Blaire Fields

 

The dog crossed her arms over her chest. “Let me guess, he doesn’t listen, right?”

Sally had smiled wanely in response to this. She was relieved; the husky was a bit flustered, but none the worse for wear. She even commiserated with her about Sonic's tendency to... gloss over certain suggestions about his behavior. When she had introduced herself and mentioned her reason for being here, Sally's consternation about Sonic's behavior had evaporated. For a moment, she was elated, but this subsided almost as quickly as Blaire realized who she was talking to.

"Well... yes, I am," Sally replied, her voice a smooth, resonant mezzo-soprano. She held up a hand parallel to the ground in a halting gesture. "Please, don't bow at me or anything like that. Though it's useful, I prefer not to lean on that title, unless I have to. For longer than I've been alive, I've associated less with being the daughter of one of the oldest monarchial dynasties on the planet, than being a leader of a resistance group... and that has challenges enough. Just... please, call me Sally."

She inhaled deeply, and sighed, grateful that that bit of protocol was smoothed out. "Now then, to happier matters. First off, you are definitely here to help us? That's wonderful!"

Sally reached out and clasped Blaire's hands in her own, smiling brilliantly. "And second, welcome home! I hope you find New Mobotropolis to your liking!" Releasing her grip, she continued, "We can talk more on the way. I'm currently headed out of the city for a brief moment. I'm headed outside to meet the people who landed outside the walls.... unless you were with them? Which, if that is the case, you could have landed at our airport."

Nicole considered this carefully. Here for work? The most optimistic projection indicated that he might be here to answer the Republic's mercenary job offer. Then again, he could be passing through. Worse still, he could be planning to attack the Republic from the inside out... though that was highly unlikely, as he had displayed the bumbling visage of someone competent with his weaponry and hardly some with the professional coolness that came with being a ruthless, emotionless hitman.

"An honest answer, but not completely forthcoming," Nicole observed. A smirk played on her lips as she crossed her arms. "There are any number of reasons why you could be here. The best option I can think of, is that you're here because we have a giant "We Hire Mercs" sign put out there for all of Mobius to see.

"I'm willing to bet that you're here for that. It would sure make my life easier if I'm correct."

As cryptic as the stories implied. Sethos made no attempt to deny who he was... so indeed, the Chaos Engineer he was. Alright, Rotor could deal with that... so he assumed.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Nero trotting about. The familiar's bizarre appearance instantly clued Rotor into the interesting characters that had come to the bazaar today. Nicole seemed to have missed this one, but Rotor was an Engineer himself, and familiar with the ways of the Mage. Even without mystickal sight, Nero exuded a sense of otherworldly strangeness.

The skeletal dog was walking in a certain direction toward a crimson furred Mobian - a dog or a fox, Rotor wasn't quite sure as to what species she was - who seemed to be the dog's owner. One of the newer vendors, he gathered. He hadn't bothered to meet her before, but now that he had noticed her peculiar pet - her familiar, he now realized - he supposed that he should probably take the time to make her acquaintance. The brief moment passed, and Rotor met Sethos' gaze squarely.

"So I comprehend. It has been a while since I've heard the stories, but let's see if I recall correctly. You are in need of the latest specimens, and so you seek to gether trinkets and other such things like children, back to your lair, wherever that may be." Rotor's sullen expression held for precious few seconds before it cracked. When it did, he chuckled to himself. "Ah, but such tales are only for the mundane, and less believable today then they were perhaps a hundred or more years ago. But I digress.

"I don't suppose there's a real reason behind your appearance, and I wouldn't mind learning a bit of truth from you instead of exaggerated nonsense. And perhaps we can find some way to help you in your tasks. As a bit of payment for services rendered, of course. Interested?"

The grey Siamese cat despaired of the hot summer weather, fanning himself desperately as he sat in the waning shade of his pawn shop. It didn't help that New Mobotropolis was in the southern regions of Normerca, or that the damned city was near the Great River. Those two combinations alone drove up the heat with humidity levels that just weren't to the feline's personal taste. He enjoyed cooler climes, and while the scenery was nice, he just wasn't used to it yet. The final nail in his coffin was that the air conditioning was broken.

Oh sure, mechanics were notified, but they insisted that the air conditioning was in proper order. Not so, he insisted! Never mind. A few hour's torture was worth the profits he brought in. Besides, his 'special stock' was hermetically sealed against temperature and moisture. He at least had the currency to sink into those accomodations. Ah, to be a weapon of indescriminate justice.... that would be nice.

The cat glanced out of his open door at the interesting spectacle outside. Bit of a standoff with some Overlander and Rotor, one of the Crown Loyalists on the Republican Council. Not exciting yet, but with this heat induced boredom, any old fare would do. For now, he contented himself with standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorjamb with his thumbs hooked in his belt.

Jules chuckled, the metallic report echoing in a cascade from his mouth. "I must have forgotten to introduce myself, forgive me. I'm Jules, and I'm the brother of the proprietor of this restaurant. In regard to your condition... I can't say I've heard of it before, but maybe you could check into the hospital if it becomes too much for you. At any rate, I'm happy to hear that you're handling it."

As Jules and Malachi conversed, an artificial tornado of wind terminated just outside the entrance to the restaurant, depositing a blue hedgehog. With a flourish, he swept into the doors, strutting like he owned the place with a large grin plastered onto his muzzle.

Bernadette, who was chatting with the greeter, returned the hedgehog male's smile as she swept him into a hug. "Welcome back, Sonic! How was the hearing?"

Sonic hugged her back. "Hi, Mom! The hearing went well. The council threw out the charges, and I'm all set to go on the mission tonight!"

"That's good to hear! I suppose you'll be needing some food for tonight, then?"

"Yep! Several dogs with the works!"

"Well alright! I've concocted a new chili recipe, and I'll be adding a few chili dogs with the new recipe. Let me know what you think of them when you get back!"

"Will do, mom," Sonic replied. "Where's Dad? I need to tell him the news."

"Oh, he's over there," Bernadette said, pointing toward the rear of the restaurant with her thumb, "Talking with a new customer."

"Thanks!" Glancing once more in Bernadette's direction, he crossed the distance to the booth that Malachi and Jules occupied. Sliding into the seat next to Jules, Sonic held up a hand at Malachi. "Hey there, one second. Hey, Dad! It went well!"

Jules turned around to regard his son. "Oh did it? Just how well did it go?"

"It went great. Hamlin tried to get evidence suppressed, but there wasn't enough grounds for it to happen, so he lost his case against us."

"Oh, that's great! So, you get to go on that mission tonight?"

"Yep. Mom's cooking up some late night eating for me."

"Ah. You tell her about that new mixture she's made when you get a chance. But I digress. Sonic, this young gentleman over here is Malachi."

Sonic turned to look directly at the wolf this time. "Ah, nice to meet you, Malachi. I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog!"