Introduction Open A Fox Starts Again

[Amnesty Greysoul]

Amnesty stood, hesitating, at the bottom of the gangplank. She had promised herself for weeks that she wouldn't do this. The circumstances of her chance acquaintance with Arthur Barrett were a fluke. She had promised herself years before that she was done joining crews, armies, and bands of freedom fighters. There was too much pain, too many opportunities for her to end up failing beasts who relied on her. Or to betray them outright.

Yet here she was, preparing herself to set paw on a ship with the intention of joining the crew on the suggestion of a beast she had met only once. That night they had turned her neighbor's apartment into a makeshift infirmary had given her a taste of the camaraderie she had managed to avoid for years. She had thought the need for companionship had withered away entirely. Apparently, it had just gone dormant-- and like flowers in the desert after a long awaited storm-- it was now a brighter and more insistent need than ever. And rather than fade as the weeks had passed, it had grown until she could no longer ignore it.

So, with nothing more than a small rucksack strapped across her shoulders, she started upwards with the intention of heading straight for the Captain's cabin.

 

[FinnianBrightfur]

High up on the top sail yard arm, Finn sat perched. There he worked over every piece of rigging, checking to make sure it hadn't frayed during the voyage to Urk. It wasn't difficult work -- in fact, it was rather tedious. But to a young thirteen year old todd, it was life giving. The alternative was being out on the streets, which were only getting meaner every day. And so, with all cheer and diligence, Finn inspected the ropes.

The running rigging was much easier to inspect, Finn found. He could grab it in his paws and examine it in most cases -- though good heavens, he'd never imagined a simple canvas sheet could be so heavy. At any one point, he could comfortably use it as a blanket. but all together it weighed as much as several beasts.

Finished with his inspections, the foxkit crawled down onto the ratlines -- only to put his foot straight through the webbing. Ironically, he'd found a frayed bit by accident, and it snapped under his weight. The foxkit let out a strangled gasp as he lost his balance, and swung upside down. One glance downwards was all he needed. It would be his end if he hit the deck!

Fortunately, rigging was everywhere. He cried out as he fell, gathering up rigging like a fly caught in a spiders web -- only to come to a stop several feet from the deck, upside down, and so hopelessly bundled up in tar coated rigging that it looked like he'd never escape. He slid a half foot down further with a painful "Oof!", only to dangle and twist slowly until he came face to face with Amnesty.

"O-oh! Hi there! G'mornin'!" he said cheerfully, as if he'd not just been a hair's breadth away from becoming a pancake on the deck. Gyles had instructed him to be on the lookout for possible new recruits -- and stressed the importance of making a good first impression. Being upside down several feet in the air caught in a thicket of webbing, Finn decided, was an excellent first impression. "Are y'new to the Hide, or looking to sign up?" he said, with only some discomfort. The blood was rushing to his head, and that was never pleasant.