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RESPITE FALLS - SOUTHERN GATE - MIDDAY
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Nesseth sits on an elevated platform just outside of the town's walls, having been on-duty at the southern gate for a couple of hours thus far. He scans the horizon a lot more warily than he would around the northern gate, since most of the wild creatures come from the desert to the south. Nothing yet to report, however...
Damina comes along, at quite a quick pace. She waves up to Nesseth's position and calls out. "Hallooo!"
Nesseth looks around and stands up at the call, only to wave at Damina as she approaches. "Ho there, Damina! Here for more guard duty?"
Damina nods. "Yep, that seems like the idea. I'm thinking I should pitch in more lately." She proceeds to get into position...
Nesseth nods as he redirects his attention back out to the sands in the distance. "Hey, the town could always use another set of eyes and steady hands to guard. Good to have you back on board."
Damina shuffles her feet. "Hell yeah, nothing's gonna get past me! Nothing... nothing. There's. There's nothing anyway. Right, right."
Nesseth shakes his head a bit. "Nah, I've not seen anything since I started today. It's probably going to be another slow day, all told."
Damina scans the surroundings. "Hmm... well. If it seems like it's gonna be that way, I guess that means we got all the time in the world. Wanna talk about stuff?"
Nesseth shrugs and nods, though he continues to scan their surroundings. "Sure, what's on your mind?"
Damina: "Well, I've been thinking about stuff. And it's occured to me that... I don't really know much about you. What's your story?"
Nesseth blinks and raises an eyebrow as he looks over at Damina. "Me? Not much to say, really. I was born in Orela, specifically Embercoast, and raised there as well. My family's a bunch of hunters and marksmen and markswomen, so that's why I'm proficient with a crossbow." He reaches up and scratches at one of his frills, "I joined the Explorers Guild when I was around... 18, then set off to see the world a bit."
Damina nods, listening along. "Hmm. Get into any silly adventures?"?
Nesseth shakes his head. "Not really, since I was only in the Explorers Guild for a couple of years before I put down roots here in Respite. Unless you count this one time where we got stranded out on the sea between Sarn and Aephix for about a week due to bad winds."
Damina yawns. "That has to suck. Being stuck with nothing to do, and you can't even go anywhere."
Nesseth nods. "It was a bit dull. Not much to do other than gamble a bit or go diving." He pauses with a slight grimace, "...I remember diving off the ship during that time. I can't tell you how disconcerting it is to see just... nothing under the boat."
Damina shudders at the thought. "I remember going sailing once. Never again. The deep ocean just scares me. I'd be glad to remain on solid ground for the rest of my life."
Nesseth nods, rubbing a hand over the scales on his arm. "Yeah, I'll sail if I need to, but I'd much prefer to stay on board the ship for the entire trip."
Damina ponders for a brief moment. "Hmm... that does make me wonder... what exactly's surrounding the town? I don't really see much, but... there's gotta be something..."
Nesseth manages to get himself settled again and looks out towards the desert sands once more. "Well, to the south is a desert. I know the Explorers Guild sent an expedition out that way a few months back, but we've not heard from them yet. Best as we know, it's all wild lands, except for Froge's hometown, which only recently came out of isolation."
Damina: "I wouldn't happen to know the area very well myself. Which... hmm..."
Nesseth nods. "Yeah, anywhere past Respite further into the island is still pretty much entirely uncharted. At least... until the expedition comes back, whenever that might be."
Damina stares into the horizon. "Hey, you don't think it might be worth exploring around a bit ourselves?"
Nesseth hums curiously and looks over at Damina again. "Like, what, go on a hunt around the wilderness beyond the town or something?"
Damina nods. "Mhm! See what kinds of things we could hunt up. New places means new stuff to bring home, after all."
Nesseth nods. "We could, sure. I've been hunting around the town for the past five years, but I guess I've not gone too far to the south. The mountains to the north make for better hunting grounds, I figured."
Damina stares off, watching the distance for a moment before responding. "What makes you say that? Better game?"
Nesseth shrugs. "Well, more that the mountains to the north are more verdant. The desert probably doesn't have much in the way of sizable creatures to hunt, so... I just never really bothered looking."
Damina: "Hmm... maybe they're just hiding from us."
Nesseth hums at the idea. "Mmh, maybe. I've not explored the desert at night, since... well, it gets really, really cold out there. Though maybe anything worth hunting is nocturnal, yeah."
Damina wonders why the cold would be an issue, then she realizes that being a lizard probably has something to do with it.
Damina: "Well, either way, those mountains are probably the better idea. We'd probably have to, you know, make preparations to head out there and all that, but... it's worth a shot? Or two, or... however many bolts you have on hand, heheheh.."
Nesseth chuckles and nods. "Sure, a little hunting trip would be fun, I think. I could maybe show you one of my usual hunting grounds up that way, too."
Damina shows off a bit of a smile. "Alright then, when this is done, I'll get home and get ready!"
Nesseth smiles in turn. "Eager, aren't we? If we're going to be doing a hunting trip, we'll probably plan it for tomorrow, earliest. My shift doesn't end for another few hours, at least."
Damina: "Right right, gotta actually wait a bit. Well, in the meantime, got anything else you feel like talking about? Or what about me?"
Nesseth laughs a bit. "I dunno, anything else you're curious about? I'm happy to answer questions if you've got them."
Damina thinks about it for a bit. "Well... why'd you come here, I guess? A bit more on that, maybe..."
Nesseth hums and nods. "Fair enough. I came here because I was on an expedition with the Guild to dive deeper into Aephix. Not as far as they went out on their most recent expedition, but still a little ways past the town. When we got back, I felt this place was probably going to be a nice place to settle down in, what with it being kind of the last stop on the way into the wild lands."
Damina leans against a rail and looks at nothing in particular. "And one thing led to another and now you're on guard duty?"
Nesseth shrugs. "Not really. I just do it because I don't have anything else to do for the day. I'm kind of a volunteer guard, I suppose. Normally, I just do it while I'm between hunting trips."
Damina slumps against the rail. "Guess that's something we got in common."
Nesseth tilts his head. "Oh? What do you do outside of guard duty, then? Do you also go hunting?"
Damina wobbles her head. "Eh, I'd like to. Instead I just kinda go around the marketplace a bunch and see what new things people are coming up with." She lets out a bit of a yawn. "Gotta admit, lots of fun things being sold."
Nesseth nods with a smile. "Yeah, there's always a lot of neat things to find at a frontier market, especially here. But if you want to head out on a hunt, we can definitely make plans for it. It'll be a good change of pace, I'm sure."
Damina runs a hand through her hair. "Alright then. I'll try to remember it, don't wanna be forgetting anything, really."
Nesseth shrugs. "If we're going on a hunt tomorrow morning, I'll just stop by your place around like... 8 o'clock or so. If you prepare your things today, we can head out as soon as you're ready tomorrow morning."
Damina nods at this. "Yyyep. Gotcha."
Nesseth sighs a little as he starts getting more comfortable. "So, how've you been since the last time we had a chance to chat?"
Damina: "Well..." She glances from side to side. "I've been trying to shake off something or someone that's been following me. I think I managed it, they haven't been around for a while now."
Nesseth frowns a little as he directs his attention back to Damina. "Someone's been tailing you? For how long?"
Damina counts on her hands. "Like... a few days? Ever since last time I was doing guard work..."
Nesseth hums. "So not too long... any idea who's been tailing you, then?"
Damina stands up straight and uses her hands to gesture what she's telling. "Uhh, pretty tall... red eyes, has antlers. Pretty hard to miss."
Nesseth scratches one of his head frills as he thinks, then shakes his head. "I can't say I've seen anyone by that description yet. Have they caused you any problems yet, other than tailing you?"
Damina: "Well..." She thinks back a bit to when she was chatting with Froge. "I'm pretty sure their presence is having... negative effects on people here."
Nesseth tilts his head. "Negative effects? How so?"
Damina closes her eyes. "They're scaring people."
Nesseth hums. "So others have run into them, already. Do you know who all have met this person?
Damina: "At least one person. Might have to ask around if I catch wind of them again."
Nesseth shrugs a little. "Sure, but if you remember who met them already, I'd like to ask them a bit, just to see what might be going on, if only due to a concern that this person might be a troublemaker."
Damina nods. "I gotcha. Anyway.... uh, what else?"
Nesseth shakes his head. "Nah, I'll follow up on that once you remember who met them, and I'll probably alert Brunilda about it, too. Aside from that... Anything else interesting to note for you as of late?"
Damina thinks a bit more, but doesn't really come up with anything. "Ehhh... not really. Didn't do much other than that. Which is a shame, I do wanna try to do more, sometime."
Nesseth chuckles and nods a bit. "Fair enough. There's a fair bit to do around the town, and beyond the walls, too. I know Dorri has an observatory up in the mountains to the north, for example, though it's currently closed for major repairs."
Damina's ears peak up when she hears about an observatory, only to get disappointed when she hears it's closed. "Aww... I like telescopes..."
Nesseth smiles. "Really? You should chat with Dorri a bit, then. She's hard to miss, being a markhor, though you might miss her in a crowd. She's... er... a little on the short side." He thinks for a moment, "Unless you count her horns, in which she's actually a little taller than me."
Damina: "Like... how short we talking? Me short? Or really short?"
Nesseth lifts a hand up to around his collarbone. "Not counting her horns, she's about this tall, so just a tad shorter than you. Her horns add on a good foot to her height." He shakes his head, "Not quite as short as Vix or May."
Damina lets out a silly cackle. "Seriously, why is everyone so tiny? Where I was from I was the smallest person, and now I'm one of the taller ones. Relatively speaking, of course."
Nesseth laughs a bit. "What can I say? This town draws folks from all around. Half the time, I'm almost afraid we're going to get a complaint from someone because they got stepped on by someone a lot taller."
Damina gestures vividly with her hands. "What, like, someone is just gonna walk by and-" She balls up a fist and smacks her palm with it.
Nesseth grins and laughs a bit more. "It's possible! Like, if someone as tall as Brun was walking around with their mind elsewhere, and someone like May happened to be passing by."
Damina expresses either genuine or sarcastic horror, probably something in between.
Nesseth shakes his head, waving a hand. "Thankfully, everyone's a lot more careful than that. Even if something did happen, Plume could fix them up right again."
Damina twists her head around a bit. "Yeah, Plume. Uh, how good are they again? On the off-chance that I like, break my leg or something stupid."
Nesseth smiles. "They're not that far out of medical school, but they've already helped a few folks mend broken bones and such. I think they've got a good stock of medicinals as well, if anyone gets sick."
Damina is already side-tracked and is miming gnawing on bones for some inane reason.
Nesseth raises an eyebrow as he catches sight of Damina's charades. "Uh..."
Damina blinks a bit and realizes she's making a fool of herself. "Right, sorry."
Nesseth shakes his head with a bit of a laugh. "Don't worry about it. And no, Plume might be part crow, but they don't nibble on their patients."
Damina rubs the back of her head. "Right, yeah... uh, say, you wouldn't happen to have brought a snack with you, would you?"
Nesseth nods and reaches over to dig through a small pack next to where he's been sitting. "Yeah, I've got some jerky if that works for you."
Damina: "Perfect." She makes grabby hands and prepares to catch.
Nesseth pulls a chunk of jerky out and tosses it to Damina. "Here ya go, Damina. I've got a bit more if you're still hungry afterwards, since I usually dry most of whatever I hunt."
Damina nods, but doesn't respond as she just gets busy chewing.
Nesseth chuckles and closes up his pack again as he shifts his gaze back out to the south.
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RESPITE FALLS MARKET - LATE AFTERNOON
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Maybelline walks through the market in her cloak, hood down, her ears twitching around as she's spent the afternoon asking about Shaw Lanier, his household, and his business, trying to ask whoever she can think to ask, unsure what she can do, but feeling like she should do something.
Narrator: The Market was a good place. There was a lot of people who would have dealings with him, rivals, a few subcontractors one or two ex employees. Eventually, in one of the smaller little taverns, mainly frequented by the hauliers, she gets talking to a warehouse manager for one of his warehouses, named Alister, a rather well groomed ferret, who, after getting a beer, was happy enough to talk a bit more in depth. "Aye, so, what do you want to know about Mr Lanier?" He's been keeping polite eye contact..but that sort of eye contact that suggests his eyes would prefer to be elsewhere.
Maybelline nods, feeling more then a little unsure about all of this, but still putting her coin on the table to pay for Alister's drink. "Err... yeah. New in town. Guess I'm trying to get a sense of him. He's a big name in town, you know? Lots of rumors about a guy like that."
Alister: "Lots of rumours" Alister smiles, gladly at the coin, taking another sip of his drink "Well, I'm sure you know the main stuff. One o' the bigger merchant folk, does a lot of the basic boring running of goods in and out of the city. Pretty honest, like..sure, a couple o'crates are going to fall off a wagon here and there, but that's just like I'm sure you've never taken an extra cut o' bread when the baker wasn't lookin', But lass" He grins "You didn't come here fo' to learn about tha'. What has a little stoat being asking lots o' my men about for?" While the grin stayed there, there was a certain little edge to his words. Perfectly happy to answer her questions...but he didn't want her to try and run rings about him.
Maybelline taps a paw on the table, humming, certainly having no wish to let anything point back to Annika. "You'll have to forgive me for taking up their time. I guess I didn't quite know what questions to ask, but... I'm curious about his relationship with his wife... and his relationship with his staff."
Alister: "Ah. You are a nosy little stoat" He taps his claws "Well, I'd hardly be one to gossip, but then you did just pay for two excellent pints of mine" Well, she's paid for one, but..well.."Anyway, in my own experience, he pays well, but he only expects the best workers, and he expects everyone to do their best. I've never been a soft man, but he's always pushed me to my limits, and he's not afraid of firing someone who fails to meet his expectations either. If you're looking for a job..well, I'm sure he'd be interested in having you on the books..but it wouldn't be easy..as for the other question" He cackles "Ah, his marriage was purely political. Madame Lanier's father was the owner of a rather large trade network, and he got that..I believe in exchange for a rather nice country manor. I recall Shaw speaking rather wistfully of it" His eyes twinkle "Now, if you're interested in getting in there, well, I've bad news for you. He's quite loyal..and if he wasn't, he's a firm believer of 'keeping it in the species'" He winks "Personally, I'm happy to just keep it in the genus."
Maybelline takes the first hint, putting additional coin on the table to pay for a second drink, but she just manages to avoid rolling her eyes at the much less subtle hint at the end. "Right... so he only hires foxes, eh? A bit outdated thinking, isn't it?" The pieces click together suddenly, causing a nasty sneer to cross her face, "Wait, you don't mean he hires his servants with expectations to do that do you?"
Alister: "Oh. He doesn't just hire foxes. I'm more saying that he's only interested in them for that sort of thing. I don't even know if he's unfaithful..just that it wasn' a romantic pairing. Don' be putting words in me mouth lass" He clucks his tongue "I don' think he'd be one to take advantage. He's got too much o' that classic honor about him. Would only be interested in a lass he could woo himself" He ponders "Though, ya do got the old mind whirrin', Sure he came back last night, I met him in the wareh, he had a wee boy with him. Told me that he was just some kid that was excited to see his operations, but..well..if ya want some good gossip for all the maids o' the town, ya didn't hear me say it" He chortles, taking another drink.
Maybelline relaxes a bit as Alister dismisses her darker thoughts, "Ah, I see. I gotcha, sure sure. A boy, eh?" She thinks for a moment, frowning, "And don't worry, my Pa didn't raise a fool. I'm just asking around to get some advice on a potential loan. I didn't hear anything from you except a bit of business and a few good words about Mr Lanier."
Alister: "That's the spirit!" He toasts May "Is there anythin' else you're interested in knowin'? I've got room in me for one last pint, and ya. Cute as a button he was. He seemed bright eyed and bushy tailed. Couldn' really speak for his interest in warehousin'. Very interested in the cookies we had in stock though!"
Maybelline smirks, putting a last coin on the table. "You've given me plenty to think on as it is, but enjoy that last pint on me." She slips out of her seat and stands up, making ready to head out.
Alister: "I shall! Thank you miss, you were an excellent host" he gives her a toast as she departs, before settling down to ponder on why she was really asking about Mr. Shaw
Maybelline bows her head to Alister and heads out as well, putting a paw to her forehead as she mumbles to herself, feeling completely crazy for digging in this far and totally unsure why she's doing it, other then the smoldering anger of seeing Annika mistreated, and the very insane thought of wanting to see the fox smile. What would Dad think of all of this? She shakes her head as she pulls her hood back up.