[FIN] Bring Me Gifts [Xenon]

[Vyn]

Meecha was so sick of all the Outsiders showing up on her doorstep. She'd showed a good number of them what they're uselessness was worth to her and others still she toyed with just for fun. A few had even been pleasant to have around, but for the most part she was still just cranky.

...And where the hell was Kris?

He hadn't been by in far too long and Meecha had almost begun to wonder if he were dead. So many people that she cared about -- did she care about him? -- wound up dead. Sometimes it was a pity, other times it made her angrier.

The hamster found herself pacing in her cottage, grumbling to herself. Lao watched from his shelf, chirring mournfully as he watched his crazy master pace.

This strange frustration lasted a couple of days and killed a few silly Outsiders that tried to bargain with the swamp witch while she was 'out of her head' right up until a knock started rumbling at the door.

Meecha looked up, eye twitching in frustration as she stormed the door. Who the fuck could it be now!?!

[carcinoGeneticist]

The light filtering down from the trees was lovely, the mud was dark and sticky, and everything was as Kristoff had remembered it being.

Which was really quite nice. He'd missed his home, and he'd spent quite a bit longer than he'd originally intended in the Capital. He hadn't managed to find anything truely spectacular for his Bog Witch, so instead he had accumulated many trinkets, all of which were stowed carefully into the bag that was slung over his crooked back. He'd found some interesting items, such as a handful of prettily striped feathers from a Lakeland Sparrow, a collection of black gems that shone like rainbows when the light hit them just right, and several jars of various dried... things. He'd found several real prizes, however. From a junk shop in the dingy part of the Capital, he'd stolen a jar that contained the eye of a Tulgey. Lidless, it was suspended in a strong-smelling fluid, crimson iris as bright as it must have been in life.

The other prize was even more macabre. The corpse of a child that he'd unearthed from behind a garbage can, starved to death. He'd wrapped it in cloth and tucked it into his bag, grinning to himself all the while. She would love it.

And so he finally approached the Swamp Hag's home, tugging on the leash of his Bander. He was intending to keep the creature for himself, plain and ugly as it was, but if she wanted it she could have it. When they reached Meecha's door he glared at it, meaning clear: You make a single move out of line and you'll be the meat in our stew tonight. One paw was swept over his face, smoothing gnarled whiskers back, and he cleared his throat. Then he knocked.

Would she be happy to see him? He knew he was looking forward to seeing her.

[Vyn]

Growling and frustrated, Meecha abruptly turned on her heels and stormed toward the door. Lao perked his head up, staring blankly at the frustrated witch. He was just happy she was being distracted, which would give him enough time to briefly disappear into another section of the house while she raged at their 'guest'.

Reaching the door, Meecha ripped the flimsy wooden panel open and snarled... only to find herself staring at the familiar feline.

O! Well... that was better.

Meecha's expression grew just a hint more tame, through there was still a sort of smoldering anger lingering there. "Where da hell have ya been?" She snapped, temper flaring as black eyes flashed.

She'd thought he'd gone off and died, and here he was, standing in her doorway looking all... like himself. Slick and gruff, with a hint of hopefulness. It had happened before, dead people coming back and trying to talk to her and that rarely worked out. Meecha glowered and eyed him warily, almost waiting for signs of proof that this was an impostor, or the the walking dead, instead of the Kristoff she knew.

[carcinoGeneticist]

While he waited for the door to open, the feline peered down at the Bander with an almost thoughtful expression on his face. He hoped Meecha didn't mind his bringing it in, but he couldn't just leave the damn beast inside. Timothy returned the glance with a long-suffering look, having learned that the feline was not one to be disobeyed in any way. Then he sneezed, but before Kristoff could kick the damn thing, there was the sound of movement from inside of the house.

And then the door was slammed open, and the look on the woman's face made something in Kristoff's chest swell happily. That was his Swamp Hag, alright, and when the snarl was replaced with a familiar sort of expression his cheeriness only grew. Whatever he'd been thinking about when he had been staring at the Bandersnatch was gone, replaced with the simple joy of knowing he'd been missed. Well, sort of. As missed as Meecha could probably miss anyone, that was. He was expecting the anger, and his ears flicked back embarassedly.

"Well, yew fee...[/b]" he began with a hopeful tone of voice, sickly yellow eyes turning up to the woman. "I waf loo'in fer fome fings for yew annI couln' fine annyfink dat waf up to ftandardf, annI din' wanna come back wif nofing an' difappoin' yew.[/b]"

And he was dealing drugs and training Banders, but those things were less important. His main goal had been to find her something fun, and he hoped what he'd come up with would be enough to earn him some... attention.

[Vyn]

Meecha's mind was muddled and full of paranoid fury, her black eyes darting from Kristoff to the surrounding swamp and then back to the feline and.. his bander? Her eye twitched, narrowing on it even as she listened to him speak.

The lisp and accent were hardly noticeable after all these years and the words filtered through her head even as her eyes continued to dart around in paranoia.

She couldn't be sure it was him... but he'd mentioned gifts and Meecha was very rarely disappointed by what Kristoff brought her. The eye twitched, fingers moving constantly as if looking for something to grasp or maybe hit something. Or find something to grab and then hit things with. The hag sneered randomly. Unaware of how common all these little ticks had probably become to her feline 'friend'.

"Lookin' for stuff for meh? Yeah?" Her eyes narrowed into tight and dangerous slits, as if disbelieving. Abruptly she yanked backward and thrust a finger toward the interior of the house, demanding him come inside. "Show meh whatcha brought me, den! And dat, what's dat ting doin' witcha? Ne'er seen it a'fore!" She'd seen a bander before, knew what it was, had to kill the damned buggers every now and again when Outsiders brought 'em in. Stupid things.

[carcinoGeneticist]

A small and nervous smile flitted across the man's face as Meecha considered what he'd said. He knew that some small part of her must have liked him (at least, she hoped that was the case), but he wondered how long it'd be before he managed to mess something up and paid the price for it. As he watched the play of emotions across her human face - expressions he really didn't understand, but he could see them change at least - he stood as still as he could, just watching and waiting for the woman to calm.

As he'd hoped, the news of gifts seemed to have an overall positive effect on Meecha's disposition, and the feline perked and even attempted a toothy grin. It was a familiar one, with slightly more teeth than usual, his eyes opened wide. Smiling was weird.

"Yea, lotf a goo' ftuff. Not af goo' af fometimef, bu' ftill good,[/b]" he said, a little hopefully. Then he glanced down at the Bandersnatch, which was trying to scramble away from him and hide from the woman. "Oh, 'e'f Timoffy. I go' 'im 'caufe I 'eard dey make goo' guardf, fo noone'll fteal the fingf I fin' fer yew.[/b]" It made sense at the time. So far, he hadn't been useful for much, but Kristoff liked him all the same.

He looked back at Meecha, a hopeful expression on his face. "CannI come in an fow yew? Be eafier'ta lay it all ou', yeah?[/b]"

[Vyn]

Meecha was calming, slowly, but the wild look remained in her eyes and her hands continued to twitch with nerves.

By everything she could tell, he was not an impostor or a walking dead thing, he was just Kristoff bringing her gifts just like always... Right, good... The hag eyed him with a quiet sort of paranoia. He watched rambled about the stupid bander and, for a moment, she debated giving it a good kick but it managed to scramble behind Kris while he explained it's presence.

Guard creature? Like Lao then?

She glanced over at the slinking red thing with it's long itchy tongue and then stepped back, motioning inside a second time.

"Yeah, yeah. Get in, get in..." She was still on guard, but a bit less so. "Show meh whatcha got in der den... I'd liketa see fursure." Had to prove he was real and solid, not a dead thing... Meecha debated this for a moment before abruptly, and without waiting for Kristoff to enter, she stormed back into the house. There had to be a trinket that was hexed just right, it'd tell her he wasn't a dead thing...

[carcinoGeneticist]

When the invitation was made, Kristoff was quick to make his way inside of the hut. He didn't really take note of the way that Meecha stormed off again, instead focusing on unloading the trinkets and making sure the damnable Timothy behaved himself. He gave the creature a quick kick to the side, which it responded to by yelping and cowering near the feline. The man had to smile at the creature. It was finally starting to learn how things worked, and that was a lovely thought. He had to work on making the thing a little meaner now, more prone to biting. He was sure that wouldn't take much work, though.

As he laid out the package and its contents, he glanced up at where Meecha went to, ears flicking back.

"Dere's lotfa goo' ftuff 'ere. Fome weir' trinke'f, but I foun' yew a cuppla good fingf.[/b]" the man used a paw to roll the two more special parcels aside. The corpse was starting to stink a little, but not too badly. Besides, a little stink wasn't a bad price for something as interesting as it was, right? "Feaverf from a fparrow, fome pre'y gemf...[/b]" carefully, the feline unwrapped the other two, sure they'd catch her interest.

"Anna eye froma Tulgey anna dea' orfink,[/b]" these last two were proudly announced and he sat back, eager to hear what she'd think of the prizes.

[Vyn]

As Kristoff got everything into the room and properly set up, Meecha rummaged through her various boxes and along her shelves in search of the trinket she knew she had. It would tell her, it would know and then she wouldn't have to worry.

When the lisping cat started speaking again, Meecha paused and returned her attention to him. Good things, Meecha liked those... The hag moved closer, her steps almost sliding across the floor while the rest of her remained tense and paranoid. It could be a trick... but o! Sparrow feathers and they were white and blue. The hamster snatched up the feathers, playing with them as he went on, unwrapping the final two gifts.

Instantly Meecha's mind blanked her paranoid fidgeting and wrapped itself entirely around the wonderful gifts. The dead orphan stunk a bit and would need to be properly dried out, but the eye! Meecha couldn't decide which one to attend to first. Only the real, true, Kristoff would bring her such wonderful gifts!

"Oooo, Kristoff! Ya did good, ya did!" The hag couldn't contain her pleasure and she reached out, running her fingers through Kristoff's fur between his ears. "I know just where ta put da eye, 'n' da orphan... I'll haveta make sure it doesn't go about stinkin' up my hut 'n' attractin' swamp beasts..." When her hand finally slipped from his fur, she was moving toward the dead infant and she busied herself with setting it out to dry. She'd get rid of the increasing smell of decay later.

[carcinoGeneticist]

For a moment, the scraggly cat looked up at the Swamp Witch with a hopeful grin tugging at the corners of his mouth, lip catching awkwardly on one of his oversized fangs. He'd thought that the stuff was, overall, quite good, but he never could tell how Meecha would react to it. Would she be having a good day today, or would he be sleeping in the mud tonight?

It looked like he'd been successful, however, as the woman seemed to brighten at the sight of the things he'd scrounged up, and his expression lightened. He wasn't expecting her to scratch between his ears like that, but he did like it, and he moved into the touch. A thin purr bubbled up from inside of him, sounding harsh and unused, but it was a happy purr all the same. Yes, Kristoff did so like making the hampster happy, as it always resulted in her doing something to make him happy as well.

"Mmmf, I'm gla' yew like it all,[/b]" he said, feeling a little awkward when he heard his own purr. "I 'ope it'll come in 'andy fometime? Dat orfink 'fpefially, I 'ad a har' time ge'in dat for yew. An' de eye, but it'f fuch a pre'y fing, ifn't it?[/b]" The cat was aware that he was babbling, and if the woman started to move he'd almost certainly follow her out of curiousity to see what she'd do with the treasures.

Yes, he did supposed the dead child stunk... Sometimes he'd get lucky and find one that had almost been mummified by drugs and heat, but today it had been.. almost fresh. His nose wrinkled slightly. The stench had been much less obvious when the thing'd been wrapped up. "CannI 'elp?[/b]"