Throwed Apples, pt2
Log Info
- Title: Throwed Apples pt2
- Emitter: Jinks
- Characters: Eztli, Jay, Jozi, Nemori
- Place: A07: Lower Alexandria Market District
- Time: Sunday, October 17, 2022, 12:00 PM
- Summary: With the mob dispersed, matters turn more personal. Jay arrives a moment too late to chase the relief wagon that's departed. Kerry-Anne arrive to see Tamzin off but behaves strangely.
-=--=--=--=--=--=<* A07: Lower Alexandria Market District *>-=--=--=--=--=--=-
Just west of the Northern Highbridge and east of the arena, commerce blooms. Noisy and bustling, most anything may be purchased here for a price. Vendors from all cultures sell their wares from exotically colored carts, and the smells of different nations and far-off city-states mix with local ones from Alexandria and its riverbanks.
For all its commerce, visitors are advised to keep hold of their purses. Even the merchants possess a certain, cunning look. Most are positioned at carts or stalls as opposed to a formal storefront, with trade here being mobile, and visiting from all parts of the world.
Though the quality of goods suffers here compared to Upper Alexandria, the options are more diverse. Too, the oversight of the Watch is slightly less, and during times events are held at the Arena, chaos abounds. After dark, the square becomes a hangout for bards and other entrepreneurs whose business is best conducted by night; the shadows at the edges of the square often contain furtive figures engaging in their own brand of business.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Appearing, in Order -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Eztli 4'6" 140 Lb Sith-Makar Female A two-toned, short sith-makar. Jozi 5'8" 148 Lb Half-Orc Female A brunette half-orcess with a sunny disposition. Nemori 4'10" 110 Lb Mul'niessa Female A tall and slender, dark skinned elf. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NPCs of Note =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Kerry-Anne Human Female Beruned wooden arm and strong features. No-nonsense. Tamzin Human Female Rail-thin tomboy, new jacket. Big mouth. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= As the GM -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Jinks 3'4" 39 Lb Gnome Male A gnomish fellow in fancy garb and jewelry. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
Closer repose: "Should not've done that..." the butcher observes, blinking at the sky again. He grunts and sits up, not too proud to accept any help in doing so. He forces his eyes closed tight and then blinks them open one last time before managing a bit of a smile. "Nice gal. Free haggis if'n y'come by tomorra." A sticky hand pat-pats Jozi on the upper-arm. The stumpy Khazad rolls onto one hip and then works his way to standing before staightening out his apron. There's a heavy sigh and then he points a sausage finger at a long, narrow shop of stacked stones with a shallow storefront. "Graidh's Grinds." Then he's off. Meanwhile, Tamzin is busy rolling her eyes at the mul'niessa. "Right, 'cos it were on purpose I missed, no-no'ri." The raises one corner of her nice, new jacket with the hand shoved into its pocket, indicating the dwarf's back. "'least I didn't run in and cop knocked ass over tea kettle. The big bastard were bigger than me last 'ouse." Speaking of unusually-sized things..! "Yor awful wee," Tamzin informs Eztli.
Jozi offers a consoling smile and a nod as the Khazad recovering well, "Been a bit since I had some good haggis, mighty kind, sugar, thank you."
She pivots on the ball of her left foot and moves to help the man rise, "Easy now, up ya go." she encourages him, then, as he heads off, "I'll check up on ya later, take care!"
She pushes up to her own feet, then turns toward the others, "Funny thing about big guys, they still got knees."
A few steps closer to the clutch of ladies and, "Everyone else alright?"
"Easy, Nemori, I doubt she meant anything by the gesture." The small makari offers placatingly as her attention is torn between the mul'niessa and the half orc helping the khazad."
"Gods damned nobles acting too big for their britches, what else is new?" Eztli grumbles to herself. "If they had any inkling, 'know who my father is', they'd be on their knees begging for forgivenes."
"Not that I ever really cared for such things, but ah, yeah." Eztli sighs, rubbing the side of her face. "Yeah, I'm small. rat lizzard, right?" She replies to Tamzin. "Just weirdly small, small enough that Nemori can lord her tallness over me."
"All I care is that we did not end up being crushed between the two sides," Nemori says tartly, her attention still half upon the crowd. Less dispersing, more going back about their business now with the provocations having departed. The last remains of the cleanup in progress. "I have little doubt you could have felled the brute, Jozi. But then what of the bravados, eh? And the woman? More... the crowd behind us, ready to surge forward? Have you ever seen a riot start? I have." She even gestures at the departing dwarf. The one who charged even without such embers to start the kindling.
"While I would have been vastly amused to watch it from a distance, I tell you truthfully; being in the middle of it is the last place you want to be. And I feel as though the two of you.." Then she eyes Tamzin, ".. perhaps three of you.. would not sit well with having been a part of the destruction to follow." Just looking out for her friends, right? Then Nemori turns her eyes away from the milling people, away from the other three woman, to look back the way the nobles and their attaches fled. "Whatever offences that trio offered, they were nothing."
The ogre is the last out of sight, grunting and sliding his black-leather bludgeon back into his wide belt. There's a trail of squashed fruits and bruised vegetables left in their wake if any wishes to follow. It would seem most folk are content to return to their business. The Althean smiles and half-curtsies before she, too, disappears back into the crowds to hand out tracts and small treats.
"I 'aven't seen one of them before, right?" Tamzin tells Eztli on the subject of rat-lizards. She gives Nemori a little space and walks around the smaller makari woman to inspect her. "... wich are the bloody rat parts, then, squire? Any road, so I fink yor dread-pretty, 'nuff. Just wee.
"... and I never knew 'oo me favver is and I turned out not so bad!" She declares with a dramatic shrug, abandoning the gesture to smile and wave at Jozi. "Righter'n rain, truff."
As the nobles are discussed further, her eyes dart back and forth amongst the three. "Forget 'em, right? They'll probably just eat bisquits wiv diamonds in them and laugh at us..." She pantomimes a delicate hold on a cookie and peels her lips back to take a tiny bite. "'Ooh, diamonds ain't as good as last year. Pip-pip,'" she mocks.
"Ain't convinced he was the brute, sugar, not outta that bunch." Jozi counters with a shrug, "A brute woulda waded in swingin."
With the deescalation of affairs, she slips her warhammer back into it's place on her belt and she smiles to the sith, "Bein small ain't the end of anythin, sugar. Hell, I'm smaller'n most yrch. Just sets folks up fer a surprise when ya come at'em smart."
Her attention returns to Nemori, considering the woman's wors and conceds the point a bit, "A riot, no... wouldn't wanna get that kicked off, but, they were mostly talk, expect they woulda folded if things got serious." A sigh, "I figgered I coulda sorted them out before it got that far."
Her attention turns to the girl and she answers the musings about their dining habits with, "They eat broth with a fork."
"No, I don't want any riots. I just, those nobles were always the _worst_." Eztli grumbles to herself. "I feel really bad for whoever that lady gets forced to marry, maybe they could do with an attitude adjustment."
"I know, it'd just, it would be nice to be a touch taller, you know? So I don't need to worry about my groceries being on the top shelf at the general store, or stuff like that." They sigh. "But, thanks, nice of you to say."
She can't help but snort at the mimery.
"I feel they were more than talk, Jozi... they were plenty of talk, yes, but one does not shy away from stomping on a pest when the pest gets uppity." Nemori rubs at the side of her head to dispel encroaching, if minor, fatigue. The ear side. Then she deliberately shifts thoughts away from the distasteful incident, looking at Tamzin again. "Is it coincidence that brings you to us again, today, or were you seeking us out again?"
Where there is smoke, there is fire. Where there is fire, there is property damage, and where there is property damage, there are opportunistic sorts out to take advantage. Crooked contractors, looters. Lawyers.
A white, black and blue jay egalrin lands with a furious flapping of wings, and a windborn sheaf of papers flying in all directions. He hops and caws loudly. "Sue! Sue! Have you suffered inadvertent expense through the misconduct of others? Were they deep-pocketed Nobles? You may be eligible for recompense in on an individual or group-action basis. Free filings! You only pay if you win, a sizeable portion of the damages. Don't let them get away with it, you deserve you day in the courts! Complete the informational packets and provide them to the office of Integrity 'C' Truefeather, esquire, Noble District. Remember, never hesitate to Sue! Sue!"
It's at this point Jay notices Jozi, Tamzin, Eztli and... Nemori. He pauses, "Hello Lady Nemori. Everything ok?"
"Har!" Tamzin laughs at Jozi's comment (after taking awhile to puzzle out the mechanics before realizing it was a joke). She points and looks at Nemori with a 'did you hear that?' expression on her face.
"There's a fella a few blocks over 'oo sells potions that'll make yer taller. He says. Or make yor 'air grow or cop rid of yor spots..." she advises Eztli, gesturing vaguely towards the west. "It sounds like bollocks ter me; I just put extra socks at the bottom of me shoes." She grins.
She waves again at Jay's arrival and then scoffs at Nemori. "World don't spin 'round you no-no'ri I-- Annie!" And she's off!
Tamzin scamps around Eztli, skips past Jay, and jumps hard into the side of a surprised Kerry-Anne. The larger Eldanari woman with the false-arm flinches, stunned, and regards her new barnacle for a moment without reacting.
Jozi shakes her head a little, "Mebbe, but I think daddy's money's kept them from gettin proper sorted out before, an they might not be able ta handle a competant, decisive response. Else that big fella wouldn't be-"
She trails off as she catches the familiar voice of Integrity chirping to scare up some clientelle.
A snort.
"Them potions don't last more than a few minutes, I hear. There's some folk get spells put on them permanant-like. Imagine it's awful expensive or more folks would do it."
She catches sight of Kerry-anne and her demeanor sobers and she offers a quieter, "Howdy."
"Kerry Ann! Hi." Jay squawks, approaching deciding where to stand near the group. He is looking for Nemori's knife and her knife-hand, and estimating good distances from both. The bird bobs his head at Tamzin.
"Very expensive too, to get permanent, and then one Dispel Magic or Mage's Injunction ruins it." The l-egal egalrin observes. "It's like a 'Banish Makeup' spell, the scourge of high society."
"I'll pass, as much as I complain, it's not that big of a deal, and I'm used to it. Besides, it does have some benefits, like being the right height for hugging Nemori. You know, if she'd give me one." Eztli laughs.
"Oh, hey Jay!" she waves to the egalrin as Tamzin runs off to meat someone else. "How's it going?"
"I think the easiest way to avoid having that woman draw us into her ill adivised business is to assume she is here to draw us into her ill advised business," Nemori mutters to herself, relaxing slightly as Tamzin dashes off to harass the one-armed woman. And while her knife is prominent, her knife-hand is currently not hovering over it. Currently.
The shadow-elf turns away from the Bula's Bandits to tilt her head at Jay, and offer her agreement with him. "There is nothing wrong with your height, Eztli. It would be a waste of money to seek those enchantments."
GAME: Jinks rolls 1d20+16: (16)+16: 32 (('Kerry-Anne' Bluff))
GAME: Jinks rolls 1d20+8: (12)+8: 20 ((Tamzin Sense Motive))
GAME: Jinks rolls 1d20+30: (9)+30: 39 (('Kerry-Anne' Disguise))
GAME: Jinks rolls 1d20+10: (17)+10: 27 ((Tamzin Perception))
"It's fine, fine. Everything is fine." Jay says, rather too emphatically. "Everything is fine."
Kerry-Anne looks across at the loose quartet Tamzin abandoned to latch onto her side, eyes narrowing inquisitively. Her prosthetic arm hangs down at her side, half-covered by a salvaged robe altered into a draped half-cloak. The barber's daughter reaches up with her good hand to squeeze Tamzin's shoulder and presses her lower face into the tomboy's rough-cut hair.
Tamzin is running off at the mouth even before they pull back apart, recounting the news of the day. "Yer won't believe it..! First, some jugglers caught on fire. Then some empty-'eaded rich bastards were takin' the piss..." She's looking up, smiling as she meets Kerry-Anne's incredulous look. "So's I lobbed a frog and toad apple at them."
There's a tight nod and then another glance at the mismatched quarter before the brawler girl mutters something under her breath at her partner in crime and tosses her head towards the west.
"Awe," Tamzin looks more than a little disappointed as she asks, "what fer..?"
Jozi frowns a little with Jay's overt jitteriness and she weighs her options toward that end, but silence she gets back from Kerry-Anne takes a bit of priority. It's more murky than complicated, but still a disuiet in the half-oruch's conscience. She waits to see what comes of the woman sending the loaf lobber packing.
"And you look fine Eztli, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Especially don't buy 'magical' fixes. It's Snake-oil salesmen all the way down." The bluejay says, hopping in place. He glances at Kerry-Ann, then Tamzin, before watching Kerry-Ann again. "Something you wanted to talk about, Kerry-Ann?"
"Alright, alright, I'll keep being short. I wasn't really considering it, anyways." Eztli sighs. "Thanks for the compliments, though. Don't sound fine though Jay, what's up?"
"And what's up with them? Seems to be something going on there. Might get roped into something, but you can always decline, and should probably see what's up? I don't know, though." Eztli offers.
GAME: Nemori rolls perception-2: (19)+10+-2: 27
Ever suspicious of Bula's get, Nemori's attention never fully leaves the pair even while she attends to the words traded among her three companions. "Integrity is fine," she tells them. "He knows he has people here to help if he needs them," she adds, pointedly. "Also, take care before you shake their hands, Integrity."
"No," Kerry-Anne answers Jay. She catches Jozi's scrutiny, too, and narrows her eyes back at the yrchblood. She puts on a thin smile and rests her flesh-and-blood hand on Tamzin's shoulder. Gives it a squeeze. "Tamzin and I need to get back. That's all."
"... sorry," answers the waif, side-eyeing Kerry-Anne and trying to laugh past some awkwardness. She leans back, sliding further into the larger woman's grip and resting her head back into her chest. Her face turns and she mutters something that draws a shake of the head from Kerry-Anne.
"Farewell," grunts the one-armed warrior before steering the other girl away with her.
"Bye. Bye!" Jay waves, watching them and then strutting around the area, collecting forms, filled out or not. "So what happened? Did something come up out of the sewers, a goblin explode? Someone else explode?"
He circles amongst the now-disinterested crowd, returning to the small party. "All fine Eztli, like Nemori says. Always listen to Nemori."
They just 'need to get back'. Jozi sighs softly and nods, "Take care, now." she offers with a weak smile and a casual wave.
Their last outings didn't end well, and it's ground the half-orc doesn't feel she has 'casual pal' footing on.
With the pair heading out, she lets out another breath and shakes her head before looking between her compatriots, "Someone started a fire, mostly put out by the time I got here. Just in time fer some pampered sods ta run at the mouth over it."
"And they're gone, huh. Wonder what that was about." Eztli muses. "Yeah, if you both say so, I'll leave it their, even if I'm unconvinced."
"Yeah, there was something about a fire, I just got distracted by the nobles when I got here. What happened? You were here first Nemori, did you see anything going on with the fire?"
Nemori pages: would any of us have seen how it started? ((re: the fire)) You paged Nemori with ‘Up to you! It was just firebreathers/jugglers had an accident.’
Nemori gives a small shrug. "Just some performers being careless with their props," she says sourly. "And the twits who were mocking them for it. Sadly, there is likely not a case here for you, Integrity. Unless you mean to find someone who wishes to file against the performers." The shadow elf shrugs. And yes, her gaze is still upon the retreating, mismatched forms of Tamzin and Kerry-Anne. "Whatever those two are up to is likely to involve much more criminality that what happened here."
"Oh." The egalrin's wings drop to a more tucked in position. "There's no money in hasseling starving artists. Wouldn't want to push them into a life of crime."
For some reason he finds himself also watching the retreating forms of Tamzin and Kerry-Ann.
"Anyone want a tomato, a fresh tomato, not a street tomato?" He pulls a small basket of them out of his cloak.
GAME: Jay rolls perception+6: (1)+15+6: 22 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Eztli rolls perception: (1)+5: 6 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Nemori rolls perception: (20)+10: 30 GAME: Jozi rolls perception: (19)+9: 28 <OOC> Jinks says, "Jozi and Nemori can roll me some Sense Motives, too. Please." GAME: Nemori rolls sense motive: (15)+8: 23 GAME: Jozi rolls sense motive: (8)+9: 17 You paged (Jozi, Nemori) with ‘So, the shopper-pedestrians, stalls, etc between you and them make it a bit tricky to see but there might be a bit of a struggle between Tamzin and Kerry-Anne as they round a corner down a side street. It might just be a litte lover's tiff.’ You paged Nemori with ‘You get the feeling the Tamzin is uncomfortable and you're fairly certain she's tring to pull away but she hasn't reached a panicked point yet.’ Nemori pages: Why do I always feel like Nemori is the wrong person to be getting these cues....
The conversation between the pair is well and truly lost to the general din of the shopping crowd and other passers-by. Kerry-Anne walks with her arm around Tamzin's shoulders, leaning down and into to gesture with her construct-arm as they turn down a side street.
Folks continue to shop as the pair fall entirely out of sight.
"that's mighty kind, sugar, thank you!" Jozi replies with some open delight as she offers a hand to accept the offered fruit. Her eyes narrow slightly as she considers something down the way and her expression becomes somewhat more studious.
Hmmm, "Think mebbe Kerry-Anne might be givin her friend the business bout dealin with us" or her, "or just gettin inta mischief in general."
A look betwitxt the others then, "I don't know Kerry all that well, an I don't know the other one a'tall."
Nemori accepts a tomato from Jay, though she pauses before biting into it, watching after the departing duo /still/, despite the distance and now crowd between them. Then she sighs. For some reason she graces both Eztli and Jay with a dark look before setting off after Kerry Anne and Tamzin at a brisk pace. "I meant to ask them about something," she explains over her shoulder before ducking out of the way of a random street person. Elbowing them to speed them out of her way.
Her elbow may be sharp, but at least it wasn't a knife.
Jay watches the injury en passent, taking a tomato for himself and biting it in half. Sharp beak. He looks at Eztli and holds the basket her way. "I think that was her 'don't follow me look'."
He flips out a wing, "It's hard to tell from her 'I'm going to kill you' look, and even her 'I'm happy to see you', expression. They train those Taaranite priestesses well."
He finishes his tomato. "I've got a scroll to show you, Jozi, about the airship. Our... ah... profits are more defined. And less."
GAME: Jinks rolls 1d20+4: (17)+4: 21 ((Tamzin save vs. Rainbow Jellyfish Toxin (contact, DC14)))
GAME: Jinks rolls 1d20+10: (3)+10: 13 (('Kerry-Anne' attack vs. flat-footed Tamzin, miss))
"A tomato? I mean, sure, I'm not going to turn some free food down." Eztli shrugs before accepting the fruit, but before she can try it, Jozi is considering the situation, and Nemori is already off. "Should we just leave her to talk to them then? It could have been a 'I don't like what I saw about them' look, hard to tell. I'm going to follow her, at least until she tells me to not to." She replies, already taking off, slowed by the crowds in the street that were dispersing, yet clustered enough avoiding the rotting produce to cause trouble.
"I think she wants a private word." Integrity suggests. She might now want a bunch of people trailing after her. "I'm going to hang back unless I hear her call for help."
He ponders this for a moment. Nemori would never call for help, especially on him. He's guaranteed he'll never answer the call.
"Actually. She keeps telling me I should walk away more. So I'm going to do that." He gathers a few more papers, slips them into his briefcase and steps around a merchant cart. Such a colourful fellow, such a rare sight in Alexandria, one of the few egalrin around, shouldn't be able to disappear like that, but he does.
<OOC> Jay says, "stealth follow Nemori" GAME: Jay rolls stealth+6: (12)+12+6: 30
"That's...." Jozi trails off, her hand closing on empty air, "Them are some awful urgent elbows fer a question." She reaches out to gently bat at Eztli's arm, with a "C'mon!"
Then she looks with some bewilderment at her other hand, which has extended toward Jay and made contact with nothing.
With a shake of the head, and the decision that there's nothing else for it, she starts to move after the Mul'niessan couples counselor.
Coming around the corner, Nemori finds Tamzin standing alone and looking quite a bit smaller (and poorer) for the loss of her coat. She turns at the sounds of footfalls and faces the mul'niessa and any others that pile in behind the elf.
"... that weren't Annie," she explains, confused. Both of her hands lift up and push back through her messy hair. "And the bloomin' sour-sexed fief nicked me jacket an' bag!
"... what the bleedin' what!?"
