Being of Sound Mind
Characters: Kentar, Chris, Robin, Tagger
Location: Manor House; Foyer
Well, today is the day. The reading of the will! All the stoats are here, and accounted for. And there's an otter too! They've just arrived to the large manor house at the top of a hill in the city. And there's a bunch of other beasts, some stoats, a wildcat, and a rat or two. About ten in all, plus the stoat family+otter. They've each been given a glass of expensive tasting wine, and told to wait in the lounge as the butler prepares the reading office. Kentar, Chris, and Rob are all kind of just standing towards the back of the room, sipping casually at the wine, trying to avoid talking to the other beasts. Kentar though, exchanges quite a few glances with a stoat about his age, and he is only getting growled at. The wildcat is off to the side, dressed in heavy armor with some...weird insignia engraved into the steel. "Man, this is awkward." Chris says finally, after a few moments.
Tagger is standing near the back as well, with the stoat family. He sniffs the wine before picking his claw in it and tasting the end of it. He makes an odd face and tries to hide it as he says back to the young stoat, "Eh. Its not too bad. At least they are not asking you odd questions and stuff like that. My CO said, just smile and nod. Smile and nod." he then nods at a passing beast. Who gives him an odd look before heading toward the front. Tagg chuckles at him before running the claw around the rim of the glass, making a light humming sound, "Who is the steel cat?" And officer of sorts?
"No, I suppose not. I'm just glad I don't think they can understand us...that's nice." Rob says with a little bit and chuckles. Kentar just shrugs. "Meh, I just want to know what was left to me. The rest of them can go to hell for all I care." he says, staring at that other old stoat. "And I wish he'd stop looking at me like that." he grumbles a little bit. Kentar then blinks a bit, looking towards the feline. "His name is Gradsnic Potrelov. He's the son of a king in another city about a week's journey from here...evil feline...have to watch out for him, if you ask me. From what I know, my cousin and his family were very close."
Tagger chuckles to himself, "Glad to not understand us... can only go so far. Its hard to charade where the outhouse is without looking like an idiot..." he looks at the wine and shrugs and then downs the whole thing in one gulp. He makes a face like he swallowed vinegar and he clears his throat, "Hmmm. I can breath again!" he then places the glass on a windowsill near him, as he then crosses his arms, looking toward the other old stoat, "And who is he?" The old stoat might have said something before. But the otter has slept since then. Tagger is very out of place here. Being the only otter. But Tagg is the most comfortable like this for some reason. He then stares at the cat, "Well. He doesn't seem like a jolly fellow..." he snorts.
The stoats stare at the feline for a few moments. "His name is Garrick." Kentar explains finally. "He is the brother of my first wife, Lanai." he tells, thinking for a few moments. "He didn't take too kindly to me after she died. And to be honest, I thought he was dead." Chris can't help but pipe up. "I'm sure he thought the same thing about you."
Tagger strokes at his chin fur as he stares back at the stoat. Who gives him, and those in his direction an almost evil glare before looking for something else to occupy his mind. Tagg laughs to himself and then nods slowly, "Hmmm. Well. I hope he didn't blame the death on you." he then get another odd look from another looking beast. Another ferret. Tagg nods politely at him before continuing toward the stoats, "Well. As long as you don't try to kill each other. It should be alright..." Tagg grins before sighing, "When are they gonna get on with this? The tension in the air is palpable."
The stoats kind of just chuckle and shake their heads slowly. "We wont, and I'm sure he doesn't." Kentar says. "We...never really liked each other, but he knew it wasn't my fault." he nods. Chris opens his mouth to speak but is interrupted by a young looking stoat dressed all fancy. He says...something. And the others start to file towards the large sitting room, all set out with nice looking chairs, each with various names on them, all written in the native language of course. "Ah, c'mon! We're being seated." Rob says as he starts to follow. The room is large, and quite nicely setup. There's an oaken desk at the front, and at the first row are names. Rob quickly scans them and smiles. "Looks like we're up front!" he says. Kentar sits at the seat with his name then motions the otter to sit next to him. Chris sits at the end next to Tagger but there seems no room for Rob. He doesn't seem to mind though, kneeling down by his father's side.
Tagger chuckles lightly, "Well. I'm sure it wont come to fisticuffs then. Good. The less stoat i have to peel off the floor, the better." he laughs to himself before younger stoat comes by. He doesn't understand a jot of it. But after being here for so long. It just goes through one ear, and out the other. He follows the stoats, wondering if there would be a seat for him, or will he have to sit at the back. He sits next to Kentar, smiling that there was in fact a place for him. Before he realizes that he must have taken Robs seat. He would have gladly got up for him. But on second though. This seat is rather comfy after all that standing. So he chuckles to himself and gets his butt comfortable, "Tis about time..." he says crossing his arms.
Rob doesn't really seem to mind. Tagger needs somebody to translate for him anyway, right? Besides, those chairs really don't do anything for his backside. Kentar rests forward a bit, leaning on his cane as he stares at the stoat now sitting behind the desk. At the end of the row, sits that big wildcat, growling a bit as his cape gets stuck slightly between the seat cushion and the wood of the frame. Once everyone is seated, the doors are closed, and the young beast starts to speak. Kentar starts translating, whispering to the ear of the otter. "Welcome all to the reading of 's last will and testament. I , being of sound mind and body..." blah blah blah. "I'll wait until we get to the interesting stuff." he grumbles as the stoat rambles on about...something.
Tagger stares mildly at the speaker. Its like watching a talking wall. Its making noise. But cant understand a lick of it. He listens carefully to the old stoat and nods as he understands, as he whispers back, "Heh. Yeah. Keep ye from wearing me ears out..." as the speech and talking goes on. The otter keeps glancing over to the cat. To see if he has any reaction to the speech. To see if the cat doesn't hear something he likes.
There's quite a bit of random jibberish, but Kentar doesn't seem to mind. Well, of course, he understands it all. "Ah, here we go..." he says, leaning forward a bit more before whispering out. "To my closest ally, Gradsnic, I leave the collection of rare weapons kept at my estate in the southlands." the feline doesn't seem too unhappy with that, knowing how much whatever is in the collection can fetch on the market. "To my cousin Garrick, I leave my fleet of ships. There's only seven but I know he will put them to use. And if not him, his family." he blinks a bit. "Darn, I wouldn't have minded a fleet." Chris chuckles at his dad before there's a few other names mentioned. "Gold to Kalen, a room in his father's castle to Maylon, Jaren gets the portrait of his family...and Loren gets the jewelry." Its hard to tell who is who, but Loren seems to be a the female stoat sitting near the back of the room, and appears to be quite shocked at what was left to her.
Tagger nods and listens to the stoat, just completely ignoring what the guys is saying and just listening to the older stoat. He blinks at what is being left. Chuckling and whispering back, "Heh. Who was this guy? Some sort of lord of serfs?" seems like he could have been a king by the sounds of what is being left. At the rare weapons, the otter strokes his chin. He wouldn't mind getting his grubby little paws on those. Though he wonders if the stoat family will be getting anything left. By the sounds at what is being gifted out.
"His family was powerful. Extremely powerful. Lord? Yeah, I suppose so. Very rich. I'll put it to you this way. His family is what Salamandastron is to the woodlanders..." he chuckles a bit. "Very powerful, and very scary..." he explains before he seems to listen more. "Oh! Here's my name...to my cousin Kentar, should he still walk this earth, I leave possibly the biggest things in my possession. I leave the deed to the manor house...at the edge of the city. And all the lands and titles to the north. Everything...in my families borders are yours." his jaw drops. And it seems that somebody isn't happy. One of the rats in the back, stands up quickly and starts shouting out. The stoat family just ignores him, seemingly quite content, despite Kentar being gobsmacked. The rat, and two of his guards, storm out, and slam the door behind them.
Tagger nods slowly, "Wow. Doesn't sound like somebeast i would like to know, honestly." he chuckles to himself before rubbing his paws, "Oh goody!" He listens carefully at what the stoat is getting. He blinks a bit as he starts to wonder what that all entails. Not knowing the lay of the land. For all the otter knows, it might just be a little spit of land. Though he looks around when beasts start yelling and pounding and leaving, "Uh oh. I guess it was alot then, eh?" he chuckles and gulps.
Kentar can't help but stare, and the rats actions seem to hardly even phase him. "Wow..." Rob shakes his head slowly. "Not just a lot but a whole lot. I think dad just got...everything that made that family powerful." he stares off at the beast holding the will. He then asks a question, and apparently gets a reply. "Everything thats in the manor, and that's located on the lands we now own..." he hms a bit. Then he asks another question and the answer nearly makes him faint. He falls on his tail and stares. "W-wow...that's...that's a lot of land"
Tagger nods, "Heh. With all the wow-ing it MUST be a lot of land!" He then takes the old stoats paw and shakes his paw, "Your lordship!" He chuckles before the otter gets up and pulls at his tunic, looking back toward the group of creature who seem to be in a murdering mode, "Well your lordship, might i suggest we grab the deeds before this crowd decides that it can take it away from you." he chuckles and gulps again.
The old stoat grins and nudges away the otter's paw. "Just you wait you silly thing." he says. The young stoat, reading off the rest of the will. There's not much left, but a few small things. And finally the will is rolled up and stored in the desk, locked away. "Right...we can go now..." Kentar says, standing up before the younger weasel like thing stops them, motioning Kentar over. Slowly, he goes to the desk, and is given a key, and a couple of rolled up pieces of parchment.
Tagger is still standing even while the rest of the will is being read. He doesn't like the way some of the beasts are looking at them. So he keeps an eye out for any would-be trouble makers. He stays close to the others as they pick up the deeds and key. And the otter mutters, "The sooner we leave. The better. There are a fare few who seem that they should be entitled to some of the land..." he nods to a group in a corner. Who seem none the wiser.
The beasts file out one by one to the previous lounge, and seem to be talking to each other, about what they've received and the like. "The death of Kentar's cousin was still of an unclear cause, though many have suspected murder. If it was, this is clearly what they were after." Rob says as Kentar leads them fairly quickly out of the room, past the crowd. "C'mon, I want to see what's in that house." he says, staring down at the key in his paw.
Tagger follows the stoats out of the room and keeps to the rear as he talks to the others, "Hmmm. I hope no one will try to pen the murder on you then? I mean you have a perfect alibi, but... who knows." the otter just wants to make sure that they don't get trapped in this country, or that the stoat will lose all of his gains. He hmms loudly to himself as he then puts that topic aside, "So! This mansion thing. How far is it out of town?!" he asks.
Kentar shakes his head slowly. "I don't think anyone would be that stupid. I mean, I didn't even know he existed." he chuckles a bit as they leave the house, glancing towards the city gates. "Not far." he says. "But I want to stay there tonight...so lets go get our stuff." "Cool, maybe I can bring Darya with us..." Chris says aloud, not realizing he's actually said it. "OOOOH, Chris-a-bell wants to bring his girlfriend! What do you think dad? Should we let him?" Kentar just grins at Chris's instant embarrassment. "I don't know...should we, Tagg?"
Tagger chuckles, "Well. I always like to think of all the possibilities. Who knows..." he chuckles and nods, "Sure sounds like fun. Maybe they will have a working stove. I can make some of a oh so famous Hotroot biscuits!" he runs his paws together and then chuckles at the young stoat, "Ooo! Darya? Teehee!" he waves a paw at the Chris and then holds his paws up at the old stoat, "I'm not a great one to ask about Gal pals staying over. But i say. Sure. Why not. Allows us to torture them EVEN MORE!" he laughs evilly.
Chris just frowns a little bit when they start making more fun of him, sighing a bit at the evil laugh. He just grins though and shrugs. SO WHAT?! Doesn't matter. Kentar just pats his son on the shoulder and grins. "Hey, just remember...I teased Tagger about Garolyn for the longest time! And I still do." he chuckles as the inn where they are staying enters their field of vision.
Tagger still rub his paws evilly, "Tis true. Not a day goes by that we don't get a good tease from the old stoat-a-ma-jig. Though his attempts are just laughable now." he snorts before nudging the young stoat, "It will be fine! Sides. If she is your 'gal pal' then you will have to let her get to know us eventually. Might as well get it over with now. Creates less awkward later. Hope she likes otters!" he chuckles.
Christopher laughs a little bit, the stoatable smirking. "Well, I told her about our weird family. She thinks you might want to adopt her now or something, Tagg...I'd probably keep my distance." he nudges the otter with a laugh. "C'mon guys, lets get inside and get our stuff...I want to see this new place...and the land that covers it!" Kentar smiles brightly.
