Hunting for a Witch

[Anonymous]

Hissing, Cat's tail lashed behind him, squatted down over the girl. She was rather pretty, though nothing compared to his Witch. The last one they had attempted to get had been utterly unsuitable and Cat was still angry about that.

They had found a new girl, a seer if the rumors were to be believed. Dog had come up with another plan for a drug and drag, a little trickier this time, but they had managed it. Now she was stretched out in a field outside the village, well away from prying eyes.

"Are you sure she'll be okay? The last one was bad." The fact Cat had picked her was irrelevant. He just wanted this to go well, "And when does the list say she is going to wake up?"

[Anonymous]

Heavens above, why did she feel so... sleepy?

Sabine groaned, slowly opening her eyes, surprised to find the open sky stretched out above her. She furrowed her eyebrows, biting her lip a little, knowing full well that she'd never be so careless as to fall asleep out on the open road. Actually, it was impossible for her to fall asleep in such a condition – so how had she ended up here, of all places? Everything was a blur, and her head was pounding – despite her best wishes, she couldn't recall anything that had happened today at all.

Blue eyes darted to her left and right, and that's when she noticed them – a dog and cat-like person, looming in her presence. Her eyes widened, and she let loose a yelp of surprise, suddenly sitting up, drawing her knees close to her, hugging them to her chest. "Just who are you people?" she asked, her tone sharp and no-nonsense. "Have you kidnapped me? Is that what's going on?" Kia above – were they looking for a ransom? Her father could probably pay them what they were looking for, so for now, she attempted to stay calm, her eyes studying to the strangers carefully.

[Anonymous]

This time, they had some sort of plan worked out. Cat's ears flattened back and he huffed, "Oh, that's real nice! The thanks we get! We saved you. From bandits! Who, uh, hit you!"

Cat's tail flicked behind him, watching the girl with his mismatched eyes before flicking a glance back at Dog.

[Anonymous]

At the word 'bandits' Sabine hugged her knees even closer to her chest, biting her lip. "Bandits?" she echoed incredulously, as a shiver rolled up her spine. Oh, she had only heard tales of bandits – but she didn't think she'd actually meet any! Her friends had all joked that it was only a matter of time before 'Sabby the Snob' got looted by a bunch of scoundrels on her travels... She had figured they were just jealous – when you wore a diamond pendent around your neck, it was easy to make enemies – but perhaps... perhaps they had been right!

"Is it true? Were there really bandits? Did they steal anything from me?" She clutched her hand to her chest frantically, but calmed down a little as her fingers curled around her pendent, the tension leaving her face. She still had her trinket! So far so good, but she was still a little wary. She eyed the two of them, before bringing up her qualms.

"I don't mean to offend you, but... you two don't look like you'd be very, well, good at warding off bandits... Are you positively sure that's what happened?"

You could never be too careful.

[Anonymous]

"Pffft what?!" Cat made a face at that, tossing his multi-hued hair, "Please. We are powerful and dangerous warriors." He glanced over at Dog, still clutching his stupid list, "Well, alright, I am. He's an idiot. But I'm plenty capable enough to take out a few bandits."

[Rhindeer]

"I am not an idiot!" Dog barked, bristling with indignation. Unrolling The List, he whipped it out for Cat to see and stabbed a finger at one of the items on it. "See? See? The List said she'd be waking up about now and it was so! You were a doubter but I was right because The List was right so there. So who's smarter now?"

With a little snort of disdain, he rolled The List back up and puffed out his chest. Almost as quickly as it had come, the irritation vanished and was replaced with excitement, his tail wagging and ears perked as he leaned in closer to examine the girl.

"Anyway, he lies! I'm a powerful warrior, too! We're more than able to take out a few dirty, scrawny bandits, right Cat? Well, yes, we are. And we ensured you were unharmed and nothing was taken and all that heroic stuff." He beamed at her, flashing too-sharp teeth in a happy grin that just begged for praise.

[Anonymous]

Cat bristled, ears pinning back and he shoved Dog, baring his teeth slightly, "Shut up butthead! You are not smarter! You're the dog! And stop sucking up to the witch! I found her first!" It always irritated him how everyone always fawned all over Dog. Stupid, annoying Dog!

[Anonymous]

Sabine cast her eyes over towards the list the other stranger held, wondering why he would need a list and how it knew that she was going to wake up at this time. It was a most suspicious item, and she was about to ask about it, but the two were bickering now, and if there was anything Sabine couldn't stand, it was bickering!

"Fellows, please, let's not argue!" she urged, frowning. "If we disagree with each other, we should talk things out calmly, rather than fight about it." She clasped her hands together, casting a patient glance at the stranger with cat ears, the way a mother would look at a disobedient child. "I think you should apologize— it isn't gentlemanly behavior to call your friend such ghastly names."

Oh! She had nearly forgotten. "What's this about me being a 'witch'? Is this more of your distasteful name-calling?" She wrinkled her nose, her distaste for bad manners making her easily forget about that suspicious list the other had taken out.

[Anonymous]

"No!" Cat looked both startled and horrified that Sabine would even think that being called a witch was bad. His lip curled back slightly in distaste at the idea of it, "Witch is proud and wonderful and perfect!"

[Rhindeer]

Dog flashed Cat a shit-eating grin that practically sang 'haha, you got in trouble!' before he turned his attention back to their witch, expression angelic, eyes large and puppy-like and tail wagging happily.

It quickly turned to one of horror when she misunderstood the whole witch thing.

"It's an exalted title!" he added quickly. "The most wonderful one in the world!"

Because their world was rather small and didn't extend far beyond their witch.

[Anonymous]

Sabine pursed her lips — to them, being a witch was a good thing. That made sense, she supposed — they probably meant witch as in, spell caster, perhaps, not to be confused with the more insulting way to use the word. To them, a witch was... proud, wonderful, perfect, an exalted title... If that was so, then she wasn't sure she fit their bill! Sabine laughed, shaking her head. "I'm not sure if I deserve to be called a witch, then! I do know a bit of magic, but... I am neither perfect, nor someone to be exalted." Although she was pretty proud — she fit that standard quite well!

She stood up, finally, and dusted off her midnight blue dress. "Well, gentlemen, it was nice meeting you two, but I do believe I should be getting home." She frowned, taking in her surroundings. "That is, if I can find it..." Slowly, she was coming to the realization that she had absolutely no idea where she was right now. With no horse or carriage, it would be incredibly idiotic to try and stumble her way back to home.

"You two wouldn't happen to know where the capitol of Darken Vei is, would you?" She lived in a city north of the capitol, but if she could get back to the capitol, she'd be able to find her way back home from there.

[Anonymous]

No, she wasn't worthy of the title. She was a poor imitation of their amazing, wonderful witch. But she would do, she would work as a vessel for their most beloved witch so Cat would tolerate her, serve her.

He smiled, stomping on Dog's foot, "Oh sure! We can take you right there!"

[Rhindeer]

Dog had been about to open his mouth and point her in the correct direction--for while not worldly, he was book smart, and he'd pored over plenty of maps in preparation for their excursion--but Cat stomped on his foot and he gave a short yip of pain instead. He glared at Cat and bared his teeth, ready to ask what that had been about, but then Cat spoke.

His nose wrinkled in confusion, head tilting. What? They would? But...he thought they were going to take her as their--OH!

He got it!

"Oh, yes!" Dog chimed in, grinning. "We know exactly where it is! And I know I just wouldn't feel right leaving you to go off searching all by your lonesome, vulnerable to all sorts of seedy characters! We'll be your escort!"

[Anonymous]

Sabine had been ready to scold Cat for what appeared to be a needless act of violence towards his friend, but was promptly distracted by their good news. A grin etched itself onto her features — why, they knew the way back home! She would be reading a good book while sitting near her cozy fireplace in no time at all!

"Oh! You two are upstanding gentleman after all!" she acknowledged with a laugh. "I'll be sure to repay you for your good deed when I make it back home." Sabine wasn't sure just how much she should pay them for acting as her escorts, but they did deserve something for going through all this trouble. "It's not a very long walk back, is it?"

[Anonymous]

"Well, I am. He's a stupid dog." Cat made a face at Dog, then gestured down the road, in the direction they needed her to travel, "It's this way. We'll take you, to, uh, keep you safe!"

[Rhindeer]

"Don't listen to him. He's an arrogant cat."

With a little sniff, Dog unrolled The List, scanned it over, and made a small tsking sound. "It's not too far, but we better get a move on fast! There's only one potty break scheduled before we reach the resting point so the longer we dawdle, the longer you just have to hold it! I suggest you limit your water intake."

With a bright smile at the girl, he held his arm out to her--after rolling up The list and tucking it safely away. "Shall we?"

[Anonymous]

Sabine frowned a little at their banter. "You two really should not speak so ill of each other," she noted, giving them both a disapproving look. The worse thing was, she couldn't tell if they were merely kidding around with each other or if they really thought of each other as stupid and arrogant. She had never had any close companions of her own to be 'casual' with, so she couldn't know for sure. All she had was her trusty code of etiquette, and it had worked well enough for her so far.

At least they seemed to know where they were going! She smiled as one of the strangers pointed down the road, and the other beckoned her to come along. She latched onto his arm, quite grateful for the gesture. "Thank you, dear. It's quite good fortune that I've run into you two," she laughed, even if they were quite strange. For instance, this one constantly spoke of a list, and she could only wonder why one would need a list to travel out here. She tried to rationalize it in her head, but all the excuses she made just didn't seem to fit.

 "I am quite curious though — what exactly is on that list of yours, anyway?" She furrowed her brow. "I can't imagine why you would need a list for travelling..." Then again, she did not travel much, and if she did, someone else took care of all the strenuous parts planning and preparing for the journey. She pursued her lips, shaking her head, placing her free hand on her chest earnestly. "I hope it isn't too rude of me to ask such a thing, is it?"

[Anonymous]

Cat's ears flattened with the stupid mutt offered the witch his arm. Dumb Dog would get too attached. She wasn't their Witch, not yet, but he was slobbering all over her and she was fawning right back. He didn't see what was so special about Dog that everyone liked him best.

His tail twitching in annoyance, Cat lead the way, "It's stupid. He sticks to it like glue and never thinks for himself. Just ignore it. He would have everyone pissing on schedule if you let him. And he never budgets time for sex."

[Anonymous]

Sabine's eyes widened a little at the cat's casual mention of sex. How did one budget in something like that, anyway? Did they have partners they went home to, or... or were they... She looked between the two of them, glancing back and forth. "Are..." she started, wondering if she even wanted to bring this up, "...are you two... together?" It was only awkward to think of for her because they were a cat and a dog — or at least, had a few features of said animals. Technically, according to the laws of nature, should these two even be friends, let alone something more?!

She instantly regretting bringing it up as soon as the words left her mouth. Should've let well enough alone.

[Anonymous]

Cat blinked, then frowned. Was the girl soft in the head? Crossing his arms, he stared at her, "I would think that's rather apparent."

Together. Of course they were together. She had eyes!