Ginny had said that Elberry Lane was located in a bad neighborhood, but Murmur knew her way around a bad neighborhood like she knew her way around a fish's twisted innards. Even at this hour, the street had an audible soundtrack- one made of couples rowing and slurred cursewords, an unwanted baby crying blue murder through a tiny throat laced with colic, and the sob of a widow as she lost herself in the bottom of a bottle.

Murmur spoke this language fluently, though it could never be taught, and didn't wince at the sound of glass hitting a wall, didn't wrinkle her nose at the smell of excrement thrown from a window trickling it's way into the gutter and didn't blink at the the flea bitten dog looking out on the street with baleful, hungry eyes.

"Five-two-nine Elderberry lane," she said turning to Seth with a nervous smile, "Reckon it should be round 'ere someplace. Dunno what Ginny meant by bad neighborhood. I ent seen anyone crappin in the street yet- this is a family place." " She tried to focus with her better eye on street numbers and realized she was holding her breath.

"Clocks I'm nervous," she confessed absentmindedly, to her friend- who she admittedly felt like she was relying on for most of this process, which Murmur always preferred not to do. The only people you could ever really trust were family, but after all that had happened in Old Rose a part of Murmur accepted the younger- but more experienced- human as part of her extended family "was ye like this, afore ye joined as well?" She was terrified, it was true, but she wanted to join far more than she was scared to join, which was all the conformation she needed that this was the right decision.

Murmur had nothing to lose, she had started with virtually nothing and still had most of it left and with that thought fresh in her mind, a blue eye fixed on the digits 529.

((When you say Granny, do you mean my NPC?))

Seth, on the other hand, was not so nonchalant about the place in which they found themselves. It wasn’t that he hadn’t seen it all before, it just bothered him. He wanted to help these people, but knew he couldn’t possibly help them all. It was one reason he had joined the resistance- to do his part to make life easier for a lot of people. Certainly there would always be the slums, the prostitutes, drug addicts, drunkards, and a number of other people who either couldn’t, or wouldn’t be helped, but he would still be helping people as a whole- he hoped.

He cringed internally at the pitiful cries of the baby, and wished its mother would find it and take care of its needs.



“Nervous? Oh, yeah, I was very nervous. But I got through it with Minke.” He smiled lightly, “You’ll be fine. I'm here to help ya”

Where before she might have snapped to Seth'I don' need yer help' Murmur only responded with a sniff, "Well that's useful," she said slightly sarcastically, though her smile let Seth know she really was grateful to have him around- just not entirely sure how to vocalize it without sounding like some wishy washy golly loving weakling. "Though I'm sorry I ent no pretty wick," and to establish this, she spat onto the floor as was her habit.

"Been wanting te do this fer ages," to get back at the gollies for what they had done to her, to the shop and to her Ma.

"I should jus knock, I reckon." She hadn't thought about what she was going to say, Murmur realized, just stumbled blindly into the situation as she was prone to do. "Prolly ent a good first impression te break a window or summing like that."

Nevertheless, she knocked on the door, breathing "Nothin' ventured, nothin' gained," in a quiet voice, as though the mantra would somehow give her a little more strength.

Murmur might have been expecting an old woman to answer the door. Instead she saw a young woman, with impractically long hair and the kind of expression that usually heralded violence. She seemed to have a casual, almost habitual, air of impertinence and a face that would have been beautiful were it not for the sneer on it.

Murmur, being a worldly sort, might have noticed that she was younger than she looked. She looked to be one of those people that were born racing, towards something even they couldn't define. She leaned against the door jamb, hip cocked like a rifle and her arms crossed. She looked effortlessly combative.

"What you want?" She said, looking the pair up and down.

She sounded roughly the same.

(( Sorry for taking so long, was under the impression that Murmur was gonna post. ))

Seth stared blankly at the woman, waiting for a few awkward moments of silence. When Murmur didn't seem interested in talking at first, he took a breath and spoke for her, "Erm... We're here to see Granny." Was that right? Or was it 'We're looking for Granny'? Certainly it was close enough either way and she would get the point... he hoped. "It's... about the party." Gods, pull yourself together. You're already with the par- the resistance, if that little trick with the gun wasn't enough to prove it.... He smiled sheepishly, clearing his throat and nudging Murmur.

"Smooth," said Murmur out of the corner of her mouth to him, clearly instrumental to the resistance that one she thought, with a kind of mental eye roll- but it was a fond mental eye roll.

"Evenin'," said Murmur with a nod of her head, deciding it was her place to do most of the talking. "It's like 'e said- got told te ask fer Granny. I tek it that ent ye- unless ye got started with spittin' out chillun awful early, or someone's got a sense of humor," she spat on the ground inelegantly.

Looking the girl up and down, she too cocked her hip in a mirror of the girls demeanor, chin raised and a defiant expression on her face. After years of lying through her teeth, Murmur knew exactly how to fake confidence. "So you're lettin us come in, yeah?" Murmur figured it'd be a terrible secret resistance if they just conducted all of their business out in the street, for the neighbors to hear.

"Ha. Ha." She said, glaring petulantly. "If you've got any weapons, leave 'em at the door. Don't want you starting anything."

She said this with a slight hint of paranoia that made it's way out from beneath her veneer of toughness. She turned into the house, not moving away from the door yet.

"Oi! Granny, visitors!" She shouted, voice loud and jarring in the night time quiet.

"Do not shout in this house." Replied a soft, powerful voice. A stick appeared from behind and whacked the girl across the knuckles. She shrieked and jolted out of the way. Behind her stood an old woman, with fluffy white hair spreading out like a halo. Her thin field marked her as a wick but for all its weakeness, it seemed to have a certain quickness to it. Like a hawk on the breeze or a snake that was waiting to strike.

"Ow, Granny..." The girl whined.

"Go make tea." Granny replied, "there's a girl."

She eyed Seth and Murmur carefully for a moment. Her gaze was measured and firm, though unjudgemental. It felt more like she wanted to take her time than it felt scrutiny.

"Party business, hmm?" She said, apparently satisfied that no threat was arising. "It's gotten me into trouble lately, come in. Tell me what you're here for while we walk."

She led the way, into the house and passing down a long corridor. There was light at the end of it, though it was dim.

Murmur hitched up her skirt and detached her de-boning knife from its position before holding it up, "If this gets stolen I'm 'oldin ye personally responsible," she said gruffly to the young girl before letting it fall onto to the floor with a metallic clang.

As the old woman approached, Murmur eyed her carefully. She didn't look like much, Murmur knew more than anyone that appearances could be deceiving. Had Murmur been that sort of person, she may have bowed to the wick, but respect towards one's elders was another polite nuance that Murmur had thankfully been able to avoid- she offered Granny a small jerk of her head and left it at that. Though when the blow reached the young girls knuckles and she yelped like a yoffell that had been trodden on, Murmur suppressed a grin as her admiration for Granny increased ten-fold.

She wasn't going to spit in this house, which was the biggest sign of respect the young Muck would ever show anyone.



"Right," said Murmur as she stepped through the door,her finger twisting it's way nervously through her hair, "I wanna join up, I ent gonna make no bones about it. An' ye don't have te worry about me, e's a member," she jerked her thumb at Seth, "'e told me te talk te a barmaid, who told me te talk te you. An' here I am, an' I can assure ye I'm legit an' serious an' all that. 'E can vouch fer me."

Murmur flashed Seth a look that plainly said 'If you don't vouch for me this very minute I will pull your spleen out of somewhere sensitive and then make you eat it again'

Seth's face fell just a little bit at that- just how many pointy things did he have on him? With a slightly disgruntled sigh, he placed his gun and his primary dagger on the floor, then set to work finding all the hidden daggers and knives and what-have-you.



He was still disarming himself, amassing quite the pile of small blades on the floor, and sort of hopped on one foot as he pulled the last pointy (or what he wouldn't mind them assuming was his last pointy) from his boot and tossing it into the pile, jogging the short distance to catch up to the two.



"Smooth," He countered out of the corner of his lips, before noticing the look in her eye- which was really quite the scary gaze to find oneself under, and cleared his throat, "Erm, yea! I can vouch for her. She's got quite the fighting spirit in her, I think she'd do very well in the party..." It might have sounded a little frantic, not wanting to go through what ever sort of implication Murmur's dangerous glare had promised, but it was also quite true.

The end of the corridor opened into a small kitchen area. The young woman was stomping about near the stove, sulking as she reached for cups. Granny ignored her. She raised a sceptical brow at Seth.

"Party member?" She glanced at the woman, she merely glanced at Seth and shrugged. "What's your code name, then. Perhaps I've heard of that."

She hobbled over to the kitchen table, it was round and largish. The wood was old and fading but still servicable. Granny sat down, fidgeting until she was comfortable. She gestured for Murmur and Seth to do the same.

"Fighting spirit, that's all well and good." She said, as though she believed it to be. "What can you do then? Skills and such. Thank you Serenity."

The woman, apparently named Serenity, placed a cup of tea carefully down in front of Granny, then considerably less carefully in front of Seth and Murmur. The tea slopped over the sides, dripping onto the wood beneath. Granny looked frustrated for a moment but did not comment.

"Would you like a cup of tea as well, Serenity?" Granny asked.

"Ne." Serenity replied. "N don't call me Serenity."

She glared at her feet. Granny sighed, under her breath and looked back up at Murmur, waiting for her to reply.

Murmur blinked for a moment, considering her skill-set, which even she wouldn't consider all that impressive. As the tea was placed in front of her, she looked into it as though reading tea-leaves a little too soon. She wondered if Granny would mind if she mugged up that tea using the hipflask full of rum she had stored in her bosom.

"Urr...I ent got a resume or nothin'," shrugged Murmur, "but I can take a punch better'n most, an' I know a lot of cons- used te run em with my brother's an' sisters so reckon I'm a fair actress an' liar," rubbing her nose, she decided to bite the bullet and poured a few drops from her hip flask before taking a sip, "an I got a strong stomach. Comes from workin' in a fish shop. Takes a lot te rile me an' I can gut an' de-bone a fish in fifteen seconds flat...they ent so different fish an' gollies."

It wasn't much, Murmur realized with disappointment, she couldn't do magic and she wasn't some kind of assassin, her biggest achievement to date was the fish thing.

"I know I ent much. But I'm willin' an I'll learn...I will."

"Sti..." Seth bit his lip. The name really was an odd one, but he pushed that out of his mind, letting it roll off his tongue, anyway, "Sticky Paws..." Sticky, of course, referred to how things from other people's pockets 'magically' appeared in his own, and Paws referring to the cat he typically had perched on his shoulder- or that's what Seth had made of it, at any rate. He smiled encouragingly at Murmur when she spoke, wanting to help more, but reminding himself that this was her gig, and she would likely want to do the talking... if she didn't, she could give him another murderous glance and he would take the hint.

((SFSR))

"Sticky Paws..." Granny repeated, her voice weighed down by her consideration. "Ne, never heard of you."

Serenity held back a snigger. Granny whacked her on the knuckles again.

"I haven't heard of you because I've been keeping low." She clarified, annoyed at the younger woman who had again started glaring. "I don't know most of the new recruits these days."

It seemed as though she thought this was a point in her favour. The resistance was well known for protecting its secrets, largely because their security measures were tight. Granny had clearly been involved in the resistance for a long time. To have survived so long was to her credit.

"Don't take this the wrong way, chip but we need odd job men. Couriers, occasional smugglers, that sort of thing. Ye don't look to be in the sort of career that fosters spying but yer in just the right position to be able to help out in tight spots." She sipped her tea. "This is lovely tea."

"Thank you Granny." Said Serenity, some slight brightness hiding in her voice.

"No one notices a human wandering about with a cart full of laundry, or fish in your case, if what you say about deboning a fish is true. I can try you out on being a courier." Granny said, still sipping and humming appreciatively. "Useful skill, deboning a fish. Very useful. Drink your tea."

"Yeah, I can do that," said Murmur brightly, "course I can do that. Thank ye, Ma'am, I won't let you down."

She looked at Seth and grinned, "Good news isn't it, Sticky Paws?" To her, the code name was rather odd, and Murmur automatically assumed it was something to do with having sweaty palms. She took a sip of the tea and smiled again.

"Lucky we come 'ere, it is good tea. Kind of weird I got sent te you though, if yer lyin' low at the moment- but I can do odd jobs, don't get much odder'n Murmur Muck."

Serenity seemed to be paying closer attention now than she had before. Granny was also watching, carefully.

"Slowing, not lying down. My role has changed, as is the way of things." Granny said, sipping her tea. "I used to in less of an... adminisitrative position."

Serenity smiled. It was not a nice smile.

"I have a job for you, a delivery. Just a small package, though you'll need to be quick about it." Granny looked at Seth, as if waiting for him to do something.

((Bump for Seth?))

((Oiy. So sorry for the long wait, and the short reply. ))

Seth stared back blankly, unsure of what the elderly lady expected of him, "Umm...?" He then glanced at Murmur, as if asking for help, but mentally kicked himself for that almost immediately- he had come to help her, not the other way around, and then glanced back at Granny and met her gaze evenly.

Murmur began to feel heavy, tired. Her eyelids dipped and her breathing slowed. Granny seemed to be expecting this. Serenity was still watching Seth carefully.

Then Seth began to feel sluggish as well. It felt as though movement were a chore.

"Serenity, you didn't." Granny hissed.

Seth watched, something nagging at the back of his mind as Murmur suddenly appeared very sleepy, almost like... like they had slipped something into her drink. And this did not please him at all, a fierce, protective sort of anger flashing in him as suspicion of the old lady's intent began to sink in- about the same time he began to feel incredibly tired, as well, belated quite possibly by the fact that he hadn't had as much tea as Murmur.

Granny said something, and he didn't understand it: It seemed so muddled and fuzzy, almost far away. Out of desperation and fear, he found one of the few daggers that he had not managed to remove from his person and lashed out- only for the dagger and the hand holding it to land on the table with a soft, disappointing sort of thud. His movement was incredibly slow, and much more clumsy than usual, as if he were moving through water. "Wh.. what are you... doing...?" He felt incredibly drained, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to focus on anything other than trying to keep his consciousness. "Murmur...?"

Whatever Murmur had been expecting, this was not it. First, Murmur wondered about the strength of the rum she had sneaked, as a kind of drunkenness began to wash over her. This quickly turned to lethargy, and before Murmur could do anything but gargle incoherently her face smashed into the table. She would no doubt feel that later, but as it was she was sound asleep, a faint "Murr" escaping the corner of her mouth

Granny reached out with an aged kind of delicacy and pinched Serenity's neck. Serenity made a sound like a cow being murdered and fell off her chair. Granny had aimed for, and hit, a particularly tender nerve.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" She shrieked, writhing on the floor, her eyes beginning to tear up.

"We only knock out the new recruit! The new recruit! Sticky Paws was already in!" Granny said, looking red-faced and annoyed but not turning an eye to Serenity.

Serenity was aware that this meant she was in deep shit.

"I'm sorry, Granny, I thought..." Granny did not let her finish.

"You thought you'd ride the fenceline of my patience and that I'd let you get away with it. No more, get them both somewhere safe. Downtown, the B&B."

"That's miles away!"

Granny's stare spoke of retribution and pain and a million other experiences that Serenity wanted no part in. She nodded, obediently.

"Yes, Granny."

"And clean my throwing knives when you get back." Granny hissed, banging the end of her walking stick to the ground, signalling the end of their conversation.

"Yes Granny."

When Murmur and Seth awoke, they were on cold, wooden floor boards, in the B&B.