Catch That Thief!
Cat guides Crow and Knitten back to the hall they came from, down a flight of stairs, and through a couple of other halls until they reach a wooden door where she says she sensed the thief. Full of confidence, she walks straight through the solid door while Crow places Knitten back into his pocket. He looks up in time to catch sight of her two tails as they disappear through the wood, waggling with excitement. Wasting no time, he detaches a color-coded keyring from his belt and uses the blue one to click open the door's lock; blue being his memory indicator for the color of water. Inside is one of the areas where Crow goes to fix leaky water pipes and boilers, containing narrow corridors with pipes all throughout the castle. It is not well-lit since it is not used as often, and the sound echoes, making the darkness more eerie.
Light from the hall shines into the dim area upon a young weasel standing on his hind legs* carrying wooden crates of food from the kitchen and causes him to squint his eyes from its brightness. He yelps when he sees Crow and says, "I'm not here doing anything wrong! I... work in the kitchen. I'm just taking these things to where someone asked me to... for storage." He does not seem to notice Cat standing nearby. [*It is important to note that nearly every person in the world of Fwoofa who can speak a language tends to walk on two legs, but not Cat. Or Knitten, for obvious reasons.]
Crow shines the raystick at him and narrows his eyes. "Well, I don't recognize you and I do work here."
Recognizing he might be reported, the weasel bargains with Crow, "Hey, I'm almost done and then I'll leave, so forget you ever saw me. I'll leave you something good if you do. Deal?"
Crow shakes his head, "No deal. Why are you helping yourself to our food supply?"
"Nothing that you need to know. Now turn and walk away, birdie. I'm not wanting to hurt anyone. I just want the food." He arches up to make himself look larger in order to frighten Crow, but Crow is not afraid.
On the contrary, Knitten is impressed. "Ooh, he seems scary!"
The thieving weasel pauses to ask, "Is... Is that a puppet? Why are you --?"
With a rapid flaring of feathers, Crow spreads his wings big and the weasel cowers back, intimidated by the ominous action. "Away with you if all you want is to take things that don't belong to you!" his voice echoes against the darkened corners and pipes, rebounding all around as though multiple voices are shouting at the intruder all at once. "These foods are not mine to give to anyone, but I'll protect them. I am the castle's protector after all, I've just learned."
Cat bounces with excitement. "Is this a game? I can be big and intimidating too!" she says while increasing in size until she is a very large fox, towering over everyone. This startles Crow and he moves to give her more room.
Upon seeing Crow react by losing his composure and moving away, the young thief observes a shimmer of Cat's form as she grows huge and also becomes aware of her staring down at him. "Ahh! Now I'm seeing phantoms! This must be a haunted castle. I'm out of here!" He drops the crates of food, causing quite a cacophony of noise and echoes as they hit the stone floor and rattle. Still, he takes a second to grab some yummy meat snacks from one before bounding away through the corridors to escape, making very little noise with his own stealthy footfalls.
Cat laughs and shrinks down to just about three and a half sizes larger than normal. "We spooked him good! Hop on, Crow. We can catch him faster if we work as a team."
With Knitten still snug in his pocket, Crow climbs onto Cat's back as she requested while marveling at the plushness of her fur. "Remarkable! I wouldn't have guessed you could change sizes. And, yes, I wholeheartedly agree that teamwork is very important!"
"Natch. Now, hold on tight!" She bolts away so fast that Crow struggles to stay seated. "Woo! I feel like we're the giant wolf and rider on that one anime, out to save the forest."
Crow heard her words and wonders what she is talking about, but he is more concentrated on staying attached as they zip over and under pipes.
Knitten shouts, "Cat is the bestest! Whee!"
All of them launch out of a service door the weasel must have snuck in through and now left open in his hurry, then through the budding bushes and into the surrounding forest, thick with new spring foliage.
Cat chuckles, "And just like that, here's a forest. Called it!"
"Get back here!" Crow yells at the retreating weasel.
The thief glances back and sees only that he is still being followed fast by Crow through the brush, so he dashes up a tree and leaps from branch to branch around the forest to lose him.
Crow, busy swatting aside occasional low branches, asks Cat, "Now what? Can you keep up with him on the ground?"
She grins. "Actually, he's made me think of a tree-mendous idea! Let's get crafty!"
While she is running, the tips of Cat's two floofy fox tails morph and extend to form a huge paintbrush and a pencil, then wave at the area ahead of them. Bright colors flash and new trees appear around the weasel, unfolding and piecing together like an origami paper art project taking solid form. A few are the usual green leaves and brown bark but most are in all the other colors of the rainbow, materializing in a thick formation like a large cocoon around the thief until he is stuck. The forest continues to pulse with a colorful, glowing effect after she has finished.
Knitten says, "Woooow," in admiration of Cat's handiwork. "So cool."
"I'll say! Was that magick?" Crow asks. The use of magick is rare to find anywhere in the kingdom.
Cat shakes her head. "Naw, I don't use magick. I use imagination."
In a muffled voice, they hear the thief shout, "Hey, what gives?! Forests don't just change color and grow extra trees out of nowhere. Are the forest nymphs playing games on me? Let me out of here! Whoever you are, if you don't let me out of here right now, I'm going to get really angry!"
Cat lets Crow slide off of her back and then she rolls around on the ground, laughing like a giddy child while shrinking back to her normal size. She tells the young thief, "Oh, evolve yourself! I was just having a bit of fun. You can't see the forest for the trees though, is that true?" and laughs again at her own joke.
Crow begins to feel an out of the ordinary sensation of calmness and peace as he watches the colors.
The thief asks, "W-What voice am I hearing now? Are you a dryad?"
"A dryad?" Cat says. "Sure, maybe. I'm not really certain myself what I am. But if you can hear me, it means you now believe I exist. That makes me so happy! So, tell me, do you like my artwork?"
"This? This hidey-hole that you entwined me in? Y'knooow, I gotta admit it's actually quite cozy and well lit. Your glowing colors add the perfect ambiance. My hat is off to you, that it is."
Knitten tells Cat, "Mine too, if I had one." Then she whispers to Crow, "Can I borrow your hat, daddy?"
Crow, whispering, explains, "It's just an expression that shows respect or admiration for someone. He wasn't actually wearing a hat either. And I'm not actually your daddy, only sort of."
"Also, what does 'evolve yourself' mean?" she asks.
"It means to 'grow up'. She was telling him to mature."
Cat responds to the thief's review, "Aw, thank you! You're too kind. What is your name, if I may ask?"
The thief answers, "I'm known as Piklok."
"What an interesting name. And what is it you took from the castle, Piklok?"
"Oh, you know about that? I-It's just some meat snacks. I really like 'em. I was gonna take more stuff, and this wild bird guy with goggles chased me, but now I'm sorry I even did it. It's not right to take things from others. I know I wouldn't want someone taking anything from me. It's just... Not that you need to know, but my family is hungry and food is expensive in the village. I just figured the castle had more than they needed, but that's still not a good excuse. I won't do it again. I feel bad now."
Crow whispers to Cat, "I'll pay them back for the meat snacks. It seems like he's learned his lesson and is remorseful."
Cat nods in agreement and whispers back, "How very noble of you, Sir Crow."
Piklok adds, "It also doesn't help that my dad is a thief and my sister is a thief and they're longtime members of the local thieves guild, and so I became a thief too. It kinda runs in the family."
"Oh. Thanks for sharing that," Cat says.
He continues on, "You mention sharing; well, I have to share a bedroom with my sister and she snores, so I snuggle with my plush lion, Rawry, to help lull me to sleep."
Cat and Crow look at each other and Crow shrugs his shoulders before Cat says, "I cherish your honesty, Piklok. Very well, you are free to go, so long as you agree to never set foot in this forest or castle grounds again without a written invitation. Fare-thee-well."
"Oh, yes! Absolutely! Thank you for your mercy and for granting me this gorgeous hiding spot from the calamitous bird who was chasing me. I shall leave and not return this way, you've got my word."
Cat winks at Crow with a grin and, with a wiggle of her pencil, she creates an opening on the backside for Piklok to escape. They then run back to the castle, Cat's tails morphing back to normal as they go. Beaming with glee, she says, "That was fun! We really need to have more adventures like that. I even got to use my crafting skills!"
"Yes! That was astounding!" Crow agrees. "I have no idea how you did that, but it was a sight to behold! The thief has retreated and the food was spared. We saved the day! You are magnificent, Cat! Hmm. He called me 'calamitous'. I kinda like that word."
