Why are you here, Cat?

[Mazguul]

Mazguul sat quietly staring at the spirit beast over the other side of the fire. The flames turned the ghostly cat shaped visage into a glowing orange swirling mass in the dark of the forests Mazguul liked to hide in.

Meanwhile Mazguul was holding a stick between her toes on which was her meal - some sort of meat by the looks of it. Bryaugh, Mazguul's ever faithful wolf, slept soundly by the same fire, occasionally twitching an ear. Unlike his Master, Bryaugh did not seem to care about the cat spirit, he was indifferent.

The spirit didn't need to sleep, eat, drink or breath. She just existed. That in itself Mazguul found very unsettling. In the same way she found Forsaken and Death Knights unsettling. The dead were not supposed to walk, they were supposed to lie down and their spirits were supposed to leave.

The She-Orc knew how the hunt worked, or was supposed to work. For every kill she made in which her own skill matched that of her prey a little part of that beast became part of her. Over time these little parts begin to influence a hunter and how they hunt. Mazguul knew this, she had been told this and she believed this. Her boon for her devotion to the Spirits of The Hunt was something very personal to her - the boon of 'spirit sensing'. During the hunt she felt her prey's soul as she gave chase, or at least that was how she described it, and when she killed she felt their spirit parting from their body. In extreme cases she saw it, such was her slight 'sight'. But never, never had the spirit of a beast stayed for more than a few minutes in her vision. Until now.

"You're not supposed to be here" Mazguul grumbled as she bit into her meal and waved a finger that the beast accusingly "you're supposed to go somewhere else"

The beast looked blankly at her. As it had done for days.

"How in the Nether should I know where that is?" the She-Orc continued, a frown formed on her face "I'm not dead yet so I have no idea as I haven't been, like, there."

Still the beast stared without expression or emotion.

"I killed you, skinned you and ate you, yes you are dead" Mazguul rolled her eyes "well, your physical body is. All you are now is a walking ball of... spirit.. stuff. You shouldn't be here, you should be somewhere else and-"

Mazguul paused. The ghostly cat had said nothing to her, she had not even blinked or made a motion and yet Mazguul had still known what the cat had replied with. This was even more unsettling than the days of having the beast spirit silently following her around.

The She-Orc licked her lips nervously and met the pinpoints of light that the cat had for eyes. For a long time they stared at each other, cat and orc, in silent contemplation.

"Why are you here, Cat?" Mazguul finally asked.

And then she knew - the information popped into her head as if it had always been there but she had forgotten it. The cat was not the spirit of the cat she had killed but a collection of all those she had hunted in the name of The Hunt. The Spirits of the Hunt had given Mazguul a spirit companion to complement her spirit sense and to protect her in this time of war. The cat was the greatest boon the Spirits of The Hunt could give - one of their own. Mazguul had never hunted out of spite, hatred or lust for blood but for the desire to hunt for The Hunt and it was this that marked her, and a few other whom she did not know, as worthy in their eyes.

Mazguul tore her eyes away from the cat's and looked at the floor in shame. Twice she had shot the Spirit Beast to see if she would die. She had tried gnomish explosives, the spells of warlocks, the banishment rituals of Shamans, washing her (Mazguul knew most cats didn't like water), pushing her off a cliff, setting light to her and even getting Necromancers to kill her. She had been so wrapped up in trying to get rid of a 'cat' that she had not stopped to consider that she might have the aid of a 'spirit'. The hurt and loathing at herself that filled her heart was near unbearable - what had she done?

The She-Orc opened to her mouth to apologise, to beg the spirit for forgiveness for her cruelty but she shut it again as she simply knew that she had already been forgiven. The Spirit walked round the fire and lay it's transparent head on Mazguul's lap with a deep growling purr. The cat had found Mazguul's antics amusing.

"I knew you lot had a twisted sense of humour" Mazguul grumbled.

When she next looked down at the cat the distrust and disgust was gone from Mazguul's unusually deep-blue eyes to be replaced with admiration. It was time to accept her boon and time to trust in the spirit cat. As per usual the Thur'Ruk was right.

"You know..." she said as she stroked the cat's head with a mangled hand, then watched as the spirit got up to lay down with Bryaugh "...I think we'll all get along just fine... but... you need a name."

Mazguul watched the cat as she kept watch over the she-orc and the wolf. For some reason Mazguul's mind drifted back to the first time she had taken the spirit really hunting. Bryaugh had not been at the best of health for a spider bite had caused a paw to swell and the She-Orc had been forced to take the cat.

A smile formed at the memory. Cat's made for good killers even if they were harder to control than a wolf... very good killers despite their independent stubbornness.

"Ravage" she nodded with a smirk "I'll call you Ravage... for what I did to you and for what you do for me."

With that said Mazguul sank her teeth into her meal and Ravage glowed brighter in pleasure at having been given a name.

(( Quick one.. not a very good one... sorry... ))

[Norv]

(( Harr, here it is, the story!

And a lovely one! I love these surprises, and so nice was all the roleplay of yourself as well as opportunities offered to others around the strange cat! I hope it was worth for you the days of stalking Zul'Drak for the rare elite... ))

[Morgeth]

((I think it's a very good one. I love the cat, and the increasing interaction with it - shown especially today in Azshara. Mazguul's got some depth to her, and this story captures it in a nice way.))