The Sisters' Family Vacation:
A Cat's Eye View
"How did I get myself into this mess?" Severine asked herself.
Currently, the Tiny Cat Coven leader was trailing the Owl Familia from a safe distance. This wasn't by choice; Severine had gone to the Bonesborrow's meeting hall with the plan to put up some membership flyers for her failing Coven. Somehow, through a series of events too embarrassing to think about, the former coven scout found herself working for a group of human and wild witch haters.
With a sigh, Severine let these thoughts go and focused on the job she wasn't getting paid for. The Owl Familia were currently making their way through the market; she could see one of the family's bond beasts carrying bags.
"Mom, what do you think about this one?" Amity asked, holding up an outfit.
Severine scowled slightly when she saw the clothing the "knocked-down" witch was studying. There was nothing wrong with the black jeans and sleeveless black top, say for one detail; it was the raven on the front that irritated the Tin Cat Coven member.
"Why don't tiny cats get any love?" Severine asked dejectedly.
"Because cats of any size are laammee!" Bill suddenly said.
Startled, the ex-scout screamed and Tharak quickly covered her mouth. The larger Titan Trapper held the poor cat-like demon for nearly a minute before she calmed down and stopped screaming.
Once he was sure Severine was done, Tarak removed his hand. The Tiny Cat Coven member shot the Titan trapper a glare.
"How long have you been here?" Severine asked angrily.
"Long enough, kitty-cat," Bill replied lazily. "Would have been here sooner, but I got the munchies and stopped for a sandwich. Oh, and we opened a tab under your name."
Severine's eyes began to twitch and, not for the first time, thought about running. She quickly pushed that thought aside; she had signed a contract when she was hired.
If she tried to run before her job was finished, she would get punished. The punishment in question would be lightning bolts hitting her for over five minutes.
So, she was stuck…for now.
"Now, spy," Tarak said, "Report on your findings so we may enact righteous vengeance on those whose dare spoil the hunt."
Severine cocked an eyebrow at the trapper's speech and turned to the elder trapper. Bill, munching on his sandwich, just shrugged and said with a mouth full.
"Do'th wook at me. I just let him talk, and tell the boys to set up traps."
Severine's eyes snapped open in fear; she realized the minor injuries lately were due to the trappers. Tarak just sighed in irritation and face-palmed.
"Great and wise Bill, we have talked about this," the larger trapper said exasperatedly. "We must remain in the shadows while on the Isles. We can't afford to be found again, not after the time we chased the last titan and got caught by the border patrols."
"Oh, pop that wart," Bill replied dismissively. "This is about more than just getting the last Titan. This is about payback for what those brats did to me. Speaking of which-"
Severine nearly screamed when Bill undid his belt and began lowering his pants. With a growl, the larger trapper lunged for his leader. Tarak got Bill in a bear hug and began wrestling with him to keep his pants on.
"Bill, we talk about this as well!" Tarak said, sounding like a parent scolding their child. "You are NOT to remove your hunting garment in public! You're disgracing the sacred name of the Titan Trappers!"
Severine decided to tune the two trappers out as Bill made a comment about his rear end itching, and focused on the task at hand. She frowned when she saw something troubling; the Owl Familia had moved on and was nowhere in sight.
"Hey, Trappers!" the cat-like demon nearly screamed. "We lost them."
Immediately, Bill and Tarak stopped their fight and looked in the spot where they last saw the mixed family. Their eyes snapped open when they saw that Severine was telling the truth.
"Why the heck am I wasting my time with you?" Bill retorted and broke free from Tarak. "I need to get on the trail of my prey!"
The eldest Titan Trapper pointed and posed dramatically. The moment was ruined when Bill's pants dropped to his ankles. Tarak sighed as he face-palmed again, and then ran out of the group's hiding spot.
Bill took a second to fix his pants and then hurried after his underling. The elder of the Trappers caught up with Tarak and both suddenly came to a dead stop. Severine looked confused as the two trappers looked at the ground.
Suddenly, the two were launched into the air with a small explosion of sand, and black, piranha-like fishes came bursting out of the sand a second later.
"You have the guys set deatnha traps!" Tarak screamed.
"...Seemed like a good idea when I was falling asleep a few nights ago!" Bill replied.
Suddenly, Severine wasn't feeling so bad about this job. She only wished she had something to record this as her old scroll broke a few days again.
The wind suddenly wrapped around the young demon and it felt like someone was tapping her on her shoulder.
"A gift from your Titan and Manny Noceda."
Severine got the sudden urge to look down and saw something puzzling; a high-grade, human camcorder was at her feet. Curious, she picked up the item and felt a spell surge through her.
She immediately knew how to use the human item like a pro. Severine would admit, she felt a little disturbed by this. But, after a quick check, she found nothing dangerous about the camcorder and decided to use it.
Severine turned her new camera on her co-workers and nearly grimaced at the scene; Bill and Tarak were nearly naked. The deatnha fishes must have been under a spell to only eat clothing…or the two trappers just didn't taste good to them.
Needless to say, the Tiny Cat Coven leader decided against filming…for the time being.
(SC)
"Can I ask something?" Severine asked curiously.
Currently, the three were at the center of the town, near the headless statue of Belos. According to a tip from another TT, the Owl Familia was heading in this direction, and the trappers planned to ambush them when they arrived.
"Speak, horned one," Tarak said.
Severine took a moment to collect her thoughts and looked at her co-workers. Shortly after "slaving" the deatnha fishes, Bill and Tarak contacted a trapper to get them some replacement outfits.
The outfits the two trappers were wearing were nearly identical to their old ones. The only real difference was the outfits didn't have titan fur on them and they replaced their titan's skull masks with hoods.
"Why don't you work with the group?" Severine asked after a minute. "I mean, you have skilled trappers of titans; a potion and puppet master; a talented construction witch, and three plant witches. With all of that power, I think you could easily overwhelm them."
Tarak looked at the cat-like demon with a disapproving eye.
"The answer to that is simple," Tarak replied, sounding offended. "The hunt is a sacred and noble endeavor and only two or fewer should partake of it at one given time. To defile that sacred right is to bring dishonor to the Grand-"
"Oh can it, you windbag!" Bill interrupted rudely and looked at Severine. "That snake is paying us to work with her, but that doesn't mean we have to work together."
"WAIT…You're getting paid!" Severine screamed angrily.
Bill ignored or didn't care about the demon's outburst and looked at one of the streets leading to the square.
"All I had to do was go to one of those silly little LOL meetings and I knew no one in that group could work together," Bill boasts, "So I gave the idea that we should do a gauntlet and wear down those-THERE THEY ARE!"
slightly startled from the sudden outburst, Severine needless looked where Bill was pointing. Sure enough, the Owl Familia was strolling into the square. The group was laughing about something and was unaware of the eyes on them.
"Good," Tarak said menacingly. "They are not aware of us. This should be the perfect time to strike. We shall wait in the shadows and when they approach, we strik-"
"I told you to can the theater talk," Bill said rudely and looked at the group. "I'm going in!"
The elder trapper then ran to the group as a protesting Tarak reluctantly followed him. Severine cocked an eyebrow and wondered, not for the first time, how was Bill considered the wisest member of the trappers when he does things like this?
Still, she took out her new camera and got ready to film. Thanks to being so close and some of the camera's features, she was able to see and hear what was going on without any problem.
"Hey, girlie girl, we have some things we need to take care of!" Bill said menacingly.
Luz, Amity, and Eda groaned when they saw the two trappers. Vee looked at the two witches with confusion as Lilith pulled Camila behind.
"What do you want, Bill?" Amity asked flatly. "We're busy here."
"Yeah, if you want King, you'll have to go through me," Eda added threateningly.
The trapper ignored the "knocked-down" witch and summoned a spear with a spell. He lit the head on fire and pointed at Amity.
"I'm here for payback!" Bill shouted angrily. "Because of you, I'm still picking goop out of places. Speaking of which."
"NOT NOW, BILL!" Tarak screamed as he summoned a double-bladed axe and set it on fire. "As the elder declared, we arrived for our vengeance. Time and time again, you denied us the glory of slaying the last Titan. That ends today. When we slay thy, the titan shall-GAH!"
Tarak was interrupted when Eda threw a potion into his face. The larger trapper began to flail about as he tried to wipe the stink potion off of his face.
Amity took time to address her family. "Vee! Take our moms to the nearest Guard post and get help!"
Amity turned her attention back to the trapper and acted just as a fireball was heading in her direction. She summoned a wall of abomination goo and summoned her harp as she went on the offense.
Eda scoffed at the idea of running and pulled a few potions from her hair. It was time to show some losers that Eda the Owlet was a threat at any age.
"No, we can fight!" Eda declared.
"Not this time, Mama Eda!" Luz screamed as she took out a few glyphs. Her expression softened as she looked at Eda. "Just, please, get somewhere safe."
Eda looked up at the eyes of her human daughter, eyes that were pleading. Eda scoffed, unable to resist those eyes, and put her potions away.
"Stay safe, witchlet," Eda muttered as he reluctantly left with her sisters and Vee.
Luz sighed and looked back at the group. She made a face when saw Amity was having a bit of time handling the two trappers. Bill was using his smaller size to move around Amity and threw fireballs at her as Tarak took swings with his axe.
Amity created an abomination to fight Tarak as she dodged Bill's attacks. When there were breaks in Bill's attack, Amity would try to sing a spell. Bill had planned for this and dashed in with his spear at the ready.
Luz made her move by creating a light spear and throwing it at the elder Trapper.
"AMITY! Cover your eyes!" the human told her future wife.
Though Luz shouted the last part in Spanish, she was surprised when Bill also covered his eyes. The light spear exploded a second later but did little due to the trapper having covered his eyes.
AMITY! Get out of there!" Luz screamed.
The human's warning came too late; Bill was the first to recover and knocked Amity's feet out from under her. Amity fell onto her side and the wind was knocked out of her. The two trappers encircled her as Amity struggled to get her second wind.
Bill drew his spear up when a fireball soared overhead, missing his spear by an inch. He looked over his shoulder and wasn't scared when he saw Luz using her aunt's steel-bloom spell to cover both arms.
"Drop the toothpick and get away from her!" Luz threatened with fierce anger.
Bill suddenly let go of his spear as he said, "Sure."
The elder trapper suddenly dropped to the ground and a blue fireball flew at Luz. The human witch was barely able to react and dropped to the ground. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough and the fire grazed the top of her head. The spot quickly began burning.
Luz didn't panic as she felt her head quickly heat up. Instead, she dropped the steel-blooms from her hands and grabbed an ice glyph. She used it to put out the fire and sighed with relief as she felt her head cool instantly.
She went for the steel-blooms but stopped when a spear tip was pointed right at her eyes.
"Don't even think about it, girlie girl," Bill said threateningly. "Now, back away from the salad and keep those hands where I can see them."
Luz dared a look behind Bill and scowled at what she saw. Amity had recovered but had Tarak's axe pointed at her head. Also, Amity has been tied up in such a way, she wasn't able to do any spells.
Wirth no other option, Luz did as she was told. She held out her hands with her palms open as she backed away from the steel-blooms. She glared dagger at the trapper as Bill got between the human and the steel-bloom flowers.
"Don't give me the angry eyes, girl," Bill said victoriously. "You didn't think we wouldn't learn from all our failed hunts? Now, Tarak gets the other girlie girl over here. I have something I like to talk to her about."
The larger trapper dragged Amity over and dumped her beside Luz. The couple continued to glare at the trappers as Bill and Tarak basked in their victory.
Suddenly a bird-like shriek filled the air and a familiar being landed between the two young witches and the Titan Trapper. Luz and Amity couldn't help but gawk at "knocked-down" harpy before them.
"Mama Eda, she…," Luz couldn't help but gash, "...SO CUTE!"
Amity couldn't help but agree; Eda's current harpy form looked downright cute. Her once sharp claws and talons were now just stumps and the spikes that shot out from her body were gone. Eda's arms and legs weren't very long either.
Eda's wings looked like they were in the final stages of their development and it was a wonder how she flew with them. Strangely, she had a couple of down feathers coming out of the top of her head and that seemed to have helped to tame the witch's mane.
"AWW," Bill said mockingly, "What's the wittle birdie going to do? Peck my toes?"
Eda didn't respond with words; instead, she pounced on the elder trapper. Unprepared, Bill barely caught Eda as he went to the ground with the harpy chick clawing at his face.
"AHH. Tarak! TARAK!" Bill screamed as he tried to keep his face from being clawed out. "Get this bird off my bread and butter!"
The larger trapper moved to help his elder and Luz made her move. She took out a fire glyph and threw a fireball at Tarak.
"Spicy toss!" she screamed to get Tarak's attention.
It worked and the larger trapper looked in the direction of the fireball. He screamed and dove for the ground. The fireball soared over his head, but it served its purpose; it broke Tarak's concentration enough that his spell ended.
Amity acted as soon as she was freed; she summoned some abomination at the same time she called back her harp. She played a few notes and charged the abomination goo she just summoned with bard magic.
"Abomination, SEIZE!" the witch commanded.
The goo formed into its typical shape and with a roar, charged at the two trappers at blinding speeds. Luz watched as the golem grabbed Tarak and charged at Bill.
She gaps when realized that Eda was in the line of fire. She opened her mouth to tell her "knocked-down" witch mother to move when vine grabbed Eda. Luz looked to the right and saw Lilith, Vee, and Camila using plant glyphs.
The harpy chick was yanked to the right just as the abomination reached Bill. The abomination lost its shape as he entrapped Bill and then formed a pillar with the two trappers in the middle.
"Great," Bill moaned, "I got goop in all my hard-to-reach places again."
"Why do I continue to work with you?" Tarak groaned.
The elder trapper didn't get a chance to reply; Eda walked up to the two, poofing back to her witch form in the process. She looked at her fellow "knocked-down" mothers with a cheeky grin.
"I wanted to do this all day," she said mischievously and looked at the trapper. "No one bullies my kids!"
She then kicked Bill in the shin with all of her might. Eda began to cackle as the elder trapper began to flail about, and looked at her fellow mothers for something.
Lilith and Camila seemed to understand what Eda was looking for and the raven witch gave her sister an ice glyph. The two brought their hands together and then pulled them apart.
Between Lilith's hands was a score made out of ice; It read 3.15. Camila also had a score between her hands and hers was a little higher; the human mother had given her witch sister a 3.50.
"Critics," Eda scoffed and then went over to Tarak.
Luz watched as Eda kicked Tarak and then sighed. She took a seat on the ground as Vee, Camila, and Lilith joined her and Amtiy.
"I can't think of anything more embarrassing than having your "knocked-down" witch mama bail you out of the fire," the human witch commented sheepishly.
"Umm, Luz," Vee piped in awkwardly. "I might be able to think of one thing."
Confused, Luz looked at her sister and future wife. Vee and Amity refused to look Luz in the eye and this only made Luz more confused. It wasn't until she heard Eda's trademark laugh that she realized what her sister meant.
Slowly, she reached up to the back of her head and felt where it was burned. Luz's face went redder than Amity's when she felt the small, missing patch of hair.
"We can get you a hat until we can home and brew up a hair regrow potion," Amity said, trying to be helpful as she went up to her fiancee and hugged her.
Luz couldn't find her voice and just nodded instead.
From her spot, Severine lowered her camera and save the footage. She looked at the titan trappers and smiled. She was suddenly feeling better about this job, and if she remembered right, Bill said something about a gauntlet.
The ex-scout chuckled a little darkly as she wondered what embarrassing moments she would capture next.
(M Corner)
I don't know if I did this right, but I wanted this chapter to be shown from Severine's point of view, especially after she got her camera. Also, everyone who follows me would have guessed I would have given Eda and Lilith younger harpy forms.
Now, for a lighter note; I had this theory as to why Luz began wearing hats after returning to the human realm. During her fight with Belos, part of the back of her head was damaged. So, either her hair didn't grow back completely or not at all.
Luz let her hair grow out slightly so she could comb it over the spot. For added measure, she also wears hats.