The Freak Shoe

Log Info

• Title: The Freak Shoe
• Emitter: Jinks
• Characters: Jay, Jozi
• Place: A06: Lower Alexandrian Gardens District
• Time: Monday, September 12, 2022, 9:19 PM
• Summary: Integrity is walking in the lower gardens when he encounters a wizard lizard locking up a shoe shop. This encounter is a crash and he is left confused and runs into Jozi. As this is discussed, they become aware that someone is locked in the shoe shop. Tentatively, they break in, to find the odd halfling Jay met in an alleyway. He's been in a fight, because of his unusual appearance, and the Arcanists locked him up in the shop. The two set him free, and then head off on their own as Jay tries to clear his head.

-=--=--=--=--=--<* A06: Lower Alexandrian Gardens District *>=--=--=--=--=--=-

The city is divided, unofficially, into Upper Alexandria and Lower Alexandria. The Upper resides further up on the slope of the mountain, and rests to the east of the great river. The Lower resides to the west of it, and if the Lower could be said to have a heart, this verdant park might be its center.

Amid all the bustle of the Lower City, its Gardens District provides a peaceful respite. The warmth of Althea holds sway here, and though Daeus receives the occasional nod, this is clearly Her domain. She shares it with Dana, in the verdant green of this area. Vines and trees, remain green no matter the season and numerous flowers bloom along the park's walkways. Faerie-light lanterns hang from branches and along hedgerows.

A number of shops may be found here, most notably the city hospital, for which the park was originally built. Though now open to the public, the gardens by and large, remain underneath the hospital's care. However, in the Althean tradition, much of the work is provided by volunteers.

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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  Appearing  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Jay          5'9"     145 Lb     Eaglefolk         Male      A perky male Blue Jay with a discerning eye.
Jozi         5'8"     148 Lb     Half-Orc          Female    A brunette half-orcess with a sunny disposition.
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  As the GM  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Jinks        3'4"     39 Lb      Gnome             Male      A gnomish fellow in fancy garb and jewelry.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

The sky is a moonless, starless, charcoal dome above Alexandria tonight. A damp and chilly wind strong with sea smells blows up from the docks to the south only to break against the enchanted borders of the western gardens.

Beneath the verdant canopy strung with red-yellow fairy lanterns, the cool evening seems more like a warm afternoon at sunset. A lean selection of foot traffic idles through the cobblestone pathways between hedgerows and stores nearing to closing time. Somewhere around a bend and out of sight, a qaur- or quintet of strings plays a peaceful, soothing arrangement outside of the Soldier's Defense. The music is an almost tangible thing, making it easy for the romantic to imagine the lanterns dancing on the notes.

A fat, beige-scaled sith-makar with a stubby tail only slightly-less blunt than his wide, horn-bearded face is closing up a small, cottage-style shop with a thatched roof. Above him, two halves of a bisected leather boot are nailed to either side of a simple wooden sign reading "CORDWAINER." There's a grunt and a satisfied hiss as a meaty lock clacks closed in the door's latch and then he's setting off around the shop's facade and heading west.

Heading east, directly into the beige-scale, is a black, white and blue jay egalrin, dressed in a suit. He's carrying a briefcase and sauntering with one hand on the hilt of his rapier. He seems unusually engaged with the black sky, staring into the darkness.

So, he isn't watching where he's going.

The Defense, for it's part, ultimately disgorges another soul, though this to more corporeal climes.

Dark-suited eye glancing about behind her peekaboo bangs to pierce the shadows between faerie-light, an oruch-blooded lass finds a certain jauntiness appended to her stride with the melodic accompaniment.

It's been a day, and Jozi is certainly keen to return to the Mother's house for a spot of rest and maybe some leftovers, though her unhurried pace is carrying her along not far from the collision her vision serendipitously turns itself toward in the proverbial nick.

"Ope--" blurts the sith, catching Integrity by the breast and upper-arm with suprisingly long and strong fingers. There's an amused chortle to make the playful twinkle in the old lizard's eyes. "Eh-eh-eh... Best t'watch where yer goin', don'tcha know?" His heads tilted and eighth of a turn to the right as he pats the egalrin on the chest, steers him to one side, and steps to the other before continuing on his way.

"Eyes-up, foot-forwards for cryin' out loud, eh-eh-eh..!" He gives the fellow one last look over his shoulder as he laughs again. "Miss," he adds with a tip of an imagined cap. The makari bootmaker has an odd gait, swaying his hips in a dipped bob that's done no justice by his stunted tail; still, it's a swagger all his own. His thumbs rest on his belly with his thumbs hooked beneath a pair of suspenders.

CHRIP! The bluejay squawks, caught and lifted, unexpectedly steered, gasping after the chest pat knocked the breath out of him. His tailfeathers flick as he catches his balance, stands, re-adjusts how he's standing and stares after the sith'makar.

Noting the strange stagger.

This is followed by some confused glances around, his head whipping to focus on the gardens and the few visible buildings. He ends up staring at Jozi for a while before looking once more at the departing sith'makar, then where the big lizard came from. The boot shop.

"Evenin, sugar!" the oruch softly drawls with an easy smile at the gracious gesture from the sith. She flits a curious eye over the pair, the bestartled Elgarin more thoroughly perhaps, continuing to draw closer even as the Sith allows his swagger to carry him into the night.

Once closer, she gives the bluejay another once over and a, "Ya alright, sugar? Din't hurt ya none?" perhaps concerned about the birdfolk and thoughts of brittle bones in the wake of the collision as it were.

"I'm fine. Fine!" The bluejay chirps, rapidly and breathlessly. He smooths his crest down with his hand, and it almost immediately pops up again. He's staring at the half-orc's face.

Avian expressions are on the more difficult to interpret side. A fixed beak that tells little, although elevation and open-ness can be a factor. Eyes quite unlike most mammals; a face covered in fine feathers that respond to the wind and not muscular cues. Overall it's like looking at stuffed toy, some kind of soft statue. Hard to tell what one is thinking until the speak.

"Oh it's been a long time since I've seen a comforting Orc face." He exhales with a sigh, "I'm fine. I was, daydream or lost in the clouds. I didn't recognize where I was for a moment."

Jozi's head tilts a little, and her lips draw wide in a warm smile, "Aww, tha's sweet of ya ta say, sugar, thank ya, kindly."

As she'd been recently tending patients, a process that usually requires the delicate touch, and thus her culturally singular weapons are not presently adorning her hands, she offers one to the charming cerulean wanderer, "I'm Jozi, it's nice ta meetcha, Mister...?"

There's a quiet squeak from somewhere nearby. It's followed promptly by a soft thud and quick rattle. A pause. The squeak repeats, adding a backbeat squeal and then a series of thumps and rattles.

Someone is trying to open a locked door.

It quiets after a moment and a hushed voice muffled by whitewashed walls wonders "... um... hello?" There's a knock-knock.

"Oh it's Integrity! Integrity C. Truefeather, esquire. The 'C' is for cloudstorming." The blue egalrin explains, hopping off to one side, out of Jozi's way. His head orients on the squeaking, the knocking, then the voiced question.

He calls back, "Uh. Hello! It's Integrity and Jozi. Are you in need of assistance?"

The half orcess bobs her head, "Charmed, Mister Integrity." she says gently, pivoting slightly as the Elgarin shifts his relative position, withdrawing her hand.

There's a moment where she wonders if she'd offered some offense, and her mouth opens with intent to broach the matter, when the squeaking and bumping forestalls such impulses.

She turns, then toward the sound, her open warmth cooling to something more cautious, even whilst she almost absently affixes one of her ornate, betaloned gauntlets to her hand, though the questions prompt the followup of her own "Ya need help in there?"

"... yes? ... wait." A bit of activity resumes inside.

Walking around the corner to the front of the shop, one can notice the handle turned and the latch straining against the heavy padlock and the barest hint of an introduced gap between the door and its frame. There's an audible "hnnnnnn" to go along with the effort until the handle flaps back up parallel to the ground and latches back into place with a 'click.'

"... yes, I am regurgitated to prisoner." The oddly accented, high-pitched voice admits with a heavy sigh. "... oh..!" Feet slap around. Something clatters to the floor. Then there comes a tapping against the store's front window. The pane is thick and foggy but a small, dark cheek smushes up against it beneath an eye that's an ice blue dot in a thick blakc ring.

"hello."

"Hello. Hello!" Jay answers the eye, looking up at the window pane. His beak opens, closes. "Prisoner... allegedly?"

He flips a wing out, conversationally, "I thought you might have gotten your door stuck and needed it forced. If you've been fairly judged a prisoner I wouldn't want to be breaking the law and let you out."

This thought shared he moves to examine the padlock and chain, poke at the keyhole a few times. "Do you need help getting out? How did you end up in here?"

GAME: Jozi rolls sense motive: (10)+9: 19

Jozi glances sidelong at Jay as he presents the law-abiding viewpoint of a, frankly, legitimate scenario.

Something in the voice stirs the pot so to speak, and the eye smushing against the tiny window catches her attention, "Sounds like some story, sugar. Can we ask how that come ta be, then?" she asks in a conciliatory tone.

The cheek pulls away and a small-person's mouth with a split lip comes close and immediately fogs up the window pane with its speaking.

"i... think i fell asleep in the laundry." The fog thins when he pauses long enough to stop and lick his battered lips. He has a higher-pitched voice and a strange accent. "... i was ex-frosted. bone-tired, i mean...

"but it stinks in here... it's very pundit, I mean." The lips pull back and a dark sleeve goes squik-squik-squik against the glass in tight circles to clean it. When he starts talking again, it fogs up immediately. "... and i was being metal floorable. this isn't really a prison, odiously..."

A pause after a surge of smugness.

"... so please help or i'll have to smash the window..."

"Yes I will be able to remember that verbatim if I'm ever called to repeat it." Jay chirps in a dazed sort of way, then explores his pocket and brings out a couple tools. "I'm working on the lock, and Jozi, do you have any questions?"

He looks at her then crouches at the door as he fiddles with the padlock. His voice is low, "this is the right thing, right? I mean, it's the Lower Gardens..."

GAME: Jay rolls disable device: (19)+12: 31

Wow, Trade is clearly a passing acquaintance with this one.

"I ain't rightly sure." Jozi affords Integrity on his query, though her eyes hold to their erstwhile puzzle, "Could always run off ta grab the Guard an be sure."

Hmmm, "Ya been hurt at all? Side from that lip, that is?"

"... got in a fight, that's all," responds the voice after a pause for internal debate. Is honesty really the best policy? Really?

"some kids from the big wizard anniversary are... um... ass' buttholes. scurvy-tags, i mean.

"... and sometimes i get tired after a fight..."

Jay gets the padlock open easily. It's a well-built and reliable padlock but one purchased by a man with a high-opinion of the general populace and a trusting nature; it's not terribly elaborate.

"you don't need the guards..." the voice continues after the eye presses up against the glass again. "we're not always a nickle bull with each other-- but i didn't do anything here... look--"

The shuffling resumes and then a barefoot kicks up against the window with a thump. The voice, further away now, is raised a bit when he says "(i don't even wear shoes..!)"

GAME: Jozi rolls sense motive: (5)+9: 14

"So who was the sith'makar I saw leaving?" Jay asks, popping the door open and popping his head in. Hopefully agile enough to avoid a second collision tonight. "They're not known for their sense of humour or understanding. I wouldn't want to get on his wrong side."

His voice trails off, as he remembers the sudden lurch. "No one was injured, well, fatally and nothing was stolen, right?"

He is the bluebird of happiness, yes, yes he is.

GAME: Jay rolls sense motive: (18)+11: 29

He's a bit of a nervous chatterbox. He's anxious about the situation and was made moreso by the mention of the watch.

The linguistic prowess of the 'prisoner' is really throw off the half orc's sense of who they're dealing with, even for her casual folksiness, his word choices are laying out a field of rabbit holes she isn't sidestepping so adroitly.

As Jay opens the door, she moves to the bluebird's side with a soft, "Easy, now."

Back to the voice inside, she returns, "Ya fight over some gal?"

The cordwainer's is as advertised. Salesfloor, showroom, and workspace all occupy the same room that you're now poking your heads into. There's a neat workbench with crates, cupboards, and racks of tools, hardware, and raw materials. One of the two shorter walls is lined with cubbies that are mostly unoccupied. There's a round bench upholstered in soft leather with a padded back and a pair of loose, wooden chairs. A door at the back likely leads to additional storage and perhaps a private wash room.

The whole place smells strongly of leather, oils, and polishes and it's lit by half-a-dozen everburning torches bolter to the wall.

There's little time to drink in all the details but barefeet thud to the floor and a patchwork halfling in secondhand clothes jumps down from the window and hurries over. Jay can easily recognize the unique creature as he squints up at the blue-feathered egalrin.

"I know you. With the gravito and the shadow monsters." The lucht observes, relaxing a bit and offering a smile.

The young man looks to've survived some sort of curse, plague, or experiment; his tanned skin is the color of a dark tea where it isn't blotched with irregular light-grey patches. His eyes are a mismatched, unremarkable brown orb and one with just an ice blue pupil set into a thick black ring. His black hair is a chaotic mess parted by a fading, gruesome scar that runs back across his scalp.

His arms are a bit too long, too.

"Gal? Ew. That's mighty preposterous of you." He smirks up at Jozi. "No, they called me a ff... they called me a freak." He grumbles, curling his three-fingered hands into tight fists. His knuckles are bloodied.

"Oh hey. Yes! I remember! You're looking much better. You look like a regular halfling to me, they shouldn't have called you that." Sharp eyed, sharp witted, but Jay's lexicon of encountered halflings might be on the small side.

"Let's get you out of there. Sounds like self defense." He makes room at the entrance. "Words can be violent, at least the right kinds can."

The half-orc has, despite her demeanor, seen things.

Many things.

This, while not shattering, does trouble her expression to a notable degree, though not one that disperses empathy.

This fella's been done wrong, and done so over a stretch, as she doesn't reckon that sort of thing is done all at once.

Either to the Lucht's state, or his refutation of her previous supposition, she offers a, "I'm sorry, sugar. Here."

Her clawed hand rises carefully to touch at something under her collar as she murmurs something under her breath, then reaches out with her other hand, now suffused with the warm glow of, admittedly basic, healing light.

"I used to clean up at the wizard school," explains the halfling as he glances from Jay to watch Jozi mutter. "Grounds-sweeper, I mean." He gives a little pantomime. "Some of them still treat me like I'm sub-ordinary to them... and I lose my temper..."

The oruch woman's offered hand is considered for a moment before he gives it a shake. The grip feels a bit off; aside from the too-few digits there's a plasticity to the grip you're not likely to expect. "How rude of me. I'm Odundik." His breath catches and he gives a little shiver at the healing magics, smiling a little wider, too. "Deprecation," he thanks as he steps between the pair and out into the fresh air.

"..." The lucht turns and looks around, his face twisting into a look of mild confusion. "I try not to fight people," he offers as he turns to look back. "... they just make me so mad sometimes. Incest, I mean... and then I forget what happens." Odundik draws a finger absently back along his scar and cocks his head.

"Do you hear that?" The halfling luchts around, trying to hum along with the distant music.

GAME: Jozi casts Cure Light Wounds. Caster Level: 2 DC: 13
GAME: Jozi rolls 1d8+2: (3)+2: 5

"No," Jay says, cocking his head in a similar fashion, "but I haven't been here all night."

He turns back to the shop, closes the door and affixes the padlock. He steps back, examines it, then makes a slight adjustment to the chains so it more closely resembles the state before he opened it.

"Good luck, and next time, well, take a few breaths after they say things, before acting." He waves.

Jozi nods, "Right, honest work, that." she notes, "I was a farmer fer a goodly while, musself."

She notes the odd texture of the hand, much estranged from scarring and the like, but doesn't linger overlong, lest it get awkward, "I'm Jozi, nice ta meetcha, Odundik, an yer quite welcome."

As the little fellow works between them, Jozi glances to Integrity quizzically, perhaps wondering what he thinks of all this, though he clearly has encountered this man before.

She nods as he makes a fair suggestion to the Lucht, "He's right, a deep breath in through yer nose, then let it out slow out yer mouth. tends ta cool the blood, some."

Odundik turns back one last time, obviously feeling the pull of the distant music. "Right... I will..." He sounds dubious. "Tamzin says the same. Well, she says 'yer can't punch ev'ry geezer 'oo's mean ter yer, right, yer poof,' I mean." His impression isn't too bad and he puts his fists against his hips for added effect.

The lucht grins and points towards the Defense. "... any wizard jerks that way? I just want to listen to the music..?" He waits briefly for confirmation that the direction is, in fact, safe and then makes his way off with a long-armed wave.

"It's safe, safe! I didn't see any coming through. Allegedly." Jay calls back, mimicking the hands on the hips motion.

"He's an Okay guy, I've met him before. People react badly to his appearance. He's smarter than he comes across; His mis-use of words is more like a cross-wiring than being an idiot and using 'big words' incorrectly. He doesn't retrieve exactly the right word for the concept he's after."

Jay waves some more, slipping into a bow. "Nice meeting you, Jozi. Are you for hire? Escort!" His voice starts off normal and gets more frantic each time he corrects himself.

"I need a guard to get home. I've been feeling a little strange."

"Didn't see none, lately." Jozi replies with a little shrug, but she glances once to the bluejay for a beat, then after the departing Lucht with some faint concern, but she nods, "I see, sugar, thanks fer explainin, I'll try an keep that in mind next our paths cross."

Her unsharpened hand lifts as she calls after, "Take care, sugar!" in a tone maybe a smidge more optimistic than she feels.

She frowns back to Integrity momentarily as he broaches the subject of escort, then, with a smile of reassurance, she nods, "I'll gladly see ya home, sugar."

Even as the half orc takes the firs step to assume an escort position to her new acquaintance, she offers her healing mitt his way as she had Odundik, "But, if yer not feelin too great, take my hand, I may be able to soothe it down fer a spell..."