[q-uarantine.]

You will hold this information in your heart until such a time when you can understand it.

Yours holds you close as they walk, keeping you securely in both hands, so it's only when they finally stop that you have the chance to see where you have been taken.

It is very, very different from Home.

The lighting in this room is much softer, enveloping everything in a warm glow. The sounds – what little you can hear – are muffled, emanating not from the room itself but from outside. The scents of many, many beings permeate the room, but only a scant few are fresh. (The scent of Yours, naturally, is among those.)

What impresses you most, however, are the furnishings.

Yours is sitting with you (in a very odd-angled way; how inconvenient it must be to have such long legs!) on what you can only describe as an open nest. You can see another one directly across from you, pushed up against the wall, and a third positioned directly above it. Craning your neck upwards, you can see there's yet another above you. Such a curious sleeping arrangement!

You don't have much time to focus on your surroundings, however, as Yours gently places you down on the nest's bedding and starts to stroke your fur with a claw. An attempt at grooming? You've never seen the face of The Big One move, so perhaps this is as close to it as their kind can get… Not that you mind, though. It feels just as comforting.

Suddenly, however, the claw is taken away and Yours chitters something in their low voice. Confused, you look up at them, earning you a pleased purr and some more strokes with the claw.

All too soon, the claw is removed and Yours chitters at you once again.

Fortuna rolls a 20-sided die. She rolls a 5.

Not understanding, you take the opportunity to wash your face. Yours waits patiently for you to finish before calling out to you again.

Fortuna rolls a 20-sided die. She rolls an 18.

This time, you look up eagerly. Yours is pleased, purring loudly and stroking you once again.

They call out once more.

Fortuna rolls a 20-sided die. She rolls a 4.

You're stricken with an itch, and scrunch up your body to scratch furiously at it. Yours waits for you before trying again.

Fortuna rolls a 20-sided die. She rolls a 20.

Finally, you understand what Yours is doing and look up at them, taking a few hops closer to them.

This sound… This special sound…

It's your name.

What is it?