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Chapter 148: Potato

Later that evening, Faelen walked into the communal showers with Geoff after a heavy workout and some kung fu practice. The evening workout with Nathanial -- who kept his workout light -- Nick and Aunt Aoife was mostly a pretext to keep the Marks pups downstairs and distracted while everyone else worked at clearing out Lily's office. Micah wasn't allowed joining them because he hadn't finished a school project yet. Conor had tried to get Garret to stay away, too, but Garret insisted on helping as he could -- which sounded like he'd be sorting through the objects once they were brought to the reception room. Some Spirits from the Halifax Clan would be by tomorrow to take it away.

Most of the small objects had been packed up by Uncle Ciaran, Granny Lorena, Eirne, and Granny Sorcha earlier, so it took little time for Poppy Faeden and Da to clear out the heaviest furniture. They came downstairs to work out some more just as the teens (and one preteen) were about to start kung fu. Poppy Faeden and Da were very quiet, though they tried to keep their emotions hidden for the sake of the Markses. Faelen could smell how horrified they actually were, despite having been in that room before. Both of them launched into their workouts as if they could banish the spectres of what they'd seen. On the plus side, Faelen didn't think he'd ever seen Da lift that much without manifesting; it was rather impressive and scary.

Faelen stopped Nathanial shortly after they started going through some forms when he noticed Nathanial smelt faintly of pain. Some subtle movements and expressions indicated the Akita's head hurt a bit. Nathanial didn't even object much; he knew it was a hopeless battle given the expression on the other people in the room. Aoife asked Nathanial about recipes and some meal plans to catch his attention, and the two quickly showered (with Aunt Aoife using the bathroom shower rather than the communal one) before going up to the kitchen to look at his recipes on the kitchen computer.

Geoff took a shower on the far wall, so Faelen turned the faucet on in the shower in the same corner. Faelen could hear the family computer in the adjacent room; Micah should be doing homework, but it sounded much more like comedic videos playing than something school related. Nathanial must be quite distracted by going over those recipes with Aunt Aoife.

His boss stuck his head under the water then exhaled noisily to clear the water from his pink nose. "Liam still sleeping?"

"Yeah. It's not a deep sleep, so I bet he'll wake up sometime in the next hour to meditate." Faelen braced his paws against the wall before sticking his own head in the warm water and let it cascade down his back. Damn, that felt good. He'd been trying to increase his flexibility, with moderate success, but it really made his muscles burn after intense and long workouts. The sound of water splashing across the tiles indicated Geoff had turned around. He was probably facing Faelen and deciding what to say. "Yes, it is odd, Geoff. I still find it weird being able to tell what he's feeling most of the time. I didn't need to think about it this time because I've been paying close attention to how he is most of the evening."

"It must be convenient, though."

Something about his tone and scent struck Faelen as odd, so he turned his head and cracked an eye open. Geoff was still an indistinct white blur through the water dripping over Faelen's left eye, but his posture was so familiar that Faelen didn't need details. The posture was one of uncertainty, worry, and powerlessness. Geoff was thinking about Nathanial, and how Geoff wished he had Faelen's ability to know where his_boyfriend was and how he was doing and feeling. "At times. It's also a double-edged sword, Geoff. You shouldn't waste your energy on wishing for something that _should be impossible, but rather be glad your da and Garret are so accepting of your relationship -- that it's far easier for you to take care of Nathanial than it could be."

Geoff rubbed his paws over his brow and back across his head, creating a louder splash of water behind him. "Yeah, I know." The morose tone said far more than the words did. His boss was falling into another funk. It was understandable, but it added too much onto an already over-emotional household.

Speaking of over-emotional, Nick padded in. The poor pup hadn't recovered from his fright this afternoon at all, and the only reprieve he had was when something provided some major distraction. The exercise had helped burn off some of the adrenaline, and the sight of the very fit Wolves working out occupied his mind. Now that both were over, Nick's worries consumed him again...until he saw Faelen leaning under the shower with water cascading down his back. Nick's appreciative gaze travelled from Faelen's back to his front, and fixed on the streams of water that ran around his sides to gather at his groin before spilling off of Faelen's thick sheath and heavy sac. Nick quickly moved to the shower next to the Mist Spirit's.

The Demon Mage's ears twitched toward the wall behind him while he adjusted the water temperature. "How's Sensei?" Thinking about Liam seemed to bring Nick's mind back to his oldest brother; the pup's tail drooped.

Faelen shrugged. "Sleeping. He'll be fine. He took some medication, so it'll take him a bit longer to recover without help--" and Faelen fully intended to 'help,' "--but he should be almost back to normal by morning. He'll be up to taking care of Nathanial, don't worry."

Nick's disdainful expression said that was an incredibly stupid thing to say, and yes, there were many reasons to keep worrying, but Faelen knew they could handle them together. "As long as something else doesn't come up. I can't get too mad at Sensei for overworking himself, since Nats is the main beneficiary of it, but he needs to take care of himself, too." The Akita didn't say anything more; he just turned and stepped into the warm water, raising his face into the spray. Faelen had no response; Nick was right.

Behind the wall, Micah's current video was of some comedian. "...This is a Scottish person talking to you right now. Hello. How are you? It's nice to be here. This would be an Irish person--"_The comedian's voice became very squeaky. "--deedle-dee-dee, potatoes." His voice returned to normal. _"There. Did you catch that?" Micah burst out laughing, and the sound of the computer chair clattering to the floor drew both Geoff's and Nick's attention.

Geoff stopped pumping shampoo from the dispenser. "What was that?"

Faelen could hear only one pawstep out of many, but all three could easily hear the heavy thud of Micah missing the open doorway to the gym and slamming shoulder-first into the trim. _"Ow..."_The scrabbling of claws on tile was almost lost beneath the showers as Micah set into motion once more.

Dirk's puzzled query indicated when Micah tore through the change room. "Is everything...?"

Micah skidded around the corner into the shower and his pads lost traction on the steam-slickened tiles. His hindpaws slipped out from beneath him and he slid across the narrow room to stop in a pile in the corner. He tipped his head back to look at the three teens upside down. _"Geoff-Geoff-Geoff-Geoff!"_He scrambled to right himself without pausing. "Say 'potato!'"

Nick's jaw dropped in utter confusion. Geoff's did, too, and he struggled for a few seconds to find his voice. "Uh...what?"

Micah managed to twist around enough to spring to his hindpaws. "No! Say 'potato!'"

Faelen feigned ignorance. "All right, Micah. Calm down." He mimicked the comedian's faux-leprechaun voice. "Deedle-dee-dee, potato." He switched back to normal. "What's this all about?" He wasn't much of a comedian, not like Poppy Faeden or even Da, but it was his duty to do whatever he could to help Geoff. Adding some humour to an overly serious evening was the least he could do; besides, he really liked making pups like Micah and Gwen happy.

Micah's eyes grew huge and his jaw dropped before a smile engulfed his face. Faelen could well imagine the pup thinking, 'Oh. My. Gods,' before gales of laughter burst out from him. "Potatoes!"

Geoff and Nick kept looking back and forth between Faelen and Micah, completely lost. A smile danced at the corners of Geoff's muzzle as Micah continued to laugh, but Nick almost looked disappointed in Faelen. Nick really needed to loosen up. Faelen planted his paws on his hips and glared at Micah. "Oh? So you think the sacred Irish potato is a laughing matter, hmm? The great deedle-dee-dee potato is the most holy of tuuu-bers and the life-giving spud of antiquity! All hail the deedle-dee-dee potato!"

Da and Poppy Faeden sprang around the corner, naked of course, and cried in the same squeaky voice -- or as best as they could manage, "Potato!" Faelen had expected Poppy Faeden to join in somehow, but he was glad Da did, too. He'd never forget all the antics these two would pull in order to make Geoff or Gwen laugh. Avery would often be torn between tearing a strip off them and laughing herself into exhaustion. Da had been way too serious this last month.

Micah sagged against the wall before sliding down it hugging his belly. _"Po-po-po-potato! Bwa-hahahaha!"_Geoff couldn't hold his own laughter back any longer.

Faeden threw his arm over Da's shoulder and began singing to the tune of Oh, Holy Night. "Oh, holy spud. The pot is hot and boiling"

Da copied his father's action and ad-libbed the next line. "It is high time the spuds were all peeled."

They both sang,

"Long let them boil

In heat and moisture cooking

'Til they are smeared

And the cream settled through.

A thrill of mash; the hungry world rejoices

For spuds are good; a fine and filling food.

Fill up your bowls

Oh, eat the mashed potatoes

Oh spuds divine

Oh spuds when oats were gone

Oh spuds divine

Oh spuds, oh spuds divine."

He was really impressed the two managed to create a whole song about potatoes of all things right off the cuff _and_do it together like they'd rehearsed it. Given that it was Poppy Faeden, perhaps they had... Why, Faelen couldn't even begin to guess.

Finally, Nick began to laugh. Faelen would've really worried if that didn't work. How could someone not laugh to see two naked men singing about the glories of potatoes together in the shower? In mock fury, Faelen turned on Nick, with his paws still planted on his hips. "Och! You find the--" He jigged a few steps of a Highland dance. "Deedle-dee-dee Irish _potato_funny?"

Da and Poppy Faeden mimicked the voice and dance. "Potato!" They still had their arms over each other's shoulders as they did that, but had their outer arms akimbo.

Micah cried out from his rocking ball on the floor, "Po-po-po!" He couldn't catch enough breath to get the full word out.

Faelen raised his paws into the air and shook them like he saw some evangelist or other do on TV. "Aye! We have a pup whose eyes have just been opened to the glories of our divine deedle-dee-dee potato!"

The two adults cried out again, _"Potato!"_They were acting the fools wonderfully, but their scent said their hearts were still troubled by the cause of the gloom they worked to lift. Protecting and serving the McDougals went beyond just their physical needs, and Faelen's da and grandda lived by the lessons they taught him.

Faelen resumed his Highland dance as he kept up his 'sermon.' "Yea, though I walk through the shadow of school, I shall fear no hunger, for the potato has filled me! Can I hear a tuber?" He pointed back to the adults and they obliged him wonderfully. He pointed toward Nick and Geoff. "Tuber!"

They struggled to speak, but managed to choke out, "Tuber!"

Faelen pointed over at Micah and stopped. The Changeling was a tight little ball on the floor and barely rocked back and forth as he struggled to get a breath. "Er... I think we should stop before we break him."

"Po..." The weak gasp between outbursts set Poppy Faeden off into paroxysms of laughter. Nick slid down the wall to sit on the floor, too.

Faelen trotted over to Micah and crouched down beside him. "Hey, now." He gently rubbed the pup's ears. "Shh, just relax and try to breathe slowly."

"Po-po..."

Faelen shook his head even though Micah's eyes were squeezed so tightly shut he couldn't see a thing. "No. Breathe."_What would be something that'd calm him down without scaring him or ruining the happy mood? He didn't have to think for more than a split second. He leant in 'accidentally' letting his balls brush Micah's paw and whispered, _"Penis."

The small paw rolled over and stroked the heavy sac. "Ooh... penis..." Micah's eyes opened and quickly moved down Faelen's wet body. "Mmm..."

Faelen stood up before Micah recovered enough to molest him. He hadn't forgotten the time Micah spied on Geoff and Nathanial's first time together, followed by Micah grabbing Faelen's dick and sticking it in his mouth. Micah still convulsed with bursts of laughter, but at least he was breathing.

The Mist Spirit trotted back to his shower and lathered his fur with a gentle shampoo. With luck, and a bit of effort, perhaps this levity could break the heavy mood that had settled on the house. Faelen smiled down at Nick; the pup had, for the moment at least, forgotten his troubles and acted like any normal young teen.

---

Micah's eyes snapped open, and it took a lot of effort to not leap out of bed. If Nick wasn't curled up next to him, he would've. Gah, beds. What a waste of time, when he could be having fun in instead.

Micah focused his magic to activate his Fey Sight, and the dark room suddenly snapped into full clarity. Carefully, oh so carefully, Micah eased out from under Nick's arm and leg. Once free, he rolled around to look down at his brother and playmate. Nick's fur was all mussy from their fun two hours ago, and bits of cum had dried on his sheath, but Nick still looked so handsome. His muzzle had started to lengthen as adulthood approached, and the exercise he got a lot of now had added a bit of mass to his lean frame. But...

Around Nick's neck coiled a bone choker pulsing with Demonic energy, like it really was trying to choke him. That energy wasn't confined to the bone, either. Tendrils spread out from Nick's neck, winding their way through his whole body. Bright bands coiled around spots in his body; on the 'net Micah found they were various glands and stuff, like the adrenal glands, and the hypo...thalamus? part of his brain. The biggest concentration, of course, was around Nick's balls and penis. That Demon energy made Micah want to cry whenever he saw it, but he knew not to. Nick was having enough_trouble handling it without seeing Micah all upset. Nats, too. At least Micah could _also see Nick's normal energy keeping it in check.

Micah gently smoothed out some of the ruffled fur on Nick's cheek and leant in to kiss Nick's nose. He whispered, "I do love you, Nick, and not just like a brother should. I love you." A tear dripped from his eyelashes and splashed on Nick's nose. It crinkled up, and Nick sneezed. Micah hastily backed away and scrubbed his eyes.

Oh, well. Enough of all that. Micah climbed off the bed and spun about on one hindpaw. Nyx was calling! He lightly sprang to his door and slipped out into the dim main room. Micah's ears twitched around, as did his eyes. Nats and Geoff were sound asleep all cuddled together. Sensei and Faelen were sleeping, but Micah couldn't say 'sound asleep' about those two. They slept very lightly. Those four had enough power that his Fey Sight could make them out even with walls in the way. Unfortunately, the wards around the basement blocked off the upstairs, so he couldn't tell if the visiting Spirits were up and about or not. Meh. Once he was outside, they weren't likely to see him, anyway.

Micah skipped toward the back door. The home alarm system wasn't attached to anything in the basement; it didn't need to be. If the back door was locked, then nothing from the outside was going to get in. The wards would make sure of that. He paused at the door. What game to play? Hmm? Well, he was inside, so why not start with 'home defender'? It'd be just like when that army of Demons camped outside trying to stop them from rescuing Nats's soul. That was fun -- well, except for Nats being captured. Sensei ran on the fog! That was so cool! Micah punched and kicked at the air around him pretending he was beating up Imps like Sensei did. 'Wham! Pow! Kraka-thoom! Die, evil Demon scum! Face the justice of my ancient kung fu fists!'

Micah silently turned the deadbolt back, and cracked the door open juuuust enough to break the wards. A wisp of chilly fog spilt in through the thin gap along with the excited whispers of some Frost Sprites. They said someone was out there! Woohoo! This should be fun!

Wait. Micah looked back over his shoulder toward the main room. Should he get someone? What if it was Gordon? What if it wasn't? That'd mean he woke someone up for no reason. It could be one of the Spirits. The Sprites twittered at him again. Nope. Just a Fur. Micah could handle that.

Operation Scouting Super Micah Power Acorn Boy was a go!

He cast a minor figment illusion to make it look like the door stayed closed when he went through, and another one to let him blend into the background. Micah slipped through the door and out into the shallow fog. It was so pretty! The moon was half-full, the lawn was blanketed in fog up to his waist, and everything above the fog sparkled with a layer of frost. Six Frost Sprites skated on top of the fog, letting traceries of ice crystals form behind them and drift down. Micah cast _Summon/Unsummon_to bring the key to the back door from his room; he locked the door and sent the key back.

Now, where was this Fur? He ducked beneath the fog and cast about. He chortled after a mere second. There. On the far side of the lawn, just behind the stone wall, he saw the pitifully weak flicker of a normal Fur moving about. His Fey Sight didn't let him see what was happening there; only the threads of life and magic glowed enough to be picked up through fog or walls. This Fur wouldn't be a Knight or anything, so he likely wasn't a threat. Micah could just ignore him, but what fun would that be? Here was a playmate practically begging to be played with.

Micah dropped to all fours in his stalking posture. His tail made the fog swirl about as it wagged, and the Sprites twittered joyfully as they skated around the choppy waves of mist. His rump began swaying with his tail as he prepared for take-off. GO! He scuttled forward at top speed, springing across the dips in the lawn, but always taking care to stay beneath the fog. The Sprites' laughter escaped in staccato bursts of noise as they pursued him and occasionally fell over when a wave of fog caught them by surprise.

Super Micah reached the stone wall in five minutes flat. 'Hah! Beat that, Geoff! See how fast you are on all fours!' The strange person on the other side of the wall clanked and clattered like some tin man as he fussed with lotsa junk. It sounded like a ladder and other stuff. Weird. Why would he need a ladder? It's not like the gate was locked. Why was he trying to get over here anyway? Only the Knights and Hunters, amongst the Furs, had any sort of problems with his family. No thief would try to rob them with all those stories of Nats in the news. Like, really._Nats jumped out a window and across a _road. He juggled _grenades_for fun when facing down a bunch of 'terrorists.' Who'd be dumb enough to try to rob his house? So who was this person?

A light flicked on in the kitchen. This stranger -- dang it, now Micah couldn't talk to him; Nats told him lots_of times to not talk to strangers -- quickly climbed up the ladder. Huh. That was _really weird. Shouldn't this guy have tried to hide and _not_look over? The window was too far away for Micah to clearly see who was in the kitchen, but the Spirit's energy said it was a guy, and his build was too lean for anyone but Ciaran. Micah liked him; he was really nice, if quiet.

Micah took a deep breath and pushed his wings out. It always felt weird, and not a nice-weird like pulling his sheath down past his knot. His magic gathered around the muscles in his back and shoved them around into new positions. Some of the muscles grew while others split and attached to new places. Then, his skin pulled apart. It didn't hurt at all; it felt similar to his bum opening to take in a penis, or his sheath spreading around his knot, but there weren't any of the good feelings in it, either. Just...opening. Then -- boom! His wings rolled out and stiffened into their flying position.

He cast his invisibility magic; Micah wasn't sure what sort of magic it was. It wasn't even 'casting' like a spell he really knew. He just wanted to be invisible and -- poof -- he was. Granddad said Nymphs could do that naturally, so it was probably just something he could do, and not Fey or Mage magic. Micah magic. A quick hop, a couple flutters, and he stood on top of the wall.

This guy, a Polecat, had a huge camera pointed at the window. A couple of clicks snapped through the still night air, but the sound was quickly swallowed by Nyx. She didn't like sounds disturbing her peace for long. Her blessed darkness was a time of mystery, and Micah _loved_mystery.

He crouched low again, and skulked along the wall toward this weird photographer. Maybe he'd like to take pictures of Micah. The Changeling was clad in just in his fur right now, so maybe those pictures could quickly switch to sexy times. If this Polecat didn't want to, Micah knew he could convince him in short...

Micah stopped stalking his oblivious prey and sat back. No, no convincing. He wouldn't hurt anyone like he did Faeden. Faeden had enjoyed it, really enjoyed it, while Nick and Micah kept their influence working on everyone, but once it stopped... Poor Faeden. He'd hurt_in a way Micah hadn't thought possible, and _Micah was the one who did it. The Changeling looked at the Polecat again. No. No matter how big he was inside those jeans. Now, if he started it...that was a different matter,entirely.

The cold stone chilled Micah's bottom through the puppy fluff very fast, so the Akita bounced up into stalking mode once more. Closer. Closer. So close. Micah stopped stalking when his nose almost tickled the Polecat's ear fur. The guy still stared through the lens at the illuminated window. Ciaran had filled the kettle and now chopped something at the island. Another Spirit walked into view and the guy's camera went *click*, *click*, *click*, and then super *click-click-click* a whole ton_of times in a row. This Spirit... Micah turned his head and squinted at the swirl of magic and life threads. It was _close to Faeden's pattern, but different, too. It was too far away to see clearly, and the bulky shape blocked so much light from behind him that Micah couldn't make out the fur colour. It wasn't Dirk, that was easy to say for sure, so it was probably Mr. O'Conall, um, Aedan O'Conall.

Aedan picked up another knife, and Micah saw Ciaran's quick motion -- probably coupled with an exclamation -- followed by Aedan putting the knife back down. The bulky Wolf moved out of sight, returning a few seconds later with a bowl and a carton of eggs. Breakfast. Mmm... Micah's belly rumbled.

He rolled backward along the wall just as the Polecat nearly leapt out of his fur. The stepladder shook and clattered ominously; the Polecat almost jumped up to the top rung and clung to it with his hindpaws and left paw. His right paw swung the camera about below him with the flash set on a steady light to illuminate the forest floor below them.

Micah clapped both paws over his muzzle to keep from laughing. That looked hilarious! The Polecat musta thought some badger or dog had growled, and not a belly. Dummy. He looked so funny trying to cling to the top of the super tall stepladder. The claws of his large hindpaws kept scraping loudly on the plastic cap as he shifted around trying to see what made the noise.

The Changeling tipped his head to one side. Five claws? Right! Polecats were Mustelids, and were plan...plantigrade! He learnt that last year in health class. Canids and Felids were about the only digitigrade Furs; the rest were either plantigrade, like Bears and Mustelids, or unguligrade, like Bovinids and Equids. He also learnt that 'Bovinid' and 'Equid' were the proper names for members of the Cow family -- including Sheep and Antelopes -- and Horse family, just like Canid was for Dogs, but he thought it really sounded odd. Anyway, this was one of the ways Furs related to their feral counterparts, and scientists pointed to it as a sign of evolution. If a feral was digitigrade, so was the relevant Fur. Some people got upset at this, but Micah thought it was neat. Even with all these roads and houses and phones, people were still able to see that nature was never that far away; it was part of everyone.

He watched the Polecat slowly relax and move down from the top rung. 'Now what?' Surely there was some way to keep this fun. This weirdo looked through his lens again, but Ciaran and Aedan mustn't have been doing anything interesting because he carefully put the camera on the wall. He climbed down, pulled out a camouflage mesh...thingy from a bag and began setting it up while periodically checking to ensure nothing interesting was happening inside.

Micah put his wings away to save his magic. He walked along the wall peering at the camera, the bags down on the forest floor, and the odd things this person was doing. It was obvious he was settling in to watch the house for a long time. There were food and drinks in one partially open bag, just junky stuff, though. It was equally obvious he meant no real harm, either; Micah didn't see anything weapon-like, and the guy had no magic. So, he was just a photographer. That meant he was here for the same reason the people were last time: to get pictures of Nats and his family. And that_meant Nats would be beyond furious when he saw this Polecat. No matter what camouflage or magic hid the Polecat from sight, it wouldn't be enough to hide him from Nats. Hmm, maybe not, though -- the Nats being furious thing -- 'cause Nats was mad that they followed Nick and Micah home, and they were _already_home. He didn't have to worry about the photographers scaring Nick and Micah out into traffic, so maybe Nats would just tell the photographer to go away. Maybe. It's not like Micah could do much without using magic and he _wouldn't_Charm this person without good reason. Conor was right, using Charms on people was making them act against their nature and that was wrong. But... Nats had terrified Nick, and it really hurt to see Nick so scared. _*Sigh.* There just wasn't much he could do without hurting someone or seeing someone hurt.

The photographer quickly set his camouflage blind up, and then began tearing branches off of trees a short distance away. Poor trees. It wasn't like sticking them in the blind would help anyway, he was just being mean! Well, when Furs were mean, the Fey played pranks, and that was just what Micah was going to do.

The next time the photographer went to get more branches, Micah hopped down from the wall and rooted through some of the bags. The food one had an insulated bag in it, besides the chips and pop, with three warm thermoses and a sub sandwich. There was another camera in a separate case, some spare batteries, a tablet computer, more lenses and all that junk. A third bag had some warmer clothes and stuff in case it got colder. This guy was _really_prepared to stick around for a long time. Jeeze.

Photographer dude was coming back so Micah slipped away and set out for prank number one. He knew a small burrow where a couple garter snakes had settled in for winter, but he also knew it was too shallow and unprotected for them to survive. Thankfully, Micah had found a nice and toasty place to put them. It took him only two minutes to find the fallen log they'd settled under; the log had hollowed out and wouldn't keep the burrow from freezing. He carefully reached in and pulled the first snake out. She was almost a full metre long! Micah wrapped her around his neck, knowing she'd stay asleep for a while, despite his warmth. The next two were much smaller, only forty and fifty centimetres respectively. 'Heh, heh, heh.' This should scare the bejeebers out of him when he went to get his coffee or whatever and grabbed a waking-up snake!

He skipped back to the ladder happily. The Polecat was back up on his perch watching the house, so Micah quietly opened the insulated bag and stuffed the snakes inside. They were hibernating, so he didn't worry about leaving it open a crack.

Now what? He didn't want to miss the photographer finding the snakes, so it had to be a prank he could do with stuff here. 'Hmm...' Micah scanned around. He could put pinecones on the ladder rungs, but that might make the guy slip and hurt himself. Micah didn't want to hurt anyone. Well...if the guy needed to go pee or something, he wouldn't do it here because it might be too stinky, and he wouldn't go towards the gate, so that meant it'd be the other two directions.

Micah smiled and wiggled his fists in front of his face in lieu of clapping. This would be so funny! He slipped around to the other side of the ladder and oh-so-carefully drew magic threads all through the undergrowth. They were as sticky and hard to see as spider silk but as strong as that viney weed called vetch. Micah had caught his hindpaws in vetch lots of times and it really took a good yank to pull them free. Those tendrils weren't even sticky. Mr. Photographer would be all tangled and freaking out because of spiders, and it'd be so hard to get free. Let that teach him a lesson about hurting trees. Meany.

With two lessons now in place, Micah climbed up a tree to get back onto the wall. He perched there intently watching his quarry. Now, to wait.

Micah flopped backwards to lay spread-eagled on the top of the wall. 'So. Bored.' By night and moon, would this guy never_go get a drink or pee? He just sat there. Staring. Waiting for someone to walk by a window. Gods. Booo-_ring. It'd been, what, five minutes? That long?

The sudden click of the camera caused Micah to perk up and turn his head to look at the house. A bunch of the Spirits' energy moved about the kitchen; more of them were up and it looked like breakfast was done. Breakfast! Micah rolled off the wall and landed lightly on the ground beneath the fog. Hidden from sight, he stopped his invisibility and tore toward the house. Food! Everything else was completely forgotten.