “you’re making too much music.” They state plainly, and a growl leaves the dragon before KickinChicken hops up, skittering over.
“Wait, Doll! ‘Nap, it’s only…” he looks over at the clocktower, “four PM. That's a clear time for noise. C’mon, let’s… get you a cup of warm milk, huh, Kitty?”)
Noisy. It's… So fucking noisy. Will CatNap ever get used to this? Used to the screaming and laughing of others when back at home it was so peaceful and quiet? They don’t know, but they’re praying to whatever God exists, to their Creators, that they do get used to this noise, as they aren’t sure how much noise they can handle. It’s only been a month and they’re already regretting everything they’ve ever done.
CatNap holds their ears down, eye twitching. How is KickinChicken not going insane from all this noise? Is he just more accustomed or something, or is CatNap just sensitive? They don’t know, but it’s irritating nonetheless. They're not used to this place yet, it's so new, so strange—
So loud. It’s loud and CatNap can’t stand it, hates it, and they would go as far as to say they wish they didn’t exist just to get away from it. Usually it’s KickinChicken helping them calm down, helping them escape when things become too much, when the world—whether lights, smells, sounds, or texture—is too much for the purple feline. But, as of right now, the yellow chicken isn’t exactly here, no, KickinChicken is off with Hoppy as the two have had a slowly growing friendship, and that's fine with CatNap, they couldn’t be happier watching KickinChicken look at another person with such happiness in his eyes and a bounce in his step!... but CatNap isn’t sure how to deal with this alone, this pain that the noise is giving them, making them want to curl up into a ball just to attempt to escape it and silence the world for a single moment.
Like now.
They shut their windows and doors, sliding down their wall and holding their ears down, folding them down and pressing them tightly onto their skull in an attempt to fully muffle everything around them, to give them a second of clarity.
Too loud, it's too fucking loud. CatNap wants to rip off their ears due to how loud it is, anything to just get this noise to shut up.
Shut up.
They dig their nails into their skin, ignoring the pain and the pooling of blood, tail curling around their ankles.
A familiar clink! of a metal bat hitting a ball.
Shut up.
The cheering of the Critters.
Shut up.
The screams get louder, and the cheering amplifies as their nails dig in more—
Please, their knees are brought up to their chest and they hit their head on it, shut it up.
They wanna go home, go home and lay in bed, go home and curl up, go home and just exist. Exist without all noise, exist without all the stress. Exist without knowing it was possible for things to get so loud, for fucks sake, they’d rather deal with Dolly because she isn’t this loud!
And that’s saying something!
They hate it here.
Back at home, it was quiet.
So, so quiet—
Knock knock.
CatNap looks up, blinking. That… Isn't KickinChicken, no, CatNap would have heard the clicking and clinking of metal against wood, a noise they’re so used to, so… this isn't a friend, isn’t someone they know. Because KickinChicken is their only friend, the only person they know.
They want to ignore the knocking, they do. They want to, gods they want to, but they can almost hear KickinChicken’s begging for them to get up and socialize, to make friends—
“I won't always be here,” they can hear him say, “I want to know, when I’m not around, you're happy.”
So they force themselves to get up, to remove their paws from their ears and walk over to their door, opening it and—
… oh. It's him. CatNap's ears falter a bit, looking up at the dog, and he goes to open his mouth, and CatNap just covers their ears again, taking a step back and awaiting yet another sound… but that doesn’t happen.
Words don’t leave the dog.
They slowly pry an eye open, looking at him. His eyes hold sympathy, an outstretched paw he quickly brings to his chest, eyeing the self-inflicted wound on CatNap’s head. His lips tighten a bit, before he simply nods, and without hesitating, steps forward and puts his own paws on CatNap's, helping muffle the noise that much more.
They stare up with wide eyes.
Huh? What?
They glance, seeing a swishing tail, before looking up at DogDay. He just gently smiles, mouthing, is that better?, and CatNap can only manage a small nod. The tail wagging just gets faster and he smirks, gently moving forward as CatNap stumbles back a bit, and the door is closed, helping to muffle more noises.
No words are exchanged. DogDay, if CatNap is able to remember his name, simply runs around their home. He gathers pillows and blankets, throwing them on the couch, before gently grabbing CatNap’s elbow as they haven't removed their paws from their ears. He holds some bandages in his paws and is able to nudge CatNap’s paws gently, wrapping the wounds, replaces CatNap’s paws back over their ears, and after he leads them to the couch, relaxing against the pillows before pulling CatNap to his chest, the pomf of DogDay’s fluffy coat against CatNap’s, and he pulls a blanket over the two.
And, wordlessly, holds his paws over theirs, once again making the world…
Quiet.
And, for a moment, they don’t care.
It’s quiet now.
They snuggle against DogDay’s chest and close their eyes, opting to relax in silence, accompanied by a, now friendly, vanilla scent.