(Katabasis is going on a summer break hiatus during June and July, the next update will be in August.)

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“I just texted my friends that I’m here,” Julia said, turning to Phoebe. “You can hang out with us if you want.”

“Thanks.” Phoebe smiled and nodded- thankful that Julia had plans, because she wasn’t sure what she’d do in Grand Shore otherwise. Especially if she was alone.

After the four of them had exited the car, Cat stretched his long neck. “I’m going over to Alex’s for a bit. Call me when you want to go to Stern’s.” He left, disappearing around a corner.

Image: Cat, Julia, Yuli, and Phoebe are standing together on the sidewalk. Cat is playfully saluting to Julia, who is saluting him back. End description.

The women and Yuli walked down the sidewalk towards an intersection. Compared to mountain towns, places like Grand Shore and River City felt massive and packed to the brim with people. Within five minutes she’d seen a variety of aspects, styles, ages, and ethnicities. Some people wore clothes and accessories to match their aspects- or different aspects, even. A scale-pattern shirt on one, a faux tail on another; she wasn’t sure how many of them were therian or nonhuman-identified in some other way, but she figured it had to be a larger percentage than where she was from.

Image: A crowd of people are crossing the intersection. In the foreground is a rattlesnake-headed person in a poncho, a lion-headed person in sunglasses with their mane dyed two different colors, and an elderly, frog-headed woman. Behind them are a salamander-headed person and a numbat-headed person wearing a hood with spines on it. The pedestrians become less detailed the further away they are. In the background, Julia, Yuli, and Phoebe are standing at one corner of the intersection. End description.

There were people in a hurry, people on a stroll, and someone else walking a dog. His terrier pulled at its leash towards Yuli. Yuli pulled back in a playful manner which made a distracted Julia squawk.

“You’re being a very bad dog,” said Julia, giving Yuli’s leash a few equally-playful tugs.

As other city-goers passed by Phoebe noticed their eyes drawn towards her scar, along with a few more obvious stares. Part of her regretted rearing a crop top, the sun and wind against her bare skin making her feel uncharacteristically naked. But how much did it really bother her? She couldn’t decide.



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5.29.2023
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The snake here belongs to Rattlestoat who graciously let me draw their OC!

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