12-11-2016, 10:51 PM
The fox was forced to suppress a cringe as the muscular soldier-looking human misspoke the name of his own island. He got this every time some newcomer arrived on his island. They would show up, enter his city, and when he walked up to introduce himself and say ‘Welcome,’ they would reply with ‘Hi! Is this Randall’s Island?’ It’s as if the people that bothered to come to his mud puddle excuse of a vacation spot weren’t even concerned with trying to pronounce its NAME correctly. They probably didn’t, come to think of it. Why would they, if it was just a mudhole in the middle of the goddamn ocean?
He bit his lower lip, making sure his smile was still intact as he listened intently to the muscular man. He did not respond for a few seconds as he frowned.
“A formal investigation, you say?”
He did not continue talking after that sentence, choosing instead to light his smoke pipe. He inhaled, smoky tendrils seeping up through the nostrils of his snout. For a brief moment, he removed his gaze from the two visitors. Or, should he now say, intruders?
It didn’t require a detective to figure out what they were investigating here. The Empire had certainly gotten a lot more unconventional in its pickings for their investigators in the past year, if the fact that they allowed people who passed more as henchmen of a mafia gang into their ranks was any indication. Fitting, too, of the Empire to do that. Send thugs to his island to intimidate him into giving it up. They weren’t afraid to go low, but at least before they had class about it. A nice man in a white suit with a big fake smile on his face as he walked with his two buddy bodyguards with shiny armor plating and greeted the inhabitants, tried out the food, etcetera, etcetera. Wouldn’t have been nearly as annoying if they arrived with different purposes in mind, but no, it was always about the same thing. At some point, one would wonder why they even bothered after a while. They got no results from doing it, after all.
Yet, despite all that, when he looked back at the duo, studying them, he couldn’t help but feel his ears start to twitch. They always did that when he was caught in these types of situations. He had trained himself to hide a tell like that, but times like these never failed to bring back the habit. He brushed them back, hiding them behind his head. He took a deep breath; he had to keep his cool.
Thinking quickly, he responded. “Well, sir, I’d be more than willing to help you, but I have a slight… discrepancy in staff at the moment that’ll halt the whole thing if I don’t find him.”
“Discrepancy?” said the Captain, a quizzical look on his face. Marcus merely stared at the canine, his eyes looking as cold and unfeeling as the dead eyes of the public.
“My legal adviser,” said the Mayor as he sighed and shook his head, “he just stopped showing up to work one day. I sent out people to look for him and everything, but no luck. It’s been weeks since we last saw him.”
Maybe that’s what was making his ears so twitchy all of a sudden. His legal adviser held enough knowledge of the law, and, more importantly, EMPIRE law, that any investigation like this would have been rendered moot within hours. Then he just ups and disappears off the face of the island without so much as a leave of absence note.
He glanced away from the duo once again, ignoring whatever looks they might have been giving him at the time. He felt his teeth clamp extremely tightly on the wood of his pipe, as if to snap it into two; he couldn’t help but both want to tear apart his legal adviser for leaving unannounced and causing so many problems unexpectedly and just feel saddened by him not being there. The man just always knew what to say, how to say it, what to use, what not. There wasn’t a law in the book he couldn’t exploit. He was a perfect match for him.
His amber eyes pierce the bodies of the two detectives as he gazed back at them, taking a deep breath.
“Sorry,” he said, “I’m just… reminiscing… right now. Could just be the rain, though. Believe it or not, weather impacts mood more than anything else in the world. Once you got that under control, you don’t have much else to worry about.”
“But, in any case, I suppose I should assist you in this as best as I can.” He handed the pipe back off to one of his Bruisers, as they were starting to get needy again, “in the meantime, walk with me. I can take you to my office, as it isn’t too far from here.”
He did not turn around quite yet, as he was clearly waiting for the two to move on ahead of him a bit. He smiled a most reassuring smile, trying to at least make them relax a bit. It wasn’t like he wasn’t planning on doing anything to them JUST yet. He needed to prove his case first.
Both the soldier and the cyborg looked at each other for a brief moment before reluctantly doing as requested. As they walked past, however, the fox caught a glimpse of the old man slipping back behind the wall of Rhydu’s General Goods. He hardly would have cared otherwise (okay, that’s a bit of a lie. He would have cared A LOT. That stuff just didn’t happen if you were any of his citizens.) But what made him notice was the one thing that he could identify from any distance: the blue feather in his cap.
Well, I’ll be damned.
“Mister Marlin Dustin!” he shouted, his voice almost silencing the raindrops as they splattered onto the stone ground. The Avengers looked back towards him, trying to mask their surprise.
Marlin, too, was trying to do the same as he slowly withdrew from his hiding place within the store. He took a deep breath, put his hands in his pockets, and walked out of the store, meeting the rapidly encroaching fox.
“Marlin, Marlin, Marlin, my pal!” he said, grabbing one of the old man’s hand and shaking it vigorously to the distress of Dustin, “where have you been? You’ve been off work for weeks!”
“I- I have?” the old man replied, looking back towards the trench coat duo. Even within the rain, he could see their eyes widen. He grit his teeth. Why didn’t he tell them?
“Of course! You’re not getting TOO old, are you mister Dustin?” he said, his tone noticeably more jolly in comparison to before.
“No-no sir, not at all…”
The fox chuckled, taking the old writer by the hand and dragging him back to the group. He then halted, holding out a flat palm to introduce him.
“Strangers, and Marcus, meet mister Marlin Dustin, my legal adviser. Marlin Dustine, meet the Strangers… and Marcus.”
He bit his lower lip, making sure his smile was still intact as he listened intently to the muscular man. He did not respond for a few seconds as he frowned.
“A formal investigation, you say?”
He did not continue talking after that sentence, choosing instead to light his smoke pipe. He inhaled, smoky tendrils seeping up through the nostrils of his snout. For a brief moment, he removed his gaze from the two visitors. Or, should he now say, intruders?
It didn’t require a detective to figure out what they were investigating here. The Empire had certainly gotten a lot more unconventional in its pickings for their investigators in the past year, if the fact that they allowed people who passed more as henchmen of a mafia gang into their ranks was any indication. Fitting, too, of the Empire to do that. Send thugs to his island to intimidate him into giving it up. They weren’t afraid to go low, but at least before they had class about it. A nice man in a white suit with a big fake smile on his face as he walked with his two buddy bodyguards with shiny armor plating and greeted the inhabitants, tried out the food, etcetera, etcetera. Wouldn’t have been nearly as annoying if they arrived with different purposes in mind, but no, it was always about the same thing. At some point, one would wonder why they even bothered after a while. They got no results from doing it, after all.
Yet, despite all that, when he looked back at the duo, studying them, he couldn’t help but feel his ears start to twitch. They always did that when he was caught in these types of situations. He had trained himself to hide a tell like that, but times like these never failed to bring back the habit. He brushed them back, hiding them behind his head. He took a deep breath; he had to keep his cool.
Thinking quickly, he responded. “Well, sir, I’d be more than willing to help you, but I have a slight… discrepancy in staff at the moment that’ll halt the whole thing if I don’t find him.”
“Discrepancy?” said the Captain, a quizzical look on his face. Marcus merely stared at the canine, his eyes looking as cold and unfeeling as the dead eyes of the public.
“My legal adviser,” said the Mayor as he sighed and shook his head, “he just stopped showing up to work one day. I sent out people to look for him and everything, but no luck. It’s been weeks since we last saw him.”
Maybe that’s what was making his ears so twitchy all of a sudden. His legal adviser held enough knowledge of the law, and, more importantly, EMPIRE law, that any investigation like this would have been rendered moot within hours. Then he just ups and disappears off the face of the island without so much as a leave of absence note.
He glanced away from the duo once again, ignoring whatever looks they might have been giving him at the time. He felt his teeth clamp extremely tightly on the wood of his pipe, as if to snap it into two; he couldn’t help but both want to tear apart his legal adviser for leaving unannounced and causing so many problems unexpectedly and just feel saddened by him not being there. The man just always knew what to say, how to say it, what to use, what not. There wasn’t a law in the book he couldn’t exploit. He was a perfect match for him.
His amber eyes pierce the bodies of the two detectives as he gazed back at them, taking a deep breath.
“Sorry,” he said, “I’m just… reminiscing… right now. Could just be the rain, though. Believe it or not, weather impacts mood more than anything else in the world. Once you got that under control, you don’t have much else to worry about.”
“But, in any case, I suppose I should assist you in this as best as I can.” He handed the pipe back off to one of his Bruisers, as they were starting to get needy again, “in the meantime, walk with me. I can take you to my office, as it isn’t too far from here.”
He did not turn around quite yet, as he was clearly waiting for the two to move on ahead of him a bit. He smiled a most reassuring smile, trying to at least make them relax a bit. It wasn’t like he wasn’t planning on doing anything to them JUST yet. He needed to prove his case first.
Both the soldier and the cyborg looked at each other for a brief moment before reluctantly doing as requested. As they walked past, however, the fox caught a glimpse of the old man slipping back behind the wall of Rhydu’s General Goods. He hardly would have cared otherwise (okay, that’s a bit of a lie. He would have cared A LOT. That stuff just didn’t happen if you were any of his citizens.) But what made him notice was the one thing that he could identify from any distance: the blue feather in his cap.
Well, I’ll be damned.
“Mister Marlin Dustin!” he shouted, his voice almost silencing the raindrops as they splattered onto the stone ground. The Avengers looked back towards him, trying to mask their surprise.
Marlin, too, was trying to do the same as he slowly withdrew from his hiding place within the store. He took a deep breath, put his hands in his pockets, and walked out of the store, meeting the rapidly encroaching fox.
“Marlin, Marlin, Marlin, my pal!” he said, grabbing one of the old man’s hand and shaking it vigorously to the distress of Dustin, “where have you been? You’ve been off work for weeks!”
“I- I have?” the old man replied, looking back towards the trench coat duo. Even within the rain, he could see their eyes widen. He grit his teeth. Why didn’t he tell them?
“Of course! You’re not getting TOO old, are you mister Dustin?” he said, his tone noticeably more jolly in comparison to before.
“No-no sir, not at all…”
The fox chuckled, taking the old writer by the hand and dragging him back to the group. He then halted, holding out a flat palm to introduce him.
“Strangers, and Marcus, meet mister Marlin Dustin, my legal adviser. Marlin Dustine, meet the Strangers… and Marcus.”
![[Image: sanssig.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/369919416432984079/371386052931485708/sanssig.png)
i may be all alone
but i'm here to tell ya honey
that i'm bad to the bone
B-B-B-Bad to the bone
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