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Post by Kristofor on Oct 5, 2020 21:42:03 GMT -6
You... aren't crying over being injured?, I admit its confusing enough that the kid is completely okay with bottling a squishy, squirming standalone organ, but he has no reaction in those ruby eyes over the rather raw and round markings that are carved into his skin. What is that? "This is a crossing." he shows me his hand. The carving is deep enough that when it heals will leave a scar. "My master has marked me with it, to assure my loyalty." What a cruel master., my voice grows rough and growly. The boy doesn't react beyond a shrug, and licks the wound again, perfectly fine with it. "Crossings aren't that uncommon, depending on the culture, fox." Kristofor, I finally correct him. Kristofor. My gaze is torn away from the wound on his hand to untangling Harmony from her lead gettign wrapped around her with all the rolling around and squealing. She seems to calm down when the dust takes the blood smell away? 28
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Post by Kristofor on Oct 5, 2020 21:51:16 GMT -6
"Fine. Kristofor, this isn't an uncommon occurance in my culture. When you swear fealty, loyalty, to your master, they give you their mark. Some are tattooed, inked into the skin, some are carved, and others just wear the mark on their bodies somewhere, like a pendant. The more painful choice is branding, burning the mark into the skin, but it depends solely on the master." he holds up the hand, pointing at the crossing. "This is nothing in comparison to some of the masters and servants I've met." For some reason, its compulsion to touch it. My short claw traces the wound gently, trying not to break open the wound further. Its... almost like a human's bicycle gear, with all those points. A four pointed star in the middle, criscrossing inside it, and wound with intricate swirls and what could be a name or a word. "You didn't sense anything when you walked into the estate... do you sense anything now?" The slight tugging on my wrist of Harmony's leash while she dusted around between us. I didn't even notice the boy had come through the bushes. 29
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Post by Kristofor on Oct 5, 2020 21:58:58 GMT -6
No, nothing., I sit back on my knees, like he is, my tail wrapped around my hind legs. I don't sense anything. "How unusual. Most....people and animalfolk who cross into the estate have some sort of magical awareness. But you don't... This won't do. Not at all." the boy's posture seemed to stiffen up some as he tries to sit down a bit more relaxed. "My master is of the impression that everyone who walks through that gate can somewhat sense danger and magic and such. He's... a bit strange like that." What sort of human is your master?, I ask now, gathering a very dusty Harmony into my arms. She shivers a bit, the blood smell still in the air. Clearly not happy, but takes the food I offer her. Before he answers, the child's posture becomes very... stiff, turning sharply and suddenly diving into the thorn bush. I hear a scuffling, a screaming caw that's cut off fast, and he straightens up, a dead crow in his grip, its neck...uh, broken. 30 +1
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Post by Kristofor on Oct 5, 2020 22:08:20 GMT -6
"Before you complain, its a familiar." he says firmly, stepping through the bushes and taking a seat again. "Some more... seedy magic humanfolk come hunting magic crystals in my master's estate. The bird's corpse swings from his grip, and it has a much longer neck then what I've seen some birds have. Almost like some sort of crow-goose. The boy takes a seat, and starts ripping feathers off of the bird. WHEEK WHEEK! Harmony squeals and dives into the crook of my arm. She's a colorful ball of dusty quivering fur. I pet her gently, trying to calm her down. Do you have to start butchering that here?, I ask him, as bloody feathers drop into the dirt as he plucks, disgusted. "You're a fox, so I don't see a problem." he says. "Foxes eat birds commonly." I don't., I say. He looks up, hands no longer plucking the 'familiar'. Blinking in surprise. 31
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Post by Kristofor on Oct 5, 2020 22:14:50 GMT -6
"You... don't eat birds. Any kind of bird?" I shake my head no. "Thats uncommon. Why is that?" He adopts a look of curiosity as he starts plucking again. I don't say anything and look at my paws, paying more attention to the quivering panilla in my arms. "Whatever your reason, that is your decision. This is for my master's morning meal. Steamed familiar and apple sausage with potatoes and a strong cup of earl grey tea. Only the highest quality for my master." Sausage making is complicated, isn't it?, I query. The boy launches into a slightly squeamish explanation for me of how the meat is run through a grinder once it is plucked, gutted, deboned, and then ground up, seasoned and stuffed into a long thin edible sack. I've seen sausages that were brought home to the pantry. They look like innards. "Once the sausages are prepared and stuffed in their sacks, you can prepare them many different ways." 32
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Post by Kristofor on Oct 5, 2020 22:23:25 GMT -6
That familiar looks more feathers then food..., I pointed out. "Ah, but I can mix familiar with chicken, turkey, duck or goose and it turns out well enough. Familiar is a very versatile meat." A shiver runs through me at the thought of mixing that dead crow with any sort of other dead bird. But the smell is doing nothing to calm Harmony down, and she's still shivering. I take some bamboo and offer it to her. Its gone, and I hear gnawing and chewing. How long have you worked for your master?, I ask, curious. He doesn't appear that old for a human child. Creepy as he appears. The shaggy haired boy pauses in his plucking, the breast of the familiar bare. "Four years, sooner then later." he finally answers. Thats... young to start being a servant, isn't it, I wonder to myself. "Remember Kristofor, don't believe your eyes fully this month. It is the month of shadows and darkness. And with that, illusion. For all you do not know, I could be extremely old, and pass myself off as a child to lure in unwary travelers." I swear his smile is briefly with exposed sharpened teeth. 33
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Post by Kristofor on Oct 5, 2020 22:30:16 GMT -6
He doesn't stop plucking the familiar until it lays naked in his lap, drooling blood onto his finery. The smell is enough to turn any herbivore and I'm glad Harmony hasn't turned around yet. The smell must be terrible. For me, its not that bad, but watching some random 'child' just butchering a bird within six feet of me is... both enamoring to watch and stomach turning. Familiars arent' real birds, I remind myself. Its not real. "How sharp are your claws?" he asks. I'm pulled from my attempts to desensitize myself mentally that wasn't a real bird there. Sharp enough? They can scratch and cut through skin.... I finally say. "Draw your claw over the middle of the familiar's chest. I'll show you this isn't a real bird." With brief hesitation and him waiting, I split the familiar's plucked goose pimpled skin over its naked chest. The boy peels the skin away, digs his fingers between the two big muscles birds have, and pulls. "This is why." he plucks out a dark blue stone, instead of a heart with bloody fingers. 34
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Post by Kristofor on Oct 5, 2020 22:36:29 GMT -6
"Familiars don't have hearts, they survive on magic from their masters. So to you, a regular animalfolk who seems to have no awareness of magic at all, its a regular bird until you go to prepare it to eat." the boy explains, showing the stone to me. Its faceted, and deeply blue. "Whatever you do, don't eat a familiar's stone. Hold out your paw." I do, and he drops the crystalline item into my padded palm. A shiver runs through me as I feel it pulse physically in my paw-hand. It falls from my palm in my shock of feeling something inside the stone... like I'm being watched. The boy picks up the stone, examines it, then crushes it in his good hand. The stone's dust scatters over the bloody dirt. Why did you break the stone, I ask him. "Because I know exactly who sent this familiar, and why." He sighs, pinching the place between human nose and forehead with his bad hand. I can hear harmony wheeking in the crook of my arm as she tries to remove herself and sit back on my lap, grooming her whiskers and face. 35 +1
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Post by Kristofor on Oct 5, 2020 22:44:56 GMT -6
She glances at the scary boy with red eyes, and sees the bloody mess of a bird laying on his lap like it was always there. She squeals and hides her face in my chest fur. Poor thing, this wasn't what I had in mind for a pleasant walk on the estate. It was damn HARVEST SEASON when I entered here after all. "That cat must live with an owner who doesnt' prepare food in the same area as where she's kept, with such a reaction to just plucking a bird..." he says to himself, while carefully peeling the bird further so he can get at the guts. Her owner is a cat with horns, so I don't know. We didn't... understand each other., I don't know why its actually almost compelling to talk to this child. He occasionally is listening for the hunting cry of the redhead "free reaper"? and making sure to stay sitting down and avoid being seen. 36
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Post by Kristofor on Oct 5, 2020 22:54:19 GMT -6
"Cat with horns?" He looks surprised at my nod. "Weird folk come to this region, all kinds. Even cats with horns." He digs into the dead familiar and starts discarding bits of... well, innards out on the dirt before us. Harmony only has to peek once before she squeaks and hides again. The smell won't come off of either of us until we have a bath, I figure. When the entrails hit the ground, its splattering my knees and my paws. And the child doesn't appear to notice or even care. He's just doing his job, prepping a not-a-bird for his master's breakfast. "Laiyan isn't exactly the most common language outside of the forests, I assume." he waits for my nod before continuing his work. "I suggest learning the local language of Common. It'll make your life more manageable if you can understand most everyone else." I want to learn, I want to know more about this world. Its very different from life in a fox hole. "no sheep, sherlock." 37
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Post by Kristofor on Oct 5, 2020 23:01:36 GMT -6
"Also. Don't be so hung up on not eating birds. Its a literal dog-eat-dog world outside your fox hole and if you can only find birds to eat in the winter, are you going to starve yourself because of that choice?" the boy points bloodied fingers at me. harmony risks another peek, sees him with bloody fingers and hides again. Well this isn't going well. It is my own choice to not eat bird meat. This city doesn't stop feeding its citizens when the winter comes, does it?, I ask. "Who knows. I have personally not left the estate without being at my master's side. Whatever we get in as food is brought personally to the estate, and I prepare it here, alongside our... ahem, shef." the boy says like this isn't a problem at all. "My master hasn't left the estate in several months so I'm unaware of how the city has changed. Since we must cross a bridge to get to the road that leads out here into the country." Wait what? There's... no bridge outside. 38
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Post by Kristofor on Oct 5, 2020 23:08:12 GMT -6
The boy stops gutting his master's breakfast. "What do you mean there's no bridge outside to reach the estate. Sure there is. This estate is very far out in the country." Where... where is my map. Ah. I had copied it down roughly since the one I had was more of a wall hanging map then anything else. Handing over the piece of paper to the boy. He wipes his bloody hands on his pants before taking the crude drawing from me. No bridge. I just came from the city. Its a straight path to the Northeast from the city to get here, and past you is the Mountain Mine., I point out. yes, the MM is the mountain mine. The e was estate, I had marked it in Laiyan lettering, because the letters of common confused me. A few minutes pass while the boy consults my crude map, his gaze reading over it, once, twice, many times. Harmony peeks out, and sees the boy no longer killing a bird, but its still dead on his lap. My paws smell like blood now too, as I wipe them on my shorts. She makes louder wheeking noises that aren't panicking though. Was it just because the scary boy was killing something before her? 39
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Post by Kristofor on Oct 5, 2020 23:28:06 GMT -6
He groans audibly and passes the paper back to me, now flecked in blood. "Reality rifts are dangerous, I told him once, I told him again that it can go wrong and nooo, had to make the damn thing a rift. But now we're in a place that- aaargh, and now I know why the freaper's been skulking around. Because it was a damn NET." Excuse me? A net? You were captured?, I ask, confused. He shakes his head no. "Magic can go wrong in some pretty severe ways. Especially magic that messes with reality. If you are not leading me on, Kristofor-" he looks rather severe for a child "Our estate has not only a shift in reality, but has moved planes." He mentions of an old timey human city with a big brown river and a giant bridge over it. A giant tower that had a clock inside, and it could be heard for miles. The air thick with smoke from smokestacks, and expanding along the river. No, there is no place I believe like that anywhere nearby., I tell him. The river has very few human towns. He swears loudly. "come out and pLAAAAAY!" crap. Not again. I try to keep Harmony calm, as she sees the blood on my paws and on me, and subsequently, on her again. WHEEK! 40 +1
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Post by Kristofor on Oct 6, 2020 10:26:43 GMT -6
She's still freaking out about the blood on her? Or... I look at myself. Oh, she thinks its my blood. Should I lick it off? Ugh... not what I want to do. Setting the panicking panilla on my knee, I make a show of putting my paws into the dirt, and rolling them around, coating my fur liberally in dust. WHeek? She puts her paws down on my knee so she can see my cleaning of my paws. Taking a pawful of dust and rubbing it up towards my elbows. That kid is a messy butcher of bird. He's shifted the carcass out of dust range, letting it hang from his grip to drool out. He's smiling again. "For a pet that isn't yours, shes quite concerned that I've injured you." he points out. The panilla's ears swivel and she GLARES at the scary boy covered in blood smell. She barks at him a few times before continuing to watch me clean up. 41
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Post by Kristofor on Oct 6, 2020 10:36:46 GMT -6
Of course she's concerned, after all I've been feeding her, I reply while rubbing the dirt into my fur. This will take forever to wash out, and probably plug up the pipes even worse then before. Please stop butchering that bird near her. He looks me in the eye, blue to red, as I straighten my posture. I'm big for my age, always have been. The servant kicks some dirt over the entrails with his shoe. "I have to wash this carcass out anyhow." he gestures to the familiar. "the gutting process works much better when hanging the familiar up by the feet and beheading it first." Is that why humans would suspend their dead birds up by the feet? Huh, I didn't know. Before I could say more, Harmony crawls off my knees and joins me in the dirt, rolling around to coat herself again. Tossing a bit up on my paws. 42
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