Trog's Tavern CXXXII

[Wukei]

A little boy with black hair and purple eyes walks in, tears streaming down his cheeks. He looks around for anyone familiar before realizing he doesn't know anyone. He flops down in the middle of the floor and begins bawling.

[The_Librarian]

A silvery wolf trots into the tavern and deposits a large purse of coins behind the bar where, she hopes, Cosmo will find them. She looks at the bawling child warily, and then looks around for any sign of a parent. Seeing none, she approaches him and whines quizzically.

[Renegade Paladin]

Gaheris gave the centaur a reassuring smile as he activated his aura of courage, letting its supernatural confidence envelope her, as he usually did when he saw someone overly jumpy.

[I'll react to the boy in just a minute; I want to see how Calpurnia takes this first.]

[Wukei]

He immediately latches onto the wolf and buries his face in her neck. The mean man killed mommy!

[The_Librarian]

The wolf yelps slightly in surprise. She has little faith in this working, but tries addressing the child in canine:

{Canine}: "Who's your mother? What's your name?"

[Wukei]

The boy, not even realizing that it's unusual to know canine, answers, The nice food man called her Wu...Wu..Wudei?

Mommy called me Fenri...fenri...Fenrir.

He bursts into tears again at the thought of his 'mom.'

[Renegade Paladin]

[Going too fast. Sorry, Calpurnia.]

Gaheris looked up at the word "killed." He turned from Calpurnia and swiftly walked over to the boy, dropping to one knee next to the wolf. He left the aura on, hoping it might calm the child. "What happened, little one," he asked in a gentle voice.

[Calpurnia]

Calpurnia, of course, jumps as soon as the boy starts crying. She seems about ready to bolt when Gaheris starts emanating confidence. This does not completely cure her twitchiness, but seems to calm her down somewhat. Nevertheless, the very presence of a supernatural aura of courage seems to be a source of fear for her. "Gah! Um, what is, um, that?!" she cries, grabbing her hot chocolate protectively.

[The_Librarian]

The wolf nudges Fenrir and recalls Alex's comments the previous night.

{Canine:}"What about the others? Hawkeye, did he get out?"

[Wukei]

The boy backs away, frightened at the approach of a new person. The spell seems to have no effect on him. As he seems to become more aggitated he transforms into a runt black puppy.

He whines, hiding behind the wolf.

[canine]Hawkeye? I remember mommy calling the nice food man that....noo...the bad man took him. I couldn't stop him. I couldn't stop him![/canine] His whining increases as he tucks his tail between his legs.

[The_Librarian]

Glancing up at the paladin, Naivete attempts to growl a quiet command.
{Canine}: "Drop the aura. Now's not the time for it." She turns back to Fenrir. {Canine}: "The bad man took him," she repeats. This isn't good... {Canine}: "What did he look like, the bad man, I mean."

[Wukei]

[canine]The bad man looked like the good food man. [/canine] He shivers.

[The_Librarian]

Naivete yelps in confusion.

{Canine}: "What?! But-" She shakes her head. {Canine}: "It never rains but it pours," she says. {Canine}: "I think I know who you mean. All right, first thing's first, do you have any other family left, anyone who can shelter you for the time being?"

[Wukei]

He shakes his head, curling up into a little ball.

[The_Librarian]

The silvery wolf looks at puppy.

{Canine}: "There's really no one?" Come to think of it, no, I haven't seen anyone except Alex. She settles on the floor beside the puppy. {Canine}: "Well, for whatever my company's worth, I can offer that to you, but you must make me a promise."

[Wukei]

The puppy, a bit calmer, transforms back into his human child form. He hugs the wolf for comfort. What?

[The_Librarian]

{Canine}: "Should you see the bad man again, you run as fast as you can, as far as you can, and you don't look back."

[Wukei]

He nods. Okay.

[The_Librarian]

{Canine}: "Well, with that settled, I don't suppose I could ask a favour? I'm not usually a wolf, you see, but this collar turned me into one. It's good for running about quickly but you can't wield a sword like this." She lifts a useless paw. {Canine}: "Could you undo the collar for me?"

[Renegade Paladin]

Gaheris stood in confusion, but did his best not to show it. "I want to help," he said in a calm, level voice, attempting to reassure the child. "We'll see if we can get Mommy back."

[I completely and utterly fail to see how a non-visible passive aura that does nothing but dispel fear would make someone more afraid, or even how Libris knew what he was doing since he hadn't designated the wolf as an ally, but whatever.]

[Wukei]

He nods and messes with the collar.

(You walking over made him scared, not the aura. Sorry I wasn't more specific.)

[The_Librarian]

((Sorry Gaheris: Naivete is a paladin - as you're about to see. And as for the magic, there's a fair few people allergic to healing magic around here.))

As the collar falls to the floor, the librarian stands up and stretches her wings.

"Thank gods, that bloody wolf's going to pay for this," she says. She scoops up the collar and shoves it in a pocket before looking at Fenrir sadly. "What would you like to do?" she asks.

[Calpurnia]

Calpurnia, feeling safely ignored, sips her hot chocolate and takes a delicate nibble of her brownie.

[Wukei]

He yelps, transforming back into a puppy as her transformation scares him. He backs away from her.

(Just because she said she was a wolf doesn't mean a transformation doesn't still scare him ^.~ He doesn't really understand the fact that he transforms.)

[The_Librarian]

The librarian looks sheepish for a moment.

"It's still me, Fenrir, I promise. Just... more me now. Besides-" She kneels down on the floor, keeping a respectful distance from the puppy. "I can help you better like this."

[Renegade Paladin]

Gaheris nearly jumped himself as the wolf suddenly shot upwards into human form, but contained himself. "I know better than to ask what just happened," he said, keeping his voice level to keep the boy from becoming even more frightened. "I don't suppose you know anything about what's going on."

[Wukei]

He whines and approaches her. [canine]I want my mommy....[/canine]

[Who]

Howdy Y'all
*Sits down and falls asleep*

[Renegade Paladin]

"Well, it's obvious there's been murder done, anyway," he said under his breath. "Again," he continued after a pause. He turned to Libris. "I'm going to call the police," he informed her. "If we're going to find out what's going on, I'd be more comfortable with backup. Iames," he finished.

[The_Librarian]

The librarian gently reaches towards the puppy to stroke it if it allows. She looks up at Gaheris.

"I only know what Fenrir has just told me. An old enemy has returned, and at least two of my friends are dead." She sighs. "I'm sorry." She raises an eyebrow. "Hawkeye and Wukei were officers once. This foe has no fear of the police, nor should he."