Quest: Love Me [Kazifel] [Finished OMG FINALLY]

[Kari Muffin]

Kazifel had never been in the middle of nowhere. Even in Corvistowne he had access to all of the supplies he needed. This was something completely new to him. Not like it was something horrible. Just something different that he needed to get used to.

He waved at the neighbor a bit. Then Femi explained the interesting situation. "That sounds..." Kazifel started but wasn't entirely sure how to finish. Her dead daughter's girlfriend? That was probably one of the weirdest things to relate anyone too. "Ignoring her sounds like a good plan."

Apparently everyone had some sort of interesting quirk in the Wood. If getting lost was normal, and people associated others with dead girlfriends and daughters, how couldn't everyone have some sort of story. It was almost like Corvistowne, except there were a lot more trees. This was the first time in his life that he actually missed home, and it wasn't because of Cassiel. Strange. "This village certainly is pretty."

[The Jenn]

"It is pretty," Femi agreed with a little smile. "You have to keep villages small, you see, because then everybody knows everybody else and can watch their movements with a smaller degree of suspicion and mistrust. Or, well, sometimes more, but at least it's a different kind. When the settlements start getting bigger, they attract the attention of predators and Rabbits and nasty visitors who manage to make their way in and all sorts of unpleasantness like that."

She took his hand happily in her own, warm paws curling around stiff wood, and started humming a little. There were several other people out and about despite the unusual breeze and the chill. Most of them had a nice thick layer of white fur to protect them, though there were also feathers and one particularly noticeable skink who was staring mournfully at his tail. Which was on the ground. How bizarre.

Continuing on the little 'road' or path through the center of the few residences, things became a bit nicer and larger as they moved to the other side of the village. It only took fifteen or so minutes to see every single building in the immediate area. On the other side was the house that he would remember as Femi's parents' as well as several other larger manor-type houses. Outside of one, sitting in a cage against the side of the house with open bars, crouched the human from before. He wore minimal clothing, short pants and his collar, and shivered with the cold. The squirrel made a little sad noise in the back of her throat, stopping the humming. "I hate it when he's left outside..." she murmured with a sigh.

[Kari Muffin]

People were weird. If Kazifel had grown up in any other place but Corvistowne, and if he wasn't a living doll to some degree, he would probably be terrified. However, he was just surprised at all of the interesting people. What Femi said about predators and Rabbits worried him though. Just the thought of unknown things popping up to wipe a village of the map make him nervous.

However, the human in a cage was enough to snap him to a different train of thought. "Why is he out here?" And why is a human a pet? That was just horribly disturbing. He certainly was happy he wasn't someone's mindless pet. At least he had free will to choose who he could spend time with.

... Lord Ghi wasn't it? He was responsible for this? Human pets and other horrible things, he was sure. That wolf made him nervous already, this just added to the plate of reasons why he never wanted to see him again.

[The Jenn]

Femi sighed unhappily and rubbed one paw against the back of the other. "I really don't know why Lord Ghi does it most of the time. Sometimes he has people over and doesn't want his pet running loose or wandering anywhere. Sometimes he puts him out when he does something that angered him, for whatever reason. I know at least once in the winter, he mentioned putting him out to see how long it took a human's lips to turn blue. I don't understand him, a lot of the time."

The human was very obviously trembling, pressed back against the stone wall of the house rather than the heavy iron bars of his cage, eyes closed and face frighteningly blank. The squirrel bit her lip and looked back at Kazifel. "If I ever treated my dolls like that, they would hate me, I think. If I ever treated you like that, I wouldn't blame you at all for running away. I don't think his pets can, though. He holds onto their minds like a leash. But really, what can you say about someone else's pets?"

[Kari Muffin]

"But you don't do awful things like that," Kazifel said with a note of sympathy. He still felt horrible for the human. He wanted to do something about it. Even if it made that other wolf upset. Why did he have to do this to someone completely defenseless. Something seemed to smack Kazifel mentally in the face at that point.

"I really... don't think I can just stand here and watch. Can we at least ask him about it? It's just so..." He trailed off. He knew why he was so upset. It was cold out, and certainly not made for a human form. In this place he seemed to be one of the few to have a human form, and it just... seemed wrong to let someone suffer like that. He didn't like it. Not one bit. He had half a mind to use his power so the human at least wouldn't feel the cold.

"Wait... what's his name?" Kazifel pointed to the huddling human pressed to the house. Did he even have one left or had Lord Ghi taken that way along with freewill?

[The Jenn]

Femi tilted her head, thinking about his question. "I've never heard a name," she said slowly. "Actually, I've never heard him say anything before besides a whimper or something like that. I think his collar might inhibit speech at the same time as it binds his form, but I'm not quite sure."

The thought of approaching Lord Ghi about his situation made her nervous, but when she looked up at Kazifel's face he seemed so honestly concerned on the human's behalf that she couldn't voice the 'no' that came to her lips. "I... suppose we could ask him about it," she agreed dubiously, "if he's not busy with anything else. Yes, alright. You're a good person to suggest it, you know. A lot better than many people, myself included."

She took his hand once more and walked up the steps to the front door, made of a nearly black wood and polished to a rich shine. Its center sported the snarling head of a wolf and the knocker was in its mouth. She banged it a few times and stood back, not entirely confident about the action but calm enough that it wouldn't show except in her pink eyes and her tight grip on Kazifel's wooden hand.

[Kari Muffin]

That just made things sit even worse. Lord Ghi wasn't the type of person that Kazifel could get along with to any degree. It was like seeing his father and aunt working together to make everyone lives miserable. No. That wasn't a pleasant memory.

Kazifel noticed how uneasy Femi was about mentioning it to Lord Ghi. Apparently he wasn't the only one a bit afraid of the man. By the way she gripped his hand, there was probably more to it that just "a little bit."

He had half a mind to turn back. However she had already knocked, and they couldn't just walk away. That was horribly rude, and the human... really did need help. "You sure you're okay with this?" Kazifel whispered to Femi. She obviously didn't want to do this, and he felt guilty pressuring her. "If he doesn't answer the door right away we can just leave."

[The Jenn]

Femi squeezed his hand more tightly in response and pulled up a smile, leaning against him for a brief moment before pulling back to stand straight. "It's okay. He can't do anything to me. It's just a tad bit rude, you know? Like somebody coming into my house and asking me why I kept all of my dolls together in the same room rather than giving them more space or something like that. None of my business. But I don't mind asking if it would make you happy, my love."

Footsteps approached the door after a moment and the wolf himself flung it open, greeting them with an open-mouthed snarl and a glare, teeth fully bared. When he saw that it was the squirrel, his expression moderated itself and assumed a more neutral sneering. It didn't really seem unfriendly. Just... 'habitual'. That was his normal expression. He stared pointedly at the man next to her, then glanced back at her face in obvious question.

"Hello, milord," she greeted with a smile and an inclination of her head. "I'm sorry to bother you. Is this a bad time?" He shook his head, eyes trained on her face, and her smile relaxed slightly. "Good, I'm glad. I hadn't wanted to interrupt anything. I just have a small question for you. Is there any reason in particular that your pet is outside today? It's a bit breezy and he doesn't have any fur to stop the wind from reaching his skin."

[Kari Muffin]

"We're sorry to bother you over such matters. I just noticed because... well it does get very cold when you have very little clothing and no fur to stop wind or other elements." Kazifel said in a clear and confident voice. This was something he knew and remembered. He always complained to his mother when he was a child about being cold.

He still didn't like the wolf's expression. It was obviously normal for him to be a general angry bastard to everyone, but it didn't mean Kazifel had to like it. If he had his biped form he would probably feel a lot more comfortable over this whole ordeal.

Wait. Feel. Wasn't he feeling Femi holding on to his hand? Oh this was probably one of the worst times to actually notice that. He would ignore it for the time being and continue to look at Lord Ghi with a slightly dissatisfied look on his face. Hopefully he wouldn't take offense.

[The Jenn]

The wolf's brows began to slowly sink down in an indiscernible unpleasant expression as the squirrel asked her question, and he downright snarled at Kazifel when he spoke up, small ropes of saliva collecting at the corners of his mouth. He made a vicious sideways slashing motion with one paw, glared at Femi, and made a rude gesture at the man beside her. She fluffed up slightly, frowning. "You don't have to be so angry at him for talking, milord, just because you can't."

With a sniff, she turned around and pulled Kazifel along with her as she went. The door slammed quite audibly behind them and she dropped the huff, frown deepening. "I didn't think he'd take the question well," she commented with a sigh. "Still, he can get so touchy about things sometimes. I'm sorry, love, but I don't think we can do anything about his pet being exposed to the elements. Even if we handed him clothing through the bars, he wouldn't touch it."