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Post by Jess on Jun 29, 2017 15:43:05 GMT -5
Henflick shrugged unapologetically and splayed his hands. His actions had been stupid, he was perfectly happy to admit, and they might very well have ended in his own death, had it not been for the extraordinarily fortunate fact that this particular fox seemed to be rather more interested in making small talk and cracking the occasional bad pun than he did in any kind of actual combat. And that, to be honest, was perfectly fine with Henflick. He would much rather avoid any kind of risk if at all possible, especially where beasts who were bigger than him were involved.
He did have to admit that the beast had a point about the theft, though. It was very difficult to survive on the road without developing a somewhat specialised morality. Which generally boiled down to something along the lines of 'if they have more money than me it's ok'. And to be perfectly honest, that had worked just fine for him up to now, with the addition of certain sub clauses to the effect that it probably wasn't a good idea if they were rich enough to afford personal bodyguards, because they tended to be rather brutal and definitely disinclined to listen to reason.
"Don't think execution is designed to be fun, though I 'ave to admit that never 'aving experienced it, me opinion may not be accurate. 'Course, don't know who you'd ask for an accurate opinion, like..." As soon as the words left his mouth, Henflick was regretting them. Call him paranoid, but he really didn't want the fox to take it into his head that Henflick should have a more up close and personal experience with the procedure. Because the vole didn't like the sound of that one bit.
"Emotions is overrated. 'Specially other beasts'. Just complicates things."
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markab
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Post by markab on Jun 29, 2017 19:22:09 GMT -5
"Don't think execution is designed to be fun, though I 'ave to admit that never 'aving experienced it, me opinion may not be accurate. 'Course, don't know who you'd ask for an accurate opinion, like..."
Asil laughed. "Well, I'm sorry to say our friend isn't going to be attesting to it anytime soon." He looked at the body for a few moments. Yep. Definitely dead. Wasn't breathing, though his neck did look mostly undamaged, despite the fatal injuries it had clearly received. Internal, then. Sounded like...not the best way to die, no.
"But, hey." He set the hanging strand of rope to swinging with a quick flick of his paw, flashed the vole another cheerful wink. He was having a hell of a time with this particular conversation, not in the least because he spent half of his time talking to himself in lieu of anyone to chat in the general direction of. "On the bright side, he didn't ruin the whole rope. You could always give it a try. Though I'll be honest, like I said. Probably wouldn't recommend it."
"Emotions is overrated. 'Specially other beasts'. Just complicates things."
The fox grinned sharply. "Ah, see, we're not so different after all." Despite the whole species thing. And the whole vermin thing. Not that Asil had a strict requirement for what he said to make sense; most of the time it was just whatever came into his head as fast as he could get it out. "Don't have to tell me that, my pal."
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Post by Jess on Jul 1, 2017 11:21:49 GMT -5
Henflick bobbed his head in agreement with the fo's comment, looking down on the body of the rat... ex-rat... with more irritation than actual sadness. He had never actually met the rat, after all, and from what he had heard while concealed in the bushes, he wasn't really sure that he would particularly have wanted to. Still, the fact that he had been killed merely because someone wanted his possessions rankled somewhat- Henflick had never been above a little theft himself, but he had never killed for that reason. He did his best to only kill someone if they deserved it, although of course circumstances could demand otherwise.
"Think I'll pass on the offer. Thanks all the same." the vole responded curtly to the larger beast's offer. His life was not a subject which he was prepared to joke about... well, that wasn't strictly true; he was perfectly prepared to joke about his life but he'd rather not do so about his death. While the fox might seem good humoured, he would rather not risk any more than he had to, and he had already crossed a line during this conversation which he would really rather have done. He would rather have liked to simply walk away, but that would make him look stupid, and if there was one thing that a sword for hire needed, it was a good reputation.
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markab
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Gender: Female
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Post by markab on Jul 9, 2017 20:33:58 GMT -5
((i am so sorry for the delay on this i didn't even notice you posted D: ))
"Think I'll pass on the offer. Thanks all the same."
Asil clicked his tongue. "That's all right, mate. Think this old rope's seen enough use as it is." He yanked it down once more, harder this time, so the ominous creaking of wood trying desperately to snap was more than audible. Poor thing. That rat had been far too squirmy, and he hadn't chosen the best limb for that kind of activity. Though he'd been hoping for a little more brains and a little less mindless swearing and spitting and general unpleasantness. Robbery didn't have to end with murder -- well. Out of a city, it was certainly more likely to. "If I had to take a guess, the tree would probably give out before your neck."
The vole's tone didn't go past him, no matter how much he tried to make it seem so -- the whole I say whatever comes into my head with the most friendly tone possible was certainly him, at this point, but there was a whole other section watching and listening and calculating that had kept him alive through twenty-four years, an entire childhood as an orphan stealing to survive, a corsair raid and scavenging among the burnt remains of a town like a vulture to keep himself alive.
And he'd certainly passed his time as a promising target for theft, and the sharpness of his tone suggested perhaps Asil's joke hadn't gone over so well (which, rude, it had been perfectly fine thank you very much) so the fox slung his pack to his front and rustled around to see if he could find some other snack in there. Shame he'd gotten to the rats too late -- the smell suggested they'd been cooking fish or something, and though he'd eaten other beasts before it wasn't topping his list of favorite things to consume.
"Well, my pal, it's been fun," he said, looking up long enough for a grin. "You're free to go if you want, though. Valuables intact."
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Post by Jess on Jul 11, 2017 12:11:06 GMT -5
The conversation was dragging on a little by now, and Henflick did not like that one iota. In his experience, such an exchange as this would usually have ended in swordplay by the time that about five minutes had passed, and now that it had utterly failed to do so, he was more or less (and almost all more) at a loss as to what exactly he ought to be doing now. Making small talk with foxes was not an area in which he claimed any proficiency whatsoever, and as such, the vole felt that he might well be lacking an understanding of the basic principles of the art; ie. he had no idea what to say next. It was, therefore, probably for the best that the other beast seemed to be leading the conversation, and all that he really needed to do was to nod in agreement every now and then. However much the vole liked to appear to be leading the train of events, he had very little choice in this situation if he didn't want to end up as either a stuttering wreck or the fox's next victim. He had done his best over his lifetime to avoid that eventuality ever being a practical possibility- yet despite his best efforts, that situation had indeed arisen far too often for his own peace of mind. Henflick might have grown up among a mob of vermin, but that did not by any means lead to his being comfortable amongst them. On the contrary, he was now fairly certain that said mob had been directly responsible for the deaths of his family. Consequently, he was not exactly predisposed towards confidence when dealing with vermin, and especially not when they were larger than he was by some considerable margin. So when the fox finally announced that he was free to leave, the vole breathed an inward sigh of relief. Making a mental note to himself never to do anything like this ever again, he gave the fox a curt nod. "Be seein' ye around then." he responded shortly, scurrying off into the bushes.
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