RP:Rat Problem

Summary: Meri and Sarge chat about what they think about this rat problem, ultimately cooking up a plan to round some people up and visit Ferminville. Maybe something has gone awry with the place?

Cenril Docks

Sargaso has spent the past few weeks helping southern Cenril deal with the rat infestation and plague. He and a group of men had just finished digging trenches on the beach dunes to burn rat bodies. The foul smelling wind blows towards the city, suggesting a storm will come soon. Sarge sat on a dock, beer in hand, resting after a hard day's work of hauling rats by the hundreds, digging holes, burning rats, and covering the shallow graves. The sun hung low in the sky behind him and cast a copper hue over his sweaty skin and hair. In an hour the sun will set and the rats will stir from their holes and run the city once again.

Meri wouldn't have minded the cool wind that brings a suggestion of a storm to come were it not for that foul smell. The breeze itself would have been welcome, for the blonde was just finishing up a seaside run in an attempt to shed her pregnancy weight, so the crispness of the air should have been refreshing. But ugh, maybe Cenril was not a great choice to move back to after all, she muses to herself. It stinks, and what the heck is up with this rat problem lately? Everyone has enough to worry about, they don't need the diseases that these vermin bring as an added worry. Meri is so consumed by her thoughts that she pretty much passes Sargaso right on up. It's not until she's is three strides past him that she realizes that someone she knows is sitting right there on the docks, drinking a beer. There is half a temptation to keep going and pretend like she did not see Sargaso at all. Why? Well she was sweaty, her outfit was suited for running, etc etc. Even if impressing Sargaso has never been her angle, Meri still had a modicum of standard for her appearances and she was definitely not meeting them right now. But. They did bust into a castle together once, thus passing him by completely and pretending she did not even see him was a level of rude Meri was not going to go to. So. Meri does an about face so that she can greet Sargaso, "Heeeey, stranger."

Was that Meri? Sargaso squinted at a beach runner who looked familiar. He was a little sun blind and couldn't be sure, even as she passed him, but then she turned and greeted him. "I thought that was you," he called back as he rose to his feet and jumped off the dock to join her on the sand. "Hey, been a long time." He offered her a swig of his beer if she didn't mind sharing germs. "Where you been?" He gave her a once over in a friendly way, like two friends reunited and taking stock of each other, though of course he couldn't help but notice the fact she was a bit curvier, which he thought suited her frame. "You look good." He kept his voice cheerful, friendly. "And how's Callum?"

The beer was eyed for a moment before it is taken. She just has a swig, not enough to even catch the slightest buzz, but it was good enough. At least until she made it home and could chug some water. That’s what she’d really prefer, given that she was just on a run. The beer is offered back to Sargaso after taking a moment to admire the label. Water might be preferred right now, but the woman has always admired a decent brew. “Hm. Not bad.” Meri remarks. A brow is lifted and a smirk is given. “Where have I been? I have been around plenty. Up until recently I have been living out in Kelay-Sage with Callum, but I still rolled through Cenril plenty. Been back here about a month now?” A beat. Meri has not quite figured out how to explain she and Callum have broken up without sounding like an awkward sap. The woman makes a cross-eyed expression. “Callum is still back in Kelay. Hopefully he is doing well.” Meri clears her throat and turns Sargaso’s questions back on him. “What about you? Where have you been? And how is uh....” Meri has to dig hard to find the name of the woman she last saw Sargaso with. “Amy?”

"Ah. Sorry to hear," Sarge said when it became clear Callum was not longer in the picture. "Amy and I broke up, too." While that was true, they had also been on-again-off-again for years, so there was no reason to believe the cycle wouldn't continue, as predictable as the changing seasons. "I was working on a ship that docks in Rynvale. Quit that job" (he was fired) "after I realized the captain didn't know his head from his ass. I get back and find this." He nodded towards the freshly turned sand, beneath which the burnt rats were buried. "You know anything about this? There's got to be a source."

"Oh, sorry to hear that too," Meri says in response to hearing that Sarge and Amy have called it quits, mirroring the answer she received. Except the tone of her voice suggests that she does not particularly believe that Amy is really out of the picture, and not in a judgmental sort of way. Meri's gaze strays from Sarge and wanders around the beach, half-expecting the ex to appear at any moment. Meri lifts a brow, "Rynvale. Almost thought about moving back out that way instead of Cenril. It's got it's fair share of chump captains, so I am not dreadful surprised." It's not until Sarge is nodding in the direction of the sand pit full of the cremated rats that Meri looks back to the sailor. "No. I have no idea. No clue where to start unfortunately either. It's challenging, because it's not like it's not just isolated to Cenril? It's harder to pin point the source because of that...Honestly I am not sure anyone really has much insight. I am just kind of surprised it has not slowed by now? Like..I did not think that we had this much of a rat population...this just seems like it is endless?"

An idea dawned on Sarge's face as Meri made the very astute point that the natural rat population cannot possibly be this large. "You think something is making these rats?" he asked. "Isn't there a colony of talking rats under, uh, Larket, I think. Maybe this has something to do with those bastards over there?" He gave Meri another once over. "Your crew still running missions?"

Sarge's question has Meri surprised, did she think there was someone making these rats? The expression on her features suggests that she had not connected the dots that far, that credit goes to Sarge himself. But now that it has been voiced, it does seem to make sense. A cross-eyed expression is made when Sarge also connects Larket to this mess. "For once, can it not be Larket?" Meri says with an exasperated sigh. "Me? With a crew? That's cute. I don't know if I'd go so far to say something like that...." A beat. "....but I am guessing you're thinking that a mission to Larket is probably in order? Not a more...lucrative adventure? Only way to eliminate if something weird is going on with rat-ville, I suppose. If that's the case, I can ask around and see if anyone is down for exploring that. Maybe I'll hit Lanara up to see if she or any of her own in her little guild feels like checking the place out. S'pose you're putting your name down on the list for this? Assuming that's what you are thinking."

Sarge grinned on one side of his month as he watched Meri put together all the pieces of his fragmented thoughtsand build a plan out of it. "Yep. I'm not much for organizing, but I'll be there. Didn't know Lana was leading a guild these days... What guild is that?" His minded gravitated towards thoughts of Lanara leading a gaggle of half undressed women. To be fair, the only time he had seen Lanara in a leadership role, that's exactly what the picture had looked like. He nodded towards the boardwalk to indicate he'd like to keep moving, if Meri would join him. The wintry breeze had begun to cut his sedentary bones.

Moving back to the boardwalk seemed like a suitable plan of action to Meri, ultimately it would bring her closer to where she needed to go. "Ah yeah, I am not much for organizing either. But the way I see it, I am just sending out a few inquiries and we'll see what happens. It could very well be we go tromping through some nasty muck and find nothing of note." Or maybe they would. Mysteries. "You know Lanara?" Meri gives Sarge a scrupulous look at this revelation. "I guess I am not that surprised. You're probably part of her tushie fan club." Meri smirks. "Naw, but seriously. She's leading the Adventurer's Guild these days and doing a pretty good job of it." Which was definitely not composed of a gaggle of half-naked gals. "So rats aside, what's the plan now that you're back in Cenril? You thinking of sticking around these parts? Or just flitting through?"

Sarge grins at the tushie fan club comment. "There's plenty of admiration to go around, if you need a new member in your fan club. ...If there's room for me, of course. I bet it's a crowded club." Meri deftly turns the conversation away from his solicitation and he joins her wherever she wants the conversation to go. "Yea, I plan on sticking around for a while. Definitely need to see this rat thing through. My mom lives here, you know." He stops outside a small duplex on Merchant Street and nods at the door. "Literally, right here. I said I'd come by and help her lay down more rat traps. Listen, you have my address?" He gives her the name of an apartment complex on Beloy, and an apartment number. "Send word when you have your crew together. I'm in."

Meri eye rolls at Sarge when he offers to join her little fan club, and not in a mean way as her smirk probably reveals. The blonde makes a point of lifting her own arm so that she can make a show of giving herself a smell. "Oooh, I don't know. I think this momma probably should think about getting home and taking a shower before admitting anyone into her fan club." Attractive, surely. To be fair, Meri -was- just out on a run and this is what happens when working out, people get smelly and sweaty. Does she really need to call attention to this fact though? A mental note is made of this apartment complex and number and a nod is given, Meri turning heel so that she can make her way back to her own place. It's not far from where they are now on Merchant street. "I'll send word. Now be a good boy and go help your mommy," Meri teases, as she turns her back to Sarge to take her leave.