Fish Thief

It's raining heavily, a torrential pour that is driving most back to their homes as quickly as they can manage. Some though have little choice but to be out in this foul weather. Either for shopping needs, or for the selling of their wares to those adventurous enough to be out regardless of the rain. It seems in fact like the rain will never end, but then it quite suddenly does. At least on this street. One can however look one street over and find it still raining merrily. But here, for now... the rain has mysteriously ceased.

Slixvah was quickly grounded as the storm suddenly onset, her skittering to land as she jogs through the streets, completely soaked from ribbons to feathers to robes. But then, safety! "Oh thank Dana...!" she pants, hands on her knees as wings shake themselves out.

Some rustling in her robes makes her look up. Squint. "Huh."

"Excuse me, yes? I'll take five pounds of the pretzels and another five pounds of the saltine crackers," Cor'lana asks politely as she tightens the heavy rain cloak a little tighter around her person. The question is aimed at one of a few snack vendors that Cor'lana is well-acquainted with.

"Sample?" Pothy on her shoulder asks quickly afterwards. Thankfully, the little old lady running the stall knows Pothy all too well, and he is rewarded for his efforts with a pretzel. >Crunch<.

And then the rain stops.

Cor'lana blinks and looks up as well--then over to the next street. She squints, and then she looks at Pothy. "Okay. What did you /do/?"

"Nothing," Pothy replies in Cor'lana's voice. He preens his feathers. He is a good boy.

Shopping was a necessity today, and Patch didn't seem to mind the heavy rains. No umbrella or protection from the wet other than her flamboyant coat. She was soaked, her small bag full of her purchases as she talks at a stall, going over some plums. She's lucky the vendor was even there at all. "I want two. " she says, the rain abruptly ending after. She can't help but look skyward, flicking a slender ear. "... Woah."

"Yeah, just the two!" Patch's attention back on her purchase for the moment. Counting out coin, and placing the fruit in bag. "What a strange day."

Telamon is wrapped up in a heavy cloak as well, and the furious rain is distinctly not his speed. "Hells' bells, Pothy, how you and the pixies managed to go through all those snacks last night... well, at least I know how you got the pantry open now." He smirks. "And that the pixies are strong enough, together, to lift a winebottle."

When the rain cuts off as if by command, his head jerks up as well in surprise. Then he glances to either street, where it's still merrily raining. Then he looks at Cor'lana. "I don't think it was him."

There are some things worth braving a torrential downpour for. Rescuing a child, for example, or spotting a dear friend across the street. 'Because a god told you to,' generally among the more sensible reasons to pelt headfirst into the miserable wet.

For Magpie, that list includes 'The meat pie stall down the Markets just got in a new shipment of fruits from Way Far Away and is rolling out his first run of ideas.' And yes, Magpie's written it down like that. If brevity is the soul of wit, then Magpie is 100% 'no thoughts head empty.'

And by the time the rains suddenly dry up, she's still got at least one pie to go, and a smear of gravy behind her right eyebrow, somehow. Crumpling up her dinner-napkin rag, she stares owlishly at the sky, mouth left slightly open. "What the... what?"

Eztli was doing nothing particular this day, which meant that wandering the markets was on the menu. It wasn't like rain was bothersome in the slightest, however.

"I was enjoying that." The small makari grumbles up to the sky. "Oh. Not sure localized weather systems work like that. "Hey Slix, you have something to do with this?" She asks the egalrin she happened to see nearby.

When something unnatural occurs, it is common to blame the next face you see of the oddity. A white raven perhaps. An egalrin downed by the concurrent winds. Or perhaps the fish monger who barrels into the street waving a butchers knife? Certainly he couldn't be the reason for the change in weather. Yet he does seem intent on chasing _something_ through the street. Though, whatever it is... is not in evidence. "WHERE ARE YOU?!? COME HERE YOU LITTLE THIEF!" He bellows as he strides quickly down the road, waving his knife in a menacing manner.

Slix puts her hands up in mock surrender. "'ey, look. I kno' I do some funky stuff, but I ain't do this."

She lifts a soggy robe to stage whisper into it. "I didn't do this, right?" "No," comes a tinny voice from within. Slix repeats, "I ain't do this."

She does, however, blink oddly at the fish monger's loose... catch? "Uhh..." she points dumbly at the spectacle as others that she knows gather. What an odd circumstance today, even more so than what she's used to.

"Whoa wait I *did not do it,*" Magpie yells... mostly out of reflex, because anything she'd have stolen from a fishmonger would probably be something *very* difficult for a Gnome to conceal in their clothes.

...And apparently she's not the first one to react like that? This city...

"Anyway you're gonna hurt someone waving that knife around, what got stolen?"

Patch had been tucking away her purchase, one kept in hand as she can now hear beyond the sound of rain. "Slix! Eztli!" she calls from down an alley of stalls, having spotted the two. Her attention only short lived, glancing towards the source of all the noise about a 'little' thief.

The bard's eyes flick to try and find what's being hollered after, brow raising in mild curiosity. "Weird day... indeed."

Telamon makes a funny little grunt. Kind of like when he's heaving rocks around the garden. He seems to hunch a bit, and then straightens up again. His voice lilts, speaking to Lana in Sylvan, "Queen of my heart, that fellow seems a bit out of sorts. Keep an eye on him." He casually leans against the stall, trying to shift his weight a bit. Continuing in Sylvan, "I suspect I know what troubles him, but I don't want him to do something rash."

Cor'lana blinks several more times, this time at the fishmonger's plight and her beloved's words. "Huh..."

She looks at the snack vendor. "Hold onto our order for a moment? Gotta go take care of something," she says, before she attempts to try and trail the fishmonger. Stealthily. Not obviously.

Pothy's tail is a-wagging. Maybe this means fish samples?

"Not you? I thought it was, oh well." Eztli huffs. "If little Fiadh says so, then it has to be true."

Her attention is turned to the fishmonger instead, and their violent outburst. "Look, I know you're angry, but please, take a moment to breathe. If you threaten a thief with physical violence, the guards will neither be happy, or entirely on your side. Not to mention being the right thing to do."

"What?" The fishmonger asks, turning toward Magpie. One of his eyes glitters with a strange gem rather than an eye and he growls. "MY FISH! My fish were stolen by that little thief! I'm going to chop her up into little bits and feed her to the sharks!"

He snorts suddenly and looks at Eztli. "I don't care about the city guard! She's done it one too many times I tell you! I'm done! SHARKS I TELL YOU!" He looks around carefully, trying to spy his thief in question.

GAME: Patch rolls perception: (4)+8: 12

"...Okay clearly I'm missing some really important context here," Magpie says after a moment... largely to force down her initial thought of 'Oh hey you look like Dolan!' because that probably wouldn't help anything right now, and when a murderous knife-toting butcher twice your size has rounded on you, you *definitely* want to be helpful...

"...But it sounds like you're looking for a *specific* thief, so... maybe start there? Who's 'she’?"

Slix looks over a shoulder to spy Patch, her eyes crinkling in a smile as she gives a wave in return before stepping aside to make room for the sun elf as she asides to Eztli. "Look, just 'cause I do what I do, doesn't mean /every/ happenstance is on me," she elaborates, huffing.

Her soaking feathered brows knit. "Woah woah woah, lets not chop people ta bits, yeah?" A gesture to Magpie and a nod, seconding their question.

Pothy peers at the fishmonger. There's a sudden sense of panic in his blue eyes. What if he did take something--no, wait, the fishmonger would be threatening to turn him into gristly chicken bits. Phew. Pothy calms down.

But then Cor'lana gives him the side eye again. If Pothy could sweat, he would.

Patch is now curious as the outburst changes. A girl? Done this before? Oh, tempting now. She's looking for a thief, but the bard is fairly bad at it. She even lifts a blanket covering a stall's counter, just randomly going about it. A bite of a plum it taken once she come up short, shrugging. "I didn't see anything." the bard states. "What did /she/ look like?"

Patch doesn't notice a lot of things, so it is clearly not be the best eyewitness testimony, but for now she will lazily keep eyes peeled, and walk the market towards Slixvah and Eztli. "Did you two see anything?"

Telamon turns casually, just so his head is tilted -away- from the enraged fishmonger. And then he apparently starts mumbling to himself. In Sylvan. "How much of his catch did you dine upon, my little friend?" He lets Lana move on towards the fellow, before glancing back, taking note of the curious gem in the fishmonger's face. He's reminded of Dolan, suddenly, and he can't help but twitch. "Gods and stars," he mutters in Sylvan again. "I bet that gem's enchanted for more than just ordinary vision, with my luck..."

The fishmonger largely ignores everyone for a long moment as he peers through the crowd and finally... Spots Telamon! "THERE!" He points to the man and starts stomping toward him angrily. "WHY YOU LITTLE THIEF! GOOD LUCK MY LEFT FOOT! You're going to _pay_ for all those fish you stole! Come here you!" He reaches one ham-handed fist for Telamon's collar. (Luckily not the one holding the knife.)

GAME: Magpie rolls fortitude: (12)+2: 14
GAME: Eztli rolls intimidate: (3)+11: 14
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Intimidate: (16)+15: 31
GAME: Telamon rolls diplomacy+5: (18)+19+5: 42

"You know that's just vigilantism at that point, and that's really frowned upon in the city." Eztli grumbles. Look, I know the half elf is speaking in tongues, but I don't think he's your culprit. He's just being weird or something. So if you could unhand him, before I need to force you to unhand him, that would be really appreciated, I didn't come out here to cause a scene."

Slixvah just blinks as she observes the others, taking in the scene before her as she steps away for five seconds.

And returns with a small bowl of popcorn (from the snack stall Cor'lana was at). Monch. "'dis gonna be good."

Telamon turns in time to reach up and catch the fishmonger's wrist with his hand. It's not a painful grasp, just firm... but then Tel turns on the charm. It's like seeing the stars and the moon come out from behind the clouds. "Here now, what's this? Don't do that, friend. You're going to kick up a fuss with the guard..."

Suddenly he leans a little closer. "And this sort of excitement can't be good for you. Deep breaths, there's a good fellow. Now, I don't know why you're yelling at -me-, but speaking on behalf of the Shining Chalice, we do appreciate fine food -- especially fresh fish. Perhaps we can come to an understanding regarding this disagreement?" His free hand comes out, holding a pouch which jingles quite distinctly.

The hand goes for Telamon's collar and Cor'lana goes from a well-intentioned bystander to a furious rage, scowling. She may be all of five feet tall, but she stomps over, violet eyes flaring into white-hot anger, and she steps out in as much as in front of Telamon as she can manage. "He is /my/ fiance, he did /nothing/ to you and your godsforsaken fish, and I will turn you into a lizard the size of your peanut-shaped brain rattling around in that head of yours if you lay your filthy five-fingered hamhands on him," she growls.

"Snacks," Pothy says hopefully at the mention of peanuts.

As the fishmonger stalks past Magpie, the Gnome blinks, tilting her head and muttering a few unintelligible syllables... Then with another blink, her eyes seem to reverse in color; whites become black, green iris a bright orange, and the pupil a piercing white. "...So that eye is *definitely magica--* AAAAAAAAAAAA WHAT THE HELL THE BEACONS ARE LIT, STORMGARDE CALLS FOR AID." Pitching forward, the gnome slaps the heels of her hands against her eyes. "SO HEY GUY THERE'S SOMETHING ON YOUR SHOULDER I THINK. OW MY EYES."

Patch is with Slixvah on this, turning to watch as the scene goes on. Eztli snapping, and then noticing that it's Telamon that's been snagged. Even Cor'lana. It seems it is being handled for now. "Well, usually it's the shining knight saving the damsel."

The fishmonger stalls in the face of Ravenstongue's fury, paling a little and obviously taking her threat very seriously. "Now here... you can't..." He starts to say, but then Telamon is pulling out a pouch and his eyes widen significantly. "Well now... If there's enough in there for my reimbursement, you can KEEP the little thief for all I care."

He reaches out for the bag, but a bit hesitantly due to Ravenstongue's baleful glare. "I'll just take this and if it's a reasonable amount I'll be on my way aye?" He tucks his huge knife into his belt line with his free hand. See? He can be reasonable.

Slix snickers as whatever the hell is going on unfolds, the absurdity of it making the egalrin's eyes twinkle with excitement. "I mean, usually, yeah. But don't ya just love it when a good trope is turned right up on side it's head?" she chitters to Patch.

She holds the bowl out to her. "Popcorn? It's cheddar~!"

Telamon seems completely calm, and he smiles at Cor'lana. "Easy now, Lana, let's not do anything hasty. The man is simply overwrought. Remember, every lost fish is money lost from his pocket. It's why stealing crops or livestock is frowned on so harshly."

He hands the pouch over without any qualms -- inside is a quantity of silver coins, as Telamon continues, "So, how much of the catch was eaten?" What's disturbing is that he seems to know -exactly- what's going on. At Magpie's groan of pain, he gives her a tight grin, and makes a 'settle down' gesture. "Relax. Everything is under control."

Patch is still confused, but takes that offered snack all the same. She pops a few kernels in her mouth, chewing with a subtle shrug. "It's always the sign of a good tale. When they subvert expectation." nodding her head. "Cor'lana and Eztli. Lionesses." she muses at how quick they ran to Telamon's aid.

"Do you know the small one?" Patch pointing to Magpie. "The guy kept yelling thief, and I saw naught. Nothing."

Cor'lana looks like she's still contemplating if she should do something to the fishmonger until Telamon is talking sweetly to her. She sighs, links an arm around Telamon's, and returns to his side--but she offers the fishmonger a glare that can roughly equate to 'hurry up, or you might shrivel up and die if I run out of patience'.

Pothy, meanwhile, is bored of this. And... he gets an idea, all in one go. He flaps off and returns with what appears to be a deep-fried fish stick, likely a sample obtained from one of his 'connections' in the market. He holds it out to one of Telamon's shoulders. Just to see what happens.

Eztli steps back, and groans, rubbing at her snout. "I didn't see anything Patch, sorry." She notes back to the bard once she calmed down somewhat. "Please don't cause any trouble either, Cor'lana."

"You have things under control? Good to know. Because the fishmonger clearly knows what's going on, and you aren't helping things by sowing further confusion." The small makari grumbles before going off to idle by one of the stalls where Patch and Slixvah were. "You okay Magpie? I can get you some water or something."

Gestures are useful! When one can see! When one can't, gestures don't convey a whole lot! Eztli, however, does get through to her.

"Oh hey, yeah," she says, voice tight. "Just, y'know, did a quick look for traces of magic and there's some kind of sun just sitting on that guy's shoulder, how's your day?"

"FISH!" Chirps Telamon's shoulder and there's suddenly a tiny golden dragon sitting there, accepting the fish stick from Pothy and eating it voraciously. It's gone in a matter of moments and she's got an entirely self-satisfied expression on her face. She blinks golden eyes up innocently at the fish monger and gives him a slightly dissatisfied look. "MY FISH."

The fishmonger growls at the golden dragon - who is no bigger than the size of your average housecat - and clenches his fist around the silver in the pouch. "She ate my whole catch! Including a hundred-fifty pound swordfish! It was just gone!" He sounds perhaps a bit crazy? How could that tiny thing eat a whole swordfish?

Slixvah shovels a handful of the snack into her beak, crunching loudly with a big nod. "Ab-so-lutely, Pattie," she hums. "Yea, lionesses fo' sure. They real sweet, but get 'em riled up... somethin's gettin' exploded."

Though to the question? "Hmm? Oh! Yeah! I kno' 'er. That's Magpie. I ain't talk wit' her much but she's got fashion sense like I do." A giggle.

The small one's warning about a mini-sun gets Slix's gears turning as she looks over to Telamon to spy-

The sound of wood clattering against stone >ker-thunks< at Slix's feet, popcorn scattering across the ground as she's staring with a payload of popcorn halfway to her face, beak ajar.

Telamon blinks. Slowly. He knows the little dragon has an appetite, but... good gods. "Well... I have seen certain -magical- animals eat far more than they could normally do so." He regards the fishmonger. "Still... think of it as a learning experience, sir. And considering all the terrible things we face these days, having a small dragon eat your fish is definitely not the worst one."

He looks at the dragon in mild exasperation. "A swordfish, though? Really? Are you sure you're not related to Pothy here, perchance?"

Cor'lana's quietly simmering rage turns into complete surprise as she sees the golden dragon on Telamon's shoulder--and then a flash of recognition plays out in her eyes, a smile curling on her lips. "Oh, I see. This must be the mighty Tanith," she says, holding out a hand to the little dragon like she's offering it in a shake. "Dearest dragon, you brought my beloved back safely from the whispering world, and so..."

She turns to the fishmonger. Any instance of anger on her face has now melted away to a sweet smile. "Perhaps if we pay you a little more for your troubles, you'll forget about it? And if you happen to have any more fish, perhaps I may buy enough to sate the little one's appetite?"

Pothy looks aghast. That's his snack money Lana's offering to spend! "Objection!" he crows. "I object!" (He's seen too many lawyers on stage at the Theatre District.)

"Mikilos told me she existed...." Patch says, trying to contain her excitement as the dragon materializes into view, calm forced in her tone. "I thought he was joking with me." amused, and suddenly laughing as this all makes sense. "He said she'd done this before!" the story clicking in her head. That too involved fish. She's shocked, amused, and with a glance to Slixvah and beak agape she smirks. "Alexandros, city of a thousand tales." a shame... no more popcorn to enjoy with this ever changing show.

"So something is going on. Huh, imagine that." Eztli huffs. She pulls out a waterskin from her bag, uncorks it, and offers it ot the gnome. "It's just water, but drink up if you can stomach it, it'll help."

Then the culprit makes itself clear.

Eztli blinks once. "You would threaten death and violence upon one of the kin or progeny of the covenant of the gold? You are lucky that this is not dragonier. And not because of the undead, but because you would be clapped in irons for such treason." The small makari growls. "But that does not excuse their actions either, and Dragonier is, well, you are aware. I will pay for anything not covered by the man's funds."

"Oh thanks..." Magpie rocks back on her heels, blinking and shaking her head until the color of her eyes reverts to normal, then continues blinking the spots away as she lifts the skin to take a gulp, and hand back. "...So wait, that was a dragon? Like, a *real* dragon? We *have those?!* I mean you hear about that merchant lord, but do we need to start posting signs all 'Here be dragons, don't snoop for magic or you'll be sorry' now? Cos I ain't gonna lie, that'd be kind of great."

Blinded, not silenced, more's the pity.

Tanith - for that is indeed her name, perks up and preens at the introduction that Cor'lana gives her. Mighty indeed - mightily beautiful for a dragon of such size. She hums happily on Telamon's shoulder and shifts her lovely tail to a more opportune viewing position. After all, she is now being seen! Telamon's question gets a head tilt from her and she peers at Pothy curiously. "Any of your relatives dragons?" She asks curiously, as if that would answer everything.

The fishmonger at this point has flushed with embarrassment and takes the coin purse. "She ate all the fish I had... so there's none left to buy. I'll... This is enough for the catch." He jingles the purse once and puts it away firmly before glancing at Eztli. "I'll uh... be going now. Careful that thing doesn't eat you out of house and home."

"Tanithariairisixchel!" Speaks up the dragon with no small amount of irritation. "Not 'thing'." She grumbles in displeasure at his rudeness and holds herself up proudly. She might be little, but she has a dragon's name.

It does take several beats of the heat for the egalrin woman to snap herself out of it. "Y... y-yeah, Pattie," Slixvah quietly murmurs in awe. "Lotta tales. Some tall. Others short, but sometimes ya forget people are really tall..."

Then, finally, she gets her groove back. "And this tale looks reall' cute ta boot!" she coos, offering whatever popcorn was left in her hand to Patch. Just enjoying the moment.

Something clicks in her head, and her attention shifts to include a little makari in the mix.

Telamon reaches up to pet Tanith gently, as the fishmonger heads off. "I thought you'd gone home, to be honest," he tells the little dragon. "I don't mind seeing you again, but I hope all is well." He smiles at Lana's charming reaction. "Indeed it is."

Telamon looks to the others, especially Eztli. "Please, be at ease. I think things are settled." He grins at Patch and Slixvah. "Sometimes, you find yourself in the very tales you only read and dreamed about."

Pothy tilts his head. "Knowledge," he says in Cor'lana's voice, as if though this somehow would answer everything as well. But... his complaints about snack money disappear as he looks at the golden dragon. "Snacks!"

And off he cruises into the air. Cor'lana watches him for a moment and then realizes what's happening. "Oh. He knows someone else who sells fish. Telamon, if you want to catch up after him, I can stay here with Tanith," she suggests.

But then the conversation turns to tales, and Cor'lana smiles a wide and knowing grin. There's a twinkle in her violet eyes. "There are many things that are real. Real and wonderful, real and horrible, real and dangerous. I can tell you about some... fairy tales, if you'd like."

There is something in her tone that suggests they may involve 'fairies', but they are certainly not fiction.

Eztli takes some of the offered popcorn and chews on it angrily until the fishmonger is gone. "It's hard to be at ease when someone just had the equivalent of threatening to stab a member of a royal family to death in the streets." She huffs.

"Ah, I'm, sorry. perhaps emotions are just more than a bit high." The small makari sighs. "It is an honor to meet you, lady Tanithariairisixchel." She continues, offering the small dragon a sweeping bow that no doubt stoked their ego even further.

Patch waves off the snack, though an eye cast to look at it shows the temptation. "No no. It's... real. It's catching, Slixvah." of course her attention is on the small dragon, Eztli's words causing a a frown, but a short-nod. Do not insult or threaten dragons. A lesson she didn't have to learn herself, despite this one being a fish-thief.

To Telamon, Patch nods. His words causing a twitch of the bard's ear, arms folding before her chest. "Happens a lot these days, but this is perhaps the best of those circumstances. Yes."

"And a tale is always welcome, though this one.... seems to have been going for a while." Patch says with a smirk to Cor'lana, and then glancing to Tanith.

With the dragon confirming her identity *and* her name, and other people talking about her like she's not an hallucination, a look passes over Magpie's face, even as she tries to knuckle the slowly-fading spots from one eye.

She has a terrible idea, and she's probably going to be sorry she did it, but she can't resist the temptation to do the thing.

"Hello, Lady! Is it okay if I call you Lady Tanitharia? Only if I tried to say the whole thing my tongue would fall out of my nose in rebellion. Anyway! If you're still hungry, I have a gift for you!"

And the last of the meat pies is thrust up, in the general direction of the dragon's voice. "Pork and mountain apples in gravy! It's great, you should try it!"

Tanith preens further, acknowledging those that refer to her with a polite nod of her head which is regal and yet not pretentious. The gift of meat pie is equally well received and she bounds off of Telamon's shoulder to eat it. It's gone in what seems like no time at all and she gives Magpie's fingers a few last licks for good measure. "Very good! Good peoples!" She looks around at all the people in question with a fond look and then takes off after Pothy. Seems that she doesn't intend to wait around when someone offers her 'snacks' in the form of fish.

The moment she's gone it starts to rain again.

-End