On The Dirt Road...

Date: 3/2/03

Location: Dirt Road

Characters: Kiia, Currant

As coincidence would have it, Kiia appears walking down the dirt road in a southern direction. She keeps to the side of the road rather than the center, as if the evening shadows there will conceal her from any unfriendly eyes.

After his earlier escapades having to do with several foxes, Currant went back to watch for people to rob. Of course, he hid at the side of the road, snow piled up over him. And it just so happens that, as Kiia is walking, she steps on him. "Yeeeeeow!"

Startled by Currant's sudden outcry, Kiia jumps back, giving a blink and a frown, narrowing her eyes at the talking snowbank, for Currant is still covered with snow. "Who's there?" She doesn't make the connection with her earlier meeting of the cat and this encounter.

Currant staggers up, and shakes off his cloak. He pulls the hood down and is about to reach for his sword when he recognizes the young fox of his earlier aquaintance. Instantly he drops his paw from his sword hilt, and stands up more straight. "Oh...it's you. Sorry about that. You caught me in the middle of prowling for more drunks."

"Well then, ye must na be very good at prowlin', 'cause ye did na e'en see me comin'." Kiia crosses her arms as she looks at Currant. "Anyway, sorry 'bout steppin' on ye. I did na think anybeast would be out at night, so I did na think 'bout watching snowbanks for beasts hidin'." The last bit is apparantly sarcastic, but sort of goodnatured, in Kiia's own way.

Currant smirks at Kiia, drawing from his cloak's many hiding places a torch, he lights it, revealing a flickering image of Kiia's face. "Well, the least you could do is say you're sorry." With the hand that's not holding the torch he reaches down and rubs his leg, "I'm all injured now...don't know if I'll be able to get on with my work." A smirk seems to materialize on his face after saying this...

"But I _did_ say sorry!" Kiia protests. "'sides, anybeast still at th'tavern this late's prolly goin' t'end up passin' out and goin' nowhere till mornin' so ye have a while t'recover 'fore ye have t'git on with yer work." She pulls out the remains of a half-eaten loaf of bread... Lo and behold, the same one from this afternoon... from a pocket in her baggy shirt. She puts a piece of it in her mouth. Dinner? Late night snack?

Currant swears aloud. "It's too late for me to catch anyone now, I guess. And 'tis gonna get cold soon." He shakes his head and looks at the tracks on the road, "I must've dozed off too...see here, some fat rat was waddlin' all over the road. And here he spilled a drink...looks like rum." He grins, "Too bad...he probably had a load of money on him too..."

Kiia shrugs her shoulders. "Serves ye right for fallin' asleep," she says before taking another bite of the bread. After she swallows, she adds, "And iff'n ye had na fallen asleep, ye woulda saved yerself a stepped on leg, 'cause ye woulda seen me comin'." She gives a sort of smirk before she takes another mouthful of bread.

Currant laughs, "Okay, you think whatever you want to think." He shrugs and looks about. Just at that moment the brisk winter wind kicked up again, and the cat put his ears flat against his head. "Oy...tonight's gonna be bad..." He looks around, and then back at the young fox, "How the heck have you managed to survive out here? You hadta get ME to mooch that bread off that fox earlier..."

The wind doesn't seem to bother Kiia at the moment as she chews her bread. She grins at the cat. "Oh, I survive fine. By moochin' or whate'er. Been doin' it long as I c'n remember, so I'd certainly 'ope I'd be good at it b'now." A bite of the bread again. One or so more bites and it will be gone. "Bit o' moochin', bit o' scavengin', bit o' thievin'..." The last one on the list seems ironic, as earlier in the day she was criticizing Currant himself for perhaps being a 'robber.'

Currant raises an eyebrow, "No family then...well, that would be the reason why a pretty little vixen like yourself would be out on their own..." Of course, he keeps up the charade now purely for jest, but he's not sure if Kiia thinks he's joking..."Well, the wind may not bother you, but it's really cutting to someone who doesn't spend his time all alone out here." He indicates the frozen wasteland beyond the edges of the dirt road. "So I hope you don't mind if I hand you this torch and pull an extra cloak outta me pack."

Kiia's face holds a sort of smile, as if knowing that the wind that doesn't bother her bothers Currant gives her some sort of satisfaction. "Ye don't spend all yer time out 'ere? Ye could 'ave fooled me, with all yer hidin' under snowbanks all day an' such." She holds out her paw to take the torch.

Currant gratefully hands the torch over, and then wiggles out of his pack, which falls onto the ground from under his cloak. He kneels down in front of it and opens it up, exposing several items of food, and another cloak. "Naw...I usually find a way to get into some kind of building for rest." He unfolds his second cloak and covers himself with it, and then resituates the pack, "Much better."

As Currant is looking through his pack, Kiia can't miss the seeming abundance of food in the pack that is lit up by the torchlight. She seems rather driven by food, doesn't she? Probably for lack of it. But she restrains herself, and hands the torch back to Currant when he is resituated.

Currant takes back the torch, glancing about, looking for a place to spend the night. "If you wanna come with me to sneak in somewhere you're welcome to. Or are you just gonna lie down wherever it's convenient?" He grins, "Doing that'll only get you more messed up, and it'll be harder to get clean so you can meet all those handsome young foxes I was talkin about..."

Kiia snickers a bit, shaking her head. "I know yer jus' kiddin' 'bout all that. Nobeast ain't ne'er payed any compliment t'me, an' I doubt 'at'll change e'en if I were t'git cleaned up. But thanks fer bein' nice any'ow! Good luck wit' all yer drunk robbin' an' such." With that, the young vixen plods off along towards the grasslands, looking for a suitable place to spend the night.