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Post by tin on Aug 12, 2008 11:16:14 GMT -5
It was much more difficult finding a way to get himself downstairs as many of his chores really left him with lots to do. Yu-Baaba made sure he was extremely busy, probably having sensed he was working harder to merely get out of the Bath House. During the day, Tin managed to get up and search for an animal of somekind. After two days he hadn't found anything and searching the large campus of the amusement park for the spirits.
As many of the other workers went to bed, Tin made his way down to visit Ratt to get ideas. With him he also brought more blankets that no one used and were a bit torn. Pulling open the slide door, he bowed slightly as he entered. "Ratt?"
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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 14, 2008 13:58:18 GMT -5
Kamage was sleeping in his chair, and Ratt was sitting by the furnace, a small fire going in it. She looked up, then smiled lightly."Hey. How's the little ratling?"She asked softly, standing and walking over. She gentally took the blankets from him and set them aside."So. How are you doing with the pet finding and with the care of my little ratling?"She repeated, keeping her voice down for the sake of Kamage and the soot beasts.
She too had been kept busy. The old boiler was breaking down more and more often. To the point where she'd suggest getting a new boiler compleatly. But no. Yuu-baba was convinced that the old boiler would be cheaper to fix than to buy a new one. Ratt knew better. But she also knew that getting a new boiler would mean she'd be needed less and less.
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Post by tin on Aug 15, 2008 1:31:14 GMT -5
Tin saw Kamaji asleep and carefully moved inside, keeping as quiet as possible. He smiled seeing Ratt approach. "You're rattling is safe," Tin said, taking him out of his inner shirt pocket. "Safe and sound... The pet search is a bit hard. It's taking longer than I figured. Yu-Baaba has been keeping me busy."
It was pretty usual to get extra errands along with their own duties. All workers expected it. But this week was particularly tough. For some reason there was a lot more customers than the workers could handle, leading to chores being left undone so that the lesser workers had to do them along with their regular tasks--a list that was already quite long.
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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 Sept 2, 2008 21:13:39 GMT -5
Ratt nodded. "I understand. I`ve been busy as well. The boiler keeps shutting down. This bath house needs a new one." She said, petting her little rattling and holding him close to her."Hey little guy." She whispered, playing with one of his tiny paws.
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Post by tin on Sept 3, 2008 13:54:51 GMT -5
Tin smiled. "What happens when they grow up like you? Will they go to other bath houses and work there?" He sat down on the floor, the first time he had been able to sit down since he had gone to bed the night before. All his chores were keeping him incredibly busy that often times he had very little time to grab a quick breakfast.
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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 Sept 5, 2008 20:32:24 GMT -5
Ratt shook her head. "Nope. They`ll either work here as bridge gaurds, token venders, or room gaurds....OR, more likely, they`ll go work with their daddy at the Narrow Craig mine. Only our kind is thin enough to get to the gemstones in Narrow Craig...and if they go there, one forth of the profit goes to Yuu-Baba, my Master, and the rest to Ichioto, their father`s Master. Our kind is only used for certain jobs. Gaurding positions because we`re all well trained in martial arts from birth. Selling positions because we`re well-trained pick-pockets and penny pinchers. And anything where we need to get behind something or be in small spaces because we weigh very little. Also, our kind doesn`t choose their own mates, our Masters match us up to get certain colors. Their father was a white and tan rat, I`m black, so these buggers will soon be mottled. The other rat I was mated too, a long time ago, when I was young, was a red-brown rat...and he killed our offspring, so his master...returned the favor for them."She mumbled, trying hard to explain how her species was thought of and treated like highly trained pets.
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Post by tin on Sept 6, 2008 3:16:10 GMT -5
Tin nodded, sitting quietly. He was really curious about Ratt and her species, but it was amazing to see how wild things were for other species. To him, it was more fascinating to learn of others, as his life was incredibly dull and would not be much more than him living here in the Bath House. His eyes watched the soot spirits eating and interacting with each other. It didn't cease to amaze him at how much his life was like theirs... so simple and seemingly unending.
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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 Sept 9, 2008 21:55:46 GMT -5
She streached."Think of us like...racing dogs. We`re bred for one or two things, plus color. We`re expendable, and we never get to choose anything about our own lives. We take what we can get. Or, we`re either thrown on the streets, or exterminated, because we`re recognized not as an intellegent species, but as a type of high-class vermin."She said, then she yawned."We have morals, customs, and culture, though. Like where we sleep. We sleep in nests, built from old and often stolen cloths, and we hoard all the other things we steal in them. We keep our young in there to protect them, and we only allow our mates in there, or soot creatures, which we`re actually raised with. They were created for small, menial chores, and for being a nurse to one specific ratling. So, my nest is currently occupied by the soot creatures, and my ratlings...and me. We build our nests to be maze-like, so if they`re ever broken into, it`ll take about five hours to find anything unless you built it or live in it, because the whole thing is filled to the brim with our scent to confuse unwanted guests. Also, we never talk to other rat spirits when we`re told to breed with them, we just do as we`re told, then go our seperate ways. We only eat stale bread and cheese and drink water and wine because it keeps us thin and vitalized. The few of us who are actually allowed to choose who we mate with don`t worry about species, and as a result, there are a vast multitudes of rat spirit mixes, but all the mixes, no matter what the other parent is, are considered to be rat spirits. For example, they now purposefully breed half rat-half dragon mixes, so the rats can sqweeze behind things, fly, swim, and use low-level magic. They also have at least one example of a mix with every other species, too." She thought for a moment. What else was special about her kind?
"Oh, we also are prone to getting really dusty and sooty, but we`re immune to sickness. And we`re often housed in small bungalows with others of the same gender at a breeder`s....and the breeder`s sell us for upwards of 15 million dollars." She finished, then snapped her fingers."Yuu-Baba could also sell my ratlings once they`re old enough to work. But she`d have to buy a male to get more, or cross me with another being."
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Post by tin on Sept 9, 2008 22:33:42 GMT -5
Tin listened eagerly to her explanation. He nodded, finding that her race was indeed truly fascinating. His mind wandered to how he had come to the Bath House. That was a blurry memory now. Now he wasn't even sure if it was true now. "She wouldn't sell your offspring, would she?" Looking at her with a concerned expression on his face, Tin truly hoped Yu-baaba wouldn't sell someone else's children. Afterall, Yu-Baaba herself was a mother... how would she feel if someone sold Bou against her will?
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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 Sept 9, 2008 22:42:49 GMT -5
Ratt shrugged."Most owners of rat spirits do. It hurts for a while, but usually we`re pregnant again within a couple months, so we have no real time to grieve or act up. Plus, they`re worth a LOT. The money is usually irresistable to the owners of the mother, so they sell the offspring. Plus, they usually keep my species busy enough that we never get close to our mothers and vice versa."She explained.
"The going rate for our offspring changes according to mix, by the way. The most expensive is a river dragon and a rat spirit mix, they usually go for 100 mil. Then any other river spirit and a rat spirit goes for 50 mil, pure rat spirits for 15 mil, rat spirit and human mixes for 10 mil, and inbred rat spirits for 5 mil. Anything else qualifies as a mutt, and is only 2 mil, so most of the rat spirits only get to keep their mutt offspring. Plus, as I said earlier, there`s usually no love between the parents, so it`s not like the offspring are of you and your loved one, they`re just of you and some one your master thought would make cute babies with you."She explained, cradling her baby."But...I would miss mine none the less. That`s just how the owners feel."She mumbled, playing with the ratling`s tiny paw. "His eyes will open soon, and his fur will grow soon too. At first it`ll just be fuzz, but then it`ll get very thick very quickly, and once that`s done, they`ll grow like weeds."
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Post by tin on Sept 10, 2008 2:28:00 GMT -5
Nodding, he watched the baby ratling in her paw. It still amazed him that people could so easily sell another being's offspring... Then again, that was one story of how he came to be here. With his family being so poor, they chose to sell off their children to whoever would take them. Being the last of the children, he was sent off to the bath house... Or at least that's what he was told.
"Sounds like Yu-Baaba would enjoy that sum," he said, watching the soot creatures. It wouldn't surprise him that Yu-Baaba would sell the ratlings in a second. "But I won't say anything to her. I dislike her as much as anyone around here does." Tin was thankful to Yu-Baaba for giving him a place to live and work, but still at times he was miserable.
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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 Sept 10, 2008 14:10:19 GMT -5
Ratt sighed."I...think she knows. I've been getting more food than usual from her. So she probally thinks something is up. And...there are forty of them....so if they all survive, which is rare because when their eye`s open the climb and run and do everything and in here, they`re very likely to get too close to the boiler and burn. But, if they all make it, she`ll be rich."She said, watching her ratling.
She leaned back and sighed."I was one of fifty. Only three of us survived. Me, and my two brothers, Kujong and Tailake. They`re now Jong and Thai under a different breeder...they`re Bulls, which is the name for males used strictly for breeding. Those that breed and work are Rams, and those that just work are Oxen. The females that are for breeding are Heifers, and the females that work on the side are Ews. Very few females are only for work, but those are called Sows." She said, streaching her legs out."I`m a Ew. Because although all I do here is work, I used to be a strictly breeding female."
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Post by tin on Sept 10, 2008 14:19:23 GMT -5
"Do you ever get sick of the life you live? I mean, if all your species is supposed to do is either breed or work, wouldn't that get boring over time?" Tin looked over at Ratt, listening to her as she explained more about her species. To him there really didn't seem to be much of a difference between them. Either way they were both sold to work and there was a lot of others that followed.
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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 Sept 10, 2008 21:33:12 GMT -5
Ratt almost laughed."Tin. We are theives too. We do get to do some interesting things...but not often." She said, remembering a lot of her search and recover missions under her old master. Yuu-Baba had yet to send her on one, and it upset her. She was the best theif her old master had. But, evidentally, Yuu-Baba was employing another theif.
She grinned."Come. Let me show you something, my friend."She said, walking over to her nest and holding back a flap of a blanket that was blocking what appeared to be a large circular opening. She waited a moment, so he could see where she was going, then she slid into the nest and backed into a small cave-like area within the maze of the nest, waiting so she could guide him.
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Post by tin on Sept 10, 2008 23:07:20 GMT -5
Tin got up, following her. He stared blankly at the opening. Ratt was about his size--as he was a small human. "I thought you rarely share your nest with someone," he said, confused. Most creatures wouldn't share their "habitat" or private space with someone of a foreign species. "You sure?"
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