Don't Shoot The Messenger.

by **Archailist** on February 28th, 2014, 8:35 pm

28th of Winter, 513.

Another day, waking up in his ridiculously oversized bed in the Safe Haven Hostel. It would have been relaxing usually, being able to press his body into the warm folds of the blankets.. but not today. The sunlight streaming through that open window showed that he'd overslept, and within moments of waking up, he'd launched himself at full pelt, through said window, onto the roof of the building and turned east to head towards his workplace - hopefully before his boss would do the usual hard glare and loud yelling that he did when the squirrel showed up late in the day when most of the parcels should have already been delivered. He didn't do it on purpose... squirrels needed their beauty sleep too. Even clay ones.

He really should have seen it coming. Going to the Bureau as usual - which, as usual, involved fighting his way through an utter maelstrom of monks that had, as usual, crowded the streets with their daily rituals and left the squirrel with no other alternative than to climb to the rooftops and make his way across them, much to the confusion and odd looks of the many monks that were stationed around the city watching him - would always lead to some horrible outcome. When he got there though, he silently cursed himself, and whatever God had kept him asleep for all that time. The name was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't recite it.. so he just cursed all the others, and himself. But there was no shouting, surprise-surprise. Anđelko scowled in that usual way that he did and silently passed over his bag, complete with his deliveries for the day and his Note of Passage.. and he quickly made his way out of the Bureau without another word, before later checking what his work would be. Today, it was a letter. Just one, single letter to be delivered to a particular monk at the Sharp Blade Headquarters. He wasn't particularly sure if he would even be allowed to go near that place... but it couldn't hurt to try anyway, and ask around. Surely they'd allow him if he had a delivery to make.. or would he have to just go to whomever it was who led the place and leave it with them?

He'd find out when he got there. It was marked for a fast delivery and he had every intention of getting it there as soon as he could manage, so as soon as he'd picked up the letter, he was off into the streets and down towards the Celestial - he'd need to cross over the two bridges and around the Celestial in order to make it to the monks Quarter, and from there, find the main building. How difficult could it be to find anyway.. after all, it was the central headquarters, or that's what he assumed.

Anyway, all it took was a quick climb up one of the heavy stone walls of he nearest buildings - using his sharp claws to dig into the brick as mch as he could mange before ascending up its height and over the roof, before jumping from one roof to the next with all four paws working as fast as possible and the letter balanced in his mouth. Oh, he was going to make this delivery in time today.. and he was going to do it with style as well. All he needed to do was cross over a few roofs - they passed without much incident, he could manage them since the buildings were pretty cramped together, and the balconies provided a perfect ledge to grip to after an exceptionally long running-jump, and a platform to jump up to even higher places. But once he'd reached the edge of the Quarter, in probably what could beat his current record, there was the way down to consider...

by **Archailist** on March 2nd, 2014, 6:05 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Of course, it wasn't easy. When was it. Little time to dawdle and a sheer drop from the edge of the balcony with little signs of markings on the walls that he could use for grip and slowing the descent. He could go back, but there wouldn't be assurance that what he would find, would be any better than what he had here. So, he'd risk it. How hard could it be? Famous last words, that's what they were.

It started with something that should have been easy. A small hop to the neighboring wall, that had a small indent just under the roof that he should have been able to use, to steadily climb his way down. The gap wasn't as wide as many others that he'd scaled - in fact, it was considerably less. The squirrel should have had little trouble crossing the small gap, if any at all. Except he missed it completely - claws grasping at the wall but with no way to hold on and no suitable gap to find, he tumbled down with his clay claws scraping along the red brickwork on the way, bending under the pressure. Sometimes, he really hated being made of clay.. if he wasn't then he might have had a chance to stay on. But at least there was quite a long fall down.. which would mean more time to find a perch to use, but a bigger impact if he didn't find one soon. And there were scarce few dents in the walls that would give sufficient grip. He tried with the first one that passed - pressing his right paw firmly against the ledge of the first upper-story window, but it was for nothing, because his fingers couldn't solidify fast enough and they nearly broke off - he was thankfully able to pull it away again. But he was still falling.. and time was running out. The fall, from the distance and comparing the size of the small squirrel, would surely leave him barely alive at best.

The next ledge, the bottom of the same window, was gripped in both paws... and at least it slowed down his descent slightly before the precarious hold on it was finally thwarted. There were no lower-story windows in reach though. Only small gaps in the stonework that he'd have to grip. The first one passed much faster than he could comprehend, but the second one got a purchase fir enough on his claws to send a jarring through his entire right arm.. before the contact broke again and the squirrel was left to tumble to the ground without any chance of finding anything else, because the break had forced his entire body back from the wall. More like a free-fall.

If not for the hurried, uncoordinated scrambling in his last few moments, he wouldn't have survived. As it was, winded and slightly disoriented, the impact left him in the alley struggling to get his bearings and reform his mass around the nexus that had narrowly avoided significant damage. A very, very close call indeed. But even then, he wasn't done. He still needed to make it through the Celestial, into the North Quarter with all of the very dangerous monks, find the Headquarters and deliver the letter - without getting killed on the way by either himself or some other monk stepping on him. So, disgruntled and still slightly wobbly, he heaved himself up and set off for the bridges leading into the Celestial. This time, though, he took the small passages that hugged close to the edges of the streets, where few of the monks walked. It'd be much faster.. and safer.. for now.

by **Archailist** on March 2nd, 2014, 6:38 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Over the Bridge of the Beginning, using the bannisters to skip over the traffic of monks.. and straight across the Celestial, went the squirrel. As usual, he took the time to take the use of the traveling monks for his own gain.. particularly by hopping straight on top of a heavy load of books that one monk was carrying, most likely towards the Hall of Robes. He was too busy talking with the neighboring monk to notice, or really care.. since there wasn't exactly a lot of extra weight to carry. And when the Hall was reached, he hopped straight over to another monk traveling in the opposite direction and settled on his shoulder as he passed out of the Quarter, into the North. Lucky guess, the monk was from the Sharp Blade. Though he wasn't heading for the Headquarters, so after a short distance, he had to hop off and bid farewell to the man.

It was surprising. When the monks weren't too busy to completely ignore the squirrel, they seemed.. affable, at best. At least, the ones he'd met. The monk that he'd taken 'for a ride' didn't seem the talkative kind, he reflected on his way between the narrow red-stone streets towards the large atrium of the Sharp Blade Headquarters. He didn't enter it though, no no - someone was out to stop him from doing that. He wasn't sure who the monk was, but he seemed a bit gruff when standing directly before the squirrel, between him and the entrance.

"Business?" The squirrel, cowed, reached into his bag and pulled out the Note of Passage. The monk had to not only kneel down to accept it, but even then, bend over - he was one of the largest big-feet he'd ever seen around Nyka, or Syliras, or.. well, anywhere. Human enough by looks... "Package." It wasn't an order.. but it wasn't a question. He lifted up the lid of the bag and handed over the small letter that he'd been assigned to give.. but the monk took it, when the squirrel was only intent on showing him. He tried to hop up and make a grab for it, but the monk easily pulled it out of reach.. like an adult might do for a child when they wanted a sweet. Almost condescending. Almost was enough though.

"Hey! That's my delivery!" he yelled up at the man, trying to not stamp his foot on the ground and make the situation anywhere more embarrassing than it was already. Thankfully, the monk didn't seem to take notice.

"I'll make sure that he gets it." He couldn't argue.. he wasn't a monk. There were a thousand codes and regulations that he was probably breaking by just standing there, for all he knew. Even if he actually wasn't in the Headquarters. And if he was even allowed in, well, he wouldn't know where to start. So, he nodded and turned, heading back to the Bureau.. slightly confused, and hoping that the monk would live up to his end of the deal. If not.. well, there were going to be serious problems running about the place. And knowing what little he did about the place, he could guess - if only guess - that it would come back to the foreigner that had failed to uphold whatever duty he had to make sure the letter was delivered safely to the person that it was supposed to be delivered to.