Sinners Like Me

Document Type: Exploration
Date Written: 02/06/2016


        There was one good thing about taking work from the leasing office; you always got a new story to tell. Whether it was a good or a bad story depended entirely on what the job was.

        Fishlegs had taken this posting for something to do while Leroy was training up the latest pups on their estate. He was quite a bit older and larger than he'd once been, and fully trusted to be out and about on his own, though he didn't quite have the right temperament for helping out with training. Maybe his handler just remembered all the trouble he had gotten into as a pup. Leroy wouldn't want them to follow in his footsteps, after all, and thinking back on some of those misadventures Fishlegs couldn't exactly blame him.

        Instead, he focused on his new friend and the Leasing Office in town, which always had something interesting up on the board. Fishlegs had become quite well-known there, his wandering tendencies and thirst for knowledge driving him to take any job that struck him as unique. He'd actually been there often enough to develop a scale, from one to ten, based on how interesting a job might be and how likely it was he would learn something new. Fishlegs had kept it to himself at first, but eventually the lady who most regularly worked the counter had convinced him to share it, and had started pointing him towards anything above a six that had come in.

        That was one of the other reasons he liked it there. They didn't mind Trout dancing between his paws, sticking her curious nose in everything and getting into trouble as often as he had as a pup. They didn't act like his greater size and bulk was a hindrance, either, and seemed to genuinely appreciate the respect he gave them--which wasn't all that difficult to understand, considering people like Captain Rolf were regular customers. Fishlegs would never forget his first real job with the office, and it left a sour taste in his mouth as often as it left him snickering late at night.

        This job had been a solid eight on Fishlegs' scale, for a variety of reasons. The first was that Trout was more than welcome to come along; the second was that Turin was coming along as well, pulling the sleigh that was more like a wagon. Raaka was also making an appearance, which wasn't quite as much of a plus--he and Fishlegs were still at odds more often than not, though they had similar senses of humor--along with old Nanook, mostly to keep the younger black male in line.

        The job itself was most interesting, though; guide and guard a sleigh full of young humans into the nearby mountain range, to some kind of festival that was happening out in the middle of nowhere. Fishlegs had developed a keen mind for maps, and he'd gone over their route several times with Turin. It really was just the middle of nowhere; far from anything and just deep enough in the mountains to be isolated but not dangerous. Fishlegs should have suspected something strange going on immediately, but curiosity got the best of him.

        He had set out with Turin and Raaka three days before, and they had first met their passengers then; Ally, Mavis and Nick. The girls were twins, and difficult to tell apart most of the time even by scent; they smelled as much like each other as they did themselves, probably from spending their days curled up in the sleigh under the blanket together as they traveled. Nick was more of a nuisance, as he insisted on being out and about--"useful," he called it.

        After the fifth time Fishlegs had to knock him off of Turin's back while Raaka and Nanook looked on in amusement, Fish decided he was never allowing humans to bring alcohol on a journey ever again. Nick drank it like it was water, and proceeded to make himself "useful" by bothering Fishlegs, or Raaka, or Nanook--or Turin, if he was the only one close enough. The younger Dire had grown out of his shell a little in the years that he'd lived, but he was still frequently uncomfortable with strangers and Fishlegs had yet to lose his protective tendencies over the male he'd come to think of as a younger brother, somewhere down the road. Eventually, he talked Nanook into letting Nick tag along with he and Raaka as they moved farther from the sleigh, sparing the two Dires--guarding, as opposed to the black duo's guiding--the irritation.

        Fishlegs was regretting that decision by the time they settled into the valley where the festival would be held, in a few more days. In the mean time, they were stuck there; they couldn't release their passengers until they had someone to release them to, and Fishlegs was beginning to understand why he'd been told to treat them like errant pups. Trout had trotted along beside him faithfully the whole way, and now stood with her head barely coming up to his elbow as she stared at the spectacle before them.

        Somewhere along the way, Nick had developed what had to be a suicidal habit of poking Raaka's nose. Every time he did, he'd make a tiny exclamation, looking incredibly pleased with himself and only making the prickly male more angry.

        "Boop!" A disgruntled glare as the drunken man toddled off, giggling.

        "Boop!" A low snarl even as Nanook firmly placed himself between the two of them, holding Raaka back from the oblivious Nick as he lifted another bottle to his lips.

        "Boop!" A startled jump, as Raaka was woken from his nap to see the human skittering away laughing maniacally; having his sleep cycle broken was apparently the very last straw.

        Fishlegs was just surprised it hadn't taken longer. He couldn't understand what the point was, and he said as much several times--but Ally and Mavis were no help, either, and Trout just bleated and looked at him like he was crazy for not fleeing from the man in the first place. Turin slunk off with the girls, hiding next to Nanook, and Fishlegs counted himself lucky that Nick had strange sleeping patterns, often passing out in the middle of the day. Ally and Mavis had set up a tent in the middle of the clearing, filling it with pillows and blankets and piles of soft things that smelled funny, but oddly nice most of the time. Nick usually crawled in there to crash after he'd drank too much, getting out of their hair for a few hours.

        This time, as Nick collapsed half-in and half-out of the tent, Raaka immediately set to work putting some kind of plan in place. Nanook only looked up from where he'd been lazily accepting the attentions of Mavis, who was busily combing through his mane, to bark a sharp admonishment once--"Don't hurt him, Kotin"--before he settled down again. Not for the first time, Fishlegs wondered how the hell the old Tokota managed to track them all so thoroughly when he was blind; Fish was long past his days as a misbehaving pup, but Nanook frequently made him feel that way all the same.

        Fishlegs shook his head as Raaka irritably grabbed the blanket that held most of Nick's weight, and carefully began dragging the male away. The Dire looked after the pair, then shook his head; it would be better if he just looked the other way, then he'd have--what did Roy call it? Plausible deniability, right. Glancing down at Trout, who'd begun to lazily chew on the nearby flowers, Fishlegs decided he was better off on the other side of the meadow from whatever that was going to be.

        That meant joining Nanook and Turin, who were both friendly and welcoming. Nanook was clearly enjoying being pampered, as Mavis had finished combing his fur and was now busily weaving flowers into it. Turin stared on with a sort of jealous longing, waiting intently for his turn. Fishlegs wasn't sure what the appeal was, but then the younger Dire had always been a little touch-starved. It wasn't unusual. Trout pranced up to him, a flower clutched between her teeth, and leaned over, tossing her head playfully. Fishlegs bent down, gently pressing his nose up against hers with a small smile. It was a habit they'd both developed after he'd found her, when there was still a tiny scar on his nose from her sharp little teeth. She'd seemed obsessed with making sure it didn't hurt, always pushing her muzzle up against his own and sniffing at the mark. He enjoyed having her around; she was grown a bit too, now, but her demeanor had never changed. She was still an overgrown kid.

        There was a muffled d'aww from his left, and he turned to look, blinking as he saw Ally grinning and entirely unrepentant, brandishing a brush as she finished setting up her contraption. They'd frequently stopped along the way for her to pull the wooden construction out, so Fishlegs had had the chance to ask what it was--"It's called an Easel, Fishlegs,"--and what she was doing--"I'm painting nature!"--though he still didn't understand why.

        It was just another thing cluttering the sled that Turin had to pull, honestly, but Fishlegs was glad it would soon no longer be their problem. Probably not as glad as Raakotin, but he was looking forward to going home where it was normal, and the only "unnecessary" thing he'd have to do would be carrying Trout when she couldn't keep up anymore. Spirits knew Raaka had no qualms about mentioning how stupid it had been to bring her along in the first place, loudly and as often as possible. Fishlegs had needed the little bit of sanity she'd provided not to start a fight.

        "Is it my turn yet?" Turin whined pitifully, setting his chin on his paws as he stared at Mavis and Nanook. Somewhere off behind him, Fishlegs could make out Raaka's form still pulling the blanket farther from the rest of them--as though waking up in a strange place would actually cause him any sort of fear or remorse. He shook his head, though he grinned as Nanook chuckled and shook himself, gently dislodging Mavis' hands and standing up.

        "Go on then," The blind Tokota said fondly, not quite looking at Turin but close enough to bring up all those questions Fishlegs had about being blind all over again. Fishlegs watched him as he trotted off, moving unerringly toward Raakotin. Turin immediately and eagerly threw himself at Mavis' feet, startling a laugh out of the young woman as she got to work on his tangled thicket of fur. Fish gave a toothy grin to the both of them before he rose to follow Nanook, ignoring Ally's disgruntled cry of protest--apparently she'd been painting him, or something. Fishlegs wasn't listening, intent on catching up with Nanook before they were both distracted again.

---

        Raaka was tired of the human Nick. He was tired of randomly being hit in the nose, no matter how gentle it was. He would have quite happily mauled the man if he had the chance, but Nanook was watching--he was always watching. So Raaka had to get his revenge in other ways. It started with ruining Nick's stash of alcohol as they traveled, but the man hadn't even deigned to notice and all that had earned him was a stern discussion with Nanook not to mess about with the food. The older black male didn't care if he hated Nick, the other two were "perfectly lovely" and hadn't done anything to deserve his ire.

        Raaka hated that it was true. Ally had actually been offering him various treats and tokens along the way, trying to coax him into conversation. Kotin would have thought his refusal to wear the translation collars was a big enough hint that he didn't like humans, not even those who could speak his language anyway, but he could--grudgingly--admire her tenacity. He'd agreed not to slip anymore strange mushrooms into the bottles or touch the food supply. In return, Nanook had convinced Ally to talk Nick into leaving him alone for a while.

        It worked for a single, precious day. Then he woke from a nap and the "boop" on his nose had continued, only growing worse as they finally settled into the valley where they would be forced to stay and watch over the humans until the rest of their pack got there. They were having some kind of festival, sort of like an offering to their Spirits; Raaka could appreciate the thought, but human rituals seemed stupid, especially as this one mainly led to Nick imbibing more fermented berries than could possibly be healthy for any living creature in the entire world. At least coming to a stop made it easier to enact a plan that would only affect the man, thus keeping Nanook's ire off of him.

        Of course, he still wasn't allowed to hurt the stupid monkey, but he would deal with that. In fact, Raaka had some rather wonderful plans--and he wasn't about to be deterred by Fishlegs and Nanook trotting down to meet him by the lake he'd found. With the help of one of the blankets in the human's portable den, he had dragged the male all the way down and onto an old log, which he was in the process of pushing out into the water, his own head very close to Nick's as he dislodged the driftwood from its resting place.

        "What are you doing?" Fishlegs sounded exasperated but curious, which was a normal tone for him to take with Raaka. They were on opposite ends of the spectrum, after all; Fishlegs was happy making friends with as many different creatures as he could, if only for the chance to learn everything about them, and Raaka wanted nothing to do with anyone if he could help it. The barbary male didn't bother to answer, his small smirk growing into a vindictive grin as he followed the makeshift raft into the water and then bent down, very slowly, and woke Nick by touching his nose against the human's.

        "Hrmwha?" Nick woke with a sleepy mumble, looking up only to meet Raaka's teeth with wide, startled eyes.

        "Boop." Raaka spoke the word flatly, letting his lips draw back from his teeth and rumble out as a snarl, and Nick squealed and flailed, sending himself careening off the log and into the lake. Raakotin burst into triumphant, vicious laughter at the sight, snagging the blanket a moment later and yanking it ferociously away from the male. Nick came spluttering up to the surface, flailing and clearly still not entirely sure what was going on. Fishlegs looked on from the shore, forcibly ignoring Nanook's barking laughter as he tried to suppress his own amusement and keep the stern look on his face. He really, really didn't want to encourage the black wolverine into continuing this behavior; and yet, every time it happened and Fishlegs saw it, he couldn't help but feel that Raaka was well within his rights to take revenge.

        He had yet to see the male harm anyone who could be considered "innocent." They'd all done something, even if inconsequential, to deserve a good prank. He could hear, somewhere off behind him, that Ally and Mavis had been drawn by the screaming, and that Turin had followed them; moments later, they were laughing hysterically as Nick flailed around desperately in the water, not even thinking to stand up--it wasn't that deep, but he kept swaying and dunking his head under again. Fishlegs finally let his expression crack into a smile; maybe that would teach him to drink poison.

        It was utterly worth it to have to fish him out a few moments later.