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Post by Kristofor on Sept 21, 2020 12:33:53 GMT -6
Several minutes pass and its tense for the poor sick scavenger. He takes several swigs of his own waterskin before offering it back to the fox. Who does drink, but its like he's forgotten how to swallow. Dragging his fingers down the throat, or at least thats where it is on people. Slowly, he swallows the water, and seeks more. The dark skin under the fur is more of a paler color. He's alive, but still in bad shape. The bezoar wasn't as effective as he hoped. Had the fox barfed it up? "Where are those useless city guards when you need them..." the scavenger growled to himself. He needed more water, but the panilla had a firm hold on his pantleg. Don't go don't go fox gonna die, please help help HELP WHEEK WHEEK! the creature positively believed he was gonna die if the scavenger left. Well... he needed to get help... because in his state, and with his load, there was no way to carry a fox and a panilla back to base. +1
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 21, 2020 12:40:44 GMT -6
Pov swap Gaaaah, Gramps is gonna kill me. This wasn't the kid of scavenging I was supposed to bring back. Reaching into my pocket, I pull out my talkie, and turn it on. Configure it right... twist this way, then that... there. The perfect frequency for home. "This is Magpie. Come in Raven." +Raven here. You're LATE MAGPIE.+ the resulting shout makes me cringe. Yep, angry. +Where are you?!+ "Magpie here. I'm in the old city gateway. Raven, I need help. Got a big load and I can't bring it back by myself." several moments pass. +How big.+ I can imagine him thinking I found a gold statue or something. "Like person big. And hurry, this is a limited time offer. Tick tick, you know." yes, make it urgent. +Person big?! Raven out. Don't go anywhere Magpie.+ The talkie goes dead and I look back at my person sized load. The fox was still breathing, but its shallow and his skin is getting paler. Thats not a good thing.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 21, 2020 12:46:02 GMT -6
Help help?! the panilla weedles at my pant leg, her little fingers wrapped in the fabric wraps around my shins. I nod, the smell of blood is getting to me again. Did the fox have any food on him? I can't go through his pack easily with him using it as a pillow to avoid suffocating on his back. But I'm not a scavenger pickpocket for nothing. Reaching into the little backpack (too little for simple travel in opinion, some people took a lot of crap on adventures) I fish out a few things. Wrapped packages mostly, and a few coins. ooh, money. Mine. It finds its way conveniently onto my body. Thief! thief! the panilla realizes what I'm doing, and screeches angrily at me. Put fox money back! Put food back! His food! "What're you gonna do, bite me?" I ask her mockingly. She looks confused on that she heard WHEEK WHEEK BARK.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 21, 2020 13:05:12 GMT -6
I know soft spots on people! the panilla declares, as she climbs up my leg and starts trying to chew in places that most humans would probably try and rip her off immediately. But when I don't give her an initial freak out reaction, she keeps trying to find the cheaty spots to bite. I can't help it; I start giggling at her antics. "Not gonna work on me, panilla." I pick her off by her scruff and hold her towards my face. The dirt hides it pretty well too, my more... feminine jawline. No soft spot? NO cheat spot? She's clearly confused. Tries to reach out and cling to my shirt, but I'm not gonna let that happen. Put her back down and pin down the leash that ties her to the fox's knapsack. I can hear footsteps. "Ssh" trying to shush the panilla. Her ears perk up and she stands up like a meetkar.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 21, 2020 13:10:12 GMT -6
Flattening myself into the shadowed wall, but with just enough vantage, a city guard, a real one, passes by. You can tell they're real from the stiff way they walk, and they carry firearms or bows. WHEEK WHEEK WHEEK help help help! thief! fox hurt. fox gonna die! the panilla starts shrieking all of a sudden. "No, shut up. shut up, bad panilla-" "Whats going on?!" well crap. the city guard is alerted and coming closer. I can't stop the panilla's screams without getting bitten, and she's still wheeking away and freaking out. Closer and closer they walk, following the smell of blood. Well, nice knowing you. I prepare to fly the coop, unliterally of course. What am I, an actual bird? Until something comes up from behind and knocks the guard out with well timed chops. The guard goes limp and is dragged away. I almost molt with relief. Its Raven.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 21, 2020 13:16:26 GMT -6
"FOOLISH!" -whack- Ow. Gramps is never soft on his tell-offs. "Do you know how close you were to being discovered?!" Catching me with his wing again. Gramps is a full fledged raven avian, his wings are his arms, tipped with claws, but his tail is very different, long and curled with longer feathers at the end. "I blame the panilla." I tell him mulishly, pointing at the white and gray and red panilla, who's still freaking out, now barking and screaming loudly. "Stupid thing freaks out at the first sign of other life." Gramps stomps over to the panilla, plucks her up and holds her within beak range. She tries to reach it, to bite it to get away. Shedding everywhere. His yellow eyes flick to my hand, where its oozing blood around my fingers. "Tell her to stop this foolish panicking or all four of us will be arrested and killed." Not thinking anything of it, I do. +1
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 21, 2020 13:21:26 GMT -6
He makes a deep sounding grumble in his throat, almost like a rasp. She stops, looking confused again, but meekly falls silent. Puts her back down once he's sure she's not gonna flip out, and kneels beside the fox. He's getting paler, and his eyes are unfocused. Raven puts the back of his wing-hand to the fox's neck, his forehead, clacking his beak. Its not a good sound. Looking in his eyes, then holding his wrist carefully. Turning him over and inspecting the bald portions of his scruff with cat gashes and bites. "You gave him a bezoar, I take it." he looks back at me. I nod, eagerly. "And judging by how sick you look, you were sucking out blood." My stomach twists again. I think I swallowed a bit... as I nod again. "What happened? I saw a cat and two rodentlike humanish running away from the gate... before I found this panilla and the fox in really bad shape..."
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 21, 2020 13:35:40 GMT -6
"The cat is Luci, known as Lazy Lord Lucifer, he's part of the Trinity Triad; and the two rodents are his partners in crime. They're scam artists who pose as city guards and mug unsuspecting new travelers or suckers who pass through the West Gate. From the looks of this fox, he fought back. Luci doesn't normally leave a body behind, by my experience." gramps tells me. "I've had multiple run-ins with them over the years; but his M.O. is always the same; he doesn't leave a body if someone dies by his claws." If there's any color left in my face, its gone now. "My god. thats one bad cat." He makes a birdish laugh, a sarcastic laugh. Putting his head towards the fox's barely moving chest, listening. "He needs more then a bezoar, magpie." he responds. "Sucking out the poisoned blood is a good start, but he needs an antidote. And fast."
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 21, 2020 13:48:06 GMT -6
Gramps is stronger then I am considerably, so he picks up the fox in his wingarms, careful not to cut him up further with those claws of his. telling me to take the panilla and the knapsack (did he see I had the wax wrapped packages? No? Maybe?) and to follow him. Sticking to the shadows. I forget how fast the old bird can move when following him. I'm no longer needing to follow continuously. But with this screwup, I may be back to no longer working solo for scavenging... Fast forward to being in a big old pine somewhere close to the Mines mountain. The pine is hollowed out on the inside, but still living. Its cramped living, and full of all kinds of knick knacks. Stuff we can sell for credits to the shops or trade for more expensive stuff to trade to the shops. A 'semi' honest living.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 21, 2020 13:57:05 GMT -6
"OW" I pull my arm away as the needle pulls away, putting its contents into me. "That still hurts you know." Gramps just stares down his beak at me. "You were the foolish one who started sucking out poisoned blood without figuring out what he'd been poisoned with. So you get the antidote too." he says, slapping my arm and shooing me out of the room. He had several antidotes on hand, and had given a strong one to the fox lying in the corner, a damp cloth over his forehead and eyes as he slept. I wont' lie, the last few hours were really touch and go. It was awful. Nerve wracking, and I was in charge of making sure the panilla didn't start shrieking again. Desperately, I had given her some bamboo to eat, and that had... worked. Shut her up instantly. A small pile of bamboo sticks and straws and she was content.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 21, 2020 14:03:09 GMT -6
"Were you just screaming for food the whole time?" I asked her, not expecting an answer. But for some reason or another, I totally understood her wheeks and barks and such, because thats what Gramps said he was hearing the poor thing as. And it was annoying. No, fox hurt. Much blood, very scary. My food, no taking. Thief. the panilla chitters as she works her way through a straw of bamboo. Live bamboo, I'm not stupid enough to give her dead stuff. Fox live? "He live, yes. See later, you eat now. Okay?" the panilla chews her bamboo without question on this. If she starts chewing on the furniture in here, I have a new rug. Closing the door on her, I check into the other room. Gramps is putting a fresh cloth on the fox's forehead and eyes, several stained cloths beside him. "Uh.. how's the fox" Gramps sighs a bit. Its hard to read his expression with a beak. +1
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 21, 2020 14:16:18 GMT -6
"I called my healer buddy to come take a look at him." he finally says. "He just left; while you were babysitting the panilla." Oh. "The poison's out of his system, but this fox has a surprisingly weak immune system." "...uh what's an immune system?" I know I've heard it before... "Its whats inside us that keeps us healthy and not getting sick so often. You were pretty young when the labs released the new izer bird, their babies were born sick; with a weak immune system and if the humans weren't caring for them... they died. Just died." Oh... no, I didn't remember that. "Its an inheritance thing, from a parent typically... because you don't just lose your immune system." Oh. "So thats why he's looking so ill still?" Gramps' eye ridge arches at this question. Its stupid. "He's still ill, magpie. Might even be down for three more days." Thats... a long time.
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 21, 2020 14:21:16 GMT -6
"As for you, foolish fledgling-" He turns around and grabs my hand. I wince at his grip, its sharp and pointy and grips as hard as an eagle. "Who did you pick this ring off of." I shrug. My hands are clean now, but I can't get the ring off now. It was pretty and shiny and I put it on my finger and... "It was shiny." Yes, thats so going to avoid a tell off. Gramps smacks his beak with his other winghand. "Foolish fledgling, whats on your hand is a powerful magical artifact that is a pricey object that lets you talk to an animal of your choice... and you just happened to talk to a panilla." Two and two come together.... "So I can talk to panilla now? Any panilla?" He crosses his wingarms, after releasing me, with a solemn nod. "Oh great, and I can't get it off either." ((item and npc dont' actually exist this is story flavor))
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 21, 2020 14:53:07 GMT -6
"Most humans buy them from what I've seen to talk to dragons, for some stupid reason. But I pray to Order you didn't steal from that cart in the shopping square." Ha. Haha... uh... "I solemnly swear I did not steal from the cart in the shopping district." I tell him, but I can feel a cold drop in my guts. I'm so in trouble, aren't I... To my relief, Gramps drops the subject, and we ignore the fact for now that I have a carnivorous ring attached to my finger that I can't get off. I think its vampiric. "I went through the boy's belongings... and found half of his registry papers." He reaches over and picks up a torn in half chunk of papers. "From what I can gather, he had intention to come live in the city. His name isn't there though. Judging by the tears, I think this is half the reason Luci was looking beat up as he ran away."
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Post by Kristofor on Sept 21, 2020 15:04:31 GMT -6
"I'm liking that cat less and less." I grumble in response. "The Trinity Triad isn't a group to mess with alone, and I fear that making them run like that is going to make this fox a target. Poor kid, had the bad luck to meet them for coming into the city." Gramps' tone sounds almost sympathetic. "If the panilla's getting antsy about her fox being apart, she can come stay in the room and keep him comfortable and quiet, if SHE stays quiet." He stresses the quiet part, since the panilla made perfectly sure we both knew she had good lungs. I'll be hearing screaming in my sleep for days. I chose to go get her, because why not. The panilla followed me up with a handful of bamboo in my hand to take it from me and curl up with her fox. Nuzzling his muzzle a bit and making concerned questions. Finally curling up and going to sleep. Everyone was tired. So we slept.
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