Darwin was limping along, rustling through cupboards and getting more frustrated by the second. He couldn't find anything of worth besides meager baking ingredients, a jar of cinnamon, cloves a plenty, and a tin of strange herbs that made him feel drowsy to be around.
A warm face nuzzled his neck as he stewed in frustration, which was promptly swatted away so he could focus on what he had found. A ball of rags, some loose string and silver dinner fork and the bones of several mice.
Even worse than when he started, No jewels, no Mercury, He was eating scraps boiled in gravy.
Actually, that last part was a vast improvement. Seeing as he didn't have to duel that White terror every time he needed to eat, but shoving aside all these brainless animals was far more tedious.
He'd almost celebrated when he found Salt, hiding in a back corner, until he tested it and found it was table salt, and almost entirely useless to him. He needed metal salts.
Oh, if only he had remembered to get the salt from the Pharmacy, not the Butcher. What was he thinking?! It might have spared him all this pain and anguish. Such a simple, foolish mistake had cost him his best chance at revenge. Even if it had worked in restoring his powers in a strained sense.
He cursed again as he threw aside the small jar, lobbing it over the edge where it shattered on the floor.
"What was that??"
Darwin scampered, trying to ignore the pain of doing so, but ultimately too slow to escape. The crone wandered into view and glanced about the kitchen where several cats were now awake and alerted to the commotion. Darwin leapt for the basket he'd been sleeping in, only to fall short on the running jump and get flipped under the table as his chin struck the edge.
"Oh, Whats this mess? What have you all been getting into?" she glanced up at the open cabinet. "Did I leave that thing open? Oh, you naughty rascals, always getting into things. Which one of you was it this time? Fredrick? Sedgwick? Harper? Or was it you, Neena?" Each of the dull animals looked about like guilty children or sat there with a lazy expression.
She spotted him under the table. "Maybe it was you, our new stranger, in the house. Was it you, mr.-" She paused a moment. "Oh, bless me, father and all his saints. I never gave you a name. Poor thing, come here, let me have a look at you." She bent over, reaching for him.
Darwin bolted to the side and out of her reach, but she simply huffed and gave chase as he leapt away. While Darwin was cursing for the hag to leave him alone.
The other sacks of lazy bones merely rolled over or bolted out of the way whenever the chase got too close to them. Yipping or hissing occasionally when she stepped on a tail or two.
He felt gentle and terrible hands grab him and haul him up, struggling and flailing about.
"Oh, you're a feisty little, oh let me just-" She dragged him towards the cupboards he'd just been rummaging through. "Let's see if this calms you down a peg."
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Darwin struggled a moment longer, wailing and yowling, until something struck the back of his throat.
Instinctually, he swallowed and then realized something. He turned slowly to his assailant, a last moment of lividity.
"You, ugh, bi-shhh, oh."
His mind lazily tumbled as Darwin felt very, Tired? Happy? All his anger melted away, no matter how tightly he tried to cling to it. Fighting to keep focus, to keep his indignation towards-
A momentary pause slipped into his thoughts as he forgot what his next words were going to be. Was he talking to someone? He felt very tired and giddy.
Darwin shook his head in confusion. He couldn't think straight, he could feel something was wrong. His feet bounced off the ground weirdly and he felt like laughing, falling over as he did, giggling at his own wonky footwork. He lay on the ground rolling himself silly as he lost all cares for a moment.
Snapping up, he dashed over to look at something. A red thing had just rushed past him, followed by a blue one. He ran to catch them. They might be important. He stretched out his Pneuma to trip the little devils but missed and fell over on himself. When he looked up, he saw the others playing with the colorful shapes and grew angry.
He wanted them. He didn't know why, but he did. Even if it was just two balls of sewn together rags tossed over his head. Even if it was only to keep them away from the others. So, he dove into the herd of cats and scattered them as he chased his precious objects around the room, laughing to himself as he did and calling out taunts to his enemies as he did, daring someone to fight him.
The silly challenge was answered by a fat lazy tabby who sat on one of his prizes and which Darwin cheerfully tipped over to steal back. This led to another, a lowly calico coward, trying to snatch it away from him while Darwin fondled his treasure. So, Darwin humbled him to, laughing along the way.
He spent the next hour and a half cheerily acting the bully, scattering dishes and chasing off opponents. His happiness was running over as he brandished his strength against these fellows, this army of dullards. His mouth stretched in a yawn as he fell asleep atop his hoarded piles of plunder. Food scraps and toys that he'd scored winning feuds and duels.
He felt like a knight winning wars and glory for a lord, except he was also the lord. Beloved, honored, respected, not some cat in a house.
No, he was lord of the manor, the world. He could do anything his heart was set upon! He could do anything!
And he also felt so tired all at once, so he looked for a spot to rest on his dragon's horde. Parts of it were soft, but the entire mass kept shifting at odd angles. He kept worming his way around until he found a spot that suited him enough to fall asleep on. Eager to wake up and do it again and again.
When he did wake up, he did not want to do it again.
"What in Blazes?! What, where how did I-"
He frantically looked around, trying to figure out how, or why, he'd woken up inside a pile of garbage, gnarled ropes and various shredded toys of stuffed animals. All heaped together like an infantile anthill.
The other cats glared at him with judgment in their eye's.
"Sod off!" he tried to scream, but it again came out only as yowls and screeching. His head hurt a bit and he wondered just how delirious he'd been when he put all of this together. Well, maybe one of these toys had metal parts or a bell or-
"Dinner time! Come to Momma, my pretties! Come, come!" the hag called out. Darwin shuddered, but soon followed along. He did not want to leave those animals to eat his dinner, but he would search through this pile later. If he was lucky, he'd find a bell or something. It might give him a start at least.
His brain slowly turned over on itself, trying to come up with a scheme that involved a bell and cloth in some fashion. He was sure he could come up with something while he ate.
They served the gravy with greens this time, and while appearing slimy, were actually quite satisfying with the scraps of burnt fat at the bottom of the bowl. While his mind pondered the issue of what to do with a bunch of tiny bells should he find them.