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Post by Kristofor on Sept 27, 2020 5:36:43 GMT -6
'I had a delivery for your boss and forgot his signature. Does that guy never sleep?' she commented, jerking a sooty clawed thumb back at the now on telescope duty humanish. 'Nobody really knows, its a society wide rumor that he's insominac and sleeps during the day like an owl, but he's not THERE during the day, so its 'n unproven rumor.' Marcel remarked, rolling over so he could see her better. He couldn't see much of her profile beyond the dark hands and dark feet, and occasional shoes. 'I see. I'm going back then. Make sure that fox gets a home, if possible.' 'Wait a minute kid, I'm not that kind of faun-' She looks at me, and her eyes are about as bright as a star in the sky. She must have excellent nightvision. 'That fox and his pet nearly died to a pissed off member of the Triad; its clear on his body that they succeeded in hurting him.' Oh? Huh. 'thought that bald patch was a collar wear.' the faun mumbled to himself. 'Its not. just.... help him out. doesn't speak common' 'Costs, you know that, courier.' Something heavy landed in the grass between em. The padded little wallet he retrieves gives a few iron coins. 'that's enough.' Tossing it back with ease for her to catch. The courier leaves, and the faun goes back to sleep, after squirreling the money away. Get him a home? Easy enough. +1
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 27, 2020 5:41:57 GMT -6
The airhorn wakes everyone out of a sound sleep once sunrise came about. Several choices of swear words and attempts to take the boss' horn away made, and attempting not to strangle him as a result. The faun hadn't slept more then an hour at a time, he kept hearing footsteps here and there. The night guards mostly. They'd been paid once the sunrise came and departed before the horn woke the dead. Beside him, the fox, Kristofor, and his panilla were waking up, looking groggy and disgruntled at the waking of being so early. Once the initial sleepiness wears off, he looks shocked.
I can't believe I fell asleep. I hadn't slept that well in ages, except for the horn of course. Running my fingers over Mira's fur gradually to calm her down. She acted grumpy and found the knapsack to go back to sleep. I rearranged the lead into the inside of the knapsack before closing the flap.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 27, 2020 11:18:26 GMT -6
"Wha's that?" the fawn asked while I shuffled around to get my things together. Would I be able to talk today? Ahem. Krrgh...kaaagh. Maaagh. Miiiaaagh. Nope, the attempts to talk make me cough again. Strands of fire inside my throat. Marcel's expression takes on a mild concern. "I thought you were just mute and the ring around your neck was a collar wear. I'm...wrong on both accounts." he drags those hard nailed fingers through his curls while he talks. "Throat pain can be solved with hard candies and hot tea in small quantities. I believe its called chamomile. Ah, wait a mo'." He trots awkwardly, holding his tent coat up over his hooves to walk. Talking to a few of the scientists having a bite of breakfast up the hill from us. The hill's short grass illuminates with the eastern rising sun. Looking up, its a beautiful blue sky day. A good day for me and Mira to get a home.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 27, 2020 11:25:49 GMT -6
"Here. Finish this and we'll take down the equipment." Marcel is back before I know it and has a mug of something piping hot smelling of boiled leaves. "Tea. For your throat. You d- yeah, you get it." He grins horseily when I take the mug from him and take a sip. Ugh. Boiled leaves. But several in my family swear by the stuff. Its bitter and I don't like it. But the heat seems to help my throat a bit. Another sip...if its anything more then a sip I'm forcing myself to swallow it. bleeeegh. "Sorry Kristofor, I know it tastes crap. But this tea is what many swear by for throat pain and such. And the gal I talked a cup off of can't have sugar, so she doesn't carry any on her. "And I'm curious. What's this from?" he holds up my translation guide... did it fall out of the pocket? Or Mira take it out? I didn't see her do so...
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 27, 2020 11:31:24 GMT -6
It was given to me by the Raven, found near me when I had trouble with the Triad... I finally wrote on the chalkboard, the horribly bitter tea taken care of. Its horrible and I never want to drink straight up tea again. Marcel opens the pamphlet and his expression...darkens. Flipping the front panel back and seeing who authored it. His hoof does that rabbit foot tapping thing when they're frustrated. Why? The horsey teeth disappear and he briefly pulls the lips of his face inward in a fishlike expression. Finally passing it back to me. I want to ask... but should not. Dont' take unnecessary risk. "Lets go take down that equipment, eh fox." A nod, and we do so. The tripods fold up easily enough. The telescopes themselves are lifted by the stronger folk of the society who are super picky on who touches the expensive equipment. The amount of glass and metal that went into those... I can't imagine it. Without my knapsack and Mira on, its easier to move.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 27, 2020 11:37:55 GMT -6
"Good job everyone." the humanish boss exclaims when the hill's campout has been completely taken down and set into boxes, set onto a buggy that came up the hill to collect. Pulled by what looked like a giant sheep with its horns having a terrible case of ingrain. It snorted, glaring at me. Daring me to get closer. Touch my wool, just try it, I think it tried to say. Uh, no. "Take this clipboard and put down your name and address and I'll attach your payment at the-" "No no, no way boss. You promised up front." Marcel declared, shuffling his way up to the front. His hand out for handouts? Or his pay. "Pay up." "Marcel this is not-" the humanish glances at the rest of the group, who are looking eager to be paid. "Oh fine..." he muttered something about insistent fae and handed out their pay. "You. Fox. Get over here." The group loooks back to me, as I come forth with my knapsack (and Mira) on my back. Slapping a thing for qp into my paw. "Turn that in to the Inquisitor. They turn qp into credits or you can save it on a card." Finally this was over. +1
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 27, 2020 11:45:41 GMT -6
You didn't tell that pointed ear human that I had no home, did you., I wrote to show Marcel, who happily gave back his coat, once retrieving a bag full of randomness from the pockets, including his pocketscope. Short of a utility belt around his waist, the faun walked around with nothing. A thin layer of golden brown fur covered him from neck to ankles, apart form his face and his hands, where the fur got super thin or non existant. Even with a little tail. Its hardly a tail, but a stump with hair on it. My own tail is a source of pride. He makes a pfffft noise, merrily as he walks along beside me. "Boss scientist wouldn't care if you were homeless. Seriously won't care; if you help and don't thieve, you're welcome." Don't thieve... had they been thieved in the past?, I write, now curious. "Ah...yeah. Sometimes. Thats why guards are hired."
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 27, 2020 12:11:45 GMT -6
Is your home this way?, because he's following me, I write down. Or walking alongside me, his arms folded behind his head while clopping down the path. On grass there's less clopping, but as the grass became less and less towards the path, the clopping becomes more apparent. "Hm? Oh yeah, I have business at City Hall, and since y' don't know your way, I thought I'd take ya there. As a favor for helping out the Society. Laiyan speaker to Laiyan speaker." The horsey teeth grin is back, spreading the spots out on his face all across. Those hooves do a quick turnaround as he faces me. "Look Kristofer, you're not gonna get a guided tour of the city. Laiyan speakers are out there, but there is upwards of thousands of people in our city. Most speak common. you don't. You don't even talk right now. So..." he gestured with a hand... yes I understood his motions. But it made me uneasy.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 27, 2020 12:52:24 GMT -6
My father told me nobody gave handouts for free; to have an offer to be guided to my destination... set what remained of the fur on my scruff on end. Not that anyone could tell... We are headed the same direction, I do welcome the company of soneone who can understand me., it never hurt for soem company, right. Marcel smiles and turns around. He talks amiably about the comet, what we'd seen, the choice of location being heavily discussed for DAYS before choosing said hill. The cobbles path becomes more put together until its... paved. Paved rocks. Thicker cobbles. Like he said, Marcel did not give me a guided tour of the city. No he chose to do the most 'straight forward' right of route to reach for the City Hall. So the City Hall wasn't the tallest building in the city? Huh. One would think it would be more... impressive looking. The three of us (mira included, asleep) standing in front of it.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 27, 2020 20:59:33 GMT -6
the building is squat and not at all what I had in mind. ike... a smashed apple piel. with doors and windows and just all around unimpressively gray. "Humans like making buildings out of stone and concrete adn clay." marcel tells me as he strides forward with all the confidence in the world, throwing open the doors with a bang. every head turnst o see him. From behind, I almost feel like skulking inside, to avoid the attention on me, but thats not going to happen. Ahead of us theres a human signing off on papers, and theres a...bat, hanging off him like some sort of living cape. The creature's head, about the size of my own, twists around almost completely, chattering at us. What, were we offending it? It looks back around, the ears about the size of a human hand. Big bat. "here, and here... and here... good. You go now." the voice beyond man and bat says reedily. "NEXT!"
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 27, 2020 22:26:12 GMT -6
"Watch the master." Marcel whispers in my ear as he walks forward, all wide smiles and rubbing his hands together. Clop... clop.. clop... clop... "Roz, how are you today?!" he greets the reedy sounding speaker in front of him. Uh... thats a frog. A... a... frog, just sitting there behind the desk, a piece of fence separating them from the outside, that spanned across a series of desks. "You're looking so decadently shiny today-" Maybe its a toad, for this Roz folds her long fingers together and outright glares at Marcel's great amount of waterfalling compliments. "Hello Marcel..." the toady figure answers in a reedy, eternally bored voice. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit..." Seriously, this toad has no tone. "I'm glad you brought that up Roz, glad you brought that up! I'm here to get a few pieces of paper left in my name. And this handsome devil-" he reaches out to snag my arm and drag me forward. A strangled garbled squeak escapes me before it turns to a cough. "is new to town." +1
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 27, 2020 22:32:46 GMT -6
The toad looks at me with half lidded eyes, surrounded by thick layers of color, that also stain their mouth on top and bottom. Horn rimmed human things called glasses were worn on their face. Uh... I wave my free paw a little in greeting. The toad only blinks at me. No smile, no frown, nothing. Creepy.... and also a sickly yellow color with brown blobs. "and does this boy have his paperwork in order..." Roz asks, and Marcel repeats the question at me. Oh, yes! I do have my paperwork! Carefully extricating my arm from Marcel's grip, I take off my knapsack and pull out the folder of my registry papers. Roz holds out a long fingered hand, and takes my folder. "He doesn't speak Common I see..." Well that was fast found out. The folder flicks open, and the toad adjusts their glasses, with a long tongue. Mira pokes her head out of the knapsack, confused. Wheek?
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 27, 2020 22:40:08 GMT -6
"So. Your name is...Christopher." I shake my head no, and grab my chalkboard. Writing my name out in Laiyan script and poking Marcel. "Oh, right. Sorry. Lemme write that in Common..." he takes the chalk, and scrawls the common version of my name on the board, nd shows it to Roz. "Special spelling. He speaks Laiyan..." "Very nice..." Roz doesn't react at all while reading the chalkboard. "How fortunate for you...Kristofor... to have met up with Marcel. The contract translator." The faun pretends to soak up the not-meant-to-be-a-compliment. "Male...fox...silver fox... and do you talk...?" Marcel handed me back the chalk while I was listening.... and I was about to write down what I wanted to say... "He can't talk right now Roz. lost his voice recently. You know how throat things go." Still no reaction. "I see..." the toad looks back down at my paperwork. Small paws grip my fur as Mira grabs onto my belly fur and crawls up onto me, finding less grab on my shirt.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 27, 2020 22:54:33 GMT -6
"Says here you'll need lodging... Pethia citizens have free housing available in the kennels... you can live there until you have enough saved up for property..." Roz mentions, lifting a page and reading the next page. There were a few pages in there... Inside my shoes, my toes are curling up and I really feel uncomfortable around this toad. Marcel tells me what she says... and I nod. Yes, I need a home. That was why I was here. "First time to Pethia... and says you're from the Outliers of the Western Woodlands." A repeat of translation, and I nod. A 'hm' sound comes from the toad as they continue to read, but flick up their eyes to Mira, who has found purchase on my shoulder. Her lead draped down my shoulder to out of the knapsack. "Appears you have a first pet as well." I write down for Marcel that Mira is a gift from my aunt for moving away, and he repeats it.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 27, 2020 22:58:11 GMT -6
"Does he know about our currency?" Roz asks, and I nod when asked by Marcel. "Very good... you appear to be quite prepared for your move..." The folder closes up and is set aside while another paper is reached for, and stuck into a typewriter. The clacking and tapping noises are quite loud. Finally the item dings, the toad pushes back the paper holder and does this three more times in repeat. Finally removing the sheet, and laying it out for me with a black plate. It looks wet.... "Place your paw here in the ink, and stamp the page." Looking at my paw then the paper, with Marcel's insistent push and Mira's wheek of confused 'where are we' probably, I step forward and place my hand pawpads down in the black ink, and place my hand on the paper. Lifting it and seeing a blackened print of my own paw on the page. Roz takes this, and files it.
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