"Alright, Nin, now, we all know your circumstances..." Hrurim starts to explain as me and Paps sort out our guns. We're confident we can get through whatever mess the police and other civil workers have for us. Still, we need Nin here to understand something very clearly. It's almost a pun to emphasise how deadly serious we are.
"Don't move or I'll be shot. I know, I know. I've seen a mirror in recent enough times." Nin dismisses, one of his claws going up in the air and waving us off.
"Good lad. Now, hush while we work our magic," Hrurim tells him, pulling the cloth over and drowning him in its protective darkness. Me and Paps move, getting some more items on top of him so that any inspectors might be less inclined to put in the effort to see what we have deeper on the wagon. As far as they'll be concerned, anyway, with our pickings from the ship...
We're refugees!
"Wonderful... Now we bathe." Hrurim grumbles back in my native tongue, slapping himself with some dirt and filth to sell the part. Me and Pops do the same, battering ourselves up so that we will be able to pass on by without too many eyes going on over us. It's an earthquake that put us in this situation and not a war, but still. Can't be too careful in our line of work.
However, I am not getting my body filthy. It hasn't been that long since I had a full bath to clean myself, anyway! I'm not getting myself muddy and dusty again for an act. It can stay on my clothes and go nowhere else.
"Good. Let's go." Pops orders, heading off without us. Turning to Hrurim, I gesture my head to the wagon and help him get set up. He groans and moans, passing it onto me as easy as a vile-driven spit take.
"I sure hope you come out of this stronger than any animal we've ever had to rely on." I remark and Hrurim gives me a look that only has one aspect to it. Shut up.
I give him a final smirk and push myself back to my feet, strutting away without a care. The wagon groans behind us, getting back into laborious motion. My eyes throw themselves around the tunnel, taking in the usual sights. Nothing much is new or different, even this close to a town.
"Welcome to Agadton, population... Five." I read, huffing at the way the sign has been gouged of its details by some of the debris. I wonder who is the liar in this case, the rock for hiding the real number, or the sign for not keeping it? Oh, gods and goddesses, this is going to be boring until we cross the final stretch of road.
A groan becomes a bark and I jog up to Pops, catching him as he crests a part of the road that should be flat and smooth. I keep below his feet, looking out at the bright light town of Agadton as it goes about a shaken but not stirred life. Keep calm and carry on. Certainly a phrase that has its weight in times like this.
"Police have the main road locked down. Government is following." Pops points out and I look around for other ways into the town. Despite his choice of language, we're not looking at a prison or a fortress here. Just a town going through a bit of a crisis. They're going to have no reason to assume much about us, if anything at all.
"We have a quiet road that way." I say, gesturing for Pops to come down so he can properly follow my arm.
"By the collapsed high rise?" he asks and I nod.
"From the looks of it, there's a side road that's largely open for business." I elaborate, shifting my arm to the left so he can see where the obstructing boulder ends.
"Might be a tight fit," he says, and I shrug. It's not like we're going to be at risk of anything, losing a few top-placed items. Shipwreck rubbish, anyway.
"We have an easy cover story, then. We're tired travellers who misread the gap." I tell him and he nods, a little huff blowing through his nostrils. He nods his head, patting my back and sending me on my way.
"Oooo, fun. I finally get to do something other than walking." I can't help but let out as I spy a vantage point to sling my gun out on top of. Climbing over what I have to, I get comfortable with my back against a somewhat smooth surface. My gun comes up and my eye goes to its sights. The distant world comes so close to me and I almost feel the want to reach out for it.
For the moment, while Pops and Hrurim are still travelling the road, I've no reason to look at the guards. I can enjoy the town for what it is and look about at how everyone is handling the situation. Honestly, for a town that's not particularly isolated or left to its own devices, they're handling it well. Earthquakes are practically unheard of, but we hwardgon are used to cave-ins.
I guess the ways to handle it are much the same, no matter the difference in scale. Besides, I doubt anyone here knows why there's an earthquake. They don't need to know. It happened. Move on with your life. Get back into the night life or what passes for one down here and enjoy yourself.
There's even a club that has made a point of using the boulders to their advantage. A rooftop that's otherwise built only to handle ventilation and so on equipment is now a new dancefloor. The holes in the roof have light-covered poles going through them and the roller-skaters love the challenge. If anything, the derbies haven't changed at all.
I can even see a swimming pool which is still in use, but now there's an island to enjoy. No one's doing lengths of it anymore, but the folk looking to get the worry out of their system are enjoying it for what it is. Not as a disaster which has utterly devastated the surface, but as a moment to enjoy yourself. Forget about the inconvenience of some rocks. We all lived through it. Didn't we?
My eye comes away from the scope, and I turn to the road. The sounds of wooden wheels filling out my ears. I glance around for my plan of descent and settle in as out of sight as I can be for my position. The road ahead clears up as the police let a line of cars through, some kind of hefty instructions in hand.
If I'm to make any bets or guesses, I suppose that is the current town layout. Road blocks all marked in bright red. Looks too doodly to be a list of instructions of what can or cannot be done. A further look into Agadton shows me traffic wardens and the like, still. There's only so much anyone can do before some slippy mind causes traffic indigestion.
"Oh... Damn it." I let out, noticing how the police are stopping Pops from taking a turn. The pair try to talk the officer into letting it slide but he's not having it. As if the divine are more than happy to give me clarification, a team of enlisted miners comes on through and block up the road. A click goes through my jaw and I focus on the pair of veteran criminals.
Hrurim draws a few odd looks, being an out-of-place human, though nothing comes of it. The fact they're armed, however, is drawing more actionable responses. A couple of officers set themselves up on a raised platform, paws on their rifles. A steaming cup of refreshment in the paws of another idle one.
Pops goes around the wagon with a pawful of them, explaining whatever lie it is he has. My jaw shifts about and although I have a calm finger on the trigger, my mind is anything but. Where am I going to shoot should things go south!? Hrurim's exposed and Pops is in full view of so much more.
A pitiful roar escapes me, almost as if it's a cry of pain instead. I need to reveal myself first if I so much as sniff that this is going the wrong direction. The police have no idea I am here, they've not a clue. There's enough distance for it to seem like I'm just some gun mad thug thinking he has an easy chance.
"Come on, you boys in blue... Buy it. Buy the story." I growl, tapping my trigger finger ahead against the guard. Much as it would be a shame to lose Hrurim, he is not family. Pops comes first, he'll understand. He better be unhooking himself out of view because I cannot save him.
I have a chance with Pops while he's letting the police search the- A thankful sigh escapes me and the uniforms tilt their hats in understanding, urging the pair on. Hrurim tips his flat cap, stuffing his coat back with his box of tailor-mades. A happy chorus of smoke escapes many of the officers and the wagon gets moving.
Pulling myself away from my gun, I get it back around my back and hop on down, slipping into the dark. The road to my left isn't too busy, but it's still a risk. Someone spots a lone girl with a ball-spitting piece as long as mine and there's going to be a spook. An urgent question of what will be done about me...
"Come on, open up for me. Yeah, that's it." I can't help but let out, peeking out as those diggers from earlier make all the ruckus they can. I smirk and slip out, scurrying across the road and going right between the broken road supports. The barricade rattles underfoot and I land on the next road down. I bounce my leg about, freeing it of that sore impact.
Rushing along into the town, I find a broken wall and get through it, popping out into a busy street. My tongue clicks and I head on over to a short-lived set of stairs. I look up and try to find somewhere that I might be able to make use of as a vantage point. We never agreed to a rally point in the event of separation, but I know what I have to do.
Finding a spot, I nod firmly and step down, bashing into a clueless pack of gigglers. They break apart, having a go at me while I reorient myself in the face of their obnoxious colours. The typical pretty girls look me over and laugh, their done up nails pointing out each flaw. One with a particularly well-grown set of spines strides up to me, her voice a mess among all the other noises of the town.
A sneer slips up onto my lips and a curl comes to my fist. I throw it out at her, knocking her clean away without a clue as to what happened. The road comes between us and I get out of sight before a bigger scene can be made of it. Reaching for the edge of a ladder I can use, I spot odd colouring on my fur.
"Gods and goddesses, she has a lot of make-up on..." I say, perplexed by how lacking in disgust I actually am at the thick coat painting my paw fur. Running my other paw over it, I brush my knuckle off and glance up at the wall, a slight frown on my face. It's just some stranger and I feel bad about it...
I suppose it's because I want to be someone like that. Out and about with the friends, all prettied up to meet the cute boys o to gossip about how much of a cabboth someone is. Normal things. Not sneaking into an armed town in order to facilitate a mobster's deal.
"Bah... Got more important things to do." I complain, waving off my thoughts so I can get back to looking for Pops and Hrurim. They can't have gone too far. I left my sniper spot not long after they were waved on in. Should make my way that way, hope they've found a bar to hold up at. Only the divines know how much Pops can probably slip out of some idiot's pocket to pay his tab.
Ha!