Mischief
New Member
As the title suggests, this RP is an adaptation of the Disney film The Fox and the Hound.
Instead of animals as the character, they are all human, and the setting is a made up medieval land.
The main plot will follow the movie more or less, but the rest is up to us.
I want this RP to be semi-literate at the least. The more literate the better. One or more decent paragraphs please. Dialogue is the only exception, as it get rather taxing to find a way to stretch a reply to another character into a paragraph.
Prologue
A Forgotten Encounter
The night was clear and cold, the cloudless sky sucking away any warmth from the torches and bonfires that dotted the crowded Bailey town. The streets were mostly empty, save the scattered latecomer heading home from a long day at the docks, or the mines, or the bakery, blacksmith, or carpenter's. It was quiet. It was peaceful. It was safe, as the Bailey usually was. There was hardly any need for the Provost Guard to be out, though they kept a few officers out to patrol the streets. It was an easy job. Nothing went wrong in the Bailey.
Down the hill, past the Bailey gates, and past a few other quiet settlements, was another town, closer to the river. The housing there was more than a little less than luxurious, mostly built of the drift that washed through the river after a storm. Here, the streets were alive all hours of the day. While the sun was up, bustling business went about, a shanty of a market place bubbled with haggles and gossip. The docks were roiling with testosterone, river skips docking and pulling out, fish being carted from them, and barrels of supplies being carted back. It was just as loud there as it was in the market, shouts and calls, sailors looking for temporary work on an outgoing ship, not to mention the riverfront taverns strategically placed to lure in tired ship hands.
Indeed, Riverton was a bustling place during the day, but at night it was no less active. Shady dealings and street performers came out at night, using the dark to mask their sticky fingers and itching palms.
As the torches were being lit to keep the creeping darkness away, a detachment of Provost Guards came marching through the portcullis and through the main street, disrupting the night life's preparation for that night. However, they were not there to keep the pickpockets and swindlers from their gain. No, they were after a specific target. The whereabouts of a rather notorious thief had been uncovered. He was the guards' intended target; The Emerald Fox. Rumor was that the Emerald Fox never missed a mark, and was never caught. No one even knew who the Fox was. He was the quickest, cleverest, and stealthiest man alive, with the acrobatic skill that rivaled cats and mice. The only thing about the Fox that everyone knew, aside from his reputation, was that he had the most stunning green eyes anyone had ever seen, with flecks of coppery gold littered in them, as if someone had sprinkled stardust in his eyes when he was born. The guard passed through town, making their way to a group of houses overlooking the docks.
Inside one of the dockside apartments, a tired couple tended to an wailing infant. He had been sleeping soundly, his parents turning out the candles and adding some chips to the embers of the fire to keep the poorly insulated apartment warm. This was to be their last night in this rat hole. They were moving up to the Bailey to start a life as a blacksmith. The one there was getting on in years, and had no apprentice.
The infant began his fit, having woken from presumably a nightmare. His mother came and scooped him up, shushing him and rocking him gently, doing her best to calm the lad. The father went to the fire, a pot of milk in his hands and placed the pot on the embers, warming the milf to give to the child to save his wife's poor, sore breasts from another night of suckling. Their son was beginning to calm down.
A hard knock at the door startled them all, starting the child crying all over again. The mother looked at the door, her heart fluttering. She nodded to her husband, to which he stood and came to the door, opening it a crack, "Who comes to my door at this time?" He asked, peeking out. The door was rammed open, shoving him back. He was not a heavy man, slim and fit, lean as a cat. He certainly fit the build.
"Nathan Benbow, The Emerald Fox, you are under arrest for suspicion of grand larceny, breaking and entering, obstruction of the law and avoiding and resisting arrest on numerous accounts. You and your family are under arrest." Stated one of the four guards that had entered the room.
"What?!" Cried the accused, Nathan, "That's ridiculous! The Emerald Fox is a myth! You Dogs aught to know that!" He spat, using the common term for the Provost Guard. He away as the men approached. He glanced at his wife, clutching the whimpering baby in her arms. With a flick of his wrist, Nathan had a dagger in his hand, "Rebecca, run! Take Kale and Run!" He yelled and lunged at the men arresting them. There was a scuffle, odds were against Nathan, but Rebecca did as her husband had told her, clutching her baby closely, she jumped out of the window. She turned to run down the street, but the Dogs had seen that coming, and had posted someone at the window. This man was new to the force, but capable, and when he saw the woman come out of the window, he got his baton out. "Don't make this worse for yourself. Come quietly and you and your child will likely go free."
"You know nothing then!" Rebecca growled, knowing a truth the Dog obviously did not. "There is no mercy at the court." She lashed out with her own concealed dagger, cutting the lad above the eye,turning and running the other way, the young guard taking after her. She was fast, and weaved through the maze of alleys with ease. She obviously knew these back streets like her own house, so well so that the young pursuer was having trouble keeping up with her. She kept running, strait out of Riverton and up the hill to one of the smaller settlements below the Bailey.
The houses here were spread about, crops and animal pens taking up most of the space between housing. Rebecca was running out of breath. She had to stop. Looking behind her, she could hear the Hound on her tail. He was nothing if not diligent. Little Kale was still crying, and he was sure to give her away. She bundled him up and shushed him. It was the running. It was too much jostling for him to take. She had to set him down. A quick scan of the area and she knew what to do. Running into a carrot patch, she set her baby boy in the cover of the carrot tops, next to a fence post to mark where he was for when she came back for him. She refused to think that something would happen to prevent her from returning to him. She kissed his forehead, her emerald eyes glimmering with tears she refused to shed. He looked up at her, his eyes the same as hers. He had his mother's eyes, the brightest green anyone had ever seen, with a sprinkle of stardust.
She left him, and ran for the woods that surrounded the eastern side of the farming settlement, the Provost Dog catching sight of her and giving chase once more. Baby Kale lay bundled in his blanket at the bottom of that fence post, surrounded in the leafy greens of the carrot tops. His mother never returned.
At the first hint of sunlight in the air, Rhona was up and ready for romping. She knew by now not to wake her grey haired parents until the sun was completely over the hill to the east of their farm, so as usual, she silently sneaked out of her room and through the kitchen, out into the garden and off the property. The sun had yet to peek over the east hill, but the light radiating from the horizon was enough to see by, casting everything in a blue haze. The little Mumper loved the smell of the crisp morning mist that still hung in the air, breathing in deep and letting it out with a satisfied sigh. What trouble would she cause today? What treasures would she find? Most important, what adventure would she go on today?
When she reached the road, she stopped, standing up strait and looking out over the endless fields of farmland that belonged to her family and all of their neighbors. Way off in the distance to the north, she could barely make out the buildings that marked the end of farmland and the beginning of the walled in Bailey town.
She turned to face south, and though she could not see it, as it was covered by dense trees, she knew the road through the woods leading to Riverton snaked it's way down there. To the west, there was the nobles and knight's land, awarded by the king for those he deemed deserved it. It was a fun place to stir up commotion, and the pickings were great! Pockets filled with the shiny she took to so greedily. Finally to the east, towards the rising sun, was uncharted territory for her. There was a road, so she knew there was something out there somewhere, but she never ventured out far enough to find out what, and she never bothered asking. What fun was it to be told what was out there? She wanted to find out on her own. Someday she would.
Unable to make up her mind on where she wanted to go, she decided to close her eyes and start spinning. It was not an uncommon sight. The little redhead spinning in the middle of the dirt road early in the morning, like a weather vane in a wind storm. She stopped suddenly and teetered as he equalibreum settled, then opened her eyes. She was facing the Bailey town. Rhona smiled and set off at a skip toward the waking kingdom gates. The market would be getting ready for the day's haggling, and she knew all the right vendors to visit.
