Open Zann's Alley/Backyard And The Cackle Shack, "Too"

[Kyena]

Kyena drowsily poked her head out of the crate, wood shavings sticking to fur and whiskers. She gave a yawn and licked her chops, rotating around blearily until the vague, hulking orange shape of her business partner showed up. Kynxe was still sleeping in his hammock, and there would be no waking him, not this early. But now she was oriented with the room, she climbed out of her crate, dusted the shavings off and scooped them back in, and dressed herself for the day ahead.

Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, she puttered around making sure everything was just so. The back room was, for the first time, nearly empty of stock. What little remained she pulled out to the main floor of the shop.

The space was small, but she'd made sure it was filled efficiently. Four large, double-sided and ceiling-high shelves were placed, two on each side of the room, with a path between them leading up to an upper deck of sorts. At some point in the past, there had been some disaster or other, and rather than destroy the building and start from scratch, they'd simply repaired over it. Beneath the deck, more shelves had been placed, while on top, several armoires and cabinets lined the walls, with a rickety clothes rack set between. A curtain was drawn between the left side of the deck and one of the shelves, with a sign declaring "Not For Kits"; things too dangerous or lewd to be on display were stuffed floor to ceiling in that part of the shack. Not that it had ever stopped kits. They were drawn to the curtain more than the toys.

A helpful map she had drawn was posted by the front counter:

​

The floor's precarious passageways were lined with pyramids of goods, jars of preserves, empty ale mugs, piles of folded clothing, anything that didn't fit on a shelf. Cloaks, capes, scarves, and hats hung from hooks on the sides of the shelves; a few chairs were stacked in the corner by the back room, and three different ladders were laid up against walls and shelves. If she had tried to document every variety of object in the shop, the map would have been better off as a rug, and it still would have been indecipherable from overlapping texts.

She drew the curtain away from the front window behind the counter, turned the [Cackle Closed :<] sign around to display [Cackle-On In!], unlocked the gilder-box, opened the ledger and ink well, unlocked the front door and pulled the curtain in the little round window aside, then went out and picked up the Smelt tucked into the mail box.

Front page advertisement. It had cost a good amount of debt, but that would pay itself off, she assured herself. Everybeast knew about the Bilge in the Bucket, and now everybeast would know The Cackle Shack, "Too"!

---

GRAND RE-OPENING!
CACKLE SHACK, "TOO"
You can shop anywhere you
like, but make sure to shop at
the Cackle Shack, "Too"!
You'll leave with joy in your
and a cackle in your throat!
Come for the Cackles!
Stay for the Snackles!
Corner of Maple and Magh Ave.
​

---

And they'd even got the heart in. She grinned like an idiot. Five hundred gilders for a custom printing press stamp, pfft! How could that not make ten times that back in a week?

A cart pulled up just as she finished reading it, and she bounded over, dooking eagerly to meet the delivery.

"Fresh doughnuts, sweet breads, and shark sausage twists, Ms. Cackle!"

"Aye! Gotta have the snackles for the big day!"

She brought them in and arranged them on the Snackles display by the front door, then leapt over the counter in excitement, her tail swooshing the inkwell to the floor with a splash that splattered up the front window and her legs.

"Whoops..."

She gazed blankly at the shop's interior.

"Guess someone's gonna be buying a mottled towel! Shouldn't have sold me last mop, mayhaps..."

 

[Griblo Jankweed]

Griblo had not set out for the place—it simply found its way into his path, as most things worth noticing tended to do.

The name had brushed past him earlier in the day, tucked into the folds of a page he hadn’t paid much mind to at the time. A little shop, newly opened, bold enough to print its own mark with a flourish that suggested either confidence… or a troubling lack of restraint. He had filed it away without much thought.

But now...

Now it was near to midday, and his rounds had carried him along Maple and Magh with a slow, habitual drift. The air had changed before the building came into view, thick with sugar and oil and something warm besides. His stomach gave a low, dissatisfied twist.

He slowed at the doorway, not crossing it just yet. One paw rested against the frame as he leaned in, letting the place reveal itself in layers rather than all at once. Smell first, rich and immediate. Then the shape of it, shelves packed tight, goods stacked where they fit rather than where they belonged. Movement somewhere within. A shop that had grown faster than its bones could quite support.

His eyes narrowed.

Coin had gone into that ad. Not a great deal, perhaps, but enough to matter. Enough to notice.

His gaze drifted, settling on the snackles.

He stepped inside at last, unhurried, the soft scuff of his paws nearly lost beneath the quiet of the shop. His eyes moved constantly, never lingering long in one place, but taking everything in all the same. The shelves. The choke of the aisles. The way the goods pressed in on each other without hierarchy or sense of flow.

And the snackles. Right by the door.

His lip twitched, just slightly. "Snacks by the door… mmh. Fast coin, quick paws. Dangerous mix."

He reached without hurry, selecting one from the display, turning it once between his fingers.

His attention flicked, briefly, toward the counter, toward the space beyond it where ownership likely lingered, before settling again on the thing in his paw.

"Dough’s fresh. Oil’s clean. Y’pay up front fer dese, or we runnin’ on hope an’ promises?"

Only then did he lift it to his mouth. Crumbs clung for a moment to his lip before dropping loose, pattering softly against the floorboards at his feet.

"Y’ever count what walks out while folks chew?"

His gaze slipped back across the shelves, taking in their uneven sprawl, the sheer breadth of it all pressing in on itself.

"…I’ll give ye dis. Ye’ve got range. Most shops pick a lane an’ die in it."

He shifted his weight slightly, idly turning the half-eaten doughnut between his fingers… and finally gave the shopkeeper a toothy grin, awaiting her response.

 

[Kyena]

Kyena was busy scrubbing the last of the ink off her moccasins when the door creaked open. She bolted upright, ears perked, glasses askew, tail bottlebrushed.

Motes of dust sparkled like gold leaf in the sunshine shafts filtering in through the front window as she watched her first customer slowly enter, his silhouette haloed by the light from outside. He took his time, seemingly appraising every moment. For every moment that met his standards, he gave the Cackle Shack, "Too" another.

She leaned forward. The snackles were working. Temptation, hunger, drive. The stomach was the purse of the body, and she wanted to... no, hold on... Point was, they worked.

"Can't it be both?" she suggested softly, answering his first question. She didn't elaborate, but she knew the deal. A little payment to get it started, then a commission for each sale on the fresh stuff, enough to prove the venture was worth it to the baker. The snackles would flow. They must.

Kyena bit her lip as her customer bit into his doughnut.

"First bite," she said, her voice low with awe, as if witnessing a miracle that would be told in legend for generations to come. "Nobeast's walked out eatin' yet. You could be th' first." A little smile tugged at her lips. "Might even make it down th' street without payin'. But not th' next one. Kynxe's legs is longer'n yers."

She preened, licking her paws and rubbing her whiskers back, flicking her tail coquettishly, at the other ferret's... praise? It was time for the show.

"Allow me ter welcome ya, good sir, ter meself, Kyena Cackle, owner of Cackle! Co., and ter th' Grand Re-Openin' of th' Cackle Shack, "Too"!" For all her drawl, there was a crispness to the way she pronounced her business. "We buy, sell, an' trade all manner of goods, services, an' victuals alike. Some bottles o' cordial on th' bottom shelf there, an' heavier drink in th' back up th' stairs! Yer tally so far is one gilder fer th' doughnut, plus an extra if'n ya leave without tellin' me yer name, on account of breakin' my heart, and as th' sign says, ya break it, ya buy it!"

She tapped the sign that said exactly that, perched among several other signs on the counter. They said such things as: "Ask Us About Lamp Oil Financing!" and "Become a Cackle! Co. Club Member To-Day!" and "No Shoes, No Shirt? Try Isle 3!" and "We Reserve The Right To Refuse" and "Gilders Only... Is What Other Shops Say! We'll Take Anything!"

She leaned over the counter, arms folded, chin piled on top, beaming up at Griblo.

"Wouldja like ter become a Cackle! Co. Club Member? It's five percent off every third purchase every third day of th' week, plus we'll mail ya a Cackle Voucher fer twenny percent off Missertross stamps first of every second month, ye'll get selected treatment when linin' up at th' Cackle Shack, "Too", an' a free Cackle! Co. flatcap jes' fer signin' up an' lettin' us know yer mother's maiden name an' date o' birth, paw-stitched by yer truly!"

She slid back and brought out a stack of caps from behind the counter, each stitched with progressively more coherent "Cackle! Co." labeling in golden thread, and flumped them down.

"Or would a discernin' gennelbeast such as yerself be more innerested in bein' a Cackle! Co. Curio-Prestige Class Club Member? That'll get ya a cap, a free pair of thrice-darned socks, an' we'll instead mail ya th' Cackle! Co. weekly newsletter where I draw pictures of neat stuff I got fer sale wot ain't put out on display yet. First come first serve sorta thing. That'd only cost three gilders a week, but th' rewards are worth it! Got a signed first print of th' first Tizzi Poof trilogy ter auction off ter th' first three beasts wot sign up fer th' Curio-Prestige Class!"

She was breathless - she didn't need to breathe to spill her spiel, her lungs were bottomless as the ocean was wide. She ended the whole thing with a guffawing laugh that sounded like a panicked raven having a fight with a plague victim inside a burning sawmill.

 

[Griblo Jankweed]

Griblo did not interrupt.

He let the whole thing wash over him. The pitch, the perks, the promises stacked atop one another like goods on an overburdened shelf. His ears flicked once, then again, tracking it all with a stillness that felt almost patient.

He stepped properly into the shop at last, closing the distance to the counter with an unhurried gait, and set a single gilder down with a soft, deliberate tap.

"Nah, oi wudden’t do d’at to ye’."

He lingered there, one paw resting lightly against the counter’s edge, the other idly turning what remained of the doughnut between his fingers as he considered her words.

"…Five percent off every third purchase… every third day…"

He scrunched up his nose and inclined his head.

"D’at’s a ’eadache an’ a ’alf ter track, I reckon…"

His gaze drifted briefly to the stack of caps, the signage, the promises laid out in cheerful defiance of practicality.

"Mudder’s maiden name, eh…?"

A small, thoughtful pause.

"Can’t say oi know d’at bit ’o fact ’bout me mum. Suppose d’at excludes me from yer little club, aye?"

He let that sit only a moment before shifting, his attention slipping back out across the shop, tracing its cluttered abundance once more.

"D’is ain’t just another dusty ol’ pawnbroker’s, is it?"

There was something almost curious in the way he said it now. Not dismissive. Not quite.

His eyes returned to her, sharper for the look, and at last he extended a paw across the counter.

"Griblo Jankweed. Navybeast an’ appraiser fer Searoot Pawn Shop up de road."

He finished the last bite of doughnut.

"Gotta say, ye’ shop’s got character dat a lot o’ shops don’t."

The corner of his mouth pulled just slightly, not quite a smile, but close enough to suggest the possibility of one.

"What say ye’ grantin’ me one o’ dem prestigious memberships wit’out de personal questions?"

 

[Kyena]

Kyena's pupils dilated at the gilder. First gilder of the day. First gilder of the new Cackle Shack, "Too". Her tail bottlebrushed the slightest bit and started to wag.

The thrill never vanished. Earning proper coin, realizing the dream that you made something worth something to somebeast else, made it available in such a way that trade was preferable to theft. Even if all you made was a time and a place for them to find it. They were buying the idea, her idea, to put a fresh doughnut by the entrance. She made that idea come to life, and now that doughnut was warmth, was happiness, was sweetness settled in the stomach.

The gilder didn't even matter, really. It was just proof.

"D’is ain’t just another dusty ol’ pawnbroker’s, is it?"

"No," she whispered in low reverence, "it's not."

She leaned over the counter and shook his paw. Firm, but not too vertical. She felt the roughness of his pads, and knew he felt the roughness of hers. She didn't let go.

"Mr. Jankweed, 'tis an honour ter have ya as me first customer, though I question yer loyalty an' choice o' employer - second though, can't say I'd be much loyal neither were I in th' unfortunate situation of workin' fer those louts. May I offer ya a job? Ten percent higher pay, wotever they be payin' you's not enough. Pricin's not my best skill, I could use a handsome eye around th' shop - one that can keep open!"

She turned and yelled the last few words towards the back room door, glaring. A muffled, sleepy grunt eminated from within. The glare vanished and returned to the beaming smile as she looked back to her customer. Her paw tightened over Griblo's fingers a little more.

"As employee of Cackle Co., o' course, ye'd be privy ter all our Cackle benefits, such as free Snackles, ownership of three shares outta ten, both club memberships, which would just be fer th' prestige, as all Cackle Shack, "Too" merchandise is yers if it pleases ya ter have it, within reason! Can't have ya runnin' off with all our inventory just 'cos I said you could. Gotta really love it. That's th' business, Mr. Jankweed. Findin' beasts' love an' makin' it affordable. If ya ain't walked outta th' Cackle Shack, "Too" without joy in yer heart and a cackle in yer throat, then ye just ain't been ter th' Cackle Shack, "Too" at all!

"An' if yer says no... then I guess I'm just gonna have ter let ya go with one or both of those memberships yer interested in."

She still held his paw.

Behind her eyes - pupils wide as could be, the huntress after the grand glory of a sale - there was a secret safe with a combination lock, 451, and in that safe was a little slip of paper on which her inner mind had scribbled: please say no please say no I can't pay you 'Gates what was I thinkin', we're like three thousand gilders in th' red, Kynxe's kidneys are on th' line, I can't afford another broken toe or seahorse head on me pillow an' I don't wanna sleep with no fishes, fishes ain't even got th' kind of bits I find attractive...

She kept smiling.

 

[Marble]

Zann's Alley wasn't typically somewhere Miothiyle would regular on account of this generally being more expensive and upper class goods, it was sometimes unavoidable to head up here to get some of the better gear for out in the wilds as much as it was a struggle to avoid the boots paradox good gear was worth it. Today though she was chasing a strange advertisement she had seen, The Cackle Shack too, Miothiyle was unsure if the misspelling was on purpose or because no one bothered to proof it, and then what happened to the first Cackle Shack.

Regardless she decided to make the trip to the upper district to check it out and see what this was all about. The shop looked, well it wasn't wrong to say it seemed slightly out of place, a small little thing with compared to the grander stores not a stones throw away, but it had a certain charm to it that drew Miothiyle in. She made her way inside, ensuring her cloak was close so as not to knock over anything. There was a Ferret that Miothiyle recognised from somewhere but couldn't quite place at the moment, she wasn't going to start anything and could see that he was in deep conversation with the shop keeper so she just slipped past the pair and began browsing the shelves not looking for anything in particular

 

[Griblo Jankweed]

Kyena’s paw did not loosen as her over-zealous sharing continued. His gaze dipped briefly to where their paws met, to the warmth there, the pressure… then lifted again, something in it just slightly less certain than before.

He did not pull away.

"Bu’ what about Grubby…?"

The words came quieter than his usual fare, more measured, like he was setting them down rather than tossing them out.

"’E’s got nobeast else but 'is old man in dat shop what's rotting 'round 'im…"

He shifted slightly, his free paw drifting up to scratch at the fur on his nape. His eyes flicked back across the shelves, across the scatter and press of goods, the promise and the peril of it all stacked cheek by jowl.

"Ten percent, though… an’ access t’ th’ wares… Hell’s Teeth, if dat ain’t a solid offer…"

For once, Griblo didn’t quite know what to say. His head was swimming with a strange, warm feeling that threatened to overtake his mental ledger.

"Lemme t’ink it o’er an’..."

His voice cut off mid-thought.

His gaze rotated from Kyena’s, catching on a figure that had just entered the shop’s rhythm. Recognition settled in like a stone dropped in still water.

His grip shifted—not pulling from Kyena, but loosening just enough to turn slightly, caught now between the counter and the wider room.

"…Gates, you again? Don’t tell me I’m about t’get marched out a window fer talkin’ business 'ere too."

His eyes lingered on her a moment.

"Ye got yer generous coin back, didn’t ye…?"

He tilted his head slightly, letting the question hang in the doughnut-fragranced air.

Only then did his attention drift back toward Kyena—toward the paw still in his—and he faltered, lifting his paw away in sudden, awkward embarrassment.

"Oi've paid me debts... She ain't after you, is she?"

 

[Marble]

Well darn, looks like she had been recognized, the ferret accusing her of wanting to defenestrate him again, did she actually threaten to do that last time. She turned and tilted her head, playing the fool as if she didn't quite recognize him and then giving an 'ah' of recognition
"It has been a while hasn't it. If I recall correctly you were marched out the window for being a nascence and putting your paws where they didn't belong. I got paid fair, for fair work. If I recall your friend got the job there too, so all worked out well in the end and perhaps we call, how you say up here, parlay. I am simply here to shop nothing more nothing less." Which was true, Miothiyle wasn't on any official business, nor doing freelance work for anyone else. She had coin to spend and the Cackle shack the second was the place she had decided to do it, wait was it the second or cackle shack too. Eh, one or the other.
"Either way do not let me interrupt your business, I will browse the shelves and come around when I have decided, you two carry on"

Giving a smile to both she would go through the stall and have a look over the odds and ends, she could do with some more soap, maybe some for Minerva as well, and a good comb. Getting out her winter coat was always a slight frustration.

 

[Kyena]

Kyena muttered something under her breath. It sounded a lot like "Grubby c'n get his arse up an' fix his rottin' shop an' stop bein' a lout an' mebbe his old feller won't be keelin' over from th' stink of it alone." Which was surprisingly exactly what she said, hence why it sounded like that. She was nothing if not an enunciative mutterer.

She held her tongue, letting the offer swirl in Griblo's mind. Her mouth tasted like blood. She wanted so dearly to top the offer, but he'd not even made a counter offer yet...

And then-! Customer! She needed a bell over the door, she decided, since the hinges had been oiled. The creaking door had scared a kit once and caused an accident that had further yellowed a stack of decades-old Smelt printings that had been by the door of the old shack. It was just lucky she was still facing the way to see the beautiful vixen casually saunter in behind Griblo.

"Howdy, howdy, welcomer ter th' grand re-opening of my life, and of th' Cackle Shack, 'Too'! I'll be with ya in jes' a minute, m'lady!"

Kyena glanced between the two customers as Griblo's tone changed. And then her tail bottlebrushed at the information that the vixen was a debt collector. Taking advantage of her now-free paw, she ducked behind the counter and rummaged, then stood back up and thumped a stack of documents down.

Before she could explain that she had at least a week left before the first payment was due, the danger had vanished, the vixen just a casual shopper. Kyena's heart was still thumping away, loud enough her ears hummed only to herself.

"Oh, er, lemme know if'n ya can't find wot yer lookin' fer, over there!" she called to Miothiyle.

She caught Griblo's eye again and quietly put the documents back out of sight in the little cupboard inside the counter.

Breathe, in, out, steady...

Smile.

Cackle.

"K-haw-ck-haw-ch-d'k-haw-ck-hoo!" She held her soft, bared belly as she let it out. "What a fright, eh! But as ye c'n see, we get licorice all-sorts here. We're open ter all beasts! So even debt collectors can come ter shop at th' Cackle Shack, 'Too'!" It was getting increasingly difficult to keep working the shop's name in ways that made it sound grammatically correct. But she liked a fun challenge.

She gave Griblo a bit of side-eye and a sly smirk, and began to toy with the bottom hem of her bandeau.

"While ya think it over, I got another question fer ya... Yer paws endin' up in places they don't belong often? May be that I've got a few places they shouldn't be travelin', though once they're there, I don't think I'd mind much anymore..."

Her tail, still thick from fear, brushed teasingly at the window behind her.

 

[Griblo Jankweed]

"…Is dat wot th’curtain’s for?"

The words left him before he could stop them. They hung there for half a heartbeat as Griblo blinked them away.

His ears twitched once, sharp and sudden, as though the sound had come from somewhere behind him rather than his own mouth. His paw stilled against the counter, the rest of him following a fraction too late, like a mechanism that had slipped a gear.

His gaze flicked back toward Kyena, catching just enough of her to feel the heat of it, before snapping away again just as fast—settling on Miothiyle instead.

"If ye’re not ‘ere fer ‘er or me… den it ain’t a parlay. Jus’… casual, den."

The words came a touch quicker and higher-pitched than usual, choked down by an unseen force.

He shifted, shoulders hitching as if to reset himself.

"So… err… wot ye lookin’ fer t’day?"

One paw lifted in a loose, open gesture to the shelves around them, to the cluttered abundance pressing in from all sides.

"Ol’ Cackle ‘ere or Oi can ‘elp ye find it… or we’ll source it, if'n we don’t."

He shook his head, as though chasing off a thought that had no business being there.

"Make it worth th’trip, loike."

Only then did he turn back properly, reorienting himself toward the counter—toward Kyena—toward the offer still hanging between them like something with weight.

He settled again, or tried to. There was still a slight misalignment to him now, something just off from where it had been when he first stepped through the door.

"Me paws go where th’work is…"

He extended his paw again, this time with more intent behind it, decision forming even as it was made.

"…Grubby can suck eggs."

It was said flat and simple, as though the matter had been carefully considered over hours rather than abandoned in the space of a breath.

And just like that, the weight shifted. His gaze held on Kyena now, sharper again, though something of that earlier flicker still lingered beneath it.

"Ye sure ye can afford me, Miss Cackle?"

 

[Marble]

The large stack of documents hitting the counter with a large thud and causing a soft cloud of dust was definitely not something Miothiyle expected as she held up her paws in innocence.
"I have only ever done debt collecting once, and even then I was tricked into the task and had decided rather quickly it was not worth the trouble. Besides the malaka was scamming everyone and quickly seen out of town. In any case I am not here for either of you or on any official business. I need some soap and combs, plus anything else that may take my fancy." Backing away from the pair and letting them continue with whatever it was they were doing, whatever it was it seemed like important business and she wasn't going to get in the way. Besides the vixen had more important things to worry about.

Did she want the lavender, or the wildberry with spices, both did smell wonderful and were a decent price for such a large bar. They were seemingly good quality and made with Lye rather than tallow which she prefered. Finally she decided that she couldn't decide and ended up picking up both and then moving over to the combs, looking for something simple-

Her paw landed heavily on the shelf as she steadied herself, a ringing in her skull that was all too familiar as she tried to steady her breathing as her chest tightened. What in the hells was causing it this time, she wondered, thankfully able to fight it off for now at least. Taking a deep breath in and hurrying to finish off her errands moving away from the selection of soaps and wondering if the smell of one of them might have caused it.