Open Zann's Alley/Backyard Damsel in Distress

[Marit Songfox]

ONE WEEK AGO​

Marit was sitting across from Chokra, who was sitting at his desk.
"So, my darling, have ye finally changed yer mind?" Chokra asked, a small smirk forming on his face.
"If I am to be your... wife." Marit said quietly. "I want to be treated like it. I want to go shopping."
"Well, of course! Just name what ye want, and ye'll have it! The world is yer oyster!" Chokra was grinning fully.
"No, I want to go shopping. Myself. I have been wearing the same dress for ages, and I want to choose something new for myself." Marit said firmly.

"No, no! Ye can't go to der mainland!" Chokra slammed his fist on the desk.

"Then, I guess we are done here..." Marit stood up.
"Okay, wait!" Chokra stood as well. "No need to be hasty, my love. Of course you can go to the mainland. If you're lucky, you might even run into our dear Silvertongue!" Chokra held but a chuckle. His intel told him that Silvertongue had signed up for some ship. Odds were he wasnt even in the city. "I'll just have Hugo go with you."
Marit sighed. She wanted to be alone. "Can he follow from a distance? You wouldn't want creature to assume he and I are together, would you?"

"Of course I wouldn't. Hugo will keep an eye on ye from a ways away. Ye won't run away now, will ye? It would be unfortunate if ye disappeared, only for Silvertongue to return and ask fer ye- only for ye ter be gone."

"Of course, I'll behave." Marit nodded.

PRESENT DAY​

"I have to get away from this brute." Marit thought to herself, pacing down the wide streets. There were plenty of storefronts, but Marit had yet to actually enter one. Mainly because she was looking for a tailor, and looking for an opportunity to ditch the tall, heavy-set gray fox who was trailing behind her. She kept walking, not needing to look behind her to know Hugo was following her. He was dim-witted, but obedient. He wasn't a cruel creature, just thrust into a cruel position. Marit almost felt bad for him.

"Oh, Silvertongue... if only you were here... where are you, my son?" She sighed and looked up at the clouds overhead. Her blue silk gown billowed in the wind. She clasped her paws together, closing her eyes in silent prayer. She needed a hero, now more than ever. "Firetail, my husband... if you are up there, someone... send somebeast to help me, please...."

 

[Eskila]

Patrol, patrol, patrol. She could have been a Fogey, for all the patrolling she did lately. Hah, fat chance. Fogeys had to club beasts. When they asked her to show her clubbing skills on the test-rat made of straw, she'd cried and apologized to it instead. Apparently that was a new record in flunking out of evaluation, beating out the ferret who had thrown up after accidentally whacking the dummy's head off.

Clank, clank, clank. The large shield slung over her back bouncing off the half-asleep sable's plate armor with every step, the butt of her halberd plonking the ground in syncopated rhythm, the shuffle of her boots just barely lifting off the ground scraping and banging into random street debris heralded her progress through Bully Harbor.

Eskila raised her head and sniffed the air, trying once again to detect smoke. The air smelled funny here, she realized. Where was she? Quite a ways out of her jurisdiction... Oh, she'd wandered past the market, hadn't she... This was definitely Zann's. The funny smell was called... what was it... oh, yeah. Soap.

Well, the 16th had this area covered, time to head back...

She followed the crowd, sliding out to the side of the road before turning about and slipping in behind some vixen in what, to Eskila, was a very fancy gown. She raised her head again, sniffing, now that she was facing another way - somehow, she thought that might mean the wind would bring her smells from the other direction as well. Her mind didn't often work too well before her sixth coffee.

Head tilted up and orange helmet blocking a portion of her view, Eskila failed to notice the vixen in front of her had stopped to pose dramatically, and the armored sable's shuffling paws kept going.

There was a pomf, and a swhushk, and a kr-krshnk, and Eskila realized she was horizontally on top of somebeast. Not the way she'd often dreamed of it, sadly.

"Oops... sorry!"

She swiftly pushed herself off of Marit, and for the moment disregarded the halberd that had clattered to the street, as well as the gray fox in her peripheral vision. Instead she leapt across the vixen, pivoted and knelt down on one knee, holding out her orange-gauntlet-covered paws to help pull the traffic accident victim back upright.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did I step on your tail? I stepped on someone's tail. Oh yeah, it was mine. That's why mine hurts. I'm okay. Hi."

 

[Marit Songfox]

Marit was stunned and dizzy, swaying and holding her head. "Goodness, what on earth-?" She asked, before a strikingly beautiful sable pulled her upright. A soft gasp escaped her lips, her eyes dazzling. If this wasn't an angel of some sort sent to help her, she didn't know what was. She was adorned in armor, painted bright orange- just like her Firetail, her Silvertongue.

"Hello- oh, you needn't worry. I'm alright, just a little shaken is all. Thank you for helping me up. I apologize for stopping in the middle of the road-"

The vixen yelped as she was grabbed by Hugo, who had lumbered over at this point.

"Miss Songfox." Hugo grumbled, a head taller than the first of them. "Are you shopping, or are you frolicking about and gossiping like a schoolyard kit?"

"Hugo, let go of me!" Marit protested. She did not dignify that question with a response, instead turning to the sable before her, her eyes pleading. This was her chance, if this creature could just intervene.

"Cap'n says to bring you back if you lollygag." Hugo replied, starting to drag her backwards.

Marit wasn't going to take this lying down. She started to pound on Hugo's chest, fruitlessly. "Unpaw me this instant, you brute!"

 

[Eskila]

There was a rustling, a scraping of metal, and the next thing Hugo saw was a maw full of wickedly sharp teeth, a cute little pink tongue, and a nearly-visible fog of cod-and-coffee breath. Eskila finished up her yawn, blinked sleepily at the todd, and shoved her shield at his side, mindful of not catching Marit with the edge. The shove knocked Hugo backwards half a step - possibly more from surprise than any actual force applied. The sable had moved fast for somebeast clad in heavy plate. And when exactly had she had time to get the shield off her back...?

"Sorry, sir, Vulpinsula provincial law requires all casualties of market-adjacent traffic accidents be taken to a Fogey office to make a report. Miss Songfox has the right to absolve or accuse me of crashing into her and interrupting her shopping in exchange for monetary recompense, but it must be done in an official capacity with an officer present. As Acting-Captain of the 14th Volunteer Bully Barbor Fire Brigade, it is my sworn duty to the citizens of the Imperium to help secure safe passage in these matters. So you must kindly and immediately get. Your. Paws. Off. Her."

A growl rose in her throat, her tail bottle-brushing and slashing at the air behind her. Her eyes drooped further shut, and she felt a tingle rising in her legs, but stood firm for now. Breathe. Calm. Stay awake.

 

[Marit Songfox]

Hugo stumbled back, his gut wobbling- it would be almost comedic if not for the tense situation. What was it that the Captain told him? "Don't make a scene, you brain-dead idiot!"

Hugo looked around. This seemed to be the definition of a scene. Already there was a shopkeeper poking his head out of the door of his store.

"Right... well, um..." He stood there, a bit dumbfounded. "I'll just follow along then. Just to make sure it goes well."

Hugo then released Marit's arm, and she quickly stepped back, closer to the sable.

Marit sighed, dusting herself off. It was a step in the right direction, at least. She tried to remain calm and composed, though her fluffed up tail gave away just how on edge she was. "Thank you, Miss..." She turned to the beast next to her. "I don't think we've had the pleasure of introducing ourselves to each other. I'm Mrs. Songox." She shot a glance at Hugo before looking back to the sable. "And who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?"

 

[Eskila]

Eskila blinked again at the big todd, nodding slightly.

"Yeah," she said, the single word coming out slowly, as if it, too, had just woken up. The sudden burst of energy she'd displayed was fading fast. "A witness is fair..."

Not taking her eyes off him, she stepped back and knelt to retrieve her dropped halberd, shooshing away an inquisitive ratling who had been about to nab it - if he could lift it.

She slid her left arm through her shield's straps and passed the halberd to her now-free paw. She gave a gentle salute to Marit, and then removed her helm to display her whole face.

"Acting-Captain of the 14th Volunteer Bully Barbor Fire Brigade, Eskila Ikamaye, ma'am, Mrs. Songfox. That's a cute last name." She yawned again, her bristling tail finally settling down a bit. "If you'll follow me, we can file a report of the incident and assess any injuries in the nearest... Fo... fogey place... thing..." She squinted and tucked her helmet back on quickly, shading her eyes somewhat from the brightness of the sun. But more importantly, for the protection if she tipped over.

She held her arm out, elbow crooked, for the elder vixen to take if she wished. Now where would the nearest one be... the market circle would be closest, probably, and usually the most busy...

She leaned closer to Marit, her voice dropping to a whisper, "Is this todd bothering you?"

 

[Marit Songfox]

Marit more than happily accept her offer, looping her arm into the sables. "I have been held against my will for the past two years." She whispered back. "And have only just recently convinced my captor that I could go out in public without trying to flee. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to go alone."

Hugo walked behind the duo, casting a shadow over the both of them.

"The fellow behind us is Hugo, the Captain's first mate. He really isn't a bad creature... just a bit... slow." Marit sighed. Of course, she didn't know how much of that was true, she just wanted to see the good in others. "Maybe if he is arrested, he can be convinced to be on our side."

 

[Eskila]

"Oh," is all Eskila could think of to say, to the news that the vixen she had nearly bulldozed was - had been? - a captive.

She glanced over her shoulder, a rather conspicuous action considering the range of motion required to get Hugo visible through her helmet's visor. She nodded at the tall fox, and focused on the road in front of her before she caused another accident.

"Yeah. I'm slow, too." That was what she'd been told all her life, anyway. She couldn't remember a time before being bed-ridden as a kit, and afterwards life had been... mercifully fuzzy around the edges, in her memory.

They walked a little further. The excitement of the whole encounter was fading, and her strength was returning somewhat, although here and there she still leaned a little harder against the vixen than she intended to, her booted footpaws stumbling awkwardly as if the cobbles beneath them were full of large, loose pebbles. The fuzzy edges were receding a little bit.

"I might be arrested," Eskila said at last. "I'm the one who walked into you. We'll file the accident report first because that's what I told him we'd do." She tried to whisper again, "I don't know what he could be arrested for. And if you want someone on your side it might be better if they're not in prison. But I'm not telling you that so you'll excuse me, I think it's just sensible. Demanding compensation from me might help you more, because then I'll have to give you money and they can take it out of my next pay period since I don't have very much right now. I had to buy a tiny turtle pillow and waffle plates and new bedding for eight bunks and enough coffee for the month to keep the whole fire house going..."

As she rambled on, her whispers became conversational volume, and she stood a little taller and perkier. The market circle's Fogey office crept into view beyond the crowds.

 

[Callix Noxi]

Callix was annoyed. This wasn't anything unusual for the old monitor, but of late she had been especially grumpy since the incident at the opera house. She wished she had been stationed there that night so she could have cracked a few skulls herself. Supremacists. Pah. They reminded her of the fools who had misused her tribe and treated her as lesser. Bully had been a promise never to feel that way again, and for better or worse, ignorants aside, it had been just that. Until the woodlander situation aggravated buried hatred.

Ever since the growing prevalence of fires and the heightening of crimes, since the installation of a full Ministry of Justice, Callix had found herself being held more to account. The threat of a desk job loomed ever closer, a fate she fought with every fibre of her being. Words were not very much her friends and she liked to use few on duty. Action was in her blood.

So it was that standing idly outside her sector's office, she glared out at the market with her good eye, disgruntled that she had been relegated to being the 'friendly face' for the day. Her commander was definitely having a joke. A beast would have to be either very bored or in a lot of trouble to dare to catch her attention.

Or so she thought.​

 

[Eskila]

Eskila pulled her helmet off as she led Marit and Hugo into the Fogey's office. Her ears sagged as her whiskers splayed in a weary grin.

"Lizard!" she chirped, pointing at Callix. She liked monitor lizards. They were interesting and, in the winter, about as fast as she was.

She pulled Marit over to the desk and put her helmet down on the corner of it, so that she could unstrap her shield and sling it over her back once again.

"Hi," she said, bobbing her head in greeting at Callix. "I'm Acting Captain Eskila Ikamaye of the 14th Bully Harbor Volunteer Fire Brigade, and I'm here to report a foot-traffic accident near the market and a kitnapping." She paused briefly. "Well, lots of kits nap, it helps them grow and have dreams about it snowing in hallways that are full of marsh reeds, so that's nothing to report, but this is the other kind. You see, I was heading back to the Slups when this vixen, her name is Marit Songfox, paused in the street and I walked into her and created a commotion. So we'd like to fill out the form for that so she can press charges against me if she chooses to."

She gestured at Hugo next.

"And this tall beast is Hugo, first mate of... something... and accomplice to Marit's kitnapping, by the Captain of... something..."

A frown tugged at the sable's whiskers. Something in her memory wasn't clear, and she couldn't feel her tail. That wasn't good. She leaned heavier against her halberd, slipping downward a few inches.

"At least, that is what Mrs. Songfox tells me... I don't... kn...knoooooowwwaaaahhhh - " A yawn pulled itself from her throat, huge and cod-scented. She blinked. Did you just hear a thump? she tried to ask, but her mouth wouldn't move. And why was the office all sideways? And why was it sliding upwards...

The sable's face, having been the thing to make the thump on the desk, slid off as she sagged to the floor, buried under the weight of her bright orange-painted armor. Cradling her halberd like a kit's doll, she folded into an unrestful slumber right there on the ground.

 

[Marit Songfox]

Marit stared in stunned silence as Eskila collapsed before her.

Hugo watched with an eyebrow raised. Kidnapping. He knew what that was. Marit was trying to get help. To escape. The Captain would not like that. Wasting no time, he took the opportunity to grab Marit by her arm and starting to haul her away. "Come on, we're going back to the ship."

Marit's eyes widened in alarm, and he looked to the lizard. She struggled, but Hugo's grip was strong. She dug her feet into the ground, to no avail. Then she just started to scream and flail. She was desperate at this point. She didn't care how pathetic it made her look, she couldn't go back, she wouldn't.

 

[Callix Noxi]

Callix stared at Eskila with marginally more confusion than realising the jokers inside had snuck a desk beside her to keep her company where she stood watch at the bottom of the steps. No doubt trying to encourage her to write things down sooner than her usual delayed reports. She had half a mind to break it up for firewood to burn against the air’s chill.

The firebeast babbled away about one supposed crime and then a much more serious sounding one. Captain Noxi’s brow furrowed, taking in the concept of them wanting a form for this so-called ‘foot traffic’ accident before the big fox was indicated.

And then the sable collapsed, startling the lizard upright, her good eye widened. What had happened? Poison? A stabbing? Wait, had that been a yawn? Was she asleep?

Callix looked to the other beasts, only for a kerfuffle to begin, the vixen in peril. There was one thing a Fogey always kept on their person, and her squad were sure to come running.

“ZTOP!” she roared at Hugo.

One claw drew her truncheon. The other snatched the whistle dangling about her neck and stuffed it between her teeth.

FWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE​

 

[Eskila]

Eskila's eyes fluttered. Hear ears twitched, trying to flatten against the harsh sound of the whistle. Weakness bit like rabid little dibbuns at her limbs, but she stirred, leaving the halberd behind to roll into a crawling position, then kneeling, then... not standing, but lunging into a sprint, aiming herself right at Hugo's midsection, headfirst - without her plate helm.

She made it two steps before tripping and falling face-flat on the ground, her body not yet awakened. Her brain screamed to get up and help, to
protect, to be useful to someone.

"Maawhbbt," she mumbled into the ground, "halbbin mawwhrt." Her ears said that was not what she was trying to say, but her face was numb from adrenaline and pain and control of it all hadn't been gained yet.

Her nose was streaming blood by the time she got up again and charged, aiming once again for the massive fox's torso - take out the center of gravity, knock the support structures down, and the house collapses...