Something feline [Sir Zane]

[Stormphrax]

It was snowing. It had been snowing all night, a sharp, unseasonable change in the weather that had come suddenly and with little warning from the mountains to the North. At first light snow had clogged the streets of the city completely, but by the early afternoon had been reduced to a grey sludge trampled soggy by market-day traffic. In the shadows against the walls of houses drifts a few feet high survived unmelted. The sky was slate grey; it hung sullenly over Caliburn, one of the northernmost cities in Darken Vei.

A copper haired boy of about eight waited expectantly to be served in front of one of the market stalls. He was small, and forced to crane his neck upwards to meet the eye of the trader. He blinked snow from his eyelashes in a way that made him appear younger than he really was. With his clear green eyes and snub chin, Dirk Maggs could have been described as cherubic were it not for his unusually prominent nose. This was slightly hooked at the tip, making it distinctly beak-like. It glowed slightly pink from the cold air.

He pocketed the two fresh eggs he received and solemnly handed over a silver glint. The trader looked at him suspiciously as she took it. The boy had a rustic appearance in his simple jacket and leggings – hair still tied back in a ponytail, the country tradition being that it should not be cut until he was ten. He looked like a farmer's son, and they did not usually have glints to hand out so casually.

Reading the doubtful – or worried – expression in her eyes, Dirk fidgeted as she counted out change and darted away as soon as he had received it. As he disappeared into the throng of the market the trader thought briefly of calling after him – but she had children of her own to worry about.

Dirk stopped running around the first corner and slowed his pace to a casual saunter. He looked about him into the snowdrifts, and skimmed the crust off one of them with his hand. Glancing upwards, he noticed a dry space under the eaves of one of the cottages that lined the street, reachable by a scramble up a snow bank. A little slithering later he was tucked up under one of the wooden beams and settled with his back against a joist and his legs stretched out in front of him. Now he began to fish things out of his pocket, one of the eggs, which he warmed close to his mouth, a cat's cradle of string and a tinder box with holes punched into the lid. He was utterly absorbed by this odd collection.

[Zane]

Small villages are charming things. Unfortunately, Sonya had to travel quite a ways to get to one, well outside of the Sinclair fief. In three years, Sonya had only left her father's heralded land a handful off times, part in due because she had not the slightest of ideas on what was out there and extended travel was dangerous, ever the more so as a cat, But what she found of this town wasn't that bad, a quaint little village with a small town square surrounded by a relatively small inn, a bath house and a tavern, around there were sever rows upon rows of cottages.

The village was very, very well designed and all, but after looking around for so long, quite a bit of snow gat itself entangled in her fur. As we all know, snow when exposed to heat, even the slight radiance of body heat, will melt. Melted snow is water, water dampens fur Damp fur exposed to the cold tends to leave a body very cold. So in short, Sonya was very cold. Spying an embankment that sheltered a crawlspace from the winter wind, She made her way to it.

Upon entering the crawlspace, she found it were already inhabited, by a young boy. Sonya voice a 'hello' to the aspiring young man, which despite her best efforts came out as a soft mew. She crawled along her belly to another corner of the space, as to give the boy privacy. That was something she learned as a noble, privacy was something sacred that one could never have enough of, despite how cold one was. Granted the boy's heat, even at this distance when aided by the fact that the winter chill was kept out, was doing wonders for her.

[Stormphrax]

Dirk mastered a flinch as a damp cat crawled over him, dripping its way to an opposite corner. He watched the cat watching him and grinned at it. There was something inherently funny, Dirk thought, about bedraggled cats – probably the difference between their haughty attitude and lowly appearance. It is impossible to pull off 'haughty' and 'soggy' at the same time.

He carefully replaced the egg, now enmeshed in a hammock of string, into one of the many pockets of his jacket and once again turned his full attention to Sonya. He lent in forwards with a child's delight at the fact that a small fluffy creature had come to spend time with him.

"Hello Missis Cat."

He looked suddenly and directly into her eyes after he had spoken, and his expression subtly changed. Some of the childishness had left his face and he looked solemn and secretive.

"I can understand you," he purred.

Then his face changed again and the corners of his mouth tipped upwards into something like a smirk. Not many humans could talk to cats, Dirk was pretty sure, and he anticipated the confusion that his communication would cause in the (he thought) dumb animal with a glee that was almost malicious.

[Zane]

Sonya stretched when she got to the other side of the crawlspace. The boy was curious, he spoke in Cat tongue so well, that Sonya in fact didn't realize that he spoke the language of cats, she heard and understood it much like she heard and understood Common. It was a strange sensation, Sonya wasn't sure if the boy was messing with her or if he really did understand her.

"Well then, if you really do understand me, could you help me get dry, being wet with such long fur is a bit of an awkward situation, and wet fur tends to make you a few pounds heavier."

((OOC: sorry for the short post, italicized speech is Sonya speaking cat fyi))

[Stormphrax]

[[ Ooc: Got it! And no worries about short posts - it gave me plenty to reply to. :) ]]

The tables were turned and it was Dirk's turn to be surprised. Usually when he spoke to them cats would startle in a dramatic way, stalk about in tiny confused circles with their fur on end, and finally ignore what all their other senses were telling them and attempt to assimilate him as a cat. But this cat - this cat had remained composed. Though a hint of uncertainty was detectable in the tense line of her tail, her mind had not been blown in quite the way he had hoped. He had been certain that he was capable of outsmarting any cat. Now he was less certain.

He sat, thinking this, for a heartbeat or two, before deciding that at the very least he could help her get dry. Shuffling round to tuck his knees under him he shrugged off his jacket, then the waistcoat underneath. Even the few moments spent in just his thin linen shirt was enough to set him shivering and he pulled the jacket back on hastily, feeling for the first time a stab of empathy for the peculiar cat.

"Alright then."

The waistcoat was dry, and still warm from the heat of his body. He spread it out between his hands, reached forwards, and skillfully wrapped Sonya up in it. Acting with the assurance of one who has long worked with animals, he hoisted her onto his lap, pinning her hind legs and using the waistcoat like a towel to fluff up the fur along her back.

"You're an interesting cat, aren't you?" he said, ruffling the fur behind her ears with the makeshift towel. "Where do you come from? What're you doing out in the snow?"

[[ Ooc: I hope you'll excuse the minor bit of power-playing above - I think that Sonya would be too small, and Dirk too good at handling animals for her to get away immediately, although I know she values her privacy/personal space highly. She can always claw her way free now! ]]

[Zane]

((OOC: I am completely okay with it, feel free to do so in the future, sometimes it's needed to move the plot along Sonya is a small cat, she wouldn't be able to do much))

Sonya shocked, the boy did understand her. She braced herself, little kids tend to have less finesse when it comes to small animals, and herself being a small animal she could only guess what would happen next. As the boy gently took hold of her and started to dry her off, again she found herself at a loss. The boy's careful touch was very soothing and not at all what she expected. A small rumbling began in her chest, she was purring, something that didn't happen often.

"I'm from the Sinclair Fief over in Featherfall, never really went outside of it much so I decided to take a gander, finding myself here. Nice little town you've got here." Sonya left out the whole 'I used to be human' part of where she came form, the kid seemed to be about eight years old, she doubted he would understand why she came to become a cat, or what had done to caused such a consequence. Nor should he understand, childhood was something she missed the most about her old life, the innocence of being a child was timeless in experience, yet uncomprehendingly short in hindsight.

"You're pretty interesting yourself, not many can talk to cats."

[Stormphrax]

"So I am told," said Dirk.

It was a peculiarly 'mature' turn of phrase, almost as incongruous as hearing a cat say that she wanted to 'take a gander'. Neither of them were quite as they seemed - but the pleasantness of cuddling a purring cat had for the moment suspended the doubts in Dirk's mind.

"I'm from Featherfall too," he went on, "a place called Sandy. Maybe you know it?"

He spoke with the blind optimism of someone without a clear grasp of scale. More precisely, he spoke with the implicit assumption that Sandy was the centre of the world - so of course Sonya would have heard of it.

[[Ooc: Short. :P I thought that maybe Sandy could be some kind of minor minor village within the Sinclair fiefdom, just so that Dirk and Sonya have some kind of tie.]]

[Zane]

"Sandy.....Sandy....? Oh yes! it's the only settlement in the Sinclair Fief that is still classified as a village. The largest producer of glass in all the province right? This place is a long way from Sandy, What are you doing so far away from your home?"

Sonya looked up at Dirk, She was now plenty warm and almost completely dry, for that she was very greatful. "I'm Sonya by the by, Might I ask you your name? But before you answer, put your waistcoat and jacket back on, you could catch your death before too long"

((OOC: Mainly talking with Sonya in this post, and yeah, I like the idea, lets have it stick.))

[Stormphrax]

"I'm Dirk." He smiled as she slid off his lap and held out a hand, then was forced to leave it awkwardly hanging in the air for a few moments.

Why had he held out his hand? It must have been the tone of voice, or the phrasing... ...might I ask your name?... ...no wild animal would talk like that. In fact, very few people would speak so courteously. It had impelled him to his characteristically human gesture - utterly inappropriate.

Searching for a use for this extended hand, he reached down and plucked up the waistcoat. It was a little damp, but it would warm up soon under his coat. He was not surprised that she knew about Sandy - after all it was the largest glass producer in the province (and the center of the known world etc. etc.) - but he had a lot of doubts about her. Something was odd.

Dirk was a curious person. Sonya intrigued him. He made up his mind to spend more of his time around this cat.

"I am a long way from home," he said. "I can do magic y'see, and I want to learn a little bit more about it. I'm looking for someone to tell me."

His round face lit up as he spoke, and he leaned forward conspiratorially.

"Want to see?"

[Zane]

Sonya looked at Dirk's outstretched hand, then down at her paw which she turned up to look at the padded sole, then back up at Dirk.

"Trying to assimilate me as human?"

The small cat smiled a contented one. Dirk sort of reminded her of of one of her nephews. his parents didn't have the claim to the Sinclair name that she did, in fact his family were quite poor. Sonya had only met him once. That had been a darker time and Sonya had found her nephew's youthful peppiness annoying. But now, with the humbling experience of being a cat had changed a lot of things in her life, including her outlook on life. Now, she found Dirk's company charming, and longed to find her nephew and tell her she was sorry. Something a bit impossible to do as a cat.

She looked up to Dirk again, realizing that she had looked down while reminiscing. "I would love to see some magic."

[Stormphrax]

Dirk chuckled at her comment, recognizing the irony.

Then, eager at her prompting, he scooted her back across the floor to clear a space of about a foot in front of him. Into this space he shook out the contents of his pockets - the egg, the cat's cradle of string, the tinderbox. A long knife, almost a short dagger, was dislodged from his coat and he matter-of-factly stowed it away in another pocket.

He opened the tinderbox for a half-second to show Sonya that it contained a beetle, about the size of a thumb-nail, fat, black and glossy. This too, he threaded into the web of string. He began to weave the strings between his fingers, slowly at first, but gradually faster and faster. His face relaxed completely, making his long nose look even more peculiar, as though all the skin on his face was stretched back from it. He opened his lips slightly, and whistled between his teeth in a low monotone. The whole effect was quite eerie.

Still the strings between his hands moved faster. The air above them began to glow a soft lilac, and was almost definitely growing warmer. Dirk's slack lips twitched upwards into a smile. His whistling stopped, but a music continued - something like the sound of recorders holding the note. The lilac air coalesced into a ball, which he began to whirl about for Sonya to admire. It zoomed in close to her whiskered nose, then bobbed away before it could be touched. The recorders trilled playfully. It was clear that this display was meant to amuse. It was also clear that it was primal magic, and very illegal in Serendipity.

With an air of intense concentration Dirk began to raise and lower his hands, moving the strings into ever more complex patterns. Threads seemed to pass right through one another, and through the tinderbox being spun expertly through the young boy's fingers. A ball of blue light appeared, and the temperature of the air increased again. Sparking and fizzing, this ball began to orbit its lilac counterpart. The recorders were getting louder. Then there was a sharp crack.

Dirk had somehow spun his threads wrong, and the tinderbox had collided with one of his fingers. The box broke open and the beetle leapt for the ground, but neither Dirk nor Sonya were in any state to notice this. The glowing lights collided, sending up a flare so bright it scorched Dirk's retinas even through his reflexively closed eyelids. There was the overwhelming smell of burnt marzipan. And the thatch of the roof above them caught fire in an unnatural purple conflagration.

Dirk screamed, and launched himself away into the snowdrift. He floundered around, unable to stand, though the snow was melting fast in the uncanny heat. Where was the cat? Had she got out? He tried to look around him.

"SONYA? SONYA?"

[[ Ooc: 'Cause it's always fun when things go wrong. :P Also - I don't really have a plan for whatever happens next, so just give me something and I'll roll with it! ]]

[Zane]

Sonya was amazed, for such a little kid he had good control over something as complex and illegal as primal magic. But she knew that something would have to go wrong, it always does, Sonya scampered out with the cracking sound. As she left the crawlspace and into the frigged air, a bright hot flash imprinted her image on the opposite walls as well as singeing alot of her hair.

She saw Dirk dart out and start yelling her name. She jumped onto his shoulder, "I'm alright. But you need to leave this town, Darken Vei is extremely hard on Primals. Don't run. Just walk away, we need to get you back to the Sinclair fiefdom, Ben Sinclair has passed laws there that protect them. Please just start walking away."

[Stormphrax]

Dirk felt a wave of relief wash over him as he felt the weight of Sonya on his shoulder. He reached up a hand to pat her little head and felt the singed fur. He looked behind him at the burning house, now a violet inferno. It was all too much. Sonya was  talking sense, they needed to move -

- but instead of moving he broke into big blubbery sobs, snuffling and wiping his nose on one of his  sleeves, sitting exactly where he was in the puddle of water that had once been snow.

"I don't want to get into tro-ou-ble..."

[Zane]

Sonya was at a loss, she had no idea what to do. She had little to no experience with children, let alone how to make one stop crying. Though it seemed luck was smiling upon them today, or at least wanted to scare the shit out of them first. A town guard came around the corner with a grim look on her face, her face softened considerably when she saw Dirk. She rushed up to him, "There there child, it's alright. The Town Guard is here." The guard took note of the small white cat upon his shoulder. "See here, you have such a good kitty here, staying with you to keep you safe. Come on, let's get you away from this fire."

The woman was obviously a mother herself. She took Dirk's hand and started to lead him away, towards the center of town.

[Stormphrax]

Dirk followed the woman meekly; content after all the traumatic events to be mothered a little. He bobbed along in her wake, keeping close to her heels, as they forced a passage against the throng of townspeople now crowding to have a look. Intense as it had been, the magical fire had by now almost burnt itself out, though it had left a still glowing pile of indigo embers and the smell of burnt almonds was stronger than ever. The blaze had consumed the house that they were sheltering under entirely.

When they reached the main market square the guard's progress was halted by one of the traders. It was the same woman who had sold eggs to Dirk earlier. As the adults began talking, the trader refusing to move out of the guard's path until she had had her say, Dirk recovered his composure a bit and began to look nervously around him. This egg-seller was not good news. She had been suspicious earlier.
He fidgeted his fingers in the guard's grip as he listened to snippets of the conversation proceeding above his head.

"...a whole silver glint!" the egg-seller exclaimed. "It just don't seem right." She cast another appraising eye over Dirk's now rather raggedy and scorched appearance, taking in Sonya now too. What she saw seemed only to confirm her verdict of 'ragamuffin'. "Why, it don't surprise me at all that he were mixed up in that big purple fire. I knows kids – for my sins, I got some of my own – there's nothing wickeder or more likely to cause trouble."

The way she talked made it clear that getting a word in edgeways was going to be impossible until she was satisfied that she was finished. Despite her comments about 'wickedness' she was actually very fond of children, and had come over to satisfy herself that Dirk was alright, but the thrill of gossip was strong. She started throwing out theories like a Catherine Wheel throws out sparks.

"Looks magical to me. I mean, don't it, a big purple fire?" She gave no time to answer. "I bet this one was playing about with some alchemist's powders, there's nothing you can't buy. (Or steal.) Could have been deliberate, the little malcontent. And how about that cat, anyway? I can't think of any cats that'd get scorched like that and stick around. This creature ought to be half way to Adela by now!" She looked sharply at Dirk and Sonya again. "P'raps she's his familiar. P'raps they're the magic ones causing trouble."

"Sonya, what do we do now?" meowed Dirk softly, when the egg woman finally paused in her tirade.

[Zane]

"Don't say anything, just stare blankly ahead. And perhaps sniffle a little bit. I have a plan." Sonya mewed softly in return before going onto her haunches while on her shoulder and looking over the top of his head, occasionally prodding his scalp with one of her paws. She very much looked the part of a mother cat looking over a kit. This very much disarmed the trader and gave the guard some ground to stand on. "See? Nothing magical about these two here, this little cat has just taken an inking to him. perhaps her little has moved on and she took him under since he is so young. Not that uncommon."

The Trader was quick with a reply though. "That cat is far too young to have a litter!"

And yet the guard was quicker, "Well you weren't much older before you had your first, now bugger off before I arrest ye for disturbing the peace." That was the beauty of a small town. Everyone knows everyone. The egg-trader quickly stepped out of the way and the guard moved along, bringing young Dirk and Sonya in tow. Soon she came to the town Barracks and lead them to the kitchen. "Common, lets get you two cleaned up."

[Stormphrax]

Dirk smirked a little at the exchange, the cruel smile sitting disconcertingly well on his young features, at odds with his otherwise innocent appearance. Once inside the Barracks however the smile was wiped from his features and he looked about him with nervous eyes. He didn't much like being inside a building full of guards, even if he and Sonya were managing to pull the wool over their eyes.

Though he had now recollected his wits, he took Sonya's advice and maintained a blank and sorrowful expression. It was probably best to appear slow and hope that they underestimated him. He was uncertain as to why the guard had brought them here, but knew that further running away would be unproductive.

"Thank-you missus," he sniffed. "That fire were real scary."

Then, in an impulsive moment and with no regard for 'pushing his luck', he added:

"And do you have any food? I'm powerful hungry. And maybe some fish for my cat?"

[Zane]

The guard woman seemed to not notice the fact that Dirk's tears were much akin to those a crocodile would shed, her motherly tone was all to easy to single out, was she stupid, or naive? Sonya, however, had no problem knowing that his innocence was faked, partly because she told him to fake it, partly because she herself had used crocodile tears on many occasions, partly because his acting was half-assed. Or perhaps she had just been at this game for too long.

The guard however took no notice, she propped him of up the table in the kitchen of the barracks then proceeded to produce a rag from somewhere and began to clean up his face. "Some food? Well certainly, lunch will be served here in an hour, you and your kitty cat are welcome to join my husband and I for lunch." Little did the two know that her husband was the battlemaster and Lord Protector of the region.

Sonya, who was sitting on the table next to Dirk at this point, looked up at him. If she could shrug, she would have.

[Stormphrax]

[[ Ooc: Good to be back! ]]

"Ooh, yes pl-ease!" cried Dirk, fitting his words between swabs of the rag and not even noticing Sonya in his eagerness to accept a meal. He acquiesced with only minor fidgeting to the rest of the face cleaning, and once the guard was satisfied that he was soot-free swung his legs up underneath him to sit curled on the table.

He cast a weather eye around the room. At the far end of the table, which extended the full length of the kitchen, a sou-chef was chopping vegetables for broth. Due to the Serenian weakness to iron all the knives and pans were bronze, giving the kitchen a golden glow. It was roasting, great fires burning in caverns all along one wall, and he shrugged his jacket onto the table next to him. There was an audible clunk as he set it down - he had manage to salvage a lot of his paraphernalia from the fire.

"What's your name, missus?" he asked, turning the cherubic charm up to eleven.