The cat arched their back, hissing at the scent-stealer-cat. Killing the scent-stealer-cat would let the cat escape this place. To freedom. Freedom to do... What? While the cat is reflecting on future goals, their scent-stealer is not idle. With a hiss, the scent-stealer pounces at their twin[8], clawing and jumping back immediately afterwards without drawing blood. The cat focuses on their scent-stealer, and arches their back, hissing. The two circle one another for a little while before going at it again. The cat acts first this time, darting in and clawing at their scent-stealer's face[10], leaving painful, but not serious, scratches on their twin's face. The scent-stealer reacts immediately[12], jumping in and turning the fight into a grappling match, raking their twin's belly with their claws. The two cats once again disengage, snarling and spitting at each other. Were this a normal disagreement between two cats, there might have been a bit more posturing and scuffling before one party retreated. But the cat KNEW their scent-stealer needed to die. Needed to die for freedom. Freedom to seek[13]... Clarity? Arcvasti blinked for a moment, slowly rising out of the haze they'd been in. Their scent-stealer hissed and darted in again[9] clawing for a moment before leaping away, back arched. Arcvasti felt themselves hissing back at them involuntarily. Blood dripped slowly from their flank and belly wounds and Arcvasti knew their scent-stealer had the advantage if they stayed back letting them bleed more. The glow-hard-paw-thing on their scent-stealer's left front paw gave Arcvasti pause though. Perhaps they were the same, players or prisoners in this demented game. Players[13], with power. Arcvasti, touching their wounds with their tail, scabbed them over, closing them. Unfortunately[2], their scent-stealer took that moment of distraction as the time to strike[18], leaping at Arcvasti to sink their teeth in their neck.[9]The thicker mane of fur on Arcvasti's neck made it more difficult for their scent stealer to get a grip on it and they[13] wriggled out of the grip to try and pin their opponent down. [8]Their scent-stealer rolled around, trying to reverse the hold[9]. Both parties rolled around on the ground for a little while, trading minor scratches and bites. [9]Arcvasti, unused to fighting and less in tune with their cat instincts, came out the worst, bleeding from several scratches on their underbelly and sides. [17]Remembering a series of books about wildcats from their youth, Arcvasti went suddenly limp under their scent-stealer before shooting both rear paws into their scent-stealer's belly, flipping their scent-stealer off of them. Regarding each other more warily now, blood dripping from the scent-stealers brow and Arcvasti's more numerous wounds. Arcvasti tried to clot up as many of the wounds as possible with Coagulate, but the scent-stealer came at them again, snarling and hissing. [18]Lashing out blindly with the paw they'd been using to clot their belly wounds, Arcvasti caught their scent-stealer on the face, leaving a new set of scratches and accidentally solidifying the blood dripping down their face, blocking one nostril. Suddenly finding it harder to breathe, the scent-stealer tried to back away[1], but Arcvasti got them pinned down again[12], this time more securely. Arcvasti clawed viciously at their scent-stealer's exposed neck and throat[16], dealing mortal blows. Their scent-stealer, spasming as Arcvasti's right paw came at them for the finishing blow, caught sight of the glow-hard-paw-thing on Arcvasti's paw and, as they gasped their final breath, the light of comprehension and intelligence in the scent-stealer's eyes dawned[18]... and then died as the other cat went limp. With numerous painful wounds, although still not bleeding after being scabbed, Arcvasti's world twisted and changed. Gone was the humid jungle with its flat false scents. Arcvasti looked around their surroundings. They were in a bare-looking concrete room, with a normal-looking door on the other side of the room. Gaudy cardboard cut-outs of trees dotted the room, making it a poor imitation of the jungle that they had just experienced. A wooden cupboard, decorated to look like a tree stump, stood near the door at the other end of the room. A few of Them were standing around near the entrance, entranced and with their eyes glazed over. Amongst them was the HugoLuman, with their overly scented unfur-drapery. Arcvasti took a few moments to clot their remaining wounds and lick some of the blood out of their fur. Oddly, their flank wound was on the other side of the body then before, left instead of right. It was still clotted safely though, at least. The wounds, if not the jungle, were real it seemed. Arcvasti, suddenly recalling the brutal fight with their double and the light of sentience in their eyes near the end, went over to a corner and retched before curling up on the ground near the HugoLuman and shaking, both from horror at what they had done, both as a cat and as themselves, and from the adrenaline of the fight.