FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

**The Missing Lynx, Part Two

The Part Where the Plot Happens**

"Um..." Elin hesitated before hefting a half-filled basket of pastries. "Muffins?"

Rhaelyn perked his ears. He'd been so busy today that he'd forgotten about eating almost entirely. Yes, it was a little odd for a potential adventurer to show up at her interview with fresh baked goods... but on the other hand, they did smell awfully good. And now that he thought about it, he was terribly hungry...

Before he could take her up on the offer, however, Veridia spoke up. The canine frowned, her ears slanting forward as her powerful arms crossed beneath her more-than-ample chest. "Elin, just what d'you think you're doin' here?" She paused, an ear twitching. "And what in the nine hells are you wearin'?"

"Ah," the lynx squeaked. She glanced down at her body, suddenly sheepish for the first time since she had left the Cat House. Maybe the outfit WAS a little immodest.

Her Leather-Clad Rogue ensemble had been a favorite since her teenage years, and she had often fantasized about wearing it while taking on the myriad horrors of the wild. Of course, that was before she had matured - and mature she had. Her slight plumpness and dramatic curves were now squeezed into a black leather cuirass three sizes too small. Sure, she had let the armor out a little, to allow for the annoyingly large bust that she had developed over the past few years, but it still cut off well above her belly button to leave her entire midriff exposed. Likewise, the alterations had left the collar open so wide that the entirety of her gold-furred cleavage might have been exposed, if not for her undergarment. Or did the exposed undergarment just make it even more inappropriate?

Her arms were bare but for the decorative leather bracers curled about her forearms and the painstakingly customized leather gauntlets covering her hands - hands which, like most catkin of her breed, seemed a little too big for her body. Lower, she wore a leather skirt made up of metal-studded strips that were both decorative and functional, as far as she was concerned. Oh sure, a portion was cut out of the back to allow her tail to poke through, and that left just a bit of her well-developed rump peeking through. And yes, it was a little too short for her to begin with, but again, that came from the dramatic widening of her hips and thighs as she had developed. She could hardly be blamed for puberty.

Below that, there was little else. Her legs were bare from just below her softly furred hips all the way down to mid-calf, where her boots took over. Her boots were rather simple, and much like her gauntlets, they had been custom-fitted to accommodate her padded feet - feet a little too big for her short and curvaciously stout figure. There had been some tight leather pants that had come with the outfit, but she had long since outgrown them. Maybe she'd have to sit back down and adjust those as well?

Yes, now she was feeling rather self-conscious about the whole thing. A dozen men had stared at her on her way to the Drunken Dragon, and another two-dozen had ogled her in the common area as she had waited her turn. She had thought that they might be impressed by her confidence or her bearings, but now she wasn't so sure...

"I, um-" she squeaked again. No, this was her chance! She had been practicing for this interview all her life. She had already prepared to impress a potential employer - why should impressing Veridia as well be that much harder?

"I'm here about the job interview!" she huffed defiantly, her leather-clad fists set to her generous hips. Her taut-fit armor uttered a groan as she drew in a deep breath. She could feel herself trembling like a leaf, and hyperventilation was just two more breaths away, but in truth, her sudden spike of confidence was rather astounding.

She drew in another slow breath to calm her nerves, trying to pretend she didn't notice the panther serreptitiously glancing to her cleavage. Once she felt she was in control, she steeled herself and recited the line that had been bouncing around in her head all afternoon.

"The siren call of adventure has pierced the gloam, and I have come to answer it! If the world be in peril, then I would be honored to save it with you!"

Rhaelyn arched his brows, suitably impressed. It was an eloquent introduction, with just the right flare for the dramatic, although he couldn't help but think he might have heard it somewhere before. At the very least, it was more appropriate than her offer to share food. The armor looked rather useless, and the dagger at her side was quite clearly ornamental, but her assertiveness was impressive for one so young. And it didn't hurt that she was was particularly attrac-

No. He stopped that thought before it could gain any traction. One black-furred ear twitched ever so slightly as he reminded himself that he was trying to make things work with Kira. Besides, the lynx looked far too young for him.

The husky, on the other hand, barely managed to hide her scowl. She knew exactly where that line had come from - in fact, she had helped the Alleycat write the book it was in. A quote ripped squarely from the pages of Against the Hordes of the Bitch Queen. Saga had never actually used that line in real life of course, but who would? No one talked that way, no matter how good it might sound on paper.

Still, she didn't say anything. If the lynx really wanted to play out this charade, she would let Rhaelyn make the final decision. She was rather certain she could already guess how the interview was going to go.

"Well." The panther pursed his lips, forcing himself to look back to the application. There were so many curves on display that he was starting to get a little uncomfortable. Between Veridia and Elin, it felt like the temperature in the room had risen at least twenty degrees.

"I, ah... I see here that you're an orphan?"

Elin bit her lower lip a little, but bobbed her head in quick agreement. Her surname made that much obvious. Most beastkin, especially those of the feline persuasion, bore their clan name after their given name, but orphans were rarely afforded that luxury. Thus she was simply "Elin Cat", and had been as long as she could remember.

"Y-yes," she stuttered, faltering briefly before bouncing back. In fact, her whole body bounced a little as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other - much to Rhaelyn's distraction. "But sixty-eight percent of all heroic sagas begin with the tale of an underdog, orphaned at a young age!"

Rhaelyn twitched ever so slightly, a slight tic working onto his normally placid features. There was that word. Saga. But no, he knew she was using it as a noun, not as a name. "Bouncy" or not, the lynx was absolutely correct.

He smiled reassuringly, "It certainly looks like you've been doing your research." He gestured graciously to the opposite side of the table. "Well, Elin, why don't you have a seat and we can get started?"

The panther looked forward to the opportunity to get her seated - perhaps then, she wouldn't bounce and jiggle quite so much. The panther was almost grateful that Kira had insisted on punching him in the groin this morning - the lingering sting was just enough to ward off an awkward erection. But only just.

Elin glanced about, but the only other chair was currently occupied by Veridia. She pouted a little, her tail flicking nervously behind her - then she jumped as the husky suddenly rose. Watching the husky move was like watching a mountain uproot itself, so that it could politely step out of your path.

"Here," the massive warrior rumbled. Her voice was less than comforting, and took on the steely edge of a command. "Sit."

"Um, 'kay," she mewled quietly. She bounced over and gingerly sat, blushing as she suddenly realized just how much it caused her skirt to ride up. She hastily folder her paws across her lap, ears twitching back a little as she tried to hide her halfway-exposed cotton panties. Well, that certainly explained why that drunken fox in the common area had been staring when she had sat down across from him earlier. The thought made her blush even harder.

Thankfully, the panther hadn't seemed to notice. In fact, he seemed to be trying his hardest to not even look at her. She wondered why that was. Was she really that unimpressive? Or maybe he just thought she was ugly? Regardless, the lynx was short enough that the table now blocked his line of sight to anything below her face and chest.

Rhaelyn cleared his throat, flipping the single sheet over in his hands. There wasn't really much to work with, but he appreciated the little feline's enthusiasm. "So, ah... Elin. From the look of your resume here, you haven't had any experience in this field before. What exactly makes you think that you're qualified?"

"Oh!" She smiled, keeping her ears perked as she reminded herself to look confident. "Well, I'm versed in the basics of both mechanics and magic. I'm not an expert, but I can cut glass, crack some locks, and identify and disrupt some runes."

The panther frowned a little - it was starting to sound like he was interviewing another thief.

Elin hurried on, a bit flustered at the mage's subtle shift in demeanor. "I, um, also subscribe religiously to all of the magical newsletters about adventuring, and have exhaustively studied each one for its merit." She gave a calculated pause, then bobbed her head slightly as she continued. "It's not the same as practical experience, I know, but it gives me the groundwork I need to start a career in the field."

And the wizard quirked a brow at that. Yes, that sounded a little more promising. In fact, Rhaelyn himself subscribed to a few of those newsletters, and had even written a handful of published articles himself. "I see."

"And I have comprehensive training in the fields of critical thinking, puzzle solving, and interpersonal relations," she continued, smiling. Her tail was swaying behind her now, her confidence soaring. She had piqued the panther's interest! She could see it! Of course, Veridia was still looming over her like some dark obelisk, but Elin reminded herself that the husky wasn't the one doing the hiring.

"I've solved the Winter Festival riddling contests for the past five years, before anyone else has even guessed at the solutions," she purred. "Even the puzzle challenge with the carpet, vase, and gemstone they used last year."

"Really," the panther mused. "I follow those contests avidly, and I don't think I've ever seen your name listed amongst the winners."

Elin frowned a little at that, the sway of her tail slowing. "Well, they won't permit me to participate, because of how... um... because of the way I was raised."

"Ah," Rhaelyn nodded sympathetically. Honestly, the young lynx was so charming and eloquent that he had almost forgotten she was a clanless orphan. "Of course, my apologies. Still, that's rather impressive."

She smiled at that, her eyes sparkling. "Thank you, ser."

The panther glanced to his brooding companion, and Veridia gave him an odd shrug in return. Arching a brow, he decided to ignore her and looked back to Elin instead. "Alright, well, let's test that, shall we?"

Elin's smile vanished, but her ears remained perked. "Er, yes ser?"

The mage simply smiled, setting his hands palm-down against the tabletop. "What force and strength cannot get through, I with a gentle touch can do. Many in the street might stand, were I not a friend at hand." He paused, a brow quirked. "What, Miss Elin, am I?"

The lynx pondered on that for a split second, before her smile broadened. "You're a key, ser. But were I there a key might not be needed, and even if it were then I would find it."

Rhaelyn chuckled. "Very impressive." He glanced once more to Veridia, but the oddly quiet canine simply rolled her eyes.

He set her application aside, interlacing his fingers as he looked back to the lynx once more. "Well, your deductive abilities appear to be up to the task, but that's hardly the only thing a true adventurer requires. What of your combat skills?"

"Oh." Elin sagged just a little. This was the part she had been dreading. "Well, I haven't been officially schooled in any form of combat, but I'm a fair hand with a knife or club." She glanced up at the usually comforting bouncer, uncertain if she should mention her name, but... she needed the weight of a respected mentor behind her claim.

"And I've been, um..." Another glance at the canine, and the lynx smiled a little. "I've practiced the basics of unarmed brawling and grappling as well, with rather proficient tutors."

Rhaelyn leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed. That wasn't terribly impressive. "Anyone that I would know?"

"Oh, yes," she blushed. "The Lady Veridia." She hesitated to mention that a majority of those lessons had involved the application of judicious force to a rowdy drunk's genitals, and that she had never actually worked up the nerve to do it herself. She gave a slight frown as that reminded her, an ear twitching as she grudgingly added. "And two obnoxious older siblings."

The panther snorted, stifling a laugh. Well, he could hardly argue with that. He had FIVE obnoxious elder siblings himself, and Veridia's expertise was impossible to contest. It wasn't much to start with, but he supposed that the lynx might be able to learn on the job.

"And I have a magical amulet," she hastened to add. Her eyes darted downward for the briefest second, glancing over the numerous pieces of jewelry that festooned the panther's hands. 'Almost', she thought to herself, 'Like Ray-Lynn the Soaring'.

Rhaelyn smiled a little at that - it was an obvious ploy to stay on his good side, but he had to admit that it was working. Yes, he certainly had a vested interest in magical trinkets and jewelry. In fact, he had made hundreds of pieces himself, both for personal use and for bartering with at the arcane trade shows. "Is that so?"

"Yes," she nodded smartly. She gestured to her cleavage with a slight blush, fishing the silvery figurine that hung from her necklace out from between her breasts. It was a tiny, finely carved likeness of a cat. Not a catkin, but simply a cat. "It's an amulet that grants me the agility of a cat! It improves my agility, balance, and stealth!"

To be honest, it was a necklace that her mother had given her at sixteen years of age to help offset the awkwardness of her changing body. As she had grown heavier at the top and thicker at the thighs, the already clumsy lynx had threatened to become a very real hazard in and around the Cat House. If anything, it merely compensated for her dramatic figure, as well as her large hands and feet.

"Hm," the panther chuckled. "Well, an amulet that grants cat-like agility to, ah, a catkin. That's... certainly something."

Elin faltered. "Er..."

"Well," he mused. "I'll admit that I have my reservations, but you're confident and well-spoken, and I can appreciate your desire to seek out experience on the field. Though, ah, this job could be terribly dangerous. I would hesitate to expose you to that kind of-"

Elin almost visibly drooped in her chair, her ears lowered and her tail suddenly limp as it fell to the ground behind her.

Rhaelyn hesitated as the lynx sagged, then uttered a resigned sigh. He almost felt like he was taunting a kitten with a piece of fresh fish. He opted to humor her a little longer. "Ah, well, if you were to be accepted into the adventuring party, what role would you hope to fill?"

"Oh," she replied, perking back up. "Well, rogue? Or scout, perhaps?"

The panther clucked his tongue, "No, we already have two scouts. And a rogue..." He frowned now, his ears twitching forward. "Well, that's simply a polite term for thief, is it not?"

Elin stifled a whimper - were thieves bad, now? Every adventuring party needed a thief, didn't it? Her greatest hero was a thief!

"W-well I don't actually, um, steal things..." she murmured. "But I can sneak in and out of places pretty easily. And, um, I have really good hearing." She twitched her oversized ears by way of demonstration.

Rhaelyn clucked his tongue, forcibly stopping himself from rolling his eyes. A shame, really, the interview had been going so well. But honestly, a thief who didn't steal? Next he'd be interviewing a mage who didn't use magic, or a warrior who was afraid of weapons. "Well, I don't think-"

Elin cast about, trying to find something that might coerce the panther. Something that might change his mind, or force him to reconsider. He tried to think on what Tia might suggest - well, no, her eldest sibling would almost certainly tell her to lean forward and show off her cleavage. And honestly, Mia would probably tell her to do the same - or maybe to kick the panther in the junk. She couldn't imagine that either of those things would help right now.

"Oh!" she squeaked, her eyes falling onto the novel near the table's edge, still resting where Veridia had last put it. "I haven't had a chance to read that one yet!"

Rhaelyn twitched, his nervous tic returning in force. "Excuse me?"

"Aw, Elin." Veridia groaned, a hand set over her eyes as she finally spoke. "No..."

The lynx smiled, seeming oblivious to the suddenly charged atmosphere. She held the book in her gloved paws with reverence - the book store had been out of stock already, so she had resigned herself to thinking it might be months before she could get her hands on a copy!

"I own every one of Saga's books," she purred. "Even the limited edition anthology of short stories about his early life. They only printed a hundred copies of that one!" And she hugged the novel to her breast. Nevermind that it wasn't her novel, and that she was supposed to be in the middle of an interview. She was just so giddy!

She lowered the book once more, her eyes greedily devouring the cover. She cradled it gently, as if it were an ancient manuscript or a crumbling scroll, rather than a slightly dented and torn novella. It was all there - the title embossed in that familiar fantastical font, the near-to-life waterpainted cover depicting the characters contained within, and down at the bottom-right corner the signature of the alleycat himself!

"I'm sorry," the panther practically spat. "But your services will not be required at this time. I wish you luck in your future endeavors, wherever you might find them."

"W-... what?" Elin looked up from the book in her grasp, her soaring heart abruptly crashing back to earth where it promptly exploded into a thousand flaming pieces. "Why?"

"Well," he frowned, "ignoring the fact that you have absolutely no prior experience to speak of, there's the simple fact that we have no need of a thief. You simply bring nothing to the table."

"B-... but..." The lynx looked crushed, and her lip quivered. She was on the edge of tears already, but the wizard was still building up steam.

"And now that I've had a chance to speak with you," he continued, "I have good reason to doubt that your meager training is to be trusted in the first place. Your weapon is a toy, your armor is a costume, and... to be honest, when you first stepped through that door I thought you might be a whore."

The lynx blushed even harder now, her eartips a deep crimson beneath her tufted fur. "I-... b-... w-... I only work in the bar! I've never actually slept with anyone! I don't- I'm a waitress at the Cat House, not a whore!"

Rhaelyn blinked, then frowned anew. "You work at The Cat House?"

Veridia finally interceded, rallying to the lynx's aid. She had wanted the young woman to learn a lesson, but she didn't relish the thought of the panther tearing into her with his barbed tongue. "Rhaelyn."

"I-" And the wizard bit back his next few words, his tail lashing behind him. He had arisen from his seat, and now leaned over the table menacingly, but he honestly couldn't even remember having done so. He quickly sat back down. When the husky growled, it behooved everyone to listen - especially if they happened to be male.

"Fine," he sulked. "But we still don't need you."

"Don't mind him," Veridia frowned. She patted the lynx gingerly on the shoulder, and the gesture actually seemed to soothe the young feline. A small part of the panther felt jealous at that - when she patted HIS shoulder, she always came close to knocking his arm out of the socket!

"S'just a sore spot," the husky smiled, plucking the book from the lynx's grasp. She studied it for a moment, then chuckled low. "He just ain't a fan of how he's portrayed in these books, is all."

Something clicked in Elin's brain, and factoids abruptly merged into a seamless thought. The panther before her was Rhaelyn fa Soren - the character in the novels was Ray-Lynn the Soaring. Veridia was Veridia, and her name remained consistent between real life and the novels. And if Veridia were here, assisting this wizard, then that meant...

"Oh my gods!" she squeaked, abruptly on her feet. She was practically vibrating with barely restrained excitement.

"I, er... what?" Rhaelyn leaned back a little, as if he were preparing to leap from his chair and flee. The little lynx was shaking so hard that he thought she might be ready to burst.

"Elin," Veridia frowned. Damn it, she should have known this was going to happen.

"You!" She pointed dramatically, one outstretched finger slicing through the air like a blade before it pointed firmly at the panther.

The wizard fidgeted a bit, glancing to Veridia again. "Uh..."

"You're Ray-Lynn the Soaring!" she gasped aloud, suddenly hyperventilating.

"No," he scowled. "I'm Rhaelyn fa Soren. I-... that-... Ray-Lynn is a farce. A joke. I'll have you know that-"

"And the world is in peril!" Elin threw her hands in the air this time, her tail shooting outward like she had been shot by lightning.

"Er..." Rhaelyn was a little frightened now, and he ssslowly started to edge his chair back. "Yes?"

"And you're going with him to help save it!" This time the impossibly excited lynx pointed to Veridia, instead. With both hands, even.

"Uh, yeah, but-" The husky tried to cut the lynx off, but the feline only grew louder to compensate.

Her fists banged against the table so hard that applications went flying, abruptly turning into a whirlwind of paperwork. Every curve on her body bounced with the movement, from chest to hips to rear and thighs. Her cuirass groaned again, the leather ties strained nearly to their breaking point. "Then I have to come! It is my destiny!"

"Ah..." The panther was at a loss for a few seconds. The outburst was shocking, yes, and the rampant bouncing even moreso. Honestly, he was rather amazed that the young woman hadn't simply exploded right out of her armor, leaving her bare for all to see. He was almost a little disappointed that she hadn't.

"W-... well," he stammered. He abruptly scooted his chair back up to the table, his spine rigid. Okay, now he DID have an erection. He was just thankful that Kira wasn't here to see it, because gods knew she'd have made him pay for it.

Veridia quirked one corner of her mouth downward, her hand set to the lynx's shoulder as she gently pushed the feline back into her seat. "Elin, no. That's not gonna happen."

"But why?" she whined, her ears skewed. She had put her everything into that impassioned plea! How could they still be resisting her?

"Because this is serious business," the husky rumbled. "And you could die. We could all die. Adventuring is dangerous, and you're too young-"

"I'm nineteen!" she protested. "Twenty next winter!"

"Too young," Veridia repeated, "to ruin your life lookin' for excitement."

"Oh come oooooon," she groaned. She sagged in her seat as if her bones had suddenly turned to jelly, slowly sliding downward until she had practically slid off of the chair and onto the floor in a furry puddle. Veridia sighed, reached down, and pulled the lynx upright again. The boneless act didn't work on her.

"She's right," the panther frowned. He seemed oddly subdued now, and once again seemed to be trying to avoid looking directly at the lynx. "This is far too dangerous, far too important, and... well, we still don't need a thief. Especially not an inexperienced thief who has filled her head with slanderous-"

"But every party needs a thief!" she cried, her arms shooting upward again. It was true! She had been through every single one of Saga's novels, all sixty of them, and every adventure had required the services of a thief! On top of that, the adventuring newsletters agreed that eighty-seven percent of all adventuring parties contained one or more thieves, and those that didn't were that much more likely to fail!

"They most certainly do not!" Rhaelyn snorted.

"They do!" she protested, her gloved hands set to the table as her eyes blazed with defiance. "I've read about all of your adventures, and Saga saves the day almost every time!"

"He most certainly does not!" The panther was losing his temper now, or perhaps it had been lost already, but his voice was climbing in both pitch and volume. There was an odd, almost smoldering look about him. Unlike the lynx, there was a very real possibility that the panther could spontaneously burst into a ball of flame and lightning.

Veridia looked like she was about to say something, but Rhaelyn cut her off. "And-" He glanced to the husky, sighing. He paused, silently counted to ten, and then continued more calmly. "Even if he did, what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well," she pouted. "He's a thief too. So, you need a thief! Unless..."

Her eyes widened so far that they almost threatened to roll right out of her sockets, her fur all standing on end at once. When she spoke, her voice was a hushed whisper. "Is he coming?"

The panther hissed, his eyes narrowed to slits. "Absssolutely not. I'll have you know that I've been on at least a dozen adventures without him, and-"

"When?" the lynx challenged him.

"Ah, well-" he faltered. "The battle with the Obsidian Cult."

"He was there," she frowned. Her arms crossed below her breasts, and the dramatic curves threatened to pop right out of her 'armor'.

Rhaelyn scowled, his tail lashing again. "The race to the edge of the world!"

Elin stuck her tongue out, her ears slanted forward. "He was there at the beginning and the end! He stole the Dark Wizard's journals, making it possible for you to stop the villain from discovering the secrets of the ancients!"

The panther hesitated, his jaw working. Damn it, he had forgotten about that. The stupid little Alleycat had been out of sight for most of that adventure, but it didn't mean that he hadn't participated.

"Well, ah, the struggle against the Demon Queen of the Wastes-" Ah, gods damn it, no. He had been there too.

She frowned, "You mean the Demon Empress?"

Rhaelyn almost reached across the table to throttle the lynx, but he caught himself. He drew in a deep breath, exhaled, and again found himself silently counting to ten. "No, I mean the Demon Queen. Her NAME was Empress, and she was most certainly demonic royalty. Saga changed it for his book, because he thought there were already too many Queens in his ridiculous stories."

Elin huffed, rising to her feet once more. Her arms remained crossed at her stomach, her breasts all that much more prominent as if to swell in defiance. "So you admit it, then. You always needed a thief!"

"The, ah..." The panther grumbled. He refused to let the matter slide. "The march on Black Marsh."

The lynx frowned a little. The name wasn't precise, but the panther had to be referring to the events of The Missing Saga. The Alleycat had been kidnapped in that one, stolen away by a flock of harpies at the Dark Wizard's behest She remembered that even in the book, the wizard Ray-Lynn had been reluctant to embark on a rescue mission, but his companions had insisted.

"Well, you still had that other guy-" she paused, trying to remember his name. "Um, you hired that coyote guide. Zayne Fleetpaw. He was a thief."

"And a traitor," the panther snorted.

"Right," Elin snorted right back. "He tried to trick you into the web of the Arachnotaur Queen, but he was still a thief! And you hired him! So you needed a thief!"

The panther slowly rose to his feet, the lighting in the room subtly shifting to cast his shadow across the emboldened lynx's body. "I was against hiring him from the start, and if my comrades had listened to me then we would have been spared no end of trouble. The Arachnotaurs almost killed us all."

Elin quailed a little, but she stayed the course. "You slept with their queen!"

"I-" he hesitated, suddenly acutely aware that he really should have gone through all those stupid books. But there were so many of them, and they were filled with so many half-truths and outright fabrications designed to make the Alleycat look better than his companions. He had never had the patience to sit through more than a few chapters at a time.

"I did not," he finished lamely. "I mean, honestly, she was a giant spider from the waist down. How would I even-?"

The lynx giggled, allowing herself a little crudeness now that she had the panther on the ropes. She did, after all, work in a brothel. Even as a waitress, she had more or less heard it all. She curled one hand into a loose fist, leaving space as if she were gripping something tight, and her arm jerked as if she were stroking something. It was a gesture that needed no explanation.

"Right, sorry," she purred. "So you didn't actually sleep with her. But you still kind of had sex."

Veridia snorted, again seeming as if she were ready to intervene. The husky held her tongue, though. She was far too busy trying not to laugh. Oh yes, she remembered that adventure.

"Against my will!" he protested, his ears slicked back. "She, ah... she had eight hypnotic eyes, and she planned to EAT me after she finished playing with me..."

"Ray-Lynn moaned," Elin giggled. She had been through that novel enough times to remember the passage verbatim. "As the Spider Queen's gracefully tapered fingers curled about his most intimate of regions. Her hands were plated in smooth chitin, just as the rest of her was, but they still felt warm and comforting. It was a far cry from the pain he had suffered at her eight powerful legs, but-"

"Okay," the panther fumed. He moved to circle the table, as if ready to physically oust the lynx from the chamber. "That's enough of that."

Veridia stepped up, her curved and muscular bulk intervening before the wizard could reach his goal. "Stop it, both of ya. Elin, knock it the hell off. Rhae, sit back down 'fore I kick you 'tween the uprights so hard that you can forget about ever havin' kittens."

Rhaelyn snorted - it was a little late for THAT threat. Gale had been comforting, but also rather firm in preparing the panther for the inevitability that he wouldn't be having any-... well, whatever. He didn't want kittens. And it's not like he could get Kira pregnant, anyway.

Still, he backed down. He sullenly returned to his seat, folded his arms against the tabletop, and rested his head against them. Even without The Boots, he knew that a kick from Veridia was apt to put him right through the ceiling. He had already spent a week recovering from his last adventure, and he didn't want to end up in a healer's office again before this new quest had even begun.

He sighed, burying his muzzle against the table. This was going to be one of THOSE adventures, wasn't it? He was going to need to visit the apothecary for more healing potions. Or maybe he could find some kind of magical codpiece...?

Elin stuck her tongue out at the brooding wizard, but squeaked as Veridia suddenly siezed her by one ear. The dogkin easily lifted her from her chair, and ushered her toward the door. "Go home."

"H-hey, no way!" she whined. "I want to help save the world!"

"Home!" Veridia growled, her eyes narrowed.

The lynx sighed - there was no arguing with the bouncer when she got like that. She drooped, peeked back at the wizard again, then mumbled a half-hearted protest. "B-... but, Ray-Lynn's book...?"

Veridia smirked a little, "Keep it. He was just gonna burn it, anyway. Now go home, tuck yerself into bed, and enjoy it."

"Okay," the lynx replied, chewing on her lip again. She still wanted to argue, but she feared she had burned too many bridges already. She mumbled something indistinct, clutched the novel to her chest, and moved toward the door. She paused, though, glancing back with a faint scowl-

"Saga was right. Ray-Lynn IS a jerk."

"Yeah," Veridia chuckled, pushing the feline out the door. "He kind'a is."

And she looked back to the sullen mage, picking up handfuls of scattered applications and pushing them into a pile on the tabletop. "Now, who's next?"

Rhaelyn sighed for the two-hundredth time in one day, shuffling through the few remaining applications. He was trying to pick out the one that looked the least horrible, but it was difficult. They were all pretty bad.

He really should have asked the lynx to leave that basket of muffins before she had left.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

"Where did it all go wrong?"

Kira blinked, her head cocked as she kept one eye fixed on the increasingly drunk fox. They were both sharing a corner table at the Rusty Anchor, where the vulpine seemed intent on drowning his sorrows in some kind of acrid grog.

The hen had bought him a drink, true to her word. Then another. And another after that, but no more. Honestly, that had been more than enough. Apparently two-and-a-half drinks were all it took to turn the vulpine's brain to mush. He had also ordered another mug filled with nothing but ice, but that one was apparently to keep tucked between his legs.

"Um." Kira hesitated. "I don't know?"

"A month ago, I had everything." The foxkin groaned, staring morosely into his drink. The stuff was bitter and a little slimy, but it still hadn't gotten the taste of vomit off of his tongue. If anything, it had only made it worse.

"Er, yeah?"

Kavah bobbed his head again, weaving just a bit unsteadily in his chair. "Last month I had money, and girls - gods, so many girls - and a matched set of..."

Kira clacked her beak sympathetically, hooding one wing out to comfort the poor fox. She waited a moment, but the male didn't continue. Instead, he only hiccuped and continued to stare blankly into his drink.

She tried prompting him. "A matched set of, uh, puppymakers?"

The foxkin leaned back, slouching against his chair - and Kira was quick to pull her wing away before it was trapped in place. "Ugh, yeah. I mean, they weren't perfect. Maybe a little too small fer my likin', and one hung a little lower'n the other, but they were mine!"

The hen nodded uncertainly, still watching the male. Honestly, this conversation was a lot more depressing than she had hoped it would be. If anything, she felt kind of sorry for the fox. Not TOO sorry, given the series of events she had managed to piece together from his half-drunken ramblings, but still. He kind of seemed like a nice guy, and apparently he had really taken the loss of his nut pretty hard.

"Er," she mused. "How big were they? Or, um, are they?"

Kavah snorted, his ears twitching. That was an odd question, but he didn't really care. He was beyond being self-conscious at this point, and it really did feel kind of nice to talk to someone about his woes. "Hn? I dunno, like... uh... maybe the size of big grapes?"

Kira considered that, her tail swaying lazily. "What kind? Harvest grapes? Seedless?" The fox shot her a dirty look at the latter query, but she ignored him. Grinning a little, she held one taloned hand up. Two clawed fingers curled into a loose circle, "This big?"

The male eyed her hand, wavering again. Reaching out unsteadily, he captured her fingers, then adjusted the size of the circle she was making. Not by much, though, but still just a bit larger than she had been implying his nuggets might be. Or, uh, might have once been. He only had the one left now, and the constant parade of sadistic femmes meant that the swelling had persisted for the better part of a month now.

The hen resisted the urge to snicker. Okay, so, yeah. They weren't exactly tiny, but they were definitely appreciably smaller than Rhaelyn's. She pondered on that, absently wondering if there was a direct correlation between size and durability when it came to those odd little organs. After all, the panther had certainly suffered far worse than anything the fox had, and the feline was still fully intact.

'Maybe it has something to do with him being a wizard?' the voice mused.

"Shut up," Kira grunted.

"I, uh-" Kavah wavered, eying the hen. Was she talking to him? "I didn't, er... you asked."

"No," she scowled. "I wasn't talking to-"

Kira paused, smiled, then patted the vulpine's thigh in what she hoped was a reassuring fashion. "Nevermind. But hey, uh, you've still got one left, right? So, like, just take good care of it and I'm sure you'll still be able to have plenty of fun with all the girls you want!"

Kavah groaned again, but he drowned the utterance with another muzzle full of grog. "Yeah, sure, maybe soon as every gal in Ma'Karach stops trying to crush my 'nad to a pulp." He took another sip from his drink, then made a face. It was vile stuff, but it was also the most alcoholic thing on the menu.

"Seriously," he muttered. "It's, like, somethin' that happens every day now. Like someone just flipped a switch, and now I'm the tail-end of some kind'a cosmic joke."

Kira patted him again, her head cocked to the other side. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty sure that Raff - uh, the cheetah - is leaving town next week? So, you won't have to worry about HER kicking you anymore."

Kavah perked an ear, his tail flicking. "Yeh?"

The gryphon bobbed her head, grinning a little. "Sure. She signed up with Rhaelyn, so she'll be coming with us when we head off to save the world." Kira paused, then shrugged. "Or whatever. I still don't know what it is we're supposed to actually be doing."

The fox licked his lips, considering that. Yes it was a relief to know that the ballbusting, half-feral bitch who had tried to neuter him would be gone. Really, that meant he only had to worry about running afoul of The Twins or Cyrena.

More importantly, though, it meant that there would be a wizard's workshop left unguarded. Who knew what kind of treasures he might find in there? Sure it was risky, but with the coin he could make from that kind of heist...

"Huh," he grinned a little. "Yeh, that does make me feel better."

Kira grinned right back. "Good!"

She stretched out a bit, audibly working kinks from her neck. Honestly, looking up at people so often was starting to give her a complex. The chairs were too narrow for her to perch on, and the bartender had been very firm about her not climbing onto the tables. "So, uh, I should really get back. Do you think you're going to be-"

"Tch," the fox clucked his tongue. "Gods, now if I could just get laid. Haven't had sex in weeks."

The gryphon frowned, edging away a few steps. "Er, hey, don't look at ME..."

"Oh." Kavah paused. "I didn't, uh, no offense Kira, but you ain't exactly-"

Kira grinned, nudging the fox with a wing. "Good, 'cuz I'm taken. Besides, the only thing you're getting out of ME is a few drinks. Try for anything more, and I might have to start kicking you too."

The foxkin snorted, glancing down at the gryphon's paws. He couldn't really see how she'd be able to manage that, given her quadrupedal nature, but he wasn't particularly eager to find out. He smirked, nodded, and glanced about. "Sure, yeh, I get it. Plenty of other gals who are ripe fer the pickin'."

He perked an ear, spotting a sullen looking tigress near the bar. She seemed to be even deeper in her drinks than he was, and if he had to guess - and really, from experience he didn't - he'd say that she had just gone through a break-up of her own. In other words, she was the perfect target.

Kavah smirked a little, his tail swaying as he glanced over the feline's frame. Well stacked, thick at the hips, and tall enough that her rack was at eye level. Yes, she'd do nicely. "Thanks fer everything, Kira. Now, uh, if you'll excuse me..."

The hen followed Kavah's lusty stare, snorted, then smiled and bowed out. "Sure. Good luck. Try to take care of yourself, Kavah the Swift."

She padded away, absently wondering what Rhaelyn had gotten himself up to in her absence. She paused, though, stopping at the entrance to throw one last look back toward the bar. Eartufts perked, she shook her head in bemusement. Well, that hadn't taken long.

Kavah was already bent over the bar, the irate tiger's hand buried between his thighs as she apparently seemed intent on working out all her stress on his one remaining ball. From the sounds he was making she was really going at it, and despite the efforts of two other patrons she showed no signs of relinquishing her grip.

The gryphon winced a little, as the vulpine's pitched squeals spiked high enough to cut right across the room. Eesh, she was glad that Rhaelyn didn't make sounds like that when she gave HIM a little squeeze or two. Then she winced again as she could swear she heard something - the foxkin's ball? - crunching like an egg shell. Or maybe that was just the tiger's growling. Or maybe it had just been her imagination?

She briefly wondered whether she should head back over to intervene.

'Nah,' the voice chirped smugly. 'I'm sure he'll be fine.'

Kira considered that, then smiled and shrugged. Yeah, he'd probably be fine. And honestly, she didn't want to discourage other girls from busting the occasional balls. Or, er, ball? It would probably set a bad precedent.

She watched for a moment longer, until the fox had gone limp and the patrons had finally managed to pulled the two beastkin apart, and then she headed back out into the streets of Karash. The hen was suddenly that much more eager to get back to the panther. For the first time, she really was starting to appreciate the wizard's... durability. Maybe if he was done not hiring people, she could even test it out.

After all, she was supposed to be mad at him, right? There was something he had... hrm... well, she couldn't remember now.

Eh, whatever. She didn't need a reason. She quickened her step, eager to get back.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Rhaelyn sighed, absently gesturing toward the wastebin and reducing its contents to nothing more than fine ash and smoldering embers. That was it, the last of the interviews had concluded.

"What a waste of time," Veridia grunted.

The panther shrugged, offering a wan smile. "Welcome to my world, Veri."

He rose from his seat, stifling a groan as he stretched out his muscles once more. His back ached, and he was both tired and hungry. Again, he found himself wishing that he had asked that lynx to leave the pastries behind. Well, no matter, now he would have plenty of time to go find something to eat.

Just as he had expected, they hadn't found any luck. The last twelve or so applicants had been rather pathetic, really, each one somehow proving worse than the last. Rhaelyn chuckled to himself, his ears perked. "Well, at least it was entertaining."

"Hm?" Veridia glanced toward the panther, pausing in her efforts to help clean the room now that they were finished using it.

"Well," he smiled. "That lizard. Ah, what was his name?"

Veri shrugged.

Rhaelyn mused, "Well, you know who I'm talking about. I'm still boggling at his, ah... his demonstration."

The husky smirked, absently sweeping up the last of the errant ash and dirt before adding to the contents of the smoldering wastebin. "Sure, I remember. Thought you were gonna faint when he cut his own finger off."

The wizard shook his head in faint disbelief. "Yes, I can appreciate his intent, but it would certainly have been a more impressive display if it had grown back in minutes rather than days." He paused, looking to the door as it eased open.

"Sorry, we're no longer accepting applications," he murmured absently. Really, he certainly had time for more, but he just didn't have the patience. He was already looking forward to blowing off some steam. Perhaps spending the night with Kira in her rented room over at the Do-Right Inn.

"I'm, ah..." A rather timid catkin - one of the domestic breeds - hovered at he door. She was tall, thin, and moderately curved, with black and white fur set in a distinctive pattern over her entire body. Rhaelyn could tell that it ran across her entire body, because she was wearing a slinky black garment that only seemed to actually cover about ten percent of her frame.

"I'm not here about the job," she said, smiling. She glanced around nervously, then skewed her ears as Veridia noticed her.

The husky frowned. "Tia?"

"Hey!" Another catkin entered the room with far less trepidation, almost crashing right into the first. She stumbled, caught herself on Tia, and both almost crashed to the ground before they managed to right themselves.

The new arrival peered about, her angular ears perked. "Is she here?"

Veridia straightened up, her arms crossing firmly just below her chest. Well, now things were making a little more sense. "Mia."

Rhaelyn's ear twitched. He tried to say something, but words escaped him. Honestly, if he'd thought the first feline was underdressed, the second one was practically nude. He stared for a few seconds, absently wondering how anyone might think it was appropriate to go traipsing about in public wearing nothing but an apron.

Both of the twins shrank a little, their ears skewed and their tails hanging limply in almost perfect unison. Tia spoke up first, having had a full moment longer than her sibling to process the scene. "Oh, ah... hello Veridia."

Mia caught up with her a second later, slinking behind her elder twin as if to use her as a living shield. "Aw, crap."

Veridia crossed the room in three great strides, her hands shooting out like brawny lightning. Both siamese tried to duck back, but the canine was accustomed to handling them, and she seized an ear in each hand.

"Ah! H-... hey!" Tia mewled.

"Watch it, Veri! Ow!" Mia echoed.

"Tiamat and Lamiah," the dogkin growled. She twisted their ears, drawing them up straight so she could eye them each in turn. They were tall - taller than the wizard, anyway - but the husky was taller still. "I might have known."

Rhaelyn blinked, moving over to join the three beastkin once he had shaken off his initial surprise. Sounding a tad confused but with a hint of amusement, he murmured. "Tiamat? And, ah... Lamiah?"

Tia pouted, but she didn't try to pull away from the canine clutching her ear. "It's just Tia."

Mia was less co-operative, trying to twist away, but to no avail. If anything, she just made the canine's hold on her own ear hurt all that much worse. She hissed, her hands hanging off of Veridia's arm, but her attention directed toward the panther now. "Mia! Call me Lamiah again, and I'll kick your balls up into your throat!"

"I, ah-" Rhaelyn faltered, then took a few quick steps back. He glanced downward, along the younger sibling's long, bare leg, then he took another step back for good measure. "Veri, er, who are these people?"

The younger of the two snorted softly. If the wizard thought he had moved to a safe distance, he was sadly mistaken, because she was still pretty sure she could reach him if she just-

Veridia tugged sharply on Mia's ear, silencing the lanky siamese, and she addressed the panther without looking at him. "Mia and Tia both work at The Cat House with me. Elin's their sister."

That was a curious thought. The panther arched a brow, his tail curling like a question mark as he glanced over the barely-clad twins. They were, what, one of the so-called domestic breeds of catkin? One of the eastern types, if he- ah! Right, they were clearly siamese. But, if he recalled correctly, Elin had been the adorable and, er, voluptuous lynx, so...

"Ah," he murmured. "Adopted, I take it."

"I'll show YOU adopted," Mia muttered.

Tia jabbed her sister with an elbow, trying to hush her. "Mia, that doesn't even-"

"What," Veridia sighed, "are you two doing here?" And a pointed pause, as she glanced downward. "And what the hell are you wearing?"

"Oh," Tia huffed softly. "W-well, we were in a hurry, so we didn't have time to... ah..."

"Work clothes!" Mia scowled, looking completely unapologetic. She twisted about, finally managing to work her ear free from the husky's grip. As the canine tried to regain a hold, the younger twin quickly retreated across the room as fast as her long legs would take her.

"S-so, er-" Rhaelyn quickly averted her gaze. Okay, yes, now he was trying not to stare at the twins. He had been wondering if the, ah, Lamiah? Yes, he had been wondering if the one named Lamiah had been wearing anything under that apron, but now that he had seen her from behind he could safely say that she was not.

Now that he thought about it, he was starting to see how these two might be related to Elin.

Veridia glanced back toward the panther, then smirked a little as she noted the position of his hands. Was the mage getting an erection? Honestly, he really needed a girlfriend. "Sit down, Rhae. This'll only take a sec."

"Oh, well-" The panther fidgeted, then nodded and quickly moved back to his seat. "Yes, of course."

Tia huffed again, hanging limply from Veridia's grip. "We can explain, Veri. Just, ow, if you could just ease up on- ow!"

Mia perked, a sly grin settling onto her muzzle as she spied the retreating panther. No, Veridia wasn't the only one who had noticed the staring, nor was she the only one to notice the panther's sudden embarrassment. She darted across the room, ducking beneath the dogkin's lashing arm, and promptly flopped into the seat opposite from the flustered mage.

"So," she purred. "We were thinking about signing up for, like, saving the world and junk?"

Veridia rolled her eyes, but she relinquished her grip on Tia's ear. Instead, she settled an arm heavily about the elder sibling's thin shoulders, and walked her over to the table where the younger siamese was now sitting. "Izzat so?"

"Ah, n-... no..." Tiamat murmured. "She's just, um, we're actually just here for..." And she fell silent as the husky's eyes settled back on her. Gods damn it, they were going to be in SO much trouble.

Mia, on the other hand, seemed unperturbed. She leered over at the panther, her eyes bright and her ears perked as she settled her elbows to the tabletop. She shimmied a little, absently trying to adjust her apron so she could show off more of her modest cleavage.

"Well," she purred. "We might not be adventurers, but Tia and me, we can still offer a lot to a big, strong hero- OW!"

The husky growled, one hand firmly tweaking the younger sibling's ear again. "This ain't The Cat House, Mia. Now, one of you tell me why yer here, or I'm marching you both back to have a word with yer mother."

Mia pouted now, but she still took a quick moment to lick her lips and wink at Rhaelyn. Sinking in her seat a bit, she shifted her position so she could-

"Oh, um..." Tia faltered. Veridia turned her attention to the elder twin, and the siamese fell silent once more. She was clearly terrified of drawing the canine's wrath. The husky sighed, then forced a smile as she tried to put the smaller feline at ease. Anything to get her to finish a sentence. "W-... well..."

Rhaelyn suddenly squeaked, pushing up in his chair as he felt something nudging him under the table.

"Shut up, Rhae-" the husky growled. "I'm handling it."

"B-but-" he stammered, now quickly sliding up out of his seat.

Veridia snarled, her ears slicked forward as she eyed the mage. Honestly, now she had to wrangle both the panther AND the twins? This was getting to be a headache. Still, at least she knew how to get HIM to listen to her.

"Sit down," she growled softly. "And stay quiet." And she glanced downward, snorting softly as she noted that, yes, he definitely had an erection now. "Or I will castrate you."

The panther seemed ready to protest, but then he sighed and quickly sat back down. Damn it, why was she mad at HIM? He wasn't even sure why she was mad in the first place! Then he squeaked again, as-

Mia snickered softly, trying her utmost to look like rainbows, butterflies, and pure innocence. Despite that, however, she still managed to look every bit as sleazy and impure as possible. Slouched in her seat a little, she watched the male's face as she quickly slid one bare footpaw back between his thighs - forcing it back into place, even as he tried to squeeze his thighs together.

"So," Veri growled. "Tia?"

"Well, ah, it's all a big misunderstanding, but..." the elder twin fidgeted and squirmed, her gaze fixed firmly on her toes as she tried to explain. "Um, we might have been talking to Elin today, and-"

The panther squeaked again, and this time his chair scooted back against the wooden floorboards as he tried to-

"Veriiii," Mia pouted. "He's moving again!"

Veridia turned her dour gaze back to the mage. What in the world was he DOING over there? He was obviously embarrassed, and his paws were folded over his lap. He wasn't, er, trying to feel himself up under the table, was he? That didn't sound like him, but... she frowned, then relinquished her grip on Mia's ear so she could tap the table firmly. "Rhae, hands on the table. Now. And sit still, or I'll MAKE you-"

"F-fine, sorry," the wizard scooted back up to the table reluctantly, set his paws to the tabletop, and sighed. He winced, his ears skewed a little as he felt the feline across from him quickly slipping one padded foot up against his crotch again. Damn it, she was relentless. And shameless.

Mia licked her lips, whiskers twitching as she purred a little smugly. Her foot flexed, her nimble toes pressing over the panther's crotch as she quickly found that bulge she was looking for. Pinning it to the squirming male's stomach in one deft motion, she started rocking her ankle so she could awkwardly stroke along the underside of his obviously excited manhood.

Hey, he was cute and she was bored. If she was going to be in trouble anyway, she might as well have a little fun first.

Rhaelyn uttered a soft groan, his head lowered and his muzzle planted against one hand. He kept quiet, though, or as quiet as he could manage. Maybe if he just ignored the siamese, she would get bored and stop.

Veridia eyed the panther for a few seconds longer, then looked to Tia instead. "Now what the hell's going on?"

Tiamat fidgeted, her tail lashing behind her as she clasped her paws together. Her gaze was averted now, her eyes absently studying the wallpaper patterns, the potted plant in the corner, and even that mirror which - oh, goodness, what in the world was her sister doing beneath the table to that poor panther?

She blushed, and hoped to all the gods that Veridia wouldn't notice. "W-well, um, we were talking to Elin this morning, and..."

The canine grunted. "Mm-hm?"

"And, ah, we MAY have mentioned that," Tia blushed a little harder now, sneaking another peek at the mirror. Embarrassed or not, she had to be impressed with how nimble her sister's toes were. "There was, um... that there might be an adventurer here at the Drunken Dragon?"

"Really."

The elder siamese paused, her ears hanging limply as she nodded her head a little. The dogkin may have SEEMED calm, but she knew better. In the three years since Veridia had started working as a bouncer at the Cat House, the former bounty hunter had made quite an impression on her 'new family'.

Tia sighed, sticking her tongue out a bit. "And, we may have told her that, ah, he was..."

"Hey," Mia snorted. She tilted her head back, grinning up at both of the beastkin standing behind her. She flexed her toes again, absently trying to - ah, there it was. "Don't drag ME into this! This was all Tia's idea!"

Rhaelyn stifled another soft squeak - had she just? Ah, damn it, how in the world had she managed to undo his pants with just one foot? He might have been impressed, if he weren't so mortified. As he felt those soft, padded toes curling back against his crotch he tried to hold his breath, but it was getting increasingly difficult not to groan aloud. Especially now that - ah!

Mia giggled a little, her eyes half-closed as she absently drummed her fingers against the tabletop. Below it, she finished working the panther's erection out of his modest cotton undergarment. Rolling her ankle again, she caught the bobbing organ between two toes and - oooh, as her foot brushed against his nethers again, she finally managed to catch the soft bulge of his sac beneath her rounded heel.

Seemingly oblivious, Veridia growled low. "So, yer sayin' that the two of you-"

"Just Tia!" Mia protested smugly.

Tiamat sighed, absently swatting her sister upside the head. "Thanks a lot."

Veridia rolled her eyes, continuing. "So you're saying that YOU gave Elin the idea that she should dress up like a tramp and stroll on over to-"

The elder twin pursed her lips, whiskers twitching. Like a tramp? That didn't sound like- "Wait, what was she wearing?"

The canine snorted, her tail flicking with irritation and the slightest hint of amusement. "Some leather get-up. Like a dominatrix in an outfit five sizes too small for her, uh, ample frame." As if she were one to talk. The dogkin had to get all of her own clothes custom-made, although in her defense she was much, much larger than the busty little lynx.

Tia snorted a little herself, trying not to giggle. Ah, and here she had thought the lynx would never actually - yes, both of the twins had seen her working on the outfit from time to time, but to think that she would ever find the nerve to wear it in public? Perhaps they were finally rubbing off on her.

From the sounds of it, Mia agreed. She purred, her eyes still fixed on the swooning panther's face as she worked her foot against him. The ball of her foot was pressed firmly to the underside of the male's shaft now, as she firmly but carefully ground up and down along that length. Her toes were curled over the bulbous tip, and her heel rocked ever-so-carefully over those warm, plump organs that were caught beneath it.

"Mmrrr," she practically moaned. "She must have been... quite a sight."

Rhaelyn drew in a sharp breath, and nodded his head mutely. Okay, damn it, now he was picturing the lynx again. And here he was thinking that he couldn't possibly get any harder. His arms curled against the table and he put his head down, his face hidden.

Veridia arched a brow, fixing her gaze on the panther again. What in the world was he-? "Uh, Rhae? You okay over there?"

"Just tired!" he groaned, his reply muffled against the tabletop. "Been, ng... working all day..."

Mia clucked her tongue, leaning forward to reach across the table. She played her fingers lightly over his closer ear, stroking about the edge for a second. "Aw, you poor, overworked hero."

The dogkin frowned again, glancing back and forth between the two beastkin. She was starting to think she was missing something, but she just couldn't-

"So, um," Tia hastily started talking again. It was a desperate attempt to keep the husky distracted, and it worked. "We were thinking that if, ah, if Elin came down here to talk to some real adventurers, she might..."

Veridia rolled her eyes, her attention settled squarely back onto the elder twin. "She might what, come down 'nd sign up for the first suicide mission she could find?"

Tia pouted again, her arms crossed self-consciously. "Well, no, we thought he might be a jerk. I, ah, he IS a panther after all, and a noble, so we were hoping that-" She paused, blushing a little once more. "No offense, Ser."

Rhaelyn grunted, but said nothing. Gods, if this went on much longer, he was starting to think he might actually orgasm. Er... but would that be so bad? No, he again reminded himself that he was currently dedicated to Kira. It was a non-conventional relationship, but it was a relationship nonetheless. He wasn't like the Alleycat, juggling as many mistresses as he could possibly manage at once.

He sat up a little, trying to even out his breathing. No, this had gone far enough, so it was time to-

Mia frowned, her ears twitching forward as she promptly drove her heel down onto the panther's soft glands. They were a bit larger than she was used to - something that she certainly wasn't going to complain about - but they were also just as soft as any male's pair.

The mage uttered another soft squeak, his eyes crossed a little as the feline's heel pressed his left testicle far too firmly to the unyielding seat of his chair. His head lowered again, his shoulders slumped, and he stifled a wavering moan. Yes, well, he was just going to sit here and take it, then.

Veridia arched her brow again, glancing sidelong at the panther. "Rhae, if yer really that tired, maybe you should go on home."

"N-... no," he mumbled. His voice lilted and cracking just a little as the younger siamese pressed her heel down again in warning. This time a sharp ache shot through his right kittenmaker. "I'm fine, nf... right here..."

The husky frowned and opened her mouth to say something, but Tia quickly cut her off. "So, ah, we were hoping that it would be an unpleasant experience for her. So that it might, well, discourage her from trying it again in the future?"

The canine sighed, her head tilted back as she gazed up at the ceiling. Yes, she supposed she could see how Tia might have thought that would work. Still, it had been a foolish thing to do, and now it was Veridia who would have to deal with it.

"Well," she grumbled. "At least yer heart was in the right place."

"S-... so...?" Tia murmured nervously. "Where is she?"

Veridia smiled a little, easing her grip on the smaller feline's shoulders. "Well, you were right about one thing, at least. Elin didn't make a very good impression. I sent her back home, which is where you two should be."

"Yes ma'am," the elder twin mumbled.

"Aw, but-" Mia tried to think of a way she could protest. What would possibly give her an excuse to stay a little longer, so she could keep teasing and tormenting the cute little panther? She kept working her ankle, awkwardly stroking along the male's length while now keeping her heel pressed firmly down atop his sac and between his balls. She could feel the soft organs squashed up against his inner thighs, and was ready to grind them far more firmly the second he tried to ruin her fun again.

"Come on," she murmured uncertainly. She was half-talking to herself, and half to the panther. Really, if she could just get him to go off, she would be far less reluctant to head back home with her twin. She just hated to leave things unfinished.

"But what?" Veridia frowned.

"Oh, uh-" Mia grinned a little, her pink little tongue swiping over some of her sharper teeth. "But you can't really blame Elin for being so excited. You're always telling stories about, like, how great your adventures were. Really, this is kind'a your fault."

Veridia hesitated, her ears suddenly skewed. Maybe she HAD encouraged the lynx a little too much. She was always proud of her stories, but then again she also often wished that she had been able to enjoy a more mundane upbringing. Elin had the advantage of a civilized life, amongst people who loved her. The half-breed husky had been raised amongst warriors, who were expected to serve their Queen with unflinching loyalty even after death.

She sighed, glancing to the elder twin. "Is that how you see it, Tia?"

"Well," the feline chewed her lip for a moment, her own ears skewed as well. She understood that her sister was just trying to buy a few more moments, but honestly - that ploy had been a bit below the belt. Er, not that Mia could ever really be expected to aim any higher.

Thankfully, the door crashed open before she had to finish her thought. It swung wide, hit the wall, and bounced back so quickly that it almost swung shut on the gryphon who was trying to walk through it.

"Agh, hey!" Kira headbutted the door back open, muttered something about all the handles being WAY too high, and then let herself in.

"Oh, hello again Miss Gryphon," Tia smiled. But then she frowned, her ears slanted forward and her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Your directions weren't very good."

The hen paused, her eyes wide. Oh, so the twins HAD found their way to the Drunken Dragon. Tch, well, that was a little awkward. She sighed, then glanced around evasively. Wait, who in the world was the giant dog? And, wait- her eyes narrowed rather suddenly.

Mia cursed under her breath, one ear slicked to the side as she glanced back toward the door. Damn it, the gryphon was quadrupedal - that meant her head was low enough that she could see right under the table. The feisty feline quickly withdrew her inappropriately placed footpaw, leaving the panther hanging precariously at the edge of orgasm. Still...

She shot a subtle glance toward the panther, who now had his eyes fixed squarely on the hen. Had he gotten a little harder when she had walked into the room? Or, er, no... he had already been as hard as possible, but there had been a definite twitch. Was he one of THOSE kinds of beastkin...?

Rhaelyn just groaned again. Oh good, maybe Kira would kill him quickly and put him out of his misery.

Veridia was startled, but she recovered quickly. Offering a toothy grin, she smiled down at the much, much shorter gryphon. "Oh, hey, you must be Kira. Rhae's been talkin' about you."

Kira perked at that, but her eyes were still fixed beneath the table. Priorities. Politeness would have to wait. "Really? He hasn't mentioned anything about you."

The canine's ear twitched, but she quickly brushed off the hen's brusque reply. "Oh, well, uh... I'm Veridia. I used to run around with Rhae, savin' the world every other wee-"

The gryphon forced a smile, her head lifted as she fixed her big, avian eyes on the imposing warrior. She wasn't in the least bit intimidated, and she gestured toward the door with one wing. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Veridia, but I don't have time to talk right now. Could you, uh, give me and 'Rhae' the room for a few minutes?"

Veri paused, then nodded politely. "Er, sure. I gotta get these two spoiled brats back home, anyway. Need to sit them down, so I can give them a stern talkin'-to."

Tia sighed, and beside her Mia stuck her tongue out. "Boo."

"Quiet," the husky snorted. She set a hand back to Mia's shoulder, then hefted the lanky feline out of her chair and onto her feet.

The younger twin squeaked in surprise, almost loosing her footing and spilling back to the ground. Ah, damn, her foot was slicked so badly with pre-cum that she could barely grip against the floor! Out came her claws, and she anchored herself more firmly.

Veri eyed her for a moment, then frowned. "Have you been drinkin'?"

"Oh, yes-" Tia quickly blurted. "We, ah, both had a few ales. Goodness, we've been so terribly naughty today." And she scowled at her sister, her tail flicking with irritation. "Some of us more than others."

The canine sighed, then turned both felines about before herding them toward the door. "Fine, home now. Gonna have to talk to yer mother about this."

"Ow, okay, we're going!" Tia protested.

"Oh, wait!" Mia protested, suddenly pulling from the husky's grip. "I lost a sandal!"

The younger twin ducked back, crouching near her freshly abandoned seat. Fishing about beneath the table, she came up with her missing shoe - and she lingered for a moment. She purred smugly, eying the panther's hands as he awkwardly tried to cover himself. Tch, she'd just have to finish him off some other time.

"Hee, bye Ray!" Mia giggled, straightening back up and skipping over to her sister. She peeked back to give the muttering panther a wave. "Stop by and see us some time!"

Veridia paused near the awkwardly silent gryphon, offering an apologetic smile. "Take good care of Rhae, woul'ja? Poor guy's been workin' his tail off today. Guy's nearly passed out from exhaustion."

"Oh," the hen chirped. She smiled back up at the dogkin, so widely that the corners of her beak hurt. "I'll take GOOD care of him."

The warrior chuckled, bobbing her head slightly as she proceeded out of the room, both of the Twins firmly in her grip. She was no expert, but she rather suspected that Kira and Rhaelyn were more than just friends. Honestly, it wasn't that easy to sneak such things past her keen female intuition.

Still, maybe she would have to borrow that book from Elin. For, uh, confirmation. And maybe a little research on just how that worked, mechanically speaking.

Kira waited until the three beastkin had left, then nudged the door shut once more. Stretching up, she planted one taloned hand against the wall for balance, and used the other to click the latch into place with a firm and decisive 'click'. It was a little ominous.

The panther swallowed hard, hastily trying to get himself tucked back into his pants.

The hen wheeled about, still smiling sweetly as she worked her way around the table. "Sssso, 'Rhae', how'd the rest of the interviews go...?"

"I, ah-" he almost whimpered, his hands fumbling with his belt. He really couldn't imagine how the siamese had managed to undo it so deftly with nothing but her toes. He was both impressed by the feline's dexterity, and terrified about how the gryphon might react to what she had seen.

"Kira, wait, this isn't- I mean, that wasn't-"

"Hhssh," Kira shushed the male with a hiss of breath. One taloned finger reached out to flick his belt back open, and she purred. "Don't worry about it. I've been thinking about you."

Rhaelyn uttered a soft sigh of relief, although he was still more than a little apprehensive. On the other hand he was also harder than he'd been in ages, and so close to an orgasm that it was almost painful. If the hen was feeling playful, he certainly wasn't going to question it.

The gryphon grinned, tugging at the male's pants with her talons. "Come on, get down here on the floor. I can't really get at you when you're up there." She perked, looking thoughtful. "Was that catkin really trying to get you off with her foot?"

"Er..." The panther tensed again, and even moreso as Kira gently fished his rigid length back out of his undergarment. A sharp tug on the organ was enough to spur him to motion, and he obediently slid out of his seat to instead settle onto the floor with the hen. "I, uh... I guess so. It was, ah, actually pretty awkward. But I don't think-"

Kira glanced back, peering at one of her own hindpaws. Her thick toes flexed against the ground, her ankle rolling experimentally. Her leg wasn't built like a bipedal feline's was, but she was still fairly certain she could grip something between her toes.

She planted a hand against the sitting panther's chest, pushing him back firmly. "Hey, lie down. I want to try something."

Rhaelyn hesitated, but then smiled as he settled onto his back. Well, that was certainly encouraging. Really, he was starting to think that the hen might be maturing a little. And hey, he wasn't going to complain about finally climaxing, either - or with the idea that Kira might learn yet another way to pleasure him.

The hen stretched out, grinning as she studied the prone panther's frame for a moment. Oh, that was a familiar sight, and one that she'd never quite get used to. She casually worked her way upward, straddling over the mage with three of her four limbs, one hindpaw settled lightly between his thighs. She leaned down, gently nuzzling at the male's muzzle in a gesture that was almost-but-not-quite a kiss.

'Oh,' the voice giggled gleefully. 'We are going to stomp on him SO hard!'

And Kira smirked, her head bobbing ever so slightly as she peeked downward, trying to line up her target just right. Below that eager erection, and right atop her favorite little targets. Or, no, her favorite... medium targets? Yes, she had a new appreciation for the male's size as well.

Saving the world could wait until tomorrow. For the rest of today, the panther was all hers.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

"The hell do you think's goin' on back there?"

Gange Southpaw fixed his one good eye on the bartender, sharing his fellow tiger's grin. He glanced over toward the door to the back room, then at the front door. Sadly, those three lovely femmes were now out of sight. A shame, too, because they had looked particularly good from behind. Especially the one in the apron.

"Dunno," he leered. "But I gotta get me some o' that."

"Well, okay," the bartender paused, absently wiping a glob of Gange's spit off of the bar. He really needed to get a spittoon, so the one-armed tiger would stop spitting all over everything. "I get the, uh, twins. And the big gal's kind'a hot, too, in a scary sort'a way. But what's with the gryphon?"

Gange considered that, then shrugged. "Dunno. Guess you get bored when you can have any babe you want. Hell, I'd hit it at least once, just t'see what its like." And he grinned a little wider, his tongue absently playing over a few of his broken teeth. "'Sides, you were awful quick to let her back in. Thought you banned her?"

The bartender snorted, one bent ear twitching. "Sure, but did you see those claws? No way I'm going to argue with something like that."

They both went silent for a moment, as a muffled *THUMP* could be heard from the back room. It was followed a split second later by a pitched mewl, and then a few seconds later by the wavering groan of a mortally wounded beastkin.

Gange twitched his one good ear, his brow arched. "The hell was-?"

"Oh!" came a muffled voice, just loud and surprised enough to be heard more clearly. "Come on, Rhaelyn! It's everywhere! Ugh, it's in my fur and- damn it, it's going to take me hours to clean off all my feathers."

The bartender's ear twitched again, busying himself with wiping down the bar. He ignored the low groan that filtered through the cracks around the door, instead focusing on his work. "Not my problem. He paid good coin for the room, so he can do whatever he wants in there."

Still, he had to wonder.

Wizards. Honestly.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Elin panted for breath, gingerly lowering herself down from the wall. It had been quite a climb, but she had still made it with relative ease. She was, after all, as nimble as a cat. That was all thanks to the amulet, and its effects on her otherwise awkward anatomy could not be understated.

She froze as a few guards passed nearby, each bearing a torch to illuminate the darkness of night. They wore light armor, tabards emblazoned with the crest of Clan fa Soren, and wickedly sharp looking swords. Thankfully, they didn't seem to notice the catkin crouching in the bushes, and continued along their patrol route without pause.

The lynx peered across the grass and stone of the courtyard, trying to pick out the best path to follow. It wasn't terribly hard - she had been here before. It was almost two years ago, of course, and she had only been delivering a case of imported wine. Still, she had spent so long wandering the grounds in search of the servant's entrance that the layout seemed fresh in her mind.

She darted from shadow to shadow, performing an admirable and entirely unnecessary shoulder-roll as she finally reached the base of the manor house itself. It was a move she had practiced often in the privacy of her own room, when her sisters weren't around. She just wanted to try it out on an actual heist, to see if it might really work.

To be honest, it wasn't that great.

Now she had dirt and grass in her fur, and her cuirass had been knocked all crooked. She took a moment to brush her body clean, readjust her 'armor', and then - ah, damn it, her dagger had fallen off of her belt. She looked about, then darted back out of the shadows to retrieve it where it was lying against the grass.

No, she wasn't going to bother with THAT move anymore. A shame, because she was sure it had looked pretty cool.

She turned her attention to the wall now. Her eyes flitted from window to window, until she picked out one that glowed with a faint blue tinge. Yes, that would be the right one. It was a little silly, but she knew that wizards loved non-conventional lighting. Blues, purples, greens - those were almost always a sign of magic. At least, according to the articles she had studied.

Unfortunately, the window she had picked out was on the third floor.

Elin licked over her lips, then perked an ear as she spied the vine-covered trellises evenly spaced along the exterior of the manor. Oh, yes, those would work nicely. She moved along the wall until she came to one, then nimbly scaled the wall. It creaked and swayed a little beneath her weight - and she cursed her curves for the thousandth time - but it held.

Once she had scaled high enough, she peered sideways. The window was still a good distance away, but she was a cat. That wasn't really a big deal. Especially not with her magically bolstered agility.

She reached out, gripping a support beam that ran diagonally from wall-to-roof, and swung out just far enough to catch her other hand against the window ledge. Gripping the handhold tightly, she dropped down to plant her other hand against the ledge as well. Her toes curled against the wall below it, her boots planted firmly, and a precarious balance was achieved.

Now... what had the articles said about this? Ah, yes, there was a ninety percent chance that a wizard would ward every potential entrance leading into his home. And according to chapter sixteen of The Saga Begins, the wizard Ray-Lynn favored-

No, she caught herself. His name was Rhaelyn. She was going to need to relearn all the characters names, now, once she found out what they really were. She was going to have to find time to write up a list of questions to interrogate the panther with. You know, once he was both her friend and fellow adventurer. She was rather looking forward to that.

So, according to the novel, the wizard Rhaelyn favored Type-V wards. Saga himself had disabled one of them, once, when he had stolen the Key of Destiny from the wizard's house. Er, this house, then? It gave her the shivers, thinking that she might actually be walking in the Alleycat's footsteps.

She squinted, carefully studying the window above her. Yes, there it was. Barely visible against the crystal-clear glass, she could pick out a spiderweb of lightly etched runes. They were only present on the bottom-left pane of glass, right near the latch, but she had to assume that it was more than enough to deal with most intruders.

She groaned a bit, settling her weight against her toes and one gripping hand. It was a precarious position, but she needed one arm free. Her clawtips set to the runed glass, the carefully fitted cutting caps pressed to the smooth surface, and she twisted her wrist. There was a soft scrape of metal-on-glass and the soft spark of improperly discharged magics, but nothing more.

Grinning to herself, Elin rapped her knuckles smartly against the marred glass. A circular chunk roughly eight-inches wide fell away, taking most of the runes with it. She reached through, undid the latch, and then gingerly eased the window open. It swung outward, so she had to shift her grip and duck low before she could swing it fully out of the way.

She purred a little, but made a conscious effort to dampen the sound. It was hard, though, because she was just so damned happy! She had snuck about he Cat House before, stealing the occasional snack from the kitchen after midnight, or the occasional coin from particularly stingy tippers, but she had never broken into a mansion before. Especially not a mansion where a wizard lived. And CERTAINLY not a mansion where one of her heroes lived! Even if that hero WAS kind of a jerk.

Elin grunted softly, hefting herself awkwardly up and over the window ledge. Rolling into the room beyond, she landed neatly on her feet. She promptly froze, trying to take the room in all at once - to make certain that she hadn't disturbed anything.

A small part of her had half-expected to find half a battalion of soldiers lying in wait, spears and swords at the ready. Thankfully the room was devoid of life. It was not, however, empty. No, there were dozens of things. Hundreds of things, even, and she wanted to look at each and every one of them! And to touch them! And to smell them! Or, er, no. That would be kind of creepy.

She drew in a deep breath anyway, and almost sneezed as she caught a lungful of some pungent odor. What was that? Expensive cologne mixed with exotic spices? Whatever it was, it was almost overwhelming. It reminded her of an apothecary's shop.

The lynx moved lightly about the room - it looked like a laboratory of some sort, or perhaps a reading room. A dozen bookshelves were set to the walls, each one covered with ancient tomes, colorful bottles, and mystifying artifacts. Tables were cluttered with tools and equipment, both magical and mundane, and a comfortably appointed sitting area was set up near a desk stacked high with writing supplies.

Elin drifted to one of the doorways, peeking through the slight crack between door and frame - and she froze again. Her ears twitched, perked up alertly as she picked out faint voices. She rocked one way, then the other, trying to get a better view into the next room.

Oh, goodness. She drew in a soft breath and then held it. The fledgling thief had come expecting to find a few bewildering things. It was, after all, the home of a wizard - and a powerful one at that, if the books were even remotely accurate. Still, she didn't remember any of the books mentioning that the panther might have tiny people living in his bedroom.

She watched them for a moment, with rapt attention. There were three, each one less than a foot tall, and they seemed to be - what, having a tea party? Yes, that's certainly what it looked like. There was a tiny dogkin, a lizard-thing, and the last one looked like a bird of some kind, and they were clustered together around what looked like a prop taken directly from a dollhouse.

"Chaos, this is stupid," the dog-shaped one muttered.

"I don't know," the bird replied. "This is kind of fun!"

The dog, glimmering with an odd metallic sheen, scowled and looked into the tiny cup in her hand. "There's not even any tea! And even if there was, we wouldn't be able to drink it anyway, so what's the point of-"

The lizard threw her hands in the air, her own empty cup hurtling out of her grip. "Change places!"

Elin winced, her ears flattened back. Even from the next room the tiny lizard-thing's shrieking was so loud that it was almost painful. What in the world were those little people doing?

"I, what-?" The dog-creature grumbled in confusion as the lizard pushed her around the table. "Okay, uh, right here? No?"

The bird blinked in confusion as well, but she got up from her tiny chair, walked around the table, and sat in another one without question.

Something clicked into place in the lynx's brain, and she had to actively prevent herself from squealing with sudden excitement! Those had to be the Statues of Morality! She vaguely recalled them from one of the earlier novels, The Cult of Pure Darkness. The wizard, Ray- er, Rhaelyn, had recovered the statues toward the end of that novel. There had been some hints that they were both important and powerful, but they had never been mentioned again in any of the subsequent books.

She watched them for a moment longer, then forced herself away from the door. She had more important things to focus on - namely, finding some way to prove her worth to the panther. It was the same exact thing that Saga D. Cat had done in The Saga Begins, the first book in the series.

When Saga had first met Rhaelyn, the two had absolutely hated each other. However, they had still worked together to save the world - but only after Saga had stolen something from the panther. A magical key. According to the book, the panther had considered it nothing more than a curiosity, but the Alleycat had known the secret to what it unlocked. At first the wizard had pursued the thief as if he were a criminal, but when he learned that the key would open the fabled Vault of Secrets...

Elin smiled to herself, briefly letting her mind wander over the events of that first story. It had been a good one, and the book that had first gotten her addicted to fantasy fic- er, no, they were actually historical texts, now weren't they? Or autobiographies? Not that she had ever suspected as much when she had first started reading them.

Regardless, her course was clear. She would simply find something important to, er, borrow. Then she could return it to the wizard in the morning, to prove both her skill and her integrity. There was no way that such a cunning plan could fail! Not if the stories were to be believed, at any rate.

She set her hands to her hips, scanning the sitting area. Now she just needed to find something that looked like it might be worth taking. No simple task, given the hundreds of strange objects neatly sorted and filed onto the shelves and tables. She had little to no actual magical talents, and certainly couldn't detect auras, so how was she supposed to tell what was important?

The lynx twitched her ear ever so slightly. It was a nice room, and the things in it were so nice, and the music - oh, how had she not noticed that before? There was something soft in the air, but she couldn't see the source. No, it had to be magical. Only something arcane could be so soft and soothing. Ears perked, she traced a path across the chamber in search of the music's origin.

Oh, what was that? Elin paused near a writing desk. There were a few letters piled on it, and even more heaped in a rubbish bin. She wrinkled her nose at the pungent stench of burnt paper and scorched ink. What had really caught her attention, though, was the odd package that was set to one side. It seemed to be the source of the music, and she... maybe she could...

She reached for it without thinking, and one by one a series of angry runes flickered to life along the desk's edge, but one by one they flared out without having any obvious effect. That seemed odd to her, but the thought was a distant one. The twine and wax paper, neatly refolded and retied, fell away at her touch as if aged a thousand years in a second. A lead box lay beneath, a crude but effective locking rune scratched into its surface, but again it barely impeded her. She wasn't actually trying to open it, but the box cracked apart as if she were meant to.

"Oh," she drew in a soft breath. It was beautiful. There were odd cloves and petals and fragrant pieces of black incense, but amidst the pile was a pendant. It was a square-cut stone, polished to a black sheen with a strange symbol etched into each of its five facets. It was mounted against a silver backing, and hung from a thin chain of - what was that, mithril? Orichalcum? Adamantite?

It was already in her hand, although she couldn't for the life of her remember having picked it up. Yes, this would do. This was probably an item of some import, and-

Elin held her breath - or maybe she had already stopped breathing a moment ago? It wasn't something she consciously thought about, but it suddenly felt like her lungs were burning. Her skin was tingling, and every single strand of fur on her body was standing on end. The facets of the cut stone were glimmering, and within those inky black surfaces she could see things. So many things.

Her brow furrowed. Yes, there was a blood-colored forest with near-feral creatures lurking just out of view. A cavern, lit only by the glow of hot magma, once home to something powerful and ancient. There was a crumbling tower with something dark and impossibly dangerous dwelling within, surrounded by an army of magical creatures. She finally exhaled, the air frosting as she did so. Oh, there was a glittering pile of treasure, and atop it lounged a beast of both infinite beauty and mind-numbing terror.

"The dragon," she murmured to herself with a voice that wasn't her own. "Yes, that will do."

"I told you I heard something!" a tiny voice huffed, but the lynx didn't look up.

"GET HER!" another voice shrieked, loud and tiny and laughably unintimidating all at once.

"Hey!" yet another voice growled, closer this time. "You are trespassing on the private property of the Clan-"

Elin clutched the amulet to her stilled chest, and in a sudden shimmer of rent space she was gone. The air where she had stood seemed wrong somehow, and the rug she had been standing upon was marred by two blackened bootprints. If not for those, it might have been easy to believe she had never existed in the first place.

"Of, um... of the... Clan..." the animate idol, the one shaped like a diminutive dogkin, faltered to a stop. Her head swiveled about, glowing eyes scanning the room. Had she just imagined the intruder? No, that was physically impossible. She wasn't programmed to have an imagination.

"I'll get her!" the lizard-thing shrieked, bounding into the room with impossible momentum. She crashed through a chair ten times her size, bounced off of a wall, and punched through one side of the toppled wastebin. None of that fazed her in the least.

"Chaos Ma-mmf!"

Angie tackled her, holding the lizard-thing's mouth shut. "No! No chaos magic! Bad Chaos! Bad!"

Teleportation was a risky thing at best, and a death wish for most. Yes it was true that the Idol of Pure Chaos could somehow do it, but true to her nature it was wildly unpredictable and impossibly accurate at the same time. She would end up exactly when and where she needed to be, but 'needed' was such a relative term.

Last time she had ended up in a bank vault fifty miles away, just in time to catch one of the clerks illegally altering financial records. The time before that she had ended up in the attic fifteen feet distant, beneath a leak that had cut through the shingles. And the time before that? Well, she wouldn't talk about it, but apparently she had ended up in the ocean. She wasn't sure which one. She claimed to have ridden a dolphin back to shore, and to have been carried back to the house by an errant hawk, but the others had their doubts.

The dog-thing lept up onto the desktop, the entire piece of furniture shuddering under her tiny frame and improbably heavy mass. Her eyes narrowed, artificially armored fingers quickly sifting through the scatttered pile of dried leaves and charred incense. Try as she might, though, she couldn't find what she was looking for. What she had been charged to guard with her artificial life.

Angel Sparkles held onto her sister, desperately trying to keep the squirming Idol of Pure Chaos's mouth shut as she peered up after her other sister. "Lega? What is it?"

And Legalia, the Idol of Pure Law, uttered a sigh. She had no lungs, but she sighed anyway. It was what living creatures did in situations like this. Situations where gloom and doom loomed high overhead. Hopeless situations where no solution was immediately evident, and inevitable destruction seemed imminent.

"Oh," Lega grumbled. "Ser Rhaelyn is going to be SO mad..."

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Kavah groaned, stumbled against a stained brick wall, and then crashed through three trash bins that had somehow found their way into his wildly wavering path. He tripped and fell, his landing cushioned by the freshly spilled trash. It wasn't much of a comfort.

He was dizzy, and pained, and still half-drunk from the evening's binging. Sure it had only been a few drinks, but they had been drinks intended for a beastkin three times his size. If anything he should have been dead from alcohol poisoning, but he had always considered himself to have a high tolerance for punishment.

Of course, that had been before he had returned to Ma'Karach. He had since revised that opinion.

He moaned now, and quickly scooped the half-melted ice he had spilled across the cobblestone floor of the alley. There was a bit of trash mixed in, but he didn't care. He gathered as much as he could find and pushed it back into the pewter mug he was carrying. It wasn't for drinking anyway. It was for his crotch, to keep the swelling down.

Honestly, of all the beastkin he could have run into - of all the cute little tigers he could have hit on - what were the odds that it would be Milandra? He had dated her- well no, that wasn't accurate. He had SLEPT with her during one of his previous visits to the thrice-damned city. It had been, what, two years ago? Three? She had looked different then. Younger. Less fully developed. More innocent and naive. He vaguely recalled having told her something about taking her away to some ridiculous fantasy land, where she would be a queen and he her prince.

Of course, then he had slept with her older sister. And her best friend. And, what, her tutor? Yes, he was fairly certain that the exotic looking ocelot had been her calligraphy tutor.

The fox coughed, pressing the chilled mug to his groin again as he pulled himself up. A hand planted to the wall, and he shuddered. Well, she had certainly gotten him back now. He had been right in guessing that she had just broken up with someone, but she had also recognized the thief in under five seconds. Apparently she had decided on the spot to that he was an ideal target to vent her frustration upon.

He shuddered again, almost falling. He caught himself this time, and shook himself vigorously in a vain attempt to recover his bearings. Damn, when Cyrena had squeezed him it had been harsh but still vaguely playful. With the tiger, though, it had been vicious - she was like a thing possessed, as if she were working out years of anger and betrayal in an instant.

Kavah winced, reaching down to cup himself - and not for the first time since he had regained consciousness. Thankfully his one good testicle was still there, right where he had expected it to be. Yes it was swollen and tender, and so painful that he could feel blackness tugging at the edges of his waking world, but it was still there. That much was fortunate, at least, and more than a little surprising. He could have SWORN he had heard it crunching like a freshly shelled walnut when it was in the spurned feline's grip.

Gods, he had to get out of this city. He would do almost anything at this point, even if it meant moving to a distant monastery with only crusty old monks for company. Or maybe even going to prison- he paused, an ear twitching at that thought. Okay, no, he wouldn't do ANYTHING, but he was getting there.

He was going to need to find somewhere to sleep. He couldn't afford a room, and sleeping outside of the city's walls was practically suicide, so-

"Nf," he grunted. His heart froze, his blood running cold. What had he just run into? Oh gods, it wasn't that cheetah again? Or the twins? Or Milly? There were thousands of beastkin living in Ma'Karach, but he just kept running into the ones who wanted to castrate him. How many more ex-lovers could he possibly encounter in a single week? Five? Ten? Fifty? He would never survive that much abuse.

"Hmf," the obstruction grunted. The fox forced his head upward, taking in the sight. His hands stayed low, though. He was starting to learn how things were likely to play out, and he absolutely refused to let himself get kicked in the ball for a fifth time in one day. Or, er, a fourth time. Milly hadn't really kicked it, so much as she had pulverized it in an iron grip.

The figure rose up, its black cloak billowing and its face obscured in the depths of an impossibly deep cowl. A long staff, smooth and white with a thousand runes etched into its surface, was interposed between the fox and the newcomer. It glimmered oddly in the moonlight, almost seeming to move of its own accord even though it was being held perfectly still by one black-gloved hand.

"Er," the fox backpedaled a few steps, stumbled, and fell flat on his tail. He winced, rubbing his rear with one hand and trying to ward off the stranger with the other. "H-... hey, look, I don't want no trouble or nothin'..."

The figure raised his other hand, palm upward. It was empty, but for a small pile of fine ash, but even as the thief watched the ashes - against all logic - burst into flame. With a flash of green light, the ashes coalesced into a burning piece of paper, and a second later the flames went cold - leaving a rumpled but fully intact sheet of parchment where the ash had been.

"Kavah the Swift?" the figure rumbled, in a voice both deep and sinister.

The fox eyed the paper, then looked back to the figure. Was that his application? He could have sworn that had been burned. He scrutinized the figures face - it had to be a wizard, but was it the same wizard? His night vision was excellent, but he just couldn't seem to pick out the stranger's face under all that shadow. It was like he was gazing into a hole that had been cut into the world.

"I, erf... y-... yeh?"

There was a long pause. An uncomfortable silence that seemed heavy enough to crush stone, but finally the figure spoke again.

"I have a job for you."

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

The Cat-House was empty and almost silent. Almost silent, that is, but for the creak of floorboards and bedsprings. It was well after midnight now, and the common area had been closed off for the night. The only customers that remained were those who had paid for an entire night, and they were sequestered off in the private chambers on the upper levels, along with whatever company - male, female, or otherwise - that they had paid for.

In the bar, however, two beastkin remained. One sat nervously in a wooden chair, her back strait and her tail flicking anxiously. The other was sprawled out on her back, draped across one of the tables with a half-finished mug of mead in her paw.

"This sssssuuuuuuucks," Mia groaned. She wasn't supposed to be drinking - she was being punished, after all. But what the hell. If they were going to leave her unsupervised in the common area, then she was damn well going to drink.

Tia sighed, her head lowering as she rested her chin on her hands. She remained silent, but that didn't mean she disagreed with her sister's assessment of things.

The two had been marched back home hours ago, and then everyone had taken turns yelling at them. First Veridia had yelled at their mother, then Lena had yelled at them, then their mother had yelled at them, and then Veridia had yelled at them again. There had been so much yelling that everyone had even taken a break to quench their parched throats with ale, before they went back to yelling.

Well, everyone but the twins. They were being punished.

Elin hadn't come back to the Cat House before them, nor had she come back after. In fact, it had been hours now, and it was starting to look like she might not be coming back at all. Their mother had been very firm that they were to wait at the bar until the lynx had returned, and that the instant she did they were to bring her upstairs so she could be yelled at as well.

Of course, now they weren't sure what they were supposed to be doing. Veridia had been waiting with them at first, brooding and watching them with her angry, scary eyes. But then she had been called away rather suddenly, by a- well, neither of the twins were really sure what it had been. A fairy of some kind? A tiny little bird-thing, like nothing they had ever seen before.

Well, whatever it had been, Veridia had taken the message in private and had then left in a hurry. They were told to continue waiting, and so that's what they were doing. Waiting, and waiting, and waiting. At least it was better than being yelled at, but only by the thinnest of margins.

It had been hours, long and boring, and the only thing that had granted the slightest reprieve was when Milly the waitress had come storming in. The tigress had thrown a few chairs, flipped a table, and then claimed an entire barrel of beer before going upstairs to lock herself in her room. Tia had tried to talk to her, but apparently she wasn't interested.

"Maaaaan," Mia groaned again, one leg shifting to hang halfway off the table she was lying on. Her foot kicked a little at the air, as if to work out her frustrations on an imaginary set of stress balls. Not that it made her feel much better, given the circumstances. "Mom's gonna kill us."

And Tia sighed again, her shoulders slumping so far that her muzzle almost hit the table. "... yes she is."