ratt
soot ball
No rat race for me...unless we're racing to fix a boiler.
Posts: 32
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Post by ratt on Apr 27, 2008 12:56:57 GMT -5
The boiler hummed loudly as it worked to heat the bath waters for the spirits above. Small soot creatures scuttled around in a line, carrying lumps of coal into the fuel store for the boiler, then racing back to gather more. Kamagi's plate of food lay half eaten next to him as he ground more herbs for the mixtures being requested. Lying on her back behind him was the boiler's repair girl. A Rat Spirit named Ratt. Her dark brown, almost black fur was slightly sooty from climbing behind the boiler not long ago, and a piece of stale bread lay on a plate next to her. Her sharp claws tore off tiny bits of the stiff bread, then plopped them into her long, narrow snout where her four sharp rat's teeth gnawed the bread into bits small enough for her to swallow. Off in a corner near the boiler and out of the way of the soot creatures was a large pile of blankets and pillows, Ratt's nest. Some of the blankets where gnawed and torn, others seemingly brand new.
It was near closing, so all this work was just for the last couple of guests. Kamagi finished his herb mixing for the day and leaned back to oversee the soot creatures work. Some of them started climbing up to nestle down onto Ratt's fur, as they were finished. The number of relaxing soot creatures grew as time slowly crawled on, and then it happened. The boiler made a sickening clank that startled Ratt into dropping a hunk of bread straight down her windpipe, making her sit up and cough until it fell out into her paw. She grunted lightly, then put the bread down on the ground for a soot creature to pick up and drop into the fuel tank of the boiler as she stood, dusting off her hind legs before padding quietly over to the boiler and sliding in behind it, her thin frame disappearing behind the ancient machine's bulk.
The soot creatures all gathered around Ratt's nest as the sound of a wrench and the occasional rap of claws or a fist upon the pipes permeated the air. Kamagi turned off the boiler, and sighed. "Ratt. The guests are all gone for the day. You can come out of there."
Ratt's long ears twitched as she stalled her working for a moment. "I'd rather fix it now, Kamagi, just so tomorrow I don't have to wake up early to fix it." She called, then continued tightening the loose bolts on the pipe that had popped off.
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Post by tin on Jul 7, 2008 16:44:43 GMT -5
Tin carried down a large box full of items--herbs that Kamagi had asked him to bring down in order to replenish his stores--and food for him and Ratt. Pulling open the sliding door, Tin crawled in and stood, walking over with the box and plates.
"Here you are Kamagi. They where were you said they'd be," he said, switching out the two food plates. "Anything more I can do for you, sir?" He looked over in the direction of the boiler, hearing noise behind it.
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ratt
soot ball
No rat race for me...unless we're racing to fix a boiler.
Posts: 32
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Post by ratt on Jul 7, 2008 17:35:35 GMT -5
Kamagi nodded at Tin."Let's see. Ratt? Do you need anything?"He called, digging into his food hungrily. The soot creatures gathered around Tin, wating for either him to feed them, or for Ratt to emerge and share her bread. Kamagi listened to the tinking and hissing from behind the boiler, then, when it stopped, he repeated his question.
There was still silence for a moment, then Ratt slid out from behind the boiler, a new coat of soot on her."Other than extra pipes and bolts, not really Kamagi. Unless....are there any old blankets or pillows? My nest is becoming less fluffy, and some of the blankets and pillows are burnt."She asked, sitting on the wooden walkway from the dumbwaiter to Kamagi's seat. Soot creatures surrounded her as she dug into the newer stale bread, handing out tiny bits she scraped off with her sharp claws.
Kamagi nodded to Tin, showing that he could speak directly to the boiler mechanic."What went wrong back there?"
Ratt glanced up at Kamagi."A pipe popped off. The steam was coming through too fast. I put it back on and tightened it, but it means that the pipe has to be switched out for a new one eventually, or it'll keep coming off."She turned back to her stale bread and nibbled on more.Then she looked at Tin."What's going on at the surface?"
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Post by tin on Jul 11, 2008 0:54:39 GMT -5
"I could get those blankets and pillows for you. There were definitely a lot of old ones up in the servant's quarters that no one uses," he said, nodding to Ratt.
"The surface is boring... Spirits come and go. I scrub tubs and get shoved down doing the dirty work of chores," he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a bag of the spiked candy. He threw some down for the soot creatures, wanting Ratt to have all her bread and not always have to share it. "I like it down here a lot better."
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ratt
soot ball
No rat race for me...unless we're racing to fix a boiler.
Posts: 32
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Post by ratt on Jul 11, 2008 19:20:57 GMT -5
Rat snorted, watching the soot creatures eat their candy. She wrapped what remained of her bread up and dashed into her nest quickly. A few moments later she emerged with her arms full of burnt blankets and pillows, leaving the nest a lot flatter. She tossed them into the furnace so they could be burnt as fuel in the morning, then climbed back up onto the wooden walkway and laying down.
"You think it's boring up there? At least YOU get to do something on a regular basis. Kamagi only needs me to fix the boiler and run up once in a blue moon to get more ingrediants or coal if we're suddenly out, which we never are. I spend my day lying about, watching the boiler and listening to it. Double checking the pipes, and watching the soot people."She said, closing her eyes."I have nothing to entertain myself with, I don't need to do much, and I can't sleep when the boiler's running in case I'm needed at a moments notice."
She streached."The most fun I have is when the boiler breaks down and I get to rework it's piping to fix it. That, and when that silly dragon flies off every night I can watch from the doorway...I hate him. He's free....I'm not. He comes and goes, I have to sit here and wait for orders that barely ever come. That boiler's old, but I've already gotten it fixed to the point where it only acts up once or twice a month."Her tail curled and uncurled lazily. She opened an eye and looked up at Tin."It'd be nice to have a pet to play with, or another small-time job to accompany this one. I'm bored to death here."
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Post by tin on Jul 13, 2008 22:41:48 GMT -5
Tin nodded, listening to Ratt. He had sat by now and was looking at the soot creatures. They fascinated him, much more so than some of the patrons he attended to. Sure, some of them had stories to tell and treated the bath house workers as close friends... but others just treated him and his fellows poorly. But it was especially worse to be a human--one was treated even more fouly than anyone else.
The boy suddenly perked up hearing the mention of a pet. "You interested in a pet?" So he had a horrible tendency to take in pets... and hide them whenever he wasn't on duty--which was pretty rare on it's own. "What kind of pet?"
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ratt
soot ball
No rat race for me...unless we're racing to fix a boiler.
Posts: 32
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Post by ratt on Jul 14, 2008 22:10:38 GMT -5
Ratt shrugged."Something not too big, but big enough to not be able to follow me behind the boiler. It's dangerous back there, but at the same time I don't want to crowd in on Kamagi."She explained."I have lots of free time, so I guess I could take more than one, only I never get out of this room, so I can't find anything to take in, you know."She explained, yawning lightly.
She too was watching the soot creatures. Half of them, now that their bellies were full, were now crowding around her paws and nuzzling down into her thick dark fur. She glanced up at Kamagi, only to find the old boiler man fast asleep in his chair. She sighed and streached a little to put a small blanket around his shoulders."It's bitter cold down here late at night though, and burning hot during the day. So any pet would have to be able to adjust to those conditions."
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Post by tin on Jul 15, 2008 20:04:13 GMT -5
Tin nodded. "I see... I should look out for something like that then. But I'm sure I'll come up with something," he said, smiling. The boy got up from his seat and fixed his clothes so they looked at least slightly neat and clean.
"Let me go up and get those blankets and things for you," Tin said, moving to the door. He slid it open and disappeared into the darkness. Most of the bathhouse was shutting down for the night, so he had to hurry in order to get to the blankets and back before many of the lights were shut off. Finally making it up the stairs to the workers' quarters, he grabbed the blankets after speaking briefly to his fellows before racing back down to where Ratt and Kamaji resided.
The boy reappeared, sliding open the door and out of breath. "Here ya go," he said, climbing through and moving over to where Ratt's nest was.
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ratt
soot ball
No rat race for me...unless we're racing to fix a boiler.
Posts: 32
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Post by ratt on Jul 16, 2008 0:06:19 GMT -5
Ratt quickly raced into the way and stood between him and her nest, a nervous grin on her face."Here....allow me. Rat spirits aren't known for hospitality, and we never let anyone in our nests unless we really trust them, love them, or are related to them...so, I can't let you any closer than this. Sorry."She explained, holding her arms out for the pillows and blankets.
She looked very flustered, and from where they were, Tin was close enough to see that inside the nest were small blue-grey bodies, and many sparkling things she had nicked from Yuu-Baba and the bath house. The blue-grey bodies squirmed slightly, as if blind. Soot creatures surrounded the little figures, nudging them away from the opening and out of sight. Ratt had....offspring. Which was strange, because she never had contact with anyone....except from before she was given to Yuu-Baba, where she apparently had gotten pregnant. From the looks of things, they had an extremely long pregnancy....and her species did. Their pregnancies lasted five YEARS to slow the amount of weight gain to allow the rat spirit to stay as slim as possible.
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Post by tin on Jul 16, 2008 10:04:36 GMT -5
Tin nodded, letting Ratt tend to her nest. He had seen the little bodies, but felt it wasn't in his place to ask or say anything. Moving carefully he returned to where the soot spirits resided.
"I'll try and find you a pet or two, tomorrow," he said, smiling over at Ratt for a moment before returning his attention to the soot creatures.
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ratt
soot ball
No rat race for me...unless we're racing to fix a boiler.
Posts: 32
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Post by ratt on Jul 17, 2008 19:10:20 GMT -5
Ratt nodded, and dissapeared into the nest. Ten minuets later she emerged and walked over to Tin, holding something. She bowed lightly, then opened her forepaws, allowing him to see a small, blue-black rat-like beast, only about as big as one of her fingers. She held her paws out, the little blind rat sqwirming. "Well....good luck finding me a pet....it has to be unable to eat these little guys....you can take this one to check that...it's a runt, so it's as small as they get. Don't worry about feeding it, it only eats every now and then anyway." She explained, waiting for him to take the little ratling.
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Post by tin on Jul 21, 2008 1:13:26 GMT -5
Tin smiled taking it carefully from Ratt. "It's so cute," he said, looking at it. He held it in his hands, being extremely gentle with it. The last time he held something so little, it was when he was a young boy and found a baby bird out of it's nest... but that memory didn't come to him. That was all part of his previous life that he had signed away in that contract.
"Once I find something, I'll bring it to you straight away," he said, reaching into his shirt. He made sure the small pouch he had added to it was empty and slid the little creature inside. "When it does it, what should I feed it if I can't come back down here?" he wanted to make sure to take special care of it and not let anything bad happen to it. Otherwise he'd never be able to face Ratt again.
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ratt
soot ball
No rat race for me...unless we're racing to fix a boiler.
Posts: 32
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Post by ratt on Jul 21, 2008 19:07:44 GMT -5
Ratt smirked."That thing doesn't need to eat for four days. BUT, if you feel the need, a drop or two of goat's milk will suffice. Mind you, once it eats, it sleeps for a day. If it's really hungry, it'll sqweak like a little mouse. But I don't think you'll have to worry. As I said, at this stage they only need to eat every four days. I personally feed them once every other day so they grow quicker, but if you can't find goat's milk, don't panic. He'll be fine. Plus I have about eleven more. Just....don't let Yuu-Baba know. She'll sell them off or something to make a quick buck. Oh, and, if I were you, I'd be more worried about over feeding him. If you give him too much milk, he'll bloat and stop breathing....and I don't want to put you through that trauma."She said, gazing fondly at the little baby before he tucked it away.
She nodded lightly, then bowed and retreated to her nest, murmuring something about how she had to feed her babies, then she stopped, and looked up."Oh. Feed him the milk by dipping a finger in the milk and letting him mouth it off. What he's able to get off your pinky should be just the right amount."
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Post by tin on Jul 23, 2008 12:42:06 GMT -5
Tin nodded, smiling. "Got it. I'll be sure to do that then. But if I find a pet for you sooner, he'll be back down here pretty quick," he said. "And don't worry about Yu-Baaba finding him. I'll just be my normal self and she won't suspect a thing," he reassured Ratt. Moving to the slider door, he stopped for a moment.
"Sleep well," he said, bowing slightly, before slipping out the door and sliding it closed behind him.
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ratt
soot ball
No rat race for me...unless we're racing to fix a boiler.
Posts: 32
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Post by ratt on Aug 9, 2008 10:28:37 GMT -5
(Two days later....)
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