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Post by The Jenn on Dec 23, 2007 1:09:23 GMT -5
 Chaitali walked through the streets of this strange region, twelve years old and having traveled quite a distance and without accompaniment despite the numerous dangers of the road. She'd managed to save enough pocket money to hire a coach to Corvistowne and still had enough to buy her one for the way back. This trip had been in the works for a little while now. As a Morganberry child, she was ambitious. She wanted the glamor, the fame, the fortune, the prestige of Court life. Considering her rank at present, that shouldn't have been so far out of her reach. Except... she was the lowest ranked child of her litter. That left her quite bitter. Tristian and Naylia were Tens, Khizr was a Jack, and Raj was a flipping King. And she was a Nine. Born into the upper class, but not where she wanted to be. And of course, there was another teensy weensy little problem with her ambitions. Her father was a King to Queen Serafino himself, which should have been quite the stepping stone into power. Except she and her siblings hadn't been wanted in the slightest, not in the beginning, and he really didn't want them now. Especially not her and her brilliantly colored brother. Their Morganberry heritage showed too clearly. If they'd been just Morganberry and not their parents' children... fine. Similarly, if they'd been Highlanders, they might have even been allowed to live in the Court with their father and the 'privileged' siblings. Or even if it didn't show through, like Raj's did. No, she didn't even have a chance there. She was the only pure Morganberry. Not even a chance. And these wings... These wings. She hated them. Oh how she hated them. They made her an anomaly, and not in the 'unique' and 'standing out' way. She was a cat with wings, and they weren't beautiful Highland wings like her half-brother Lior, one of the Queen's brood and thus automatically privileged, or so she assumed. He got to live in the palace, at any rate. No, they were Morganberry wings to match her Morganberry self and her Morganberry mother. The thought made her arch and hiss a little, which earned her looks from one or two people passing by. She gave them glares until they shrugged and walked on. Enough of this. She had placed to be. She reached the door that had been her goal all along and reached up with her mouth to use the knocker. |
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Post by Kari Muffin on Dec 23, 2007 1:25:38 GMT -5
 Rocco let out a shrill curse as his experiment failed once again. His growth formula had worked on the necrotic tissue, but not well enough! It had been dead too long to have the proper results. He tapped the glass that encased the dead and rotting flesh. This was getting more and more hopeless as the days passed. He sighed and looked at the empty containers. How many times had he tried? His add in the paper for living wings had fallen through so many times he simply went to people who sold dead body parts. It was getting him nowhere. He needed living tissue to work with to achieve his dream. Rocky would never touch someone who didn't volunteer. That would never change for him. He had worked too hard to change his personality and sense of honor. Rocky reluctantly marked his papers down as another failure, filing them away with the rest of the papers. At least Ataxia had helped him make a neater lab. He blinked at the sudden tapping, staring up the stairs. Someone was at his door? He slipped his goggles off before bounding up the stairs as quickly as he could. trotting over to the door he peered through the peep hole and blinked a few times. Why was a winged feline knocking on his door? A winged....? Holy crap! The raccoon flung open the door after quickly undoing the lock. "Hello! How may I help you?" |
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Post by The Jenn on Dec 23, 2007 1:34:39 GMT -5
Pink eyes stared critically at the bizarre creature who answered the door, a child's eyes but tainted with her fair share of Life. She sniffed, spreading her wings out a little bit, and sat straighter. Cheek fur. Six limbs. Tiny little wings fluttering uselessly on his back. A Seven of Diamonds... well, at least that was promising. He was high enough to hopefully be respectable, but not higher than her. That gave her something of an edge, despite her age.
"Hello," she said, tone deliberately and forcedly 'polite' but still with an air of uncertainty. "My name is Chai. I read an add in the paper of the Capital. It said that you were looking for someone with fully functional wings to make a deal with. Something about wing removal as the result. Mine aren't done growing... but, well. Can I come inside? Or are you just going to leave me out on your doorstep?" She hoped he would be able to do this, but she would have to find out more before actually letting him.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Dec 23, 2007 1:49:29 GMT -5
Thank you newspaper. Thank you so much for this wonderful and snotty gift from the sky above. "Do come in! Please take a seat in my sitting room in the right. It's the only proper place I have. I'll get you some tea and crumpets and we can talk about what I need from you and if you actually want to go through with this Miss Chai. Oh yes, and pardon me for being rude. My name is Rocco, but everyone calls me Rocky." He ushered her in the right direction and shut the door and automatically clicked the lock.
He swiftly ran for the kitchen and grabbed his already warm crumpets and the tea that had been boiling for his midday cup of highly caffeinated tea. Thank you timing for being appropriate. He poured two proper cups of not-quite-totally-hot tea and placed it on a severing tray with the crumpets he loved so much.
He trotted into the "sitting room" which consisted of a couch of someone decent quality, a patched up plush chair, and a table with strange scratch marks on it. This was the neatest part of his house, and the only part with plus carpet that he didn't have to rip up.
"Now then. You do realize once I remove your wings that you can't have them back?" He wanted to make sure. She was... young.
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Post by The Jenn on Dec 23, 2007 1:56:28 GMT -5
Chai followed him in, eyes sweeping his hallway and sitting room critically as he dashed out once again. She didn't feel the need to acknowledge his introduction, not with him moving about in such a hurry.
What a shabby place. Everything looked patched up and scratched up and generally worn. She certainly wouldn't stand to live in a place like this when she became an adult and could move away from home. That would be a day of joyous celebration, to be sure. With some hesitation, she hopped up onto the couch and stretched out, almost lounging. Her wings relaxed, one resting against the back of the couch and the other drooping slowly to the floor, feathers brushing the dingy carpet and eventually resting against it comfortably. Well, for all that his couch looked like a piece that had an appointment with a dumpster, it was comfortable enough.
She watched him return and bustle about, setting things up for tea. And he'd actually brought out crumpets as well. They even smelled half-decent. She reached out one paw towards the table, carefully snagging a crumpet with paw and claw to bring back and taste. Yes... half-decent. Edible, certainly. Quite good, possibly. She munched and looked at him, appraising his bizarre appearance.
"If you can get them off of me safely and without leaving horrific scars or stumps or anything nasty like that, I won't want them back. Either way, I won't want them back. Tell me what you're going to do and how much you're going to pay, if you don't mind." Her tone implied that she wanted to know whether he minded or not.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Dec 23, 2007 2:05:34 GMT -5
Direct and to the point then? What a darling little girl? At least she was eating the crumpets without much complaints. "100 even, since they aren't fully grown." The raccoon said as if the price weren't up for discussion, "You see my dear, I need to carefully and surgically remove your wings and attach them to me. The good thing about it, is you get minimal scaring because of the muscles I have to sever. Your fur should grow back rather quickly as well. If it doesn't I can easily give you a bit of solution that will make it grow back properly."
And maybe shockingly bright neon pink, but she was close enough that it didn't matter very much. Thank you for stealing a potion or two from that awful feline. Good thing she had enough that she wouldn't notice.
"I will probably won't be able to place you under anesthesia," He said raising an eyebrow, he wasn't good at that at all. "Though I can give you something that will numb the pain in that area, and I assure you there will be pain if you choose to opt out of the painkillers. Is that a clear enough explanation for you Miss Chai?"
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Post by The Jenn on Dec 23, 2007 2:18:16 GMT -5
Chai listened, more than interested in what he was planning on doing to her if she accepted. Removing them surgically she had expected - how else would anyone get them off? Leaving her conscious throughout the procedure was a surprise, though. She certainly hadn't expected that. But... painkiller, yes... that would work. She hoped. And no scarring in the long-term was also good. She could be more normal afterwards, a feline without the stigma of the feathery appendages attached to her back. They may have looked good on the pretty little Highland Queen in the palace, and Serafino wore them well, but those were Highland wings. And hers were Morganberry. And she did not want them.
They reminded her of her mother with every flutter.
"The price is fine. I really just want them gone more than anything, without all the nasty scars and damage. I've got years to grow out of it. So long as they're gone eventually... that's fine. I want the painkillers and I can probably ignore any pain in between doses at first. Heart, after all." She said that last bit with a slight sneer. It wasn't like he was a Club or anything, but he wasn't a Heart either. So. "How long will it take, do I have to sign anything, and how do I know you're legit? I've heard there are a lot of wackos who work around here. I want to see the money before you start chopping into my back."
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Post by Kari Muffin on Dec 23, 2007 2:27:57 GMT -5
A smart little kitten she was. Also a bit snarky about being a heart. How very darling and horribly stereotypical of a Morganberry. Ugh, that was a whole new nightmare. "Yes, you have to sign a few papers, and wavers. I'll show you the actual cash. Pardon me for a moment," He said with a slight nod of the head as he trotted off to his study that was conveniently place by the kitchen.
After a bit of paper shuffling, and happy murmurs to himself he produced the proper papers and the money pouch. He walked back into the room triumphantly, his tail swishing the whole way.
"All right my dear, you need to sign and initial some papers. I also have to know if you have proper consent from a guardian." He said nonchalantly as he handed her the clipboard with the papers on it. If she didn't have consent he may just scream, but judging from this girls attitude she'd try to convince him anyway. She wanted to be the best she could be of course.
Why she wanted to lose her wings he hadn't the slightest.
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Post by The Jenn on Dec 23, 2007 2:42:04 GMT -5
"Of course I have my guardian's consent," Chai said in a snitty tone. "How do you think I even got here? Flew?" Her wings were obviously still developing into the capability for something like that, unable to bear her weight as of yet. "When they grow, they'll be big enough to support an adult feline in flight no problem. Right now? Yeah, right."
She'd gotten here by her own hard-saved money and without her guardian knowing a thing. The thought made her smile grimly. Let her mother say anything when she returned with holes where her wings should be. It wasn't like they were going to be reattached, not after she'd sold them and signed papers to prove it.
Looking at the clipboard on the table, her eyes skimmed over some of it, the rest seeming boring legal mumbo-jumbo. She caught the gist of it - give up her wings, no getting them back, fair compensation, medication - painkillers - included in the process, all of it sounded about right for what she expected, whether or not what she expected was standard operating procedure. Then she could wait a little while and go home and be satisfied in her pain that it was worth it and she wouldn't have to be a freakish cat with wings anymore. He could just be a freakish raccoon with somebody else's wings.
Weirdo. Somebody should really give him a clue. But so long as it got her no wings and some cash to boot, she wouldn't be the one to do that. With a satisfied sniff, she dipped one claw in the ink and scrawled something that might have been interpreted as a signature. For an eleven-year-old using her claw.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Dec 23, 2007 2:49:38 GMT -5
Likely story. The raccoon refrained from rolling his eyes. She would probably give up her wings regardless of what he did or said. He wasn't going to wait, however. He had waited far too long for this opportunity.
The raccoon looked over the papers with an "eyebrow" raised. It was close enough to legally binding. He shrugged and place the money on the table. "So, we can start the operation in about twenty minutes or you can spend a day saying goodbye to your little stubby wings. Your choice, dear." Rocky said with a nod of his head. "Either way I need to sterilize my lab if I'm to preform an operation, you can be my guest to inspect what I'm doing if you like. That or you can stay up here with the tea and crumpets. I'm afraid I have no entertainment for young children." Rocky grinned as he waited for a response.
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