[Mkguild] The Harvest Festival (5/20)

[Hallan Mirayas]

-------

 =


   "Hey, be on
our team, uh, excuse me, um, would you like to-  Um, hello?  Who would like=
 to=85  Ugh=85" Okay, Michael wasn't too good at
this. Utilizing the combination of red and black fur along with his yellow =
skin
had seemed like a good way to draw attention to his cause yet it didn't
suffice. If only Lindsey were here to give him a boost.

 =


   A whitish furry
hand clasped the large rodent on the shoulder and guided him back, "Here
let me try." Stealth moved forward and tried to make himself look big. "=85=
Hey!
Be on our team! Hey you! Be on our team!" He boldly called out.

 =


   He was still
invisible to the crowd; perhaps his natural camouflage was doing its job. "=
Come
on! Be on our team!"

 =


   "No." A
festival goer answered without breaking their stride. Suddenly the cheetah =
lit
up in delight and saw another of his kind, the ONLY other of his kind that =
he
knew of.

"Edmund!" He said in excitement.

 =


    "Greetings, Stealth!" The Paladin
knight walked up to him with a reddish wolf in tow. "Stealth, you know
Bridgette." He indicated to the maned wolf.

 =


    "Ha ll o, Ste-alth," she said in
strained terms and smiled.

 =


    "It is nice to see you again, milady."
He bowed. "You look lovely in that dress."

 =


    "Thannk you," Bridgette said. The
fox-like wolf was dressed in a nice dress of blue cloth, trimmed with white
lace.

 =


   The cheetah smiled
and turned to his kin. "Edmund, will you be on our team?"

 =


   Stealth wasn't
actually in charge of his side, much less the game. It was poorly arranged,=
 and
people who wanted to play after learning of the match were left to attempt
drafting friends and passers by for their needed numbers.

 =


    "No, I cannot play." The knight
shook his head.

 =


   Stealth just stared
at the cheetah in dejection.

 =


   "I am sorry
Stealth, but my order forbids playing games such as these," Edmund
explained sympathetically.

 =


    "I understand," Stealth answered
impassively. "Will you be watching?"

 =


   Both the feline and
canine nodded. "Of course! We will be sitting in the stands cheering you
on!"

 =


   Stealth nodded with
a small smile. "Good, have fun=85 and wish me luck."

 =


   Edmund patted his
friend firmly on the shoulder. "Good luck!"

 =


    "Go oout there=85 aaand w, w-in Ste-alth!"
Bridgette added.

 =


    "Thank you. Have fun you two," the
cat replied with a gracious smile, and watched them leave with a soft sigh.

 =


   Meanwhile, a large
and burly assortment of morphs gathered nearby. Even the TG's and AR's among
them looked big. They were busy tearing up red cloths into smaller strips to
tie around their arms. A huge lioness and a bull were helping each other ti=
e up
their armbands, while in front of them a broad panda adjusted his bandana.
Further off, a group of AR's stood around draped in red; they looked like a
gang. Behind the crowd, a giraffe gracefully rose to his full height.

 =


   It frustrated the
cheetah to no end; how many people have willingly been taken by the Curse, =
yet
wouldn't join their team!

 =


   Stealth turned around
to inspect the blue team.  A familiar
gazelle and TG were of course present. Then there were some tiny looking AR=
's
and respectably sized TG's of both gender, a chubby looking tabby and some
rodents-  one of whom had plaid-patterned
fur and a huge, flat yellow tail. The rest were mostly rats. They were so
small=85

"He he he! I told you to join us!" came a taunt
from someone on the other team. Who called out and who was it directed at?

 =


   "Lance! Your
side is soft! Just you wait and see!" Michael shouted back.

 =


   "Oh no! Are
your little friends gonna throw their chew sticks at us?" the Moose retorte=
d.

 =


   The beaver slammed
his tail on the ground. "We're gonna stomp you!"

 =


   Stealth ran a hand
through the fur on his head and turned away from the little battle of
woodcutters.

 =


   "Who wants to
be on our team?!" His call was answered only by a faint jingling in the
festival's clamor. The cat's head moved about as one would expect to see fr=
om a
curious feline.

 =


   "Anyone?"
He could hear no offers from takers, just the same sounds and that odd jing=
ling
getting louder. Frustration gave way to despair and then back to frustratio=
n. 'And
where the hell is that jingling coming from?' he thought.

 =


   "Right here!
Surely you heard me coming!" a voice behind him answered.

 =


   The cat turned to
his right and saw a huge brown, lop-eared bunny fully accessorized with bel=
ls. 'Whoa,
bunny! Where'd he come from?' Stealth thought; something about a giant bunny
sneaking up from behind unsettled him.

 =


   Padraic was looking
very smart in his doublet. It suited the festival, but his clothes and othe=
r 'accessories'
looked entirely inappropriate for the game. The rabbit was accompanied by a=
 red
raccoon or a panda or something and=85 Now we're talking, a bear!

"My fellow Longs and I would like to join your team,"
the rabbit stated. He was very proud to say it: 'Longs'.

 =


   "=85oh! Um,
yeah, great!" 'Whoa, nice.' The cat had a sudden morale boost.

 =


   The rabbit smiled
and continued. "I am Padraic, this is Kershaw," he motioned to the
red whatsit, "and this is Meredith." He indicated to the bear on his
left.

 =


   "Well, it's
nice to meet you, and it's great to have you here!" The cheetah indicated
his own friends, "this is Alex and that guy over there is Fell."
Stealth pointed to the woman and gazelle in turn. "Oh, and this here is
Michael of the timber crews."

 =


   Everyone nearby
quickly shook hands, or paws, except for the bear and the beaver who clasped
paws yet didn't seem to let go for some reason; they were just staring at e=
ach
other with some sort of determination until the beaver relented and clasped=
 his
yellow paw.

 =


   The cheetah soon
blushed under his fur as curiosity gave way to politeness. "Say, um,
Kershaw, you're gonna hate me for asking this, but what are you?" Stealth
asked timidly, though he might as well get this out of the way now.

 =


   "Huh? Oh, I am
a red panda.  You haven't heard of them?"
the Long explained, showing no hint of annoyance.

 =


   "Oh, um, oh
yeah, I remember now, I just wasn't sure." Stealth looked at the ground.

 =


   The red panda
changed the subject. "So what is going on here? How do you play this game?"
Though he had some idea, it was still somewhat vague.

 =


   The cheetah perked
up. "It's very straightforward; you just take the ball and get it to the
other side of the field to score a point."

 =


   "Heh, yeah 'just'=85"
Fell added in mocking tones, and crossed his arms.

 =


   "Yeah, 'just'
is right; get the ball to me and I'm gone!" Stealth retorted defensively
to the gazelle's implication of the game being more difficult than the chee=
tah
had made it seem.

 =


   "And if the
other team gets it?" Padraic asked.

 =


   "Then you just
tackle them; give them a bear hug and throw them to the ground.  If they dr=
op the ball, then pick it up and
run.  If you get in trouble, throw it to
someone else," Stealth instructed.

 =


   "Is that
dangerous?" Padraic asked again.  Though
he was sure of himself, the rabbit still wondered at the level of injury one
would expect. Not as much as the sword jousting matches at least.

 =


   "With those
bells it is.  You'll have to take them
off.  Also, before we begin play,
everyone who has claws will need to wrap them in cloth so they don't injure
anyone." Stealth instructed again.

 =


   "Bleh! Blue
paws!" the beaver complained in jest.

 =


   "Very well."
Padraic said, and began to remove the bells from his ears. "Where should I
put them?"

 =


   "Just over
there.  The Castellan is in charge of
this match and will have your possessions stored till the end of the game."
Stealth pointed to DeMule, who stood on the sidelines near the middle of the
field. "And before you ask, I'm pretty sure the bells will be safe."

 =


   "Good, I hope
they will be." He removed all the round metallic objects, then the jewels
he was wearing and placed them in his coin pouch, removing it too. "Here,
hold this please," the bunny instructed, and threw the coin pouch the
small distance to the cheetah.

 =


   The cheetah weighed
the pouch in his hands and thought about its contents; while it had been op=
en
he had seen that many of the coins were suns and garrets rather than shilli=
ngs
and moons.  And then there were those
jewels. He hoped nothing would happen to them and wished it had been that e=
asy
to convince others to part with their belongings; Saulius had insisted on
wearing armor. In the end it took his friends, the other rats, to convince =
him
not to.

 =


   Stealth looked up
again and saw Padraic had removed his doublet as well as the shirt undernea=
th
and had them folded.  The cheetah's eyes
widened; Padraic was built! The beaver probably wouldn't have been happy to
know that now he had a clear rival to his muscular status.

 =


   After handing back
the pouch, directly to the rabbit's paw lest a thief snatch it, Meredith
stepped forward. "Here, let me take that," he offered, and took them,
along with his and Kershaw's possessions. He had no trouble holding the pil=
e as
he lumbered over to the Castellan.
















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