Emily swung her wooden sword against a stool in the Messenger Depot with a resounding ‘clack!’ “Take that you…you…kraken!” She declared, “You’ve been defeated by Emily The Bold!”
Just as she was about to teach the stool…er…Kraken, another lesson the door banged open. Several large men entered carrying crates and dropped them on the floor of the depot.
“Shut the door!” Emily and the other messengers shouted in unison, mimicking the usual greeting they received from Fathers Moonwall and Pizzaro when one of them entered and didn’t, the second they were through the frame, shut the door.
“Excuse me,” Reliable said, her bunny nose a-twitch, “But what is this?”
“Dunno, told to bring these crates to the Messenger Depot. So’s we did.” Said one of the men, they left without closing the door.
Emily was the first to them, “It’s from Winterfell!” She declared, recognizing the mark.
Reliable looked over her shoulder, “Very good. Who are they to?”
“Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!” Shouted a younger boy, Roger, lifting his hand and hopping around on his toes, “Oh! Oh! Oh! Let me! Let me!”
Reliable rolled her eyes, “Go ahead, then.”
Roger darted forward, “To th-the c-city of New Babbage!”
“Very good, anything else?”
“From the Munny—monici—munici…”
“Municipal!” One of the older boys, Ben, shouted, reading over his shoulder.
“Aw! Not fair! I was reading it!” Roger complained.
“Read faster then!” Ben seized the younger and gave him a noggie.
Though there were only six messengers left in the city, you’d have thought that, for the noise they made, they were at full strength.
“Stop. Stop! STOP!” Reliable shouted, “OY! Don’t make me report you lot to Brothers Lapis and Scorpio!”
Hush fell among them.
Emily was the first to speak-up again, “What’s it mean if it’s to the whole city?”
Reliable looked down at it, a little puzzled herself, “Guess we should give it to the Mayor?”
One of the boys wrinkled his nose, “If it’s to the whole city, why not just open it up and delivery whatever’s in there to everyone?”
There was a general shout of “Yeah yeah!” and before Reliable could stop them someone had taken a crowbar to the lid and pried it open. Another hush fell and puzzled young faces stared down into the crate.
“Whatssat?”
“Ew! It’s Green!”
Reliable reached past them and broke a slender branch off, “It’s mistletoe!” She exclaimed, a sudden brightness coming into her eyes. Six young puzzled faces gazed up at her, she blushed, “You hang it in your house, for…um, luck.”
A disappointed “Oh.” came from the collective.
“Well! C’mon, get your packs! We gots mistletoe to deliver!” Emily exclaimed, already shoving the green stuff into her own pack by the handful, “Dibs on The Gut!”
“Awww!” One of the other boys complained, “I wanted to deliver in The Gut!”
“Snooze you loose!” Emily stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry and was out the door with her pack stuffed full before Reliable could shout, “Wait! I think we should give it to the Mayor!”
((I was told that strange things happen when the Mistletoe comes from Winterfell…Good luck!))
((Oooooh THAT could get interesting…))
What could be better to raise hope than a lot of people kissin each other.
Tepic decides to keep his gasmask ON!
Wait! What? Mistletoe is for KISSING?! Emily arms herself with her wooden sword, This is going to be a lot more dangerous than I thought!
((I’ll be out delivering Mistletoe all week :) I’ll also deliver any messages someone wants sent along, y’know, early christmas gifts or love letters, whichever. ’tis the season!))
There is a “City Messenger” tag available in the Church of the Builder group, since the Depot is on land deeded to that group. You will have to ask one of the Brothers to tag you after you join the group.
There are warm beds.
Prims are limited, but we will keep some free for the use of the couriers.