Open The Rain Pours Down in Sheets, but Blood Flows Thicker Than Water

[Silvertongue Songfox]

Silvertongue had just wrapped up a performance at a local restaurant, and he bowed as the gathered beasts clapped half heartedly. "Thank you, thank you all!" He said with a smile. There was a rumble of thunder in the distance as he finished up. Dark storm clouds had been lingering in the skies all day, and the first few droplets of rain were being felt. Silvertongue frowned. He needed to get home, quickly. He collected what little gilders he had earned from his work and he quickly headed out of the restaurant. Hurrying down the street, Silvertongue slipped the gilders into his pocket.

There were a number of beasts pursuing him. Subtly, of course, but still- Silvertongue could feel their eyes on him. He slipped into an alleyway, hoping to lose them, only to see three forms block off his escape.

"Ah. You know, it's my own fault for walking myself into a dead end. What can I do for you beasts?" Silvertongue turned to face the beasts.

A stoat, a rat, and a weasel had cornered him. They said nothing in response to Silvertongue's question. The stoat and weasel stepped forward, knives gleaming in their paws.

"Perhaps, you're just upset because you missed my show? No worries, I do love my audience." Taking his lute in paw, Silvertongue began to strum the strings. Slowly at first, but quickly picking up speech. A strange blue aura started to manifest from Silvertongue's paws, with small, sharp-looking music notes starting to spin around his waist.

"Ye bleedin' idiots, don't let 'im finish dat spell!" The rat stepped forward, raising a hand crossbow and firing it at Silvertongue.

Silvertongue threw his paw out, and the music notes whistled through the air, slamming into the three beasts and sending them flying back. There was a sharp, twisting pain in his stomach, and Silvertongue looked down to see the crossbow bolt had hit it's mark, right in his gut.

Silvertongue felt as if he would faint. Looking up, it seemed he had managed to knock his attackers out. He gripped the bolt, wanting to yank it out, but he felt his strength failing him. With another crack of thunder, the rain started in earnest, now.

Silvertongue half walked, half limped out of the alley, leaving his assailants unconscious in the road. Home. He needed to get home. He kept walking, blood seeping into his gloved paw. The streets were empty, there wasn't a beast to be seen around.

Slumping down against a wall, Silvertongue yanked the arrow out with a grimace. He shakily grabbed his lute, plucking weakly at the strings. A soft green aura emanated from his paws, and smaller, softer notes tumbled forth. This did little more than dull some of the pain. He didn't have the energy to properly cast the healing magic he so desperately needed, so he sat his lute aside, grimacing and placing his paw over his wound once more.

"If the Saints are listening... I sure could use some help right now..." Silvertongue said with a grimace.

 

[Dusk Rainblade]

The rain opened up on Bully Harbor, and for a moment it seemed as if the world had decided to simply wash the grizzly scene away and be done with it. Then, someone spoke. "I'm no saint," a soft, older voice said, a mustelid paw landing on his shoulder. A white robe, its hood pulled up with the gilded pattern of the healer's guild visible along the edge, could just barely be seen through the rain. The ferret's kindly eyes began to glow white as healing magic coursed through her touch. "I hope they won't take offense if I help you first." The energy of life itself traveled through her paw, seeking out the wound to encourage the flesh to knit itself back together.

 

[Silvertongue Songfox]

Silvertongue gasped sharply, moving his paw aside as he felt his injury start to stitch itself back together. A healer. He was saved, but he was still quite weak from the blood loss. His mind was racing. There was a possibility, however slim, that she might have seen him using his magic. And he sported no guild symbol anywhere on his clothing. He needed to play his cards carefully.

“You may not think yourself a Saint, but you carry yourself with the grace of one, madam.” Silvertongue tried to stand, but his legs failed him. “I just need a moment to recover.” He grunted. “I knocked those ruffians out, but who knows when they’ll recover. Or if there are more of them.”

 

[Kaii Nashirou]

Kaii and Arie were walking down the streets, discussing as per usual the intricacies of science with no care for the fact they sounded like madbeasts. They were as per usual on the prowl for a job. Not that they couldn't just work whenever. It was just boring to work somewhere they couldn't use their skills and knowledge.

Arie broke the conversation with a move of her paw, she felt a stream of energy nearby. Someone using magic was interesting so she felt inclined to check it by her curiosity. "Forgive me brother... Something magical is happening near. Should we investigate?" She asked albeit she already turned towards the source and started walking to the place. She knew in the end her brother would be as interested as she was. They two were alike enough so that one could assume what the other one was thinking.

Kaii just nodded and walked too, readying his paw on his blade. He was curious too but his duty as the head of the house was to protect first and foremost. Being level-headed was not a bad thing. "Can you tell what was it?" He asked with a small grin.

But before Arie could answer, the two were already by the alleyway. They saw two beasts, one clearly healing another with magic. Not wanting to interrupt, they just stood there and watched, taking mental notes of the process. Kaii mostly interested in the process itself, taking notes of how flesh have mended while Arie was taking notes on the flow of magic.

 

[Silvertongue Songfox]

Silvertongue stood up, grasping the ferrets paws in his own. “You are a blessed beast, and your kindness saved my life. I am indebted to you.”

There was a pattering of footsteps, and Silvertongue turned to see his three attackers from earlier. They had recovered much sooner than he had hoped. “Well, that’s what I get for going easy on them.” He thought to himself.

“What do you want?!” Silvertongue asked. “You haven’t even demanded money or any sort of valuables from me. Why are you attacking me?” He called out to them.

The rat shrugged. “I don’t got any issue wif you. It’s these two who hired me.”

The stoat stepped forward. “Nous avons besoin que vous veniez avec nous. Mort ou vif.”

“Alkamarians.” Silvertongue thought to himself. “Bastards- could they possibly know about my mother?”

He didn’t have much time to think about it, as the three beasts raised crossbows at Silvertongue and the ferret.

“Watch out!” Silvertongue grabbed the healers’ arm and pulled her behind a wall as the bolts went flying past. “Please, stay here!”

Silvertongue ran out, grabbing his lute off the ground and he played a quick tune, sending blue music notes flying through the air once more.

This time, however, the assailants were ready for that attack, ducking under them as they hurried to reload their crossbows.

Silvertongue grimaced, his fingers were numb. He was still recovering from the first attack, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be able to keep fighting.

 

[Dusk Rainblade]

Camellia's eyes widened at the sight of the weapons, and she started to cast before the fox dragged her behind a wall. Just as well; she wasn't even close to getting her spell off when the bolts soared through the spot she'd been standing in. As the fox ran out to confront the trio, she stepped out after him, focusing as she cast. A shimmering set of armor plate, translucent and vaguely medieval in style, formed over the fox, providing him with a degree of protection.

 

[Kaii Nashirou]

Kaii sighed and shook his head, the bolts that were used had metal tips and he felt it. He wanted to learn more about the magic used but those pesky assailants were annoying.

Arie shared the sentiment. Such beautiful magic flown with the notes but she couldn't focus on it due to all the chaos of the combat.

So the twins moved in without the word.

Kaii, in one swipe of his paw, extended the pole to form a glave. Arie froze the air itself to form a long dagger. They didn't have to coordinate with words or gestures. Twins had almost a shared mind.

Extending his paw for a spell, Kaii forced the metal of any bolts flying to stop. Enforcing a melee combat with the assassins. Arie in the meanwhile started to freeze air behind them to corner them all.

Both twins jumped the beasts that tried to kill, efficiently combining their skill with blades and their magic. Arie dazed a rat with a blast of heat before Kaii slashed down his glaive onto their skull. The other two instantly tried to counterattack but Kaii made sure to make their weapons turn to lead. A costly spell to do but one that left most without any meaningful ways to fight.

Arie didn't want to do anything that would spray blood around. She pushed her icy dagger into a weasel. While they have dodged it, their weapon was rendered useless so Arie decided to play time. The temperature around her sharply rose, making every manouver of the weasel more and more costly and difficult.

Kaii was meanwhile occupied with a stoat. Glaive gave him proper range and arc to avoid getting hit himself but in such narrow alleyway it felt difficult to fully use it. His opponent still took out their blade, despite its weight it was still somewhat useful to block. But it made them much more sluggish which allowed Kaii to simply grasp them and electrocute them with a shocking grasp.

Arie's oponent fell soon after, not able to manage the targetted heat that would boil the oil. This one was barely alive, but alive nonetheless.

"Alright you two! Come back." Kaii shouted after the running beasts, which made Arie smack him gently on the back of his head. "Let them take their time. They need to feel trust." She said, displeased with what he did. Despite standing over two corpses and one barely alive beast, the twins clearly had their priority now settled on the social encounter that was incoming.

 

[Silvertongue Songfox]

Silvertongue watched in shock as the two twins dispatched his assailants with such ease. He turned back to Camilla, making sure she was alright, before he faced them. "... Are you here to help us?" He asked warily, still holding his lute at the ready. He picked at the strings of his lute, cerulean blue notes once again seeming to float out from his instrument and orbiting around Silvertongue's waist, the todd clearly ready to strike if need be.

 

[Kaii Nashirou]

The twins both smiled, loosening their muscles. Kaii waved his paw around in tempo with the notes he spotted to shield from them should it be needed. Better safe than sorry after all.

Arie answered the two, gracefully nodding and padding a bit closer, speaking with a soft voice and curtsies. “We are not here to harm you indeed! We felt your magic and wished to learn more…”


Kaii interjected here, perfectly continuing the sentence almost as if only the voice saying it had changed. “But we had to first save you so don’t worry about our intentions. We are researchers.” He bowed his head “Kaii and Arie, Nashirou.” They finished in a unison.

 

[Dusk Rainblade]

Camilla listened to the two other foxes respond to the third's threatening inquiry, pulling her hood a bit more secure about her head. The rain was no great threat to her; if she caught a cold, she could easily cure it. Still, she didn't enjoy the sensation of wet fur.

"A pleasure," she directed to the siblings - or, at least, so she presumed based on the clear family resemblance. She'd found it was often less awkward to presume a sibling relationship of a married couple than the other way around. She put a paw to her own chest to introduce herself. "Camilla Volsci, of the Pyromancer Memorial Hospital." She glanced about before inquiring, "Should we perhaps move to somewhere safe?"

 

[Silvertongue Songfox]

“My name is Silvertongue Songfox.” Silvertongue felt the need to introduce himself as well. “I say, we should probably get out of this nasty downpour. And we should take this fellow with us.” He motioned to the one beast still alive out of the three. “I have more than a few questions for him, and I- uh… I just happen to know a bit of Alkamarian, myself.”

He just hoped they wouldn’t question why he knew it.

 

[Kaii Nashirou]

Kaii nodded and got himself busy by pulling out the weapons the trio had and by putting his paw to them, reshaping the metal into pair of manacles to put them on the beast before picking him up.

Arie in the meanwhile continued the conversation, with no care for the water wetting her she gestured at the two. "A sister Hospitaller? That explains flesh mending! Please, lead the way then. We want to learn more of your magic so we won't for sure mind helping out and hanging out a bit more!" She spoke with a speck of enthusiasm. Her voice soft and melodic despite her sad, tired eyes. Ones she shared with his brother.

Kaii moved back to the group, now carrying the beast on his back, chained and knocked out. He heard the conversation so he smoothly continued, much more stoically though. "Also a pleasure to meet the two of you." He glanced at Arie with a bit of a disapproving look. "Lead the way."

 

[Dusk Rainblade]

Camilla nodded and went to help carry the beast, putting just enough healing in him to keep him stable. She'd gotten a knack for it in the mages' war, and had learned to leave quickly once the interrogation began. "Let's get inside," she agreed, adding, "though perhaps not to the hospital. It's a bit far - plus, I suspect my sisters might not approve of what you intend for this beast."

 

[Silvertongue Songfox]

"I don't particularly intend to torture the beast or anything. Just a few questions. I know of a hideout nearby, we should be safe there. It's better than nothing, at least until this storm passes."

Leading the way, Silvertongue led the group to a nearby building. He ran his paw over the bricks, tapping on them experimentally, until he found the one he was looking for, pulling it out and grabbing a key before putting the brick back in. He opened the door to the building and let them all inside, revealing what seemed to be a run down warehouse. It seemed this gentlefox was more of a rogue than he may have first seemed. As the group entered the warehouse, they saw it was more set up like an office. With dust covered desks and chairs arranged throughout the space.

"Alright, let's set him down." Silvertongue said, motioning to one of the chairs.

 

[Kaii Nashirou]

Upon entering the warehouse-turned-office, Kaii put the captive on one of the desks and produced a bunch of nails from his pouch. Putting them around the captive was unassuming, but allowed him to act quickly and propel them into the victim should anything happen.

Arie just observed this with a mild smile. That was her brother alright, always thinking an solving practical problems. She however turned to the other two beasts as she pulled out a small notebook. "Do you perchance mind were I to write down interesting revelations?" She asked politely, hoping to be allowed to learn whatever there was to learn.

 

[Silvertongue Songfox]

"Of course." Silvertongue nodded and turned to the stranger. "So... are you going to speak to us?"

The weasel spat on the ground. "Je préférerais mourir plutôt que de parler dans votre langue fétide. Épargne-toi l'effort et tue-moi ici et maintenant."

Silvertongue looked at the others. "He doesn't want to talk to us in our 'common tongue'." He said, before looking back. "Que vouliez-vous faire de moi, assassin ? Parle maintenant pendant que je suis encore d'humeur hospitalière."

The weasel sneered. "Vous faites honte à votre noble mère, Marit De Lasteyrie. Si la nouvelle de l'illégitimité de son fils venait à se répandre, sa maison serait ruinée. Vous devez mourir pour préserver l'honneur de votre famille."

Silvertongues eyes widened. "Tiens ta langue, espèce de galeux!" He snapped. "Pas un mot de plus sur tes lèvres, de peur que je ne te les arrache."

He looked towards the others. "I'm not getting a lot of information from him. Just insults." He just hoped that none of the other beasts around understood the conversation that was happening.

 

[Dusk Rainblade]

Camilla, in the meantime, had quietly cast a tongues spell, one she'd learned to help with patients from a multitude of national origins. Her eyes widened as she caught the back end of the conversation. "If I may?" she asked, her voice carrying in a strange dual-layer, one layer Vulpinsulan, the other Alkamarian. "Sir," she addressed to the captive, both languages carrying in the space, "please, help us understand how we can come to an equitable arrangement. We do not wish to cause you any permanent harm, and would ideally prefer that we part in peace."

 

[Kaii Nashirou]

Arie didn't hide even with casting simple spell to allow her to Comprehend Languages. After all she was given permission to listen and note. She couldn't say a thing in this wierd yet melodic language but she understood it all. Indeed she had some interesting observations already. Ones she would be thrilled to discuss at the later day with Kaii. Legitimacy matters with mages always meant something interesting was at play.

Kaii knew he will later get a proper catch-up from Arie so he for now focused on the matter and hand. He spoke to the Bard with straight muzzle. "I am not going to do so without your permission mister. However me or my sister have plenty non-lethal nor harmful yet very painful means of coercion should you find those necessary."

 

[Silvertongue Songfox]

The weasel looked between his captors, a smirk on his face. "Eh bien, il semble que le récit vous échappe rapidement, mon jeune Seigneur."

Silvertongue's face paled. He had forgotten to take into consideration translation spells. They were going to figure out the truth.

He turned to Camilla, smiling at her through lidded eyes. Really laying on the charm. "Je vois que vous portez la marque de la guilde des guérisseurs, Madame. En vérité, vous êtes une sainte qui se promène parmi la racaille et les vagabonds de ce pays immonde. Il y a eu un terrible malentendu. Voyez-vous, ce simple barde qui se tient devant vous est le Seigneur Silvertongue De Lasteyrie. Fils de la Duchesse Marit De Lasteyrie."

"Don't listen to him!" Silvertongue clapped a paw over the weasels paw. The weasel scowled, and he bit down hard on Silvertongue's fingers. Silvertongue yelped and he withdrew his paw. "You rat bastard!"

"Je suis une belette, merci beaucoup." The weasel stated, before continuing. "Voyez-vous, Madame, le jeune seigneur ici présent a besoin de rentrer chez lui. Il manque beaucoup à sa mère. Chaque jour, elle souffre d'un terrible chagrin, et chaque nuit, elle pleure et se lamente avant de se coucher. C'est ainsi qu'elle regrette son fils, son fils unique, qui lui a été si cruellement enlevé par son misérable père."

He turned his attention to Arie. Unaware that she knew the partial truth. "Vous vous demandez peut-être pourquoi nous avons osé frapper le fils d'une noble mégère, mais je peux vous assurer que ce n'était que pour la forme. Il serait étrange qu'une bête l'ait vu venir avec nous, les Alkamariens, de son plein gré."

 

[Kaii Nashirou]

Arie sighed and passed her notes to Kaii. Her brother wasn't one for bloodlust, she knew he was just practical. Something she appreciated but also know wasn't correct at his current state of knowledge. That is why she shared her notes for him to read while herself speaking up. "Should what you are speaking be truth. I would be even more inclined to believe the one you call the Lord. You wouldn't use sharpened metal bolts nor you would wound them enough so a healing spell would be needed if you were just wanted to make a show."

Kaii in the meanwhile caught up on the bullet point list Arie made and just nodded. "And no mother has right to chain her own son. Such isn't mother's duty." He turned to Silvertongue, clearly intrigued. "As a fellow noblebeast, please, stay assured that charm is not a way that would make us falter."