Hare Tale

It's a crisp morning up in the mountains. The air is fresh, the town is up and moving. Daisy, the large woman behind the counter, is setting out a day's worth of pie and taking orders for breakfast while she's at it. On the right corner as one walks in, a lanky male hare stands with foot propped on a stool, tuning a somewhat worn guitar with loving care.

Bite slithers into the Carrots and Breakfast, and gives a happy wave to Daisy. She isn't really sure if she's welcome, having fallen asleep on one of her tables for a few hours but she stops paying attention long enough to bypass any sort of greeting she might recieve. She asks for something meaty, as this is her favorite type of meal, hoping it will be met but is far more interested in the rabbit with the guitar. "Hey there, what are you up to?" she hisses and looks over his instrument.

Leraji makes her way into the Hare town's tavern, shuffling off to the side just inside the door as she stops and looks around. The little skunk makes an appreciative whistle, eyes scanning the room and taking in the details. She gives her fur a little shake and her tail twitches, and she finds her way over to one of the tables.

Richard pages, "Do you want everyone to walk into the tavern, or can some have been inside already relaxing / at a table?" to you.

Peril shuffled in, quickly setting down a large and weighty basket, the short rod resting over the cats shoulder giving a pretty good indication of the felines activities and the very potent aroma of fish letting everyone that dared get too close know just how successful she had been while doing it. With a cheerful smile she tried to hop up on a chair, the weight in her pockets causing her some difficulty. With a muffled grunt and a few choice words to express her frustration she planted both palms firmly upon the seat and hauled herself up onto it.

Raullaur comes in as well, and this will likely cause quite a stir, since he's actually human to every sense. He has a couple of weapons on his belt for easy accessability, but isn't openly wielding anything a he looks around.

Richard, sitting at one of the many compass-tables, is looking around the tavern with an approving smile. He had heard word of an isolated community in the mountains, a "Hare Town", and what he saw did not disappoint. Here was something approaching actual civilization. Watching the events of the tavern play out almost brought tears to his eyes in nostalgia.

The male looks towards Bite with a nod, "Just getting ready to earn a few cred, and maybe spread some history." He gives one of the cords a twang, producing a satisfying low note, "And it seems she's ready." He swings the guitar up into position and strums across it with furry fingers. His claws produce the harder twangs, the flesh makes for the softer strokes as he gives it a scale and a few bars in a warming up drill.

Daisy seems to be happy to see the morning customers, smiling towards them and then reaching under the counter to fiddle with something a moment. With a soft beep, comms flash across the room with the menu of what food happens to be available and fresh for the taking, along with their cred price. Nice trick. It seems there's a special on home fries and 'denver style' eggs.

Theo flutters in through the door, setting down her bulging sling bag as she finds an unoccupied table and reclines in her seat. Can't hurt to take a break from pounding the usual route...and by the looks of things, there's going to be a show here. Unscrewing the top of her thermos, she sips at the chilly water within before settling back to watch the proceedings.

Leraji grins. She taps in her order for the breakfast special, then sits up in her seat, her ears twitching as she hears the guitar. She looks over at the hare-man and watches, intruiged.

Bite excitedly listens to the sounds produced by the... guitarist? She ponders what to call him and then blurts out "Well i'd love to hear this history mister..." with a questioning tone at the end. She sways a bit and tries very hard to keep her content barrage of "s"s out of the picture, instead looking the the man for an answer. "What sort of history?" she adds with a hiss.

Peril sighs contentedly as she settled into place on the edge of her seat, legs folded beneath her as she leaned forward to rest her elbows upon the table. Eyeing the menu rather wearily giving the potential ingredients used in each dish careful through before settling on a nice big mug of black coffee, tapping her comm to select the order which was the safest bet at least until she had a little more time to get to know the town. She payed little or no attention to the other occupants in the room prefering to wait satisfying hr cravings before having to deal with others

All the natives living up to the town's namesake, it's easy for Rich to see he's not the only outsider around. Snake, cat, bird, even another uninfected have arrived on the scene. Hopefully this growing interest in the community would prove to be a blessing, not a curse. Tuning in as the comms flickered to display Carrots and Breakfast's menu, he chooses the special of eggs & fries before listening in on the guitar-strumming hare.

Raullaur stays away from the eggs, but just has juice as he watches and listens, looking from one to the next, curious as he listens to the goings-on.

The bars develop into a soft, country sounding, melody as the man hare looks towards Bite, "Well you just sit right down and listen as I spin a tale about how the town was christen." large, sneaked clad, foot taps against the stool as he plays, "We were with our friends, running far away, The mountain was steep, got lost in the bends. Some of went left, some us went right, it gave us the story I bring to light."

Daisy becomes quite busy, scribbling down the orders and getting down to the business of cooking up great big batches of things and adding the smell of cooking potatoes, eggs, and herbs, softly sizzling as the story is told.

Leraji quietly giggles as she listens to the minstrel's wordplay, giving him a wry grin. The skunkette leans forward against and listens, amused, her attention caught up by the song and the tale.

Theobserver relaxes as the smell of cooking wafts over, vaguely appetising despite the icy phoenix that she is right now. Too bad she's largely reduced to chilled water these days...nevertheless, the guitarist's tune is soothing, and she settles back to listen to him play.

Peril having nothing to do but wait for her refreshment the cat risked a glance toward the hare, ears perked and swivelled toward him while she continued to try and seem disinterested. Bowing her head slightly her fingers began to drum nervously on the table top, the soft pads of her fingertips dulling the sound as her tail curled up around her thighs.

Hearing a country-sounding tune while ordering a breakfast from menu is almost too much for him. Bringing a hand to his face, Richard smiles warmly as he massages his brown. What he would do to see more scenes like this along the coast. Listening to what the hare has to say, he occasionally looks back to Daisy to see how things are coming along or if she needs a hand with the small crowd.

Bite smiles, watching him as she moves over towards Daisy and quietly asks for an order of eggs and a drink, then settles down close to the story teller. She sits with her back against a table and listens carefully, trying to get lost in a visualization. 'This is almost as good as comic books!' she thinks as listens.

With laid back ears and dancing fingers, the hare bard spins his tale on, "Some of us made it down to the city, but the rest of us, man it aint pretty. Won't talk too much about those that arrived, Let's focus on the ones that thrived, lost up in the trails. Cold and alone with a box of shell, they fought through mutants in their personal hell. Lost a good man and a good woman too, not even sure what they were trying to do."

Leraji continues listening to the story, her tail slowly twitching in time with the music, trying to picture the people lost in the mountains and struggling to survive.

Peril represses the urge to question the rhyming scheme or offer alternative quickly coming to the deciding it is best not to dwell too much on the rustic nature of the entertainment and instead stare at Daisy, somehow hoping that by shear willpower alone the feline could compel the hare to hurry the coffee along

Bite lets out a soft "Aww." in an offer of sympathy for the people. The mention of shell made her feel it may be overdone, but then her mind drifts to the outside and she thinks it may have been justified if those creatures were all out there at the time. She travels silently and quickly to wait on her food, all too eager to shovel them into her face with abandon for any table manners.

"The snow kicked up and pressed to our faces, We fought on through the wintery races. We found a crag, barely one man wide, Rocks and bushes we brushed aside, pushing on with little hope, through the darkness we blindly groped, to find this little valley." He gestures out towards the door of the tavern, "Just a little rock, just a little grass, little more than a mountain pass. But it was more than that to our tired heart, it was just the place, needed a little kick start."

The first round of food is prepared, and Daisy starts to circulate around, dropping plates before those who ordered, creds quietly deducated in exchange for the delectables.

Peril perks up as her coffee approaches, shoulders back and back straight. her gaze fixed on the big mug and the singer was all but forgotten, the felines lips peeling back in a broad toothy grin as she raised her hands to happily accepting the mug almost reverently lowering it to the table in front of her before fishing around In her pockets for a few credit chips passing them across the table without a second glance before her hand had returned to her pocket to pull out a sealed bottle of thick white fluid.

Richard watches Daisy serve some dishes as the bardic Hare's tale reaches the first winter. His would probably be one of the last plates served to the visitors, and while he wanted to ask about the "good man" and "good woman" the first story had still just begun.

Bite eyes everyone elses food as it is passed around, but winces at the thought of snow in her face. 'That would be terrible' she thinks and takes her tail tip in hand, gently wringing it. "The cold really..." she says under her breath and stops to giggle lowly. "bites.." she adds and tries not to be too loud. SHe reverts her attnetion to the hare, smiling upon hearing they found a home... and then remembering this is a "history" lesson she looks around. Bite idly eats off of a nearby plate, assuming it is hers and directs all her attention to the guitarist.

"We thought we were safe from mutant infection, but it turns there was one imperfection. The rabbits we hunted were filled with the curse, with every meal it just got worse. Long ears and the biggest feet, Where else could we go for meat? We stuck together, and built a town, we might be hares, but it don't get us down. We're humans inside, and we'll stay the good path, we honor our neighbors and avoid god's wrath. Ten commandments not forgot, gives the town food for thought, makes us what we are." With a soft strum across the cords, he looks satisfied with his story, "Now don't let me fool you with this abbreviation, Rome wasn't built in a day, no nation. We banded together, we never strayed. We protected each other, and here we stayed."

Peril would have been slightly perturbed by any religious references relevant to any society if not for the very distracting influence of coffee. Popping the lid off her bottle of milk she very carefully poured just enough of it in to take the bitter edge off the dark fluid while leaning forward to bring her snout over the cups edge, inhaling deeply to enjoy the rich aroma she craved.

Leraji continues listening, slowly nodding her head as she listens. She smiles and starts picking at her food and sipping her coffee, still paying rapt attention to the story.

That the hare jumped from infection to the present did not go unnoticed by Richard. True, the town couldn't be the result of a day's work, but he highly doubted that there was nothing of interest between their infection and today. No doubt it was a sore note, something better talked about when on friendlier terms. "Thank you for the story all the same," he says from his seat. "I assume that we're one of the first new audiences you've had in a while?"

Bite finishes off whoevers plate she may have been eating off of and gives a brief excited clap to the hare. "You have a wonderful orators voice" she mouths, not sure if he is done. She wonders if when he meant earn some freecred that he would be accepting tips or donations, because she would love to give him a couple freecred or so. The number 300 crosses her mind as the proper amount of freecreds to cough up to him.

He gives a soft pluck across the strings, "Sure thing. Not many folks come all the way up from the city just to pay a social call. Still, trade's important." He says towards Richard. He looks towards Bite and whistles, "Aren't you something else. World's a more interesting place outside our valley," he says with a smile, "But thank you. It's my talent."

Daisy chimes in from behind the counter, "Your talent is not paying your tab on time, you good for nothing scoundrel." She tosses a small towel at him to bounce off harmlessly, looking more amused than actually angry.

Raul pokes his head in the door, attracted to the place by the smell of food on the wind, and only intrigued further by the sound of music coming from within. The neon sign on the front of the place probably hadn't hurt either. He stayed back though, watching what was gong on in the room to make sure he wasn't interrupting

Theobserver screws the lid back on her thermos as the tune finishes up, then puts her gloved hands together in three slow, deliberate claps. The tune certainly was quite fetching - it's good to have people actually making some sort of artistic endeavour these days, when so much time is spent focusing on survival.

Peril folded her ears back and closed her eyes as she lifted the mug to her lips. Sinking back into her seat the little cat allowing the warm liquid flow across her tongue and fill her mouth before beginning to swallow, drinking it down quickly a mouthful at a time. She had almost the entire cup drained before she settled, her body relaxing and shoulders sagging before the cup parted from her lips, descending to rest in her lap as she leaned back to slouch in place, her tip batting lightly against a thigh as she murmured with blissful contentment.

Bite smiles to the hare and then turns to Daisy. "How much does he owe?" she hisses, fully intent on making at least a dent in his debt. "I'd like to pay him back for such a wonderful story." She looks back at him and then waits on a response from Daisy.

Made sense. This wasn't exactly an easy to reach place, and many a person in Fairhaven was much too wrapped up in personal affairs to go exploring in the mountains. "I agree, sharing history is very important for a community." Shifting in his seat, Richard prepared a few creds to tip the both of them for when he was ready to leave.

Turn down payment? Not high on Daisy's list of things to do. She accepts the transfer of cred, and even sends the extra on to the bard, "Looks like you're all clear," she says, "First time in over a month. A celebration is in order." She pulls one of the apple pies clear of its tray and begins to slice it down and distribute it on small plates, "Pie on the house." Coffee or milk not included. She has a business to run.

The bard puts a hand over his chest, "Mighty kind, mighty kind. I should introduce myself. I'm Chris. A pleasure to meet such fine folk." And then it's time for him to go grab one of the pie slices while they're free.

Leraji grins. She hops up from her seat, and goes up to get some pie and a refill of her coffee. "Well played, Chris. This is a nice village you all have up here; I had heard about it, but just found it today." When she gets back to her seat she pulls out her com and taps in the payment instructions, then digs in to the pie, tail twitching.

Leaving her table, Theo strides up to the guitarist and curtsies to him with a small flourish before initiating a quick transfer of creds to him. No words are needed, just actions, and these should be enough to show her appreciation. Giving the guitarist, Chris, one final nod, she heads back to her table.

Peril snuffles softly, being rather loathed to leave her seat but also wanting some of the pie. With a soft sigh she raised the cup again drinking down the last of its contents before sinking down into the seat, pushing her rear end to the edge and lowering her legs to the floor allowing her slip quietly down. With the mug still held in hand she made her way toward the counter setting it down before moving toward the pie, staring at it silently with the idea that someone would realise she wanted something and hand it to her.