Open The Bilge In The Bucket Lute in the Bucket

[Asta Dalgaard]

Asta had not fully believed Caden when he described certain elements of Bully Harbor. Having come from a spacious, clean, and friendly town in northern Varangia, she had little context for the sights, smells, and colorful citizenry in the port city she now called home. Parts of her could see why her adoptive father did not want her to be traversing the Harbor on her own. However, those parts were far in the back of her mind as she stood wide-eyed in the entrance of the Bilge in the Bucket, lute strapped to her back. Afternoon sunlight streamed behind her, and she surveyed the boisterous interior of the tavern with excitement. This place was everything she had imagined when Caden had described his early life in the Imperium.

Dodging around a drunken stoat stumbling out of the tavern, she made her way to the bar, mentally preparing the Vulpinsulan phrases she had learned that she would need to carry out her plan.

"Excuse," she said to the harried-looking rat behind the bar, attempting to enunciate as clearly as she could. Asta shifted her lute in front of her and mimed playing. "I play music on stage?"

The rat stared at her. "You wot?"

Asta smiled as pleasantly as she could manage, unsure of the rat's meaning. She repeated her previous question.

The rat blinked. "Gimme a minute." He went back to pouring and mixing drinks, then moved to take orders from others at the bar. Asta waited, hoping whatever guttural syllables the bartender had grunted had meant she would be able to play that afternoon. A fox at the bar leered lopsidedly at her. She looked away from him, flattening the front of her blue and white dress and tapping nervously at the body of the lute.

 

[Pomodu lu Modokunomulo]

"E'cu'su'mi!"

The voice was quite robust for so high a pitch, and surprisingly musical, shifting through tones as she spoke. It certainly did not look like it should come from the beast who got up from a nearby table, nearly knocking it over in the process. The array of empty plates and mugs around her, all of different sizes, with different colors and compositions of leftovers and dregs, indicated the beast had seemingly been enjoying a sampling of everything the Bilge had to offer - and, judging by the way she stumbled slight as she tried to edge around the table, she was already feeling the effects.

The size of the beast would be alarming enough if it weren't impossible to discern exactly what she was. Her tail was striped like some of the rackhouns that had recently been seen on ships near imperial waters, but her fur was reddish-orange rather than gray or black, with white splotches on her muzzle, her fuzzy cheeks, around the eyes, and on her brows. Her attire was equally outlandish; she wore what appeared to be a seafoam green pantsuit over a leather corset laced up with yellow ribbon. Nothing about the outfit was in keeping with any known nation's fashion, historical or otherwise. She waved clumsily with nearly midnight black paws as she stumbled up to the bar, nearly catching a chandelier in her headfur as she did so.

"You puu'lay?" she inquired, the emphasis on an entirely unnecessary added initial syllable as she pointed at the lute. She mimed plucking an instrument with her fingers to get the point across, though oddly, it seemed like she was plucking a lute that was lying down instead, as if they were keys on a piano.

 

[Asta Dalgaard]

"Aaahh...?" Asta's voice, trembling in fear and uncertainty, did not so much as trail off as end in a question. Her back hit the bar, and she held her lute in front of her as though to shield herself from the, well, whatever the beast was. The pine marten had seen one beast as large as this, Talo the Giant--a wildcat from her parents' days in a group of traveling entertainers, but this creature before her was altogether far more overwhelming.

But the reddish-orange beast did not attack. Asta lowered her lute slightly and gave her a nervous smile. She strummed a chord, not knowing what else to do in that strange moment, the warmth of the music giving her some amount of confidence.

"Asta," she said, pointing to herself.

 

[Pomodu lu Modokunomulo]

The strange beast clapped in delight, each meeting of her paws generating a small concussive burst that made nearby glass objects rumble ominously. Pointing to herself, the beast explained, "I a'mu Pomodu lu Modokunomulo." Whether the latter was a name, a place, or an entire sentence, she did not clarify. She pointed to the lute again and inquired, "You know di Amabalusaide?" She hummed a little refrain of a folk tune that had gained some measure of popularity in the Vulpinsula, though its spread had been halting overseas.

 

[Asta Dalgaard]

Though Asta could not discern any specific words or syllables from the beast's speech, her ears pricked forward when she heard her humming a tune. She thought she recognized it from her few weeks in the Harbor. Murmuring to herself in her native Varangian tongue, Asta settled onto a barstool as she made several small adjustments to the tuning pegs of the lute. Then, she began to play.

At first she strummed the chords that accompanied the tune the other beast had just sung, then picked out the refrain before working her way into the chords of the main melody as she could remember it. She hummed the melody, eyes distant as she recalled the song played by several street performers near her home.

 

[Pomodu lu Modokunomulo]

Pomodu eagerly clapped along to the beat, softly singing in a shockingly high voice with each syllable and note in staccato. That she didn't sing in Vulpinsulan seemed to make no difference to her joy; she sang along with whatever translation had made its way to her land, and the joy on her face and the tears glimmering in the corners of her eyes made her appreciation known.

 

[Asta Dalgaard]

Asta finished the song with a flourish. She couldn't help but laugh at her new companion's enthusiasm. Looking over her shoulder, she noted the bartender was still busy. With a shrug, she turned back to her captive audience--several beasts had turned towards her from the bar and nearby tables--and picked out the introduction to a Vulpinsulan sea shanty she had learned from several sailors on her voyage to the Imperium. They had not told her the meaning of the words she memorized, but were very sincere in their praise of her rendition once she perfected it. Caden had been adamant she never perform the song in polite company. The Bilge seemed the perfect venue for such a song, and perhaps it would do to catch the barkeep's attention.

And so the pretty young pine marten, her clear voice and strummed chords rising above the noise of the tavern, launched into perhaps the most beautiful rendition of Backside Rules the Navy* ever performed.


*OOC: Yes, it is a real song. I won't include the lyrics, as I believe this is supposed to be a SFW website ;-)

 

[Pomodu lu Modokunomulo]

Pomodu, for her part, clapped along to the song, though this was clearly one she didn't know; she hummed along to the melody, and by the end was singing something that sounded not too far off from the chorus, though the words were all jumbled up; the clearest it got was "Baka ruda navy!"

As Asta finished up, Pomodu tried to scoot up onto a barstool to better listen to the concert, and then went sprawling as the stool collapsed under her weight. She clumsily rolled on the floor, then managed to sit up. "I okay!" she promised, choosing to sit on the floor instead, or quite possibly stuck to it; given the layers of spilled grog on the floor of the Bilge, the latter was quire possible. She looked up eagerly at Asta, inquiring, "Anoda?"

 

[Asta Dalgaard]

Far more beasts had moved closer to the performing marten, many joining in for the rollicking chorus of the lewd song. Asta nearly jumped out of her stool when the large beast crashed to the ground. She offered to help, realized she had spoken in Varangian, then stopped on her way to lend a paw down when Pomodu looked back up at her with an eager expression.

"Oi!" The barkeep returned to Asta, furiously drying a very dirty glass. "You can't just be playing at the bar. You're making a crowd and no one can get to a seat." He glared down at Pomodu.

"You're paying for that stool, aye?"

Asta sensed that the rat was unhappy. She pointed to the stage on the other side of the room. "I play?"

"Yes," he said, nodding in annoyance. "Nobeast is set to go on for another hour, so you can go up. The house takes a forty percent cut of whatever you make, and don't try running off with all of the profit. You won't get far."

She caught the "yes", which was enough for Asta. With a beaming smile, she bowed her head to first the rat, then the beast on the ground, then the rest of her audience. "Thank you."

Asta wove through the tables to the stage. She received several whoops of excitement as she stepped up, and she waved to the crowd. Calling out in thickly accented Vulpinsulan, she recited the introduction she had practiced.

"I am Asta Dalgaard of Varangia. I come to Bully Harbor, my new home, and I play and sing for you to enjoy."

"You can do something else for me to enjoy if you get my meaning!" yelled somebeast near the back of the room.

The young marteness smiled and waved in the direction of the voice, then began playing a jaunty Varangian folk tune to begin her set.

 

[Pomodu lu Modokunomulo]

Pomodu stood up as Asta moved toward the stage, eager to follow, but, remembering something, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a large golden hundred-gilder coin. This she put on the bar with a cheery "Foh di si'tu," apparently ignorant of the coin being at least four times the market value of the barstool.

She followed after Asta, listening to the enjoyment of the crowd and their raucous response to her performance. This was a song she didn't recognize, but she clapped along enthusiastically nonetheless. "Agai'na!" she called as the song wound to a close, trying to remember the word used in this scenario. "Anacora, anacora!"

 

[Till Dupré]

Walking through the streets of Bully had earnt Till more than a few stares and mutterings. It was unnerving to say the least, but they were determined to make this adventure work. Their sheer size made it impossible to go unnoticed, especially with a backpack, so they had taken to wearing a frying pan at their hip as an emergency deterrent.

Before they made their way to enlist with the Navy, the badger decided to explore some of the town and was soon drawn by the sound of cheers and laughter to the famed Bilge in the Bucket.

Trying to be as quiet as possible, they shouldered through into the tavern and padded toward the bar, hoping that the audience would be too engrossed in the show to pay mind to them. It looked like there was a large creature in here already!​

 

[Pomodu lu Modokunomulo]

Pomodu's ears perked up at the sound of the door to the Bilge swinging open, and she glanced about toward the front of the tavern. Her eyes went open as she saw a full badger walk into the Bilge. She carefully picked herself up off the floor and, her tail nearly knocking a few unfortunate patrons out of their seats, edged her way between the tables to the front of the room. The beasts nearest the bar tensed as the massive red foreigner approached the badger, several downing their drinks hastily or reaching for concealed weapons on their person, feebly preparing for the possibility of fighting for their very lives, depending on how this went.

The red panda reached the bar, stopping in front of the badger, looking her up and down with wide eyes. Finally, she spoke. "You ah bii'g," she remarked, as if it was something of a revelation. The panda's cheeks pulled back into a wide smile, and she threw out her arms wide. "I a'mu bii'g too! Hu'g?"

 

[Till Dupré]

There was a moment when Till considered reaching for their pan as the red panda made for them, wondering if they were about to find themselves turfed out of the pub as soon as entering. By the looks of how some of the other patrons were acting, this was a possibility. Thankfully, however, there seemed only to be an air of friendliness. Far more welcoming than Till had expected of Bouillabaisse.

Why not? Till thought. Fondness was likely to be a rarity out in this place.

"Hug," Till affirmed and put their arms around Pomodu. They were wonderfully soft.

On pulling back, Till bobbed their head in further greeting and spoke with a dash of Alkamarian. "I am Till Dupré. Plaisir to meet you."

 

[Pomodu lu Modokunomulo]

Pomodu brightened up at the agreement, and she reached in, giving her biggest, warmest hug to the badger. Jaws, as well as one spoon, dropped at the tables around them, beasts staring at the spectacle of two such massive beings embracing in harmony. As they pulled apart, Pomodu beamed at the newcomer. "I'su pulasaru to mii 'tyu!" she responded cheerfully. "I a'mu Pomodu lu Modokunomulo." She said her name with a musical trill of the tongue, her tone dancing up and down through the syllables more like a song than speech. She gestured toward the stage, adding, "She i'su Asata! She i'su my f'rien'du." She looked to Till with wide, hopeful eyes. "You co'me li'se'n?"

 

[Till Dupré]

Till smiled warmly and genuinely at Pomodu, reminded of the kindliness of home.

"Thank you, yes."

They followed, looking toward the stage where this "Asata" marten was entertaining. This was so far turning out to be a pleasant first day, especially if they ignored the stares coming from all other directions.

 

[Asta Dalgaard]

The young marteness finished a song, and was surprised at the suddenly reduced enthusiasm in the crowd. Scanning her audience to see what could be amiss, she noted the presence of another large beast. Badger. Right, Caden had told her the Imperium was less accepting of various--what word did he use? Woodlander species. In Varangia, at least the portion of the continent she knew as home, there was no class or subclass delineation between species. The neighboring farm to her father's had been owned by a family of badgers, and she had once had a young crush on an otter in her village.

She saw the newcomer glance towards the stage, and Asta waved to the badger, smiling. Mentally she adjusted her set, choosing a lively, interactive song to hopefully spur on the crowd and distract them from the badger in their midst. She tapped out a beat on the body of her lute, then pointed to the crowd.

"You play!" Tapping the beat again, she saw several of the audience catch on. Asta spurred them on with a smile and nod, repeating the beat until more understood. Then, with enough of the crowd involved, she began to strum an introduction before launching into the intricately picked first verse of a footpaw-stomping jig she had learned on the voyage to the Imperium. Somewhat burdened by the lute, still she danced gracefully on the stage, grinning as she saw several others hop to their feet and shove chairs away to join in with the stomping steps of the well-known jig.

 

[Pomodu lu Modokunomulo]

Pomodu beamed at Asta as she got the crowd stomping their footpaws and clapping along to the beat, and she enthusiastically started clapping herself, each one a small subsonic event that had a nearby table of veterans of the last war against Alkamar starting and looking about with wide eyes, a few ducking under the table for cover. "She i'su goo'd, ye'su?" Pomodu remarked to her new badger friend.

 

[Till Dupré]

Glad to be a part of the moment, Till continued to smile on acknowledgement from the player and with Pomodu's enthusiasm. They clapped along, hoping any tension could be clapped and danced away. It actually felt safer being with another large beast.

"Oh, yes, she is wonderful!"

 

[Silvertongue Songfox]

Silvertongue was walking the streets, lute in hand. He was 'on the job', as it were. Still trying desperately to pay of his partner's ever-compounding debts to the mob. He approached the Bilge. Falun had recommended he play there, as it was always packed. Though, as Silvertongue approached the bar, he heard the sound of jovial singing and the stamping of paws. Sounds like someone had beaten him to the punch. Regardless, he walked in anyways. Perhaps he would be able to play later in the day. He wanted to get off his feet for a moment, anyhow.

As he walked in- he froze in the doorway. His eyes locked onto the largest beast in the bar. Badger. Silvertongue's whole body went cold. Badger. He grasped his chest, suddenly struggling to catch his breath. Badger. He stood trembling in the doorway, his face pale, eyes wide with terror. Badger. He felt his heart might burst from his chest. Badger. His mind went completely blank.

Badger.

 

[Asta Dalgaard]

Catching movement at the doorway, Asta glanced towards the newcomer. The fox had a lute in paw. Asta beamed. She continued to play and dance, watching the fox freeze in the doorway. Her song was nearly ending, and she wrapped it with a flourish and bow as her audience applauded. She stood tall and waved to the lute-toting todd.

"Fox!" she called out and lifted her own instrument in invitation, motioning with one paw. "Play with me?"