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Marshport

It was a late summer evening. The shadows of dusk were beginning to permeate the woods and a golden sunset was painting the sky a fiery orange.


Down by the thick of Wisp-Wood Swamp, all was silhouette and fireflies. creatures began their nighttime activities. Little nats congregated in clusters and danced a waltz through the humid air. The chirping of frogs an the barking of foxes could be heard and fireflies began to dot the shadows like stars.


Sadly the beauty of this scene was lost on Ezekiel, who sat with his wagon parked at the bogs edge, busily trying to make sense of his map by the dimming light. Not that he was a Philistine, in fact, any other day he would be more than happy to stop and flowers (metaphorically, that is. Nothing so fragrant here) and maybe even set up camp for the night. But if his years of war had taught him anything, it was that looks could be deceiving. He had heard of savage, red-eyed monsters that inhabited these parts and he knew already that the swamps and wetlands were the nighttime playgrounds of fey and malicious spirits. Neither of which he was anxious to meet so the sooner he found his way out the better.


How to say that Ezekiel was afraid for his life. I mean, he had fought ELVES. He KNEW how to protect himself from fairy magic and monsters. But it wasn't himself he had to worry about, it was his daughter. She did not have the same sense of danger that he did and little children were the favorite prey of the wisps and monstrosities of the swamps. He kept her close but he couldn't very well watch her forever.


(We are about two or 3 miles from Marshport, but it appears daddy got a little lost along the way.)
 
May, who had been napping in the back, woke up and looked around, realizing the wagon wasnt bumping any more. She poked her head up next to Ezekiel. "Are we there yet?"
 
Ezekiel let out a startled yell but then laughed with relief when he saw it was just his daughter. "Well ah'd say we're somewhere " he told her. "Think ah got us lost again."


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May laughed as well before climbing up to the front of the carriage and sitting down. She looked over at him and smiled. "What can I do to help?"


____________________________________________________


Ezekiel looked at his map and around himself for a landmark or something to reorient himself by. "Well, ah dunno if there's much fer ya help with, Critter-bug." That was one of his affectionate names for her. He squinted at the map. "Actualy, could you crawl on back and find the hood-lamp. I can't even read the map"


_____________________________________________________


May nodded. "Okay!" She climbed back into the wagon to find the lamp. As she looked around, she spotted something by the road. She tilted her head and crawled to the edge of the wagon to get a closer look at it. It appeared to be a fox statue. Curious and easily distracted, she climbed out of the wagon and walked over to look more closely at it.


____________________________________________________


May had seen lots of these little statues in little doghouses during her long road trip. Ezekiel had told her that the statues living inside them were gods and if you give them something, they'd give you good luck. (that's the idea anyway. I'll have you know that Ezekiel doesn't really believe in that).


The fox in question was about two feet tall and was made out of polished stone, a red cloth adorning its neck like a bib. It sat near the threshold of the shelter, it's tail pointed straight up the air and its paw protectively tucking a cub underneath it, all the while looking forward attentively.


It was understandable that is Ezekiel didn't see it. It sat in he shadowed area, difficult for his eyes to see, and the vegetation growing on the roof then it's part conceal it. But it didn't seem like it had been neglected. The statue and the bowl in front of it had been cleaned recently. The house itself was overgrown but likely only because it's caretaker found it beautiful.


With her sense of smell, May could tell that the shrine had, in fact, received quite a bit of attention. All of the statue and the bowl smelled faintly of sweaty fingers, but it was almost over powered by the strong, skunky scent of its most frequent visitors.


One of which decided to pay it's respects by urinating on outside of the house.


Finally, as she looked further inside the shrine, May discovered the culprit. A Fox. An actual one. Cowering at the very the back of the shelter with it's hackles raised and eyes fixed on the wolf-faced intruder. It's mouth hung open slightly, threatening to bite.


____________________________________________________


May knelt down and smiled at the fox, tilting her head and not catching on to the threatening posture. "Hi there. Whatcha doin' in that old hut?" She giggled at it. "You're kinda cute. Come here, I won't hurt ya." She held her hand down close to the ground outside the hut.


____________________________________________________


The fox looked at May like the DEVIL was knocking at the door. It did, in fact, recognize he posture as peaceful (living in a roadside shrine, it had become well accustomed to and tolerant of this reaction from visitors.) But this time, this quirky hand-offering ritual wasn't going to do squat for putting the vulpine at ease.


A. there was nothing in that hand.


B. The fox wouldn't go to her if there was something in her hand


C. W-O-L-F! Natural enemy #1!


If May thought the fox was putting its teeth away for THAT face, then it had two words for her: F. YOU.


Actualy what it told her was "GNENK-GNENK-GNENK-GNENK!" but that was the basic translation.


Ezekiel, sitting at the front of the wagon, overheard May talking off to the road side and sighed, rolling his eyes in with an 'Oooooof course' kind of expression. One moment she was in the back, the next, teleporting off to pester a bunny rabbit. A talent of hers. Remember what I said about not being able to watch her forever? This is is why,


Ezekiel peeked around the corner of the wagon. "May honey, ya need t' stay in the wagon. This is a dangerous place wander-"


GNENK-GNENK-GNENK-GNENK!


Ok, that was not a bunny. "May, what was that?"


____________________________________________________


May looked over towards the wagon. "I found a fox in a box with a fox...er...statue!" The pause was a result of her getting herself a bit tongue twisted. "It's really cute but it won't come out. Can I give it a carrot? Feral animals like carrots, right?"
 
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May looked over towards the wagon. "I found a fox in a box with a fox...er...statue!" The pause was a result of her getting herself a bit tongue twisted. "It's really cute but it won't come out. Can I give it a carrot? Feral animals like carrots, right?"


____________________________________________________


Ezekiel hopped down from the wagon an walked over to have a look. After examining the shrine and its current occupant, he looked at May and said, "Well I don' think he's gonna come out if you're there, hon, and he ain't gonna let you pet them. He probably thinks you're going to catch him eat him for dinner."


GNENK-GNENK-GNENK-GNENK!


"See, that's him bark'n at ya. He's say'n 'Go away!'"
 
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May looked at Ezekiel. "Aw, but I could never eat something so cute! Can you tell him that I won't eat him?" She figured that if he knew what the fox said, that meant the fox would know what he says.
 
("What does the fox say!")





Ezekiel chuckled "Ah don' think he understands people-talk, hon." He looked up at the sky. "Anyway," he said, "we gotta move. It's get'n dark." He reached into his pocket, pulled a square of half eaten trail-bread* and handed it to May . "Here, let's see if he'll take this out of your hand, first"


(The trail-bread in question is actually called Hudson Bay bread. Its a compact power-bar with fruits and nuts and oats (though the ones my dad made used flour). They're filling and taste pretty good, but after a few days on the trail, you get sick of 'em)
 
May looked at the trail-bread before taking it and holding it out to the fox. "Here ya go. You can have this, it's good. See? I'm not gonna hurt ya." She smiled at the fox, hoping to look as nice as she could.
 
The fox was a little conflicted. On the one hand, it is a wolf. But then wolves don't offer treats, do they? But then again, it said the the word "cute" earlier, which everyone knows is little Two-Leg for, "grab-you by-the-tail-and-squeeze-you-till-you-die". Was it worth the risk?


The fox cautiously crawled up to the threshold of its sanctuary, sniffing the demons offering. It was an especially delicious treat. Totally worth the risk. The fox darted out, snatched the treat (nearly taking some fuzzy fingers with it) and retreated back into the shrine to munch at it's leisure.
 
May yelped at the sudden movement, but then she squealed with delight as she saw the fox had accepted her offering. "Sooo cute!" She looked to Ezekiel. "Did you see that? He likes it!"
 
Ezekiel laughed. "He sure did. Aright, better hop back in." Then he look at the shrine and wondered something. He pulled out his map...
 
May nodded. "Okay!" She waved to the fox. "Bye friend!" She then turned and walked over to the wagon. She jumped up and started trying to pull herself up, flapping her wings wildly to give herself a little boost.
 
The fox crept out a little bit, looked inside the offering bowl front of the statue to see what they left.


Nothing


... The fox looked at the pair of bipeds with disbelief. What? seriously? No presents for the rock-fox? Come on people! That's, like, not right! You gotta leave food or shinys in the bowl and then the rock-fox is happy! And that means everyone is happy! And since the rock-fox doesn't realy need presents, the fox-fox gets them instead so he's the most happy. It's a good system, people! Especially if you're the fox-fox (which he conveniently was)!


Meanwhile, Ezekiel studied the map, specificaly the swamp. He is having trouble reading it in this dim light but he did happen to notice that a section of ithe forest was labeled 'FOX SWAMP'.


"Hey May, you got better eyes then ah do." He pointed at the eastern part of this forest. "Is there anything that says something anything about a 'shrine?'"
 
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May looked over, about half way into the wagon. She hopped down and walked over to the map. She looked at it searching for the word that he asked about. "Hm..."
 
(Alright.)


"Oh! There!" May pointed to where she found the word on the map. "Is that where we are right now?"
 
Ezekiel smiled. "Yep! Sure is!" He said triumphantly. "We are officially un-lost. Aright Ah'm gonna need to sit up front with me so you can help navig-"


Clunk.


He looked down, his mouth still halfway open, to see the fox sitting right there, staring up at him, having dropped the empty offering bowl at Ezekiel's feet. "GnnNEHHHHHHHHHHH!" The fox irately pointed out.


Ezekiel stared at the little animal for a good five seconds. "... Ya don't say."


(i'll get this moving along very soon. I promise. But I have stuff I need to do right now
 
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May looked down as well. "Aw, he's still hungry." She looked up at Ezekiel. "What else do we have that we can feed him?"
 
Ezekiel stooped down and picked up the the bowl (naturally, the fox quickly stepped away from him a safe distance). "Well, we have some trail mix." He said, then he grabbed a bag out of the front of the wagon, dumped some of the contents into the bowl and put it back on the ground the fox.


The fox causiously approached, not taking his eyes off Ezekiel for a second, and sniffed the offering. He seemed satisfied enough and retreated back to the shrine with the bowl in its mouth.


Ezekiel scratched his head "pan handling foxes. Now THAT's sumthin that ya don't see every day." He turned to May. "Welp, let's roll."


(My next post is going to end with them at the gates of Marshport. There's going to be a line.)
 
(Alright.)


May giggled. "He's still cute." She looked at Ezekiel and nodded. "Yup." She walked over to the wagon and resumed trying to pull herself up, flapping her wings in an attempt to get some kind of lift. Eventually she managed to get in and she sat down near the front.
 
The City Gates


When the two arive at the city walls of Marshport only to find that the gates are closed. Standing by the wooden gate are two people: an elderly gentleman man and a well dressed young man with fiery orange hair.


The latter is having a heated argument with the door.


"Are you kidding me!?" The man was angrily yelling. "I got here one minute late!"


"I am sorry Sir, but the gates have closed." Said a low, grumbly voice from a peep hole in the door.


"Yeah, I can SEE that they are closed, genius." The man growled. "I was WATCHING you close them as I came RUNNING down the road, FLAILING my arms like a chicken, SHOUTING AT YOU TO WAIT!"


The guard behind the door had to snicker. "Heh heh. Chicken flapping." Between the mans crowing voice, his scrawny figure and his flamboyant attire, he DID sort of resemble an ornamental rooster.


The man put his hands on his hips. "YEAH. GO AHEAD AND LAUGH. IM HILARIOUS."


The guard behind the door cleared his throat. "Look I'm sorry-"


"No you're not!"


"-But is rules. Gates are closed at 7:00. No opening. Would not want Rougarou or pirates coming in."


The man put his palms up incredulously. "Did I look like EITHER?"


The guard took a moment to look them up and down. "... Could be pirate."


The man rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Yeah, ya got me. Captain Mcflappy Chicken Pirate, at your service. And as you can see, I TOTALY brought my invisible crew of scurvy buccaneers with me to pillage and plunder your fine little city. OH WAIT! WHAT'S THIS?!" He looked behind himself in mock surprise. "Noooo invisible crew? Well, SILLY ME! I MUST HAVE LEFT THEM WITH MY INVISIBLE BOAT! I GUESS THERE WAS NO DANGER AFTER ALL! HOORAAAAY!!!! THE TOWN IS SAVED!!! Now lemme in."
 
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The guard was quiet. "...The door is also quite heavy."


"You're a Minotaur." The man dryly stated. "Bull-$&%#. And when I say 'Bull-$&%#,' I mean 'THATS THE BIGGEST $&%# I EVER HEARD FROM A BULL!'"


"... Its also just been barred."


The man was fuming now, "so UNbar it!"


"The bar is locked in place."


"SO UNLOCK IT"


"The Captain has the key. And she went out to lunch."


"Then go GET her, you lazy cow!"


"Also, I don't like you."


"Ah."
 
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Meanwhile, the elderly gentleman had a pleasant smile on his face as watch the argument, though most of the words seemed to be going over his head. "My my, the fruit stand sure is living today." He raised one shaky hand. "I'll have a pear, please!"
 
The well dresssed man staired at the... non sequitur old gentleman.


and behind the door, the Minotaur could be heard asking,
 
Behind the doors, the Minotaur could be heard quietly asking some one, "Do we have pears?"


Meanwhile, Ezekiel drove his cart up. "S'cuse me," he said. "There something wrong with the gate?"


The man looked over his shoulder at Zeke, "Yeah, idiot holstein won't let us in."


The Minotaur spoke in response. "Is RULES." he insisted, and when Ezekiel saw the Minotaurs face, his hand immediately flew to his sword.
 

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