Age of Mobius: The Trial

[Mike Arcade]

Age of Mobius: The Trial

As The Great War is coming to an end, peace talks are starting while there are still skirmishes all across Mobius, in these transitional times you play as a Mobian in The Arkon Kingdom waking up to a Winter Morning, where you go from there is all up to you as you live out your life in Mobotropolis. 

With victory at hand it seems that peace can at last be obtained, is this a sign for a new Golden Age or has the worst yet to come? You're story begins in the Age of Mobius...

Rules

1. For this game you must start out currently living in Mobotropolis and be a Mobian, so consider this in your Character's background.

2. Only Mammal Mobians, so no one with scales, or from under the sea, or Humans of course, Echidnas are also extinct so they are out too.

3. Absolutely no established characters, no one from any other Sonic Canon recreated or anything like that, make it your own character. Don't bother trying it, believe me I'll know...

4. They MUST have a real name, first, maybe middle, and last, NO EXCEPTIONS. Nicknames are fine but Real Names
are mandatory.

5. NO unrealistic, multicolored Mobians, Fur/Hair Color must be whatever animal's pelt color would normally be.
So you can't have a Cyan Beaver or Tie Dye Hedgehog with red stripes running around, they go straight to the
incinerator.

6. NO Supernatural or Cybernetic Powers, whatever natural traits your Mobian has will be their special abilities,
say for example a Canine Mobian would have a excellent sense of smell, these traits must be grounded in rules
much like our reality...as far as a reality with Mobians would go anyway.

7. If there are any problems with how your being treated by other players let the GM know and it shall be taken
care of, if you're leading on a wild goose chase or trying to mess things up it won't turn out so well...

8. Please be respectful to others regarding interactions between player to player, character to character on the
other hand can be whatever you want to be and agree on, but I wouldn't recommend you guys fighting each other...

9. Don't worry about stats and all of that jazz during gameplay, I assure you the GM keeps track of all of it,
the GM also treats everyone fairly and with unbiased, if you see others winning and you losing it's nothing personal
at all, it all depends on how you play and nothing more.

10. Have fun with it, While some of these rules are quite unconventional for a Sonic RP I know you all will enjoy
this very unconventional Sonic RP, so let's all have a good time, get ready, and press start!

11. Do not expect this too be like CoD or some beat 'em up. This RP is going to be a challenge intellectually
and creatively. If your character is an unemotional avatar or tries to be an empowered sue - they will die.
Let's get this clear, you will be challenged. You can die. Don't expect to run and gun your way to glory in this
RP and spout out cheesy cliche one liners, MEMES, and mindless references.

12. This is not a video game.
You only get one life. Cherish it, hold it close to you, there are risks in everything you do and if you
fail there are no do overs. There are no rings, no restart button.

Backgrounds

These are your jobs, what sort of carrier you are in at the time in Mobotropolis, this applies to your backstory regarding the character you play as so keep that in mind.

Clergyman - You are here to preach the good name of your lord, whoever that may be.
Con-Artist - You always try to swindle someone, anyone for as much gains as you can, you can be quite charismatic.
Prisoner - A War Criminal in your holding cell awaiting trial for your crimes, what exactly did you do?
Police Officer - To protect and serve The Arkon Kingdom, you maintain order within the Kingdom
Teamster - You perform industrial jobs throughout Mobotropolis and Arkon Territory, you know how to build and weld steel.
Antisocial - A shut in who stays inside and makes ends meet to live alone away from the world and the war.
Forester - You deal with lumber in order to build homes in Arkon Territory, you just got back from a contractor job.
Scientist - You work with the Arkon Kingdom regarding Research and Development for all sorts of technology and alternate resources.
Merchant - You sell goods such as food and/or materials to others, your no stranger to traveling among the seas as well.
Soldier - Just got back from your own tour, you await your next orders as peace talks are made, until then you're enjoying your time back home.
Street-Rat - You don't have a home or anywhere else to go, you do what you can in order to survive as you roam the city looking for food and shelter.
Politician - An aristocrat whose here and business regarding peace talks with the Arkon Kingdom.
Journalists - You're looking for the truth and the next big scoop, looking for glory just what will you find?

Character Profile

What you'll use as a basis, I'll make sure to look and go over it with you upon pending approval in order to fit into the world of AoM, so think about who you want to be and remember, you only get one character so choose wisely on who you want to be.

Name: Full name please, you can have a nickname too if you want.
Race: What kind of Mobian are you, choose carefully.
Gender: Are you a boy or a girl?
Age: How old are you?
Appearance: What do you look like, the more detailed the better!
Background: You're Background along with a backstory, will be revised with the GM upon approval.
Skills: Will be given to you upon approval by the GM, depends on your character and background.

Get ready everybody because soon you will know just what the world of AoM has in store for you,till then let me know what you guys think and start making those profiles guys, have fun and good luck!

[WarTraveller]

Realism? In MY Sonic the Hedgehog?! It's more likely than...nevermind.

Not the biggest fan of the rules, but sounds interesting enough. It'll give me time to test out a new character I'm designing. I'll get back to you with a profile. I just need to figure out exactly WHAT category such character will fit in...

[Ishapar]

On 10/23/2016 at 8:09 PM, WarTraveller said:

Realism? In MY Sonic the Hedgehog?! It's more likely than...nevermind.

Not the biggest fan of the rules, but sounds interesting enough. It'll give me time to test out a new character I'm designing. I'll get back to you with a profile. I just need to figure out exactly WHAT category such character will fit in...

We can only go so far with the realiism in a blue hedgehog's world.

Be back with a profile.

[Mike Arcade]

Everyone I have an announcement, while this RP was going to start on Halloween due to my own incompetence this did not happen, those who are currently in the RP have each been given an apology regarding this but I cannot express my guilt for this occurrence due to my own lapse in action, do not reflect that on the site as this is a fault of my own accord, in the future I hope to and plan to be a better person who can hold his word and keep it. With that please forgive me for my lack of action, after this post the RP shall officially begin, that said you all have a wonderful day and I hope you had a great Halloween bar my fault.

[Mike Arcade]

The sun rose to a blanket of white covering the kingdom below, flakes lightly descending to join it's destination of the kingdom made of Marble and Metal lined along it's valley and hills. Towering above it all under the morning sun stood tall Castle Arkon, the sounds and sight of nature spread clearly throughout this Kingdom. Under such a sight this could only be described as paradise by many, sights however can be deceiving as the secrets that sit among those of it's people speak of harsher realities, of everyday life in all it's comedy and tragedy, of truth and deceit. Through Key Individuals do the threads of fate align marking the events that shall forever change this world and every life on it, we shall see the fates of those who strive for a peaceful life after a war long fought with the brief taste of a Golden Age so close to reach, yet ripped away under circumstance planned by Mad Men wanting power. In every telling of this story we know of their plight and beginning in their fight, yet for everyone else, every man, woman, and child they're stories have remained untold. For these people in this tale, shall at last their story be shared of lives before it all began, and the moment that changed everything.

This is your tale, of your Trial in the Age of Mobius...

ACT I: Minutes to Midnight

[Okay Ishapar, you're the first one up so start us off buddy!]

A Winter chill is always to be expected, yet this chill alongside the coastline of a harbor bay is a feeling that only the most resilient of traders can endure in this season, or those that need to desperately make ends meet anyway. The Panther tied the mast of his ship to the harbor to further steady it from the ever shifting waves. On his ship do two crew members composed of a Jaguar and a Lynx carry down crates of spices from aboard, For the Panther Clayton, it was always wise to hire the help of fellow faelide in this season, though ever the cautious one always kept one eye open to whoever he hires, can never be too careful yet working alongside those similar of his ilk could Clayton at least read them off easier then any other kind of Mobian. 

"Clayton." the Jaguar set down the smaller crate down near him "Any idea when these traders are suppose to be here, I thought they were suppose to show up by now when we got here." The Lynx aboard the ship shouted towards his fellows "Probably still sleeping under their cozy comforters or there havin a extravagant breakfast, you know how fancy these Arkon Territory guys are, too good for some good ol' heavy lifting in the morning." 

[Ishapar]

The dark figured feline removed his cinnamon flap.  The winter wind brushed through his parted hair; sending the individual strands flapping randomly.  Clayton's left paw came down on the hairs and ceased their chaotic dancing.

"Arkonians talk with their heads on comforters and eyes on pastries, but they honor themselves with punctuality."

Calyton's narrow chin turned towards the heavy-built jaguar.

"But even an Arkonian has enough sense to not venture the Traherut coast in winter's grasp until the sun's ray can thaw the brain."

Putting on his cap, Clayton crouched down and hoisted the crate over his shoulders.

"The sudden chill must have stalled the morning rush," Clayton said to his spotted shipmate, "Frockler's warehouse is at the end of this port.  I'll go and enlighten the old badger of our arrival."

Slowly Clayton trudged off the dock with the crate resting on his shoulders.

"Continue unloading the cumin and cayennes from the hold, but do not unload anymore until my return.  Fold in the sails and stay alert to wandering nosehounds."

[Mike Arcade]

[Okay with Ish's introduction set up it's time to get everyone in the game whose characters are essentially complete, good luck everyone!]

[Ishapar - Clayton]

The craftsmanship of this boardwalk was a subtle sign to Clayton, one imperceptible to many but most obvious to a felidae such as himself. It's barking planks, it's cheap nylon riggings, it's weathered concrete pillars, all told a tall-tale of a world stretched thin, one of an expanse of quantity over a depth of quality. These implicit hints were stalwart facts to the perceptive panther. He breathed in the briney mists of the morning ocean air, and quickly thought of his own home in contrast, much Arkon's opposite. It was small; it was humble. It's jungles and savannas were vast wilds with little development, but where a city stood, that city gleamed like a gem hewn from rough stone, a marvel of ancient quality not bending to modern misconceptions of suburban sprawl and manifest destiny. It was more than just his trade then to exchange the riches of his land with  poor urbanite tender-paws. Such was a blessing and a statement, an affirmation of substance over expansion. The sharp, sweet, and savory spices were a symbol of the true spice of life, the golden quality of his culture: craftsmanship over concrete, enjoyment over expansion, and quality over quota.

As he approached Frockler's Warehouse he felt something odd about this place, that it was much too quiet then it should have been, looking through the office window he could see that nobody was there. 

[War Traveller - Aria]

The winter was always a tribulation time for any farmer, for Aria this time of the year was no different in it's cruelty. Thankfully she had the foresight to build a few Cold Frames for the Winter, better that then working a part time job as a waitress again like last year. The leers she got from that time was very uncomfortable to her, she'd rather live her life in solitude then deal with perverts and bigots. She quickly stepped outside to see how her Cold Frames were holding up, lifting the window frame she saw that her tomatoes still needed a little more time, if not at least one more day. This was quite disappointing as she didn't want to disappoint that kind Husky, hopefully he'll understand and the carrots in her apartment's small indoor garden would suffice. She ran back into her apartment, shaking the cold and snow from her fur and checked on her carrots.

[Wulfsbane - Alexia]

As the Arctic Rabbit awoke to the rocking of the boat, she wondered if she was near to the Capital. Alexia has never been to Mobotropolis before, for her this was whole new venture. She walked up above to the deck to see the familiar fall of snow, from there she could see it all and took in the sights. As she stared out to the city her commanding officer approached.

[The Red Stranger - Kalen]

On obnoxious cue, Kalen's alarm clock screeched in his sensitive ear, cutting short a pleasant dream. Groggily, he bolted up in bed and, like a drunk jeered into a fist fight, haphazardly swung his half-curled fist, knocking the clock to the floor, accidentally turning on the radio-button to some soft, droning jazz.

 "Ugh...don't know which is worse." The blonde-topped husky rubbed his sleep-heavy eyes and struggled to sit up straight. "The alarm or that gosh-awful music..."  Swinging his muscled legs from his covers and over the side of his bed, he pushed himself up only to nearly loose his balance in a half-dazed stupor. He steadied himself on his book-cluttered nightstand and yawned, stretching his arms and unwinding his back of any kinks with the whirl of his long and fluffy tail. 

Quickly his mind pulled itself from the haze of sleep, forming focused thoughts. He could recall fleeting images of his dreams but as soon he did, he suppressed the thought of them, even though they were a pleasant break from the recent string of war-time nightmares afflicting him the week prior. He muttered under his morning-breath, chiding himself as he he scratched his belly, bleary eyed and licking his dry chops. "You just can't dream of girls your own caliber, can you Kalen? Always wanting what you shouldn't have...like that second butter-burger last night."

 Kalen gave a grunt as he doubled over his own gut to grip his alarm clock, tendons in his back and calves still stiff and protesting as if thrice their age. He gave the clock a smack of his palm, changing the channel to the news. He then flipped it around and gleaned the time...

"5:42 AM. Crud... musta pressed the snooze button!"

.

[TheRedStranger]

 He knew he had to hurry and clean himself up. He rushed to his closet, slid it open, and yanked a charcoal gray mock neck from a hanger. He gave it a quick sniff. "Clean." He tossed it on the side of his bed then scrambled through his cheery-wood dresser, which held up a small TV, an old game console, some sketch books, and a gaggle of coffee cups and junk food wrappers. He yanked open a stubbornly jammed drawer, rummaged through some half-folded sets of pants, and found a nice pair of black denims. He lifted them up the dusty, shutter-dappled, window light, scanning them for wrinkles. "Reasonably clean...good enough...." He tossed them on the edge of his bed and headed to his small bathroom, peeling away his night clothes as he did so. 

[I am trying to listen to the news broadcast as I get ready. Do I hear anything?]

[WarTraveller]

[Aria Finklidge]

A quiet whisper of a yawn escaped the young rabbit's throat as she slowly heard the click of the door and pushed it forward, opening it into her small and secluded apartment. It was...homely, to put it lightly, consisting of a small front room with a single chair and an old TV that barely picked up all the channels in the area, a kitchen area with only the latest in whatever tin-pot culinary equipment Aria could take with her, and doors leading to other rooms; a bathroom the size of a postage stamp with a leaky sink and no actual bath to speak of, a bedroom with only a single creaky bed and a rotten old bedside table to call her own, and her personal favourite room - her indoor garden.

Leaving her old kettle to boil in preparation for a cup of strong Chutokan coffee, Aria opened the door to her indoor garden and slowly plodded towards the small patch of carrots she had been growing in the corner of the room. It was situated almost on the windowsill, being a few feet away from it, allowing it to bask in the light whenever it was daytime (with a lamp over it when it was not), and basically amounted to a plastic box full of soil with some carrot tops spilling out of it in an ordered but somehow still messy fashion. Aria took one look at the carrots and smiled a fraction.

"Hmm. Those look properly grown to me..." she said aloud to no-one in particular, "Just in time for that husky's visit..." she trailed off, staring at the perfectly grown carrots and a pang of hunger struck her suddenly. She eyed the carrots in an unusual manner, then shook her head to clear the thoughts, "No, no. These carrots are for customers! Not me..." she sighed again, knowing there was almost nothing in her cupboards and she needed money very soon, and stumbled wearily back towards the kitchen to make her coffee.

[Ishapar]

Strange.

The chilly morning may have slowed the Arkonian street life, but the cold wouldn't affect the secretarial staff of any business.  He peered again through the office window: nothing. 

No lights.

No workers.

No life.

Nothing.

Puzzled, Clayton removed the crate from his shoulder and stretched the kinked muscles in his arm.  Seeing a small bench outside the office door, Clayton placed the crate on the bench.  With both arms free, the panther gently rubbed his tired shoulder as his eyes and ears scanned the neighboring warehouse for any sign of Arkonian activity.  As with the office, the warehouse appeared deserted, but Clayton's chartreuse eyes detected several footprints near one of the main docking doors.  The tracks were made by one with footwear, and by the imprint left in the snow, the bearer was probably walking heavy-footed with boots.  All the tracks were the same shape and size: one Arkonian.

Clayton calmly walked over to the dock door.  He placed his left paw on the door and gave a slight upward push.  The door refused to budge.  As he figured, Clayton realized the dock door could only open from inside the warehouse.  His eyes quickly scanned a side door several feet down the warehouse; to his surprise the tracks around the dock door did not lead to the side door.  Clayton approached the door calmly, but his mind was trying to understand this perplexing problem.  Whoever arrived at the warehouse prior to him was able to enter the warehouse from the dock door; no trading company would unwisely leave the dock door to their warehouse open for fear of local thieves and pirates.  No secretarial staff, no lights, one set of footprints, and a formerly opened dock door: what does this puzzle mean?

Arriving at the side door, Clayton stood sideways from the door and looked through the door window.  Once again the room was empty of light, but Clayton's nose then detected an unusual odor. 

What was this?

It wasn't the common aroma of the stuffy air of a warehouse nor the oily smell of large machinery.

That odor...he couldn't recognize the source.

Another piece to solve this puzzle?

Clayton reached out his left hand and grabbed the handle.  The handle turned smoothly in his hand, and the door pushed slightly inward.  Clayton poked his head slightly through the doorway.

[Wulfsbane]

On 11/4/2016 at 5:25 AM, Mike Arcade said:

[Wulfsbane - Alexia]

As the Arctic Rabbit awoke to the rocking of the boat, she wondered if she was near to the Capital. Alexia has never been to Mobotropolis before, for her this was whole new venture. She walked up above to the deck to see the familiar fall of snow, from there she could see it all and took in the sights. As she stared out to the city her commanding officer approached.

Alexia arose from her top bunk in the midship deck, awoken by the rolling of the ship. With her eyes still 70% shut, she turned and let her feet dangle off the side of her bunk. Anticipating the roll of the ship, she waited for about half a minute before sliding off the bunk onto the floor. Upon landing, the ship took an unexpected roll and almost threw her into the bunk of a half-sleeping deer. Wide-eyed and catching herself before she fell in, Alexia's paws grasped the sides of the bunk and her face was about 9 inches away from the deer. "Morning Dallas." She unassuredly chuckled. Dallas reached out and patted her for a second before rolling back over. Eyes shutting again, she shuffled towards the main deck with the rolls of the ship to see how close they were to the city. She has never been to Mobotropolis before, yes, but she has heard the stories when she was on the road as a little girl with her father. As she opened the hatch and pushed out the door, she was greeted with a familiar flurry of snow, something that she has missed since she left home. Going towards the rails she peered out towards the direction of the city, it's silhouette piercing through snow filled fog of the ocean. Some lights were visible and grew closer and brighter, she rubbed her eyes to absorb the sight. Yet, she couldnt look for long as she would have gotten seasick. She could already feel her stomach churning and began to feel dizzy. Taking a step back she stepped back to be near more solid ship. She wondered what some of her other teammates were up to, as well as the ones who rescued her back home. A sigh slipped through and she gazed up towards the center of the ship; her CO was approaching. Alexia rubbed her eyes once more and stood at attention. "Morning sir, how much further are we to our destination?"

[Mike Arcade]

[The Red Stranger - Kalen]

 Static crackled from the small radio-alarm as it transitioned to a trumpeting jingle, the distinct sound byte of the morning news.

"Good Morning to all of the Arkon Kingdom, this is the Renard News Network bringing you the latest news live from Mobotropolis, I'm Milo Manuel."

Following the Felidae's smooth voice a much softer, feminine voice is heard from the Radio 

"And I'm Cassandra Reinhardt, police within Mobotropolis are still on the look out for yet another missing persons case involving a local canine named Timothy Greenwell who never made it to his apartment complex, he was last seen two nights ago walking home from his job and Police are baffled as this is the 7th missing persons case that has been filed within this month alone."

The gruffer of the news casters is heard "Police could not confirm whether or not this is linked to the countless number of missing persons that have been filed throughout these past few months, now Cassandra what do you make of this?"

The Man's voice continued, the distress in his tone clearly heard.

"How can we feel safe with so many of us just vanished, while I respect our Law Enforcement this reporter must say that he is very concerned for all our safety."

The Woman's voice however was peppered with skepticism.

"Well how can we be sure these are all linked together? I mean I've known friends who just drop off the face of Mobius only to hear that they've started over elsewhere, it's not too uncommon with draft dodgers considering the war."

Milo however remained unconvinced "People don't leave Arkon Cities by the dozens Cassandra, we're not even sure how many are missing considering these have been happening all over. Regardless, we hear at the Renard News Network would recommend to never walk home alone until these disappearances can be accounted for."

[So folks the next one up is going to be WarTraveller, then Wulfsbane, followed by Ishapar in that order, so guys keep an eye out.  ]

[TheRedStranger]

Kalen just merely rolled his eyes at the bantering pundits at first. He spun the glass knobs colored red and blue on his bath-tub, then lifted the valve on the now spewing spigot to activate the shower head. Soon Cassandra's dismissal dulcet drone, loud enough to be heard even over the sputter of the shower, was enough to force a skeptical growl from his throat. His hackles raised slightly as he snarled. 

[May I roll a knowledge check on Timothy? And hey, does this show take phone calls? ]

[Mike Arcade]

[Hey everybody, been quiet lately, well that's because Stranger and I have been making progress when it comes to Kalen's part of the RP, don't worry now you'll all be coming up soon here, but if any of you want to do the same amount of progress on Skype message me about it on there if you'd like as it brought about more quicker and live in the moment responses, on that note here's the results of that, enjoy.]

"Hmm...it seems that we have a caller on the line, this is Cassandra Reinhardt of the Renard News Network; Caller you're on the air."

Before Kalen fully knew what he was doing he had scooped his phone off the dresser, dusted chip-dust off of dial, then cleared his throat. He shut the door real quick on his shower, letting the water warm up. His ice-colored eyes leered impishly as he spoke.  "On the air? Ah, it's too cold a morning to be flying, Ms Reinhardt. Hope we brought blankets." He laughed warmly, with a tone inviting others to laugh, relax.
"Guy's like me prefer to parachute in the summer."

She giggled at the caller's sense of humor "It wouldn't be great to go skydiving at this time of the year, Caller if you don't mind us asking are you one of our fine soldiers coming home?"

The husky chuckled with her, his tail gave a slight wag as he slightly paced bare-paw through his room. "Matter of fact I am, ma'am. I served in the tropical-front as a paratrooper. I stormed the beaches of Costa del Doble'guas. It was a honor serving king and country."

"Oh so we DO have ourselves one of our finest here, we're so glad to hear from you, what would you like to discuss about here at Renard News Network?"

"I actually wanted to discuss the disappearances, miss." Kalen's sigh was tactical, one to illicit pity despite the visual handicap of radio. "I just wanted to say he's not one of those draft-dodgers, people I myself am not pleased with. I don't want to say I disagree with you, of course; the last thing we need is alarmism. I deeply respect you for that, especially in these days of healing. The ache is still raw for me more than most, after all. But, Milo has a point... Timmy was a pal of mine. He served during the Lyrule-riots. Almost lost an eye actually. To think he could just take up an leave the same town he nearly died to defend, well, it just doesn't make sense. I really didn't get much of a warning either. That eats at me. Timmy's not one to be flighty..."

After a brief pause of silence, Cassandra chuckled "It's so nice having such a Gentleman for a fan, especially one that knows Mr. Greenwell, since you seem to have known him well care for an interview, mister?

Kalen grinned, his tail wagging in earnest now. The husky thought she would play hard to get, instead he had her all but knocking on his front door. Hopefully, just maybe, this would be more than just a normal day on the job. And more importantly, he'd just might draw attention to some issues in this city that had been too long hushed, perhaps even deliberately obscured. "You know, I would love that. I know a cozy literal eatery off Sycamore Pike, west off Elm-way; it's called  Cafe D20. It's a bit out of my way, but it's in a good part of town. When will I be seeing you?"

Her gruffer co-anchor protested "Wait a minute Cassandra, Sir how do we know you're really a soldier?  We've gotten a lot of claims here, anyone can call themselves a Soldier, we at least need to know you're legitimate, no offense." Cassandra could be heard growling at her fellow co-anchor in disapproval, her mic couldn't be heard though a faint whisper could be heard.

Kalen raised his eye brow, his grin slightly faltering. He squinted like a man who was playing chess, moving pieces in his mind three steps ahead of his opponent. "If I was in front of you I'd happily demonstrate my ability to disassemble and reassemble a Briar-45, Milo. Just don't ask me to do so in uniform. I don't believe in parading my Class A's and medals; I did what I did in the 'Deadly  Doubles' for the glory of the crown, not for The of glory me." His sigh was brisk but heavy, a sound meant to push Milo away from any comeback, a lingering note of melancholy to draw sympathy. "But, well, since we are on the air, feel free to ask me any probing questions. Ms Reinhart, ladies first. Please, ask away." Just to add in an extra jab, Kalen curled his free hand into a fist and added: "It is Miss Reinhart, correct?"

 For one moment, Cassandra's tone grew soft, sultry, almost a teasing whisper in his ear. "Yes it is, well then Mystery Man, have you been following these disappearances?"

Milo huffed and sighed in defeat, regaining his composure "Yes, do you believe that Mr. Greenwell might have seen or heard anything that caused him to vanish?"

"An oddly specific way to phrase it, mister [last-name]... After all " Kalen found himself reaching with his free hand, quietly grabbing a red-pen and journal off his nightstand. On a well thumb-marked page scrawled with all sorts of circled, checked, and crossed out names, he jostled down Milo's own moniker in the margins, red amongst mostly black ink. "I am not fan of conspiracy, but I assure you none of these people are simply ne'er-do-wells seeking out a some rural inconspicuous corner of Arkon. Tim was a guardsman, like I said... Then we have the six others. The question is - what do they all have in common? And  where were they all last seen?"

"Manuel, the last name is Manuel, excuse me." Kalen hears muffled words that he can't seem to make out, followed by protest from Cassandra.

Growling could be heard from his lady co-anchor as Milo continued
"Ahem, sorry about that, now then Soldier how would you like to come by for an interview yourself? I'm sure our audience would love to hear what you have to say given some more time of course."  "And to answer your question I believe Greenwell's belongings were last seen in Mobotropolis' City Park if I'm not mistaken, you'll see that on our Media's Television Branch on the 7'o Clock News."

Kalen gripped the phone tight in his paw, suppressing his own snarl and sneer. He shot off a response before Milo could even finish taking a breath. His voice was clipped, compact, stripped of manners, and matter-of-fact: "These disappearances have taken a particular beating on Sycamore Pike, Mister Manuel. People are crying out; no one is listening. Dread is breeding like mold in a dark place; and allow we really need is just a little light to start clearing the air. I think this neighborhood would be relieved to see the Renard News Network was on the scene in person asking questions and seeking answers. No one else has frankly batted an eye for us but you. It seems the elites have kept a deaf ear to six family's screams, especially our local baron, Torvil Syc.... And don't get me started on the other news networks..."

Both reporters were quiet, though Cassandra could be heard whispering something to her co-anchor until her gruffer counterpart broke the silence "Alright, where was this Café of yours again? We'll both meet you there at noon, how's that sound."

The Husky's smile returned, knowing, despite a possible obstacle, the ball was back in court. He chuckled and flipped the red pen through his fingers before double underlining Milo's name on the journal.  "Café D20. West off Elm-Street; Sycamore Pike. Sounds perfect on my end...if all settles well with your producers ,of course."

"That should be fine Mr. D20, we'll be over there by noon." Cassandra replied, cutting the tension built between both her co-anchor and mystery caller "You just be ready to answer any questions we need, you'll be our top story tomorrow, so stay tuned everyone for our next big scoop!"

Milo cleared his throat, whispering coming from the background "Now if you'll excuse us we'll head on to a commercial break, stay turned as for our next top story coming up"

While Renard News Network played advertisements regarding a tropical escape to South Island, Kalen's phone was still connected "You still there? It's Milo, I'm not sure what your up to but be honest with me, and to her."

Kalen countered Milo's question with his own. "Honesty is something earned, in these times the price is expensive - for the both of us. Do you love your city Milo? Your nation?"

Milo retorted "I love this city and the people here, I'll do whatever it takes to protect them, you are right that something is going on but even I'm not sure what exactly that is, you might be cleaver but I can't exactly trust you, especially since you're using a dead man's phone."

[Mike Arcade]

[Well this has gotta stop being the slowest moving RP ever, hence forth with some RPing on Skype with Wulfsbane and having some of our players he go forward should break this curse! So if you're up you'll know, and we shall go on from there. ]

[By the way, we have a new challenger! TheRedAuthar brings in the character Hanoko "Holiday" Taoreta, so with another in this fine cast let's see what brings her here, with that out of the way let's roll.]

[Wulfsbane - Alexis]

Dallas looked over to the Arctic Rabbit, noting she looked rather woozy "Shouldn't be more then 2 hours there, you should head back to the brig though you look rather sea sick."

“I should be fine…” Alexia peered over the rails of the ship and looked down. Suddenly, she felt something shoot up from her stomach. “Or not… BUCKET!” She ran in a different direction looking for a bucket.

Alexia fumbled as the boat shook from the waves of the ocean, further shaking the contents of her stomach trying to escape her throat. She scurried downstairs towards the brig, her own vomit reaching her mouth, it's vile taste on her tongue and staining her teeth. At last she finds the nearest bucket and heaves it all out nearly spilling it on the floor.

"Yeah, I'll go back to sleep. I need some water.."
She shuffles back down to the lower deck, but empties her bucket off the side of the ship first. Stumbling down into the deck, Alexia staggers towards the bunk, rolling with the ship and struggles to climb back on the top bunk. After a few tries she finally pulls herself up and throws her legs onto the bunk and laid flat on her side. It took her several minutes to fall asleep again as she could feel her stomach churn but she did close her eyes and get some sleep.

As Alexis drifted out of consciousness, her mind wander to a much colder place. As if she woke up to find herself in the trenches of the Arctic land she called home, hearing gunfire in the distance.

In her dream she sees her home and how it stayed the same when she was gone, though the sounds of gunfire do ring in her head. “Even on leave, I can still hear the sounds of war…” She sighed and shuffled in the freshly fallen snow.

[WarTraveller - Aria]

Aria grabbed the bag of coffee beans from her cupboard, preparing her coffee maker to roast the beans. Aria looked back at her carrots and continued to ponder on nibbling on just one but knew better. She had to save them for Cafe D20 and it's Husky owner, husky in both the metaphorical and literal sense. She wondered if she could ask him to work part time in his cafe, it would help pay the bills much more during this time of the year, money has been so tight lately, could she even last another year like this? As her nerves got the better of her, the sent of burning coffee beans snapped her back into reality.

[Ishapar - Clayton]

As Clayton peaked his head to the door, he saw that he ended up in the warehouse's break room, nothing much was unusual for it. It looked like a dine in kitchen area, with a Fridge and microwave along the side. As he flipped the light switch the light came on with no problem, yet the odd smell continued to protrude. It was then that he saw on the break room table did he see the source of the scent, a plastic factory helmet that looked as if it was burnt on the top, melted around it's edges with smoke lightly protruding it.

[TheRedAuthar - Hanoko]

Hanoko woke up to the sound of a women vomiting from across her hall to the soldiers' brig, as if to sum up her dread of this situation in one singular moment. She wondered if she should go back to sleep, or to roam around the brig and ship as a last moment of personal freedom before being married off. Her anger boiled in her mind, this was not the fate she wanted. She wanted to be an adventurer, a fighter, not some fat man's wife! He's probably some obese slob who likes young women, disgusted she tossed and turned on possibly the last bed she would have to herself.

[TheRedStranger - Kalen]
[This comes from the course from RPing in Skype]

Kalen's eyes narrowed and his ears twitched. Milo had traced the call; yet he found only what Kalen wanted him to, an omen. "I might be talking to one too, if he doesn't elaborate... A dead man, eh?"  He ground his canine fangs together in a grimace at that sour word, that hopeless utterance. Dead, no. His friend was not dead; Timothy no pushover.  "People who love their nations, have hope and have faith in their nation's soldiers, Milo... Where's yours? Unless you know something I don't. Do you know something I don't?"

 Kalen sat on the edge of his bed, bare foot-paws rubbing and scraping at the carpet as if ready to bolt forward in a sprint.

 "My loyalty lies in preventing whatever is going on here, but I need to know if I can trust you, how did you get Greenwell's phone?" Milo's tone deepened "Because I swear if your trying to walk me into a trap..."

Milo sighed "Look, if you really are a Loyal Soldier like you say you are, then maybe we can pinpoint for them who is causing these disappearances, my contacts are very limited more now then ever, you might just be the shot in the dark I need to figure this out before it's too late."

Kalen tilted his head curiously. This was a sudden shift, a change of approach. , Despite a stolid poker-face, Milo was folding his cards. The husky sensed an extension of peace, an olive branch; tentatively Kalen took hold of it, probing carefully for unseen thorns. He sighed, clearing the cold sharpness from his voice to speak warmly.  "I feel the same way, Milo... about everything. Together we can do something..." He stood up. "Truth be told I just rushed into this. I am still in my damn night clothes. This is the first time I heard this talked about and had a shot-in-the-dark opportunity to call. To be honest, this is ahead of schedule. I am pushing my time table because of a totally random opportunity - you are that opportunity Milo. I have been trying to get to the media for quite some time - other sources too. But shit man, the well has sure sucked up dry. Everyone is too busy talking about the war ending and "The Grand Reforms. They have too much sun shine in their eyes to see the shadows..."

Milo sounded tired, rather defeated even "I know what you mean, but the only thing I have so far is a theory regarding who might be doing this, but that Grand Reform...that could be the key to finding out whose behind these kidnappings, now I don't know if your friend is actually dead or not, but that's a very real possibility."

"There is always a risk, Milo." Kalen snatched his journal, a blue pen, and then drew a circle and a question mark about Milo's name. "I more than anyone am aware of that. But risks have to be taken. We will corroborate our evidence in a safe place - trust me. The owner of the cafe is oblivious too. He'll give us a private room if you fear eves-dropping."

 
"Good, that's good, we'll really talk after we give Cassie a bit of a show, you know answer some general questions and suspicions, she's a good reporter but if we're going to come clean we need some hard pressed facts first."

Kalen's shoulders sunk. "You are trying to keep her safe, aren't you?"

Milo's voice softened "Yes, we can't put her into harms way like this unless we can for sure get the drop on whoever and whatever they are planning, I'll see if we can get over there an hour earlier."

"I promise you that I won't do anything to harm her or have her harmed, Milo." Kalen saw the lever and he pulled it hard. Ear pricked up high he hear that tiny hint of a purr ring from Milo's throat. "Milo, what exactly am I looking for when you arrive?" Kalen chuckled, that warm tone from the start of the conversation returning. Hopefully he could wash away the death threat and the chess game with some neighborly small talk. "A Renard?"
 

Milo grunted nervously "Well no, let's just say I'm not going to be what you'd expect, what about you I mean are you a Renard yourself?"

"Regardless I don't mind what you are, just as long as we can agree to work, we'll have to overlook whatever differences we'd have Soldier."

"I don't take you as a Racialist but I doubt you are some wide-eyed Egalitarian either." Kalen's eye brow raised; a wry smile crossed his muzzle. "Come on, pal. I can't bungle around looking for you when you come. What you are is nothing to be self-conscious about. If you are one of the Scirudae, I'm sorry if you felt uncomfortable when I trashed Terrible Torvil... You Scirusian?"

Milo let out a muffled laughter "Hahaha-oh man, ah haha, s-sorry about that, no I'm not, far from it really." He calmed down from the hilarity fit and regained his composure "No I'm not, and it's not that I'm self-conscious about what I am, but I can't find it to be proud of my heritage after all of this, I'm a Faelide Soldier."

"I shot a couple of you and a lot of you kept me from being shot..."

Kalen let the tension weigh heavy in the air then laughed as well, cutting through it.

"I bet you would be the latter."

"Heh, well as long as you don't shoot at me and give that Interview for Renard News Network everything should be fine, just two things before I can show up with Cassie, how did you get Greenwell's phone, and what should I expect when I get to Café D20?"

Kalen stared at himself in the vanity mirror with a self-disgusted sneer. His fluffy gut poochinf from his pajama bottoms. "Prepare to be underwealmed... Civilian life has not been good to me, being a veteran... even worse. We might have to compare notes." He reached out to his nightstand and grabbed a small green bottle. He rattled it near his phone. "You know what I mean?"

Milo sighed "Yeah, I know what you mean, listen I don't know what your taking but don't take them anymore..." Kalen can hear talking in the background that sounded like his co-anchor "Okay so we'll be in a few hours at 11 okay, so do what you have to and we'll meet you there."

"Hmm...Okay. Just hope there's no withdraw effects. Sure I shouldn't ween myself?" Kalen lifted the bottle up to the light with a thoughtful frown.

Milo hesitated, rethinking his words. "Maybe, I'd prefer if you just stop altogether but it could be dangerous if you just went cold turkey, I'll have to look at your prescription after you talk to Cassie and I"

Kalen stood up with a grunt, still eyeing the bottle. "I need to get ready  and you do as well. We can discuss these drugs they have us all on soon enough. Just bring all the info you can. We can work together on this... Stay safe; we need each other right now, so do people like Tim."

"Give this back to you soon, Tim." Kalen placed the phone on his night stand and dropped it on a charging-plate. He stretched his back and yawned, hoping silently to himself that he was ready for what ever was lurking ahead of them. Kalen was not just a solider, he was one of the best; but his body said otherwise right now, almost as if it had amnesia. It was like all those years in the arctic alive on scant rations, running, swimming, clawing and shooting through hundreds of miles of hostile territory, never happened. He swung open the bathroom door and sighed as he saw the steamy mirror. Reluctantly he peeled away his clothes to shower.

Kalen, to his own ire, stood on the scale to see if there had been any changes to his own weight. His gut stuck out in a pear shape, while he could still see his feet looking downwards he can see how his stomach extended all round his sides, the weight on the scale read 282 pounds.
 

Kalen tapped his toes on the scale and gripped his gorged belly. "For real! Seriously..." 

The wide paunch grumbled back, stubborn and hungry, almost as in protest ('Yeah, I'm real stupid now get me some breakfast'). His appetite gnawed at him, a palpable pang through out his stomach. Cursing and muttering under his breath, he decided he had wasted enough water and got to showering. 

 Each second in that steamy spray felt wonderful on his sore, stiff muscles. He slumped and let the stream warm wetness massage into his tired back. He use to be quick when it came to his mornings. Usually he was up and ready before dawn, needing only five hours of sleep. Those were years of discipline somehow forgotten. He sighed as his fur coat hung heavy and dripping suds. Whilst conditioning his mane, his mind trailed on Cassandra's giggle.

"Hope you don't mind big men..." He chuckled wryly to himself, but he did not feel all that happy.  "Hell, if you coulda met me justa year ago..."
 

 The war was hell frozen over (quite literally given the Artic front where Kalen fought. The gun battles in blizzards, wetworks in glacial seas, melee tooth and claw with both Overlander and Felidae alike were a whip to his back. But such gave the husky pace, aspiration, determination. The moment he was drafted he had drum beat to March to. He had danced to war's rhythms, the melody of military life. And all of that made him a better man, a sharpen man, a strong man like his father... That was until he got close to her, until the war climaxed and so did he one guilty, terrified night... Ever since then the rhythm wound down and he had been staggering and stumbling with out it since...

As he scrubbed his tail clean, a paradox washed over him thicker and much colder  than the warm showering stream above his head. Despite the misty bathroom he shivered as his mind kept trailing, misfiring and worrying. Words slipped from his lips reflexively: "Hope you're safe Cotton-butt... You were way more reckless than Tim ever was..." 

Kalen shook his head as he squeezed a bottle of conditioner. Why would he think of her at a time like this? Now was not the time. She was no where near Mobotropolis anyways. She was still active duty; anything that would sneak up on her would find a firearm in their face. Still that did not wipe away the worry. 

'The worry that he perhaps not see her again?' His mind shot, almost chiding. 

He could still feel her warmth running against his, fur against fur, lips pressing tight. The cute squeak she made still made his ears twitch. "I hope I didn't mess you up as bad you did to me.." He shook water around and smacked his head as if to smack the old memories out of his. He didn't have to time to indulge in any moral and existential crises; there was a ton to do. He couldn't think about her right now, of all people... Timothy, those missing six were his priority, not her... Yet here he was anyways, inviting a woman with another pretty voice his way, not exactly sure to what species that voice belonged. 

Cassandra for all he knew wasn't a Canine either, yet he had a strong hunch she was. It was a long shot, but what if she wasn't? The implications of that, of even being seen flirting in public... This wasn't like those nights in the artic. Igloos don't have ears, cameras, and eyes; the city, especially this damn city, had way too many...

Kalen shook such thoughts from his mind as he twisted the nozzles of his shower shut. The water gave a quick shudder before ceasing and he stood there, fur dripping. He resisted the urge to shake off, his fur feeling heavy. Instead he grabbed a long-handled brush with steel ridges and a bag from a canister. He quickly combed his whole body, removing shedding hair from his soggy pelt. He cleaned the fur-clogged brush by wiping it with the rough paper-lined inside of the waxy bag. “What do you get when you brush a husky?” He stepped out of the tub with shake of his gut and a wet plop of paw-pads. He took a whole towel to dry off and brushed himself over again when damp, then he completely dried off with a second. He took a lint roll  from his medicine cabinet and cleaned off any stray furs from both towels. He then peeled away the furry stips and tossed them within the bag. Overall he had a hefty bag of fur, the last of his summer coat. He chuckled to himself dryly as he shot out a punch line to the empty bathroom. “Another husky…”

He tossed the bag in the trash and then rubbed some leave in-conditioner in his fur to keep from frizzing and shedding. Such was the burden of his race, the curse of fluffiness, of cuteness (and burning up in the summer Mobotropolis heat). Where many grumbled he was thankful for the early cold front that had just come to town.

“Let’s hope we have a white Christmas…” He said aloud  as he waltzed into his empty bedroom. “Oh Hashem, how do I miss your precious snow….” With his clothes draped in his hand, he began to hurriedly dress. He popped his head and muzzle through a charcoal gray mock-neck and slid his thickly muscled (but fat-softened) thighs through a pair of snug black-blue jeans. “Guess you don’t need that belt, mister 287.” He thumped his belly angrily.

The window aside him was covered in frost. Thinking about his footware, he double checked to see outside.

Snow fell above the clouded skies of the morning, as if to answer to Kalen's hopes for a white Christmas. As he looks outside his window he sees a variety of stores, restaurants, and a competing café a little further down getting ready to open for business. Kalen thought it would be best to make sure everything was ready, lest his competitor open first.

From the thick brazen clouds of early morning snow slowly flurries began to build up into a windy sprinkle, perhaps a welcome answer to Kalen's hopes for a white Christmas. As he peered outside his window he spied a variety of stores, restaurants, and even the competing café a little further down the block, possibly getting ready to open for business. Despite all this tension weighing on is back, life would plod on with or without him keeping pace; best to make sure everything was ready, lest his competitor open first. He would have preferred to open at six, yet for Timmy an hour of business was a worthy sacrifice. He was worth that; they all were worth that, even with civilian life breathing cold and constantly down his neck.
 

The husky's closet door slid open with rickety creak. With pull of a beaded draw-string it's contents brightened into focus underneath an old incandescent. Inside swayed his class-A's, hung alone on one a oak-wood hanger and wrapped neatly in plastic. Below this a bulky matte black supply-trunk weighted low into the plush carpet. Stamps, stickers, glued buttons, clippings from newspapers, adhered badges, and all sorts of printmaking stood with barely a moat of dust atop it's pad-locked lid. The military crate was a collage of memories, acting as some sort of bizarre concatenation of memorial pictographs and a collage of shredded scrapbook. Aside the closet wall was a shoe rack with sandals, flip-flops, and a pair of running shoes. But a pair of charcoal gray and pale stringed boots stood alone, partitioned away from the civilian footwear.

He gripped his class A's with a crinkle of their protective plastic. He then eyed the stolid crate, unawares he was reaching out to his boots. Atop the box was a landscape photograph of several young Mobians in officious garb such as his above, except with much less medals and ribbons. In the center of that picture two canines proudly stood shoulder to shoulder, a toned but scrawny husky and a wide-eyed beagle with a cheesy grin.
 

Kalen bent over and picked up his boots. "I guess I will wear these, Tim, for nostalgia's sake." Whilst hunkered over to the trunk and struggling to fit his now bulkier toes inside his boots, he eyed the picture of the teenaged beagle observing  that exact same goofy grin he saw just a week ago. That was when he heard the big news... Like the rattling bang of a bomb, Tim's thrilled laugh still seemed to ring in the husky ears.

"Kalen my man, I'm gonna finally ask Roxie to marry me!" The Beagle's voiced seemingly reverberated  from the back of his brain. 

 "I'll be there, Tim. Just gotta find a suit that actually fits." He chuckled dryly to the picture though his eyes watered. "Roxie is going to be one lucky lady, you'll see... I promise."

With that he tied his boot-strings into  taught knots, ignoring the slight tightness of his ankles and toes. Hell, even his feet seemed fatter now, or perhaps that was some off form of swelling, another symptom of his meds. He all but marched in his boots and gripped his red sports-coat coat off his living-room coffee table before heading out and down stairs, locking the door firmly behind him.

[WarTraveller]

[Aria Finklidge]

"Oh no, my coffee!" Aria said aloud to no-one in particular. She quickly rushed over to it and quickly yanked it off of the stove. The beans were well and truly burnt, and they smelled like a pile of ash. She felt like crying out, smashing the pot and spreading the ruined beans all over the floor, but alas she was in financial position to waste such precious beans. Her sigh was long, perturbed and born of frustration, but she figured she might as well use them anyway.

She ended up boiling the water as standard, grinding what remained of the beans and pouring the water into the mug, mixing it as standard. She took a straight sip of it; this was as straight as she could drink it, and pretty much the only way she would or could. Her home town barely had the basic stuff to go around, never mind stuff like such frivolous luxuries like milk or sugar - or at least that was what her superiors told her at the time. But even now, when she knew better and was far away from that hellhole, she couldn't exactly afford milk or sugar anyway. Not when even this grotty little apartment was on the line. She sighed, taking another sip of the super strong coffee, letting the rush go to her head and give her the shudders, before she sighed and slammed her head into the table.

"Half whatever in morning..." Aria grumbled, "And already not my day..."

She was raised from her funk from a knocking at the door. She sighed yet again, finishing off the last of her coffee and walking towards the door, opening it with a brisk movement and a fake smile, "Hi!"

It was the mailman, with a package in his arms, "Morning, madam. Got a parcel here with your name on it."

"Really?" Aria asked, taking the parcel into her own arms; it did indeed have her own name on it, "Oh. Thanks very much, thank you." She closed the door behind her, walking back to the table and placing the box upon it. It was a box of a medium size, with a number of strips of brown tape across it. Aria looked confused, "What...is this thing?"

[Ishapar]

[Clayton]

Raising his right eyebrow, Clayton carefully slipped through the door.  He turned his head around at a ninety degree angle, but his sharp chartreuse eyes saw no other being in the room.  His gaze shifted onto the plastic helmet, and the panther walked softly over to the table.  Clayton raised his right paw and held it slightly above the charred top of the helmet.  Feeling a source of heat, Clayton moved his paw away from the helmet and shifted himself slightly away from the table.  Resting his narrow snout in his left paw, Clayton interloped his eyes from the room and back onto the helmet.  The course hair of his neck became slightly raised, and the end of his tail gave a slight twitch, but the panther's roaming eyes refused to cease the cycle of scanning the room and returning to gaze upon the helmet. 

None of this was normal, that Clayton knew, but he still held his current composure and remained motionless besides the occasional tail twitching.  Since his dealings with the badger, old Frockler had always insisted that his cargo was to always arrive on a precise schedule: why was this morning different?  There wasn't any sign of Frockler or any of his employees at the dock, and Clayton hasn't seen anyone since arriving at the warehouse.  Upon gazing again on the smoldered plastic, Clayton couldn't understand what incident had to occur for an employee's helmet to be charred and melted.  He wasn't going to find answers standing in the break room: he needed to head back to his ship and keep an eye on the shipment until Frockler personally arrives at the dock to explain the whole situation.

Simple and easy?  Should be.  Except the smoke and the burnt odor smelled of danger.  Clayton's instinct warned him of heeding caution and Clayton submitted to the same feeling that protected him from other hazardous situations.  Shifting his body sideways to face the right half of the room, Clayton stealthly walked over to the open door...

[Mike Arcade]

[TheRedStranger - Kalen]

Kalen walked down the stairs and neared the light switches. With a series of flicks, the lights flickererd   to life. Kocking immediately followed, he had a pretty good idea of who it was too. "Kalen buddy open up! I'm freezing my tail off out here, I know you're there because you just turned the lights on, if you're not my boss and happen to be a lucky lady of his please let me in anyway. I won't peak or anything I swear, he can vouch for me." The awkward, joking tone could only come from his "best" employee, at least he was good with electronics.

[Wulfsbane - Alexia]

Alexia then saw an explosion of snow a few feet in front of her, this knocked her back as she stumbled to get to the trenches. Gun fire and bombardment was constant and never ending as if a violent symphony was playing throughout the land, she crawled laying low as she tumbled down the trench. Under the cover of the trench, she amused her self on how real this dream seemed to be, it was then that she heard a very familiar voice right near her...one she hasn't thought about for quite some time. "Hey did you lose you're rifle?" the Husky near her grabbed a spare rifle conveniently near him and handed it over to Alexia "Keep yourself armed there, we're pushing them back." His reassuring smile was nostalgic, it was good seeing him again. 

[WarTraveller - Aria]

Aria was nervous about the Package she received, laying it on her counter top if she should open it. I mean who knows what it could be right? However she took a deep breath and grabbed a pair of scissors, carefully cutting the tape that sealed the package. Slowly lifting the cardboard she saw a sight that brought her tears of both nostalgia and joy. It was a stuffed bunny rabbit, the same kind she had back home, carefully examining it she inherently gave it a small hug. "Who could have done this, could it have been...?" As she wiped the tears from her eyes and saw a note at the bottom of the box written in a very familiar language, on the bottom of the box was stacks of money that Aria couldn't believe. In shock from all this she took the note, it's hand writing all but confirmed her suspicion as she read it aloud "Hello my little sunset, in here you'll find all that you need to start a new life, please get as far away from here as you can. Stay safe, I love you." The signature at the end made it true, it was her dear lost sister...

[Ishapar - Clayton]

Clayton was greeted with the same emptiness that plagued the warehouse, this seemed to be Frocker's office as it had a computer set up with a desktop, ivory table, and cushy chair. As he walked into the office he felt a pang as he accidentally kicked something plastic at the corner of the room, Clayton noticed and walked to the end of the room to see a cell phone on the floor. He crouched over to pick it up, he noticed it looked scratched up and flipped it open. He tried to turn it on to no avail, perhaps this belonged to whoever worked here during the night shift? As Clayton put the phone away he was surprised by a gruff yet familiar voice "What do you think your doing there!". He turned around to see a very angry Badger pointing a pistol at him.

[TheRedAuthar - Hanako]

Hanako paced around the ship, it was all she could think of to do as she wondered if there was anything she could do before she reached shore, she looked around corners to see if anyone was up. Though thankfully it seem to be rather empty as she looked throughout the halls and wandered. She then heard the chatter and footprints of guards walked across the hall, "Yeah man I'm telling you, we're all gonna be working in the kingdom now acting as the new cops from what I heard, I can't think of a more comfy job!"

[Ishapar]

Clayton slipped his paws into his vest pockets and casually leaned against the wall.  He could tell the fellow Mobian was shook up and it wouldn't take less then an approaching step for his finger to pull the gun's trigger.  Best to take the situation down to a lower degree of tension, and what better way than to speak the universal language of Mobius: business.

"Looking for you," Clayton said confidently, "My boat has arrived in Port number 12D at 2300 hours with our recent shipment of international spices and no one came to apprehend our cargo.  I had no option but to come over here to find you or anyone else to take the blasted seasoning out of our paws. 

Clayton's eyes remained locked on the badger's pistol, but the rest of his demeanor remained relaxed.

"You'll find your first crate of cumin waiting outside this building.  I have no intention of breaking my back to carry the rest of the cargo over here without verifying our shipment."

[WarTraveller]

[Sorry this is late. I, uh...forgot]

[Aria Finklidge]

Aria could only really shiver in her boots as she held the letter, the odd tear splashing onto the already yellowed paper. This was...this was impossible! This was surely impossible, it had to be; her family was still alive?! But they couldn't be! Aria knew they couldn't...right? She still remembered the night she had made her escape, after all. It wasn't exactly something she was going to be able to forget in a long time. Even now, the crackling fires and the screaming of her people played out in her mind, as fresh as the time itself, in and out of her memory like a painful twang of guilt;

'Aria! Aria, wake up!"

She could remember that smell of burning wood, the amber flare of the fires raging outside of their predominantly wooden shack, as she was hastily awakened from her slumber. In front of her, looks sadly lost to the grief and ravishes of time, was her sister with a look of terror on her face. She spoke up;

'S-Sister? What is going on? Why is there screaming?!'

'The soldiers, Aria. They have descended upon us! They are grouping people up in the town square and...I don't even know what is going on there. They have already captured mother!'

'Oh no!' Aria wailed, getting to her feet, 'What do we do?'

'There is no time, Aria. We must go! We must run away as fast as possible! I have gathered whatever I could in these bundles. We must go!'

'But-"

Aria could not get another word out before the door to their shack crackled and crumbled before them. In flooded a number of  Chutokan guards, all wielding only the latest in outdated old-war weapons but with strong armour to more than make up for it. The two that had made it into the room looked at the pair through their heavy helmets that only accentuated their gravelly voices; 'Hey! You two! Out to the square, now!'

'Why?! What are you doing?!'

'We have our orders, rabbit. Now MOVE!'

...Even Aria couldn't remember what happened next. All she could remember was the sensation of hitting something hard and landing outside the house in a pile of what used to be the rear window of the shack. She could see her sister in the windowframe, screaming, 'Go! GO!' before she screamed as the soldiers grabbed her by the arms and thrust her back into the shack. Aria screamed, reaching her own hand out, but a bullet struck her palm and she screamed in pain as she turned and bolted. She wanted to go back and save her sister, to kick those nasty soldiers off of her body...to not run away and spend the rest of the night in a ditch like a coward. But she couldn't.

"Sister..." Aria weeped as the flashbacks finally faded from her memories. She held the rabbit close, "I am so, so sorry...I let you down. I...I let you ALL down..."

She continued to stare at the letter, then back at the money. There was quite a bit within it, the exact amount hard to determine, but a large amount nonetheless. She turned back to the letter, read it again and again, then her brain clicked; she knew what to do now. With the money, with her life above all.

'But you survived. Somehow, I do not know how. But if you are still out there, Sister. I will find you. And I will make sure that we will never have to endure such hardships again. Now..." Aria paused, images of that Husky flashing in her head, "Where do I begin?"

[What are the chances that someone in-town might have information on Aria's sister?]

[Wulfsbane]

Alexia then saw an explosion of snow a few feet in front of her, this knocked her back as she stumbled to get to the trenches. Gun fire and bombardment was constant and never ending as if a violent symphony was playing throughout the land, she crawled laying low as she tumbled down the trench. Under the cover of the trench, she amused her self on how real this dream seemed to be, it was then that she heard a very familiar voice right near her...one she hasn't thought about for quite some time. "Hey did you lose you're rifle?" the Husky near her grabbed a spare rifle conveniently near him and handed it over to Alexia "Keep yourself armed there, we're pushing them back." His reassuring smile was nostalgic, it was good seeing him again. 

 

"Right." Alexia nodded, taking hold of the rifle given by the husky. For a brief moment, she wanted to think of something other than fighting, but this was her life now. Alexia knew what she was getting herself into and she's accepting it, thought in the dreams scape it still needs some getting used to. Realism and all, it's almost as if when Alexia sleeps, she's still awake. "What's the situation, how many left?"

[Mike Arcade]

[TheRedStranger - Kalen]

Kalen rolled his eyes, his hackles raising in a cringe. "Geez, no wonder he's still single... That pick up line would even scare off a leech kiss.."
 The Husky stuffed his hands in his pockets and smirked impishly as he shuffled-stepped up to the door. Instead of opening it, he leaned on the door, folding his arms behind his head as if wanting to recline there for a good while, despite the howl of a cold wind outside.
"Such smooth talk, Arcade. Real smooth." Kalen could not help but chuckle. "Heck if I had the right bits and bobs down below, I'd be swoonin' so bad, I'd even forget to smack you. Tell me, do you promise all the ladies that?"

Arcade chuckled to hide his annoyance at Kalen "Only the ladies that you have buddy, at least I try to get out there and get a date when I'm not playing games or hanging out with ya." 
"If only you were as suave as you were game savvy." Kalen barked out a laugh whilst still leaning his weight against the door. "Gotta warn ya kid, finding a date will cost more than quarters if you screw up..." Kalen cleared his throat, his voice alternating from cheerful to cold, boss-like. "Speaking of screwing up... Do you know how late you are today?"
Arcade groaned loudly from behind the door.  "Now come on Kalen, PLEASE let me in! Who else knows how to treat you're Arcade Boards as well as I do?"

Kalen simply repeated himself: "Do you know how late you are, Arcade?"

"About half an hour... Look, I'm really sorry about that Kalen. You know I wouldn't usually be late for this." Arcade's cheer faltered and his tone turned somber "I don't know why really. I'm not making excuses here, honest. It's my bad, but something about today just feels...off, ya know?" 
Kalen felt the door thump against his back. "I mean... I never was a soldier or anything, but to think that this war is over just seems too good to be true."

"Don't hold that against yourself, you were just a kid, draft or not." Kalen probed his friend's voice with upright ears, attune to the slight shake of his voice. "Thinking about dad...?

Arcade was silent over the mention of his father "I guess, not much to talk about though..."
"Oh there is," Kalen countered, still calmly reclining. "You just want to act rather than talk. And that's getting to you." He yawned. "And that's why you're late."

"Can you blame me? My dad died like a lot of others out there and it seems like everyone is forgetting that! I barely slept listening to all the bull on the radio." Arcade growled "Didn't you hear what they're doing? They're shafting our troops and shipping them home, those who aren't are sitting ducks out there in the colonies. I even heard they're making Colonel Stripes resign."

Kalen can hear pacing outside his doorstep "The whole world seems to have gone mad and no one's doing a thing about it, you'd think someone out there would piece all this together and stop...I don't know, whatever this is." 

"Stand still for a second, kid. Take a breath. Embrace the moment." Kalen stood upright and turned around to face the door. "You know what you're feeling right now?"

The shuffling outside the doorstep halted "Anxiety, guilt? Something along the lines of that?" Arcade's breathing grew deeper "It's okay, I'm alright now. I mean it's either one of those two right? What else could it be."

Kalen switched the lock. "You don't feel cold. You forgot all about it."
Arcade gasped in amazement "Huh...you're right! I don't feel that cold after all, hehe thanks Kalen."
Kalen nudged the door as to let Arcade in and keep the heat out. "You always wondered how I didn't freeze to death during the Operation Aphelion, how so even survived - that's how."

[Wulfsbane - Alexia]

"Four, maybe Five, it's hard to tell under here but we're pushing them back." Kalen peaked from the trench and aimed to fire a few consecutive semi automatic shots, only to duck before the hail of gunfire sped by. "Dang it, maybe there's more of them." Kalen checked the clip in his rifle to see he still had a suitable amount of bullets in his current round "Okay Alex follow me, we'll get to the edge of the trench and maybe we can see just how many of them their are." 

[Ishapar - Clayton]

The badger eyed him suspiciously for a moment, gun still aiming at Clayton's temple...then slowly put the gun back in it's holster. "You must be Clayton, you're a bit early then. I thought you were suppose to be here around 8:00?" The Badger looked rather tired, he didn't look ancient but seem to have an air of old world weariness to him having grayed whiskers around his muzzle. "Well since you've been snooping around my warehouse have you seen a young Lop around here, kinda fat, a bit lazy, the kid should still be here and I can't find where he buggered off too."

[Wulfsbane]

"Four, maybe Five, it's hard to tell under here but we're pushing them back." Kalen peaked from the trench and aimed to fire a few consecutive semi automatic shots, only to duck before the hail of gunfire sped by. "Dang it, maybe there's more of them." Kalen checked the clip in his rifle to see he still had a suitable amount of bullets in his current round "Okay Alex follow me, we'll get to the edge of the trench and maybe we can see just how many of them their are."

Alexia popped up to fire a few quick bursts before ducking back down into the trench. "We got this. We're gonna have to be careful. Have any grenades, they may be helpful in a pinch." Alexia began crawling next to Kalen, slowly inching  ahead.

[Ishapar]

"Maybe your gun gave that a kid a free ticket out of here," stated the thoughts swirling Clayton's head.  If that badger was so willing to pull a gun on an expected trader, why would the Lop stay around the warehouse?

Despite his thoughts, Clayton's composure remained unchanged.

"You are the first person I have seen since arriving in port.  I haven't seen any kid.  I did find somebody's footprints leading to the warehouse, but there was no one in the building.  Mind explaining why no one is here?  I have a full boat of your spices and only two shipmates to help with the unloading, but we were not assigned to deliver them to your warehouse."

[Mike Arcade]

[Okay we gotta get things rolling here, I'll be changing how I've been updating this RP as it seems like I've been doing posts only once a month. So I'm spreading the updates out every week for consistency, that's my own goal for this RP now.]

{Aria - WarTraveller]

Aria remembered that she still had to deliver the vegetables to the Husky Kalen this morning, he's always been the closest Mobian to a friend she has around here, maybe she can advice him on what to do. Looking once more at the Money, she was unsure on what to do...perhaps tonight she should pack things up and head off to find her sister tomorrow morning? This was all too much for the young rabbit, it would be best to take some time and think it over today.

please get as far away from here as you can...

What does she mean by that? Upon further glance the note looked as if it was written haphazardly, why would she have to rush? She felt a pounding in her head as the headache from the stress got worse, Aria paces to the bathroom to take an aspirin.

[Hanako - TheRedAuthar]

"You really think they're gonna go through with this Demilitarization Act? It sounds insane man..."  The Raccoon looks rather unimpressed at his fellow's joy of working at Mobotropolis, The Otter at his side on the other hand looked much more relaxed, looking rather content.

"I don't know about you but I'm pretty sick of all the traveling, I mean I like the ocean but I think we've done our service, we paid our dues and believe me while your stationed there you're gonna love it man, it's the best place to be."

His fellow sighed at his friend's reassurance "I'd rather be back home then at the capital honestly, whatever you say man..."

Both Soldiers seemed to be unaware of The Mink spying on them, a Mink who sought out what could be her last and only real adventure on deck. The discussion between the two was rather enlightening to her yet brought along more questions, what was this Demilitarization Act?

Just then The Raccoon stopped walking, The Otter turned to his fellow "Hmm, something up Kyle?"

"Yeah um, okay I know this is gonna sound nuts Pat but do you feel like we're being watched?"

 [Kalen - TheRedStranger]
 

Shoulders shivering, Arcade hustled through the blustery threshold, striped tail frizzed and wobbling as he rubbed his cold paws together for warmth. The boyish and short Tiger still had some growing to do but he was muscled in his arms just enough to lug things around the cafe. His distinct charcoal stripes and mango fur shined, snow-damp in the café lighting. Kalen couldn't help but smirk at how, at least in his more cold-natured opinion, over dressed the tiger was. He ploded in thick bronze leather boots, caked in rime, and under a thick thermal jacket was his scarlet pin-striped dress shirt.
"I never get tired of your war stories Kalen," the slight tiger said through a fit of shivers, "t-they can r-really be the h-highlight of my morning...barring any with um...not so great endings anyway."
Kalen wrapped his arm around his shoulder and started swiftly escorting him to a large, inviting burled-rosewood fireplace at the far end center wall of the cafe surrounded by plush, deep red camelback couch. "You are freezing, bandy-butt... Sit down for a sec. It looks like they have not cleared the roads yet anyways. We probably have an hour...I'll light the fire so you can actually move without hoping around like a caffeinated cricket."
Kalen produced and flipped open a wood and silver embroidered lighter from his pocket. "Lucky we have that new natural gas-line installed here down-town. That damn Electricity-tax is insane." Despite his claim, he switched on the stain-glass tiffany-lamps, their warm-colors and gold light soothing, inviting. Yet nothing could compare to the sudden poof of a warm fire, the short work of Kalen, the well seasoned fire-stater. "Personally though," the husky said, "I think a good fire can never be beat." 
Lit up in flickering soft light, the cafe's main room was classy as it was welcoming, especially in this bitter cold. Kalen went behind the long backwards L-shaped bar to the left of the room and began to poke around. Soon the toasted earthy-sweet aroma of honey-bean coffee filed the room, then, the hint of hot chocolate. 
"Your mom was beautiful by the way..."

Arcade eyed Kalen in suspicion "Oookay, and what's that suppose to mean, please tell me your not checking my mom out." He grimaced in dread over the thought of Kalen flirting with his own mother, then shook it off as he sat down on a comfy leather chair "Besides she's married to her job working for PBS, so safe to say she'd not be your type."
He rolled his eyes and slumped over the chair, groaning "Apparently they're gonna interview the new Colonel replacing Stripes."
Kalen swallowed hard, the claws of his fingers clacking awkwardly against the desk. "Take your witch-hunt for Minglers somewhere else, kiddo... You know I am not...well..." Kalen cleared his throat as he poured two ceramic mugs with two different handled pots. "You know I am just 23 right?" He cocked his head slightly as he stirred cream into his coffee with a spoon. "Something tells me she wouldn't be interested in a chubby warmonger like me, even if I was...well... Besides, you probably would not want me as a step dad."

Arcade was taken aback. "23, really? You act a lot more mature then most 20 somethings I've met." He tapped his foot in a mix of impatience and nerves "Besides, don't sell yourself short like that man I mean...you're...well..." Arcade muttered and kept himself quiet, this short silence spanning only a minute was soon broken by the Tiger.
"Anyway Kalen, do you have marshmallows for this cocoa?"
Kalen now stood looming above him, his arm outstretched, the mug still in his hand. He had been offering for quite some time. "I am what, bandy-butt? What's wrong?"

He locked at the Husky shadowing over him, remaining unusually bashful and soft spoken, a bit misty eyed even "You're...already a...dad to me."
"I mean I-I know that's pretty embarrassing to say but it's not like I really knew my dad anyway you know."

Kalen bit his lip and had to consciously unclenched his fingers to properly let the young tiger to take the mug. "I...hm...I don't know if I am the greatest influence kiddo. I mean, I have shot people you know." He let out a dry, hollow chuckle. His chest felt heavy, like burdened down with a sudden weight. "You'd think you're mom would have found someone, you know..."

Arcade looked away "O-oh come on Kal, sure you've done some rough things in life, I mean considering the state of the world I mean it's no surprise"

He then tried to perk up to his usual cheery attitude "Besides man, I did learn from you to not overdo it on the fries every now and then." Arcade lightly poked Kalen's stomach, cheeky grin in tow.

 Kalen's gut gave slightly, lazyily pliant to the tiger's embarrassing poaching. The husky's nose glowed a dull red. He sighed through gritted teeth. "Says the kid who takes his hot chocolate with 7 sugars below that mountain of marshmallows. Maybe I am not a good influence. Metabolism will eventually get the better of you if you don't watch you sip as much as you sup, mark my words." Kalen paced about the fire place slightly. "Sorry pal, I don't feel like much of anything nowadays to be honest...It feels like World has gone soft, and it's contagious..."

He eyed a comfy chair beside the young tiger and took a mental effort to refuse it, despite his softly nagging foot paws. "Lucky I got you to look out for, keeps me from ballooning and baffoning like that Armand. He's no bean pole himself, you know." He leaned in over the Tiger's shoulder and grinned. "I think he wears a girdle if I say so myself. He's not your Grandpa Stripes fer sure. He could not even fart as loud as him." Kalen barked out a laugh and ruffled the striped teen's cap "Heck, he'd probably crap himself tryin'!"

Arcade continued his laughter "Oh gosh that would a literal crap storm." The tiger continued to sip at his hot cocoa. "Whew, so Kal about those marshmallows where are they?"

"Oh, behind the bar." Kalen chuckled, blue eyes narrowing as the tiger-kit got a bit too comfortable in his chair. "Where you should soon get to cleaning up, brewing drinks, and checking stock."

Arcade nervously chuckled "Hehe, right I need to get on that, just need to top myself off here." The Tiger got up, walked around the counter and checked to see a bag of sealed up Marshmallows. Arcade grabbed seven of the well sized fluffy treats and with a pace took long, sprinted steps back to the leather chair. 
He sat down and one by one put each Marshmallow in carefully to not overflow the cocoa. He took small, constant sips until all the marshmallows fit in the cup with the remaining beverage.
With a satisfied grin he looked at the husky eying him with a raised brow "Now this is a good way to start the morning" The Tiger then drank and ate his Marshmallow-Cocoa blend.

Kalen rolled his eyes. "Azriel Arcade, you can't take a hint can you? Thank Hashem you were not enlisted under me, kiddo. You'd be going up Puke-bucket hill in two degree weather for that." Kalen planted his paw atop his head and rustled the hair under the Tiger's cap. "Get warm, but don't get too comfortable! Turn on the radio and make sure the Arcade is up and running. I expect a lot of people will want something warm in their belly today and lots of diversions." He took another sip of his coffee. "It's just the nature of the times." 
The husky plodded over with a slight yawn to the counter and began to clean out the bottoms of the soda spickets with a clean white cloth. "I also have guests coming. So make sure we are well vacuumed and all the furniture is polished. Do a good job and I will let you play that new cabinet I just got in - Afterburn."

The Tiger shook his head in surprise "Afterburn? Already, I thought it wasn't out for another month." Arcade picked up the pace, finishing his drink and immediately got up. He stretched his legs and walked to the Radio, turning it on with no need to adjust the channel already pre-set from the other day.
As he checked the stock to start the day he check the stock to start the day, he mentioned aloud across the room. "Also as soon as I can I'll finish up getting Dream Realm up and ready again, not just because it's one of my favorite games mind you, we get some pretty good change from it."
He chuckled at his apparent foresight "Looked too cute you said, I told ya that would be a good pick."

"Oh we're not having this rant again are we?" The husky rubbed his temples with a sigh. "It just seems it would date quick, that's all." Kalen replied with a smirk as he headed towards the kitchen-door behind the L-shaped bar. "I swear if you knew half as much about girls as ya did that dungeon full of video-games, you'd be engaged to that crush of yours now. Priorities, Azy! Priorities."
Arcade's stomach fluttered at the passing mention of the Tigress "Her name is Zuna and...I know my priorities, I'm just not sure if she'd like a barely grown Tiger like me anyway..." As Azriel counted the stock he retorted Kalen's previous statement "As for Dream Realm, a game like that never ages. I played through the whole thing and the ending just changes everything about it!"

 "Mm-hmm..." The husky nodded and mumbled distantly as he focused on the ornate filigreed clock ticking by on one of the adjacent paneled walls. He was quick to work, his boots carrying him from oak table to oak table as he cleaned them and then polished the leather couches and coffee tables to an inviting shine. "Oh, and make sure those new tea kettles are clean."

As Azriel counted out every row of ceramic mugs laid upon the shelves he pressed in with passionate and lasered concentration. "I mean the visuals did it for me at first, not to mention the challenge it gave out. The little prologue to it seemed rather stock fighting nightmare creatures but once you get to the end, you find out that the one behind it all was the remains of your lost race!"

The Tiger wrote down the number of cups the store had up front as his passionate recollection brought him to look at Kalen. "I mean Kalen can you imagine what that must be like, you as the player unknowingly took down the very race your main character was trying to find throughout the game, he saved the world but at what cost?"

 Kalen in the middle of an unpacking box of condiments, looked up at Arcade with a quirked eyebrow. "Very ironic topic for a Felidae...you'd think this game would hit too close to home..."
Arcade halted  from the uncomfortable irony of his manager's words "Oh, ouch there Kalen, heh."

"Yeah...ouch indeed." Kalen sighed. "Something tells me that's been on your mind." 

Azriel stood on a stepping stool to reach and wipe down the corners of the coffee maker " Didn't think of it like that, but you just proved my point there, games like these have a lot of hidden subtext you may not realize."

The tiger walked over to check the tea kettles to see only one of them was used "We got clean ones, just need to wash this one here though."

"Good." Kalen fed and stoked the fire, not quite focusing on Arcade. He had know the teen long enough to know once he was focused on games, it would be all he could practically talk about for a good hour. Never the less, he would entertain this one statement - just to see if he could defend it. "Cleaned the toilets last night, so  don't worry about that." He put away the poker and headed toward the swinging kitchen door. He leaned back on the counter and crossed his arms. "Back that up then, Az. Seems most the games you play are well...they're not the works of Verberus that's for sure. In what way are they artistic, meaningful?"
Azriel, taken to the challenge with a gleam in his eyes "Oh gladly! Video Games are more then just shooting down bad guys for points, they are worlds with their own lore, history, and struggles that can be just as deep as any TV show or Movie!"

The Tiger looked very assured and confident "They are interactive fiction that allows you to stand in the place of People who sacrifice everything to ensure a better future for not only themselves, but their entire world against insurmountable odds." Arcade beamed with optimism and joy that excited himself, this only made him work in a faster pace.

All the while, Azriel was oblivious to his boss, more talking to himself than anyone now. Resetting the water purifiers and restocking coffery, bake-goods, condiments, he had finished up his rounds behind the bar and snuck through the swinging door to the kitchen. There he checked the slower-cookers, checked stock in the fridge and freezers, readied the grill and stoves, then cleaned up the stations. "Hm... Still need those vegetables, hope Grandma-twentysumthin' gets here soon..." 

He paced around the café as he talked, cleaning as he did so "Some would diss those of simpler, cute graphics or niche gameplay, but they are so much more then meets the eye. They inspired me to delve deeper into written works and look much closer into every word scribed on pages or the screen, there's much we can do with this medium and in turn learn from it. Perhaps one day a great game will get it's own TV or Novel Series, maybe some are in the works that haven't been announced yet!"

Arcade spaced out in a daze "A Dream Realm Novelization, now that would be amazing to see what they do with it..."

Kalen washed his hands in one of the kitchen sinks and sunk back into the room. "Not if people like your mom and senator Quinn have anything to do with it - you heard about that new bill they are trying to sneak in right? It's almost as pathetic as Armand..."
Arcade halted at the mention of his mother, surprised with a pang of fear in his stomach and paralyzed with the thought of what the woman could be up to. "No, Kalen what are you talking about...? Please, tell me she isn't convincing Quinn to pass something terrible - what are they doing Kalen?" There was a grimace in his voice.

"Calm down, calm down." Kalen waved his worries off with a sigh. "Really, Arcade, you should read the newspaper sometime. You haven't heard of RIME?"

Kalen leaned forward on the counter, fingers splayed and eyes a tad weary. "By the crown, you're oblivious kiddo..." The husky sighed through his teeth and shook his head, staring down at the counter, breaking eye contact. "Rime stands for: Regulatory Information Media Enrichment Act. I am sure you can guess what the bill's all about..."

Arcade felt as if he was dealt a blow in the gullet "Oh no, no..."

The Tiger paced back and forth over the counter, shaking his head in disbelief with words now barely able to escape him "W-why would, why would my Mom SUPPORT this!"

His paws placed on his head, the young mobian was completely distraught "I-is this because of me? She supporting this because of my hobbies and views, I-I can't...Kalen how am I suppose to look her in the eyes after this?"

[Wulfsbane and Ishapar will be up next here as soon as possible guys so get ready. ]
 

[WarTraveller]

[Aria Finklidge]

The fizz of the aspirin dissolving in the water was music to Aria's pounding ears. Normally people would take the tablets first and THEN drink the water to help swallow them, and most people found the taste of aspirin revolving, but to Aria any medicine was good medicine - and more medicine than she ever got back in her home country. She grabbed the resultant cloudy mix and downed it in a single gulp, trying her best to ignore the atrocious taste as it slid down her throat. It took a few minutes, but finally, the inherent pounding of her headache began to vanish into the ether from whence it came. Aria sighed, setting the glass down and re-entering the main room, head now clear and ready to have a good hard think about what to do next.

First things first, she figured, was the letter. One last look wouldn't hurt. She reached out, grasping at the letter with trembling hands and taking one final look at it; the writing was still very much the same as ever, only now could she have a better look at the handwriting; her sister wasn't known for her handwriting, to put it lightly, but even her very worst when crippled by fever and the cold was better than this. This looked rushed, almost scribbled and scrawled, as if written in a hurry. Wherever Aria's sister was when she wrote this, and whatever she was doing, she had to leave in a hurry. Not a good sign. There was a brief flash at the money too; there was plenty of it, and oddly enough in the local currency. Probably not enough to lift her out of poverty, but enough with her more scroungy spending mannerisms would last for a good long while. And that would be a massive help.

"So..." Aria finally said to herself, grabbing a decent amount of the money from the stash, "I guess I will follow my day's plans. Perhaps that husky will have some information on my sister's whereabouts...besides, I have got vegetables to sell..."

She sighed one last time, gathering all of the vegetables that were fit for selling into a large backpack that the husky had helpfully provided her with for the veggies, then exited her room and ambled down the stairs. She took a left, swinging over and off the stairs, walking out of the door to the apartment building and onto the streets.

Some Background Sounds to help set the scene...hopefully.

The Arkon Kingdom in Winter was not a nice place to be if you stood out - and Aria did that by miles. Everything she did, everything she said, her voice, her accent, her clothes and mannerisms. She was...different. And with the war this Kingdom was going through, perhaps they didn't want to see different. Understandable. But it didn't make Aria's predicament any easier. As she slowly walked to where the husky's cafe was, using an old, hand-drawn map to navigate, she could not ignore the quiet stares she was getting from others - across the street, up in the windows, in the shops and restaurants sipping their morning coffees. Most of the time she could ignore it, heck with the amount of people who did it she kind of had to, but sometimes she could only feel...uncomfortable. Like, they only tolerated her because she was harmless in their eyes. Her country had become little more than a band of savages to these people. She couldn't scrub the actions of her people off of her back. If only she was able to reach out and tell them what had truly happened...

Nevertheless, she knew this was not the time nor the place. She had things to do, people to see and vegetables to sell. That last one was perhaps the most important, at least for right now, and she tried her best to block the stares out as she continued her clomping saunt down the paved streets. All around her was the sound of busy near-modern life; people chatting, transport rumbling, the soft sound of boats in the harbour, even the trains ringing and roaring and rumbling, softened almost into melody by the distance. It all seemed...so safe and tranquil. She continued on her way, her boots clomping on the pavement as she kept staring at the ground, refusing to make eye contact with anyone - she didn't know exactly what would happen if she did. The cold was breathtaking, almost staggering, but to Aria herself it was no problem. She saw people kneeling over, breathless, while others had stopped with cups of coffee and hot chocolate but she herself wasn't bothered. The cold never bothered her. After her own country, it couldn't.

She continued walking, taking her lefts and rights as she went, exiting onto streets full of shops before turning to other streets full of houses. She weaved in and out of buildings and people, dodging stalls she could not see and had almost bumped into and watching her own breath condense in the cold. Finally, a warm orange lighting struck the front of her clothes and she stopped, looking up. There, situated in the middle of the street she was on, surrounded by smaller buildings, was a large cafe. It was at least three stories high, white-panelled with enough windows to let in the light during the summer. Two trees and a garden were splayed out on the roof of the building and inside Aria could see Arkoners of all types and classes, drinking coffee and merrily chatting the morning away before they were to retire to whatever they had planned for the day.

Aria chuckled softly to herself before she entered; "Three stories AND a roof garden? Sometimes I forget this husky is, how they say, loaded."

[Mike Arcade]

[Kalen - TheRedStranger]
 

"I wouldn't say it was your fault, kiddo. But we'll get to that..."  Kalen shrugged off the notion, his tone dismissive but assuring.  The husky expected this. He sighed and splayed his fingers against the granite bar-top with a stretch. The caffeine had soaked into his nerves now and the last of the morning-stiffs worked out his fat-burdened muscles. He was still exercising, despite the more depressing days encouraging him otherwise. Muscle stubbornly pushed against pounds of pudge, protesting, yearning to be free again to run a marathon like it were a casual stroll around the block.  He kneaded his back muscles with a forced smile as waking energy flowed through him. "You see now why the world around you is important, Azriel? You register to vote like I said you should?"

Arcade's drooping ears perked up "As a matter of fact Kalen, I did register to vote." The Tiger grinned proudly from ear to ear "I think I know what you mean, I can vote against the act and show others how wrong it is right? That way there's no way that can pass and we don't end up living in some regulated mess."
The Tiger stood tall, despite his short height "Hey give me some credit Kal, of course the world is important around me...it's just..." He rubbed his neck "'I'm not sure how to get others attention, since most people literally look down on me anyway, it can be pretty easy to be overlooked, and here I thought Milk was suppose to make you taller."
Kalen suddenly beamed at the Tiger, standing up straight and proud. "You finally did it, didn't you! Peeled yourself out of the ol' Arcade - my word kiddo, before you know it you will have a lady-friend and forget all about me." The husky barked out a gusty laugh, then took a swig of his coffee. "Would you believe me if I said I have the answer to that question, bandy-butt?"

Arcade retorted humbly "Ah it was nothing, I told ya I would!"

The Tiger looked around as if to see anyone else was listening in despite the cafe only housing the two before whispering "An answer, really? Like what?"

Kalen entreated the jovial Tiger, leaning in over the counter and whispering along, stoking the mood with leering eyes. "I have a couple of friends from the RNN coming today. You can tell I have a lot to say; seems you do too."

Arcade's ears twitched in surprise "The RNN really? How did you get them to talk to you, did you call them and invite them over for an interview?"

The Tiger eyes shifted in thought "Hmm...say Kalen..." His eyes darted on The Husky in suspision "Remember how I thought that I heard you on The Radio this morning I wasn't dreaming was I, were you actually on RNN this morning were you!"

Kalen shook his head almost apologetically and kept his voice low. "I had to lie about my indentity...I  am sure you can understand why."

The Tiger followed suit with his Boss and lowered his voice "Right, you can't be too careful, who knows what sort of Lirule Spies could be listening in on ya."

"I am frankly not concerned about them as much as our own government." Kalen poured himself a second cup of coffee as he spoke. "I have a bad feeling about where our country is heading..."

[Alexis - Wulfsbane]

The Husky crawled toward Alexis, keeping his head low away from the ongoing fire fight from both sides. Within his vest pouch he grabbed a pair of grenades and handed on to the Rabbit "Okay Alex I'm gonna give you cover fire while you head off to the next trench, I'll follow suit and when you get close enough we'll toss them to the enemy." Kalen sighed at the thought of this mad dash "We have two tries here to clear them all out with these so let's make em count."

[Clayton - Ishapar]

"No, if he left early then he would have called or wrote a note, I'll call his place and see where he is later." The Badger rubbed his eyes out of stress, confused on where his employee went. "Look you and you're guys can drop the shipment off, I'll get the papers for ya, maybe he went home sick or something."

As he turned away to his office he stated "If ya here anything about em let me know alright, I don't want to see his face on the news or a flier like a lot of other folks around here."

[Hanako - TheRedAuthur]

"Kyle you sure you're not hearing things? You really gotta relax more man, believe me this'll be a great set up" Patrick's reassuring yet overly relaxed demeanor could only do anything but, The Raccoon ignored his instincts and turned to his friend "Not everyone things this is a "great set up" Pat, we're leaving every territory we spent months, or for some years to fight for with smaller squads and little back up to those staying over there in colonies and the kingdom stationed to act like dressed up policemen." His tone raised more as he ranted to his supposed friend "Can you REALLY stand there docile and tell me nothing seems wrong,here?"

The Otter lost his grin, rather surprised at the Raccoon and frowned "Look man the Arkon Kingdom hasn't really been wrong all things considered, have things been perfect? No, but it's all worked out in the end and while it's not a perfect system, it works." Patrick looked concerned at the tense Raccoon "We won't have to pick up a rifle again man, YOU won't have to keep firing at anyone else anymore." He patted Kyle on the back "You gotta learn how to let go."

Kyle sighed, defeated yet still unnerved as his eyes were filled with distraught and regret "Maybe it's easy for you man but I can't let go, not yet."

[Not as soon as I wanted to update but here guys, let's keep this hedgehog rolling! *shot* ]

[Ishapar]

Clayton's right ear twitched at the badger's remark.  Having shipped spices to Arkon has given him a little experience with the political dogma that plauged the kingdom, but he rarely took the time to focus on the recent events.  To him, every powerful nation was the same, and Arkon was no different.  Frockler's concern for his young rambicious employee wasn't Clayton's concern; if the badger was that concerned about the kid, he should keep a tighter lease around the fool's neck.

"If I see the kid, I'll have him accompany me back to the ship and make some use for his young muscles.  I'll take the crate and place it over at your warehouse and when I return, I expect you to have those papers ready."

Clayton walked confidently by Frockler towards the door, his eyes never leaving the badger's gun.  He opened the door and exited the office building into the chilled morning snow.  Seeing the cargo crate, Clayton hoisted the crate onto his shoulders.

 

 

[Wulfsbane]

[Alexis - Wulfsbane]

The Husky crawled toward Alexis, keeping his head low away from the ongoing fire fight from both sides. Within his vest pouch he grabbed a pair of grenades and handed on to the Rabbit "Okay Alex I'm gonna give you cover fire while you head off to the next trench, I'll follow suit and when you get close enough we'll toss them to the enemy." Kalen sighed at the thought of this mad dash "We have two tries here to clear them all out with these so let's make em count."
 

"We don't need two, we just need one!" Alexis responded. "Just give me the signal when to go." Alexis readied her weapon so when she charges off to the next trench, her weapon was ready to go if she were to meet some unexpected resistance.

[Mike Arcade]

[Kalen and Aria - TheRedStranger and WarTraveller]

She continued walking, taking her lefts and rights as she went, exiting onto streets full of shops before turning to other streets full of houses. She weaved in and out of buildings and people, dodging stalls she could not see and had almost bumped into and watching her own breath condense in the cold. Finally, a warm orange lighting struck the front of her clothes and she stopped, looking up. There, situated in the middle of the street she was on, surrounded by smaller buildings, was a large cafe. It was at least three stories high, white-panelled with enough windows to let in the light during the summer. Two trees and a garden were splayed out on the roof of the building and inside Aria could see Arkoners of all types and classes, drinking coffee and merrily chatting the morning away before they were to retire to whatever they had planned for the day.

Aria chuckled softly to herself before she entered; "Three stories AND a roof garden? Sometimes I forget this husky is, how they say, loaded."

---

Kalen entreated the jovial Tiger, leaning in over the counter and whispering along, stoking the mood with leering eyes. "I have a couple of friends from the RNN coming today. You can tell I have a lot to say; seems you do too."

Arcade's ears twitched in surprise "The RNN really? How did you get them to talk to you, did you call them and invite them over for an interview?"

The Tiger eyes shifted in thought "Hmm...say Kalen..." His eyes darted on The Husky in suspision "Remember how I thought that I heard you on The Radio this morning I wasn't dreaming was I, were you actually on RNN this morning were you!"

Kalen shook his head almost apologetically and kept his voice low. "I had to lie about my indentity...I  am sure you can understand why."

The Tiger followed suit with his Boss and lowered his voice "Right, you can't be too careful, who knows what sort of Lirule Spies could be listening in on ya."

"I am frankly not concerned about them as much as our own government." Kalen poured himself a second cup of coffee as he spoke. "I have a bad feeling about where our country is heading..."

Arcade looked at the husky with somber eyes "I know but what can we do? We can't just speculate but other then that I'm not sure-"

The Tiger was innterupted by knocking on the door, turning the Mobians attention to the enterance "Huh, you think that's our first customer Kalen?"

"We are not going to speculate - we are going to investigate and corroborate." Kalen corrected as he paced towards the door. "Now hold on a  a single sec'." He snapped his fingers and shouted back to him as he walked, summoning his old Drill Sargent's braying call, a commanding assertive trumpet of a sound. "Well? What are you standin' around all slack-tailed for? Get behind the counter, kiddo."

Kalen neared the cafe door once again, flipped its nearby CLOSED sign to OPEN, and then unlatched the door. He peeked through the slit  of an opening only to be greeted by a pair of frost-swept ears reaching up to his eye level like two big fluffy banners swaying in the snowy bluster. He cracked a warm, fanged smile. "Well, I don't know if I should say hello or salute and say the Kingdom-Pledge. Cold much?"

"N-not cold, sir, no..." Aria said, still shivering if only slightly. Uh, I-I am here for the transaction of these...uh, vegtables. C-Can I be let in?"

For a while the husky seemingly just stared at the small rabbit, before the door opened fully and the man's entire form could be seen in the doorway. 

Aria was quite surprised - she had been talking to this man quite a bit, seen him in person before, in fact, but she had never really taken in these details of him before. Perhaps, because she was more focused than usual, it all sort of clicked with her. He was quite tall, actually - 6 foot 2, if Aria herself could guess - with cool, sky-blue eyes and a smattering of warm fur across what wasn't covered by clothes. He looked like a warm, friendly person, muscled and sportily dressed, even though Aria could still see a good amount of pudge around the midsection, which gave him the secondary look of someone looking quite tired despite the sort of cheer.

He seemed to wear a red sports coat, with a grey jumper and jeans underneath, with the strange addition of oversized and overly clompy army boots. Aria shrugged internally - she guessed that the sort of person who visited this sort of place could wear whatever they liked. If only she had the same sort of luxary...

"Uh...hello," Aria said again, waving slightly, "I am here to sell some produce, no?"

Kalen's right eye brow ticked up at the awkward cobbling and clumsy speech that was the rabbit-doe. Aria smelt of earth and dust and a tolerable slight musk of nervous sweat, a gardener smell, a fidgety herbivore scent. He watched her eyes trace up and down him and his tail twitched. He almost winced, an old memory twinning in his brain like a long set bone does in chilling whether. Was she? No. No! Goodness. Given where she was from, she'd be hanged for even thinking about thinking about such things. It was worse than here in Mobotropolis even, rather worse.

'Stop thinking about her - now is not the time.' His mind chided in a tone cut as thin and piercing as his Drill Sargent back in Basic. 'There are people counting on you right now - you're too busy to harp on guilty on your old hormonal adolescent moments. Forget it all.'

 The husky shook his head slightly and forcedly tightened smile as if to keep it from dropping into a frown, especially when his eye traced his belly. "And to get out of the cold." He added to her chattering words; he then gestured his hand to the leather couch about the fireplace. "Looks like you need it."

"Th-thank you, thank you..." the young sniffled as she made her way into the cafe. It was certainly big, spacious and overly (as her own sister would have called it) "swanky." It warm and den-like with earthy brick and rich cheery wood paneling and gorgeous Tiffany lamps shining a subdued gilded light that complimented the fire.  Snow-blinded though all of this took upon a greenish haze and detail was lost to her adjusting eyes. Temporary impairment or not, her eyes soaked up the place with a sense of homeliness. If was not pallid white and kept to the dry, cold modern aesthetic of many modern Arkon buildings. All together this place felt more like a home, more lived in and warm. 

She increased the speed of her stumbling steps until she reached the crackling fireplace. Gingerly she sat down on the sofa and reached her paws to the fire to try and gain some of its warmth. The bitter cold outside once soaked through her fur soothed and subdued in the presence of its embers, heating Aria's body and imbuing her with a sense of comfort, the almost foreign feeling of contentment. She placed the bushel of vegetables by her side and turned to face the other side of the sofa, waiting for Kalen to sit down, only to find he was already sitting across from her in a big leather chair. 

"Aria, I'm no herbivore, but those look delicious." His chuckle was as warm as the fire. "Before we get down to business, would you like a coffee, tea?"

"Hmm..." Aria mused, eyeing the fire carefully, "I-I suppose I could have some tea, please. I have already had coffee from this morning. I do not want to, as you say, crash."

The Short Tiger had a welcoming smile, though he though the Rabbit pretty cute he didn't swing that way himself, although noticing Kalen shake his head lightly he wondered if his Boss thought differently. As she sat on the other end of the couch the Tiger spoke up. "I'll get the Tea!" His unintentional shout brought the attention to both Mobians. "Umm...mind if I get it Kal?"

Though Aria found the Adolscent Tiger rather odd though no more awkward then any other his age, she knew from her brief encounters with the Husky that he can be trustworthy, mainly due to him being one of her few buyers.

Arc answered to Aria's words to break the ice "Also Miss I don't think Kalen minds if you crash for a bit, isn't that right? Arcade gave Kalen a look trying to gauge his response.

Kalen flashed back a thin smile and a nod as he leaned comfortably in his chair. "That's right. I don't mind at all. But Arc'..." The husky's paw spun loosely about at the wrist as if to coax words cavalierly from the fire-warmed air. "What kind of tea, hm? Black, green, camomile, Azure, Felidea Velvet, Tamani-chai? We have quite a variety after all, being a cafe and all...."

 "Uh..." Aria stammered over her words, musing over them while still observing the orange flames licking at the fireplace's iron grate, "Ummm...do you have any Earl Grey?"

"Y-yeah, we have Earl Grey if you like." Arcade noticed the small glare and tone in Kalen's voice, he'd better upsell to save  a scolding from him. "Also I believe we have some Bagels ready, do we?"

"Yes, I prepared them while in the kitchen in fact." Kalen cocked an eyebrow at the petite tiger. "Should you have to ask though? 

He shifted back in his seat to the lady, his tone's chiding edge softening in a smooth hum. 

"That's an old Overlander brew, a black blend with bergamot." Kalen's sky blue eyes narrowed, not with suspicion like the rabbit had seen many times with guards scrutinizing any hint of "aspirational contraband."  "Where did you acquire a taste for such a fair-weather brew in the cold steppes of Si'bria?"

Arcade nervously chuckled "Hehe, no I guess not..heh..."

"Chutoka," Aria reminded him, "And...I am not too sure. I suppose it was because I had to scavange quite a bit from when I was there. Let it be said, the guards employed by our so-called Grand Leader..." Aria sighed, slowly sifting her hair back with her hands, "They took two thirds of everything we had. When you are desperate for anything, anything you find will suffice."

After another bout of Awkward Silence from the Tiger he replied "I'ma go get them." As he walked to the kitchen he heard Aria's tale.

"I do remember," she continued, "That I DID find some Earl Grey tea bags one day, sitting out within the open. I think one of the other kingdoms had tried to drop in some supplies for the people, but...you know. It was pure luck, more than anything. Perhaps I enjoy Earl Grey because I had to, in some manner."

Aria turned to look up at Kalen, a small look of something hollow within her eyes, "Did you ever have to...go through such an event, Mr Kalen, Sir?"

Kalen waved off her politeness. "Just call me Kalen." 

Deep in though, her question seem to pass by him for a brief second, all the while he seemed to think aloud. "You call yourself specifically a Chutokan rather than Si'brian." He scratched his chin with a thoughtful stroke of his claw. "You were a nationalist?"

"Yes..." Aria sighed, "I tried my best to...support what little of my country that I was allowed to. I wanted to be proud to be a part of my nation, especially when the Grand Leader first came into power. When it became clear what he was doing, we all buckled down. We were...all in this. Together..."

Aria shuddered quite a bit from having to remember such scenes once more. The warm embers of the flame were not enough for the cold, blackened soul within her. Every day within her own home was hell, and even then this was no better. She cleared her throat and looked back at Kalen, "Why? Do you love your kingdom?"

Arcade went over to the kitchen, seeing a freshly made dozen of bagels ready for the day alongside a few rows of other kinds for variety. Should he go with a regular one or one with poppy seeds? Unsure he thought it best to bring out a plain bagel for now. Having it in a paper wrap he carried it over, walking past Kalen and personally handing it to the Lop. "He you go Miss, Kalen if you don't mind this one will be on me okay?" He figured he wouldn't mind, and for some reason the look in her eyes embered of troubles from the past, something he's all to familiar in Kalen's eyes.

"We have some other kinds of Bagels too if you'd like."

"What kinds?" Aria asked gingerly.

"It's okay, Azriel." He said almost absently, his eyes reading the rabbit before him, noting the apparent trace of shadowy thoughts her features betrayed. "Because I love my people,  Aria." He answered with a probing stare. "I respect our ideals. And, well, without the Arkon family I would have died in the womb."

"Really?" Aria asked, "How so?"

Your waters to the east were my waters to the west." Kalen straighten up in his chair before leaning forward over the coffee table. His snout breathed in the scent of earth, carrots, and her dark citrine tea. The nervous smell had seemingly faded. That was a good sign.  "I was..." He cleared his throat with an awkward cough. well to put it basely conceived only a sea away from you, snow-fellow. On the Isle of Attu, in the Aleutian Expanse... during that winter twenty three years ago."

"Oh..." Aria sighed quietly, "I hear they had some...issues during that time."

The mention of Aleutian reminded Arc of a chapter in history that Kalen told him once before "Yeah Aria they called it the Ice-Fire incident, although how Kalen tells it is the best way to hear about it."

"Is it?" Aria turned to face Kalen, "Okay then...what happened? Do you feel...comfortable with telling me?"

Kalen shrugged his shoulders as to glance aside the gravity of the question. Yet his expression was open and honest. "My parents huddled together during a natural disaster and, well, huddled even closer." His lips twitched into a slight smile. "It's as simple as that. Arkon came to the Aluetian colonies when we were most at need."

"Ooooooooh..." Aria said in wonder, "So you were conceived during a natural disaster. That is...interesting."

"You could say that, but any other way it still answers the question." The husky cocked his head slightly, reading the rabbit's features as if to spot some detail, some iota of information he needed to find.  Yet there was also something else in his cerulean eyes, that sparkle one gets when recalling an aged yet impactful memory, those long fermented recollections stored in one's mind which stoopedered the hum-drum of day to day life. "It's funny how people can be so similar despite their, as people like to say, species. Tell me, can you trade me a answered question for my answered question?"

"Answer?" Aria asked confusedly, rubbing the side of her head, "Forgive me, the cold is getting to me. What did you ask, again?"

Kalen cocked his eye brow. The shine in his eyes wavered, his lip twitching  for brief second into a semblance of a frown. "Well, to put it simply... Why do you ask about my loyalty?"

"Because..." the young rabbit whimpered, "I no longer understand why anyone would want to put faith into their own country. It is but a name for the land you were born, and its leaders exploit those who love and kill for that patch of grass...I do not understand."

The glow in his eyes, once wavering, now fully stilled, now frozen. Whatever recollection was once ever there had left him and new sense of sobriety tensed through out his features. His voice was now even toned, concisely focused into an aural point. "Tell me, Aria, does the moral downfall of one man demand judgement on all men? Wouldn't that judge be a bit, well, unfair? Even wrong?"

 As he waited for the answer, Kalen, forced his smile to return to him then lifted his hand up and gestured to Arcade.

Aria stopped cold...she didn't know what to do. She didn't know what to say. She was...well, stumped. This sort of question had never been shoved in front of her. And it made her sad. All of the times people had talked about her behind her own back, the insults and the stereotyping.

"Ahh, that woman? She won't amount to much! She's just a dirty, stinkin' Chutokan!"

Aria arched her head low, a single tear in her eyes, "No...but that does not stop people anyway..."

Kalen and Aria's words rung true to the young tiger, and hit a pettle of fear close to his heart "She's right about that, we can't judge one man for an entire race's actions be that from what they are or where they come from...still doesn't mean people who come from whatever don't like to play the blame game." He rested his elbow on the counter, eyes looking up in thought "So where does it end, can it ever end? Do we just keep on dancing until we point out someone as our next boogeyman?" 

Arcade looks back at Kalen as if to answer an unspoken question "But...we can't just blame one person for everything going on in the world." Arc shrugs his sholders "That's just unrealistic."

"Tea, Arc. Chai. Honey." Kalen ordered through a clipped and slight sigh. He looked around his cafe with a rueful smile, Mobians were just staring to enter the place, lining tables about the windows and hearth-fire, to enjoy the snowfall in sheltered warmth. He loved days like this as they seemed destined for snow-fellows like himself. Surrounded by light winter pelts, bright eyes, and thick fluff, he felt well at home again. "Aria....look at me for a second and then look around you. Take a breath, then listen. I have something to propose."

With Mobians aligned as they entered, Kalen's order got the word out in a snap. "I'm on it Boss."

Aria calmed herself, breathing in and out with a rythem only she could produce, and she looked around her.  The customers slowly pouring into the cafe were of all types - foxes, cats, dogs, wolves and more besides. Heck, some of them were even hedgehogs. Even Aria had to note that such Mobians were rare these days. Nevertheless, she could see them, milling around, ordering coffee, having conversations like any other day on earth.

She sighed, breathing in one final time, "Okay...what do you propose?"

Kalen scooted up to the edge of his chair. He leaned over and drummed his claws on the coffee table twice a warm smile. "How badly you want to get out of the refugee camps?"

"R-Refugee Camps" Aria asked, almost offended, "Mr Kalen, sir, I have my own apartment. It's an awful apartment, but it is...no, I cannot lie. It is not even my own."

"Oh, I am aware..." He gestured his paw as if to shoo away any possible offense. "But my question pertains to the future not the present. Please be honest, how long can you expect to stay where you are at when the Barons raise taxes for the L.C.R.A? And they will, trust me, it's the perfect excuse for them to do just that. Charity is hard to come by when all your alms go to Arkon's Coffers rather than its people." Kalen scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I would say your rent will probably double..."

Aria could not think of a single thing to say, her mind suddenly gripped by this horrific thought. The fear of becoming homeless purely through no fault of her own grabbed her in a state of pure terror. Her eyes went hollow as she could only stare at Kalen and sweat.

Kalen's eyes narrowed. "Something tells me you can't afford that. The bill goes before the Barons today and the Lords after that. I heard Lady Aleena is against it but Lord Syc is not. I would not be surprised if he tried to decree a District Tax that does the same on top of this..."

"And the proceeds would go to..." Aria began, staring at Kalen.

"To nurse our post-War image." Kalen answered instantly. "All the lands we bleached clean of Lyrule's authoritarian sentiment they've conceded to us are now to be developed. We have absorbed many developing nation states and old Lyrule enclaves. And I expect businesses will be itching for...incentives...to make a profit in these typically risky territories."

"Well, I was going to say the profits would go to Mr Syc..." Aria sighed, "But that works too...

Kalen cocked his eyebrow with a somewhat cynical fanged smirk. "He is an investor...do you think he will not invest in the companies they give the recon-contracts to? That he won't play favorites with those pertinent to his pocket?" He clicked his claws again in the table and cocked his head intently. "Look Aria, you are a wonderful resilient veggie-farmer. You could grow a turnip up in a tornado. You have talents. But they are not going to save you from our ruling-class's good intentions. That is why I want you to work here... I want to give you a job..." He paused and looked at her intently. "...and a home."

Aria simply stared at Kalen for a good long while, the very thought ringing in her head and paralysing her. Did he just say...a home? Like, a proper home?

She finally drummed up enough power to speak, "A...A Home?"

Kalen lifted his hands in a calming gesture. "An apartment. A nice one this time, not some roach coffin. It even comes with your dibs to the roof top garden. It's all upstairs." He gingerly placed his paw upon her shoulder. "Are you interested?"

"W-Well..." Aria gibbered, too happy to talk properly, "Who would not say no to that?!"

The Tiger as he gave change to a well fed Dobermen can't help but smile as he overheard his boss help out the Lop by his side. Maybe they can both help each other out he thought, and it doesn't hurt to have some extra help around here either. Looking at Kalen he could only nod in approval and glimer in pride at his father figure.

The Dobermen with a pot belly in a booming voice snaps him back "Hey, er just gonna stand there are could I get my change?" Arcade blinked "Oh sorry there sir, here you go". The Dobermen walks to a chair near the window, giving the Faelide a small glare muttering under his breath. Arc ignores whatever he mutters "Hey Kal we're getting pretty busy, anyway you can help out please?"

Kalen got up only to offer his hand to Aria, within it was a rustic key. "Tell you what. Why not start your new job now? Kitchen is back behind the bar. Wash your hands and get an apron and Arc can teach you the Cash Register and have you clean tables. Think about it."

Before Aria could answer back, the key was back in the husky's pocket. With a swish of sports coat he was off to the main counter. 

Kalen smirked and padded up to the doberman. "Wait a sec, Arc. Paul here got shot at like myself - I think he deserves the veteran discount. And remember the new loyalty cards?"

Arcade took notice "Oh, oh gosh I'm so sorry about that...I didn't know that you were a fellow of Kalen's." Arcade rung up the register and gave Paul extra change to cover the discount. Arc lightly smiled "Again, really sorry about that."

Paul looked at the Faelidae indifferently and grabbed his change slowly, gruffly excepting the apology "Yeah, thanks kid". The Doberman nudged Kalen over to him away from Arcade to whisper "This kid clear, He doesn't have a rap on him does he?"

Those words were like a sledgehammer to a family urn. Kalen's fur raised slightly, he suppressed a reflexive sneer. "Well..." He spoke through a now tight and forced grin. "His grandfather vouched for him for me. You might know the guy. Goes by Stripes?"

The name gave Paul the shock of a lifetime, he didn't know if he was bluffing or not but he knew better then to mess with Kalen given the last Canine who came about sturring trouble. Paul cleared his throat "I-I didn't know...sorry Kalen it's just that...you can't be too careful anymore."

Taking The Husky by the shoulders he led him away from prying ears "I just-you can't trust anyone these days man, the things of been hearing and everyone vanishing, I mean did you hear about Tim?" Paul rubbed his eyes, trying to keep a mild resembelence of composure "Look you know I've never been crazy about Felidae but....I think something is gonna happen man, them or who, anyone...I..."

"You don't look well, Paulie." Kalen's eyes bounced up and down shoes to ear tips at the Doberman. "I can understand- I am looking into what happened Tim. If you have any information, maybe you can help me out. First tell me...are you taking anything?"

The Doberman patted his head with a napkin he had in hand "Look, I've been trying to find out myself what happened to Tim, the only thing I could find was that we could...we..."

Paulie took a deep breath before exhailing, he whispered in Kalen's ear "We might have Lirule spies..."

"You didn't answer my question, bud." Kalen sighed and gave a Arc a warm smile before looking back to Paul. "Azriel is not one of those fascist-bastards. He even wanted even join the army but was too young." Kalen whispered. He then fished a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to the Doberman. "I had to convince him not to lie about his age and take care of his mother. But we need to talk about this, stay close to me - you don't look well."

Kalen noticed the rattle from Paulie's jacket pocket, the doberman protrudes sweat from his brow as he can hardly catch his breath "It-it's fine Kal, just some anxiety, n-nothiing to worry about." He sat on the nearest chair, patting his forehead with a few napkins from his order. "Can't take my meds on an empty stomach, don't know how yours work but I need them..." The bitterness in Paulie's voice apparent, he took out the orange bottle from his pocket.

Kalen eyed the orange cylinder like a live grenade, it's top the wicked explosive's pin. His tail twitched. He fought the primal urge not to bark-whimper in alarm to his fellow canine and instead forced himself to speak clearly, cooly.  "Mine would kill me at that dose..." His paw was on the bottle in an instant. Soon his other hand was atop his shoulder and he hunched down on Paul's level. "We are about the same size and obviously the same physiology, despite my better looks." Kalen cracked a nervous smile, praying Paul would start laugh. "Why you got all the ladies was beyond me - that's sayin' somethin' 'cause I had the brains too. I think Azriel's not the only cat that got your order wrong today..."

Paulie glared at Kalen...then chuckled at the Husky "You never really made a move on any cute tail after all, well...not one of our kind anyway." Paulie rolled his eyes at the thought of it. 

He clenched the bottle in his hand "I don't know anymore Kal, part of me just wants to toss these damn pills and let whatever my body wants to do, you ever think we quit too soon?" The doberman rested his arm on the table "If we never left and just kept fighting, would risking a bullet in our heads have us much better off then we are now?"

"Hell Paul...please, don't mention that." Kalen's pupils were pin-pricks. "And no...no...War is over Paulie and life can actually start. Look at Tim, look at me..." He gestured out to his busy cafe as he peeled the bottle from his hand, the fruits of his wartime labors. "I..." Kalen's throat wound up tight. He felt like gagging. "Please don't talk like this, buddy..."

"Well I can't look at Tim anymore now can I?"

The doberman sighed in frustration, at odds with himself and his life, yet the concern from Kalen was mildly reassuring "I want to believe it's over Kalen, why can't I shake the feeling that it's not over yet."

Paulie took a bite out of his bagel "We really should hang out more often Kal, my pity aside anyway, what's with that Rabbit Girl you've been talking to anyway?"

"You will be. Soon." Kalen sniffed and crossed his arms, almost defensively. His tail swayed about his calves in an awkward cadence. "I...um, I am into looking things. If you want, perhaps you can help me out..."

"Looking into things, sure..." Paulie chuckled, though he didn't really feel up to much these days The Doberman figured he could help out Kalen after everything he's done for him before and even now.

"Alright, what do you need?"

"I have an apartment upstairs with a spare room." Kalen's voice hushed. "I don't really want any of my friends wondering around alone right now. Not after Tim...." He looked around, eyes leering about as if to make sure he was not being heard. "I am going to be talking with some people soon...important people, people who could help us put these puzzle pieces together."

"Really?" Paulie would have been more shocked, yet this charity doesn't surprise him coming from Kalen, he always rallied his fellows during the war. The doberman thought it out, perhaps this was the best course of action, one night over at Kalen's couldn't hurt after all.

"Alright Kal I'll spend the night over, best we stick together after all, guess I shouldn't be alone either." Paulie scratched the back of his head, his other hand tapped the table with a claw. "But whose coming over, is it a legit source?"

[Hi everybody, it's been awhile on the game here but now with Summer Time here and people out of classes and such we can finally get this ball rolling again, as you can see our friends here have had a lot of progress which I soon intend to match with all of you @Ishapar, @TheRedAuthar, and @Wulfsbane will be coming up next so get ready guys, this should be the Summer of The Trial!]

[Mike Arcade]

[Alexis - Wulfsbane]

Kalen by the split of a second opened fire over towards the enemy, the hail of his gunfire almost drowned out his voice "Now Alex!". The opposing forces could barely fire in return, some returning the fire while others fell over in pain, bullets piercing them to leave those with either major or fatal wounds, this would be the chance to strike.

[Holiday - TheRedAuthar]

"Hey Soldiers!" The loud voice made Hanako twitch, almost giving her away. A Large brown bear approached Patrick and Kyle, this bear seemed to be their commander or superior of sorts "We're getting ready to reach the dock in an hour here, just scan around once more and head back to you're quarters, we're almost to the mainland."

Patrick saluted to the bear with a wide smile while Kyle saluted with nay a grin to match his friend "Yes Sir!" the both shouted. The Holiday's dismay, the bear was heading right where she's at...

[ @Ishapar sorry for the delay but I'll have you up next, I'd also like to announce that we'll be speeding things up here folks and have Act I at an end sooner than you think, hope you guys rested well enough...]

[Wulfsbane]

[Alexis - Wulfsbane]

Kalen by the split of a second opened fire over towards the enemy, the hail of his gunfire almost drowned out his voice "Now Alex!". The opposing forces could barely fire in return, some returning the fire while others fell over in pain, bullets piercing them to leave those with either major or fatal wounds, this would be the chance to strike.

Alexis barely heard the command and made her charge to the next trench, holding her weapon in both hands. Zig-zagging across the lines with her head down with a single drop a sweat, she slid into the next trench.

[Wulfsbane]

[Anything?]

[Mike Arcade]

[Heya guys, look I know it's been a long time...and we had one member of our RP leave abruptly but I'm gonna try and turn this whole thing around. I got a bunch of stuff from @TheRedStranger's side and will be posting that. This also means that those of you left will be coming back though as well so keep your eyes peeled. A LOT has happened since then and I am more situated that I once was so let's hope it all goes well and continue with Age of Mobius: The Trial]

[Also considering what's happening in this side of the story and this series overall I must remind all of you that AoM is PG-13, so those who are younger are not recommended to read this series unless with permission from a parent or guardian. Thank you.]

[Kalen - The Red Stranger]
 

Kalen's legs throbbed and his muscles slightly burned under his burgeoning weight, yet he managed to rush up the stairs. He grit his fangs together with a mix of victory and self-loathing: happy he was capable of achieving the feat yet also fully reminiscent of the time he could sprint up artic slopes with a heavy pack without as much as breaking a sweat. Perhaps Paulie had a point civilian life felt like a leech; he felt less... 

"Alive?" He answered breathlessly to no one, rebutting the thin air. "No, each day could have mean our deaths then - that is not living...this is life; I just need to remember what it is beyond the barrel of a gun." He repressed a cough and took a deep breath before entering, an attempt to hide his breathlessness from Paulie, who would surely tease the rest of his stamina right out of him, like a punch to his newly engorged gut.

He steadied his breath, then twisted the nob. "Housekeeping..." He quipped in a austere falsetto, mocking a royal  Scirusian's affectatious accent. "I say, dear sir, you look positively dreadful, would like to at least take a bath before meeting with Master Varek? You smell like a Ro'den that just crawled through a sewer pipe. Positively dreadful!"
Paulie matched the faux accent, sounding overly  snotty and tongue in cheek "Oh are you one to talk you overpaid toilet scrubber, you look as if you're lungs breathed in too much coal from cleaning the chimneys - now fetch me my dinner peasant!"

"By that belly," Kalen countered, tail slightly tucked between his knees, arms crossed, "I'd say you already ate two or three of those already." Kalen shrugged as he walked into his kitchen and hopped atop his cushiony backside on the slick granite kitchen-island. "That or you're pregnant!" Kalen chuckled and slapped his knee at his own zinger, only for his stomach to growl in protest at mention of food. His laugh faltered into a sigh. "Well...speak of the devil..."

Paulie's eyes grew wide "Haha, yeah that would just be crazy - ahh...". The doberman wiped sweat off his brow "So what have you got up here, seriously though I could use a little more if you don't mind."

Paulie looked rather nervous, he brushed his paw over his buzzcut, despite seeming to be worse for ware with extra weight he seemed to be alright. The doberman was dressed for the weather with a rather thick rain jacket and camo pants with brown combat boots similar to what Kalen wore during his time out in the war. Paul's eyes had bags underneath them, his green eyes looking toward the floor.
"I gotta say it's great seeing you again, you ever think if there wasn't any of this that we'd all hang out together in some way?"
Kalen simply smiled and closed his eyes in his wizend sort of way. "Hashem is a God of what is, not what if. I think He works things out despite our screw-ups." The husky hopped off the counter and popped open his fridge. "What matters is that we are here. Now take your coat off stupid - you're burning up." He stared back over his shoulder. "What would you like to eat pal?"

Paulie scratched underneath his chin "Nah I'm okay, kinda cold in here really but I'll be fine...so what do you have?"

"Enough food to feed an army of Polar Bears." Kalen chuckled, yet the tone of his mirth tense, tinged with a dash of self-loathing. "How about your favorite?" Kalen chewed lightly on his lip in sudden thought. He glanced furtively at the thermostat, checking the heat.

Paulie rubbed his paws together in joy. "Okay how about...ohh boy this is gonna sound weird, some Ham on Rye with Peanut Butter and Jelly, also do you have any sort of breakfast left over bacon?"

Kalen's ears pricked up then one side-cocked. His gaze bounced from the thermostat to back over his shoulder with a curious smirk. "No steak? Rye? You hate ry...I mean peanut-butter and...really? Honestly, Paulie, you okay man? I mean I can do that; but it's...well an odd request."

The doberman scratched his head. "Yeah I'm fine, just really hungry today is all, you can throw in a little bit of stake too that sounds great man."
"Geez, sounds like you plan to eat me outta business, Paulie..." A flurry of paws rummaged and scrounged the dense fridge and surrounding pantries. With his tail all the while Kalen, his arms full, whacked the dial on his stovetop, causing it to bright hot red. After a quick treasure hunt for all the odd ingredients to complete doberman's request frakenstinian cuisine, Kalen let out a sigh of acceptance. "...but you don't look well. So, I am gonna let things slide. Kick back bud, take your boots off and such. I'll whip something up...tell me how life has been..."

Paulie chuckled, his muzzle flushed as he pulled the collar of his jacket. "Just put on my tab and I can pay you later, thanks for humoring me though." The doberman kicked his boots off with his heels, showing vermillion socks underneath.

"Don't think those socks are dress code pal." Kalen's eyes narrowed and his tail twitched at the sight of the bright and ruddy footwear.  "They're very...bright...for you, I mean." Kalen shook shakers of spice and flipped and scrapped artfully a thick slice of thyme, garlic, and brown sugar spiced ham in an iron skillet. He then produced another iron skillet and dropped in a dollop of fatty butter, which he flavored with a glug of red wine, a dash of garlic, and a helping of worcheshire.
Soon the apartment was thick with the smell of savory cooked meat.

The scent of spices calmed the doberman as he let a button detach from the jacket near his neck "Yeah I know but my cousin gave me some clothes when I got back home and I couldn't argue." He sighed and watch Kalen's cooking "I mean when I got back things were a little rough, my dad passed away and the family didn't support the Kingdom like I did, most of them wouldn't talk to me but my Cousin." He brushed sweat from his brow "They were the ones to keep me going, have a part time thing going on as a desk jockey of sorts, just drives me nuts sitting around there." The doberman placed his percription down on the desk "With these things that the Kingdom is handing out to most of us returning vets like candy it just...made me want to go back to better times I guess, it's insane now that I really think about it."

Paulie knocked the pill bottle with a flick of his finger, letting it roll to the floor "I mean how'd you deal with all of this, how'd you get this place anyway?"

The husky's head sunk low, staring down at the browning steak. "I'm sorry about your dad, Paulie...I would have been to the funeral if I wasn't stuck in a Underground triage in the middle of a tip top of the northern tundra ; I feel like I failed you that day, bud. I guess after him you were the only actual patriot in the house..." Kalen flipped the finished food on a nice ceramic red plate. And then went to scooping a tea spoon of herbal tea and preparing an ornate blue ceramic kettle lacquered with what looked like never melting frost and gold runes, an heirloom from his grandmother.
"When did you start...you know..." He spun around and thumped his own cushiony gut.

Paulie's eyes grew wide and snarled "Yeah...that..." He cleared his throat "It uh...happened about right after I left and went home, just couldn't help myself with cupcakes." He looked away and stretched his neck "Maybe that was my way of coping, I don't know anymore now..."
Kalen unscrewed a jar of fresh artic-berry jam (courtesy of a certain sheepish Chotukhan rabbit) and then a jar of scirusian-grown peanut and almond butter. He breathed in the smell with a warm, pleasing tingle on his tongue. He stayed loyal to the Doberman's odd request yet with a dash of unrestraintable artistic liberty. "Don't know? Come on bud, it didn't happen overnight right? Happened right after those pills - didn't it? I am sure your family didn't help though. A fatherless malaise,  poison pills, poison family and a desk job...no wonder you are looking for something to blame. Tell you what though... " Kalen finished up the small buffet and converged it onto one plate. He then poured hot water from his suddenly steaming kettle. As he diffused a cup of tea, he flashed Paulie a stink-eye through the steam. "Blaming an overgrown kitten like Azriel won't help you..."

 Paulie sighed "You're right, it wasn't fair to that kid of yours okay?" he placed his paw upon his forehead "I'm just not sure what to do with my life anymore, of everything...just hanging out with you is the best thing that's happened to me." The doberman voice broke, he quickly cleared his throat "Oh you know what I mean, berry  jam smells good, from the artic?"
"Yeah." Despite an unnerved tingle down Kalen's spine to tail, the husky grinned and beckoned his friend to his kitchen island, patting his hand invitingly against a barstool. With a fresh cup of earthy herbal tea properly diffused, creamed, and sweetened with honey, the bizarre brunch was finished. "Straight where I'm from. Has a slight warm menthol feel to it without the mint taste, somewhere between a blueberry, grape, with a hint of sweet pepper. "Come and try it and tell me what ya think; get your mind off things a bit. Vent all that steam." He snorted at his own humor as he said through a chuckle: "Might help you with all that sweating..."
Paulie got up and sat on the barstool, shifting on the seat rather awkwardly. He then took a sip of the tea "Mmm, really refreshing stuff you have their Kal."

"Glad ya like it, its herbal mix my mom likes. Aria raises it, it's made from a mix of a arctic seaweed with the salt washed out, fire-mint, and an artic flower called an algidia. They call it Algydian Sea-tea. Makes you feel warm, might be that hint of capcasin in the red-mint." Kalen's reply was somewhat distant, the clouded voice of a man meandering through the wilderness of half-formed thoughts. His footfalls were slow, quiet as Paulie ate. He eyed a bottle of crystal clear liquid in his still open   fridge and then a greasy spatula aside his stove. He gripped the spatula and wrang the spindly neck's cool, moist bottle before waltzing nonchalantly to the sink.  "You really must like that coat, pal..."  He laughed, warm, melodious, but carefully measured. "An heirloom from good ol' dad?"

Paulie chuckled "As a matter of fact yeah it is, it's one of the few things I have left from him really. I thought I could make him proud when I got home..." The dobermen grew quiet, staring down at his plate.
All the while Kalen scrubed off the grease from his spatula, tilted up high as if examining it for grime, yet glimpsed down into the reflection towards Paulie. His eyes scanned the grease-lustered image, eyes focusing on the small opening in the rain-coat. The doberman's neck seemed rather slim, a bit too slim near his chin.
"It's funny what you miss out on when you're gone, can't imagine what he thought or went through, my Mom said he was in pain for the longest time and kept getting worse when I left." He took a sip of the Tea "But a few days before I got home he felt fine, better than ever...by the time I got there he was already gone."
He wiped what appeared to be sweat from underneath his eyes "That Aria you mentioned, sounds like she's not from around here, where she from?"
"She is a refugee, a Chutokhan..." Kalen Answered cooly. "One with the same chip on her shoulder as us when it comes to our neighbors east of the Bearings..." Kalen continued to clean the spatula, yet a slow methodical pace, the cadence of one preoccupied by a dilemma, a puzzle.

"Ohh, poor girl..." Paulie lamented "Can't imagine what sort of mess she must have went through, makes me wonder if we could have done something." Paulie sipped the tea "I mean we're supposed to be a so-called beacon of hope and yet we can't find a good dozen or so people who just up went and vanished...some hope we turned out to be..."

Kalen finished cleaning the skillets in a quite pause, and then broke his quiet with a ominous tone, with a determined stare . "We are going to find them...We will find Timothy as well. And we make the people who snatched him pay trough the snout..."
Kalen gripped the ornate bottle from the fridge; his eyes narrowed with the weight of his thoughts.

Paulie noticed Kalen silent cross the room in the fridge "Sorry Kal, shouldn't be moping about like this." The Doberman took the last slip of tea "Is it about the tundra, I mean I don't blame you for that, could have happened to any of us..."

"It happened though, and I can't help but feel...tense...about it." There was a loud snap as Kalen popped the cork of the cool crystal bottle with his clawed thumb. "I did a lot to get home, so others could. I then did even more so I could get back to you all." From a cabinet, came to two crystal tumblers, transparent and somewhat pill-shaped and pillow-patterned like the frozen fruit of a pineapple. "Being apart was the worst part; I was your commander and I was responsible for you all. Felt like forever, lost in that long dark...thinking you all were dead, then..." Kalen poured the bottle into each tumbler as I heaved a shuddering breath. "...thinking I was, or going to be, and even in the triage that I would never see my friends again, my family."

"We all felt that way Kalen." Paulie retorted "In the end here we are, we made it out the best we could and no one, not the men we lost or those who are left would ever fault you for it." The doberman got up and pointed at Kalen "Don't ever think you did us wrong, that could have happened to any of us."

Kalen poured the tumblers full in silence. "But it was me. And we lost a lot of good people...I can't help but think if I was..." His throat tightened, he repressed his tears with a blink. He coughed to cloak a sob then gulped dry air. "If I was there with you all, everyone would be okay. Timmy would be okay..."

"It happened though, and I can't help but feel...tense...about it." There was a loud snap as Kalen popped the cork of the cool crystal bottle with his clawed thumb. "I did a lot to get home, so others could. I then did even more so I could get back to you all." From a cabinet, came to two crystal tumblers, transparent and somewhat pill-shaped and pillow-patterned like the frozen fruit of a pineapple. "Being apart was the worst part; I was your commander and I was responsible for you all. Felt like forever, lost in that long dark...thinking you all were dead, then..." Kalen poured the bottle into each tumbler as I heaved a shuddering breath. "...thinking I was, or going to be, and even in the triage that I would never see my friends again, my family." 

"We all felt that way Kalen." Paulie retorted "In the end here we are, we made it out the best we could and no one, not the men we lost or those who are left would ever fault you for it." The doberman got up and pointed at Kalen "Don't ever think you did us wrong, that could have happened to any of us."

Kalen poured the tumblers full in silence. "But it was me. And we lost a lot of good people...I can't help but think if I was..." His throat tightened, he repressed his tears with a blink. He coughed to cloak a sob then gulped dry air. "If I was there with you all, everyone would be okay. Timmy would be okay..."

"Hey!" Paulie shouted at Kalen and stomped toward the husky "Look at me, that was out of your control."

Kalen turned to face the Doberman, Paulie then looked dazed and leaned against the kitchen counter as he held his head "I don't blame you...and I don't blame Alexis either so stop beating yourself over it, we can take care of ourselves Kalen and we'll find Timmy, together."
"I am...I mean I was responsible for you all." There was a scrapping sound as one of the tumblers slid against the granite and into the Doberman's hand. "Truth is Paulie...I'm not 33...and I was certainly not in my thirties during the war. I was high-in-rank, yeah...but...I am probably too young to be even drinking this stuff..."

The Doberman kept a straight face, yet seemed more curious than shocked "That, I mean that's not really surprising, I always had a feeling some of our squad lied about their age." Paulie's voice cracked as he cleared his throat "Granted I didn't expect it to be you though, always seemed the most honest out of all of us, so how old are you anyway like twenty eight or twenty nine?"
Kalen lifted up two fingers on his left paw, like one forming a half hearted peace-sign. He then paused, sighed, then lifted his index finger to add up to a three. 
Paulie's eyes widened in shock and shouted "You're Twenty Three!"
: Kalen took a step forward and placed a finger on the Doberman's mouth. "Geez man...keep it down! People will hear you down stairs." 
The doberman took Kalen's hand off his mouth "Seriously, I mean you really can't be serious that would mean you're barely older then that cat of yours down there."
Kalen repressed a growl at that insult. Yet his hackle's raised despite himself. The husky stood up straight and Paulie suddenly took an instinct back step, realizing he was indeed still a growing young man. He had put an inch on him since they last met, they were dead even now in size. "Don't call him that..." He forced through gritted fangs. "...please..." 
Paulie looked away in shame "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that..."
The room grew quiet till the doberman broke the silence "Considering your age you really shouldn't blame yourself, even then age has nothing to do with it, you rose through the ranks to command us Kalen which is something even I couldn't do..."
Paulie looked right in the husky's eyes "You deserve a lot better than what you have."
Timmy does. Jenna did. Toby, they never even found his body..." Kalen cocked his head sideways as he examined his friend curiously. He then lifted up the cold tumbler, offering Paulie the clear chilled spirits within. "You should probably drink both of these," he said, his tone of voice flat, but tight, "I am not 25 after all...Not old enough to drink, but sure enough to kill and lead people to be killed apparently; all because of some damn aptitude test and my last name..."
Paulie shook his head "If that is the case then you wouldn't have been the leader you were to us, and you certainly wouldn't be running your own place either." The doberman turned to the drinks "Not thirsty right now, Kalen you have to let this go...they were my friends too."

"We'll find Timmy, I don't know how but we'll find out what's going on."

"I have to...I have to make up for this. But yeah, not alone, anything but that." The husky's reflection stared  balefully down in clear liquid of the tumbler. It was puffy, distorted, and he refused the site with a sneer of disgust. The rotund belly and layers of chubbyness hung stolid on his muscular body, weighing him down, draining him. "If I was worth it then, I am no where what I was now...why do I feel too...old...when I am too young?" He rubbed his eyes with his free hand with a groan, like someone straining with a migraine. "Here, just take one. At least for Tim, a toast."

Paulie shook the glass to the toast "To Timmy, and everyone." The doberman held it for a moment, then put down the glass back on the counter "I know it's a toast Kalen but I'm gonna sit out on drinking, been trying to be sober the past few months here, sorry."
He looked away at the Husky "I can't blame you for feeling old, what more has this war taken from us..."

"Apparently," answered the husky, "it least took away your budding alcoholic escapades..." He laughed dryly. "Not like you to stiff a stiff drink." The husky lifted his glass to his muzzle. He peered over the tumbler and his eyes narrowed slightly, thin   azurite slits that twinkled with bright, intelligent suspicion. "Not like you to embrace sobriety..." Without a waver or wince, Kalen quaffed the drink, flipped the tumbler over, and planted it upside down on the granite counter. He then frowned, a chiding, pulling frown that somehow made the doberman before him seemingly deflate an inch in height. "It gave me one thing though...one blessing..."

Kalen clutched the second shot and chugged the tumbler clean and dry. "With age comes wisdom, Paul, wisdom to see things that you never thought you saw. It's a pain to be a maudlin porker like this. But though I got a gut obscuring my front." He rubbed and shook his puffy torso with an embarrassed and crooked smirk. He then splitting his two fingers, pointer and middle, then tapped his sockets just below his eyes. "Hindsight is 20-20, looking back...you see things that were but phantoms and how they were there all along. I guess injury and isolation are like age, they drain you, yeah. But they give you the gift of time, a long stint to digest truths you were to busy chewing down when you were dodging bullets in delirium and then downing donuts in a depression. I see things now a lot of people refuse to see...even in themselves..." 

Paulie scratched his head "What like you can see the future? I mean obviously with age comes wisdom after all..." the doberman looked perplexed, a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead "So, what are you talking about?"
Kalen took another bold step closer, eyes still narrowed and face stony. "Check." His words were flat, matter-of-fact. He was so close the doberman could smell the mint toothpaste on his the husky's breath mingled with coffee; not a vapor of alcohol to be sensed. There was a sudden rush of movement as Kalen slid his hands down the Doberman's face and then , probed both shape and frame.  "First or second trimester?"

Paulie smacked his hand, then gazed at Kalen before shutting her eyes in defeat, her voice became softer and more natual "Checkmate, second." She unzipped her coat, revealing her real shape and pregnant stomach. The doberman threw her coat over the chair and crossed her arms "So...when did you figure it out, how long did you know?"
Kalen's eyes finally widened in surprise. He cleared his throat and took a step back. A red blush burning atop his nose. "I had my suspicions since just before The Solstice... you..." He chuckled, voice shaking, repressing a smile. Paulie could see that geeky glee in the husky's face. It was that goofy look he got when he beat you at chess or outsmarted you in an argument. But now it was subdued with a new layer maturity and humility (or perhaps a prejudicial favor towards the fairer sex and their feelings - Kal was a traditional guy through and through).  "You always had a peculiar ...walk... But I dismissed it." His eyes strayed and furtively explored the Doberman's neck and raced down the curves with a guilty, bitter-sweet feeling. "Who is the, well..."

[There's more to come from Kalen's side of the story, need to get more of it down from chats.]

[Mike Arcade]

[Apparently I hit a threshold regarding the posts so here's more of TheRedStranger's character]

[Kalen - The Red Stranger]

Paulie giggled at Kalen's flushed face "You certanly changed your tone the moment my coat came off huh." She laughed and kept her eyes on the perplexed husky, having a bitter snarl from her lips "I'd rather not talk about him...or this." The doberman put her arms behind her back and took a step forward "Frankly, I'm more interested in how you've been. Since we're both being honest now I do have to admit...I was a little jealous when I found you and Alexis alone that day."

The husky felt a pain throb up his spine, only to find he had back-stepped upon his own tail. He stumbled back against the kitchen counter. To hear that smoky-toned, feminine, giggle come from Paul, his old war-buddy, someone he had recently recalled as a gruff and tough men of men, was terrifying, dizzying. He felt nauseous, nauseous largely because his mind seemed to stubbornly insist, by way of the crew cut and years of experience to the contrary (despite clues here and there), that 'Paul' was indeed a card-carrying manly man. Yet now, all that seemed to be a lie - like someone rewrote a large chunk of his own history while he was sleeping and he had just woke up to this ambivalent surprise. "Oh man...th-this is a bit much, Paul...I mean...uh... Well, I just - just a second ago you were 'one of the guys.' Now, you're...My breast...I mean my best friend is -"

"A woman? Well you started it young man." Paulie poked the husky's nose with her index finger, a wide smile formed from her lips "But I'll let you calm down a bit, I guess if I have a lot to explain if I'm gonna stay with you, I owe you that." The doberman turned around and sat back on her chair "I can't drink but I could use some ice water if you have any." Her smile faded as she looked down to her belly "Just one thing, we're not gonna talk about this." She pointed to her near-future child "I'll answer anything you want to ask but...let's just say I'd have to be drunk to talk about how and why okay, please..."

Paulie's eyes darted back to Kalen with a soft gaze and a smirk "Besides, I can always make out...I mean make it up to you later."

Kalen closed his eyes and embraced the black behind his eye lids. He needed to run away mentally, hide a second and catch a breath. "Timmy made a poor choice in groomsmen, seeing how one is not a man at all." He opened his eyes and sidled to the sink, shakily griping the tumbler he once clutched with a dogged flourish. He was an idiot, arrogant. Chiding himself, he knew he had failed to realize the obvious complications for pursuing his suspicions. Solving something, anything, accomplishing something, had distorted his more long term perspective. Once again, an urging curiosity, had blinded him. He brandished  the crystal bottle and admitted half-heartedly: "You know better, ya know. I don't drink - ever. This is glaciar-water...freshest in the world. Here..." He poured the tumbler to the brim with the transparent cerulean liquid.  "For the both of you."

 

Paulie gave Kalen a softer smile "Thank you, granted I know you don't drink, but, considering all the time gone by since we last saw each other... Well, even then maybe you had just one bottle for toasts, or New Years. I mean, some people have an exception with holidays after all." The doberman shrugged. "But hey, you tricked me, so, there you go; almost even there, I suppose."

 

She placed her hand under her chin "It's not like I was never going to tell you if I ever saw you again, but, considering my... personal circumstances... I wonder how much of our friends would strangle me for doing that to them..."

 

"I don't lay my paws on women unless they ask; but this tempts me to make a tiny one time exemption. Thank God your with child, I guess. At least, I might have Alexa bop you on the arm for this." Kalen's voice was hollow, throat somewhat dry. "I think they'd be the same." He gripped his chest, clutching at a sudden and painful sinking feeling. It was like something was just sucked out and his chest was now caving like a sink-hole. A part of him felt gone, and all of him felt more empty than ever. "My friend Paul...he's dead, no...he never was...I...I..." Big wet tears began to flood up in his big blue eyes. "A big fat lie for a big fat fool...f-first Timmy now...now..."

The doberman's eyes welled with tears. "Please don't cry, I-I'm so sorry Kalen..." Paulie hurried  towards the husky and held him. "It was real, I am real Kalen, our friendship is real, but I couldn't tell anyone..." She let the husky go as the tears flowed; she buried her face in her hands.  "But I couldn't Kal, I couldn't because I felt like I had to serve, I had to, you know what I mean right...?"

 "More than anyone..."

Paulie felt two warm arms pull her back inside. It was an amazing sensation, that warmth. Despite shuddering and sobbing, the warm was soft and snugly accompanied by a gentle breathing rhythm. The rise and fall of Kalen's soothed. "I just needed to know. I loved you like a brother, Paulie....Now I am not sure that's even remotely your name..."

"Paulina, you can still call me Paulie though." The doberman wiped away her tears "Back then I should have given a fake name, but considering how things were they didn't bother to fact check anything, they saw my last name and assumed I was my brother."

"I'm gonna do that...and for my own sake, I'm glad you didn't." Kalen sniffed and sighed whilst blinking away tears. "No more secrets. You know about my family - I think its time I know about yours. Let's just get everything out on the table." Kalen rang his own tail, anxiously. "Including the third person in this room...and what the means for...well, if you truly want..." Kalen's shoulders hunched and he looked suddenly ashamed and sick of himself, yet he could not refrain his eyes from gliding down the curved contour of Paulie's feminine frame. "...never mind, just, just start with your brother and we will go from there. I just want you to know you are not alone in this."

Paulie composed herself and sat back down on the chair "Have I ever told you my last name is Naomi? I'm not sure if I ever mentioned it before, but my brother Charlie was of course the next in line to be enrolled and serve our Kingdom, bit of a tradition in our family if you couldn't tell." She took a sip of the crystal clear water "I always wanted to join myself ever since I was a kid, my dad was my hero and I looked up to him, my mother however...not so much..."

Kalen leaned back against the granite counter, arms tucked close to his chest. "You don't seem so fond of her..." The husky shook his head. "You never really have been."

Paulie looked down upon her glass "No I haven't, she always wanted me to be a so-called formal lady, dragged me to a private school in the colony, I couldn't breath around her without her behind me, I always had to be perfect to her." She strenched her back on the chair "As you can imagine when I snuck off and came back, it didn't go so well, since dad was gone and how I acted she practically kicked me out..."

 

The doberman chugged down the remaining water in her cup "Good riddence really, thankfully my cousin Carol took me in."

Kalen's eyebrow quirked. "So some people know you are really a woman - so why do they keep your secret? And  how long do you think you can keep this up?"

 

Paulie sighed and lowered her head "I'm not sure, but it's not just that I felt like had to take Charlie's place, my dad was sick and if he went out there...I don't know who would have been there waiting for him." She turned away from the husky "I heard he was on a hit list, with him so ill I couldn't risk him going back in Charlie's place somehow and get reinstated, those recruiters were like vultures to him."

 

The doberman rubbed her neck "I would have had some..problems if I just went in as myself, and with bills and medication piling up I couldn't just sit around...I know it was wrong but I had to help my dad and my kingdom, even if my mom would hate me for it...."

She snarled "But Charlie just had to abandon us, I swear if I ever see him again, I don't know what I'd do to him."

Kalen bit his lip and closed his eyes. "This is fraud, Paulie...major fraud. Women on the battle field was far from preferable. You got tax-cuts and benefits you would never have gotten otherwise." He huffed through his nose, his paws jammed in his pockets. "If someone found out...

Paulie snapped back with a growl "Didn't stop Alexis now did it! I guess she didn't have anything to lose..." Her face grimsed as she rubbed her stomach. "Sorry, I...just, sorry."

Kalen’s eyes half-opened. Instead of looking cross, he smirked. His tail gave a little flick. "Someone seems a bit...jealous... You say all this, even though Alli lost everything and had the Chotzkis marched a big snowboot right over her village and people's tails. She was a conscript by necessity not by quota; we had a gun fall in snow and someone to pick it up and start shooting it again." He flashed a warm smile. "Look, do you really think I would give this secret?"

Paulie retorted "Of course not, besides in the eyes of a military court we'd both be guilty." The doberman squinted at the smirking husky "Also I'm not jealous, I just don't agree to your particular taste...no offense."

"Sure, sure..." Kalen dismissed her with a wave of his paw and then a sly slunk down to her level. He splayed his paws on the granite counter, and leaned out towards her. "I know a guy to bail me out and helped me get every dollar I earned out in the battlefield. I have a pal who has my back, and he's a good lawyer too. Maybe you should reconsider criticizing my...'tastes'...yeah? Stick with me and I could help you out in the long run."

Paulie put her paws up defensively "Okay, okay fine, I'll try not to criticize you about that alright? I'm glad I ran into you, though I doubt anyone could get us off scott free at this rate." She slumped down on the table "Just what kind of wonder lawyer do you have anyway?"

"Larcen Tyler, you know," Kalen said with a smirk as he poured her glass full again with one free hand, "the one quarreling with Count Torvil." Kalen's still leaned over the counter at Paulie as be poured, his eyes staring into hers with cheeky, crooked grin. "You know, looking at you again...in this light. You have very pretty eyes."

Kalen's splayed hand reached hers before she could grab the glass again. "Too bad you can't color these claws, grow your hair out. Tell me, what color is your mane when you do? Silk blonde? Auburn red? Ebony black?"

The doberman's cheeks flashed a rosey hue "Oh, it's...well." Paulie cleared her throat and regained her composure "Just a caramel color I guess, it's been quite awhile since I grew my hair out obviously."

Paulie raised her brow at a thought "Isn't Larcen that scummy looking PI hound?"

"Scummy, yeah. But the right kinda scummy, like a good sponge." Kalen rubbed his thumb clock-wise against his middle and pointer finger as if caressing an invisible coin.  "With a dash of a certain shiny yellow soap - he can scrub an' suck up all your own personal messes... Something you should consider for yourself."

 

The Doberman felt the husky rest his hands upon her shoulders. "I still don't know what to think about all this - I...I'm gonna miss you Paul; yet I'm really glad to meet you as you are all the same."

 

Paulie placed her hands on his own and looked into his eyes "Please don't say that again Kal, I've always been your friend, it's just that now we're closer than ever, we're true to ourselves."

Well, if we are going to let it all out on the table then." The husky took in a sharp breath. "I don't want to be a freak, Paulie. They say people who Mingle can't...well, end up never..." He sighed through a grimace. "Normal - or happy; that we can't have children even. I don't feel that way though, even though I've been told that. I feel attraction to my own people still; I can't be that broken then, can I?"

His eyes shifted as if his there was an invisible detractor in the room, a devil of doubt in the corner. "Then again, I have kinda snapped haven't I? Let's face it - I have become a bit of a...glutton. I am not in good shape... Is that me? Or is that the meds? I just don't know..."

Paulie rubbed Kalen's hands "You're not a freak Kalen, not to me anyway, and you certainly aren't broken since you've been looking at me a little." The doberman giggled "Don't think I didn't notice, but I'm not sure we should be taking those meds, you held me back from taking mine and..." Her eyes darted over to the orange pill bottle on the floor "I trust our Kingdom, but sometimes I think...I don't know what I'm thinking about that."

She sighed as she brought her sight back to the reliable husky "We're not what we should be, but that shouldn't stop us from living Kal."

"Well..." His snout blushed once again slightly. "You are cute...despite your man-buzz..." He stuck his tongue out. "You're right. I just need to feel it more than merely think it though."

The doberman pouted "Well I gotta say I've gotten really comfortable with this buzz over the years, I kinda forgot what it's like to have long hair." She rubbed her hand over her head "Maybe I should grow it out, in any case whatever source you have I hope it's not a dead end."

"I think you should." He tossled his own fingers against her head fur. "I think it would bring out your eyes. And don't worry - it won't be. I had to  dig deep into the Renard news network to find them but I have been keeping an ear out. Note that I am not using my real name in this interview or identity- I recommend you do the same... I trust or male lead more than anything. Truth be told I finally fished him out today from the shadows. The female is a patriot, but she's an' up-and-comer - she wants to climb the ladder and she may be tempted to dig into our privacy, and thus our wellbeing, to get a good scoop. To her we need aliases and need to probe her trust - name is Cassandra Rienhart. To Milo Manuel, we can show more trust - though I warn you...he is Felidae."

Paulie shrugged. "Well you have a good judge of character, so he shouldn't pull a gun on us. Guess I don't have to hide myself since we'll be using Aliases then." She flicked her finger on the husky's nose playfully "So how you want to handle this? We can easily use the husband and wife angle."

Kalen let out something between as a gasp and a guffaw, like he just choked on his own laugh. "Well! Th...that was a sudden suggestion." He tugged awkwardly at the nape of his neck. His mouth grew suddenly dry. "I mean, a day ago - and hour - ago I thought you were a man. Heh...I, well, I mean..." He but one of his knuckles and looked away. His face felt flushed hot red underneath his fur and his tail was all but twirling like a helicopter in cadence with his fast-thumping heart.  "You think I should at least take you out for a date first, yeah?"

Paulie smiled as she got up from the chair and lead Kalen to the kitchen. She pressed his back behind the fridge as she neared the husky's lips "Consider this the first then..."

Kalen let out a yip of surprise and gasped only to have Paulie press her muzzle into his in a deep and dead locked kiss. Kalen instinctively gripped her, unsure whether to pull her into or away from his body. Uncertain, mind frazzled and dazed in an wild convulsion of ecstatic ambivalence, he allowed her aggressive advance. His knees buckled as all he could was hold on to her waste. Storm Paulie had hit the deck and he simply was knocked aftward and all he could do his manage not to slip overboard. Mustering his strength he pulled back and breathed deeply. "Wow...to be a first date - this is rather forward." His chuckle was cracked breathless wheeze. "Feels like you've been waitin' for that for a long time..."

Paulie rubbed his ear as she gripped his neck "Oh you have no idea, it's better to live in the moment than not at all." She pecked his cheek and nuzzled his neck "We need to live while we can, we shouldn't hold back after all." As she held him in place, her stomach poked his abdomen.

 He held her and pressed his stomach to hers. "Would they think she's  mine?" He was not sure where the question came from but suddenly it felt right to ask. "She, I think she is a she...just a feeling..."

Paulie placed a finger to his lips "Shhh, let's not worry about that right now." She continued her kiss and held him closer.

 

His hands slid down her sides and cupped her backside. "We have until lunch time...and I'm on a diet... I think we have time...so we best savor, take things slow..."

The doberman stopped her kiss and laid her head on the husky's chest. Paulie quietly sobbed, wiping the tears away "Y-yes, I'd l-liked that so much, I need you."

 He began to stroke the length of her tail with careful hands. "You have a very fluffy, long tail for your kind of Khani...You know, you can, tell me what'a wrong - tell me anything... Like always."

Paulie smiled "I just, I have to be honest with you about this child." The doberman swallowed, fighting back her tears "It wasn't my idea to have this baby."

"I gathered..." He rubbed her back and let her tears soak into his jacket. "But I'm not here to judge you for that...after all we've been through it's a miracle we can make even mistakes

Paulie wimpered as tears rolled down her cheeks "You don't u-understand, it wasn't, I-I got c-caught." She removed her arms from the husky and buried her hands to her eyes.

Kalen's head tilted, his ears half-cocked and  sidegoggled. "Caught? Paulie, what do you mean?" Tension tightened in the husky chest. "What do you mean?" He asked again, his tone a bit flatter, cooler. "What happened?" He pulled on her wrists, staring into her eyes so close their cool wet noses touched.

Paulie calmed down. "Alright, I'll tell you what happened, someone found out who I really am, told me they would keep quiet if he...well, you can see the results." She placed a hand on her stomach, her eyes filled with shame.

 A sharp scraping sound reverberated around the room, the sound of a cabinet being open... Kal pulled something glimmering, metallic, and very illegal underneath layers of kitchen folderol and silver wear. It was one of his old service pistols, the snub-pistol he use to clip hidden in his fur. He did not growl, he did not bear his fangs, his eyes simply narrowed and seemed to almost grow luminous like he were staring into the sunlight. Paulie vaguely recalled the image of sea-ice in the sunlight. "What's his name?"

Paulie gripped his shoulder. "Calm down Kalen. You can't do anything against this guy; he's not...normal." The doberman rubbed her swollen eyes. "His eyes glowed when he talked to me. They glowed, I've never seen anything like it."

Paulie gripped his shoulder. "Calm down Kalen. You can't do anything against this guy; he's not...normal." The doberman rubbed her swollen eyes. "His eyes glowed when he talked to me. They glowed, I've never seen anything like it."

Skepticism tensed Kalen's features. He chewed on his lip and looked down her confused as if biting back a questioning objection.

 

She gazed at the husky's gun. "It's not like I haven't thought of killing him, but I don't know if he's alone." Paulie's face contorted "You can guess on what he wants. He said that he'd leave me alone as long as he gets the baby." Paulie shook her head "I don't know if he will. I-I don't know if I can go through with it Kal."

 

 Kalen sneered, not at Paulie but the whole situation. He glowered at the room like this unknown man was sitting on his couch with a big grin. He flipped the pistol and handed its butt-end to Paulie. "Don't go after this magical mystery pervert then...I am not asking you to do that anyways." He still couldn't make eye contact; the whole situation ate at him like a swig of acid.  "You going to let this deviant come for you without a fight, and for your baby?" His eyes locked on her then burrowed into her like drills. "And what do you mean by 'go through with it?'"

The doberman sighed as if to surrender all hope. "I don't know if I can go through with handing her over, let alone raise the baby if I don't hand her over."

 

She grimiced down at her stomach "It's not fair to her, none of this is. I can't even stand the thought of looking at her." Paulie slammed her fist atop the kitchen table "What kind of woman am I?"

 

Paulie felt the dull pain shoot through her knuckle. She shook hands as if to shake out the pain. "She'd be used or hunted, damned no matter what..."

"One that forgot the responsibility of being a woman while upholding those of men. It takes a special type of bravery to have a baby and be a mother. Just ask my own sometime..." He paced the length of the kitchen with his muzzle pointed straight down. "None of this makes sense - none of it." Kalen swallowed and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. A sinking feeling of disgust slowly fell and swelled in the bottom of his stomach. He had recently kissed the woman before him who was now considering handing her baby to a predator. "Give her to me then when you are finished with the pregnancy. If you abandon her - I won't. I nearly died to protect people like her anyways; I see no reason to stop now. I don't see her as a burden; she is a life."

Paulie plopped down on the kitchen chair. "I'm not a monster like him Kalen. I'd rather die than hand her over."

She lowered her head to the table. "It's not fair to you and I can't make any sense of it myself." The doberman gazed at her friend with crimson cheeks "If you can help me, if there's anyone I'd rather have as a father to her it would be you."

Her breath was shallow "I want to stay with her, I don't know where to start." Paulie held her stomach the best she could and muttered. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, my child."

"Good..." Kalen's back slouched, tension slipping from his shoulders. "I love you, but I never thought I would love you romantically. I see that I can indeed do that now...but wow..." He scooted next to her and sat close. The sinking feeling suddenly deliquesced into a bubbly feeling. His body tingled at the prospects, the promise. "She's not mine by blood...but she's yours...and that's good as in my book." He forced a smile and put his hand on her tummy and began to slowly rub. "No matter what, I'll help you raise this baby. He felt a subtle kick into his palm. "Heh, I also think she forgives you..."

He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "I do too....just give me some time. This is all a bit sudden. Just an hour ago I thought very differently about you."

He rested elbows on the table and rested his muzzle on his hands. "We've both been pretty alone....I am basically a dad to Azriel. I can help you raise the child - no matter what direction we decide to go. I am not leaving you alone in this."

Paulie felt as if she was in a daze. "I can't thank you enough Kalen, I'm not sure how I can ever repay you for all your help but..." She placed her hands upon his own. "I'll always be there if you need me."

She laid her head upon his neck; overwelmed by everything that has happened. As the doberman rested she lazily looked over the clock "Kal, when are those reporters going to show up anyway?"

 Paulie's hands were warm, they throbbed with heat through out her padded palms. They were stronger than the average woman, gifted with a though grip. She use to wear thick shooting gloves on the battlefield, wore them almost everywhere and anytime. Kalen use to think she wore them because of the cold and all the manual labor digging foxholes and heavy lifting; now he knew otherwise. They were another subtle mask of masculinity. Without them, bare in his own grip they were paradoxically delicate, smoothed, lotioned and pampered to be suave. By touch he truly could confirm her femininity, and not merely that, her yearning to be so. His eyes soaked them up like one looking at an intriguing painting, one thick with layered dimensions of alternative meanings.

 

 "You paint your nails when you're home..." He mused. "I can see a fleck of green on your pointer finger." He up turned his larger hands and tapped a claw over her own. "That's not your color at all, you know..." He peaked at the sun outside his window to note the time. "We have a bit more than an hour...why do you ask?"

The doberman giggled. "Well when I'm home I'm allowed to be a little more feminie than when I'm outside." She then peered over to the husky "There is something I was wondering, how exactly did you get the interview?"

Paulie sat up, a hand held on Kalen's shoulder. "Cause you told me about the felidae guy and the girl, you sweet talked her into that interview did you..."

She raised a dissappoved brow "I mean granted this was before you knew what I'm really like, but unless I'm in disguise here we're gonna have to get our story straight."

Kalen just smiled up at her. "You want me to sweet talk you instead?"

Paulie held a wide grin. "You know I do Kal." The doberman gave a quick peck on the husky's cheek and teased. "But we really do need to have a decent alibi you notorious flirt you."

"I am listening if you got ideas." He scooted his chair and sprang up to his feet. "Problem is if we go with your one endearing alibi then there is one obvious gap..."

He put his fingers to her head and rubbed her trimmed scalp whilst emulating the squeak of rubber on wet stone.

Paulie playfully swatted the husky's hand from her head. "That's an easy one frost butt, just say I donated my hair for charity, unless you have a wig somewhere lying around that's long enough."

 "Well, it's going to sound weird but I do. Aurora had a bit of a...panic attack when she heard the king was going to see her play Karada in that Verberian Comedy he likes." He announced the title with a dainty hand to his chest and a mocking dandy bravado. "The Philosophess and The Doge of Prokyos." He chuckled at his own mockery. "Aurora had to fake playing a brunette so she has some of the costume stuff still on the vanity of the guest room." He pointed that way with a wayward thumb. "She has some clothes on there - if you would like to play dress up..."

The doberman chuckled. "I might take you up on that offer, never cared too much for dresses but it would be kinda funny." Paulie smirked and softly jabbed the husky's arm. "Or are you trying to make me into a proper lady, frills and all."

She gave Kalen a wink as Paulie wrapped an arm around his neck. "If you're trying to be subtle it's working." The doberman looked up in thought. "I mean that could work, and if the wig falls off for whatever reason we can always go for the whole charity excuse."

Kalen rubbed his arm and stuck out his tongue with a returning wink. "Sounds like a plan. Shall I escort the fair lady to the powder room?" His own arm sneakily snaked around her back and suddenly he pulled Paulie upwards, scooping his other arm around her legs to pick her up. "No need to walk on swollen feet. A lady expecting should be given some respite." He started to carry Paulie in his arms to his guest room in a loose but close grip. Her rainboots dangled off the ground. "I think you deserve this..."

 Paulie was caught off guard, her eyes widened as she looked up at the husky. She smirked being carried away by him. "You're such a gentlemen Kal."

 "Yeah, you though?" He hugged her close as he gave the door to the guest room a slight kick open. "Not so much. At least, less than you have been in a long time

The doberman nodded. "Yeah, nice room by the way, you can just put me down on the bed Mr. Gentleman." Paulie winked at Kalen, giggling all the while.

"Can do." The husky bent his back and laid the laid the newfound lady on lacy quiltwork of his guest bed. The quilt's artic themes of snow flakes, expressive glaciar in the sun, warmly cabined icy snowscapes,  suggested to Paulie that it was an heirloom. The spindles head board and footboard was handcrafted out of a bureled and glistening mauve wood enlayed with embossed and engraved silver and gold floral filigree. "I like to add a touch of home to this room. I actually made the bed. Quilt's my grandmother's handiwork though. She doesn't like to admit it, but this basically is Aurora's bunker when she gets blitzed by homesickness, especially on the Holidays."

Kalen pointed to the delicate overlapping floral patterns. "Aglidberry and rine'n'rime vine, look familiar?"

Paulie pondered. "Looks a little familar, wait isn't that the same kind of fruit you told me was like a family sigil?" The doberman traced her hand over the stitching over the hand made quilt.

"It's a somewhat uncommon symbol in familial-totems - it means the husband and wife were star-crossed, not of the same social station, or just unlikely lovers." Kalen slid his fingers across the interlocking imagery with soft fawning eyes. "Algifyre trees and rine'n'rime ivy grow together you see. One creeps on the coast line and curls into the exposed roots and trunk. In the harshness of winter the ivy wraps these trees like a spiraling blanket and shares minerals, all in exchange for sharing warmth away from the icy sea. When these two plants are together they are better for agriculture. The berries are sweeter and cool and clippings of the ivy are warm, spicy, starchy, and nutritional. The jam you just ate has algidberries in it. Next time, I might make you a stew with rime'n'rine." Kalen sat on the edge of the bed next to Paulie with a sniff and a sigh. "The quilt is my grandmother's handiwork...scenes from home... In my culture the Hearth and the bed both tell a story, one of a household and one of the individual. Both makes a home a sacred and special place; it makes a home a home..."

The doberman's up-sprung eats soaked up took in his word and scooted closer to the husky. "You have a nice home Kal; ya probably have the best home I've seen." Paulie raised her hand and petted Kalen mane. "That and you have the best commute out of anyone I know, no way you can ever be late for work."

"The distance between home and here though..."  Kalen's shoulders and back slumped as he traced the names of far-away family members.

With a soft chuckle at her own joke, Paulie wrapped her arm around his neck. "I mean a home's a home for anyone that lives in it right? I know you miss you're family over where they are like Aurora but you still have me and tiger boy down there. Plus that rabbit girl." Paulie shook the husky with her arm. "I'd say you have a pretty big family over here. And it's going to get bigger..."

Paulie gripped the husky's hand and placed it on her belly. Kalen felt the life underneath suddenly stir. "She's kicking..." His posture slowly straightened as he began to slowly rub her stomach. "Something tells me she is about as spunky as you - when she's teething she'll be half as obnoxious." He stuck his tongue out and wrapped his free hand around Paulie's back, finding her tail. Tentatively he began to play with it.

The doberman returned the favor and rubbed both the husky's ears with each her index fingers and thumbs. "Hopefully you'll rub off of her, she needs a good role model you know. I'm not exactly a good example."

 Her touch seemed to creep down his spine. His heart thumped against his ribs and his tail against the bed sheets. "Hopefully not my eating habits..." His hands found her face and rested on her cheeks. "And I disagree...you're going to make a good woman. You know why?"

 She leaned closer to the husky, lips nearly touched upon her own. Her arms wrapped across his back. "You tell me, why?"

They shared breaths they were so close. They could smell breakfast and toothpaste and tea off each other's approaching mouths.  "Because you made a good solider." Kalen explained, inching closer. "A good mother is a fighter; she stands up for her household like a solider stands up for their country. She fights and sacrifices for her child so that child can live a greater life than her. One career is not more noble than the other, and not much different in meaning, despite situation. You fought for a family before, you fought your squad. You can fight for this baby too..."

Paulie hopped and planted her lips against Kalen's, locking her arms around him. She backed her head away to catch her breath. "I can, I can fight for her like how I fought for our squad."

 "You can." Kalen squeezed her tight. In the corner of her eye Paulie could see his reflection in the vanity mirror across the room grinning deviously, eyes narrow and sly.  "Now let's see what you look like in a dress...girly, girl..."

"Alright then hooskie, pick whatever dress you want me to try out and I'll wear it." Paulie gave Kalen a teasing glare. "Since you seem to want to see me all proper and fancy so badly after all."

 The husky's smile widened, fanged and impish. He slowly unfurled his arms and rocked up in his feet and waltzed to the closet, then gripped its knob with a theatrical, anticipatory pose. Paulie was reminded of a magician hyping a big reveal at the end of one of his many tricks. "Moi? My dear lady, it's not my job to find the new you , but help you who you always were." With that he slid open the closet door, revealing all sorts of costumes and dresses, some bawdy, gaudy, and comical, some tight stretchy fabrics like those of acrobats, and some aristocratic and evocative all sorts of eras in history. Amidst them were a peppering of more contemporary clothes here and there, yet they were further obscured by string up masks, hanging hats, and all sorts of dangling bizarre props and odd accoutrements.  Kalen gestured her close with a beckoning paw. "Well...?"

Paulie's jaw dropped at the sight of all the clothing in the closet. Her eyes widened at the variety of each dress, every article of another era all around her. Needless to say it astounded her "Geez Kalen, does Aurora really need all of this? I mean how are you not a talor?"

She snuck his paw into her own whilst a bright green dress caught her attention. She pointed at it to Kalen "Maybe something to go with the green nails?"  She grinned, only to see the dissaproval in the husky's face. She then frowned.  "Okay, what would you suggest then?"

 

“Not your color, Paulie..." The husky softly demurred whilst scratching his chin and circling her. "You're not use to matching... are you?" Despite his skepticism, Paulie found Kalen outstretching the hanger containing the lime-green dress. "You can try it on if you like though; be my guest."

With a grin the doberman haphazardly threw off her shirt and unzipped her camo shorts in quick succession. She bent her knees slightly to reach each boot and undo the laces. Paulie slipped off the boots with her heels and kicked them aside. The doberman's mischievous smile remained as she slowly swayed over to the green dress, letting her loose boxers slip off naturally from her hips. Gently, the doberman pinched the dress and draped it over her chest. Her tail swayed mischievously.

“So, are you sure it doesn’t...” Paulie was about to ask Kalen on how the dress looked on her, yet she couldn't help but laugh at the flabbergasted husky.  She suddenly felt a small spark of pride. A dark shade of red peaked through the fur of his face.

“It doesn’t really.” He managed to choke out. His eyes crawled guilty up her body, noting her clawed, caramel toes and climbed up her muscled calves. “Red...let’s try red...” His heart fluttered and his head throbbed. The confirmation of her femininity dig deeper into his mind like a hot poker, seemingly scrambling his brains like skillet of cracked  eggs. He breathed deeply to regain his composure. “Paul...Paulie... I...am sorry...” His knees began to buckle.

Paulie's eyes widened at the effect she had on the husky and teased him. "Woah there Kalen, you look like you have a fever." She switched the green dress for the velvet, frilly one lined up next to it. "Alright if it helps you not have a heart attack I'll put this one." The doberman draped the dress over her body, easily getting her head and arms through it. The frilly thing Paulie wore was quite loose to her surprise and didn't even tug near her stomach. Her reflection in the closet mirror was a surprise. Paulie thought to herself on how strange she looked wearing this thing. "It's a nice fit Kal but I dunno, I feel weird."

Kalen slumped against the wall and sat down cross legged on the floor. His unblinking eyes opened  wide, his icy irises staring, still languidly tracing the curves of her body, the fullness of her hips and chest, the round of her pregnant belly, the slender contour of her neck. Paulie the man, at least in the confines of the husky’s mind, had suffered a fate worse than death; he was erased from reality. All he ever was to Kalen and all he ever could be seemed gone and supplanted with the being before him. No best man for Timothy, no “congrats you’re my the god-father of my future children,” and no tough guy talk in the trenches, especially about how “short mames make a gal look like she has lice.” He felt guilty over half the things he said to Paulie now; there was a lot of macho-babble he slung her way that he would have never even inferred to a lady. He even sparred with her once or twice and hit him smack dab in the snout. He would never hit a woman on purpose, never ever, let alone scrap with her ten rounds. His stomach turned. He was conscious of her words: “it’s still me.” He even repeated them aloud to himself, a muttering, repetitive chant like one trying keep faith. But the reality of her barefur body was the final acid wash to all his fond memories with his old friend. As he sat muttering in the floor, all the fond nostalgia standing bright against the backdrop of war, sizzled away leaving only the acrid residue of a new ignominious context. The silver lining of the darkest time of his life seemed gone forever, a lie, a mere dream fading with wakefulness. Only bullets, bodies, and blood remained vivid and genuine in their reality, solid and intractable much like gorgeous woman before him. His neck went limp, his body drew up, and the husky sobbed with his head against his knees. “You made me love you like a brother, only to be someone else...How do I know this just won’t be a lie too?”

Her smile faded as she kneeled near him. Paulie mentally smacked herself for being so wanton towards Kalen. For all the good times they had and all the jokes they shared during the course of the war she did do so under a lie. She bit her lower lip; how could she ever make it up to him? The answer to this escaped her as she spoke. "Kal, you've seen me as I am. I can't be more honest than I am now." She placed a hand on the husky's shoulder "I've told you everything about me. if you want to ask me something than say it. I can't expect you to forgive me."

She sat up to sit near the edge of the bed. "I-If you don't want me here just say the words, I'd understand."

 “No...please, no...Stay.” He forced himself to speak through slow, shakey breaths. His face was still buried in his knees. “I already have lost Tim; don’t make me go search for you too. Just...just...I want to know one thing...”

She was afraid to say anything and deathly afraid of what Kalen could ask. Despite that however she answered. "What is it."

 “Why didn’t you trust me if you are the Paulie I know...” He swallowed down a sob. “...I mean, knew...I wouldn’t‘ve told nobody, notta single soul. I loved you Paulie. We weren’t comrades here.” The husky tapped his shoulder where is rank insignia use to always be. “We were all but litter-mates here...” He slid that shaking hand to his chest and gripped the muscle underneath; his heart thumped through the thick sheathing in a strong, but subdued pulse.

The tears flowed from Paulie, completely at a lost for words. "I don't know, I didn't know what you would think of me if I told you." The doberman laid down on the bed as her sobs grew louder. "What you must think of me..."

 “All of this didn’t have to happen...” The husky wearily pushed himself up on his knees and stood. “I could have fell for you first; I could have given myself rightly. I just pray I’m not damned for what I did...especially when it could have been with you.” He clenched his fists and stared outside the frosty window as if to punch through its curtains and slash his claws at the world. “I sacrificed my innocence for my country in more ways than one.” He stared at the woman in crying into his bed sheets, his eyes baleful, frown guilty. With a pregnant pause and step forward he confessed in a whisper. “I still have feelings for her...I will be true to you, even if you held all this from me. I felt love for her. But I...I want to be good; and Alexis doesn’t love me back - probably never did. We grew apart after the war; but you and me, we stuck together.” He took another soft step closer. “I wanna kill this bastard, rip his throat out with my teeth. But what pisses me off is that this guy could have somethin’ to do with Timmy disappearing. I feel it in my chubby worthless gut. I wish you told me sooner - in more ways than one right now. I coulda stopped him from hurting you; maybe, this could have stopped whatever happened to Timmy as well. But you just couldn’t trust me, you just couldn’t trust me - of all people...”

Paulie expected anger in the husky face, but looked up to only find shame, a tail tucked between legs, ears pressed back against a blond mane, blue eyes puffy, watery like melting sea-ice. “Was It because I wasn’t worth it, because I...mingled?”

Paulie rung her hands together, glowering disdainfully at the paradox in the mirror. Her crewcut clashing with the curves of her bare body, a form literally pregnant with contradiction. "No, gosh no Kalen!” She grimaced at herself and pouted in guilt at the husky, softening her face and leaning forward as if apologizing for tripping into and breaking a family heirloom. That’s what it felt like after all, like she had crashed and bumbled into his whole life and shattered something dear deep inside of it. “I was ashamed of entering the service as a lie. I couldn't face anyone, honestly." The doberman sat up and slammed her hand on the bed. "You were always too good for me. I couldn't have you, let alone face you with this. Hashem knows I thought about it in those nights knee-deep in the trench mud." The doberman wanted to hold him more than anything; her fingers twitched and spread, reaching out tentatively in the space toward him. She sat up to place that reaching hand on his shoulder, then hesitated, fell back on the bed, and pulled back. "She's better than me...Damn what others think; at least she wasn't a lie like I am." The thoughts bounced along her mind; all of these events that have happened are all were her onus to bare, all centered around her big lie. "All my fault, it's all my fault..." Paulie kept muttering as she curled into a ball on the bed.

 “You did not choose to be violated.” Contrasting with her grieving moans, Kalen had found a sudden stoic strength, one buttressed by a sense of virtue. “No victim deserves the blame for that; the bastard who did it does and always does - even if the woman was reckless, which your weren’t. You should have told me, yeah...but I am not big on what-couldas. But, what-can-bes.” He forced a smile despite his bloodshot eyes. “I just want you to know I think you are really gorgeous. It’s kinda...overwhelming. If you think I am worth it then, well, maybe we should make things right...”

Kalen forced himself up and forward to the bed and offered his hands. “I don’t blame you for anything; I don’t really want to. If this creep took Timothy and has anything to do with it, then you are a victim in this as much as him.” He grit his teeth and looked down at her with a prep story sigh, like someone about to be punched in the gut. “I just need to know if you really want me around or if I am just another part of this disguise, a cover-up friend for a cover-up man. I know we could still be close in some way, but this is different. You want me another way; I think I want you the same way...”

Her heart fluttered at the husky's words. That perhaps she could have some sort of future with Kalen. "I do want you around Kalen, I want that more than anyone else in my life." She sat up on the bed and wiped her face. She didn't entertain the thought that the man who impregnated her could be involved in all these dissappearances, yet who else could be involved? "But what we're dealing with is just insane, one magical psychopath is one thing but to think he could be some sort of mastermind doing all of this? I'm not doubting you on that but it doesn't add up." Just then a shock of fear shot up through her mind. "Oh gosh what if he has people following me, what if there's someone downstairs right now?" Paulie looked all around her in paranoia as if the walls had ears all around them. "I'm such an idiot, I don't want to endanger you or anyone else."

The doberman inhaled as she tried to remain calm, almost hyperventlating under the pressure as she broke into a swear "C-could you please turn the heat down it's a sauna in here."

Kalen sniffled and rapidly blinked his tear-soggy eyes. He straightened up and did his best to swallow down and stomach all the emotion forced down into him in a single sitting. His stomach was tense, almost as if all this romantic turbulence was giving him a case of indigestion. “Magical? No - this guy is a skink.” The husky shook his head and upturned his hands, shrugging away the aspersions. “Nothing a bullet in the face won’t take care of...” He sat down next to her and made a shooting gesture with both his pointer fingers.  “There’s no need to be paranoid.” She felt his hands dig into the nape of her neck and massage the taught muscle, cool breaths and a cold nose caressed the nape of her neck. “Take a breath. Think this all through. If he is indeed behind all this then he must not have the power to do anything directly; he’s had to blackmail you, after all and - again, if it’s him behind the abductions, if - then he’s having to do all this in shadows. Think tactically. First thing you need to do is call your cousin and tell her to leave town or come this way; whatever you think is safest. Same goes with your family. Get a hold of them and simply tell them Felidea are looking around. We need to take away what little cards he has at play. He would have taken you already if he had the means, but he doesn’t - he has good spook tactics.

Paulie was eased by the husky's hand and words as she nodded "You're right, yeah I need to call her and anyone else I can." The doberman rose up back on her feet, leaning on the edge of the bed post. "Alright where's your phone?"

 Kalen reach over to his nightstand and pick up his cordless. “Here.” He placed the phone her paw. He stood behind her and then hugged her from behind. “Take a deep breath and call. And then, maybe...we will get you dressed...maybe...”

Paulie looked back at the husky and chuckled "Maybe as in regarding time or me being dressed." The doberman dialed the first number, the only other family that helped her when no one else did. "Hi Jen it's Paulie, yeah I'm alright I just got caught up with an old friend." Paulie nodded as her cousin kept on talking, Kalen tried to hear what she's saying but can't make out what it is.

 

The husky could only pick up a little Jen's words. "...that's fine and all but you really took your sweet time, I was getting worried." Paulie sighed as she intended to meet up with her after breakfast, however things have clearly changed. "I know I'm sorry, but a lot has happened this morning, look I know it's asking a lot but I need you to go out of town...what?" The doberman's eyes widened as she gripped the bedpost tightly. "Are you serious, they really put that runt in charge?" Paulie shook her head in shame and stated out loud. "What is this kingdom coming to."

 Kalen’s ears cocked sideways, curious. Yet, with a sudden realization, he grit his teeth and his eyes narrowed in a pained grimace of swift deduction. The husky looked like a man who just witnessed someone ride their bike down an up escalator. “Oh no…you gotta be friggin’ kidding me…”

Paulie covered the mouth of the phone. "They made Armand the new General." Her eyes popped out in disbelief as she listened to Jen's rant over the phone. The doberman uncovered the phone's mouthpiece. "I can't believe it, we both can't believe it, so what's gonna happen to Colonel Stripes?" Upon her cousin's words Paulie shut her eyes and mouthed out a swear. "He's being discharged."

Kalen’s hackles raised, his lips peeled back revealing white carnivorous knives. Yet he did not lear, his eyes did not narrow; they were wide with disgusted, incensed surprise. His tone was soft, too soft, and too calm for Paulie’s sense of comfort. It’s a whisper so thin and tight it digged into the nerves like a needle. “If I see that draft-dodging sonuva mangey-bitch, I swear on the name of the crown itself I’ll maul that station-jockeying, brown-muzzle with my own damn teeth.” He finally blinked and then swallowed down another strong draft of emotion, but this time with a frizzing of his tail and a dizzying shake of his head. “Let’s focus Paulie; you want me to talk to her? I wanna make sure she goes somewhere safe.”

Though Paulie was unnerved by Kalen's insult about the new "general", she nodded in agreement to warn her cousin. "Yeah it's crazy, listen I'm going to stay over with him for the next few days and...NO, no it's nothing like that." The doberman's cheeks turned ruby red at the scandelous words. "I'm being serious here, one of my old war friends got kidnapped the other day...yes Timmy, that's him." Paulie sighed. "Look I'm worried here, my friend and I suspect something is going to happen today and I'd be a lot less stressed if you'd just skip town for the next couple of days."

Paulie could only nod her head as she listened to Jen. "Please do this for me, I'll make it up to you I swear...my friend? It's Kalen, yes THAT Kalen. He knows." The husky could only hear shouting from the phone, some that could easily be made out "IS HE COOL WITH YOU!" Kalen couldn't make out the rest of her cousin's words.

"Yes he's cool, nothing to worry about I'm not in trouble." Paulie rolled her eyes and mouthed out to the husky. "She was always a drama queen." Paulie kept her hold on the phone. "You will? Thanks you Jen...what? Umm...okay." The doberman held out the phone to Kalen. "She wants to say something to you, personally."

 Another man would have gulped at the prospect of a shrill cousin-in-law dramatist blaring in their ear as their vulnerable loved one stood bare-fur on the edge of their bed, belly swollen with new life.  Kalen however was a different breed of Khani. He would command like did on the battlefield, and, as a twin brother to an actual dramatist, he was prepared for thespian sass, saucy retorts, archaic slurs, and even a few choice props slung atop his combat experience.  “Jen,” he declared resolutely into the receiver, “I  need you to treat this call like someone is listening, okay? Treat this like there is a cat burgler right outside your window - pun intended. Keep to my...’code name’...are we clear?”

 There was of course no code name - Paulie blurted his first name out on the wire, but he could always do clean up. He cleared his throat and spoke flatly: “Now, did you need to tell me anything?”

 Paulie whispered. "Sorry, she kinda brought it out of me." Her ears drooped as she paid close attention to the phone. "Don't hold it against her Kal."

Over the phone a small, somewhat higher pitched voice came from the call. "Umm...yeah I can stick with your code name officer, I mean sir." A small sigh came from the call. "I just wanted to make sure she wasn't in any danger, she's a sister to me, please keep them safe."

 “That can be done. Can you stay safe for her?” His voice lightened. “You notice anyone weird lately in your apartment or on the way to work?”

 Jen hummed over the phone. "Weird? Not really but I'll look over my shoulder before I head out." Paulie's cousin yawned. "I mean what with everything going on in Mobotropolis like having Armand as General I'd say a lot of aristocrats have gone mad if that counts."

Kalen’s eyelids squeezed together, a doubtful frown weight down his lips. Receiver clasped in hand, the husky tickled the Doberman’s ear with a whisper. “You sure you guys are related? She seems...imperceptive...”

Paulie whispered. "Believe me if you two ever meet she'll surprise you, she's very reliable in a pinch, heck I'd probably be in the streets or a shelter if it weren't for her..." The doberman smiled as she recalled all the times Jen helped her out. "I trust her as much as I trust you, I haven't noticed anything strange in the apartment building either."

Kalen sighed. “Tell her to come here then, if you think it’s safe. Just tell her to put on a coat to cover her head and such. Be a gray-fur - no one knows what you are, how old you are, what sex you are, how old you are. Coat - inconspicuous. I don’t need her alone as much as you.”

 

Paulie pondered as she held the phone. "That could be a good idea, but if we get in the middle of something...I don't want to risk her safety, I'm not doubting it's safe here but..." The doberman stared straight into Kalen's eyes. "Are you sure you're okay with this, we can't second guess ourselves here."

“ You can’t, Paulie; you have the intell.” Kalen massaged the tension from her shoulders, his fingers tentatively exploring the contours of her shoulders and neck. “Think this through. If she’s alone and she is being followed, then we give whoever is doing this a lever, when they already have Timothy...”

The doberman realized in horror what that man could do if she found Jen, she couldn't allow that to happen. "On second thought Jen, you should come over instead, we can talk about it then." She nodded to Kalen in assurance.

 Hands livened their pace against Paulie’s back. The massage kneaded against her tense shoulder blades, forcing them to slack. “She’ll be okay with us.” The husky’s voice crooned in her ear. “Now, tell her what to do and how to do it so she will be safe getting here. After that we will do the more challenging phone call. Take a breath - you know her best. Tell her everything she needs to know in a way she’ll understand. Her safety is on the line.”

Paulie leaned back against Kalen and rubbed her head on the side of his neck. She felt much more comfortable in his hands than anywhere else. "Mmm hmm, I mean right, right." The doberman listened to her cousin and interupted her as and told her where to go. Rather than telling her to go the cafe however she told her to go to the nearby laundromat just in case they were being tapped. "I'll meet you over there and won't be alone, don't tell anyone else where your going okay? I'll see you soon."

Kalen squeezed her tight from the back, resting his hands on her swollen belly, spreading his fingers wide. “Good thinking, solider.” His voice was a smooth whisper. “I can’t let you go though. I am going to have Azriel do it. He takes the aprons, dish rags, and table clothes there anyways. Tell her a person you trust will flag you down. This person will be wearing her favorite color or be wearing an heirloom or be humming  a song only you two know.”

Paulie placed her free hand to Kalen's own. "Jen I'm gonna send a friend over, they'll be waiting for you there, I'll make sure to tell them to where your favorite color. Hmm, yeah the same you painted my nails." The doberman sighed as she listened to her cousin. "Alright did you get all that? Good I'll send him over, you be careful alright? I'll see you soon."

 “Okay.” Kalen’s breath was sharp, his voice tense and preparing in tone, like one about to administer a flu-shot. “Now for your mother...” He calmly played with her belly button, slightly teasing her with a gentle tickle.

The doberman swallowed as if her throat was dry as her grip on Kalen's hand grew tighter. "I haven't spoken to her since I came back, I mean I did when I returned home of course but after the funeral..." Her voice trembled with contempt and regret. "It didn't go so well, that's why I've been living with Jen ever since."

Kalen leaned his head forward and brushed his cheek against her’s. “Your Dad would want her safe, but you can’t get bogged down in family issues. You have to put all that baggage on the back shelf and get her safely out of Mobitropolis. We have to sell her a good story, one that will push her off her tail and push her of this squirrely town. The Felidea is our best bet. Does she have anywhere else to go? Perhaps your grandparent’s, an aunt?”

Paulie nodded softly. "You're right, my aunt has a place outside of Arkon territory so I'm sure she could live there, it's convincing her that's the problem." The doberman smiled at the husky. "But I know with the both of us we can convince her to keep her safe...I'm gonna have to tell her everything aren't I?"

Kalen reassured her by returning her smile. “Honesty is the best policy, if you think it will work best with her and then I doubly recommend it. If we can insinuate this could be a Felidea plot however then it could help lead credence, seeing how your dad was on their crap-list anyways...”

The doberman held the phone in her hand as if it were a hand grenade ready to go off. "I think it'd be best to slowly tell her what's going on, maybe once everything is cleared up she'd understand." Paulie dialed the familiar number from her memory and held her breath as it rung. She held her ear close to it as she listened in. Her ears drooped as a message played at her end. "I guess she's not home; it went to recording."

 Kalen kept his hands still on her stomach, feeling the child underneath kick uneasily against his paws. “Perhaps she’s at work? Brunch? Does she have a work number, or a pager?”

Paulie had her free hand run through Kalen's blond mane. "Yeah she does I'll call them." The doberman then dialed her mother's work number, able to patch through as it only takes a few rings for someone to pick up. "Hello, yes is Emily there? This is her daughter and I need to speak with her." She held the phone as tight as she could. "Okay they're getting her..."

 Kalen slid his hands low to Paulie’s lap and then back to her stomach. He squeezed her slightly and continued to whisper in her ear. “Take a breath; same procedure as before. Don’t give anything away; just in case we are being traced or such. This phone’s a clone so it cannot be traced here, but we could end up giving up a name or something on accident. Just like the old days, Paulie, loose lips sink ships. No arguing and no whining about personal issues.”

The doberman gently nodded as a familiar voice spoke through the phone. "Hi Mom." Before the stunned woman on the phone could respond Paulie cut her off. "Yes it's me, I know things didn't end well last time we spoke but now's not the time for that."

Kalen hissed softly in her ear, piercing yet soothing, like a conscience tempting an unloading of a much needed confession. “Say: I need you to get out of town; someone’s following us. This call could even be tapped, so I have to make this quick and sparse on detail. Tell her you are safe with a friend right now and so is Jen, but you are scared for her safety. Tell her about Timothy, spare no details. Make her feel exactly how you felt with that creep - make her feel the fear in the best way you know how. Do whatever you can to make sure she does not hang up and gets out of town as soon as possible.”

The doberman nodded as she reiterated Kalen's words to her mother. "Call me from your cell, just get out of there right now and leave. I know this is asking a lot of you after...just use the caller ID and call me, don't hang up with me until your out of town." Paulie's brow beaded with sweat. "I...I can't say for sure, just go." She covered the mouth of the phone as she looked around in disbelief. "She asked me if the Lirule had anything to do with my dad getting sick..."

 “It’s certainly possible and it’s something we are looking into.” Kalen chewed lightly on his lower lip and scratched his chin in thought. “Tell her about Timothy and the missing people, that there is reason to believe they are involved. We are trying to make a profile of all the people who have been kidnapped, finding commonalities. So far people who have served or were close to be who served have been involved. Ask her if anyone else has been getting sick around her.”

Paulie relayed the message to her mother despite a small shake in her voice. "Do you know anyone else who have been sick around you, anyone at all?" The doberman'listened carefully then her eyes grew wide and placed the phone away from her mouth. "An old friend of my dad, he served with him during a tour. From what she can gather it seems that only veterans have been getting worse ever since they got their perscriptions."

 Kalen’s felt his skin crawl underneath his fur. He clutched his friend belly and all, his mind erratically tumbling  down sheer cliff of macabre possibilities. He thought of his own body, once shapely and muscular yet now bloated with fat and feeling oddly run-down at the prime of his life. He thought of Paulie and all their friends of late. How many had he lost?  Yet then his thoughts suddenly stoped and stagnated around one critical issue, Paulie’s baby. He swallowed down his fears and rubbed  Paulie’s belly with a sudden, new-found sense of protection. “How did he die and what was he on?”

Paulie held the phone over the speaker. "I can answer that for you, he...had cancer, liver cancer. He thought that he might have gotten poisoned during his last draft but we couldn't ever find out any more details about what might have caused it." Listening to her mother, the doberman raised a brow at the name. "So part of his cancer treatment then gave him something called anti-antiogenesis? It's suppose to help fight the cancerous cells along with Kemo...what was that?" Paulie's eyes widened as she moved the phone away from her, mouthing curses to herself. "Kal, he was taking Clozapine with it, that's the same prescription I have." She gazed at the orange pill bottle on the table. "Kalen are...are you taking the same thing I am?"

“No.” Kalen said flatly and crossing his arms tight to his chest eyes narrow. “I stopped taking my meds a while back, don’t worry about me. They offered me clozapine yeah...but I told them I knew I was was our combat medic and took it as my MinMoS during advance-training. Doctor looked like he had been shot when I told him when I paraphrased my old chem-textbooks. Drug’s an atypical antipsychotic used in treating schizophrenia and sometimes manic-depression when other drugs, and I emphasize, only when other drugs do not work. It’s not for post-traumatic stress or all these goofy disorders they seem to be coming up with left and right nowadays... It also causes immune suppression, specifically agranulocytosis as a nasty side-effect.”

He bit his lip and looked down at his bed spread. “Any decent Doctor would know that Clozapine would worsen his cancer and exacerbate the risk for infection in our wounded soldiers...this stuff basically starves out neutrophils, a death sentence for an injured mammalian Mobian especially.”

Paulie's hand shook in a mixture of rage and sorrow as if ready to throw the phone. "Did you hear any of that?" The doberman nodded in silence. "She said that the anti-antiogenesis was meant to counterbalance the effects of the Clozapine, that's also why he was prescribed it once he found out." The doberman turned to Kalen and held the phone away from her. "I-I can't believe that...how could she be this naive!?"

[Everyone you're characters are gonna be returning here so brace yourself, @Wulfsbane and @WarTraveller you guys are still going to be next here. I'll let you know when the new response is up. From what I can tell @TheRedStranger you'll need another post to continue your story but please let's try to have everyone else catch up here okay. XP]

[TheRedStranger]

 Kalen gripped Paulie’s hand, tugging the phone suddenly with a leer. If she tossed the phone there would be no chance to protect her mother. Anyone seeking them out would glance over Jen Andy inevitably seek Paulie’s Mother as their only loose end. “She’s not a Doctor, damn it and she lost her husband - where’s your sympathy? You want to get your mother killed, or worse?” Kalen’s words rumbled outwards from a growling throat, yet they were clear, concise, and cutting. “What’s more important, her life and the integrity of this mission or your mood swings?” He massaged her taught fingers about the phone and whispered into her ear, so close it tickled. Paulie felt bizarre, both aroused and unnerved by Kalen’s anger and intimacy. “Give me the phone - I will take care of this. Remember, she brought you into this world, and she loves you...let it go...

[Mike Arcade]

[Kalen - TheRedStranger]

Paulie slowly nodded as she took a breath "Right, you're right." The doberman handed Kalen the phone as she gripped his free hand tighter "I can't lose them both, I want her to see what the three of us could be like...I'm...I can't be this selfish anymore."

“I’m what?” Kalen whispered as he rubbed a thumb over her clasped hand. “Sorry? Good. Hurts as bad basic training on the inside, but being sorry gets you to better places. Trust me...I know, I got a big family, one that’s getting bigger so it seems...” He winked at her reassuringly, then steeled himself with a purposeful frown as he cleared his throat. “Third call of the day - hope it’s a charmer...” He pressed phone close to the side of his face.

“Misses Pastioré? My name is not important. This call is being traced. I represent the PAL Program...you are in danger...”

[Alex - Wulfsbane]

The frozen tundra suddenly alight as a bombardment crashes upon the fields, the noise deafening as you could have sworn you heard the Husky call your name. It almost seems as if the strikes would never end, yet as soon as it starts the explosions cease as there is nothing but only the sound of the arctic wind.

---

Note: [PAL= Protections of Arkon Loyalists program.] 

[Mike Arcade]

[Kalen - TheRedStranger)

A strange mimic of Paulie blared into Kalen’s ear, causing him to flinch and bear his teeth.  "PAL! I-Is she alright? is my pup....is my daughter safe?" Ms. Pastiore voice faltered from pan iced thunder to a furtive whisper . "What can you tell me...whose after us?”

Kalen dry-swallowed and gathered his nerves to bluff. "We have not confirmed the group in question. But we are certain they are correlated with the strain of disappearances you have certainly have heard about in the local news here in the capital.” He softened his professional tone, allowing himself an unvarnished plea. “Mrs Pastioré, we have reason to believe, given the disappearance of Timothy Greenwell, that your family is also being targeted.”

"Oh, oh gosh..." the mother suppressed a sob as she collected herself. "W-why would they want us? Is it something my husband did, w-we really don't have that much..."

“That is what concerns us. We do not have enough information to speculate why.  But we do know their pattern here in the capital.” Kalen kept his voice deadpan, largely to sound professional, yet mainly to keep Paulie’s mother at ease. He needed to simulate control over the situation as well as show the gravity of it. This bluff was the best, not just for her but anyone who might be listening in... “Authorities have not received any ransoms, or any evidence of the location and condition of kidnapped persons. Yet they are veterans, relatives of veterans, or troubled individuals such as the homeless. We cannot assure your safety, unless you listen to my orders to the letter - can you do that?”

"Y-yes, yes I can I just need to get out of work, what would you need me to afterwards?" 

[Wulfsbane]

Alexia shook off the snow that was gently powdered on her as the bombardment ceased. She waited for a few moments to see if there were breaks in the wind so she could see if Karen was still calling out to her.

[Mike Arcade]

[Kalen - TheRedStranger]

“I cannot tell our current location, due to this call possibly being monitored.” Kalen tapped the plastic of the phone, his eyes narrow. This was a chess game with an unseen player, and he was having to phone in all the moves with the opponent in possible shot. Too clear - his opponent would counter.  Too vague - and Paulie’s mother would be totally lost with someone on her heels. He had to be careful, communicate concisely. “Now listen carefully...treat this like a Two-Man card game; do not give your hand and won’t give ours. Now, dressed like a banker won’t do - you’ll stick out like a bandaged tail. Do what someone you know did during the war - do you understand?”

The mother hummed, she had a good idea on what this man meant. "I understand, I'll be sure to get a change of clothes. Let me guess, you contact me and never the other way around correct?"

“You got it.” Kalen smirked. Somewhere deep down a part of him felt (if somewhat irrationally) that he could feel someone’s frustration, and the whole of him relished it. “The contact will meet you in a place both you and your daughter are familiar with.” 

The Shepard over the phone chuckled then sighed as she recalled a fond memory. "Yeah, I know where we can meet, the last place we ever got along..."

The husky placed his paw on the receiver then leaned his ear towards Paulie. “Well? Is it a straight shot? Safe?”

Paulie pondered, the last place they got along where they weren't arguing at each other...she knew in an instant and whispered to the husky. "It's the church, it's a bit of a walk away but it's the safest place to go. My parents and I used to go for afternoon service when I was a kid."

The Husky leaned in close. He read Paulie’s features with intent eyes, probing her for any uncertainty. “Sounds like the clearest bet. If she is disguised well and since it’s day, the walk will be safe as long as she takes no reckless detours in a parking garage or shady part of town. I’d also avoid the monorail or a taxi. Walking is best, in crowds...but not crowds you can easily get lost in...get forgotten in.” He kept his hand firmly on the receiver, making sure nothing could be leaked, no hint could be given.  “How close is it to the laundromat? We could ax two trees with one stroke. Come on, Paulie - give me good intel. Your Mom’s safety will soon be on the line.”

"It's five blocks down from the laundromat, you take a left and a block away you can''t miss it. It shouldn't be that far at all." Paulie matched the husky's gaze "It's the best bet we have and near enough to bolt over here."

The Husky cocked his head curiously. “Should we use Azriel then? Or...hmmm...” Kalen thought of Aria. He trusted her; he had no reason for distrust . She was one of the people she was actually concerned about the most in all this. No one would miss a refugee from Comsotok; no family here to do so and no friends.... “Perhaps we should use someone else and take two shots on one inning if you catch my drift.” He pointed down at the floor with a smirk. “Anyone would look right over here...

"...and wouldn't suspect a thing." Paulie thought it was a good idea, and yet she couldn't help but be skeptical "Thing is though, would she really but up to it? She seems like a really nervous kid, I'm not judging your sense of character it's just that...could she even handle this?"

“Yes.” His statement was flat, straight to the point. “She’s seen war and knows the face of those who wage it...and how to hide from it.”

The Doberman relented and sighed "Okay, not much of a choice we have anyway."

He unclasped his paw off the receiver. “A friend will meet you. No detours. No big crowds, yet no sticking around in an area without ten people. If someone grabs you - they are assaulting you. You are a lady; I am sure you can put two an’ two together there. And remember this - it’s not about getting snatched only. It’s about getting followed and marked. If you are pinched - consider yourself drugged. If someone blows cigarette smoke your way - consider it poison. If someone touches your pocket - they are not picking it; they are putting something in it. Now...do your remember that gift you got last Christmas?” He took a deep breath and his voice grew more tenebrous. A subtle rumble of a growl, an instinctive calling to his kin, messaged a subtle call to violence. “The one your daughter gave you....”

With a dry throat she replied "Yes, I do, still have it." 

“Hard to soft; never hard to hard.” Kalen crooned cryptically and cracked his neck and knuckles. “And don’t stop with one, one more is always better, even if you think it’s too much.“ And push through, ignore any sounds - just means it works.  Then run. Remember to clean it afterwards or it’s useless.”

"Got it." The mother couldn't help but softly chuckle "Sorry, just reminded me of someone..."

“Someone good I hope.” Kalen chuckled back. “Seems yours nerves are ready and steady. Good. I am praying for you, misses Pastioré. Stay safe.”