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Chance Fortunate (Wizard's World)
Jan. 9th, 2014 06:45 pmTitle: Chance Fortunate
Author: charisstoma
Word count: 1226
Prompt: This grew from homicidal cat. As in ‘pet me, pet me, enough, attack.’
The news had spread in that way that news can even without the professional media being involved. There was a whispered possibility of rabies in town due to one single feline’s bite.
Phailin gave a snickered purr and wove his way through the moving waves of legs taking pleasure in the occasional brush of fur to skin and the gasps as the humans realized what had happened, how close a cat had been to their unprotected flesh. He was tempted to give a small nip to a leg in passing, nothing skin breaking, more a love bite, just to watch the panic that would ensue.
“Cat, get your furry butt over here,” carried over the noise of traffic and people paused, heads swiveling to locate the speaker and then anxiously down to the ground searching for what or rather who, if they really knew what was what, the words had been directed toward.
It was tempting to pretend that he didn’t understand human speech but the next sentence, “Do you really want me to bring this before the Council?” had him rethinking that approach. So he continued his casually innocent meandering through the sea of legs but angled his path to wash up into the alley where the stranger crouched.
“I should bring it up to the Council anyway for all the trouble this has caused. Don’t think there isn’t proof. You were caught on normal digital camera and there’s ‘Past Viewing’ footage that followed after your prank, for backup.” The man, though that was debatable as he didn’t smell totally human, from his seated on his heals crouch, looked down at Phailin severely. “You’ve got one of three options,” and his fingers ticked off, “I take you in and you are held in the Vet’s office to serve your time until it’s determined that you aren’t rabid to human standards. That could be risky if no one claims you quickly enough and they think you’re a stray. Cats have been quickly beheaded and their brains examined for the virus before.”
Phailin shivered. Humans could be unfeeling monsters.
“Or,” the second finger was counted, “you could be given into the care of a wizard in training to serve your time until you are of adult age and can choose if you want to have a continued partnership or to become a stray again. You and the wizard learn together. That is the better of the two because you’ll be educated and have some experience to apply to future employment as well as references if you behave and have wisely honed your talent.”
“Or,” the third finger came up, “you can take your chances explaining yourself to the Council and have them choose how to deal with you.”
Phailin had sat, tail curled around his paws attentively, his fur twitching periodically along the base of his spine. A good tongue swipe to recover his composure was called for as he considered his choices but the unknown quantity of the person listing those choices required careful watching. Not everyone could spot a familiar in cat-clothing and the man spoke with knowing authority that made him uneasy.
“You can change and speak if you’re able to do that, hopefully you transform people-clothed, or put your paw to my right knee for the Vet’s office, my left knee for the wizard option, or sit there and it’s the Council.”
Phailin sized up the man, figuring out which was right and which left on a person in front of and facing him, while trying to decide. It wouldn’t do to make a mistake, his future depended on the right choice. Of course there was always the run away option but the way things seemed to be going that only delayed the inevitable and placed a choice out of his control.
Stretching up his upper body, he took the better option, the one with a future and hoped that it really was the best one. Both his paws delicately touched down on the man’s left knee.
With a smiling nod the stranger reached down and gathered Phailin up, “Good choice.”
The speech, “Dershwin is a thoughtful young wizard. Always seems to get on well with the familiars at the school but he’s perhaps a bit unfortunate in his looks and his adoptive family doesn’t have much money for his upkeep away from home so he lives frugally on a scholarship. He shows promise. Treat him well, he’ll treat you well and there is always the school’s administration if he should start abusing you. Don’t think you’re out in the cold if things get rough,” had a matching one being given at another academic location.
“This is what he looks like in cat-clothing. Not a bad looking kitten at all. He’s seems mischievous but if Elert is right and he usually is, all he needs is a bit of care to direct his attention into productive activity instead of irresponsible young tomcat playfulness.”
Dershwin looked at the footage of the marble patterned black and grey cat, watching the graceful gliding of the sleek body through the legs of people in the crowd without getting stepped on. There was intelligence in the movements and attention to the detail of prediction where the feet would be in relation to his feline body. A smile slowly grew as he watched, “He’s beautiful.”
‘Alright, the man, who said to call him Elert, wasn’t too far off with his description of his wizard but there was a muted sort of alert kindness in the watching eyes that drew him and the smell was right or would be as soon as he’d been marked as his,’ Phailin thought from where he sat after Elert, had put him down. In a slow stroll over to his wizard, it was promising that Dershwin crouched down partially extending his hand with fingers slightly spread and curved down for him to sniff the backs of them. His nose touched almost by accident before he licked one knuckle tentatively and a warm glow started inside him at the smile that resulted. There was nothing more to do than mark-claim his wizard and so he did, brushing nose to jaw and on down his body against the crouching leg before circling sinuously back to the front and down Dershwin’s other side’s thigh.
“Thank you.” Who that was directed to was unclear but Phailin decided it was him. After all he was a cat familiar and as such superior. Standing his wizard looked down at him, “Let me show you where our rooms are …”
Elert and Kormier watch the two walk away companionably, Dershwin keeping up a one way conversation about himself about what he was studying.
“Looks like a favorable match.”
“I think so,” Elert nodded in agreement.
“That’s the fourth familiar stray you’ve successfully matched up so far this year. “
The smile directed at him was fond. “Well, it’s easy if you know what to look for, I found you didn’t I.”
The fondness of the smile was returned, “Indeed,” and even though in human form Kormier nuzzle rubbed his face against Elert’s. “Still it’s a good thing you’re doing, matching strays with wizards, even if you aren’t a wizard yourself.”
Shrugging, “Everyone deserves a chance to make themselves better. I found happiness, others should too,” earned Elert a human style kiss.
Author: charisstoma
Word count: 1226
Prompt: This grew from homicidal cat. As in ‘pet me, pet me, enough, attack.’
The news had spread in that way that news can even without the professional media being involved. There was a whispered possibility of rabies in town due to one single feline’s bite.
Phailin gave a snickered purr and wove his way through the moving waves of legs taking pleasure in the occasional brush of fur to skin and the gasps as the humans realized what had happened, how close a cat had been to their unprotected flesh. He was tempted to give a small nip to a leg in passing, nothing skin breaking, more a love bite, just to watch the panic that would ensue.
“Cat, get your furry butt over here,” carried over the noise of traffic and people paused, heads swiveling to locate the speaker and then anxiously down to the ground searching for what or rather who, if they really knew what was what, the words had been directed toward.
It was tempting to pretend that he didn’t understand human speech but the next sentence, “Do you really want me to bring this before the Council?” had him rethinking that approach. So he continued his casually innocent meandering through the sea of legs but angled his path to wash up into the alley where the stranger crouched.
“I should bring it up to the Council anyway for all the trouble this has caused. Don’t think there isn’t proof. You were caught on normal digital camera and there’s ‘Past Viewing’ footage that followed after your prank, for backup.” The man, though that was debatable as he didn’t smell totally human, from his seated on his heals crouch, looked down at Phailin severely. “You’ve got one of three options,” and his fingers ticked off, “I take you in and you are held in the Vet’s office to serve your time until it’s determined that you aren’t rabid to human standards. That could be risky if no one claims you quickly enough and they think you’re a stray. Cats have been quickly beheaded and their brains examined for the virus before.”
Phailin shivered. Humans could be unfeeling monsters.
“Or,” the second finger was counted, “you could be given into the care of a wizard in training to serve your time until you are of adult age and can choose if you want to have a continued partnership or to become a stray again. You and the wizard learn together. That is the better of the two because you’ll be educated and have some experience to apply to future employment as well as references if you behave and have wisely honed your talent.”
“Or,” the third finger came up, “you can take your chances explaining yourself to the Council and have them choose how to deal with you.”
Phailin had sat, tail curled around his paws attentively, his fur twitching periodically along the base of his spine. A good tongue swipe to recover his composure was called for as he considered his choices but the unknown quantity of the person listing those choices required careful watching. Not everyone could spot a familiar in cat-clothing and the man spoke with knowing authority that made him uneasy.
“You can change and speak if you’re able to do that, hopefully you transform people-clothed, or put your paw to my right knee for the Vet’s office, my left knee for the wizard option, or sit there and it’s the Council.”
Phailin sized up the man, figuring out which was right and which left on a person in front of and facing him, while trying to decide. It wouldn’t do to make a mistake, his future depended on the right choice. Of course there was always the run away option but the way things seemed to be going that only delayed the inevitable and placed a choice out of his control.
Stretching up his upper body, he took the better option, the one with a future and hoped that it really was the best one. Both his paws delicately touched down on the man’s left knee.
With a smiling nod the stranger reached down and gathered Phailin up, “Good choice.”
The speech, “Dershwin is a thoughtful young wizard. Always seems to get on well with the familiars at the school but he’s perhaps a bit unfortunate in his looks and his adoptive family doesn’t have much money for his upkeep away from home so he lives frugally on a scholarship. He shows promise. Treat him well, he’ll treat you well and there is always the school’s administration if he should start abusing you. Don’t think you’re out in the cold if things get rough,” had a matching one being given at another academic location.
“This is what he looks like in cat-clothing. Not a bad looking kitten at all. He’s seems mischievous but if Elert is right and he usually is, all he needs is a bit of care to direct his attention into productive activity instead of irresponsible young tomcat playfulness.”
Dershwin looked at the footage of the marble patterned black and grey cat, watching the graceful gliding of the sleek body through the legs of people in the crowd without getting stepped on. There was intelligence in the movements and attention to the detail of prediction where the feet would be in relation to his feline body. A smile slowly grew as he watched, “He’s beautiful.”
‘Alright, the man, who said to call him Elert, wasn’t too far off with his description of his wizard but there was a muted sort of alert kindness in the watching eyes that drew him and the smell was right or would be as soon as he’d been marked as his,’ Phailin thought from where he sat after Elert, had put him down. In a slow stroll over to his wizard, it was promising that Dershwin crouched down partially extending his hand with fingers slightly spread and curved down for him to sniff the backs of them. His nose touched almost by accident before he licked one knuckle tentatively and a warm glow started inside him at the smile that resulted. There was nothing more to do than mark-claim his wizard and so he did, brushing nose to jaw and on down his body against the crouching leg before circling sinuously back to the front and down Dershwin’s other side’s thigh.
“Thank you.” Who that was directed to was unclear but Phailin decided it was him. After all he was a cat familiar and as such superior. Standing his wizard looked down at him, “Let me show you where our rooms are …”
Elert and Kormier watch the two walk away companionably, Dershwin keeping up a one way conversation about himself about what he was studying.
“Looks like a favorable match.”
“I think so,” Elert nodded in agreement.
“That’s the fourth familiar stray you’ve successfully matched up so far this year. “
The smile directed at him was fond. “Well, it’s easy if you know what to look for, I found you didn’t I.”
The fondness of the smile was returned, “Indeed,” and even though in human form Kormier nuzzle rubbed his face against Elert’s. “Still it’s a good thing you’re doing, matching strays with wizards, even if you aren’t a wizard yourself.”
Shrugging, “Everyone deserves a chance to make themselves better. I found happiness, others should too,” earned Elert a human style kiss.
