CINNIBAR AND MYSTIC

Cinnibar scrunched her eyebrows in exasperation at the faded, curling handwritten script in the book laid out before her. "Quills of an endangered exotic Bird", she exclaimed "They'd be joking wouldn't they, I mean how is one supposed to get close enough to an endangered exotic bird to pluck it?" She sighed exasperatedly. "That's it chook feathers will have to do." she said defiantly, waking her Cat Mystic who had been sleeping soundly in the sunshine, as she swooshed past her in a rush for the backyard.
This Old Book of shadows was really starting to put a kink in Mystic's whiskers, interfering so in one's nap time. For the last week he had heard only whining and cursing at the array of incredible ingredients required for these ancient spells. Frankly Mystic was of a mind to scratch holes in that nasty, musty old tome.
Cinnibar was back with her feathers and momentarily sated as she added them to her inventory. Several minutes passed in relative peace with only minimal fussing around by Cinnibar as she gathered her goodies. Though now and again she asked Mystic most un-feline questions like "What do you think one might addle ingredients with- is here a addling button on the blender?," and "Do you suppose that a sorcerers whisk is any different from a regular kitchen whisk?" without waiting for an answer as she read further down the crackled, brown pages.
Mystic was thinking it was surely time for afternoon tea- he rather fancied a nice bit of fish paste on a cracker (though naturally he only planned to lick the paste off the cracker as if it were a convenient serving plate.) He thought he might weave around Cinnibar's legs a while and see if he couldn't give her the afternoon tea message.
She laughed gently with surprise as she felt his silken fur against her leg and then scooped him up lovingly. Mystic thought himself rather clever and was impressed at how well things were proceeding when he suddenly caught the look in her eyes. "Mystic I was just going to look for you," she cooed, "Be a good kitty now. I just need four of those magnificent whiskers." Suddenly Mystic lost his appetite and tried to squirm out of her arms and out of harms way, he was proud of his whiskers and not at all keen to be parted with them.
He was definitely going to shred that blasted book now.

Lady Nemesis 2005