Slaving Away (Group A) [Closed] [Finished]

Diesel couldn't help but bust out laughing as he watched Xeshir and Santity run off into a building. After a while of him staring around the waste he heard Mek yelling at them and fell over laughing more. It was just too much that the ghoul had started taking on the roll of a parent with those two.

Sanura just kinda stared at him for the sudden change in tones with the conversation, dreading hearing what was coming from the dog especially when he said something about exactly how long ago it had been since it happened. She knew it couldn't have been good in any way at that point, there was no denying it, so as he spoke her ears seemed to fall further and further until they were almost flat against her head when he spoke of being drugged up and then consuming a good portion of his team. "Oh..."

How does one respond to that? And why did he feel a need to tell her that right after they'd really just met? "Well... it's not something you're proud of right and.... you know that you shouldn't have done it and that you didn't want to yeah?" she said, already trying to turn it around. Even forcing a little laugh, "I bet we don't even all look that tasty anyways so..." she swallowed, hoping that last part was true.

Mek watched her reaction and squinted his eyes. At first, he didn't know whether to feel offended by her thinking he was going to eat her, or to feel relieved she didn't just get up and leave. He had hoped to make a friend in the wastes, but he felt the stare. It was the stare the mothers and their children gave him. It was the stare the guards gave him as he passed by. It was that cold, alienating stare that he had come to accept as something he'd recieve for the rest of his possibly eternal life. "Don' worry yerself. Ah won' eat ya. Might eat dat Zebra though if she comes too close ta me. She'z got no right ta go 'round shakin' 'er livelihood like there'z sum parasprites eatin' 'er flanks. As a carnivore, it'z me civic duty to eat fings dat go 'round shakin' their extra fat."

Sanura hadn't intended to give that kind of stare but it was hard not to given what had just been laid out before her. However as usual she tried to keep that pleasantly friendly attitude about herself. Sanura was everypony's friend at the end of the day after all! Her cheeks flushed ever so slightly what she was about to say though, "Well... Maybe she's wigglin' her 'extra fat' for a less gorey and messy type of feast." she giggled softly and glanced down to the slaver they'd encountered, just in case he woke up, and then back up to the Ghoul. "Just make sure she can still walk after you've done your 'duties' hmm?" she nodded firmly, "Much easier to fix ponies that way."

Mek watched as her cheeks flushed. For someone supposedly innocent and friendly, that was a pretty dirty joke. Nevertheless, he laughed at her misinterpretation. It was a deep, hearty laugh that shook the ground under him. "Oh, ah'z not gunna fuck da Zebra. Ah'z gonna grab 'er by da tail and take a bite da size a' Manehattin outta 'er flank!" He happily yelled, no longer attempting to keep this conversation between the two of them. Turning his head back around towards the building, he took a deep breath. "YA HEAR ME, ZEBRA!? I'Z GUNNA EAT YA ALIVE! "

Sanura caught Hopscotch as Ginger dropped him from his magic and quickly but gently lowered him to the ground to better investigate the stallion’s condition. Her examination revealed that he was stable, and seemed to be just sleeping. His cutie mark was a track and field hurdle, but he didn’t seem to be branded, like Marigold was. She healed some of his more serious injuries; he stirred, but didn’t awaken.

Mad Mek’s search was mostly wasted in the building: anything useful had been plundered long ago, leaving just a concrete shell of a building. His tremor sense didn’t pick up anything notable, the group contributing all of the vibrations he could pick up.

Evening came quickly, the tinge of orange in the clouds giving way to muted purples and inky blues, and with it, the cool of night. The group prepared camp quickly, and soon a fire easily prepared by Marcus was crackling away at Ginger’s firewood, casting its pleasant, flickering light about those nearby.

Sanctity found a slight rise, but there weren’t many good vantage points near to the camp to set up on. What he found would have to do.

Viktor handed the fragile-looking device to Sanura, and she promptly went over to the still unconscious stallion. After a moment or two of prodding, his eyes blearily fluttered open. There was a horrifying moment of disorientation, and his eyes darted around before settling on Sanura; he jolted back from the mare as recollection returned. He frowned miserably, tucking his legs a bit closer to his body in miserable fear. “What happened?” he muttered. He spotted Mek, and his eyes went wide; he began shuffling away, shivering. “Get him away from me!”

The device that Sanura had been given suddenly buzzed and an angry voice came through. “I’ll give you five more minutes to check in, Marigold. Then, we’re sending someone after you.”

Diesel frowned as he over hears Mek talking. Walking up behind him he placed his paw over his shoulder, "That had better be a joke Mek." Looking down at him he had a look in his eyes that read to not contest him. "If it wasn't, you know what they do to guys like you back in town right?"

As he talked he saw the Stallion awake and jump at the sight of Mek. Sighing he tightened his grip on Meks shoulder, "I think it would be best if you took a few steps away from this, me and Sanura can handle this for now. We can call you if we need him unconscious again." Sitting down between Mek and Scotch he looked at Sanu, "You're up Sanura"

Sanura jerked when Hopscotch finally woke up, her attention shifted quickly to the slaver as she chose to let the yellow diamond dog have his fun for the moment. She put a hoof on his shoulder as he started and shook her head, "It's fine, he won't do anything okay? We're still where we were when you woke up, and I've fixed you up a bit." she looked down at the device with the hostile voice coming out of it and she'd show it to Hopscotch, "Tell her everything's okay or... whatever it is that y'all normally have to say alright?" trusting him to be smart enough not to make his own situation that much worse by trying to betray them. "And I wanna talk a bit afterward, need to ask you something about Marigold..." She was doing her best just to sound friendly, which for Sanura that wasn't hard. It was almost her perpetual state after all.

[Speech 58, cha 9]

Mad Mek overheard Hopscotch practically crap himself when he saw him. Before he could give Hopscotch a toothy smile, he felt Viktor's paw on his shoulder. He didn't even give Viktor a straight look, only a slight turn of his head. "It happened almost 12 years ago, Vikta. Ah had no choice. If you'z gunna pass judgemint, say it to me face. Ya fink Ah like rememb'rin what happened dere, Vikta? Ya fink ah don't see dat filly's face every time I close me eyes? Ah've dun all I could ta repent, Vikta, an' if you so much as call me a Raider, ah can't promise I'll behave meself."

He got up and went to the only other place around camp, not even caring to hear Viktor's answer. He sat down outside the abandoned building, and took out the faded picture of Rarity once again. He sighed as he passed a finger over it, glancing over to the fire pit every once in a while. He tried to ignore the noises coming from inside the building, attempting to drown them out with some humming.

With a melange of shock and trepidation, Hopscotch looked at the device Sanura had presented to him. “They’re asking us... They’re asking me to check in, aren’t they? All right. Tap the gem twice, then hold it near my face.” He waited for Sanura to do so, then spoke into the device. “Uh, yes, this is Hopscotch. We were held up by the prisoner, and, uh… we needed to camp overnight. We’ll be resuming the escort tomorrow and should be there…” He paused, and looked at Sanura. “…around noon.”

A few tense moments passed before a voice came through the device again. “How’s the prisoner? Not hurt too badly, I hope?”

Hopscotch paused again as he stared at Mek. It was difficult to read the look on his face. “He’s fine.”

“Good. Don’t make a habit of this, Hopscotch. Check in every three hours. Grace likes a tight ship. Choc Chip out.” The device went silent.

Hopscotch made a rather pained expression, and for a moment it looked like he was going to break down crying, but he pulled himself together. “Marigold? What do you want to know?”

"Thank you, Hopscotch." she said and offered a smile to him before setting the communicator aside."

Sanura was getting ever more concerned about what they were being paid to do with the more she heard under each point. She didn't focus on that though, first things first she had to know about Marigold, "I went over to see... you know, just in case she was still breathing maybe..." she shook her head, not giving him a chance to ask or hope that she might have been. "I noticed she had a flame brand on her flank, was she a slave too or...? Can you just tell me what was going on between you two and the others slavers? I mean... is that just a mark that says your with this Grace person?" she asked.

Sanctity shrugged his cloak back on as he got up from the mattress, kissing Xeshir once more, before unbarring the door. "We should probably go and check on the group" He said quietly, as another shout from the ghoul Diamond Dog reverberated through the building. "Besides, I don't want to sleep on the wet patch" He joked, before slipping out the door.

He walked back to the group slowly, feeling rather unsteady on his hooves after his "activities". There was a big, shaky smile on his face as he walked back to the group, his mane noticeably more unruly than before.

He sat down by the fire, his eyes flicking momentarily between the various people looking at him, before he decided to concentrate on eating. He pulled out a hunk of meat from his pack and started to chew on it as he warmed his hooves by the fire.

Xeshir smiled as Sanctity kissed her once again. After their talk she felt he knew the unicorn a lot more, but a small part of her said to never take her eyes off him. Just in case.

After Sanctity left she stayed in the building for a few more minutes, thinking and trying to untangle her own messy hair. Then another shout from the Diamond Dog made her roll her eyes and leave the ruin, she was hungry anyway.

Once she reached the campsite she pulled out her knife and began to open a few of the cans of Cram. She then handed over the Sanctity and smiled. "Mind to levitate this over the fire to cook them dear?" She asked, giggling a bit at the goofy smile on his face.

Hopscotch seemed to balk as Sanura mentioned that Marigold was dead, as if he still couldn’t really believe it. He stared morosely at the ground as she asked her questions. “That’s Grace’s brand,” he said. “Marigold used to be a slave. Why d’you think I owe Grace so much money?”

“The other slavers mostly don’t trust me. Or her. They’re afraid we’ll run off before I pay my debt. Nothing more to it.” He rested his head upon his bound forehooves. “I guess it doesn’t matter now, does it?”

Sanura nodded some, okay, that made a bit more sense. So Hopscotch had been planning to take Marigold away from there after paying what he'd owed and judging by the way things had gone with the fight Marigold wasn't entirely opposed to what was going on. Things fell into place not the way that she'd hoped but in a way that still made things a little easier to argue, "Don't worry about that debt or any of them." she shook her head, "We're going to find that camp, hopefully with your help so it'll be easier on us tomorrow. I know we've already ruined your plans and... I really am sorry, that wasn't supposed to happen." she swallowed and looked toward the other members of the party, "We want to try and save the one buck though at least, and maybe any others that are actually good ponies... if you could tell us things about the camp, where it is and how many, anything really, I'd appreciate it, might help save some more ponies and maybe... this whole thing doesn't have to be so bad." She smiled, "Can ya do that?"

He turned and smiled at Xeshir, before grabbing the cans and holding them over his cheeks. "You sure they wouldn't cook faster like this?" He said, before chuckling and hovering them over the fire, his grey magic keeping them aloft above the licking flames.

He looked her over once again and noted that her hair was tangled up from their "cloaking" earlier. He wanted to reach out and try and untangle them, but his magic was spread thin enough already between the can and his own food. He made a mental note to help her straighten it out later before taking another bite out of his own food.

Xeshir walked up and kissed Sanctity as he heated the cans. "Thank you dear." She said, then, figuring it would take some time for the cans to heat up, she walked over where Sanura was and saw him talking to Hopscotch. She trotted next to her and whispered in her ear, low enough for only Sanura to hear, "Have you found out anything about him or the slavers?" She hoped that Sanura had obtained a good amount of info, and with her looks and charms, how couldn't she?

Sanura looked up from her question to Hopscotch and toward the Zebra mare behind her, offering a little smile, "A bit, he just woke back up..." she shrugged, "Apparently Marigold was a slave that he'd boght from this person named Grace, was workin' on caps to pay her back so he could leave so..." she shook her head,"We messed up on that one... we're covered for the night though. He checked in for us and said he'd be arriving at Noon tomorrow. So we need to be up and moving toward the camp long before then or they'll come looking." she said, "We're still talking about what we're going to find though.

Marcus laid down in front of the fire, choosing to warm himself up in its light rather than partake in eating. He pulled off his hat and silently stared at it while he drifted in his own thoughts. He had no desire to be anywhere near the Slaver. Casting a look over at the happy looks Sanctity and Xeshir had, led Marcus to believe they were more than successful in their search of the area. He gazed back down to his hat for a small bit, then raised his head, finding that he was now alone with Sanctity, who was currently trying to cook a couple of cans above the fire. He let out a small chuckle and decided to thank Sanctity on a job well done, fully convinced that they had done nothing more than search the area.

"I see your utafutaji (searches) with Xeshir have shown great success. I am glad. We can all sleep better this night after what you two have accomplished."

He laid his head on top of his hat and stared at the fire, adding, "Be sure to thank Xeshir for me as well."

Listened to Sanura attentively. She was sad to hear Marigold's and Hopscotch's story. She probably was his special somepony. Her ears and expression dropped when she realized this, but kept listening to Sanura. After she was finished she nodded. "Alright. We'll have dinner, rest and then get up earlier so the camp doesn't expect us. Keep questioning the stallion. Ask him about the base, how well armed the slavers, how many slaves and if there are any in the situation of Marigold...Also, ask him how Grace looks like. Alright?" She said. If that mare had been the brains of the operation, she was the one that needed to be taken out.

Sanura nods some as she's told what to ask for, most of it she'd arleady thought of but she hadn't really noted any particular reason to look for what Grace might've looked like, after all the deal that was made was that they had to kill every single slaver out there to get paid but it was obvious they weren't going to... the best they could hope was to make it look like they'd done that and then hope no one ratted them out at some point. "I'll take care of it." she nodded to Xeshir and then grinned a bit sheepishly, "Think somepony could bring us some food while we're talkin'? I'm a bit hungry and I bet he is too."

Ale had finished maintaining his rifle when the two love birds returned from their "outing." "Ya have fun in there?" He said casually without looking up. Once he'd put the gun away he used his magic to levitate the gecko meat over the fire to cook.

Ale raised an eyebrow at marcus's comment. "Sheesh, if that's what it takes to put that zebra's mind at ease then I should avoid traveling with him... unless the party only consist of three, and the other member is a nice peace of flank." He chuckled a bit at his own internal joke. The meat, now being cooked, made for a nice meal to the unicorn. Sure ponies were herbivores and yes eating gecko was unnatural, but when you spend the better part of your foalhood in a slave pen you tend to eat what is offered to you and in those years ale grew a liking for meat. Ale heard sanura's request for food and levitated one of the steaks over to the mare and her dinner "guest." He next took out his flask of apple whiskey and chased down the latest bite of flesh with the alcoholic liquid. Once finished he levitated the drink around so anypony who drank could get a swig.

He squirmed a little as Marcus complimented him on his adventures. Had he really been that loud? He'd been trying to keep it a little quiet, but, well Xeshir hadn't. A flush rose to his cheeks as he looked away and mumbled a quiet "No worries", as he stared into the fire. It was then, that Ginger decided it was his turn to rib him about it. He turned to him and saw the mirth in his eyes. Oh god, it was going to be like this for the rest of the mission, wasn't it? He slumped forwards, resting his hands in his forehooves as his blush bloomed again. Just kill me now he begged silently.

He muttered something completely incomrehensible in reply to Gingers question before cracking an eye open slightly and seeing the answer to all his problems floating in front of him. He reached out with his magic and took a swig of the whiskey happily, with a comfortable ease that belied his experience with heavy drinking. His smile became a little less shaky and he passed the bottle around to Marcus. "Thanks Ginger!"

Marcus cocked his head and squinted at Sanctity as he blushed. Did the small unicorn feel embarrassed at being complimented? He could just barely make out Sanctity saying "No worries" as though he were trying to be modest. Marcus decided He needed to be brought up a little.

"Come now, friend, do not be so kawaida (modest)! You have performed a very important task!" He flashed a smile to reassure Sanctity. "Why, if I were not busy with this fire, I may have joined the two of you in your utafutaji (searches)."

He let out a small chuckle. "Do not hide from your success. Be proud of them."

With that, he laid his head back down to stare at the fire, perfectly comfortable in its warmth.

Xeshir nodded at Ginger in appreciation as he got Sanura something to eat. She walked back to the campsite for her cans of Cram when she heard the words. "Why, if I were not busy with this fire, I may have joined the two of you in your utafutaji" Coming from Marcus's mouth and directed to Sanctity. She couldn't stop herself from blushing a tiny bit. Xeshir might have known a bit of Marcus's language, but the words "utafutaji" where definitely foreign for her. She sat down on the campfire and winked at the zebra stallion. "You could have just asked, I'm sure an extra member would have made it more fun." She said.