Open The Soggy Side of Success

[Ruffano Quickwhistle]

The sunset glimmered across Bouillabaisse Harbor, a molten trail of gold and violet rippling through the masts and rigging of ships of all shapes and sizes. Gulls wheeled overhead, laughing like gossipmongers while the breeze carried the scent of tar, salt, and wet wood.

Padding down the dock with all the swagger of a beast who’d just bested fate itself came Ruffano Quickwhistle, tail high, whiskers proud, humming an upbeat sea shanty that rose and fell with the creak of the waves. Each paw swung a bulging satchel of personal effects, straps creaking under the weight of whatever clutter the ferret had deemed indispensable.

He was in excellent spirits. His plan had worked flawlessly. Not only was Griblo out of his fur for a while, but the scoundrel was earning his own honest keep for a change. After the fox's life fell apart, Ruffano had offered his long time ferrety friend a room in his upscale apartment. After all, he did need the help keeping the mortgage paid, so Ruffano could continue his “career sabbatical” and plot his grand return to the spotlight. Now thanks to his "connections" to Jeshal the Ironclaw, he had a guaranteed payday coming, barring the ferret dying on the voyage. He relished the thought of being that less anxious when the collections beasts showed up.

He even came up with a new verse to the tune he was humming as he walked, improvising with every swaggering step:

“Two bags o’ burden, one fox unbent,
The ferret’s gone workin’, the rent’s still spent!”

As the Blackship came into view, its dark hull catching the last blush of daylight, Ruffano spotted a familiar shape slumped beside a dock piling. There, hunched like a stormcloud with fur, was Griblo Jankweed. His arms were folded, ears flat, and his face was twisted into the sort of expression only total indignity could forge.

Ruffano’s grin broadened.

He slowed his stride, savoring the sight like a fine wine. Every beat of that sour little silhouette seemed to applaud his triumph. Reaching the ferret’s side, he let both bags thud softly against the boards, one landing firm, the other rolling just slightly on its uneven bottom before settling precariously close to the dock’s edge.

Ruffano clasped his paws behind his back, leaned forward just enough to catch the full view of that miserable mug, and let the words drip from his tongue like honey laced with vinegar.

"Oh deary me… And here I thought you'd be showin’ off that sparkling toothy smile. Did’ja get booted out on your tail and are tryin’ to fill the harbor with your tears?"

 

[Griblo Jankweed]

Griblo sprang upright with a snarl, fur bristling and tail lashing.
"Oi! Took ye long ‘nuff! Been sittin’ ‘ere for goin’ on an hour!"

A soft kerplunk sounded somewhere beneath them. Small, innocent, and wholly ignored as the evening waves swallowed it up.

"Oi gots de job roightly ‘nuff... Keep yer tail on."

"Well then act like it! You look like a sour toad what sat on a thistle! Where’s my thank you?"

"Piss off! Ye ‘ave no notion o’ de horrors ye’ve put me through! Dere’s this sick-in-de-‘ead, giant rabbit what assaulted me! ‘E inspected me all o’er loike a fine cut o’ meat! ‘E’s seen things meant fer me an’ Vulpuz’s eyes alone!"

"You’re sour about a physical!? ’Tis naught but a formality, ferret-face! And here I thought ye were made a swabbie or sommat!"

"Dat was no physical, Ruff! I swears t’ye! I ‘aven’t ever felt more violated! Ye expect me t' sail wit' dis monster!?"

"Psshaw... Leave the dramatics to me, Grib. They suit me better. I’m sure your mama’s done worse to ye..."

"Don’ bring me mum into dis, ye washed-up lout! Where’s me stuff?"

Ruffano waved both paws grandly, gesturing to the dock beneath them, tone smooth as butter.
"Relax, relax! It’s all right here, see?"
He pointed toward the single satchel between them, grin confident as ever.

"Right ’ere?" Griblo’s eyes went wide. "Dere were two bags, ye ninny! Two!"

Ruffano blinked, his smugness faltering. He looked down. Sure enough... only one bag sat on the dock. The other had vanished as completely as his dignity in polite society.

"Well..." he began, far too casually, "two bags is what I brought! Can’t say where the one’s run off to in such a hurry!"

That did it.

"OI!" Griblo’s voice cracked across the harbor like a cannon, directed at the nearest beast in his vicinity. "THIEF! THIEF!!! Gimme back me stuff!!!"

The few dockside beasts within earshot froze mid-stride as the ferret’s shrill accusation echoed off the timbers. Meanwhile, somewhere beneath the pier, the tide lapped innocently against a sinking satchel...

 

[HuckleTheCartoonist]

Huckle was in his own little world, keeping his eyes down with a Small and Soft smile on his face as he Swept and Cleaned the deck of any Dirt and Grime the caught his wide-eyed attention, Nearly sweeping to the point the deck's boards became a lighter Brown — now that's some real dedication to work! All was well for the young badger... Until the sound of Grilbo's unholy shriek shot him out his trance, his head shooting up to look in the Ferret's direction, his brow furring as he starred daggers at him

" Has he lost his mind? ..."

He softly whispered to himself

 

[Izakis]

(Not part of the crew, but this is still in BH so she is here as a guest!)

Izakis was closing the day by wandering the docks. She had to spent a pretty penny to get a quick tail prosthetics. Even if it was growing back, she needed that tail for looking as immaculate as ever to do her work. Though...

She now had two jobs in fact. She was formally signed with Smudgies. Did so the same day the Opera disaster had happened. But as she awaited for her training to start, she still had to live. As such, back to the old career it was. Deep inside Izakis knew she would never fully stop it, but she was now at least having a new, much more fulfilling goal in life.

Still, today was a good one, she had managed to earn enough for the day and for her savings as well as she had a gig tonight that would give her a place to... sleep among very fine silks and warm bodies.

Thus she was now just taking her evening walking by, enjoying the last rays of warm sun.

Until two bests she was passing by suddenly got agitated, with one of them screaming something about thieves.

She wasn't yet a fully fledged Smudgie, but she sure felt like one. Thus she sashayed over to the two and put on very warm and conciliatory smile.

"Good evening boys... I hear you are throwing harsh words over one another. Mind if I step in and help you ssssmooth it out? I am ssssure whatever it is you two are quarrelling over... it can be reasonably managed." She spoke in velvety tone, keeping adequate, if close distance to both males. Making sure that her pose would be as alluring as possible.

 

[Griblo Jankweed]

Griblo spun in a full circle, eyes wild and fur on end, every whisker standing at attention like he’d just licked a live wire. His claws jabbed the air in every direction.

"Don’t jus’ stand there gawkin’ Ruff! somebody’s nicked me bag!"

A flash of movement caught his eye. A young badger standing up on the Blackship's deck above, broom in paw, was staring like he’d just witnessed a murder.

"Oi! Quit yer gawkin’, stripey!" Griblo barked, marching a step closer. "Ye seen who done it, or are ye jus’ starin’ like a stunned mullet waitin’ fer the tide?"

Ruffano’s voice chimed in somewhere behind him, full of that infuriating calm that only made things worse.
"For Vulpuz’s sake, Grib, stop frightenin’ the dockhands. It’s just a..."

"A what, Ruff? A bag full o’ socks?!" Griblo snapped back, cutting him off. "Ye ‘aven’t the faintest clue what’s in dere! Important stuff! Priceless! Sentimental!" He wasn’t even sure which of those was true, but it sounded convincing enough shouted loud.

He turned again. From the corner of his eye, a sleek, scaled figure approached, moving with practiced grace and a voice smooth enough to oil a winch. Griblo’s jaw dropped, then snapped shut with a click.

"Ohhh, I see now!" he bellowed, pointing a claw straight at her snout. "Slithered in all quiet-loike, did ye? Thought ye could nick me bag an’ charm yer way past it, eh?"

He stalked a half-step closer, eyes narrowed, voice dripping with indignant triumph. "Aye, I knows yer type! All scales an’ smiles, thinkin’ ye can dazzle honest beasts outta their possessions! Well not this ferret, ye tail-swappin’ sneak!"

He jabbed the air again, tail lashing hard enough to make the dockboards creak. "Now ye hand it over afore I ‘ave every beast on dis dock turn ye upside-down till it rolls out yer tail scales!"

 

[Ruffano Quickwhistle]

Ruffano pressed his paws to his temples and sighed as though the weight of the world... or at least one shrieking ferret... rested squarely on his shoulders. The echo of Griblo’s accusation was still bouncing off the rigging when he muttered under his breath,

Ye’d think he’d lost a crown jewel instead o’ a sack full o’ moth-eaten socks.

He risked a glance up. The dockhands were frozen mid-stride; a gull on a piling looked personally offended. And then he set eyes on the blue skink approaching with intent. In an instant, Ruffano’s whole demeanor changed. His ears perked, tail lifted, and his grin returned like sunshine after a storm. He doffed an imaginary hat and bowed with theatrical grace.

"Ahh, an angel amid all this chaos. Please forgive the noise, m’lady... My associate’s lungs are as overworked as his imagination."

He stepped closer, slipping between Griblo and the newcomer with a fluid, practiced ease that could’ve been choreographed.

"Pay him no mind my dear! He’s newly employed and still learnin’ that panic isn’t in the guidelines." His smile sharpened just enough to glint in the fading light.

He extended a paw toward her, voice softening to a silken purr.
"Now… how might we smooth this all out, as ye so sweetly offered?"

 

[Korya]

Korya sighed, the bubbles blowing out of her mouth tickling her whiskers. No peace and quiet anywhere, even clinging to a rock several feet beneath the water! All she wanted to do was practice her breath-holding... And just let the salty water brush her fur back and forth with the current. A simple moment of peace, away from nagging superiors and sleep-mumbling bunkmates and every other rude creature who bumbled their way around the ship and then yelled at her for it. No, she would not watch where she was going, thank you very much! Maybe you lot with the working eyeballs should! Grrr...

Griblo's screeching was loud enough to scatter fish, so it was definitely loud enough to make her lose her place in her mental recital of the best Northland drinking songs. How many kegs of ale had been spilled down the mountain? She'd have to start over.

The last of the bubbles left her, and she pushed off, kicking back to the surface...

Bonk.

Too soft to be the dock itself... What was this... still falling past her...

She grabbed the satchel, feeling all about. Some kind of... ah, a bag... Not... not HER bag, surely? She'd stowed her clothes and things somewhere nobeast should be kicking it around... unless they'd tossed it down as a cruel joke...

Clinging to the satchel, she surfaced at last, with little more than a splish and a steady, calm inhalation of fresh - okay, Bully Harbor, stale - air. Her ears flicked as she tread water, listening to the commotion above... Meanwhile, her paws busied themselves in opening the bag to rummage around inside it, trying to guess what each item was.