T - Gobbo, Kari, Vyn

[Kari Muffin]

Oh good. Everyone agreed on something.

With a spring in her step the girl entered the store, the smell of moldy books made her nose twitch. And the smell of something strange seemed to follow them inside. Wonderful. At least the smell wasn't too bad.

She vaguely took note of what Remi was saying to Mr. Bird. Maybe they should properly introduce themselves at some point? She mentally shrugged it off and focused on her task.

The first thing the girl did was walk over and hop onto the counter. It was a fairly decent vantage point and she could at least see most of the shelves. Her mother's huge tail couldn't be that hard to find, unless he was sitting down and reading. If only she had the Club ability to communicate to people. Blah.

"Mommy are you in here?" she said as she walked around the counter top. She knocked a few stray papers off of the counter, a pen, and a rather large accounting book. Josephine frowned for a moment before taking a seat on the counter. It was a decent sized store with plenty of nooks and crannies. She couldn't smell anything properly to get her mother's scent.

[Old Gobbo]

Amherst relaxed almost as soon as he got inside. What was the matter with him? Was he paranoid? Sure, it had gotten dark quickly, and the road turned into something out of the opening scene of a horror novel, but that was nonsense. Apparently, the ferret child noticed Amherst's paranoia as well.

"It appears to be nothing. I just got a little on edge. I'm sorry if I worried you, --" He stopped. He didn't know the ferret's name. "Well, I suppose introductions are in order. I am Amherst."

As he said those words, he skulked about the bookstore. It see,ed empty, or perhaps everyone was just in another section. What he needed was to find the child's mother. Then, he could go properly on with his business...after he got directions this time...

Others might have found it silly that Amherst would go into automatic babysitter mode, but he didn't actually mind. He was a Guardian and, after all, a good deed never goes unpunished. He would never forgive himself if someone honorable got hurt because he was too lazy to lend a hand.

[Vyn]

To be childish was not part of Remi's nature, but he'd become so good at playing the part that few would ever notice. Despite the fact that he'd been talking to Mr. Bird, Josephine hopping onto the counter easily 'distracted' him and he broke in a wide, amused grin before returning to the conversation.

"Oh right! Introductions. I'm Remus -- but everyone just calls me Remi. It's nice ta meet you." He rolled his shoulders, glancing toward the shop front window and the alley beyond. "And I'm not worried. Strange stuff is always happenin' in The Outer Bazaar, it's good ta be wary."

Since Amherst no longer seemed as interested in them, Remi meandered away from him and drew closer to Joe. He stretched up, long body and extra limbs helping to support him from floor to counter top with ease. "See anything? This place seems as empty as it is dusty." The ferret wrinkled his nose a bit, scanning the shop from his new vantage.

Not even a shopkeeper in sight, though that didn't really mean anything in this district. Most likely he or she was simply in the back taking stock or, more likely, a nap.

[Kari Muffin]

Josephine had taken to briefly pouting. She plopped down on the counter top, giving the various rows of books a dirty look as her large tail drooped. This was a little more than her mother wandering off. This was like her mother had teleported to a different area of the city entirely. Though her mother was capable of doing so, she normally didn't like to leave family behind.

And what about Sage and Saffron....? Hadn't they been out shopping together? Though they probably weren't anyone near the shady district of the city. Knowing Auntie Sage she was probably trying to dress up Saffron in some ridiculously high end clothing. She snapped back to reality at the introductions. "Oh! Yeah. I'm Josephine. Most people call me Joe, Joey or Josey so pick your poison and I'll respond."

She picked up one of the nearby book, sniffing it and promptly sneezing. How long had it been left in that one spot. Suits people needed to dust more often. She turned to Remi with a rather deep set frown. "Nothing. No signs of Mum or anything. The weird smell and dust are making it hard to smell anything else." She looked to the bird. "My Mommy smells like roses. So if you smell any let me know. There's a good chance it's her. Oh...and should I call you Mr. Amherst?"

[Old Gobbo]

Amherst, satisfied that nothing in the store posed an immediate threat to his charges, wandered back to find them around the counter. He set the base of his halberd on the floor and leaned against it for a moment and smiled at the Cards.

“Remus. Josephine. It is a pleasure to meet you both. You may call me what you wish, Amherst, Mr. Amherst, Guardian Amherst, whichever you care for.”

Of course, Guardian though he may be, he didn’t exactly have all day to babysit some children. Josephine’s mother clearly wasn’t here -- and there was no smell of roses either, just the smell of spice. So…odd…

Amherst looked outside. Still dark, still foggy, but no real signs of a storm. “Is there any place else your mother might be? She doesn’t appear to be here.” Amherst looked at the state of the place. “No one in their right mind should.” And, more importantly, he did not want them to be harmed, especially if Josephine’s mother was a Queen.

[Nathalia]

((An awful smell begins to waft upwind...almost like something...rotting.
Yuck, maybe a grocery ran out of cold spells and the meat inside had started to go off?
Bleh...still, there are some lights in that direction...maybe you ought to head that way.
After all, Rose is a curious beast, perhaps she headed to investigate it and she'll be right there, making a new story to go with the mystery?

Otherwise, there's a dark alley you could head down...but it seems awfully dank...even for a dark alley.

Oh! What's this?
Amherst seems to have trodden on something.))

Small bag of Coins: Oooh! This little velvet pouch has some money in it! Hot damn!
A little tingle might have just been your greedy self wondering what you could spend this on, and the bag's cute too!
Once a week, they are now able to cause a person to fully and completely believe that they are bankrupt.
Completely.
The victim will, for a full 12 hours, be under the impression that they have lost everything they own and will think of themselves as destitute and desperate for money.
Regardless of what others may try to tell them.
Casting this spell, however, will cause a good amount of money (up to 100 dollars equivalent) to vanish from their own pocket or vault each time the spell is used.




~Nathalia

[Kari Muffin]

"Mom's not really sane, she's a Tulgey after all!" Josephine said as she hopped down from the counter top, sending a good variety of papers and books flying. She sneezed a few times from the dust before trotting towards the door.

Something really smelled awful. Sickening. Like meat that had been left out in the sun by accident. Maybe there was a grocery store around here? Oh! Lights! Mommy could have gone there out of curiosity. Then again there was the creepy surrounding area she could have been curious about that too.

"Where would a crazy Queen go? Down a dark and creepy alleyway or following the smell of something rotting?" She wasn't asking anyone in particular, but she would be more than happy to get an answer. She was curious about the alleyway herself. "What do you think is down there?" She padded towards the entryway to the dark and oppressive path between buildings. She took a bit whiff of the air, but nothing really smelled right anymore.

[Vyn]

Hm. Unfortunate. He'd been looking forward to meeting this strange Tulgey Queen after what he'd heard of her so far. Not to mention the fact that Amherst didn't seem to be planning on leaving until they did. The alternative was to go back outside and though he'd been watching the window all along, he hadn't seen the creepy hobo or whatever had been lingering in the alley leave.

Then again, it was very likely that it had been nothing at all and that Amherst had just been overreacting from the beginning.

Joe's descent from the counter sent a rain of dust and junk flying off, including a mildly heavy book that landed on one of his many paws. The child sucked in a hiss and bit his lip to keep from making an 'uncharacteristically' foul response. Bloody hell that smarted, but the pain faded swiftly and it was only one of his middle paws so he didn't have to put any pressure on it if he didn't want to.

The ferret scampered out the door after Joe and Amherst, wrinkling his nose in disgust before scanning the street. There were some lights in the distance but that.. urg, rotting smell was coming from that way as well. Or they could take the alley which seemed to be Joe's line of interest. Remi joined her, nose twitching. Might be best to avoid the rot... "If your mom likes books, we can use this path as a shortcut to another bookstore that I know of." He glanced back at the building they'd just left. "One more well-used than this." And containing considerably darker material, as it was much deeper into the Bazaar. Hm. But it may be worth a shot?

[Kari Muffin]

"She's likes books more than rancid meat," Josephine said as she stared down the dark and threatening alleyway. It was probably stupid to go down something that looked so ominous, but she wasn't particularly opposed to doing stupid things. Mom did stupid things all the time and she came out of them hardly scathed.

Though she was a Queen and she could technically teleport out of trouble. That did make things easier. Oh well. She took a few steps down the path, her tail wagging slightly. "You're going to help us, right, Mr. Amherst?" she said as she paused. "My mom's probably taken the creepier round about path."

That was a bit of a lie. She could have easily went after the horrible smell. Josephine, however, wasn't inclined to follow something that could easily lead to a dead body. Oh, that was a horribly morbid thought. The creepy alley was sounding far more appealing.

[Old Gobbo]

Well, this was certainly not going to make his job easier. He WAS NOT a babysitter, but if they were going to go down the DARK ALLEY in the BAD PART OF TOWN during the DARK AND STORMY NIGHT, he couldn't exactly stay far away.

Children were such a hassle, but they couldn't be blamed for their predicament. He went and followed them outside, but tripped over a coin purse. He picked it up and examined it. Well, someone must have lost it. He'd hold it until he could return it, he supposed.

"Remus, Josephine, I'll be happy to follow you, but please don't go running off." He quickly tried to catch up to them and position himself in a more defensive position if any of the more unsavory bits of the Outer Bazaar came calling.

Then, Josephine said the magic words. Could you help us? Dammit, if there's a damsel in distress, how could he turn her down? "Of course, I'll help you, Josephine." His eyes tracked the alley carefully, looking up at the ceilings, and down at the ground. Hopefully, nothing would escape his avian eyes. Certain of his steps, he made his way down the alleyway.