Urchins (CyclicalCycal)

[Whim]

The male cardinal gave a chirp of annoyance, or perhaps concession to the girl. "Fine. Help. Bring words. Where is nest of Ovun?" The bird hopped cautiously from the tree to the garden wall, nearer Cara's face so she could whisper her plea.

"Hullo Thistle," Ewan called out, perhaps a litle too cheerful. "We were, um, just playing is all. Does Sel -- I mean the mistress -- want us back inside?"

"Told ya to wait for me is what she said. Garden needs weeding. And what's that little brat up to? Singing to birds? Oy!" Thistle tried to edge past.

"Nuh uh! She said to play!" Ewan stood in his way, kicking out a foot to trip the imp. The boy only then saw how hairy his limbs had gotten. This was going to be costly.

[CyclicalCycal]

"Niahi! Niahi woods! B-but...he should be travelling towards here...y-you can't...miss...him!" She explained, a grin forming on her face. "I-If you help...you'll be rewarded! Pro-mise. More food. No predators. E-everything...bird could want!" Cara whispered, as if to sweeten the deal.

Moments after this, she heard Ewan speaking. She reeled around, wiping the grin off of her face. "HitheredemonhowareyouIhopethatyougetkillednevermindIwasjustplayingagamewithEwanheisnicedidyouknowheisreallygoodat-knucklebones!" Cara said in one terribly panicked, and impressively quick breath, only needing to pause in between the last two words. She smiled, vacuously, as she awaited her threat with a new terror. Maybe their punishment...would...be nightmarish.

[Whim]

The male looked to his mate, then gave Cara a quick nod before the pair fluttered off. Hopefully toward help.

"Pfah!" the imp yelped in surprise, skipping out of Ewan's way. With a frown he looked from one child to the next. "Knucklebones? What is she blathering about? you haven't any dice!"

"We found them near the fence. Dropped them in the leaves. Its no matter we'll help clean..." Ewan looked from Thistle to Cara. He studied the girl's face for some indication if the birds were helpful.

"Like hells you were kid. Told you not to make trouble, yeah? Next time you get an order you better hop to it!" the daemon twirled his fingers, air crackling with magic...

[CyclicalCycal]

Cara didn't seem to show any emotion on her face, other than her empty smile. She simply stared at the imp in dead silent, waiting for him to ramble and order the two about.

As the magic was invoked, Cara couldn't help but snarl, raising her hands carefully. "Leave us be!" She snapped, angrily. "Or you'll regret it! I promise." She continued, narrowing her eyes and watching very, very carefully.

[Whim]

Thistle threw up his arms and the air around Ewan crackled with electricity. The downy brown hairs sprouting from his arms turned into a pelt of fur. And his ears rounded, jutting out at a wide angle. The boy yelped in surprise. "Hey! We didn't say we wouldn't work!"

"Promised not to give me lip too, eh kid? Get your friend to shape up or you'll be a dumb animal," the imp dusted himself off, yellow eyes flickering from Ewan to Cara. The now furry little sorcerer heaved a sigh and stepped forward to follow the imp.

Thistle beckoned them through the garden toward a tiny cottage on the edge of the property. Mismatched statues glowered at them through the overgrowth. A roaring Minotaur, a kishahni tyrant, and a pair of cherubic children clutching a harp. Although weather-beaten, the detail was uncanny. Ewan had only ever seen a tyrant lizard once. "Said you'd behave! I don't wanna be a mouse!" he hissed.

[CyclicalCycal]

Cara stared at Thistle, eyes wide as dinner plates as he casted upon Ewan. "N-no!" She spluttered out, but she was quite a bit too late. After a few moments, she scowled, stumbling after Thistle and Ewan. She didn't even look at the statues, glancing at Ewan as he hissed to her.

"No! These people are evil! Th-they're not nice. I feel dizzy..." Cara hissed, adding the last part in nearly after the fact as she gripped at her head. She didn't stop moving, however she did go to grab at Ewan to steady herself as she continued to march to her unknown fate.

[Whim]

Ewan sighed softly at Cara's mewling and crying. The boy was still quite cross as he pondered it. Dumb girl - she was going to get him killed or worse! He trotted along beside her silence, eyes probing for any escape routes. Or maybe the statues were really petrified animals and he could break the curse and... oh right he could't.

The imp lead them a garden shed. It might have been nice once with its slate roof and styled window panes, but the paint was chipping and there were holes in the sides. Thistle waves a hand and the doors flung open. An assortment of rakes, rusty sheers, croquette and badminton sets rested within. "Right. I suppose you little runts know what to do? There's a rubbish heap around back. All these leaves and dead bushes you're going to clear off. Any questions?"

The boy gave him a blank look and trudged toward the shed to grab a rake.

[CyclicalCycal]

Cara wandered after Ewan, saying nothing and simply holding Ewan to steady herself. She was leaning on him, even. When Cara approached the garden shed, she thought it looked strange. It was unlike anything she had ever seen. It had a strange roof, and it seemed to have been built for some unknown reason. She had been in civilised areas before, and while there she had noted people with gardens. Those things were strange, but why put another building in them? What a redundancy!

Cara stared at the strange tools, tilting her head. "...what...are...all of those?" She mumbled, mostly to Ewan. Cara saw Ewan move into the shed, and decided to mimic his movements. She moved over to a rake, grabbing one a few moments after he had. She had no better option, and Ewan seemed to be knowing what he was doing.

[Whim]

"...we can do it..." Ewan mumbled to Thistle, sounding for a moment like an ordinary child asked to do some yard work. Maybe that was the case. The imp cast one last look at the pair and turned away.

"Hey, um, sorry I got mad. I just didn't want to get furrier is all..." the boy turned to Cara, giving her small smile. It wasn't really her fault she didn't understand human civilization. It was all probably pretty overwhelming.

With a sigh he began to rake dead leaves and detritus from the planters and into the midden heap. "And these are rakes to clear the garden. See? We need to put these leaves in the midden.

"I guess she doesn't need to grow things the usual way on account of, uh, your power and all. We'll get it back! Don't worry..."

[CyclicalCycal]

Cara nodded, grimly, to Ewan as she went to copy him. Raking leaves, in the most inefficient manner imaginable, into Ewan's pile. It was rather pathetic, actually. "Okay." She said, as Ewan explained.

She paused, at least for a little while, before she decided to speak. "Don't worry, Ewan! Father's coming! He's gonna make all the peoples penitents and then he'll get the power back and give it to me. And then the evil woman will alive but dead and it'll all be good!" Was the girl speaking in metaphor? Or was she speaking about something she didn't understand. Regardless, she seemed in a chipper mood.

[Whim]

They worked from midmorning until noon, muscles aching as the sun rose higher. The stiff winter air made Ewan almost grateful for he gray fur that coated his forearms and ankles. Half the garden and the frightening statuary had been cleared. All that remained was a brittle hedgemaze and patio. The boy was grateful Cara calmed down enough to do her chores. She seemed almost cheery - but she always was when talking about death - it still took getting used to.

"Well I guess you weren't lying about him. How long's he take to to get here? Does he fly or swim through tree-roots or something?" the boy flashed a smile, catching a reflection of his pointy snout in a nearby fountain, formed in the coils of a gargantuan and very lifelike naga. "And if you get me stuck with a tail by the time he arrives... he'll remove it, yeah?" Ewan playfully jabbed her with the butt of a rake.

[CyclicalCycal]

Cara stumbled, as she is jabbed, shooting Ewan a glare. "No. He walks. But he never hungers, and he never tires, and he never fears." She said, cryptically. She sauntered over towards Ewan before sending a sweeping strike, aimed at his legs, at him. It was slow and sluggish and tired. She seemed tired, deathly so, as if she was about to collapse.

Regardless of whether she hit Ewan or not, she'd pull the thing back to her side, clutching it in her hands as if it was some measure of comfort. "I dunno when he'll get here. M-maybe a day. If we're really lucky...but it'll probably be a lot lot lot longer." She said, being quite vague.

[Whim]

"Oh..." the boy frowned in disappoinment. At least he was coming. And was hopefully as magical as Cara made him out to be.  The skipped back as the rake caught his foot. "Hey!

"And did you eat anything?" Cara seemed delirious still. The managed to muster up some indignant anger, "She'd ought to feed us if she means to keep us here. Let's make that imp fetch us lunch." Ewan's gaze flickered to toward the big house. It looked like an ice-palace in the sun with its many windows.

[CyclicalCycal]

"Nooo...I'm hungry. If I starve it'll be bad. Father wont be happy if I'm dead..." She mumbled, a hint of fear entering her voice. "We should go there." She said, looking to the house. It seemed Cara held no fear of it, for she did not see it as the lair of the beast. She saw it as anther citadel of civilisation, a ruinous and empty thing.

"...let's go." She uttered, casting aside her rake and moving to wander towards the house. "If we die then bad things will happen. They wont let us die..." She said, distantly. Did Cara really believe that?

[Whim]

"I don't think they're gonna. Who'd rake the yard then? Let's go annoy 'em into feeding us!" Ewan cracked a smile and tugged Cara toward the patio. Thistle was nowhere to be found; no doubt barking orders elsewhere. "Hello!? We're hungry!" the boy shouted, voice echoing faintly over the courtyard and garden.

With no one in sight they nudged open the pane-glass doors, the frames of which were shaped in a verdant pattern. "Okay. So, um, which way back to the-"

There came a sudden shriek of fear and rage. A pretty girl, clad in a lace apron - and with a pair of tigerlily wings on her back, darted into view and proceeded to swat them toward the door with a broom. "Through the scullery! Oh! You're both filthy!" Sure enough the muddy foot and paw prints dotted the tiled floor behind the children. Both of them were a little grimy.

"Hey! Wait! Where is it?!" he yelped, dancing backwards toward the door.

[CyclicalCycal]

Cara nodded and followed after Ewan. She said nothing of note, and she did nothing of note, simply wandering along. So, when they wandered up to the pine-glass doors and Cara reached out to touch and admire the pattern, it was a bit unusual.

Her intrigue was short-lived, however, and she was pushed very quickly back along with Ewan, gasping and getting out a quick "GAH!". She moved along, without any real chance to fight, as she stumbled back to the door. "S-stop!" She implored.

[Whim]

"Well you'd ought to know better! Just look at this floor!" the servant positioned herself between the children and the door with a scowl. "Master Thistle says you're to tend the grounds. That means you and that little beast can't be tracking dirt and dust!

"Oh I am sorry. This all must be very frightening!" seeming to sense Cara's apprehension she lowered the broom and gave a tired smile. "You like the out-doors better, don't you? Just head downstairs and take the little door at the bottom. That will get you into the kitchen." Sure enough there was an inconspicuous, white-painted door at the very bottom of the patio stairs. No doubt the servant's quarters.

[CyclicalCycal]

Cara stumbled outside, nodding to the servant as she instructed them on where to go. She replied with a vaguely, possibly even forced, chipperness and stated "Th-thanks..."

With that being said, Cara turned and moved on to head towards the kitchen, and presumably Ewan would follow. Were he not to, she would say nothing, but were he to follow she would have a few strange comments. "She called you a beast! She must like you." She said with a grin and a confident and confirmatory nod.

[Whim]

Ewan huffed as they made their way to the scullery, stopping to knock on the door. "That really makes me want to throw a big glob of mud at her...

"And is beast actually a compliment where you come from?" the boy cracked a smile, looking down nervously to his clawed toes and downy ankles. He'd almost forgotten about all that.

[CyclicalCycal]

Cara nodded in response, as she stood next to Ewan. "Beasts are closer to nature then us! They're so lucky. The ants and the spiders and the wolves and the cats and the everything are far closer to the forests then us." She explained, nodding as if this was clearly and evidently true.

Cara frowned, for a moment. "What're the stupid compliments in your place?" She asked, realisation and confusion flooding her face.