Allies in unlikely places or Getting fish down your shirt was not in the publicized list of things a Long Patrol member would have to put up with...
These logs would be good for you to read: http://rwmuck.limitless.org/rwmuck/content/friendly-little-game-part-2-i...
http://rwmuck.limitless.org/rwmuck/content/felicity-finds-xander-acciden...
Halyard Village: West Square(#93069RJA)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Halyard Village ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Surrounded on most sides by short, squat buildings, none any higher than two
levels, the main square of this small, sea-side village is covered in a fine
layer of dirt, which mostly covers the old cobble stone beneath. Many of the
buildings lining the square are homes, though some are places of business -
and, of course, there are the obligatory pubs. However, pubs are not the only
staple of a small village, especially not this one. Scattered here and there
upon sidewalks and in front of stores, various fishing nets and traps lie
about, most considerably worse for wear. It's obviously a fishing village.
Beyond that, a dirt road runs north and south from the square, with a small
scattering of homes, and behind these, a backdrop of trees. Meanwhile, beyond
the trees lies the shore.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Visible Exits:
[B]ookshop and [P]awn [S]outhern [R]oad
[H]alyard [T]avern [N]orthern [R]oad
[A]ntique [S]hop [M]ain [S]treet
[B]akery [B]ack to [D]irt [P]ath
[Fo]rge [A]lley
Hares: Felicity 'Lissie', female.
Foxes: Rioko, female.
The fox let's out a toothy yawn. The combination of lack of sleep and the slow morning put Rioko into a nap. It was disappointingly short. The grey furred fox is sitting on her rug in the market place. A table sits before her with a trio of cups on it. It goes unused as beasts move past her on the street.
Chin resting on a paw the fox chuffs, "This bites."
Felicity is looking for a badger. More specifically, she's looking for Xander and his captor. And she's having no success. None. At. All. She passes by the fox's table, stops, takes a couple steps back (without looking behind her as she does it!) and looks at the vixen's head. Does she know this vixen? Let's find out. "'Ello, there. I say, you 'aven't seen a little badgah cub, 'ave you? 'E's the slave of a wildcat. The badgah is named Xandah." She looks tired, and her uniform is dusty and sandy....and has the faint lingering odour of fish. She may have ticked off a fish seller earlier.
The fox's eyes drift up to face the hare. She regards the long patrol member with a scowl under the safety of her hat. Strike one. She's LP. Strike two. She recognizes the fox, always trouble that. Strike three. She was looking for...
"A badger? Xandah? Slaves?" The fox says in confusion. She shakes her head, "Only fools would bring slaves here, so close to the mountain." She starts to shoo the hare off but then pauses, narrowing her eyes, "You...look familiar."
Felicity rolls her eyes. Stupid accent. "/Xandehr/," she manages to enunciate. She then shrugs. "Well, then, this stupid wildcat's a fool. Seems 'e some'ow managed to get a 'old of a Dibbun from Redwall and then brought 'im 'ere. I'm tryin' to..." She peers at the vixen. "I say, you look familiar, too.....somethin' to do with an eatin' contest....and.....this game that ya 'ave set up...." the light of recognition dawns upon the haremaid's face.
"Oi! It's perfectly legal this is!" The fox says defensively. Her paws idly reach for the glaive resting behind her. The fleshy beast looks like she has won a few eating contests since then. "And prey tell what does a dibbun from Redwall have to do with me? Is the Long Patrol just hoping to find the child by hassling every vermin in the port?" The fox says with a whimsical smile.
Felicity is completely unruffled, and sits down across from the vixen leisurely. "Oh, I'm sure your game is perfectly legal and /fair/," she deadpans, "and the missin' Dibbun 'as nothin' to do with you, love. You just seemed to 'ave been sittin' 'ere for a while, so I thought you'd 'ave 'ad a bettah chance of seein' 'im than some of the othah deadbeats in this town. No need to get touchy," she adds, eyeing the glaive.
The fox's eyebrow raises, but her paw slowly drifts away from her weapon of choice. "I see...many things here in the market." She replies, not mentioning that she dozed off for a few hours, "It all depends on what I get out of it..."
Felicity smiles disarmingly. "You would manage to avoid 'avin' those pirates we escaped from who wanted to turn us into rugs findin' you. I'm sure I could find them somewhere and lead them on a merry dance through 'Alyard until I found you." That was not a threat, although she can threaten the vixen if either of them desire it. "And I'll buy you a free meal," she adds, keeping her gaze fixed on the fox's face, not her sizable gut.
"And I can buy myself ten free meals with enough coin." The vixen's reply sounded much more smooth in her head. She crosses her arms and her legs, "So this beast you are looking for? He deals with slaves? He will have a poor market here then. No one /sells/ slaves in the city. Too noticeable. But /transport/ them? Yeah, I think it's doable. If not in the city then around it." She shrugs, "Slavery is not a trade I dabble my paws into though."
"'Ow can it be free to you if it's your money?" Lissie counters. She then sighs and rubs an eye with a dusty paw. "I wasn't accusin' you. I think Xandah is 'is personal slave that 'e might be thinkin' of keepin', not sellin' at any point, but I can't be sure. D'you know of any place in particular that a beast would go if 'e wanted to trasnport slaves?" It's the closest to a lead she's had since....well, since she first found (and lost) the Dibbun.
Alas this particular lead is only leading her into a dead end. The fox debates how to answer this. On the one paw, even if she were to know where one can transport slaves it would require admitting that she knew where a slave market was to an LP member. The fact that they didn't burn down Halyard for having Vermin in it was a measure of restraint for the LP.
"Not...really." The fox chuckles shyly, "Buuuuut there are a ton of little hide aways along the beach south of here. The city itself would be...difficult to smuggle beasts out in large quantities...in smaller numbers, sure, maybe a ware house to store them. I would try the fish market. It's odor is powerfull enough to hide the smell of several unwashed beasts all huddled together and...well, generally noisy enough to hide a beast's plea for help." That was dark, wasn't it.
Felicity purses her lips. Well, at least she tried. "I just /came/ from the fish market. It was /awful/." She suddenly stiffens, and pulls a little baitfish out of her tunic front. Eeew. ".....oh, now that's just not /fair/," she complains. "I thought I got rid of all the little fishies they dumped on me!" Her day has been terrible so far. The vixen's information has been filed away in the haremaid's mind, to be reviewed at a later time....like after she's had a bath.
For some reason the thought of a hare being burried alive under a mountain of fish brings a smile to the fox's muzzle. "Let me guess, you decided to look around the fishy market in your bright and colorfull uniform, asking us Halyard folk about slave markets." Rioko chuckles, "Silly Hare, you will never find this badger that way. You need to looking as if /you/ were buying slaves. If you don't think you can pull it off then find a beast who can."
Felicity carefully lays the fishie on the table. Eeew. "Well, no, I didn't ask about slave markets, they just assumed that's where I was headed, and....yeah. I ended up getting baitfish poured all ovah me. Wasn't my fault," she adds in a moody grumble, glaring at the fishie. "And nobeast'd /believe/ that /I/ would be buyin' a slave.....I say, was that a request for a job?" Lissie is not stupid. She's just young and has trouble figuring out what the consequences of her actions may be.
The fox flashes her a smile, "That depends on how much it pays~" Flicking the fish off of her table, eeew, the vixen replies again, "And provided that I won't be hung from the gallows after all is said and done. I've had...poor experiences with the LP in the past. Appearently I commited the terrible crime of not being born a hare." That and actual crimes but that is beside the point. "Sorry luv, you look like a nice, reasonable person though..." She says, as if this makes her previous comment ok somehow.
Felicity picks up her fishie and puts it back on the table SO THERE. "I'm sure I could some up with a reasonable sum to pay ya....er," she hesitates as the vixen adds that whole immunity thing. "Erm.......I'm nought but a lowly Private, so......I'm not sure 'ow much immunity I could give you." She looks mad, although her anger is very well under her control. "Tha's just stupid! Everybeast 'as the right to live, no mattah whot their species is! Bloody prejudicious idiots," she adds in a grumble under her breath, directed towards the hares that hate vermin species simply because they aren't woodlanders. She /obviously/ doesn't agree with this whole 'the only good vermin is a dead one' idea.
The fox tilts her head, trying to decide if the hare really believes that or just telling her what she wants to know. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to...ask around." She points an accusatory paw at the hare, "But when push comes to shove I want someone, anyone, there saying that I'm not actually there looking for slaves. I like my hide, and I would rather it not be stuffed and mounted over some fire place, got it?"
Felicity backs up a tiny bit from the wagging finger. After thinking for a few minutes, she nods and extends a paw, saying, "Deal. And I'll do my best to make sure we don't get chased by pirates or frightened by wolverines this time. Sound fair?" Yes, she is tagging along for part of this adventure. Why not?
The fox's ear to ear Cheshire grin should be a good indicator of why not. "Deal." She stands, taking a small bow, "Now that we have a chance to properly introduce each other without the threat of death and dismemberment, my name's Rioko." She cackles, kicking the glaive with her paw so it flips up into her hand, "Let's go find that badger..."
Felicity gives her name, then follows, taking her fishie with her. Before too much longer, she needs to change into her non-uniformish clothes....
Thanks for reading!
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