Mysteries Start Small: New fan-made RP start go initiation

[Doink]

Aurum dried her eyes and looked up at Greystar. "Really?" she asked him.

Greystar nodded. "Now I don't know why you two are fighting, but you don't have to. Lady Vilnas may be a miss cranky-britches..."

"I beg you pardon?" Vilnas asked incredulously.

"...but she's a good person, I know it! So let's put our heads together and try to figure this out, yes?"

[Fusion]

“Heh. The main reason you haven't seen me there is because I don't stop by there much! And well, I haven't been so hot at catching up with people either” Amp gives a half hearted chuckle. “Anyways, I was mostly helping Dad around his shop for the first few years. Let's see, about a year and a half ago, I found a place for sale not far from the south wall of the city. With some help from some others I was able to buy it and set up my own small shop. Well, more like put enough rings on it to claim it and move in. I sill have a few years to pay it off. Or that WAS my plan at least.” His tone starts getting sarcastic, “I mean, I'll make a bundle off of the shop now because EVERYONE is THRILLED about doing business with someone who just got ARRESTED the night before. Which reminds me. How did you get tangled up in this? And what exactly is going on?”

[BrockthePaine]

Piper chuckled. "Well, if the arrest makes it hard for you to get business, try politics. As to what happened... you want the long story, or the short story?"

[Tbolt]

Trajan exited the kitchen, passing Greystar. “I’ll be outside, if anyone needs me.”

The big rac slunk from the kitchen, traversed the living room, and exited Barret’s former residence. He gingerly stepped over the hedge bordering the walkway and walked onto the well-manicured lawn.

The grass felt cool and soft under Trajan’s feet, the morning dew having been melted away by the rising sun. Trajan laid down on it and stared into the open blue sky.

“Not noon just yet” Trajan thought as he shaded his eye and looked up. “Although, we should probably be heading back to the Whim for lunch and to compare notes with the others.”

A small sound attracted Trajan’s attention. He grew very still and began to carefully extend his senses around him. Just beyond the fence, to his right, he could feel the weight of several sets of eyes trained upon him. Unfortunately, that was his blind side; carefully he extended his kenning through the earth beneath him to try to gauge how many foes watched him.

The squeak of the gate arrested Trajan’s attention. He looked down, but could see no sign of the intruder. Now he could make out whispers from the other side of the fence, but he could still see nothing.

Too late!

Trajan let out a “Whuff” as the wind was knocked out of him.

A small kit stood triumphantly on Trajan’s gut.

“I am queen of the mountain! I defy any and all to challenge my authority!” Her small mouse-like voice issued her proclamation to all corners of the miniscule yard.

The sheer incredulity of this made Trajan smile. “So, does the hill have any say so in this matter?”

The kit looked down from her perch and stamped her foot. “You hush, mountain troll, you have been conquered, and you have to do anything I say!”

“And what if I do not?”

“Then you will have to face terrible consequences!”

“Oh, and those might be?”

“Uhh,... Terrible, ... horrible ones too dreadful to describe!”

“Really?”

“Really, so you'd better be nice!” the kit stamped her foot to emphasize the point.

Between the little kits posturing, and general ticklishness in the belly forced Trajan to start to laugh.

“Hey, stop that! Eeeek, earthquake!”

The little kit grappled onto Trajan's stomach for dear life, her paws digging in making the tickling only worse. Trajan could barely breathe, he laughed so hard.


On the other side of the fence the small group of kits observed their advanced scout as she approached her target.

“I don't believe she's actually going to do it!”

The small crowd gasped in amazement when the new queen made her proclamation. Emboldened by the success of the little girl, the group started to make its way around to the entrance in the fence.

By the time they reached the opening, Trajan fairly roared with uncontrollable laughter.

“Ok stop, stop! I can't breathe!”

“No! I told you there would be terrible consequences! Now suffer!” she dug her paws in more deeply.

The big Rac roared with laughter, finally he “retaliated” by unleashing his own tickle attack on the little kit, who responded with squeals of laughter.

The cluster of kits poured through the gate. “He's got Serai! Get him!”

Trajan barely had time to react before the cluster of kits dog-piled him.



Inside the kitchen, Miss Aurum accepted the comfort Greystar offered her. “I'm sorry, Master Greystar, I've behaved awfully. The past year has been rather dreadful. Most of the staff has left, and so few of us remain. It is just the uncertainty of it all. After Master Barret died, we had no clue what would happen to the households. You get used to one job, and sometimes you just identify with it.” Miss Aurum sighed heavily. “I suppose we should get your friend back in here, where did he gat of to anyways?”

Everyone looked about momentarily until they heard a commotion outside. Through the kitchen windows, they could see Trajan buried beneath a pile of screaming kits.

“Oh dear! It looks like the neighbor's kits are out!” said Miss Aurum

[BlasTech]

The trip from the jail to Barret’s house was a fair distance and it gave them time to cover most of the important happenings of the last two days … but not much more than that.

“I guess one problem with this group is that it’s impossible to speak for everyone when talking about our reactions, but last night” Kahlin paused for a moment “Well, its getting to a stage where the dagger just seems to be finding new ways to up the ante." He said, frustratedly. He'd spent the majority of the trip bringing Amp up to speed and for his part, Amp had asked questions in many of the right places confriming that the years hadn't done anything to dull the curiosity Kahlin knew him for.

"You can probably guess why the group is so eager to find out what we can about it before it does something else unexpect-ed“ he trailed off as the carriage began to slow to a halt. He glanced forward to check if there was anything blocking their path, finding nothing he glanced at Piper “Are we there?”

“Yep” Piper nodded, already reaching over to open the side door “everyone out”.

The party milled around for a moment as Piper had a quick word with the driver before the carriage disappeared around the corner with a clatter of hooves on cobblestones, leaving them in what appeared to be the gates to a fairly well off neighbourhood. Definitely a nice change from living near the tumbledowns, Kahlin thought, as an innocent peal of children’s laughter cut through the air. Kahlin snorted to himself, it was sounds like that that made him feel like an old fossil, years before his time.

“The house is actually just a bit further down the street but we can walk it easily enough.” Piper continued “then we’ll be able to see what your friends have managed to find”

[Doink]

"Oh, it's okay, Miss Aurum. I-" Greystar fell silent when he saw the pack of kits enveloping sir Trajan. His eyes became wide and shiny, and he grinned from ear to ear. "Awww! Don't worry, Trajan, I'll save you!"

He did so by hugging a couple of the kits, then tickling them as hard as he could. Greystar had always had a weakness for cute things, and little kits were no exception. As they tickled him in retaliation, his eyes began to water, but he was laughing so hard that he didn't seem to notice.

[BlasTech]

How does one react to the unexpected? It is no secret that for the *truly* unexpected a person’s reaction is determined very much by individual factors. However, it is interesting to note the distinction between that and what occurs when something *mostly* unexpected occurs.

In the latter case, reaction can be determined by whether a person has encountered a similar situation, whether he or she has considered it possible or whether they have in place the mental framework to react accordingly. This can be seen in the way that a student is given the fundamental concepts in their field so that they can adapt or react off of these to deal and cope with other situations as they arise, even when they are not covered or are beyond their studies. A good planner, whether it be a general, a civic leader or an event organiser always allows for contingencies; what to do if person X doesn’t turn up where he’s supposed to, what to do if the enemy *does*. Even if the exact same scenario doesn’t eventuate they provide the basis off of which new plans can be made.

Kahlin had grown up as an only child in a sparsely populated neighbourhood whos adults and children alike had preferred their own personal space. Confronted with a large dogpile of extremely noisy and sociable children who had semi-buried two of his companions he had very little in the way of mental framework in place to dictate what his reaction should have been.

He couldn’t decide whether to yell out, to wade in and attempt to break it up or even whether to join in …

As a result, he stood there blocking the gateway and looking like a stunned mullet until someone behind him walked into him and knocked him out of the way.

As he picked himself up, he reflected that he hadn’t done too badly … at least one of the others was wearing the preternatural “What the” expression that he himself must have displayed only seconds earlier.

[Tbolt]

The two females exited Barret’s former house.

Vilnas stood and gaped at the divided pile of kits wrestling between the two older racs. “What, I...” for a moment she merely stood and gaped, at a total loss for words.

Miss Aurum plowed into the conflagration of cavorting kits. “Children, children! You will stop this at once, these men are our guests! You will treat them with respect! If you do not stop this at once, I might be forced to find better behaved children to give my special cookies to!”

The final statement produced the desired effect. All the kits immediately stopped their attack and stood back from Greystar and Trajan.

Trajan lay on the ground momentarily, panting.

For a moment, in the midst of the fray, Greystar caught a glimpse of Trajan’s eyepatch, the color from the brooch had turned from its normal icy blue to a warm golden hue. He watched the older rac stand and recompose himself. Now the patch returned to its normal shade.

Miss Aurum apologized. “I’m sorry, sirs, the children come to keep me company, so I bake them little treats. Master Greystar, I see a new group of individuals has arrived, are these friends of yours?”

[Doink]

Faris stared at the conclusion of Greystar and Trajan's... 'playtime activity', thankful, at least, that this was the worst that her brother had gotten himself into.

"Oh, Trajan!" Greystar gasped, trying to catch his breath. "I didn't know your eyepatch could change colors!"

Faris looked at Trajan and sure enough, Faris saw a brief flash of gold before the patch resumed its normal shade.

Greystar looked a bit disappointed. "Aww!" he whined, before turning to Miss Aurum. "That's really nice of you, Miss Aurum," he said, still beaming.

Faris rolled her eyes. "Greystar knows a lot about acting like a kit, so he should know."

Greystar got to his feet and dusted himself off. "Oh, right! This is my sister Faris," he introduced, walking up to Faris and giving her a big hug. "And these are our other friends, Kahlin, Piper, and... and..." He stopped before he could introduce their new companion. "Who are you again? I don't think we've met..."

[RedSquirrel456]

"And were you not accompanied by some of our acquaintances, it would remain that way," comes the bristling voice of Lady Vilnas. She had looked upon the next newcomer with a grand, heaving sigh. That made two other people who were privy to this mess. She sniffed down at Trajan and Greystar.

"I'm holding you accountable," she said, mostly to Trajan of course. Imagine, rolling about in the dirt like that. At least he's good with children, she thought grudgingly. But would he handle cleaning them up? Ah ha! She had him there. She turned back to the others, opened her mouth, and then decided she didn't really want to talk to anyone. She briskly turned tail and headed back into the house.

"I'll be doing something useful inside," she declared frostily. Slowly she began looking over the papers Greystar had sifted through, almost manically arranging them back into neat, organized piles. She then saw something that caught her eye, making her sit down and read it. It appeared to be a letter to one Richard Traven. She didn't know why but it seemed... out of place. The tone of the letter was urgent. It didn't describe much besides a simple business transaction, but that was just it. Barret had been well funded by the Guild; that he would be so worried to collect funds through a third party was... a tad disconcerting. None of the other papers were letters. Just maps and whatnot and a few sketches of far-off places and bizzare creatures from the Dire Swamp. Vilnas stood up slowly and went to Miss Aurum... she needed to get those lay-abouts outside into a proper, dignified, and above all efficient work force.

She folded the paper into a pocket on her dress and clapped her paws for attention the moment she was outside.

"All right, all of you!" she barked, stalling any introductions or conversations taking place. "I've found a paper of some interest. It has put me back on track, and I am here to put you all back in line. If it is not too much trouble, we do have something important to attend to, namely the searching of this house for anything that may have to do with Aven? Do you remember him? The poor child rotting in prison whilst we stand about like quacking ducks?"

"Ahhh..." someone began.

"Shush!" Vilnas said, holding up her hand. "No more interruptions. I want a line right here in front of me that will be divvied up into parties. There are several rooms here to search, all full of various knick-knacks and other useless accoutrements."

Miss Aurum gasped indignantly. She had bought a few of those useless knick-knacks!

"Come come, spit spot," Vilnas said. Her orders were important! Why wasn't anyone snapping to it?! "Those kits can come too, if they wish. Children, double servings of cookies if you help us today." No better way to seal a deal, after all. And it had been a while since she'd baked anything.

[BrockthePaine]

Piper interrupted. "You must be Miss Vilnas. If I might be so bold, madam, I have conducted several searches for the City Guards; it is, you might say, part of my profession. Having children running all over creation will be a hindrance, not a help. And I dare say the housekeeper will not appreciate having the entire house torn to bits. I suggest a more cautious, thorough search, room by room. By all means offer the children cookies," he said, seeing the dark disappointed looks the children were giving him. "But I beg you to keep them out of the way; it will only make our job harder. And trust me, Miss Vilnas, this job is already hard." He paused. "I know you're an archivist and all, and finding information is your speciality; but finding things people want to keep hidden is my speciality. We all represent different backgrounds and occupations: Kahlin here might find something I would not think twice about, and Trajan may put together a bit of information none of us would put together. Let each of us work to our strengths, ma'am, and the results will be better."