Drakki DeButcher's little shop of horrors

It's a quiet day in Halyard. The beasts brave enough to endure the heat of the cloudless, windless day are few and far in between. Even the calls of merchants are absent today.

Despite the heat Rioko has a smile to her lips as she moves through the streets, halberd ever present over her shoulder. She practically skips, keeping her free paw on the coin purse tied to her belt. The coin purse was a new addition, aquired today even after a good card game in the tavern. Times had been good on the fox. Unlike the majority of the beasts still suffering from the damage the huricane did to their economy the grey fox is well fed, her belly growing thicker and her fur looking sleek.

Occasionally the fox pauses at one of the few merchant stalls, looking over their wares, their food, clothing, but keeps moving when nothing catches her eye.

Having finished up her overnight shift at the infirmary and having the rest of the afternoon off, Ava had came out to Halyard with a few of her patrol-mates to do a bit of browsing. She is in her patrollers uniform with her bow and quill attached to her back and shoulder, as well as her medicine bag settled over her hip. As she picks through the stalls, she purchases a few pieces of fruit and a new sketchpad due to a stroke of luck.

The fox's tail swooshes behind her as she walks. She sees the long patrol members ahead but pays them no mind. The town seemed to be over ran with them lately...her eyes do however fall upon the merchant stall between her and the hares. A large stall with a large assortment of nic knacks, baubles, and other assortments of junk does little to hide the blade sitting in the center of the stall. The blade is a short sword, made of black iron and double edged with gold embroidery depicting many Celtic designs down the blood gutter. The vixen's eyes buldge at the site. Just what she needed, a weapon she could use indoors for her job.

The fox finds her self transfixed in front of the stall, drooling at the sight. The merchant of the stall is no where to be seen...

As she picks out a few more trinkets ,Ava makes her way to the stall aforementioned and lets her eyes slide along the contents until they fall upon the sword as well. Ears perking, she eyes it for a few moments, then lets out a soft 'huh' under her breath as she checks her coin purse, then looks about for the merchant who is running the stall.

As Rioko fumbles through her own coin purse she notices the hare doing the same. Her eyes narrow under her hat, "Don't tell me you are really thinking about buying such a lousy tooth pick of a weapon?" She says to the hare. She slides up to the LP member, leaning heavily into her polearm with her free paw on her hip, "And besides...I saw it first." That was vixen speak for 'IT'S MINE! MINE! GET AWAY BEFORE I BITE YOUR ANKLES OFF AND FEED THEM TOO YOU!' with out actually, saying that.

Ava blinks her eye as her personal space is soon invaded by the Vixen. Taking a step back, she looks up at her, then draws her attention to the sword again. "It's yours if you can afford it." She says simply as she slides her hands out from her pockets to dangle loosely at her sides. "I suppose we will just have to wait for the merchant to come back and give us the price, wot?"

"That all depends on how much you fine ladies wish to pay for it." As if summoned by the mere mention of making a sell the merchant's shadow looms over both hare and vixen. The fox turns first to address the beast, and pauses when she realizes that she is looking directly at his chest. Her head cranes upwards and upwards until she finds the beasts face.

The wolverine looks down at the fox and smiles, showing off all his slightly yellow teeth. "Do forgive me ladies, I had to (urp) step out for a quick bite to eat." The tall beast moves around the customers before shuffling his way behind the stall. The wolverines brown fur is thick and slightly damp from sweating in the heat. A flashy green and yellow vest wraps around his muscular chest, an otter hide belt wraps around a waist leaning to the well fed and pudgy side. "Welcome welcome welcome!" the beast says in a friendly mannor, "Come, come, take a look. See anything you like and just let me know! Everything MUST go!"

"Good afternoon, sir. This upstanding citizen here was interested in your sword. She seems to have first dibs on it." Ava says as she steals her eyes to the sword again before she starts to glance about the rest of the articles that he carries. "How are you doing today, sir? It is rather a hot one out today if I may say so myself." She picks something up, investigates it, then puts it back as she shifts her attention away from the fox.

"Please...call me Drakki." The wolverine takes off his cap and bows extravagantly, "Drakki DeButcher of the Rotgut clan...pleased ta meetcha!" Drumming his claws the stall the wolverine wags his tail, "Ah yes, The sword. A precious thing that is. Made of the finest iron! Only ten made in the entire world before the maker had a mishap and fell into his own furnace, very sad very sad." Briefly he glances up at the sun, "Although on a day like today I feel like I can relate..." Then back to the beasts, "I'm afraid that I can not simply part with such a beautiful weapon with such a long and rich history for a meager sum of money..." He narrows his eyes to both fox and hare, "Bidding starts at 10 silver..."

"It is nice to meet you Mister Butcher. My name is Corporal Avalon Firedale of the Long Patrol. Healer." The Doe says as she gives him a firm nod of her head. "The sword is quite beautiful indeed. Only ten ever made? What was the blacksmith's name? I am quite familiar with most of those in the region and even those that cross into Firedale's territory." Her lips twitch upwards some.

The fox at this point is at a cross roads. Does she glare at the hare for threatening to take her prized sword, or does she stare in abject horror at being so close to a wolverine? Since this particular beast doesn't seem interested in eating them she focuses on the former. But the vixen isn't blind to what the hare is doing either. So instead of heading her progress in haggling with the merchant the fox chooses to help...for the moment. "Only Firedale? Really? /I/ am familier with the names of most merchants in the eastern and southern territories..."

"Grimlock the one eyed." The wolverine says with a happy smile. "A bit of a short, stout Rat. He specialized in ax heads and morning stars. He shall be missed." The wolverine takes a moment of silence then claps his paws together, "So, 10 silver, anyone? Anyone?"

"Oh, you heard of Firedale? I am surprised. It is a three month trek north. I did not know my father's kingdom reached your ears." Ava says with a sly grin over to the Vixen. "I have not heard of Grimlock the One-Eyed but I am sure he was quite the blacksmith. But, seeing how you seem to know them, I assume you would be able to vouch for his craftsmanship?" She puts the vixen right on the spot as her grin widens. "Ten silver is too rich for my blood, so for now I will simply admire it's beauty."

The fox forces herself to smile, although it comes across more as a grimace. "I...I travel...a lot." The fox looks away, crossing her arms.

"With a Naginata in paw I would imagine you do! Er, ko-naginata in your case." The fox turns her head to the wolverine, "Nagiwata?" She shakes her halberd in the air, "Oh you mean this? No this is a halberd...at least the merchant who sold it too me said it was one."

"Actually that's more of a Glave than anything else, but you know...common mistake." The wolverine adds quickly. "Now about that ten silver?"

Cheeks flushed red with embarrassment the vixen dares not to look the hare in the eye, nor the merchant. "I see..." Says the wolverine, stroking his chin, "Well no worries. I don't mind a good haggle. How much are you both actually /willing/ to pay?"

"Like I said, she was here first. She was literally drooling over it." Ava says as she gives an amused grin once more before she looks at the other items. "I will give you two some alone time." With that, she steps away from the stall with a twitch of her nose as she goes to inspect a few other merchants to check out their wares. Making small talk with one that she has met up a few times, she keeps an eye on the Vixen and Wolverine at times.

The vixen twitches an eye. Every time the fox meets up with the LP, they only give her more reason to hate them with the blazing heat of a thousand burning suns! The conversation can't be heard from this distance but the fox can be seen pouring the contents of her coin purse into both paws and offering it with a hopeful smile. Drakki responds with a laugh, pats her on her head and tries to offer her some kind of cheaply made dagger that resembles a kitchen knife than anything else.

Deflated Rioko shuffles away, hal...glave dragging across the ground along with her tail.

"You should have offered a trade. Your Glave and your money for the sword." Ava calls over to the vixen as she starts past with a perk of her ears upwards. "Or, perhaps offer to trade your services if you have any other skills. Work it off for an even trade. Wolverines pride might and muscle over most things in life. That is how you haggle with one of them."

The fox crosses her arms, raises an eyebrow at the hare. Is she being helpfull, or rubbing her nose in it. "Oh /really/. Well ifin you are so keen to the inner workings of the mind of wolverines then by all means, show me how its done." Rioko does admit that it feels good to vent some of her anger at the hare. Ava is part of the LP so the fox is sure she has done something deserving of her ire. Besides, maybe she can watch the wolverine try to bite the hare's head off or something...violent little creature the fox is...

"I would just pay full price for it. I just do not carry silver on my person in such quantity. You know, thieves and all." Ava says with a smirk upon her face to the vixen. "If I wanted the sword that badly, I would just ask him to hold it on good favor and meet up with him on a specific time and date and add some compensation for holding the weapon away from other customers. But, as nice as it is, I do not know if I believe his story about being only ten of those made. I do not drop that much silver without proper research. I want a return on my investment. For all I know, it could fall apart on the first strike."

The fox can't argue with that logic, it actually does make sense. It also however, irks her that the hare is rich enough to buy something Rioko wants...and that Rioko is not..."Oh sure you can just buy the blade, why not? I bet they just have a gold mine there in that big mountain of yours. I bet you lot of hares got so much gold ya just pick it off the walls and use it to flavor your tea, wot. Unfortunately we here in Halyard don have sucha luxury." The fox smiles deviously, "Of course...you could ask the wolverine if you could try it out first..."

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"I am pretty sure they do not have a gold mine if I am able to pay with silver." Ava counters to the vixen with a smirk upon her face, giving the merchant at his stall a dip of her head. "I am just saying that I have enough to pay for it, but, at the same time I do not want it that badly. Why buy a sword when I can have one forged that is tempered specifically for me? I do not buy a nice weapon such as that if I was not going to use it." She picks out a banana and tosses a coin to the store keep.

Because then I can not duel you for it! The fox nearly blurts out. It's quite obvious that Rio has not thought through the exact consequences of this plan quite yet but she goes along with it anyway. "Sure sure, such a pretty blade for a prim and proper hare. I bet that fancy blade of yours has never tasted anything but training dummy blood." The fox crosses her arms, "Tell me hare, are you a gambling hare?"

Glancing upwards to the vixen, Ava says evenly, "I have killed before when beasts find themselves foolish and decide to harm the citizens of this small town, or members of my patrol." Her hand brushes along the short sword strapped to her hip. "Though I do not prefer drawing blood unless my life depended on it." Her ears give a perk. "It depends on the game. What are you suggesting?"

The fox's tail twitches as she considers what exactly to challenge the hare too. She would like nothing more than to have some retribution for the slights against her from the LP, both real and imagined, but she doesn't actually want to give the LP a reason to have retribution against her as well for injuring or killing one of their hares. Rioko likes her fluffy hide right where it is, thank you very much.

"She snaps her claws, "Alight then. How about a nice friendly duel. First to draw blood wins. No need to kill each other over a sword." The fox leans into her pole arm again, "Or if you figure its too hot for a duel, we can head into a tavern and solve our difference with a good old fashioned drinking contest, like civilized beasts. If I win you surrender yonder sword after you buy it." Or I let you drink yourself under the table then pick pocket your wallet, thinks the fox. She neglects to offer what the hare get's out of this little duel. Rio figures Ava will supply that herself.