Dangerous Bounty (for Kitten)

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Cid brushed the snow off of his jacket as he entered his remote cabin in the woods. He was a 28 year old research executive who had come to his cozy yet remote summer home to escape the intense stresses of his work. He had jet black hair, tan skin, green eyes and was wearing a gray suit with a black trenchcoat - he had after all just come from work.

Coming to the cabin in the winter proved to be an unwise decision. He usually came during the warmer months and was not prepared for the treacherous road conditions, but he had made it in okay. He lit the chimney fire and started to settle in.

[Kitten]

Elizabeth Banner cursed her severely bad luck as she trudged through the new fallen snow. Her dark winter coat was as fashionable as it was not warm against the bitter cold of the forest. The woman brushed auburn hair out of her face and blew into her soft white gloves, another fashion statement that was going to leave her one well dressed, half frozen corpse. Her black boots crunched in the snow and with every step they filled more with white slush.

She was so cold and everything on her was so wet. Her white pants had soaked through, and the only saving grace she had was a cute blue baby doll t-shirt that had managed to stay dry. Green eyes that had begun to droop with exhaustion snapped open as the young bounty hunter realized that she wasn't hallucinating, that was in fact the buttery glow from a cabin window she was seeing.

Elizabeth had been tracking a bounty for three states, and had been close enough to almost touch her target when she'd tripped over the other woman's bag, accidentally discharging her fire arm, which meant she'd lost the trail when the police showed up to question her. Then she'd picked the trail back up at the little town below this mountain, but that night's winter storm had been so bad that the road had quickly disappeared.

Luckily the green eyed woman had found some tracks to follow, but they'd obviously been from a vehicle with better tires, her little blue car had gotten stuck so fast that it wasn't funny. After a few long minutes freezing and trying to get the thing unstuck, the five foot tall woman finally gave up, grabbed her backpack full of gear, and started walking.

Stamping her feet to try and return circulation, Elizabeth made her way to the cabin and knocked. "Ex-excuse me!" She called, voice shaking from the cold. "Is someone h-home? I'm lo-lost and it's fr-fr-freezing out here!"

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Cid opened the door surprised to see the young woman. There were no other cabins for miles, what could she possibly be doing here in such weather. In any case, he would never leave someone stranded to die in such weather, and it did not hurt that she was quite cute.

"Come in. The storm will not stop for at least a day, you are welcome to stay with me until it clears." He noticed her attire. "Your clothes are wet," he stated. It wasn't a helpful comment, but he was thinking of solutions. Were there any left over clothes from back when he and his sister used to come to the cabin as children?

[Kitten]

"Oh thank you, thank you!" Elizabeth scurried into the little cabin and rubbed her hands again, blowing warm breath into her gloves. "Yeah I," the woman paused in her appreciation of her would be savior and looked him up and down. He looked really familiar, but she just couldn't place him. Maybe they'd run into each other in town?

She cleared her throat and started peeling off her long coat, auburn hair sticking to her face and forming a fuzzy halo around her head. "I have more clothes in my bag, if dragging it through the snow didn't get them all wet as well." She plopped the backpack on the ground where it made a wet slap.

"Anyway, thank you for letting me in. I got lost in the storm and my car got stuck," she shook her head and blew a strand of hair out of her pretty green eyes. "Well that's not important. I..." She laughed softly. "I'm sorry my name's Elizabeth, Elizabeth Banner." She offered him a small, frozen, hand to shake.

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Cid grimaced a little as her wet garments were dropped on the floor, but figured there was not too much she could do about it. He accepted her cold hand and gave it a polite shake. "Hi Elizabeth. I am Cid Dorsett. You are pretty lucky to have found my cabin. Though I am pretty curious, what were you doing up here in the first place? There isn't much else up here."

He nodded towards his dryer. "You can dry your clothes in the dryer, though it take a number of hours to work unfortunately."

[Kitten]

The auburn haired woman snorted softly. "A number of hours? What number?" She asked in amusement , stamping her feet again to try and speed the return of feeling in her feet. "Well Cid I was following..." Elizabeth paused in her explanation. She couldn't very well tell him she'd been chasing a bounty.

"The road," she said finally and turned her green eyes to the floor. She wasn't a good liar, and was even less of one when she had to look someone in the eyes. "And then I saw some tracks in the snow, tried to follow them but my car got stuck. I couldn't just sit out there and freeze so I started walking."

She ran her hand through her hair, pulling a face at how her fingers got tangled in it. "Then I saw the light and," she shrugged. "I hate to be a bother, but you've really saved me tonight. Thank you again."

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Cid grimaced a little. How many hours? Do I look like a weatherman? "Probably until tomorrow at least." Her answer was not entirely convincing, but he could not imagine a sinister reason why she would be here. Unless she were a corporate spy, or the like.

"You are welcome to stay here. I have an extra bedroom, and I am well provisioned. While you settle in, I'd be happy to cook us dinner. Do you have a change of clothes? If not I can search around for some old clothes."

[Kitten]

The woman frowned in confusion. "It's going to take until tomorrow for the dryer to work?" She asked, looking down at her soaking bag. "That's unfortunate, since all of my things are definitely wet from their trip in the snow." With a shrug she turned to look at the dark haired man once more.

"Thank you for letting me stay with you then, I'll try not to be any more of a bother than I absolutely have to be." Green eyes considered the small cabin for a moment, it certainly wasn't the worst place she could imagine spending the night. "If you have something, I'd be grateful, especially if the dryer is going to take all night."

Elizabeth stretched and yawned, it had already been late when she'd left to track her quarry, but a trek through the dark and snow hadn't done much to improve her fatigue. She rubbed at her face to try and wake up. "Dinner would also be wonderful, I'll pay you back once I get back to town."

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Cid smiled. "It will take until tomorrow until the storm subsides. But the gas pipe won't be useable until then, so your clothes will not dry."

Cid nodded as he went to find some clothes. He only found a few school uniforms that his sister used to wear. He returned to her and gave her the clothes. "Sorry this is all I have. It may make you look like a young girl, but I'm sure it will fit."

He returned to the kitchen, finishing the soup he started. "Don't worry about paying me back, it's not much I'm offering." He was still quite curious as to why she was here, but did not think he could get direct answers, at least by directly answering