Rainblade-Ryalors Open Vulpinsula & Surroundings Westisle Cultural Appreciation Day

[Marianna Furotazzi]

Marianna smiled at Ivo, the vision of the life he proposed deeply appealing, but... No. He was right; they both had too much drive, too much ambition, to settle quite yet. Even if they were together, if they embraced who and what they were openly, they couldn't leave behind this life quite yet. Perhaps they could moderate it; she could shift her focus back toward the white-collar side of crime, letting Falun handle the dirty work. Was that what Vito was going through? she wondered. Did he want to settle down, enjoy his last remaining years with his family, wash his paws of the dirty business? She actually could respect that. Perhaps he'd had the right idea after all.

She squeezed Ivo's paw, smiling as she looked to him. "You're right," she advised him softly. "I don't think either of us are ready to give up our ambitions quite yet, but... well, maybe we don't have to. Vito raised a family while running the Furotazzis, after all, and there are plenty of power couples in Imperial history: Vladimir and Verethian, Gordon and Sken, the Ryalor-Rainblades - 'Gates, two different pairs," she remarked. "Falun and Tanya, and the current pair, Talinn and Dusk. It's not an easy life," she allowed, "but I think we'd both get bored with an easy life, wouldn't we?" She looked to Ivo with a smile, the prospect of facing the unique challenges of their life as a pair far more appealing to her.

~~~

Mileya paused at Asta's request, taking shelter with her against the alley wall. "Sorry," she apologized, a little of her southern Fyadorian accent slipping through in the way she extended the 'ee' sound. "I forgot how heavy those things are." She looked down at it in concern. "Is it alright?" she asked, worry in her voice. "It didn't hit anything as we ran?"

~~~

Daniil's smile, buoyed by delight at the vixen's kind and supportive words, faded as the pair returned to the square and found it empty. He furrowed his brow, looking about for Asta or for his sister's signature gray fur. "I don't know," he remarked. "Asta! Miriya!" His voice called out across the square, hoping that they'd hear him in the commotion of the crowd. He felt a sudden impulse to grip his sword, mitigated only by the food in his paws. "They can't have gone far," he told Caden, looking about for any sign of them.

~~~

Aramaeus nodded along with the squirrel's explanation, trying to obscure that he had no idea what he meant at all. While he deeply admired politicians like Mayor Freedom who managed to make positive change happen, the dance of power in back rooms and private conversations that made politics run was simply impossible for him to understand. Aramaeus thought of the world in rules, regulations, restrictions; all of that was far too murky and nebulous for him to feel comfortable with.

"I see," he commented. "And what exactly is it that you believe I'll be bringing to your, ah, capital?"

 

[Ivo Suresight]

With a squeeze of a paw and words that fully reinforced Ivo's line of thought, beaming with joy he entered into the Dancing Lily. He did learn quickly to ignore funny looks given him and Marianna, especially when he was with her. Alone, he would bother stabbing them with precise quips, but now he just passed by them with her walking a known path to her room.

As soon as they got there, leaving all the other beasts behind the closed door, Ivo put down the packages and moved to fully embrace Marianna. "We're used t' hardships, easy life would've mellow us... and me likes us bein' sharp. Yer right. Keepin' paws in everythin', knowin' and pullin' 'em strings... I think we can enjoy it without riskin' too much..."

He then chuckled and brushed her muzzle with his paw, holding it delicately to look into her eyes. "An' speakin' of risk... Are we goin back to the festival? Or dare ya risk lettin' me stay for sum rest." His voice was both sultry and adoriation, he wasn't just speaking with lust for her. " 'Cuz, 's much 's I would love ta enjoy you... Me thinks I woulda want just havin' more time with ya. After all, 's good to be a proper couple before we'd become a power one."

@Marianna Furotazzi

 

[FinnianBrightfur]

Finn let out a relieved sigh as the clam battle was put off. He was reasonably sure he could hold his own against one of them -- but together, they'd have him beat! The foxkit reached out to take Mariel's paw -- but in an overhand grip, as if he were arm wrestling -- not as if he was shaking paws. These small little details were very important to young foxkits, who absolutely shunned anything that didn't look as masculine. Like kimonos.

Finn rolled his eyes dramatically at Cricket's mention of Ruffano. "I'm choosing to not respond to that!" he said indignantly, and gave his sash a final snug. "Right then! We have our means of liberating the muffins..." he said, looking to the bunting. "We have our means of infiltrating the facility..." he said, looking to Cricket. "All we need is the location -- and a distraction," he said, looking to Mariel. "Cricket can open the door from the inside, and let me in. Then, we can begin getting the muffins out!"

 

[Orina Emberkin]

@Mileya Ryalor

Asta carefully unbuckled the case to check on the instrument within. "Seeming to be okay," she said after giving it a thorough look. Closing up the case again, the jill took note of their surroundings. "Um, you knowing where we are? I getting lost easy in this city. How you thinking we find Caden and Daniil?"

---

@Daniil Ryalor

Caden turned in a full circle as he searched for his daughter and Daniil's sister. Biting his lip in concern, he went to the fountain and stood upon the edge of it to put himself a full head above most beasts in the square.

"I don't see any sign of them." He stepped back down. Approaching a rat who sat on the other side of the fountain, Caden waved to her. "Good afternoon. I was wondering if you saw a vixen and marten jill here playing a koto not too long ago?"

The rat twitched her whiskers. "Aye, I caught 'em just as they were leaving. Went that way maybe five minutes ago, left in quite the hurry; the vixen looked like she'd seen a ghost." She indicated a street not far from where Caden and Daniil had just come from. Caden threw an informal salute, smiling at the doe.

"Thank you, marm. You're most kind." He tilted his head at Daniil and the pair began walking in the indicated direction.

"What do you make of that?" he asked his partner, worry in his eyes. "Sounds like something spooked Mileya. Anything you could think of that would send her running?"

---

@Aramaeus Lemon

Fun, Aramaeus, you'll be bringing a great deal of fun. Orina couldn't say it aloud, of course, but the game she played with the inexperienced and clearly far out of his depth todd was of great amusement, nonetheless.

"That depends on you, my friend. What do you think you have to offer?"

 

[Mariel Rustyfangs]

Mariel was very careful to not get her paw fur tainted with ink. It would be very easy to later figure out she was responsible if she didn't look into that. Her mom taught her well how to be good at the criminal matters. The kitten actually admired how much her mother knew on that specific thing.

Listening to the banter between the two she felt slightly ignored. But fortunately her suspicion that the foxkit was a bit too good so far struck well as he spoke of the plan that she... didn't present. "Oh Finn. Ya got it wrong! You will be the distraction! You are a fox kit, a guard is a fox, surely they will help out their own kind more eagerly! 'sides, you look important in that whole kimono." She giggled before continuing. "Also, we need to climb the window. Cats are great climbers as everyone knows, and so are geckos! We will do better coordinating that. Now come with me dear heroine and unexpected clam ally! We have to free the cupcakes from their prison!"

@FinnianBrightfur @Cricket

 

[Marianna Furotazzi]

Marianna kissed Ivo's pawpad as he brushed it across her muzzle, nuzzling into his paw as she considered. A part of her ached to take him to bed, to lose herself in his embrace... But no. Their whole life couldn't be tumbles in the sheets and capers in the streets. Sooner or later they needed to learn how to be open with each other, to simply exist paw-in-paw. "You're right," she confirmed, reaching up and taking his paw in her own, kissing the back of it as she kept eye contact. "We need to do more together and be more together. So," she inquired, putting her other paw in his, "where would you like to go? You've been so good in treating me today, giving me so much of your time and attention. I haven't been quite the same." She smiled as she added, "I heard there were some stalls selling Fyadorian art, maybe even a few urban pieces, if you'd like to improve your collection."

~~~

Mileya looked about, getting her bearings. "I don't really know," she admitted. "I don't spend much time in Bully Harbor; I'm always in Amarone. Besides, the city isn't safe to go wandering alone as a femme." She stated it as if it were common knowledge. She looked back in the direction they'd come from. "I guess we could go back and try to retrace our steps," she suggested. "If we keep our eyes out, we can probably avoid my cousin."

~~~

Daniil looked about, frowning, trying to see what could have spooked his sister. "I'm not sure," he stated doubtfully. "I know there's a few beasts that Mileya would run from, but none of them are in the Harbor. At least," he amended, "none should be in the Harbor. I don't really know what the one looks like, though; that happened..." He hesitated. "...that happened to her in Alkamar. If the beast responsible were here, he'd have to have snuck into the country." He scanned the faces of the foxes in the crowd, trying to see if any of them looked suspicious, but there were simply too many foxes about for him to successfully profile.

"Come on," he suggested, nodding in the direction the rat had indicated. "Maybe we can catch up to them before the food gets cold."

~~~

Aramaeus straightened, trying to think through what he had to offer. "My command of the law and jurisprudence is far above the norm," he offered. "Honestly, but for the money required in such an endeavor, I could easily have sat the exams to become a barrister. All self-taught, of course," he added, gesturing with his paw to dismiss the thought of formal education. "The tuition at the University of Length is unimaginable, especially for law school. I could never work off that debt in a hundred years."

 

[Ivo Suresight]

Ivo very much got excited at the prospect. His tail went from a slow wag of pleasure to fast wag of excitement. "Ya sure? I would love nothin' more!" He exclaimed with pure joy as he moved and lifted her up in a hug. It took him a moment and a spin before he put her down again. He did remember one thing however. "I mean... I've overspent today already. But I'd love me even sum window shoppin'! An' also well... yer too kind t' jus' make it 'bout me. Less make sure yer also gonna see somethin' ya like... So we gotta also visit a place with 'em manual crafts."

Letting her go finally, he still kept her paw in his, ready for more of the day to come. "After ya love. Am yours for whateva' we decide."

@Marianna Furotazzi

 

[Cricket]

Silvery eyes downcast as she worked on fishing out the bunting and shaking it dry, Cricket held her tongue. Childish pride nagged at her against the brassy tone of a beast younger than her outlining and correcting plans, disliking the feeling of being made the feline’s lackey. In the absence of a better plan, however, and that they had been recruited in by her, there really was no sense arguing. It was a solid idea, and climbing was far easier a task than distraction. Poor Finn, left with the hard work again. Not that she was generous enough to swap, of course – in that respect Mariel’s logic was perfectly sound.

Drying scaly paws, the gecko ensured the camouflaged material was neatly wound, as she had seen beasts on the dock do with ropes and lines, and flashed the pair a cheeky grin. “Alright, lead on brave explorer! Oh – wait…Uh…If we get all these cupcakes liberated, ain’t we supposed to have somewheres we can hide them, too? Where are we takin’ them once we have them?”

@FinnianBrightfur @Mariel Rustyfangs

 

[FinnianBrightfur]

As if the suggestion to be the diversion stung him, Finn recoiled a little bit. "Augh. Iff'n you want a distraction, why's it ~gOttA~ be me?" he asked, his voice breaking at a rather inopportune moment. The foxkit groaned, and slapped a paw to his face. "Yep. I get it." Adapting a third party voice, he spun up a dramatic line of reasoning. "We need a distraction! But who can we send in that's dressed like a friggen' clown, and SOUNDS LIKE ONE ~ToO~?"

And as if the universe took joy in tormenting him, emotional outbursts only made his vocal predicament worse. The fox sighed exasperatedly, and raked his paw backwards through his headfur. Fighting it only made things worse. "Awright... where is the place? I'll be yer distraction..."

 

[Mariel Rustyfangs]

Mariel again was asked for something she did not anticipate for. Gates, how was her mother in her prime doing all this? She managed to rob banks and her own daughter couldn't even plan out a simple cupcake heist? There was both respect for what her mother, Naika did in the past so the two could survive, as well as the annoyance at her own lack of skills.

Of course she wouldn't show it. Finn throwing a tantrum was perfect momentary distraction, and a funny one at that as his voice cracked in a way Mariel found cute. Thanks to it, despite giggling at the kit, she could think for a second and give her answer. "Well my stalwart heroine, I do have two places we could go to in them Trenches... we jus' need to either carry the bunting and look like we know what we are doing, or also take some flour bags to mask our loot for the time we will spend going there!"

It would mean showing the two she was really a middle class. Fortunately, her mom showed her each hidden entrance to he trading house. It wouldn't be too hard.

Then there was just a case of execution. "Well follow me then! we just need to get to one of the warehouses in Local Docks. Oh and dontcha worry Finn. I think your cute like that and what better distraction than somebeast cute." She offered with another giggle. Albeit she was genuinely thinking what she said. The kit was antithesis of most she was taught by her mother, but Mariel just assumed that all rules had exceptions. Finn was one of them.

@Cricket @FinnianBrightfur

 

[Orina Emberkin]

@Aramaeus Lemon

Orina clapped a paw on the todd's shoulder, steering him with her as they went through a busy intersection. "Self-taught, hm? Now there's a beast with drive and talent."

They were out of the red light district and weaving their way through the crowd, which was denser the further they moved towards the central area of the festival. "Though I believe you'll find that, if you don't have the financial assets, finding your way into the University can also come down to making the right connections and leveraging them properly."

---

@Mileya Ryalor

"Retracing our steps seeming like a good idea." Asta nodded, picking up the koto again and slinging the strap over her shoulder. "Caden getting very worried easy about me in the city. He saying like you say, that it isn't safe for femmes, or most beasts in some places. Won't let me going out alone too far from our house."

---

@Daniil Ryalor

Caden stepped out alongside Daniil as they went in the direction indicated by the rat. He recalled Daniil having mentioned something that had happened to Mileya that made it so she was comfortable only around malebeasts whose inclinations tended toward other males, though he had not pressed for details. He knew well enough from Asta's experience that such things ought to only be broached carefully and with great consideration.

"Let's hope it wasn't any such beast that caused her and Asta to run," he said. Even the thought of it had his hackles rising. "And let's hope we find them quickly. I don't like the idea of them out there without one of us with them. The festival seems safe enough, but Asta doesn't know the city well, and I expect Mileya hasn't spent much time here, either."