How much is that...Enormowl in the Window?

[Padraig]

4th of Ashan, 717

Though it was dark out, it was still early evening as the two of them sat down for their evening meal. It had been a busy trial for Faith and Padraig both. Her with classes to attend, and him trying to acquaint himself with what his new method of employment would demand of his time and attention. But somehow they'd come together at the end of the trial for a quiet supper.

Or at least it would have been quiet, even peaceful and a little romantic, if not for Cosmo's constant barking that evening at what appeared to Padraig, to be absolutely nothing. Several time the pup had yapped, hopped and pawed at the front door, only for Padriag to find nothing when he'd opened it up to have a look. He'd barked at the walls, the corners, the windows, and yet, Padraig had seen or heard nothing to provoke what seemed to be very odd behavior for the nightpup.

Then there was Quattro. The four tailed cat stalked their home uneasily, sometimes with hackles raised. She hissed, she spat and by then Padraig's patience with the two had begun to grow short. "There's nothing there," he grumbled, as much to Faith as to their pets as he came in from the outdoors for at least the third time in a break. "I checked the garden, the front, even the roof. There's nothing."

He sat back down at the table, picked up his fork when Quattro of a sudden leaped up on the table from the back of a nearby chair, skidded across their plates, knocking glasses of wine off the table, and collided with the window hissing and yowling. Her hackles were raised, her ears pinned, and blue micro-sparks of energy shot into the air from the tips of her whiskers.

And then there it was, just outside their window staring in at them from the dark. An owl, or at least it's face. It was a face belonging to quite possibly the largest bird Padraig had ever seen. It blinked golden eyes as big as saucers, hooted, pecked at the window and then with an unmistakable whooshing sound, the thing took flight. From the sounds of it, it didn't go far.

Cosmo started up barking again, Quattro leaped off the table, yowled and crouched between Faith's feet. But this time all eyes lifted towards the ceiling in response to what could only have been a faint, but very sturdy sounding landing on their rooftop, just above their heads. The sight in the window had startled him, and it took just a trill to recover. But tucking his napkin back into his lap, Padraig uttered dryly, "So, I hear they're having trouble over at the menagerie, keeping the inmates in."

[Faith Augustin]

They were busy and they weren't likely to get less so any time soon. In fact, Faith rather thought that they were going to get more hectic before things quietened down. If they ever did. Still, that was fine because one of the reasons for the increase in the demands on their time was Padraig's new job; she couldn't be more proud than she was of him and she wanted to make sure that he had every opportunity to shine. He would do so she was sure, but she wanted to make it as easy as possible for him.

Add in to that the increased demands on his study and then her study and work and Faith thought they might spend the next half an arc saying hello for the trial as they fell into bed. So, quiet moments together were important and she'd spent a little extra time over the food that evening, preparing the dish she made at the restaurant and had promised him she'd make for them. Chrythiam Fish with cocolime glaze and a paprika crust, serves with thrice-cooked potatoe and vegetables. The dessert was the three texture of sunburst fruit which she'd assured him wasn't too sweet and she really thought he'd enjoy.

Having made an effort with the food and since it was the first night in a few that they'd been able to do more than eat on the fly, she'd also put on the simple, elegant and flattering red dress she'd made for herself. Finally, she'd tied her hair back and was quite prepared to have a nice, even romantic, evening. It was freezing outside, still, but the yellow logs they'd bought did their job and the house was warm. They'd put sacks of orange sand from their visit to Faldrass under the floorboards, too, so that they could be lifted again easily. It meant that their house was toasty. Not that Faith needed it, but she still appreciated it.

Except the dog and the cat had lost their minds. "Cosmo, there's nothing there. There really isn't. Look." She'd tried to reason with the dog, she'd sent him to his basket. Nothing. Padraig had opened the door and there was nothing, she'd tried to sooth the cat's nerves but, nothing. "Do you think they're cross at us for being out of the house too long?" Faith had asked with an earnest expression, quietly wondering if the creatures had colluded and decided to ruin their first potentially romantic moment for trials past, and what would be for trials to come. "There's a festival tomorrow, where we're supposed to give a handmade gift to someone, did you know? I wonder how long it would take me to whip up a cat restraining device for you? You could make me a dog sedative. It would be very romantic and thoughtful." She glared at the two perpetrators who seemed rather determined to ruin a perfectly nice evening.

He sat back down and she gave a grin as she picked up her fork. "How was the...." She was mid question when the cat leapt on to the table, skidded across, sent things flying and leapt at the window. "Quattro! What are you.. oh my." The last two words, of course, were as she caught sight of what it was that was outside their window. She jumped as it pecked at the glass and then her eyes followed its imagined trajectory as it first took off and then landed again. The sound of it landing was enough that she winced.

When he put his napkin back in his lap, though, Faith looked at Padraig with an expression of resigned amusement. By this point, both the cat and the dog were going bezerk, there was wine, water and fruit juice on the floor and Faith looked down at her meal and studied the perfect paw-shaped indentation in the paprika crust which sunk down into the cocolime glaze. She lifted her head from her examination of the cat's paw-print and met Padraig's gaze. "Really? Where did you get that idea?" With a sigh, she got up and started picking up the glasses. "Alright, Professor," the use of his title was quickly becoming her go-to name for him. "How are we going to deal with this then?" She had to raise her voice, slightly, as the dog started to howl.

[Padraig]

The evening had promised to be a romantic one, or at least a peaceful one, the food was delicious and Faith looked fantastic. All those things remained to be true, except one, once things had dissolved into chaos. No thanks to Quattro and Cosmo, at least at first. And Padraig had suggested that the pair were working hard on making the case for abandoned animal shelters in Scalvoris Town.

He hadn't meant it of course. But it was a nice threat, had either of them understood a word of it. Then there was the owl. The giant, larger than life owl that was eyeing them through the window pane as if they were as good as field mice lined up for an evening meal. Their meal was ruined, but nonetheless after replacing his napkin in his lap and sharing the latest news with Faith, he spooned up a bite of his desert and tested it.

"It's delicious," he declared, after pulling a fine, white feline hair out of his mouth. Faith had to shout to be heard over Cosmo's howling, and Padraig lifted his eyes towards the ceiling. "Well I guess the first thing is to try and get that owl down off the roof and return him to the menagerie. What are the chances he's already been domesticated?"

The chances were probably fairly high, assuming the creature had been held from the wild for some time. "You think he likes fish?" he asked, eyeing his half emptied plate. Or would the thing rather have raw meat? Maybe they could lure it down, he suggested, and put some sort of tether round one of it's feet. She might have other ideas, but the best place to start was to get out there and try.

So standing up, he put his boots and coat back on, bundled up against the cold and found a leather strap they could use as a tether. "Ready to go owl hunting?" he asked Faith with a grin. And when they got outside and stood back from the door, there the thing sat bigger than life, perched on top of the chimney with fat plumes of white smoke curling out from underneath its belly.

[Faith Augustin]

Faith looked positively pained as he took a bite of the dessert and then removed a cat hair. She had achieved, in that 'textures of the sun' dessert, something which was considered almost legendary amongst chefs, the perfect balancing of the sunburst fruit. The crispy outer sphere, inside which was a soft and light mousse and, in the center of that was a meringue-like texture combined in a way which should be impossible, but she rather thought that the cat hair killed it. With a sigh, though, she chalked it up to experience.

"If he'd landed on anyone else's house I'd say the chances he's domesticated were pretty high." Faith answered, honestly, as he asked her about the enormowl. "But since it's our roof? Slim to none." There was a fundamental truth to what she said there, although the expression on her face was clear. She'd have her life no other way, but if it could be weird and wacky and go wrong? She was sure that it would.

In terms of the owl's eating habits and the question of whether he liked fish, the pained look returned to Faith's face, but then she grinned. "I wonder which came first. The enormous owls or the enormous mice? Don't owls eat mice?" Still, she shrugged slightly, "I guess raw meat would be better? They probably don't get to eat a lot of paprika and the cocolime glaze is difficult to make without opposable thumbs." She moved into the kitchen, rummaging in the cupboards and brought out some beef, which she'd cut into strips. "The chef in me is horrified, I hope you know that."

When he asked, though, if she was ready to go owl hunting, Faith let out a laugh. "You've got the best chat up lines ever, you know. Yes, indeed, I'll bring the meat, you bring the tether." She stopped just long enough to kiss him and then out they went.

Where there was an Enormowl on their roof. Faith looked at it and she glanced at Padraig. "It's big, isn't it?" Big was something of an understatement, since the thing was in proportion to it's wingspan and was trained to be ridden on, the thing was, well, enormous.

"Do you think we're going to need a bigger tether?" Faith asked and then, as the enormowl turned to look at them, then pointedly at the meat in her hand, "Padraig? I don't think we've entirely thought this through." The owl hooted and opened it's wings to fly down. Faith considered, almost too late, that holding this meat was not the best of plans and she threw it, into the garden where the Enormowl landed, picked it up and swallowed it in one go. "What now?" Faith asked as the gigantic creature turned unblinking, golden eyes to them and let out another low hoot.

► Show Spoiler

"However, should the chef/baker should manage to perfectly balance the three elements (requires master level skill minimum) then the sensation for the eater is an amazing gastronomic one. The 'sunburst' feels like an explosion in the mouth of warmth which tastes literally divine. Be this in a baked dessert, a preserve or as an accompaniment to fish or white meat, this is a taste experience like no other." - from the description of the sunburst fruit. It does not mention cat hair....

[Padraig]

She was probably right, Padraig decided. It would require some sort of luck, or even the ordinary kind, for them to have a domesticated creature roosting on their rooftop, rather than one of it's wilder cousins. Chances were it had been part of menagerie since it was young after all. But they'd learned from experience by now. That kind of luck, even the ordinary kind, was more often elusive, than not. At least for them.

"It's a nice thought though, don't you think?" he asked, even as he grabbed some sort of tether and they headed outdoors. And she was right again. The thing balanced atop their chimney was big. Really big. "I don't think I care for the way it's eyeing us," he whispered as they stood back for a better look. Like they were a couple of fat field mice themselves. A bigger tether? Quite possible.

"And more bait too," he said as the thing fluttered to the ground and he took a healthy, self-preserving step, or three, backwards. "I have an idea. Feed very small bites, and very slowly. I'll be right back." Then dashing inside, Padraig grabbed more raw meat, chopped up in small bits, and a piece of rope before heading back out and rejoining Faith.

"Even if we manage to slip a rope round his foot, if he lifts off he may take us with him." Not an appealing thought. Not at all. And that was assuming he'd let them get that close. "The menagerie isn't far on foot. Let's try something first." Taking a small piece of raw meat, Padraig backed up some more and then tossed it towards the owl. And in response, it hopped forward, snapped up the treat and eyed them, hoping for me.

His suggestion? They proceed slowly, tossing small bits of food as they went, in hopes of luring the enormowl all the way back to the menagerie.

[Faith Augustin]

She'd agreed that it was a lovely thought, the notion that things might be as straightforward as 'the humungous creature on our roof was at least domesticated.' But to them, never mind the strangeness of the creature being there to begin with, the thought that it was domesticated was just too much optimism. So, out they went and it was, as she said, big. "Me neither. It looks hungry. You know, I'm not that much bigger than a Scalvoris mouse. Do you think it's trying to work out it it would need to bite me in half or not? Can owls work out things like that?"

Faith was so focused on the owl that she didn't spot Padraig backing away and when he said he had an idea, that she should feed it very tiny bits very slowly and he'd be right back, Faith chuckled. "Yeah, for sure. I'll just frustrate it while you abandon me to the... Padraig?" Risking a glance she realised the he wasn't joking, that he had meant it and, in fact, had done just that and she sighed slightly. Just her and the owl then. "Alright owl, it's just us. Please don't eat me." Faith threw it another piece of meat. "I'm sure that I'd taste strange. Where did you come from, anyhow?"

The enormowl hooted and Faith nodded, like she understood. "Really? I hear it's nice there. See? Nice conversation. Why would you eat somene who's having such a nice conversation with you? Where have you been?" The last, of course, was to Padraig as he reappeared. "I can't believe you just.... what if I'd got eaten? You wouldn't have liked it, you know."

He explained his idea, though, and Faith's expression went from mildly ticked off to outright incredulous, "You think we should walk an owl, twice the size of the two of us together, through the streets of the town?" She shook her head, not sure whether to be impressed or horrified. She landed on the latter. "I don't think we have that much meat. What if it isn't domesticated and a group of children run past? How are we going to get it out of the garden? Ask it to hop over the back gate?" She'd turned to look at him and the owl hooted again, folornly. Inside there was the sound of more dog-howling and then a yip of displeasure as Quattro got bored of the howling and gave Cosmo a slight shock.

Faith pinched the bridge of her nose as she considered that, whilst his idea was really ridiculous, it might be the only option open to them. "Alright," she said, throwing another piece of meat as she did. The owl, at least, perked right up. "I'll admit, I can't think of a better plan. Other than don't come out here in the first place and don't, whatever we do, start feeding it because then it's far less likely to just go away." Both good points and she really wished she had thought of them previously.

"I'll lead it, it's already seeing me as the provider of food. You be a distance away, with a crossbow. Load it with a modified bolt." Another piece of meat and an appreciative hoot. "Go to my first aid kit, get the vial with the black stopper which has a red dab of paint on it. That's the strongest sedative I have in there. I don't want to hurt it but if it starts trying to eat me, maybe we should consider it." Faith glanced up at Padraig and grinned, albeit a rather tense grin.

"It'll be one to tell the grandchildren. Go get that stuff and be quick, please? I don't like being out here on my own with it."

[Basilisk]

As Faith and Padraig figured out how to lead the Enormowl home, there was a rustling sound behind them, followed by some footsteps. "For all the time you spent with my daughter, you don't know very much about owls, do you? Trust me, you're not in that things food chain any more than you are your cats." Karem said, pulling down the fur lined hood of her cloak. "All the same, this is a fairly safe way of getting it to follow you, at least until something it wants more catches its attention." she said, looking at the large bird that was currently looking at Faith and waiting for the next treat.

After a moment, the Immortal of the Hunt shook her head. "And people say my wolves are oversized." she said before looking at Faith and Padraig, then back at the bird. "I came to talk, and I can help you get this home without putting more than the three of us at risk. So, I'll help and we'll talk. Deal?" she asked, still standing to the side of the couple and their oversized company. The owl hooted again, and Karem gave the colossal bird a look and the bird fell silent again, though it kept looking imploringly at Faith. "Speck used to look at me like that. Kura spoiled that bird rotten when she was a girl." she said, grinning slightly.l

[Padraig]

"As I understand it, they're fairly intelligent." Owls, that was. And Padraig could only imagine that their larger, much larger cousin would be just as clever. But did ordinary owls choose their prey based on size, or no? If they did, Faith's question about her suitability as a meal might have some merit. It was an interesting scientific question in search of an answer. But no man in his right mind, asked by his significant other, would answer it.

He'd have argued that he hadn't exactly abandoned her. He'd left the door ajar though not wide enough for Cosmo or Quattro to get out, and kept an eye out the window as well as he made quick work of collecting more treats for their overgrown house guest, and a much stronger and longer tether. He'd have been amused by the one way conversation going on outside the door, under other circumstances. But he worried too that the thing might suddenly develop a taste for two legged prey.

"You were never in any danger," he argued when he finally returned. Which was mostly a poor admission that he hadn't exactly thought any of it through before he'd done it. "No, I wouldn't have liked it," he admitted. An understatement, as he handed Faith a bundle with the raw chicken he'd cut into very small pieces.

But when she questioned his plan, he frowned. "Well we can't exactly carry it can we? And if it was able to get up and roost on our chimney I doubt the fence will give it much trouble." As for innocent bystanders, she had a point. But still, the enormowl hadn't shown itself to be particularly aggressive to this point. So long as they had plenty of treats, chances were, it would be fine. Wishful thinking, maybe. And he'd started to think that a tether was a worse idea than feeding the creature had been. He wasn't about to go crawling under the bird's belly to attach the end of one to it's foot.

So, his crossbow, one of the modified bolts and the vial with the black stopper. Right. Except he never got a chance to go get them. A rustling in the bushes behind them startled him and in a trill he turned on his heel to look, him between Faith and the interloper, worried that the enormowl might have had an equally enormous friend, come to join him.

Without thinking he'd dropped his hand to where his sword would have been, had he remembered to bring one with him, just as he spied, not an owl, but a woman standing there instead. Padraig frowned when she spoke, confused for just a trill as he glanced Faitih's way. Her daughter. Over-sized wolves? He was a scholar of science, definitely not a religious one and it took a trill longer before it dawned on him. "You're...Karem?"

What could she want to talk to them about? He glanced at Faith again, wondering what she was thinking. But it seemed to him, that if an Immortal offered you a deal, or at least some Immortals, it was wiser to take it than not. Besides, he was curious. And there remained the problem of an enormowl in their garden, and a finite number of treats to offer it.

[Faith Augustin]

When he said that she was never in any danger, Faith turned to look at him with an expression of utter disbelief on her face. "And we knew that how?" Scientific observation of 'you aren't dead, are you' was not likely to help here, it seemed. She was just about to take the step from 'ticked off' to actually irritated when he agreed that, no, he wouldn't like it if she'd gotten eaten, with that look on his face where he seemed genuinely contrite. She gave a wry smile instead and took the chicken from him with a slight shake of her head. "No harm done," to anything except her ego, she considered, "I'm just snippy because I was afraid." Which was entirely true. "I'm sorry. You did the right thing." Abandoning one's partner to mutated huge owls always was, wasn't it? Her grin was rueful as she recognised that he was just, as he always did, trying to fix the problem in front of them.

Which was the big owl.

"Well, alright, the gate was a stupid point, but you're right. It's probably our only option, right now." So, they were in whatever passed for agreement in this ludicrous situation and she was at least prepared and ready for him to go indoors this time. Which meant, of course, that he didn't.

Of all the contrary men in the world, she thought, her man was the most.

She wanted him to stay, he went in. She wanted him to go in and... then she heard the voice and Faith turned to look in some surprise. There was a woman there? Where did she come from? Faith looked between the woman and Padraig and listened as she spoke about her daughter, wolves and... a smile crossed Faith's face as she realised, at the same moment that Padraig did, who is was that had stepped into their garden. "It is an honour to meet you." Faith meant that wholeheartedly. "Kura's mother is always welcome in our home."

Karem spoke then of a deal and Faith glanced at Padraig. One glace was all she needed to know that he was thinking entirely the same thing as she was and she nodded her head. "We'd be grateful for the help. Very much so, thank you." The sound of crazed dog and cat fighting had stopped, as though they recognised that the Immortal was here, too, somehow and Faith threw another piece of meat, the last of the beef, to the owl. "How would you like us to proceed?"

Pretty much, whatever Karem's plan was, Faith was going with it. Faced with the Immortal of the Hunt and a bloody big owl, Faith knew who she was listening to and it was neither herself, nor Padraig.

[Basilisk]

Karem nodded as Padraig identified her, then gave a smile that looked somewhat forced when Faith said her presence was an honor. "Please don't put me on a pedestal. One thing I have learned in a very long life is that the Immortals are not inherently better than Mortals, not in terms of anything that truly matters." she said, before nodding when the pair accepted her help. Thinking for a moment, Karem considered what they should do, then frowned and walked up to the owl. Something about it felt off to her. After a moment, she snorted and reached out to stroke the great birds wing.

"Well now, what are you doing so far from home. You would not have left on your own." she said quietly, before turning back to Padraig and Faith. "This one is domesticated. Not a spark of the Wild in him." she said, before frowning sadly. "I doubt if he even knows how to hunt well enough to survive at his age. Poor bird was probably starving when he came here." she said, before looking back the two Mortals then back at the bird. "And him coming here may not be a coincidence. There is a theory that Immortals leave traces whenever they interact with Mortals and that Mortalborn may have a similar effect. One of Kura's Domains is owls. It could be some lingering trace of her attracted the bird to the two of you." she said, before looking at the lack of feed for the bird and sighing.

"Speaking of my daughter, her presence would be a good thing for this. She would be able to find out exactly why this one is so far away from his home." she said, before shaking her head. "Well, Kura has her own tasks to attend too, so it falls to us. We will need more meat for this one, and so I will provide that." she said, as her own personal pack of wolves materialized at the edges of the gate. Four of the Phelan sized Beta wolves, three of the larger Omega wolves, and two of horse-sized Alpha wolves, though she left her unique familiar in spirit form for now. "Go. Hunt." she said, and the wolves melted silently into the darkness. Then she turned to the owl. "Stay with us." she commanded, and the howl hooted at her. While her servants could only command canines, all creatures knew who ruled the Wild. "You won't need the tether, and my wolves will bring food for our companion. Lead the way." she said, smiling.