Assassins, slaves, and thieves oh my!

A chat in the tavern in Aclidia between a cold blooded thief, a squirrely slave, and a foxy assassin leads to some revealing information...and pie.

The Golden Vixen isn't too busy at the moment, which is understandable since the sun has barely started to rise over the golden ocean to the west. Sitting alone in a center table a young red scaled lizard is slowly working her way through a few plates worth of food. THe pork chops are stacked high as is the garlic bread. She don't care if it looks like she is over eating, Sibyl feels she deserves to treat herself to a reward after that last job.

Most didn't like being in the Golden Vixen at this time of day, but among the few beasts that decided to be there, an arctic fox by the name of Albus was there, taking periodic drinks of his ale as he watched the red lizard over in the center going through a sickening amount of food. Of course, the lizard isn't the only one Albus is watching, but she was certainly an interesting creature to be watching at the moment.

Where does the lizard's stomach find room for all this meat? Sibyl leans back in her chair, her pork chops tucked safely away inside her now swollen gut. "Hey waiter!" the lizard calls. A skinny yellow tunic clad marten strides over, a cloth in his hand, "Would you like your bill miss?" Sibyl only laughs, "Bill? No! I want some desert! I'll take an almond pie and half a glass of redwine. I'm trying to watch my figure." The marten's jaw drops in astonishment. He finely sighs, and nods before making his way toward the kitchen, he stops by the fox's table before exiting the room though, "How about you sir, is there anything I can get you?

Albus shakes his head, chuckling. "This ale is all I need for the moment, thank you." His polite tone is one of the only things that could seem pleasant about the fox and his plethora of knives.

The marten gulps at the sight of the fox, "Y-yes sir." He quickly departs. The waiter does eventually return with the lizards pie, setting it down to a most thankfull sibyl. She smiles and passes some gold the waiters way, "Thanks mate. Don't spend it all in one place." The marten eyes widen at the generous tip. "T-thanks lady..." he says astounded as he returns to his duties, leaving sibyl to enjoy her meal

Albus sighs, leaning back in his seat as he watches Sibyl with interest. She seemed to be a noble, since most nobles liked to eat and could afford to give tips like that. The fox shrugs. He is paid to kill beasts, not wonder about their economic status, even if the beasts he was wondering about weren't a target of his at that moment.

And yet the lizard doesn't seem to look like a noble. How very...odd. Sibyl finely finishes her pie. One arm slung over the chair behind her with her free claws clutching at her obviously bloated guts, sibyl leans her head back and sighs in contentment with her tounge hanging to the side of her mouth. The lizard is very happy at the moment.

Albus continues to watch the lizard, frowning slightly. He really didn't know what to think of Sibyl, though he had to admit the lizard made a comical sight sitting there in her chair like that.

It is here when sibyl begins to doze off, slowly slipping into a food coma. She stretches out in her chair, kicking her feet onto the table. With a wide toothed yawn sibyl makes herself comfortable. With out turning to the fox she says almost casually, "So are you going to come on over and keep me some company or are you going to stare at me all day fox."

Albus raises an eyebrow. This one was certainly an interesting beast, but he might as well talk to her. Standing up, he walks over to the lizard's table and takes a seat, still observing Sibyl closely. "I apologize. You were...interesting to watch a few minutes ago."

The red scalled reptile is still stretched out in her seat, leaning the chair back precariously on its back too legs, "You mean as I ate my self into oblivion? Heh." Sibyl uses a single clawed hand to gesture as she talks, "I suppose I did make a spectical of myself."

Albus nods, chuckling despite being in front of a stranger. "Aye, though I suppose a beast has to enjoy herself at some point or another."

Sibyl smiles in aggreement. "Right. Life is too short not to enjoy yourself. You never know when your number is up so might as well stop and smell the flowers everyonce in a while. 'Sides, no harm in endulging a little bit everynow and again." sibyl fails to mention just how often 'every now and again' entails.

Albus laughs suddenly. For whatever reason, he is entertained by the lizard's company. "Aye. You're never sure when a beast might hire me to kill you." He says with a toothy smile.

Sibyl's eyes flash at the sight of the toothy smile. She gulps and chuckles nervously at the comment combined with how the fox has been watching her this whole time. One starts to get nervous about these things. "Right...although I can't say I've ever had 'that' particular worry..." not unless she does something stupid to upset the guild...

Albus shrugs. "Neither do most beasts, though it's easier for me that way. Don't worry though; you aren't a target of mine...yet." He leans back in his chair casually, his piercing blue eyes watching the lizard like prey.

The swollen lizard gulps at the fox, his look reminding her of an eagle she saw once. As if she were dinner waiting to be eaten. "Y-yet?" Sibyl composes herself, she continues to sit stretched out across the chair with her foot claws on the table.

Albus shakes his head, amused. One perk of his profession was the fear he instilled in most beasts just by mentioning little details of his work. "Aye. I don't choose who I'm hired to...take care of and who not to."

The lizard becomes worried now. Could Maffeo be upset with her? She heard rummors that the guild would sometimes employ assassins to take care of troublsome members. Could her boss be doing this as a warning to have her shape up? Or...no! Maffeo wouldn't have her killed off just for her slacking off everyonce in a while or...she didn't take THAT much from the treasury, he wouldn't have her killed for that surely? The wild cat never striked the lizard as being the violent type... Sibyl leans forward, planting her feet firmly on the floor. "I swear that I had no idea the merchant came back early from his vacation! How was I supposed to know he would be in the house when I got there! And I swear I can pay back all the money I took from the treasury!" Sibyl says in panic

Albus barks in laughter, holding his stomach with both paws. This continues on for several moments before he finally composes himself, wiping a tear or two of mirth from his eyes with the tip of his claw. "Relax lizard. I'm not here from anybeast you know and I haven't been hired to kill you yet." This lizard was certainly giving him an entertaining morning to enjoy before he went out to find the targets he /was/ hired to kill.

The lizard blinks at the fox, it takes her a moment to process this information. "So...the guild didn't hire you to kill me...?" she breaths a sight of relief. In the enxt instant her eyes flair, she hisses loudly and her face contorts into one of pure anger, "THEN WHY THE BLAZES DID YOU SCARE ME LIKE THAT!!"

Albus shrugs, looking quite entertained despite the Lizard's temper. "I didn't intend to scare you. Your imagination did the scaring, not me."

Sibyl growls to her self, a vien on the side of her head bulges out for a moment. She turns around and yells to the kitchen, "You! Waiter! Bring me another pie!" Turning back to the fox at hand she sits down in her chair again, "SO mr. not going to kill me off assassin fox...do you have a name?"

Albus smiles at the lizard, holding out a paw. "You can call me Albus. Pleased to meet you, but may I have a name to call you by?" He seems polite enough, though one could never tell if he was faking or not.

Sibyl calms herself down a bit. The thought of dieing has made her hungry again and she tears into the pie once it is finely brought. The marten waiter has to count his fingers afterward to make sure he still has them. "You can call me Sibyl."

Albus nods slowly, watching the lizard tear through the pie. "You certainly have a knack for eating. I thought you were one of those food loving nobles for a little while there."

Sibyl pauses in eating to burst out in laughter, "Me? A noble?" She lets out a long stream of laughter, "No you just appreciate good food if you go with out for a while." Sibyl continues to gigle, someone thought she looked like a noble.

Albus chuckles. "I didn't quite get to observe you as closely as I can now, so I suppose you're right. I for one am content with eating food in reasonable quantities so I can actually do my job without having to just sit on beasts to kill them."

Sibyl finishes off her pie, licking the crumbs from the sides of her jaw. She gives a chuckle, "Heh, you sound just like my boss." The lizard begins to mimick her wild cat employer in a gruff condescending tone, "Sibyl one of these days you are going to eat yourself to death. You need to exercise more! You need to eat less blah blah blah..." The lizard chuckles, "I'm not an assassin but I would imagine that no one would ever suspect me as being the killer if I grew heavy enough to crush beasts by sitting on them."

Albus laughs, shaking his head. "No I don't suppose they would. Everybeast would find the body the next day with every bone broken and say, 'Oh he was beaten brutally!' while you can stand to the side looking innocent."

Sibyl gets a good chuckle out of that. Come to think of it no one would expect a fat and pudgy lizard to be a gracefull thief either. She wonders how well the argument would fly in the face of Maffeo. "Not a bad Idea actually, the headlines would call you the Aclidian Crusher.

Albus nods, smiling widely. It had certainly been a long time since he had the chance to jest with anybeast like this , but something about being around Sibyl made him feel almost carefree and willing to just sit back and enjoy life before he went out and ended it for several unlucky beasts.

Abel steps in, holding a rolled up list of drinks his Master wants, which he promptly hands to the bartender.

Sibyl catches site of the squirrel. Aside from the fox and her self he is the only other patron here this early in the morning, "Hey! Abel!" the lizard waves

Abel looks up. "Oh...hello ma'am."

Albus looks at the newcomer, smiling. "Abel! Come join us, please!" He says excitedly.

The lizard beckons him over, "Yeah! come join us. Want me to summon us up some pie?"

Abel approaches slowly. "Er, well, if you'd like, ma'am...I can't order any for, er...obvious reasons..."

Albus shrugs, smiling and pulling out a chair for Abel. "That's alright. I can order you something if you'd like."

Albus shrugs, smiling and pulling out a chair for Abel. "That's alright. I can order you something if you'd like."

The lizard chuckles, "Yeah, go ahead and order what you want. It's on me." Sibyl blinks, "Wait, you two know each other?"

Abel nods, taking a seat. "Aye, we met the other night." He changes the subject, though. "Did you find any news of my sister Mel?"

Albus watches the two silently, content to observe.

Sibyl chuckles, holding up her claws, "Easy there Abel. You know how long the trip to the main land takes right?" The lizard leans forward, resting her elbows on the table, "IT's going to take some time, both for the messenger to get there, for our people to search for them, and then for them to come back."

Abel nods slowly. "I see..." He sighs. "What will I say to my sister? She was young, never understood the situation. I asked the family that took her in to not tell her I'm a... Anyway, She has no idea..."

Albus frowns, beginning to get the general gist of the conversation. This certainly sounded like a tough situation indeed.

At the lizards request the marten waiter brings another pie for the table. After the amount of money she tipped him he could care less if sibyl bursts from over eating. The lizard this time gestures for all to dig in, "She doesn't know you are a slave?" she exclaims, "What has she thought you have been doing all this time then?"

Abel shrugs, taking only a tiny piece of pie. "I don't know. The family may have told her I died, for all I know...I've not had any contact with my old life since I was sold the first time."

Albus doesn't decide to eat any part of the pie, simply deciding to listen to the conversation with some degree of sympathy.

Sibyl takes a fairly large portion of the pie. Where the lizard has room for it one must wonder, "You're family told her that you were dead?!" Sibyl shakes her head saddly, "You know...there are ways to smuggle a beast back to the main land if you were interested..."

Abel frowns. "Smuggle? I...I can't do that...Master needs me too much...besides, I'd be a runaway...that's punishable by death.

Albus narrows his eyes at Abel. "Abel, I've told you I'd protect you if anybeast tried to kill you, so don't think about being punished for anything."

Sibyl chuckles, "You would have to change your fur color, and your identitiy but It's possible. It would though take a lot of money to do so." The lizard eats down a slice of pie. Her stomach is starting to hurt from all the food she has eaten.

Abel chuckles mirthlessly. "Money? Money is the cause of my problems, ma'am..." He leans closer to the others, "Do you two wanna know a secret?"

Albus nods. "I suppose I wouldn't mind that."

The lizard leans closer. Her eyes have obvious interest in what the squirrel is about to say.

Abel glances around, then says in a near whisper, "Despite my current appearance and situation, I *do* in fact know what it means to have money... Now, we were never as wealthy as, say, well, my Master Flavius for example, but my family was at one time quite comfortable. We had money. My father was a silversmith. He made things for some fairly wealthy beasts, who generally paid well...but then mother got sick, very sick, for a long time. Father paid lots of healers, till the money was *all gone*... And that's when he started borrowing from the wealthiest beast in the area...but never paid back...so in a nutshell, that's where all the enormous debt came from..."

Albus nods slowly. "So you mean you sold yourself to help with the debt, yes?" He asks, making sure he's got the story straight

.

Abel says, "It was that or he seized my little sister as a slave. A loophole of the law there, an adult citizen can't be forced into slavery, but a child *can*..."

Tears well up in Sibyls eyes, "That...that is so sad..." She passes the rest of the pie to able, rubbing at her eyes. "How...how could they get away with such a thing!"

Albus sighs, shaking his head. "I don't quite know Sibyl...Beasts are cruel and unfeeling."

The lizard clutches at her snout, "You sold your self into slavery to save your sister?" Sibyl nods her head, "You sir are a lot braver than me. I would never give up my freedom for any beast.

Albus shrugs, crossing his arms and leaning back. "I didn't have a choice in the matter, but I'm not sure what I would've done given the choice."

Abel nods. "Brave, maybe...perhaps I should have run away with her..." He sighs. "Anyway, I made arrangements that a good neighbor family would raise her to adulthood...this was, like...I dunno, 3, maybe 4 seasons ago... But yes...it is very...hard, being just...an object, to be used, as opposed to a person..."

The lizard nods slowly. She can only imagine. Her life has been very different from these beasts and... wait, "Wait...are you saying that you were a slave at one point too Albus?"

Albus nods slowly. "Aye, I was a slave. I was kidnapped as a dibbun and forced to labor most of my life."

Abel listens quietly.

Leaning back in her chair the red repitle lifts her tail into her lap. She begins to pet at her tail. "I just came from a normal family. We were Aclidian citizens, neither poor nor rich. I...can't imagine what that must have been like for the both of you."

Albus shrugs. "I don't know who my family was, but I know I was born here in Aclidia. I suppose that's why I feel protective of Abel."

Albus shrugs. "Again, I know I was born here, but that's about it."

Abel looks around. "Tell me, do you think I could pass as a freebeast? Should I ever...I dunno, escape...hypothetical."

The lizard makes a wide toothed grin. "Anything is possible. Depends on the kind of free beast you want to pass yourself off as. A noble would be a stretch..."

Albus shrugs yet again. "Again, I could help you with that, but you would need different clothes, and you would need to lose some parts of your speech."

Abel blinks. "Er, what parts?"

Albus stands, finishing off the last of his ale. "Like calling beasts sir or ma'am. If you want to pose as a freebeast, you need to not be as submissive sounding, but that's just my advice, and with that, I have to go take care of some certain....things." He says with a knowing wink to Sibyl before walking off out of the tavern, tossing some coins on the middle of the table before he walked off to pay for the drink.

Abel watches Albus leave. "Ma'am...I...I think I'll ask Master if I can look for Mel..."

The lizard tilts her head to the side, "Who is Mel? You're sister? Also...call my Sibyl. Ma'am just sounds much too formal for my tastes.

Abel frowns. "That is not easy...S...Sibyl." He glances around. "You know I could be flogged for using a proper name."

The tavern is filled with laughter. "You really do have a lot to learn. Tell me, who is here that would want to flog you? Even if they did do you think they would dare incur your masters wrath by damaging his property?"

Abel shrugs. "What if Master hears of it? He's not a bad owner, but I don't always know how he'll react to my...insubordination."

Sibyl raises an eyebrow at the squirrel, "You're joking right? Flavius has only been in town for what, half a week, and already he has the reputation of a spoiled rich brat who flaunts authority. This is who you are worried if he will be angry with you for breaking rules?" The lizard laughs. After a while she pauses then adds, "Then again...you never know with nobles. One minute they are feeding the poor, next they are using them for cannon fodder in a war.

The bartender rudely interrupts. "Hey, you!" He points to Abel. "Yer Master's order has been filled, slave." He points to a cart laden with the beverages from the list. The squirrel blinks and apologizes, "Er, sorry, ma'am, I...must go, sorry..."

Sibyl waves Abel off. "Sure thing mate. Hey, don't be a stranger! Feel free to find me here any time and I'll buy you a cake, ok!" she calls out to he squirrel as he leaves.

Abel waves, going to collect the merchandise. "I shall! When I can, that is."