> I like...got them new collars!
The poor collages of electric wiring, discarded rotting paint and metal plates seemed as suffocating at they did tetanus-inducing. The groundhog gulped at Jerm in silent pleading, about as effective as all the other pleading he's been privy to the majority of his life. He took note of the adam's apple, thin and more like a shaved avocado seed, for reference. It was, if not pleasurable, relieving to have his artistic eye overtake his underfed stomach.
> *That's good, Miss Catty.*
> *Just make sure to make them looser next time.*
> I tried!
> They keep like, biting them off!
> ...Why'd you call me miss?
> *Respect. You're t'leader of this group.*
> Jerm, I was with you as a baby!
> I'm basically like your second...
> Sorry.
> *Yeah.*
> She'll be back. I know she will.
> If I can remember her. That's all I have to do.
She scratched at the denim patches on her dress, a scant sign of blue next to the leather padding and fading tie dye that marked the band of the Tailor—what she was called when one couldn't risk saying "Lizard" and were too kind to call her the somehow less affectionate nickname, "The Tattered."
> *I'll be off soon.*
> Okay...
...The Tailor turned away and started whistling through her tongue, a habit her mind treats as a close approximate to feline hissing. The diamond monster near here(the shape, not the gem) grabbed at its own edges, dulled from overuse in the hunt, hoping that the pain would mute the sound, hoping she wouldn't-
> Why did you fail me?
> I don't, I just don't...
> Why couldn't you find her?!
> Do you know how long she's been gone?
> I don't.
> Don't you think her children want their mother?
> I do! Of course-
He lost the throat to respond. Not out of any hunger from his boss' part(even by the low standards of this new world, the inorganic monsters were always quite unappetizing) but simply for being caught at the wrong time.
> ...They'll find her.
> And I'll remember her.
> *Sure.*