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"Guess what?" Dianna announced triumphantly as she strode into the room followed by a nervous-looking doe that placed a single hoof inside the door and stood there twitching its ears as it took in everybody. "I have a new familiar!"
"..." The rest of the witches said nothing as they stared back at the wild animal that was staring at them.
"I found her in the forest!" Dianna exclaimed proudly, a broad smile on her face.
"...You mean, she wasn't assigned to you by the council?" Cynthia asked, breaking the silence. The owl on her shoulder tilted its head as if it was also waiting on an answer.
"I thought it was a bit soon for them to assign you a new one, didn't they give you an ETA of a month for their decision?" Fiona asked, idly playing with her own snake.
"And I'd be very surprised if they let you have anything bigger than a mouse after what happened with the last one," Hazel added, paying particular attention to stroking the sleeping cat on her lap as she did so.
"Well come on, they can't really expect me to go a whole month without any sort of familiar at all," Dianna argued. "And besides, they're meant to be making a decision about how I can atone for what happened not about whether I can have another familiar. I think."
"About how you should be punished for it, you mean," Fiona said in a tone that held a hint of warning in it. The snake that was now winding itself down her arm gave a hiss to underscore her point.
Dianna raised a hand to wave off that comment and made a faint scoffing noise.
"Unregistered familiars can get you fined up to $200 a day, you know," Hazel added.
"You guys are really riding roughshod over my parade here," Dianna whined.
"That was...a poor choice of words..." Cynthia spoke up amid the shocked silence that followed that statement. The owl on her shoulder glared.
"Do you even care about what happened?" Fiona demanded, clearly and openly angry now. Her snake raised its head up and bared its fangs at Dianna.
"Of course I do! That was my cat! I loved him!" Dianna insisted.
"Then you should have kept him indoors!" Fiona exploded, her usually pale face red with rage and her snake spitting with it. "You knew the rules! You were been told over and over about the dangers to outdoors cats!"
"You should have at least looked where you were going when pulling out of the driveway..." Hazel added in an acid tone.
"That won't be a problem with this one! There's no way I can avoid seeing her!" Dianna raised her own voice in response and the doe in the door stepped back a little, very unsure of the whole situation.
"Wait, you still plan on letting your familiars outdoors?" Cynthia asked, sounding very concerned. The owl tilted its head again.
"Well it's a deer I don't think there's enough room for it inside!"
"Then why did you bring it in now?" Fiona asked, shifting her snake onto her other hand so that she could pull it back some before it got worked up enough to actually attack. Like a responsible snake owner.
"I wanted to show her off to you guys!" Dianna spread her arms in a gesture that took in the whole room, and in doing so almost hit her new doe in the face.
After the room full of strange humans with their loud voices and their little predators, that was the last straw. The charm broke and the doe turned tail and ran out the door.
"Wait! Come back!" Dianna yelled and chased after her.
"Oh my Goddess, close the fucking door, Dianna!" Fiona yelled after her. "This is exactly the reason you shouldn't be allowed any fucking animals at all!"
Dianna did not come back, but Hazel lifted a hand and closed the door with a spell before Fiona could get up and slam it and potentially upset her sleeping cat. "You know, I think we should tell the council about all of this."
"Yes, they should have all the pertinent information before they make their decision." Cynthia nodded.
"I also think we shouldn't let her back in," Fiona grumbled, "I don't want her getting of our familiars killed. Besides, she clearly thinks things are meant to live outside. Maybe she should see what that's like." Her snake flicked its tongue against her cheek affectionately. "See, Blossom agrees with me."
At that moment Hazel's cat started purring loudly, as if in agreement, and they all cackled as Hazel cast another spell to lock the door against their former sister.