"Fear not citizens! I'll savor you!"

Decided to write some shameless and indulgent snacking and swelling. It is what it is!

Thumbnail art and encouragement to go through with this by  T-Bone

NEXTSavor The Day
By: RaddaRaem


“Payment will be tendered upon delivery. No sooner.”

Arms tucked against her chest, and boots kicked up on the table before her, Kovania glowered at the tiny bird perched upon her inn room’s windowsill. The drab and claustrophobic lodging, plaster peeling from its slanted walls, spoke volumes to the proprietor’s utter lack of concern about their guest’s experience. Much less where their ill-gotten gold came from.

Wings bunched against its blackened body, with beads of tar dripping from its shadowy feathers, the summoned sparrow’s milky white eyes regarded the hyena with cold indifference.

Sinking a snaggle tooth into her lip, Kovania irritably thrummed her fingers against her forearms. “That’s not what we agreed upon.”

The bird’s dead and beady eyes, shining through its wavering form like fog lights, flattened into half-circles. “Do you well and truly believe it wise to risk leaving your latest ‘package’ in the hands of my familiar?” With a swish of its wing the irritated avian gestured at the nondescript bottle planted before the hyena’s heels.

Kovania ran a hand through her wild bangs of hair before she took to scratching at her neck. “Never was a problem for you before.”

“Never have I asked you to steal something so… sensitive,” retorted the blob of a bird. “Were we to be intercepted it would be the end of both of us. It has been but a matter of hours and already its absence can be felt. Already those Guild jackals bite at our heels. Are you still so willing to entrust its transport to yours truly? To my defenseless go-between?“

“Hmph.” Sliding her legs off of the podunk table, the hyena let her gloved hands come to rest against her knees. With a grunt she rose to a stand and pinched the bottle betwixt her padded digits. Thumb pressed against its smooth glass bottom and index finger papped atop its cork cap she couldn’t help but flash a grin at the sight of its contents. Its captives. “S’pose not,” Kovania acknowledged. “Still doesn’t change the fact that it’s my neck on the line here.”

The sparrow visibly deflated with a disgusted sigh. “For which you are being generously compensated.” Bitter chirps tumbled out from its beak as it kneaded at its feathery forehead. “I have strived, at length, to blur the degrees of separation between us. Yet should you, or our quarry, be captured then all that effort will amount to nothing. After all, there’s only so many sorcerers capable of… well…”

Brow cocked, Kovania curiously regarded the miniature terrarium. Wispy beads of moisture, clouds no thicker than a tugged apart tuft of cotton, swirled about the neck of the bottle. Towards the bottom of the glass container pebble-thick layers of bedrock, soil, and grass served as a foundation for the shrunken civilization tucked away inside.

“Just how much danger did you place me in again?” she brusquely asked. Lips scrunched, the hyena squinted incredulously at the occupants inside. At their windmills, cottages, and flowering fields of wheat and barley that could comfortably fit into the wrinkles of a padded fingertip.

“None,” the familiar replied matter of factly. “I asked you to vet out a hypothesis. Nothing more. When it, to my delight, bore out it was then and only then I amended our contract to include a dash of… larceny.”

Kovania’s sky filling visage beamed down at the barely visible furs. Her eyes strained simply trying to take them in. “That hypothesis being?”

The feathery familiar’s mood lightened as it brought a wing up to its beak and politely cleared its throat. “That giants are, in fact, creatures of magic! That their size and strength directly correlates to how much ether, mana, or whatever you deign to call it they possess. Should they be deprived and drained of such then their stature will compensate accordingly. Truth be told I would have thought there to be a hard limit, some baseline to which they bottom out at, but I am delighted to have been proven wrong!”

With great care, Kovania gently set the bottle back down upon the table before her. Strange as the job offer was, sneaking something into as opposed to out of a village, a village of giants no less, the thief could hardly afford to turn down such a lucrative opportunity. “So then that rune you had me reverse pickpocket into their coffers…”

“Would have had no effect on you seeing as how you are not a creature of magic.”

Folds of fur bunched up against the undersides of the hyena’s eyes while her gaze swiveled warily towards the plundered people. All of a fortnight ago they scraped against the very sky. Now? She had an easier time picking out stray hairs than she did these former colossi. “How considerate,” she grimaced.

“That said…” the sparrow hummed as it stroked at its ever shifting chin. “Curious as I am to ascertain how far gone I could push a giant in the other direction I would rigorously advise against finding out. Provided this pans out I will have to research just what limits, if any, there are to the amount of mana that can be extracted from and in turn poured into them.”

The hyena shuddered at the thought of what would happen should magic, in any quantity, be introduced to them in transit. “Duly noted,” she whistled under her breath. Still though… much and more remained unanswered. “The land itself?” Kovania asked as she paced up to the window. “Their very homes even?”

“This concerns you how?” cooed the familiar crafted from dredges of darkness.

“You’re asking me to handle things that are, quite clearly, beyond my understanding,” growled the thief as she slammed her hands down beside the bird. Upon being tasked to return to the scene of her latest and greatest heist(?) to date Kovania had not expected to be greeted by the sight of a vast crater. Nor the shrunken commune having contracted to nearly nothing at its center.

"Details details..." the sparrow dismissively squawked. "Simply abstain from wielding magic in their presence and all will be well. Simple enough, no?"

Kovania tiredly kneaded at her forehead.

Head cocked to the side the sparrow curiously regarded the hyena’s exasperation. “What? You act as if I…” Feathers held up before it like a raised finger the familiar’s beak hung open when it belatedly realized just what it was asking of her.

Kovania’s tools of the trade, the very shadows themselves, quite literally danced at her behest. The magic she wielded, honed to perfection, allowed her to stretch and shape the absence of light itself to her liking. Be it throwing her own shadow down the corridors of castle keeps to lead guards astray or turning an alleyway into an abyss so as to ambush and silence any who were foolish enough to tail her… darkness itself was the crown jewel among her thieves’ tools. Without it her attempts at escape were all but doomed to fail.

“I see,” coughed the shimmering bird. Its feathers ruffled at the sight of Kovania bitterly sighing. Dammit all. The unseen sorcerer, in their haste, had let their excitement get the best of them. In failing to prepare for what came next they had all but prepared them both to fail. “A change of tact then!” the bird hurriedly, and worriedly, chirped. “Where would you have me scout out your potential escape routes?”

Tugging up her bronze trimmed hood, Kovania scrunched her scarred muzzle. “You can make yourself useful and scout out the sewers to start.”

“Oh you can’t be serious,” whined the familiar as it fluttered onto her shoulder. Kovania quietly went about her business, bolting the windows shut, in response. Compacting into a borb the disgruntled familiar’s milky white eyes contracted into flattened lines. “...Very well. Where will you focus your efforts then?“

“On our would be pursuers. What are their numbers? What are their patrol routes? Where are they staking out?” Counting off on her gloved fingers the hyena rattled through a laundry list of tasks as she stepped out into a dimly lit and dingy hallway.

“Wait!” Fluttering in place the familiar wildly gestured back towards the otherwise empty inn room. “What of our quarry? Surely you’re not just going to leave them there unguarded?”

“Not like they’re going anywhere,” she scoffed as she pulled the door shut, its lock clicking into place, behind her. “That and we can’t very well take them with us. Not with the risks involved.”

“...Let’s be quick about it then,” the sparrow grudgingly acknowledged.

Pocketing the key to her room, Kovania trudged past wall-mounted braziers filled with little more than smoldering ash. “Calm yourself. We have more eyes than you know keeping watch on our ill-gotten gains.”

“Hum?”

“Nothing you need concern yourself with,” Kovania smirked. Trudging out into the lobby she flicked a handful of golden coins at the disheveled innkeeper. With a knowing nod the matted calico sank into his chair. Arms crossed about his chest, his torso rising and falling with feigned snores, the feline maintained a quiet vigil on her behalf.

In silence the thief and her curmudgeonly companion stepped out into the twilight. A marked chill, and a fine mist, settled upon the no-name town as darkness encroached.

“No use in dragging this out I suppose…” the familiar glumly noted. With a disgusted groan, and a dramatic sigh, it fluttered to the ground. Hopping forward in fitful spurts the sparrow hesitantly regarded the wrought-iron grate embedded into the cobblestone street before it. ”We’ll rendezvous back at your room, I take it?”

FWACK

Chirping profusely, Kovania’s companion found itself sailing through the gaps in the rusted bars courtesy of a swift kick. Furious splashes, followed by strained coughs and heaving wretches, echoed up through the grate.

“See you then,” the hyena confirmed with a smug smile. Hands stuffed into her pockets, Kovania drew in deep of the frost bitten air.

Clouds, their pink and purple forms streaked against the sky like strokes of a brush, obscured the sun for all of an instant. A wicked wind whipped across the town and, when the fading light returned all of a blink later, Kovania vanished.

…

Minutes passed. Breath held, a robed figure warily peeked out from a nearby alleyway. They cast their gaze towards the darkened horizon. Nothing. They looked down the lonesome streets devoid of light and life. Nothing. They peeked back over their shoulder. Still nothing. …To their emphatic relief the hyena was nowhere in sight.

Brows furrowed, the masked someone flared her nostrils as she rolled a crystal about her palm. Clutching it close to her breast, lavender wisps of fox fire flitting out from between her furred fingers, she called upon the illusory spell stored within it. She hoped, she prayed, this would work.
—CREAAAAAAAK

Thumbs pressed together the calico allowed his chair to fall forward. Attention rapt, his whiskers twitched at the sight of the familiar silhouette darkening his doorstep.

Kovania tugged down her hood and grunted.

He was no fool. He knew better than to slack and shirk off after accepting money from someone like her. The fact she saw fit to return and remind him as such only reinforced the fact.

Kovania exchanged another wordless nod with the calico while she sauntered towards the stairwell. As her footsteps thumped overhead, the nailed together planks creaking beneath her gait, the cat breathed easy and resumed his silent sentry.

Eyes gone wide, and cheeks puffed out, the hyena fanned herself as she shuffled to a halt before her inn room. “I can’t believe that actually worked,” Kovania thought while her puffed out ringtail swished behind her. OOPS.

Inhaling sharply through her teeth the alleged hyena furiously pat it down. Plumes of lavender tinted fox fire trailed off her appendage and, with a pronounced poof, it reclaimed its slender shape. Dragging a gloved hand across her brow, not Kovania sighed in relief while she traced a finger along the door knob. Streaks of light followed her digit as a spell circle came to be inscribed upon the smudged and well-worn metal.

“First comes the Reverse…” mumbled the pretender. With a boop she conjured a drop of tar, shimmering white and chromatically inverted, that slowly enveloped the door knob. Clearing her throat, the fake hyena reached into her pocket and whispered aloud the words inscribed upon a Scroll of Mending.

CRKKK

Courtesy the curious combination of spells healing turned to harming and the metal crumpled away. Hands cupped beneath the fraying knob, Kovania’s doppelganger caught the flaking metal within her grasp while she tossed nervous glances over her shoulder. Still nothing. With a nudge she forced the door open and, standing inside the frame, cautiously surveyed the room.

She gasped. There it, there they, were! Jaw agape, Morgan er… Kovania couldn’t believe her luck! Hands held out before her in a placating motion she slowly approached the table. “Pssst! Hey!”

Diminutive giants, worriedly pacing about their palatial prison, looked up to the sky. Through the curved glass a frighteningly familiar face fell away to reveal that of a soothing stranger’s. The visage of a raccoon, warm and inviting, sincerely smiled down at them. Holding a free finger up before her lips she playfully shooshed them as tufts of fox fire whirled about her head.

Donning her disguise once more Morgan carefully proceeded to pinch the bottled village between her fingers. From her pocket she produced the nearly spent crystal and, with a gentle rap, knocked it against the glass.

Flames, cool to the touch, were coerced from the crumbling crystal and proceeded to wash over the shrunken society. It would only be a matter of time before Kovania, the real one, found her safe house and Morgan had wracked her brain long and hard for a suitable hiding spot for these poor souls. In a stroke of inspiration she realized what better place than out in the open? Like oh say… her safehouse’s spice rack? Clearing her throat, Morgan blushed as a tasty transformation overtook the barely visible village.

The sloping roofs of the countless speck sized huts melted and sloughed away into rivers of chocolate as the structures became indistinguishable from chocolate chips. What sprawling hills and grassy slopes encircled the once proud home of the giants gave way to sparkling clumps of brown sugar cinnamon. Fumbling about in place, dazed and confused, the speck-sized titans struggled to make sense of the all-too convincing iIllusions that had warped their homeland beyond recognition.

“Don’t worry, this is only temporary. I’ll explain along the way!” Morgan assured them as she slipped the bottle, whose contents had begun to imperceptibly bulge out the glass that contained them, into her pocket. Tugging the door shut behind her the thief of thieves beat a measured, but hasty, retreat.

—For hours, in unseen silence, Morgan trudged as far as her legs would carry her. Before her disguise could falter, before the last lavender wisps of fox fire faded completely, she fled from Kovania while wearing the hyena's own likeness as a disguise. Sniffling, Morgan cupped her hands before her muzzle and exhaled. The raccoon’s fogging breath filtered between her frigid fingers and, tragically, whatever warmth danced upon them was soon forgotten as a bitter wind whisked past.

GRNNNNNN

“I know tummy, I know…” Morgan wearily trailed off. Eyes swiveling up, towards a far away village wreathed by lanterns, the raccoon breathed easy at the sight. “Just hold out a little longer, alright?”

The raccoon's irascible stomach made its discontent loudly and proudly known in response.

WHUMPF

Punching at her concave gut, Morgan forcefully silenced it with a heaping helping of knuckle sandwiches. There was too much at stake here. She had to focus! Advancing at a steady pace, wild and unkempt grains brushing against her thighs while she tread the overgrown path, the raccoon steadied her breathing and flicked her ears. As moonlight washed over the surrounding sea of grass, its silver sheen rippling along it in waves, Morgan listened intently. For something, anything, amiss. For any footsteps that were not her own. For any bodies that caught against the wind.

Her ears burned as her own strained swallows echoed within her head. This vigilance, draining yet necessary, persisted until the beacon of civilization that was once but a blip on the horizon came to stand before her.

CRKK

CRSHH

CRNNNN

Morgan's footfalls, gentle yet pronounced, echoed as the crunch of gravel pathways gave way to the clack of cobblestone. Hood pulled up, her face shrouded in shadow, the White Mage warily regarded the hollowed out heart of the village. Ringed tail curled around her waist, the shivering raccoon continued to toss nervous glances over her shoulder as she resisted the urge to break out into a nervous sprint. It felt so jarring, so wrong, seeing a place that ought to be overflowing with people as silent as the grave.

With little more than her own shadow to keep her company Morgan crept along through the markets long since shuttered and silenced for the day. “When you’re in a hurry, walk slowly…” she warily advised herself.

TUNK TATUNK

Morgan tensed and froze in place as the awnings jutting out from the shop stalls flapped and shuddered in the wind. Nostrils flared, the racoon picked up the pace all the same. Heart pounding against the back of her ribs, Morgan’s leather clad soles cracked sharply against cobblestone as she hurled herself out of the markets and into the empty streets. She turned a corner the first chance she got, the only trace of her that ringtail peeking past, and purposefully lost herself in the labyrinthine back alleys.

She didn’t even bother looking back. Morgan would make it or she wouldn’t. With a flick of her wrist a key slid free from the White Mage’s robed sleeve as she neared her destination. Skidding to a halt before a nondescript and peeling door, Morgan jammed the key's metal teeth into the rusted lock embedded into it. “Come on cmon cmon cmon cmon!” she hissed under breath.

CLICK

Her rounded ears fwipped against her hood at the reassuring sound of the tumblers falling into place.

POFF

A warm gust of air blew back Morgan's hood, revealing the jet black hair pooled around her shoulders, as the door swung out towards her. Ripping the key out from the lock the raccoon all but threw herself inside before slamming the door shut and bolting it behind her.

“Not yet. Not yet,” the raccoon repeated to herself as adrenaline coursed through her veins. Pacing about the Guild’s single-room safehouse she scoured about for any signs, however insignificant, of foul play. She flipped back the sheets, tossed over the mattress, and turned out the pillows. Nothing. Morgan threw open the cupboards stacked atop the cramped kitchenette. Jars of hardtack and…

Morgan gasped in delight at the plethora of cookies tucked away and waiting for her. …Only to then blush profusely, all of an instant later, when she noticed the note taped to it.

“Control yourself, Cookie Monster!”
-Love, Tyr

Cheeks puffed out, the White Mage promptly slammed the cabinet door shut. Shaking her head Morgan flung open the entrance to the solitary closet. A fresh change of robes swished side to side in response. She popped open the door to the wood fired stove. A wave of warmth, and embering ash and cinders, blew back into her face. Hmph. Dropping to her knees, Morgan dared to peek beneath the now rumpled mess of a bed. To the White Mage’s shock and awe she was greeted by the sight of… dust bunnies. “That’s it?” she incredulously asked.

“Nothing at all? Really?” Tugging at the neck of her robe Morgan rose to her feet. She could scarcely believe it. A mission that had actually gone according to plan? All that planning and preparation well and truly meant something? Every step of the way she had all but fantasized where and how it would all go wrong and yet…

With a relieved sigh she leaned back against the door and dragged an arm across her brow. Biting down on her lip, Morgan excitedly wiggled side to side at the satisfaction of a job well done. “I could get used to this,” she laughed. Reaching into her pocket she proudly fished out the glassful of giants. Padded fingers pinched against its cork stopped top and rounded bottom she couldn’t help but greet them with a grin. “Was touch and go there for a bit but I’m proud to say our trip was an uneventful one!”

Cheers, unheard but appreciated all the same, rose from the speck sized colossi as they beamed right back at their savior's sky-filling smile. From imperceptible to barely visible over the course of a couple hours their dramatic growth worriedly went unnoticed by the raccoon.

"Now before we get too far ahead of ourselves…” Morgan said as she sauntered over towards the kitchenette. “We’re not out of the woods just yet! We can pat ourselves on the back when, and only when, you and your homes are restored.” With a clink, she stuffed their fingerprint smudged prison deep into a spice rack hanging above the stove. “Should worst comes to worst and Kovania finds this place… fingers crossed she at least won’t find you.”

Finger held up before her lips Morgan playfully motioned for them to keep a low profile, not that they were capable of anything else, before taking to tidying up her overturned quarters. As the raccoon hummed and hawwed, ignoring not just the roars of her stomach but the conveniently drowned out clinks and cracks that emanated out from the slowly but surely expanding contents of the bottle, her thoughts and focus drifted. The trials and travails, more mental than anything, ultimately caught up to her and with a muffled fwumpf Morgan collapsed face first into bed.NEXT