The Wild Rumpus[Spice!]

[Winters-Feather]

Karaya listened to Sebastian with utter fascination. She nodded eagerly. His plan was bold and daring!
"I like it!" she said as she waded in the water. The girl carefully removed her doll from her belt and dunked it under the water to wash it. Fishstick had gotten dusty from the road. Karaya diligently cleaned it until the doll was heavy from the water. She laid it out by the fire to dry.
"This is Fishstick," Karaya said in a formal voice. She narrowed her eyes at Sebastian, as if daring him to challenge her possession of a doll. She would have removed her belt, but she didn't trust Sebastian enough to place her knives in an area that was easy for him to reach. Her eyes traveled back to his scars. Though she contained her questions earlier, Karaya couldn't help but to ask them, now.
"Where'd you get those?" she asked, breathlessly.

[visualspice]

Sebastian smirked as he examined the doll, but said nothing.
Though whens he posed her question, he glanced down at his scars and shrugged.
"Werewolves, men and sharp fences," he said with a grin. "And perhaps a hound or too." he gave a good scratch under his arm before glancing back down to her doll. "So why Fishstick?" It was a curious name.

[Winters-Feather]

"OOoh," Karaya breathed at the explanation of the scars, her eyes shining. Those sounded like wonderful stories, though she was disappointed when Sebastian didn't dive into any of them. Instead, he asked her about her doll's name. She could tell he thought it was queer.
"Cuz it's Fishstick," she retorted. "He got little fishie bones in him, see? He's a tough 'un."
Karaya returned her to her playing in the water, when a patch of red caught her eye.
"Huh?"
A small patch of yellow cloth stained red was stuck between two rocks in the water. Karaya gingerly picked it up and sniffed it. She  scowled and closed her eyes.

"Come on, come on," she thought concentrating really hard until...
On the top of her head popped up two mangy red wolf ears. Karaya gave a wild grin as she perched herself on top of the rocks, listening closely to the forest over the sound of the cracking fire and the murmurs of the stream. In the distance, a mile- or was it a mile and a half?- away, she could hear the loud voices of men and horses. Karaya drew herself out of the water.
"Sebastian, look," she said, shoving the cloth into his hands.
Well this was a damper to her plans!
Bandits? They had better not be coming this way.

[visualspice]

Sebastian tilted his head curiously as the girl scooped something out of the water. but she didn't need to show him that it reeked of blood. His eyes narrowed upon it before he stared off towards where he could smell a group of men off in the distance, but they were quickly approaching down an unseen trail.

"Horses.." he growled, allowing his ears, a tail and claws to come out, his teeth even sharper as he stood back defensively.
"There's a whole group of them, come on." he took Karaya by the hand and ran with her from the waters and into the brush, dunking down low and waited, peering cautiously over the thick grasses with an anxious, slow thump of his tail.
"I think I hear them coming," he said, lifting a finger to his lips as he signaled for Karaya to be quiet as he watched and waited, and as he predicated, a group of well armed men came riding past. There was at least ten of them, and much to his dismay, they decided to stop RIGHT at the waters were the pair had just been relaxing.

Shit..
the fire was still burning nearby from cooking the rabbit. He wondered if that would give them away...
He could take on ordinary men no problem, but they looked pretty mean, well seasoned and as he let his nose twitch about- he detected some poison.

Growling softly, he lowered himself even closer to the ground.
"We might have to wait for them to be off before pressing on," he informed her in a cautious whisper. "Let's hope they won't be here for long."

[Winters-Feather]

Her ears twitched at the sound of coming horses. Sebastian was listening, too. With no effort at all did he expose his ears, tail, and claws. Jealousy stirred in the young pup's heart. She wished she could do so that easily.
"huh?" she muttered.
Without warning, Sebastian grabbed her by the hand and ran towards the bushes. The pup reached out for her doll, her eyes suddenly wild with desperation.
"No!" she protested, squirming, but it was too late.
When Sebastian FINALLY let go, the girl bolted to her feet, but immediately came down at the sight of well armed men.
Drat! she cursed.

The girl fiercefully growled under her breath.
Oh, those men would pay...
Her eyes were glued on Fishstick. The men laughed as they sat around the fire. One picked up the ugly doll and showed it off to the others. Karaya instantly drew one of her leaf knives, ready to stab someone's eye out. She flashed her sharp teeth. For a moment, she thought the man would have thrown the doll into the fire, but she relaxed only a little when it was tossed aside, by the rocks to be forgotten.
"That was our camp! I don't wanna wait," she whispered through clutched teeth as the man tossed the doll. What she wanted to do was to beat 'em up good and take their goods. They were wolves, for crying out loud! They could take on these humans. But despite what her heart wanted to do, Karaya knew that those humans could kill her very easily. They were fighters, the lot of 'em, and she was just a pup.
When I'm a full grown wolf, this will be nothing.

A half hour later, though, she was enthralled. The men argued among themselves about some paper  and purse that they were throwing around. They nicked it from a Connloath duke who was visiting some friends. At the talk of money, Karaya's blue eyes sparkled. She didn't get much else of what they were saying, but whatever was in that purse was sure to make her filthy rich! She turned  to Sebastian with a stupidly wide grin. This news was better than any old hatch full of rabbits!

[visualspice]

As the two remained silent observers within the bushes, he patted Karaya upon the back about her doll.
"Don't worry, we'll get Fishstick back," he told her with a grin. "And if they harm her.." he gave a nonchalant shrug and returned his gaze back to the men. "I'll kill them."
Sebastian was a smart, but at times, he wanted to play the fool. He knew when to stay cautious, but even he loved to do dumb moves. Perhaps it was the part of him that wanted to challenge his father, or the pack he really never had, to challenge authority, to challenge the world. He had gotten into a good many fights that way, just listening to his balls over his brains, but right now, he DID have a child in his care. So he'd allow himself to remain less foolish, and more brave in his speech. Though in truth, he would attack those men if he had to for her doll. As a wolf, he was still over protective by nature, even without any drops of alpha blood in him, a trait that never carried over from his bastard father.

But then as the minutes passed by and the men were talking about 'Gettin' filthy stinkin' rich' somethign about gold, a treasure, he noticed the way Karaya's eyes lit up.
"Don't tell me you're getting an idea in that little head of yours," Sebastian playfully growled beneath his breath. He shook his head. "However...Mens' gold would be rather fun to obtain.." Sebastian said thoughtfully with a stroke to his chin, then an irritating itch to his hair. Damn fleas. He kille another one between his fingers. It seemed they were so damn persistent. Damn human fleas.  He should never have taken that woman to bed. Though his body would have said other wise. Flicking the dead flea aside, he studied the men, watching them take to booze and sharpening their knives, the sound of which grated on his sensitive ears.

"I wonder how much longer they intend to be here," Sebastian muttered, for even he was losing his patience. He'd rather risk getting skinned alive than wait any longer. He wanted to be off to get those rabbits, though he had a feeling, both he and Karaya might have a change in plans as he watched them uncork another bottle and begin a second round of drinks.
He turned to Karaya, "Hrm.. how good are you at playing pretend?" he asked in a whisper.

[Winters-Feather]

Karaya was surprised by Sebastian's response about her doll. She stared at him for a moment, taken aback. It was the first time in a long while anybody had ever said they'd do anything for her, even kill.
What's it to you? Karaya thought, but she held her tongue. Perhaps he was just letting the excitement get to him. She giggled at jest, nodding proudly.
"Plenty of 'em," she boasted.

However, her face fell at his question of the men's lodging.
"I  dunno," she whispered in a pout. She couldn't wait here forever, not like before. Karaya narrowed her eyes, confused at Sebastian's question.
"Pretty good," she said, hesitant. "Why?"

[visualspice]

"Well," Sebastian said, leaning down and whispering into her ear. "It seems the men are in awfully good spirits, and I think the alcohol is to blame. If we play our cards right, we could pretend to be a pair of travelers simply passing through. Father and daughter, or big brother and little sis," he smirked down at her, baring his teeth. "Perhaps we can get in cozy with them and see what information we can gather, or... you know, play off of some frantic emergency and get the camp all riled up when they're good and drunk." He shrugged. "Either way, it's better than playing the waiting game." And he gestured with his head. "And I'm sure you're eager to get your doll back, too."

[Winters-Feather]

Karaya pondered on Sebastian's plan for a moment. Well, she'd been around enough drunk people to know that they could get really stupid. Plus, these men didn't look like they were the smartest specimen of their species. It was worth a shot, though Karaya wasn't so sure that his plan was going to win them in those men good favors.
We can beat them up if they try anything, she told herself. Besides, walking sounded good. The girl thought for a moment more before breaking into a delighted grin. Oh, but was she clever!

"Alright," she agreed, slowly crawling backwards. She motioned for Sebastian to follow her lead.
After a minute or two of patience and slow movement, Karaya managed to hide behind a cluster of trees without being detected by the men. She then closed  her eyes really hard. Suddenly, her wolf tail and ears were gone.  Satisfied, she strunted towards the path. There was no sense for them to just reveal themselves from the bushes. It would have been obvious that they were there the whole time, in that case. Once out in the open, Karaya  gave Sebastian a wink before taking in a deep breath and bursted  into tears.

[visualspice]

Well, if they wanted to get the men's attention and play pretend, Karaya's crocodile tears were pretty convincing. He had already transformed back into his regular, 'human' form before the show had begun, but he was more or less leisurely following her as the two departed from their former safe haven (aka- the bush!) So when the water works began, Sebastian's mouth fell open an the entire camp of men turned their grubby eyes upon them. Sebastian was quick to rush to Karaya's side.

"Hey, hey.. shhh, calm now. What's the matter Laylah?" he said, brushing some of her fake tears away with a thumb. He was on one knee before her, the men all staring skeptically as the camp had gone mostly silent from their display. His face was turned to her so she could see his smile, letting her know she was doing a good job.

"'Ey.. what's going on over there?" one of the men said, rising off of his feet, sword in hand.

Sebastian rolled his eyes, but only Karaya would be able to see. Turning around, he gave a concerned frown towards the men.
"So sorry to bother you folks. We had been passing through this way earlier when my younger sister here had lost her doll. We were trying to get to my father's place up North. You see he's ill and dying, but my little sister here won't go any place without that doll. So you can see our dilemma."

The men all exchanged glances, before one of hte gruff men out front, with only one eye and no hair, gave a toothless grin.
"Oh, you mean this doll?" he said, plucking up fishstick so that she hung limply in his hand.

[Winters-Feather]

Karaya nodded as innocently as she could.
"Uh-huh," she said, making her voice sound dumb like some of the human girls she met.
The men chuckled crudly as the one with one eye examined the thing closely.
"Ugly piece o' shit, I warrent," he grumbled as he chucked the thing at the girl.

The other men, even those who had been sitting down, were now all standing up,    quietly.
They're mean, Karaya thought as she scanned them through her puppy eyes. They were being entirely too hostile. The gang had to be hiding something good!
"Ye got the doll, now go away!" the gruff man growled.
One of the men, a shorter one with a head full of golden curls that didn't look it had been washed in weeks, narrowed his eyes.
"You two were in an awfully hurry to leave," he said.
Karaya frowned and looked up at Sebastian. Normally, this was when she bolted, but she was with an adult wolf now.
Do we fight them now? she wondered.  Or did Sebastian have another trick up his sleeve?

[visualspice]

Sebastian lifted his head at the blond man's question. He then tilted it.
"Were we?" he gave a shrug. "Not really. We were just being careless. I never was any good at travel. It's why we rarely visit my father. I tend to lose too much on my way from here to there, even if i'm just going to the market for a loaf of meat. Er, bread. That.." and he gave the men a cheeky grin. "And my father's a bit of a bastard."

[Winters-Feather]

Karaya relaxed at Sebastian's lead.
"He hits," she added with a sniff, clinging onto Fishstick.
The blonde man scoffed, though did not say a word. The bald man exchanged glances with a few men in the back, who nodded. He grinned, wickedly.
"The hasty sort, eh?" the bald man said, eyeing Sebastian's finer clothing.
"Well then, yer best be off-" he said.
"Wait!" another interrupted.
The voice belonged to a figure Karaya instantly recognized as the leader of the group. He was dark haired with beads in his beard, and had a hooked shaped nose. He smiled warmly, though there was a disagreeable look in his eye.
"Why don't you two stay a while," he suggested in a smooth voice. "I'm sure your father can wait for but ten minutes."

[visualspice]

Sebastian tilted his head as the bearded man came out with a smile. He knew trouble when he smelled it, but only smiled instead.
"Only if you're offering alcohol," he pressed. "I haven't had some good ale in days, and my little sister and I could use a drink." His grin grew wider as he ruffled Karaya's hair. This might not turn out as planned, but perhaps they could still play a few strings in order to get this incident to head in the  direction they wished. If not, they could always turn into wolves and make a run for it. But he rather liked the exhilarating feel of not knowing the out come. He was always pushing his luck, though this time the stakes were higher. He did have the responsibility towards this young child, and even he, as hopeless as he seemed, was no heartless wolf. Even still, danger was still danger, and danger was awfully fun.

[Winters-Feather]

Men don't change at the drop of a pin, unless they wanted something. Karaya listened in silence as she held her doll close to her. She hoped she looked as innocent as she was trying to be. She forced herself to giggle as Sebastian ruffled her hair, though in truth the young pup was a little frightened. However, the prospect of a drink- and amongst ruffians, at that!- was definately exciting.

The man who invited them  gestured for the two to sit by the fire. Karaya sat crosslegged and reached greedily as they passed her a small bowl with a crack at the rim. She wrinkled her nose. Petty bastards, they only poured a little. She sulkingly drained it. In truth, the bold pup didn't much like the taste of alcohol, but there was no way she was going to tell adults that. The men around them smiled in a way that Karaya didn't like.
"Where are you from?" the man with the golden curls asked her. Karaya smiled shyly back. She knew this game. They were trying to get her to slip up.
"Moonspear," she replied.
"That's quite far," he replied. Karaya nodded before boldly looking up at the gruff man, her eyes meeting his.
"Where are you heading?" she challenged.

[visualspice]

"We were actually on our way from Featherfall," the man admitted, and a few men grumble their 'ayes' as they agreed. Sebastian's eyes shifted across the men as he nodded.

"Yeah, we do a lot of traveling," Sebastian said with a nonchalant shrug, hoping the men would buy it as he took the drink that was offered to him and gave a sniff. Well, it didn't seem like they were trying to poison them. So his grin widened as he tipped back the bowl and enjoyed what meager ale they were offering.
"So Featherfall? Not sure if I've really been there. Anything exciting in that area?"

The team of men were not about to admit their true goals, naturally- for they were bandits and thieves, and Sebastian and Karaya, as innocent as they appeared, could just as easily squeal on their plans if any of it were revealed.

"Just got some business associates there," the one men said with a sniff, and gave a wary glance to his men. He sat nearer to the pair and eyed them, pouring more ale into a bowl and offering both of them a larger helping.

"Ah, well, business must be good, eh? I'm not business man myself. In fact, I'm pretty nomadic, used to living off the streets and petty jobs along the way." Sebastian gave a nonchalant shrug. "You know how these things go," Sebastian stated, as if speaking to some old friends. Though as he took to the next drink of ale, something definitely did not smell right, and it wasn't the putrid scent of the men's body odor, either. Giving a scratch to his fleas, he smiled down at Karaya. At least the drinks weren't poisoned, but what was it?

"She doens't normally have ale." He leaned in towards her. "How do you like it, sis?" Might as well keep playing up the role as her big brother, and you know, show that he cared.. at least a little. And it was only then he picked up the scent again-
something that distinctively smelled old.

[Winters-Feather]

Karaya smiled playfully as SEbastian described himself as a nomad.
"That's cause you're lazy," she teased.
Business men. Yeah, right. Thieves they were, that she was sure of. She could smell the money.
The girl gave a wolfish smile as he asked her how the ale was. Karaya wanted to comment on their companions' 'hospitality' but instead just muttered "S'alright."
She sniffed the air and rubbed her nose with a frown.
She could smell it too, whatever it was. The stink was weird, and she couldn't place a name to it, either. That unnerved the child.

[visualspice]

It wasn't until the men were all laughing again, pouring another round of drinks that Sebastian began to realize what he was smelling. It wasn't the ancient map, nor the treasure, nor the gold that the men were harboring. It was something he had smelled only once, and had hoped he wouldn't smell it again...
Black Powder.

Sebastian visibly bristled once he realized what else these men were smuggling. He had nearly lost his tail the last time he had run into the stuff. Though something else was laced with it, he didn't care to figure it out, so returning his smile he glanced back to Karaya.

"So, now that you got your doll, are you ready to head back on the road?"

Though it was then the leader stepped forward, planting a hand upon Karaya and SEbastian's shoulder as he prodded them, "What's the rush? Why don't you stay a while? You said it yourself, it's not always a pleasant visit, after all."

Sebastian felt uneasy, but smiled anyways.
"Well, only if you're offering more drink." he said with a rise of  his cup, and the other man replied with a simple laugh.

"But of course." and as he moved to fetch more ale, Sebastian felt even more unsafe as the men began to exchange glances. So while the man was away, he leaned in real close to Karaya and whispered, "You smell that odd scent?" He wrinkled his nose. "It's black powder." And he didn't think he needed to press they had to get out of there...

Or...
he rubbed his chin in thought. Be a lot more clever in stealing it.

[Winters-Feather]

Karaya hiccuped. She was a very small child, and as the next round of drinks were being poured, they poured a little too much in her bowl. In an effort to prove her status, Karaya drowned it all much too quickly. The ale was a rather strong one.
"Ye-yeah," she stuttered, but just then a rough hand was placed on her shoulder, and forced her to sit down. Despite not liking the stuff much, she also held out her bowl for a third round of drink as she held Fishstick tight.

Karaya's eyes opened wide at Sebastian's deduction.
"Really?" she squealed. The girl realized quickly that they were receiving harsh stares, so she  added "Yes, please!" as if Sebastian had promised to buy her something. Karaya thoughtfully looked up at Sebastian. She could tell the man was scheming something. She wanted to steal the black powder, too. Karaya stared at their mounts.
No doubt they're in the saddlebags, she mused. One of the men grunted as he observed the child checking out the horses.
"They're pretty, aren't they?" he asked.
Karaya smiled.
His breath is foul.
"Very," she cheerfully replied. If you like those stupid beasts.

The men's lader was watching Sebastian carefully.
"Thinking about your father?" he asked in a way that Karaya thought was almost menacing. She didn't say anything about it, though. Instead, she was currently marveling about how fuzzy she felt. Karaya swayed from side to side , lost in the sensation and her schemes.
"We should go, before daddy misses us," she muttered to herself.
"Stay," somebody insisted.

Karaya giggled to herself as she turned towards Sebastian.
"That ale's really strong isn't it?" she cheerfully asked. Karaya felt a little sick. No, it wasn't supposed to be this strong, and though she didn't see, smell, nor taste anything unusual, somebody tampered with her bowl. 
How? she thought, irritably. They had been so damn careful...
"Brother, I have to pee," she flatly stated as she gave him her best puppy eyes, hoping Sebastian would pick up the code for "Let's go, for now." She wanted the black powder, too, but Karaya knew that one's wits were vital.

Suddenly, the men around them pulled out knives and ropes.
Karaya jumped to her feet, furious.
"Bandits and slave traders," she growled.
The leader of the men chuckled with a nonchalant shrug.
"We're resourceful," he said, nodding towards his men to capture the two.

[visualspice]

As the men were all ready to launch at them, knives and blades glistening in the sun; a flea most inconveniently slipped into Sebastian's nose. ANd he couldn't help but sneeze. And the men were all flinching by it, since it was a rather disgusting 'blow'.... Sebastian figured he'd just go with it. Wiping at his nose as he went, his boot kicked forward, right into the nearest men's face, then took his bowl of ale and smashed it into another, and a fist to the man beside him before he called over his shoulder to Karaya, "Run!"
ANd if she ACTUALLY had to pee, she had better hold it as he reached to grab her hand and growled, bolting forward through the grasses with amazing speed.