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 Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 7:00 pm
 With everything that Roland had been through lately, he had decided to visit Mossflower for a little while to relax. Oddly enough, as he was walking around, he saw that the area where he had gotten his new clothing now had a sign that said "The Wooden Stage Bar". When he looked around, he saw quite a few critters laying about with either bottles of alcohol or corks set near them. Looking down, he noticed one at his feet and, after looking around to see if it belonged to anyone near by, he picked it up curiously. As he looked at it, he noticed something was written on it. "Number eight," he said out loud, "Wonder what that means."
((Sorry it's kind of short.))
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 3:57 pm
Miss a drinking contest? Never! Why, little Burrik was the reigning champion across Mossflower (in the eyes of the two young mice). He had to maintain his title! Toki and Burrik had managed the round fairly well--meaning they hadn't been unconscious for very long before reviving to drunkenly count the spoils of the competition.
"Thas....snevendy-five," Toki announced with a hiccup as she topped off a small pyramid of corks with a #3. Burrik beamed blearily up at the young mousemaid from where he sat with one arm propped triumphantly on his bottle of ale. She had such a gift for numbers. "Or twenny-five wi' tha one tha lizzrd dropped," she slurred, somehow managing to use the correct number. "Scha think we shoo'... do.. wi'm..?" The mousemaid's voice wavered, head drooping with each word.
Burrik to the rescue! It took the little mouse several seconds to realize his friend was dozing off against, and, eyes narrowed with concentration, he reached forward, missed her completely the first time, then managed to give her shoulder a little shove. "Norrag'aslep, Toke..." Burrik was never the most eloquent of tiny mice. Drunk, well...that communication ability deteriorated significantly. "Gonnag'ra cooorks!" What a good word! But the sentence was not over. "...snatched," he mumbled, puzzling the word as if he wasn't entirely sure why he had said it.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 4:53 pm
Roland had been looking around for someone who might know what the corks are for when he noticed the two young mice stacking corks. They had so many of them, they had to have some idea what they were for, didn't they? He took a few hops toward them before stopping to put the cork in his beak, deciding it was uncomfortable to hop with it in his talon. He took it out after hopping the rest of the way over to the two so that he could talk to them. "Hello," he said to them as he looked at Toki's pyramid of corks, wondering just how many there were. "Did you win all of those?" he asked, it not taking long for him to figure out that there had been some sort of drinking contest there. That was what a bar was for, right? And why else would they have so many corks? He looked away from the mouse's tower of corks and back to his lone cork that he held in his talon, remembering then what he wanted to ask and looking to the older of the two mice as he said, "Do you know what they're for?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 5:38 pm
It took both mice several seconds to register that they were being addressed, and both finally turned almost simultaneously to stare at the little bird. Seconds passed, both staring open-mouthed at the bright little creature, and finally Toki began to giggle. As her laughter escalated and she began to hiccup, Toki toppled over backward, laying outstretched on the ground.
Burrik, on the other hand, welcomed the bird with a broad grin. "H'lo," he mumbled, waving a forepaw as rapidly as he could without completely disorienting himself...which wasn't very fast. "Yah, s'won...lots. Me'nTokes ah good'a'drinks." He suddenly seemed to notice the cork the bird hand, and pointed a wavering paw towards it. "S'a good'n, tho-wuh." With continued exaggerated gestures, and apparently totally oblivious to the still-giggling mousemaid, he matter-of-factly explained, "Corks're...f'tradin. Be'er corksess, be'er....stuff!"
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 6:30 pm
Roland watched Toki begin to laugh and then hiccup, wincing slightly when she fell from her chair because of it. He turned his attention to the smaller mouse, who seemed to be perhaps a little less intoxicated, though he was fairly difficult to understand. He was able to make out from his slurred speech that they had indeed won the corks and they had done it by drinking, though that part was fairly obvious. He looked back down at the cork in his talon when the mouse pointed an unsteady paw towards it. He could only make out the word 'good'. Was the cork he found good?
He glanced at the mousemaid for a moment, looking slightly amused at the fact that she was still giggling. He knew it was probably just the alcohol, but he wondered if she thought something he had said was funny.
His attention was brought back to the boy mouse when he spoke again, explaining that the corks were for trading and that better corks meant better stuff. He then looked to the pile of corks that they had and thought, But more corks would mean more stuff, feeling perhaps a little jealous. He looked back to the mouse as he lifted his cork for a moment, having to set his foot back down to keep his balance, and said, "And this one is good?" He thought for a moment and then suggested, "How about we trade? This one cork for some of yours." Surely they didn't need so many. And surely two okay corks would be better than one good one, right? It made sense to him.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 7:22 pm
The trade was not unreasonable to Burrik, especially in his intoxicated state. He had yet to master the art of numbers, but he recognized the double-loopy symbol on Roland's as 'lots'. Normally he would have deferred to Toki, who did know basic math when she was sober, but in her current state she would have been utterly useless to them. Still, he saw no real reason not to make the trade...
But it was a very big responsibility! It would mean fewer corks for them, which would disrupt their pyramid a bit. Burrik frowned down at his little pile, then up to Roland's squiggley cork, then back to the pile. Well, he did have a few corks that had the same squiggles...Maybe he could give away a couple of those for the new double-loopy cork. With achingly slow, careful movements, the young mouse sorted through his pile and finally selected two corks. The markings on them were sort of similar...but maybe Roland wouldn't mind. With a #2 cork in one paw, and a #5 in the other, Burrik held out the offerings towards the bird for inspection. "Tradeja these f'dubble-squig?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 9:51 pm
Roland waited patiently for the mouse to decide, watching as he looked over his pile and soon grabbed a number two cork and a number five cork. It took a moment, but the bird added the two in his head to find that they only added up to seven. He frowned slightly at first, but then he heard he boy mouse's slurred words. His frown was replaced by a slightly confused look as he thought, Double what? He looked back down at his cork and at the number eight that was written on it. Oh. He can't read numbers, yet, he thought as he looked back at the two corks he was holding out. For all that little mouse knew, the two corks he was holding could have added up to more than eight. It was pure luck, it seemed, that they were just one short.
After a moment of thought, the brightly colored bird convinced himself that he was okay with this trade, that he could make those two corks work well for him, perhaps even better than if he kept the eight. He was a very capable little bird, after all. He gave a nod and said, "Deal," before taking the two corks in his beak and holding out the one in his talon. Once the mouse took the number eight cork, Roland gave a nod, since his mouth was full, and started hopping away. He was really starting to wish he had a bag of some sort.
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Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2011 8:28 pm
The trade was agreed upon, and Burrik passed over the two corks. He really wasn't sure who had come out ahead. He did know that one cork was certainly easier to carry than two, especially considering his own inebriated state and the small pile of trophies he and Toki had amassed. Between the two of them, they should be able to cart these corks around without dropping them... if she ever stopped laughing.
The young mouse frowned blearily over at his friend, then carefully restacked the accumulated corks. Poor Toki, couldn't hold her liquor. Once she recovered, they'd figure out what to do next.
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