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Post by coolcoyote on Sept 2, 2016 17:50:56 GMT -5
The woods take on a very different appearence at night. The shadows grow long and darkness spills through the forest concealing its dangers. At another time it would have been terrifying for the beasts to travel through but for right now they are just thankfull the trees provide cover.
Two lanterns cut through the darkness. One takes the lead, nimbly moving through the narrow pathway despite the slush and snow that clings to her paws. The mouse is youthfull but obviously an adult. Her fur is sleek and brown, protected by a red cloak.
The second lantern lingers behind, bobbing up and down as its holder struggles to keep up in the uneven terrain. To be fair the brown feild mouse was carrying the weight of their supplies across his back, and a season of ample feasting under his blue tunic.
When the red cloaked mouse comes to a stop her companion leans forward, gasping for breath yet still able to say, "You know this is a stupid idea, right?"
The other mouse doesnt reply. She agreeded; this was a stupid plan. And yet, still half as dangerous as staying home. Her companion continues in her silence, "Even if, by some mirical, mirical I remind you, that we are not murdered or robbed...or robbed and murdered, the council will never approve of this. Not in a million years."
"Then its a good thing that I stopped carring for their approval."
Her companion rolls his eyes, pulling at his snout in frustration. "This plan is going to get us /killed/."
The red cloaked beast rounds on her companion. "And what do you think is going to happen if we do nothing? What mice do you think will end up on the monsters menu first, hmmm?" she prods the tubby mouse in the gut for emphasis. Taking a breath to calm herself the field mouse turns once again to the tavern in the distance. It stands alone and forelorn in the distance, surrounded by tall trees that give its delapidated appearence an already sinister look. Lights can be seen pouring through the windows.
"Don't be quick to judge who we might find here. They very well be our last hope..."
-----
"Chug, chug, chug!" the vermin chant as the vixen pulls her head back. They grow quiet as she finishes guzzling the mug and then promptly cheer as the mug is emptied. The fox slams it on the bar letting out a gasp. Voice strained the fox smiles as as she says, "Wooo! Told ya I could do it. Ye owe me two quid ye slimy muskrat!" the fox leans forward, slugging the rat next to her in the shoulder.
"Oi! Wot ya hittin me fer? Roly made tha bet. Nah me!"
"Oh right, sorry." the vixen slugs the rat on her left before getting to her feet. "Scuse me gents. Need to just clear me head for a second. Give me fifteen and we can bet on if I can drink a forth mug of whisky 'n hot root, alright?"
The vixen chuckles, half drunkenly stumbling away from the bar, narrowly avoiding the fire pit in the dirt floor on the way to a more secluded table in the far corner.
Her name was Xia. She was a vixen who stands out no matter what crowd she is in. Being a cross fox her underbelly and paws are black, her upper back and sides orange, with a mix of grey and black along her lower back and hips.
Dressed like a propper vermin she wore a weathered leather vest. It was sleeveless and left her midriff exposed, either to be fashionable or simply because it didnt fit over her rounded beer belly and the ale that sloshes about in it.
The dunken fox collapses into her chair so quickly that it topples over, spilling the fox out across the floor where she giggles like a maniac.
Last hope indeed.
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Post by ginger on Sept 3, 2016 14:03:25 GMT -5
He regretted leaving Southsward.
A slender culpeo behind the counter longed for the warm sand under his footpaws instead of the dirt floor he had unfortunately grown so accustomed to. It was obvious that he wasn't from Mossflower, as his coat was the color of the sandy dunes he originated from. He scrubbed at the mysterious stain that had implanted itself in the wood long before he even arrived at tavern, mainly to keep from doing actual work. The other creature behind the bar, a dark brown stoat, was tending to the crowd of regualrs at the front of the bar; they were still gossiping about the vixen that just stepped away from her third mug of hotroot whisky for a breather. His ears swiveled towards the crash from the back of the room, accompanied by frantic giggling.
"Aiken, go tend to the lassie!" The stoat yelled to the fox.
Grumbling to himself and throwing his rag over his shoulder, the culpeo warily strolled towards the back of the room. White markings under his chin and cheeks accented his face, leading down to a white neck and underbelly. His black-tipped tail barely grazed the dirt, as he didn't want it to get any dirtier. He stood over the vixen, one paw on his hip.
"Need any help... miss?"
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Post by coolcoyote on Sept 3, 2016 15:11:21 GMT -5
"Phyiscally, mentally or emotionally?" the cross fox laughs, leaning her head upward to get a good look at the beast so begrudgingly sent to help her. He looks like a fox at first glance, but the fur is off. That is saying something coming from Xia.
"Nah, I got it." the vixen seems to struggle getting up. Obese isnt the word to describe Xia, not yet at least, but her stomach does provide some interfierence in sitting up. "One sec."
Xia reaches behind her to where a cloth bundle lays against the corner. It is a long bundle, wrapped around some kind of pole arm. The tip of a curved blade pokes out of one end. Xia grabs the weapon, setting it up like a walking stick and using it as leverage to hoist herself from the floor. "There see? Nothing to it!" she manages before her feet slip out from under her, depositing the vixen once again on her rump.
"Ok, I might need a paw, yes."
------
Dixie Blossum stares long and hard at the door. It is taking longer to summon her courage than she thought it would.
"Well?" her companion rests both paws on his hips.
"Im getting to it. Dont rush me." she retorts.
"Right right, take your time. I'm in no rush for them to make us into stew. Maybe reason will sink in while you wait."
"Vermin dont make people into stew. At least, I dont think they do." the mouse shakes her head, "Will you just shut up? Yes, this is not easy for me either." the mouse takes a deep breath. Before her stood a tavern full of drunkin vermin. The closest she ever came to seeing an actual vermin was a rat...once. And those pine marten merchants that came through the village every so often. She heard stories though...about vermin who were not friendly, vermin who were feirce warriors, thieves, cut throats. She used to think of them as monsters.
That was until she found out what real monsters were like.
She took another breath, gathering her courage...
And waited some more.
"So...you lot going to go inside or not?" the mice nearly jump out of their skins as a rat appears behind them.
"Sorry, sorry." cheek red with embarrassment the mouse stands aside, letting the rat enter. "Ah cheeze it." before the door closes she steps inside. Rolling his eyes the other mouse follows after her.
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Post by ginger on Sept 4, 2016 21:45:34 GMT -5
Even he couldn't tell if the noise he made regarding her answer was a chuckles or a scoff. Either way, his sandy paw wrapped around her charcoal one and he helped her to her paws. He then swooped down and retrieved her "walking stick" and leaned it up back against the wall.
"Maybe you should stick to water for a little while."
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Post by coolcoyote on Sept 4, 2016 23:17:27 GMT -5
"Eh who needs water. Just give me some mead. It will wash the ale out." The vixen stand shakily to her feet. After a moment or two she seems to stand on her own power, and then examines her rescuer. Peering at him up and down she notices a distinct lack of red fur, grey fur, black fur, or silver fur on this scrawny vulpine. "Why didja dye yer fur?" the vixen blinks, then adds, "Oh! Yer a...a...what kind o...swift fox, right? Arnt you a little far from home?"
The door at that moment opens to admit one generic looking rat who quickly dissapears into the crowd. And then it admits two mice. Several heads turn to examine the currious pair and Dixie stands there defiantly, ready to brave what ever insult the vermin have to throw at her, as if to say, "Yes, I am a mouse and I DARE to enter your seedy vermin tavern! What are you going to do about it?"
And then five seconds later everyone seems to return to their drinks. Which in all honesty is the most insulting thing they could have done. Shoulders slumped from her anti climactic enterence Dixie steps inside the tavern. "So...we are here. Now what do we do?" the mouse behind her asks.
A stern look on her face Dixie Blossum strides up to where the foxes are, grabbing a chair along the way. She turns for the far wall, stands on the chair and proceds to pin a sheet of paper onto a thick support beam using a small dagger.
It reads: 'Proffesional Sellsword wanted. Big Reward for big risk. Must be willing to travel. Ask for details.'
The little mouse then finds a nice table to herself in the far corner of the room, "Now Pumpkin, we wait."
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Post by ginger on Sept 5, 2016 10:48:33 GMT -5
"Yes, a culpeo actually. I came up here from Southsward for better work but couldn't really find much. Don't tell my boss though; a small bit of dough is better than none. Anyways, I... really suggest that you have water instead of more alcohol. I'll even put some honey in it if...you....."
His casual nice bartender act was dropped as he watched two mice walk through the door. He'd seen nearly every kind of vermin walk through those rotting doors but he had never seen any "good beasts" set paw near it. He watched them for a couple seconds before turning back to the cross fox.
"Come on, let's get you a regular drink."
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Post by coolcoyote on Sept 5, 2016 14:50:39 GMT -5
"Now wait a minute, I want to see what the munchkins put up here." the vixen tries to grab her fellow...cel...celop...her fellow cantelope fox and drag him to the post. Why? Because you cant pull a fox along with your foot silly!
It would make more sense if one were filled with hot root whisky. Just, just trust us on this.
The fox stands next to the post, lean in until her face in nearly touching it. "Pro...profess-eye-on-all wanted. Will pay. Hey!" the fox pats her chest, "I am a professional and I like pay! Hey! Hey munchkin come here!"
The half drunk...possibly maybe slightly fully drunk...and then some drunk fox lumbers toward the mice. "Hey! Munchkins!" she slams her paws against the table. "You looking for vermin, right?"
Blossum lets out a paniced squeak, pumpkin just seems to hide behind their back pack of supplies. "Y-yeah...we need a..."
"I'll take it!" the fox waves a paw in the air.
Well, that was easy.
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Post by ginger on Sept 6, 2016 20:09:33 GMT -5
Right before he was about to say something, the cross fox latched onto his paw and dragged him around like a doll. He protested to this but was drowned out when she yelled "I'll take it!" to the two mice cowering in front of her.
"Well, don't scare the poor beasts." he muttered, wrenching his paw free of her grasp.
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Post by coolcoyote on Sept 9, 2016 22:16:31 GMT -5
"Scarring the beasts? I'm not scarring them. Am I scaring you? ANSWER ME!" The vixen slams her fist on the table. Pumpkin squeaks, hiding behind his own paws and quivering in his hat.
His companion flinces but then narrows her eyes at the vixen. "No."
"No? No what?"
"No. You are NOT hired. I need warriors not the village idiot. Not take that dust broom you call a tail and go sober up before you come back." the mouse turns to the other fox while Xia gasps in shock, "How about you fox? Are you here to sign up for glory, honor and riches beyond imagination or just here to waste my time too?"
(So sorry for the wait D:)
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Post by ginger on Sept 9, 2016 22:32:14 GMT -5
Aiken smirked as the field mouse toasted his... companion? He was just trying to get her to sober up; he didn't even know her name. His ears perked up a little when the mouse address him. "I do have to say I like you're attitude. I'm interested but let me take this one to... calm down first." He motioned to Xia, her face still frozen with shock. With that, he put a paw on her shoulder and guided her to a little door near the bar. The tip of his tail twitched a little from annoyance with her antics but who doesn't get annoyed with someone from time to time, right? (it's all good  ) |
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Post by coolcoyote on Sept 10, 2016 9:32:28 GMT -5
Oh, Xia could be said to be annoyed alright, "Drunk? DRUNK?" The vixen stops short of the door, escaping her fellow's grasp. "I'm perfectly sober you little twit! I am Xia, the mercenary! And I will not be scolded like some imature dibbun!"
The beast hoists her small pole arm in the air, waving it over her head
THWAP!
The rat at the bar is knocked forward, face first into a large bowl of chilie. He lays there, slumped into his food unmoving and unconcious from the vixens blow.
A hushed silence befalls the room. Slowly the rats begin to stand from their seats. ALL the rats. Six of them in total. Nome of them looking friendly.
"Uh, should we...uh do something?" Pumpkin cowers under the table so that only his eyes can be seen.
"Yeah," says his companion with a coy smile, "We hire who is left standing..."
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Post by ginger on Sept 10, 2016 21:36:53 GMT -5
His ears went back at the sickening sound of the pole arm colliding with the back of the rats head. He watched as the six rats towered over the cross fox, ready for a fight. He trotted up and stopped between them.
"I know you're angry but this is all a misunderstanding, the lady didn't mean any harm by it, she's as drunk as a d-"
The lead rat swung his fist hard and clocked Aiken in the side of the head, sending him into a nearby table. He caught the edge of it, stopping himself from falling over. He balled up his fists, dashed back towards the mouth, and socked him right in the nose.
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Post by coolcoyote on Sept 10, 2016 22:10:31 GMT -5
The rat goes falls backwards, bouncing off the bar and into the floor. While full of mead the fox still has enough sense to realize this is her cue to split. "Well then. Looks like you got this handled, Ill just leave you too it then!" Xia smiles widely as she backs towards the door.
She never makes it. A pair of rats leap at her. With a yelp the vixen steps lightly out of the way of one rat, twirling like a dancer and looping her pole arm under the rats leg to trip him. The fox then side steps the second rat, backing into the bar with her tail. "How many can you take?" she shouts.
The tavern is now in an uproar as other vermin cheer both sides on.
"A left! A left! Give him a left!" Blossum leaps into the air above her chair, swinging her fist as she does. Years spent repressing her more violent urges the mouse seems to be cutting loose, even more than the vermin around them.
"Dixie...please." Pumpkin is now hiding under the table. "We need to leave."
"What why? The fight is just getting good!" a rat comes flying across the room, plowing into the table and nearly toppling over the mice. Leaping back and cradling each other in their arms Dixie says in a more sober tone. "Ok...you make a fair point..."
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Post by ginger on Sept 11, 2016 12:22:44 GMT -5
"I'll figure that out in a second." Aiken shouts back, knocking another rat aside. He watched him tumble into the table with the two mice. He lunges for the rat and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.
"Oh no you don't!" he mutters, as he pushed the him to the floor. The fox began to think about the dirk hidden behind the counter for those "just in case" situations. He didn't want to have to bring it out but if these rat aren't going to quit, he wouldn't either...
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Post by coolcoyote on Sept 15, 2016 0:35:07 GMT -5
"I think we should probibly be leaving now." Dixie Blossum finally admits.
"Why the hurry? The show is just getting started!" the mouse finds a heavy paw landing on her shoulder, a vice like grip of a wild cat digging into her cloak. The beast is massive, with leather armor over his muscular figure. He stands somewhat awkwardly from the ale in his belly.
"Unhand me!" Dixie elbows the beast in the gut. It doesnt even register with the cat.
"Let's place a bet. All in favor of the foxes winning? Say Aye." a loud chorus rings out across the tavern. "How about the rats!" another chorus just as loud as the first rings out.
"Excellent! Mouse stew goes to the winners!"
The field mouse gasps, "You...you wouldnt...you wouldnt actually eat me..."
"Well not with out salt." the wild cat winks at the mouse. Pumpkin is quickly siezed by a scurvy stoat. "Just for the record, I blame you for this..."
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bye!