Procuring Supplies

[Ronin Martok]

Ronin stomped through the portion of the marketplace that was set up for beasts from the surrounding countryside to come in and, for a fee, set up stands and sell their wares. The available goods were quite numerous, ranging from jewelry, cloth and dishes to fresh produce, raw metals and wildflowers. The street was quite busy this time of day as many of the soldiers' families that lived in the village were here buying the essentials for living. Older ottermums hurried here and there, sometimes with a line of kits trailing after them carrying assorted packages. Lone squirrels strutted around, looking for a new cloak or haversack.

The shrew cook plunged into the milling jumble, intent on reaching the produce booths. Normally he would have had an easy time slipping through the crowd, but the large basket on his back hindered his movements and so he was reduced to growling whenever somebeast larger bumped into him because they weren't looking where they were going. He passed by where a small group of traveling performers were playing a well-known song. He sniffed the air, smelling the unmistakable scent of bread baked that morning and fresh fruit and vegetables.

He lifted the basket slightly, stretching his shoulders before he started slowly down the street that was lined on both sides by booths. He was here to restock the pantry with food for the army. He was also hoping to find some beasts that he could make contracts with to deliver bread and fresh produce directly to the fort's kitchens each morning. Things were in such a disarray with the supply situation and it was time to get some things straight. He had a budget that he needed to work within and he'd argue with anybeast that tried to gyp him out of his gold. Fort's gold.

[Linx Exotic]

OOC: Do you want NPC work here? I know, this is a microscopic post, but I need to ask it before I can do anything at all. If I had to do PC work I'd probably just walk in and give you a bunch of money but I don't think that would advance things.

[Blue]

OOC: I think NPC might work better...

Jovianne pushed her way through the crowded market place, trying to keep Ronin in sight. Her basket, which had been quite comfortable before, now sagged down her back, and she tried to hitch it up as a few of the shoppers brushed roughly by. Her head spun with the many sights, sounds and smells; fresh bread baking, bright fruits and leafy vegetables sitting in the wintry sunlight, the calling and shouting of beasts exchanging goods. She glanced from one stall to the other as merchants tried to sell her their produce.

"Need some good cooking herbs and spices, miss? We got everything, ginger, corriander, an' plenty of hotroot pepper!"
"Piping hot pastries and loaves, get 'em while they're still here, miss!"
"Need some veggies? Lots here for ye!"

She scurried forward until she was right behind the shrew chef. "Umm, what exactly are we looking for?" she asked hesitantly. All of those things sounded good, but she wasn't sure if they were absolutely necessary for the mess hall kitchens.

[Snowflower]

Snowflower was quiet as she explored the market place. So many sights and different spells. She felt her eyes ache from wandering all over the place. One minute she saw a ottermum scolding her adorable fisty little kits, another and she saw a squierll selling fragil plates and yelling at a mouse who had reached a paw out to touch one and accidentally broke it. She blinked and another minute passed and there was another scene going on. A bunch of shrews were fighting about something-they looked like they hadn't reached manhood yet but on the verge of getting there. One threw a punch.
Snowflower closed her eyes for a moment and just listened to all that was around her.
"NO You do not run away from Mommy!"
"What are your talking about?! I didn't mean to break that plate i just did! I was just-"
"Take that you no good lyin' son of a-"
"I don't care if you just wanted to look at the pretty shiny things no matter what you don't leave mommy!"
"Look maybe we could work out a deal-I'll pay HALF of what is owed..."
"Oh yeah? You wanna mess wit me?!?! YOU WANNA MESS WITH ME?! *punch*"

Snowflower opened her eyes again. With them closed was just as bad as them open...
She set down her basket and tried to catch up with the rest of her group. At last she stood next to Ronin and Jovianne. "Well, what are we gonna do?" she said.

[shauntee]

Shauntee was walking from the ocean through the streets of the market place, looking about her as she slung her large sack of tasty shellfish and seaweed over her right shoulder with her right paw. She spotted Ronin, the shrew cook bumping alone and growling. She tried not to laugh out loud because she did not want to piss off the head cook. She made her way, winking to Jovianne and Snowflower who were following him. "Hey Ronin matey, its Shauntee from the infermary. Yea need any help haulin' yor baskets back ta base when ya bought yor vittles?" She was a pretty strong otter, even with a dripping sack hanging over her right shoulder.

[Ronin Martok]

Ronin stopped in the middle of the road, allowing Snowflower and Jovianne to catch up with him. They both seemed rather stunned by the mass of beasts that milled around the stalls. He didn't see anything all that unusual about it himself. In fact, in his opinion the crowd was quite small. The shrew had, after all, come from a rather large city. He turned towards both of the females, not caring that the basket on his back caused an otter to take a detour around the shrew.

"We're going to be restocking on everything. Jovianne. Go around to the vegetable and fruit sellers. Check out the prices and quality of their produce. We want the best we can get within a reasonable price. Also see if they're willing to enter into some sort of contract and maybe give us a discount if they deliver what we order to the fort's kitchens three days a week."

This would be a good time to see what the ottermaid actually knew about running a kitchen.

"Snowflower. See what the prices are on herbs and spices. If it seems reasonable, make a note. Just don't get anything that we can grow ourselves within a reasonable amount of time."

The shrew patted a pouch at his waist.

"Do not buy anything without my say so. I've got the gold here to pay for what we'll be getting and I'm not about to spend a coin of it until I'm sure we've found the best we can."

With that, Ronin turned away from the two. His eyes scanned the booths. His task was to find a baker and hopefully a seafood seller. Of course the shrew was capable of making his own bread, but for the first few weeks while he got the kitchen back up and running it would be much simpler to buy it. He was interrupted as he made his way through the crowd by an otter carrying a bag over her shoulder. He cast a suspicious eye over her. How was it she knew his name? Ye've been meetin' so many new beasts that ye've probably forgot half of them. She seemed to be on friendly terms with his two helpers however.

He sniffed, catching a wiff of sea water from her sack. How stupid can you get? The thought was directed at himself. He was in a fort of primarily otters! Who needed to spend money on seafood when he could just assign and otter or two to go out and, probably once a week, collect food directly from the sea? The privledges of captaincy were so nice. Plus, it wasn't like the soldiers had anything else to do with all their time.

"Aye. If'n ye could help Jovianne."

She had the largest number of booths to cover, seeing as vegetables and fruit made up at least half the stalls. She'd also have the heaviest basket as soon as he started shelling out coins in exchange for the goods. Turning again towards the baker stalls, the shrew pushed his way through the crowd with little grace and much grumbling.

[Snowflower]

"Aye," Snowflower said. She sniffed the air. Looking around the market place, she could see many things, but using her senses to see where the best herbs were was probably the best idea. She twisted her head around. The best, freshest herbs were over in the darker part of the market place. Usually it was the worst place to buy things, many of the products illigal, not to mention the many different shady creatures over there. She knew it was probably a bad idea to go over there but she just had to see what they had.
She took hesitant steps over toward the herb-smell until at a stall with many different plants and a shady looking rat. He gruffed at her and Snowflower narrowed her eyes.
She hastily looked around. His stall had pretty common herbs, nearly all of them she could grow herself. She huffed, having gone over here for nothing and got ready to march away.
"Wait," croaked the strange rat. he wore a patched up cloak that Snowflower did not like the look of.
"There's more in the back," he used a old wooden cane to limp over to the back of a stall and lifted a pair of black curtains to show behind it. Snowflower felt a sense of dread, not wanting to go back there.
"Bring it out!" she commanded. The rat looked like he would rather not but with a glare and flick of her nose, he hastily dissappeared into the curtains.

[Ronin Martok]

Ronin was faced with three stalls in front of him that displayed their baked goods. The smell of freshly baked bread permeated the air. He sniffed it. The stall on the right smelled a tad salty, which was understandable seeing as it was run by an old sea otter mum. Sea otter tastes are a little too extreme to satisfy all the beasts in the fort. The other two proved to be more promising.

He started at the middle one, at first just giving the appearance that he was browsing. The hue of the bread crusts were right, although the selection seemed limited to sourdough and white with the options of loaves or rolls. One good thing was that there was a massive quantity on display, just the kind of quantity he would need for an army. However, the price was a tad high. The shrew knew first hand what it cost to obtain all the ingrediants needed, and this stall's owner was making a very nice profit. Ronin decided to give it a rating of acceptable. He moved on before the two mice running the booth had a chance to see him linger long enough to give their sales pitch at him. If the third one wasn't any better, he'd probably be coming back anyways.

The third stall was smaller than the other two and was being run by only one creature, a shrewmaid. Ronin's ears perked up a tad as he saw another of his own species. Shrews seemed to be rather scarce in these parts. She was small and graceful, talking lightly with the customers that came to buy her wares. She wore a dark purple scarf on her head and a clan apron. Ronin pulled his attention away from her to look at what she was selling.

Unlike the other booth, the shrewmaid didn't have a large quantity, but the variety she offered was stunning. Long loaves, short loaves, round loaves, rolls, braids, white, wheat, sourdough, sweet, savory, and spicy. Ronin stepped closer. Her prices were also much more reasonable than the other booth. His stiff face relaxed a little. He could tell that she was a creature who was doing what she loved for a living. She didn't care about making a huge profit, but just enough to get by.

He wondered if she would be willing and capable of supplying the fort with bread for a few weeks. He smiled slightly as the shrewmaid's voice raised a tad as she slapped the paw of an otterkit who had grabbed one of her sticky buns. He put is ashamedly back and his mother apologized profusely. She's no push-over either. Ronin waited a few moments for the ottermum and her kit to leave before stepping up to the front of the stall.

[Blue]

Smiling at the otter introducing herself as Shauntee, Jovianne beckoned to her with a paw. "Let's get going," she said. "We have a lot of stalls to go through." Hefting her basket, she strode through the crowd, soon learning how to weave around the beasts in her way and moving quickly.

She paused at a stall that seemed promising, filled with a wide variety of fruits. A little mousemaid shuffled out from behind the counter, where only the tips of her ears had been seen. "Welcome," she mumbled. "Mummy's gone to get more supplies. What would you like?"

Jovianne cast an amber eye over the produce, picking up an apple for inspection. "Just browsing, little miss," she replied. She placed the fruit down, satisfied with the quality. "How much does everything cost?"

The mousemaid handed her a list, containing all of the prices. Anny's jaw dropped as she read. "That's... steep..." she murmered. The small mouse shrugged, taking the parchment back as the squirrel wandered away to another stall. This one had better prices, and the otter who owned it was friendly enough, but the vegetables were old and the fruits had an unhealthy look to them. She sighed and went on to the next place.

"Now this is quality," she thought, admiring the bins of shiny fruits and vegetables on display. As the cheerful volewife told her how she and her husband had grown this crop themselves, she checked the prices. They were reasonable, and Jovianne decided to ask about a contract. The vole was delighted, and Anny promised to speak with the head cook about it before heading off to find Ronin.

[shauntee]

Shauntee smiled and nodded from Ronin and went and followed Jovianne. "How about I carry yor basket, that way you can check out the goods?" Shauntee offered. Her large bag of shell fish didn't weigh enough to hinder her from carrying the basket. Shauntee caught sight of sellers with fish, shellfish and sea weed. She must try an remember to talk to the cook about foraging parties, then again, maybe it was her background at her old holt where they were taught to live off the land and there was nothing like this market place.

(Sorry it took so long, been working my butt of and its not good when I work more then I have time off)

[Snowflower]

Snowflower bit her lip a bit and looked around. Scruffling noises and growls could be heard from inside the small den behind the black curtains. The rat could be heard grummbling. At last he came out, black and moldy pots filled his hands. He murmured to himself as he laid them in front of her. She looked in his eyes and noticed one had a nervous constant twitch. She looked back down at all the herbs.
Hmm this one was nice...Suddenly she gasped.
This one was Althaea Officinalis...known otherwise as the Marsh Mallow. It was a highly useful herb, used both for eating as a vegetable, and medicinal. Its main medicinal uses include as an immune system stimulant, for throat and stomach inflammation, and externally for bruises, aches, and pains. The leaves and roots are eaten and sometimes used in salads. Ronin would love this! And Snowflower herself would find such a great use for it...after all it was an annual herb.
She bit her lip. What a great herb and she really needed it. Her garden was just missing this one little thing. And it was in such good condition...So healthy looking and it smelled wonderful.
First she would test to see if this shady looking rat knew his stuff. She hoped he hadn't noticed how much she really wanted it and asked, "What is this one?" Snowflower pointed to the herb in question.
The rat looked down at it in silence. "uhhh..." he gruffed. "Tis not a herb for a young mousie like yourself..." he said at last. It was then she knew. He had absolutely no idea what this herb was, only that it was expensive. She tried to best not to smile but a twitch of the lip escaped.
"Why whatever are you talking about??" she cried, hoping to make a scene. "This herb is naught but a mere decoration for the den, maybe a spice like parsely to sprinkle on food!" she cried. The rat looked worried, very worried. "Er I seem to have mistaken it for something else...Wait a minute," the rat's eyes when wide for a second then became evil slits. "You asked a second ago what this 'erb was!" he said leaning closer to her, she could smell his foul breath. "Don't lie to meh, poppet."
Snowflower realized the grave mistake she'd made.
"Oh I merely was testing you to see what you knew," she sniffed begining to turn, thinking that at this point he'd already caught up to her scheme.
"Wait wait," he cried, "Don't you want to see how much it's worth!?"
Oh of course. She was still a possible costomer. She turned around and brought a coin from her purse and laid it on the table, where it rested with a small thunk. The old rat's eye twitched with greed. A paw snaked its way to the coin but Snowflower held it back. She stared at the plant. His eyes glanced at it two and he smiled. "Two."
She gave him a look as if to say, "That much?" but gave him his coins and took the Marsh Mallow, knowing it was worth much more.

[Ronin Martok]

“What can I help you with?”

The voice of the shrewmaid was charming to say the least. Ronin stepped up to the stall, giving a slight smile. He didn’t want to look like he was flirting. He wasn’t. He was here for business.

“Wondering if’n ye’d be interested in delivering bread to the fort for a couple weeks until I get the kitchen up and runnin’.”

She rearranged a couple of rolls to fill up the gaps that had been left when customers bought them.

“Kitchen? It’s about time that place got a real cook. I’m Shea Tullins.”

She held out her paw. Ronin accepted it, giving it a light shake and a slight bow over it, noting that she seemed to adhere to the older, traditional shrew manners.

“Ronin Martok. A pleasure to meet ye.”

Returning to her stool behind the stand, Shea perched on it.

“Now, about this bread delivery. I normally don’t do such a thing. I live out beyond the walls and cart my bread in here every day. How much are you willing to pay?”

Ronin nodded.

“Well, I can provide a beast to help transport the bread seeing as it will only be for a few weeks. As for a price…how does a ten percent mark up on your prices sound for the bulk baking and extra working hours?”

It was a nice offer and Shea nodded.

“I suppose I can do that. You have a list of what you want me to make?”

Ronin had thought about it, but he didn’t quite have a concrete answer.

“Well, you know what your loaves can feed better than anybeast else. How about a day’s supply for the army, whatever ye think that may be.”

Shea nodded. Ronin was quite certain that she wouldn’t try and bring them more than they could use. Such a charming and respectable shrewmaid simply did not do things like that.

“Here’s a down payment. See you tomorrow.”

The coins were accepted and Ronin turned to go find the others. I had only been a short encounter but he was already thinking of how to spend some time with Shea again without making it seem obvious that that was what he was doing. Ye’ve never been this way before in your life! He chuckled to himself. I’ve never met a shrew like her before in my life. All the others were so snappish and argumentative. He pushed his way through the crowd, his basket now weighed down a tad with the bread he had also bought for tonight’s meal. He strained up on his tiptoes, trying to find Snowflower, Shauntee and Jovianne.

He met his assistant near the herb stands. She must have been trying to find him also.

“How’d it go?”

[Snowflower]

Snowflower cluched her new herb and smiled as she saw her cook heading over.

"Very well, and you?"

Judging by the little smile tugging at Ronin's lips she could guess it went well, quiet well in fact.

[Blue]

Jovianne walked with Shauntee through the crowd, the basket she'd handed to the otter filled with various fruits and vegetables. They were trying to find Snowflower and Ronin. Pausing to stand on her toes and look, she frowned at the mass of bodies blocking her view. She inched toward the pole of a snow-covered awning, and quickly climbed to the top, seeing much more clearly. She spotted them by an herb stand. Darting back to the ground, she pointed. "They're over there," she said to Shauntee, before making her way over. Ronin and Snowflower were only a little way off.

[shauntee]

Shauntee nodded to Blue, seeing the two others over there between many other creatures who were making deals and buying supplies. "Aye, so ye got everything on yor list?" She asked, carrying the basket and making her way to the others.