Chicken-Show

A couple of hours pass, and midnight eventually rolls around. Tabitha, Illococoo, and Matilda were almost about to fall asleep when they finally heard a couple of knocks on the door. Illococoo jumps out of her seat with a big grin on her face, "Cocoo will get it!" she quietly exclaims, careful not to wake up Tabitha's mother.

Ilococoo opens the door and Michael steps in with a smile on his face... Which promptly drops when he spots Matilda sitting in the corner of the room. "Hey g-uys... What're you doing here?" he asks, his hand dropping to Derflinger on his waist.

"Oh, I know that look. Not a good history with her then, Partner?" Derflinger asks causing the occupants of the room to stare down at him. Matilda however just shakes her head and stands, portraying a relaxed stance despite how alert she was.

"Michael, good to see you again... I'm sure you remember me-" she starts but is interrupted when Michael speaks up.

"Yeah, when you left me for dead. If I remember your words right, they were 'I'll look forward to your execution', or something like that, right?" he asks while sending a baleful glare her way.

Matilda frowns and lowers her head slightly, "And for that I am sorry. I had other responsibilities at that time, and was under a lot of stress... Surely you understand? You wouldn't help a prisoner escape if it meant your death and the death of your loved ones, would you?"

He shakes his head, "Quit putting words in my mouth, bitch." he glances at Tabitha, "You know who she is right?" he jabs a finger in said woman's direction, "Fouquet of the Crumbling Dirt. 'Master-Thief Extraordinaire'" he states, causing Tabitha to grab her staff and stand, placing her mother behind her in case a fight breaks out.

Matilda scowls, "Listen, I'm not here to fight... I only want to make sure my sister, Tiffania, is okay." she pats her chest earnestly, "Surely she's told you of me, my name's Matilda, and I supplied her and her cabin in the village of Westwood!"

Michael inwardly scowls, Tiffania would likely be overjoyed to hear that Matilda was alive and healthy, but if he had them meet then this bitch might actually accompany them... Something he was heavily against for obvious reasons...

Truth be told, she would be a great addition to their group... If she hadn't tried to kill him, if indirectly. He had a grudge against her, whether or not it was rational he didn't care, if someone wronged him in some way, he'd get them back eventually. An eye for an eye.

He grits his teeth and refocuses on her, "Why would you care about Tiffania anyway? You left her alone to die at the hands of those damned villagers as they burned her alive! I didn't see you there, did you even know? Would you have even cared when you found her rotting corpse on that pyre!?" he accuses, but doesn't get the rise he wants out of the woman whose expression remains stern yet restrained.

Matilda shakes her head, "You don't know anything about me, False-Familiar. You're upset because I left you, a prisoner, to die for his crimes. Or are you going to claim you didn't kill Guiche de Gramont?"

"Hah! Good to hear from a serial thief! Did you suddenly grow a conscience? Are you gonna hand yourself in to the authorities now?" he jokes.

Matilda shrugs, "I don't know... How about this, I will if you will. Not that you would have the guts to face punishment for your crimes. Not even I have destroyed an entire city before, must be proud of yourself." she dismissively remarks.

"That wasn't..." he growls before shaking his head, but before he can begin arguing again, Tabitha's voice speaks up.

"She said she made oaths to protect Tiffania." she turns to Matilda, "Binding?"

...

Under Tabitha's stare, Matilda just nods, "A magically binding oath that I made with my father. If I do not attempt to protect Tiffania and keep her safe with my full effort, I will receive a backlash depending on my negligence... I could die... I that doesn't mean I'm only protecting her because of that, I still care about her!" she explains, not noticing the sneer that appears on Michael's face.

"Hex." he whispers, causing Matilda to disappear into a cloud of smoke, and once it dissipates, revealing her to be transformed into a chicken.

He chuckles and bends over above her, "So, if Tiffania moves somewhere you can't reach. You'll be forced to search for her for the rest of your life?... Hmm, sounds like a fitting punishment for leaving me to die, don't you think?" he says, the chicken's eyes widening at this.

With that, Michael punts the chicken into the wall with a swift kick, causing it to squawk out in anger, only for him to continue, uppercutting it into the ceiling and causing feathers to scatter all over the room.

The chicken wasn't yet knocked unconscious however, so Michael grabs its leg and pulls it out of the air, slamming it into the floor and beginning to stomp on it as if he were grape treading.

Two or three stomps later, the chicken is unconscious, Michael glances up and crooks a brow at the peculiar looks Tabitha and Illococoo were sending him. "What? She deserved it." he shrugs, giving the chicken one more kick before walking towards the door. "We should get going, I don't want to leave Tiffania alone too long, who knows what could happen... The camp is out in the wilderness, will your mother be alright out there?" he asks, looking at the gaunt bed-ridden woman.

Tabitha frowns but nods, "As long as we try to make her as comfortable as possible... Is the spell ready?" she asks and Michael shakes his head.

"Not yet, Tiffania had learned the Teleportation Gate spell, but needs a bit more time to master the World Gate spell. I'm sure it won't take too long, but if it does, we'll find a village or something to stay in. Sound good?"

Tabitha nods, "Better than staying here." she says sending a glance at Matilda's unconscious body that'd replaced the chicken.

"Good."