Hunting Death- A Scribe's Work
Story by MigeYeFoxe on SoFurry
Imported from SF2 with no description.
A Scribe’s Work
It is a very odd thing how well Hashal’s ruse seems to work. At first the people of this town are extremely skeptical about me, afraid of a wild animal attacking them or something. But the moment Hashal explains that I’m a mage’s familiar their entire demeanor changes instantly. Suddenly to them the fact I don’t act like a wild animal and seem perfectly fine carrying a large (for me) pack on my back makes perfect sense to them. Quite a few seem to want to try and get more information about who it is I serve, as if they’d recognize the name of some wizard or some such and yet not realize that that known wizard would not be having a large fox as a wizard without them knowing about it beforehand.
The worst part is how much they all seem to want to touch me. It seems as if the definition of a familiar is different than what I know as they all seem to think it makes me some sort of simple minded pet and that it makes it okay to treat me like someone’s pet dog. I get so uncomfortable with how much they want to stroke my fur that I end up getting rather wary of how close people are getting to my body, especially once told that I am a familiar. I even go so far as to start asking people to not try and pet me, that it makes me feel uncomfortable and that I do not like it. But quite a few seem to find a lot of amusement in the fact I can talk and rustle the fur on my head anyway while laughing as if I had said something cute or funny. The children were the worst. Not only do many of them completely ignore my wishes to not be touched but disobey my request with such enthusiasm that it is almost painful. One little brat gets so bad that I’m forced to growl at him and threaten to give him a bit of a shock if he doesn’t leave me alone.
Needless to say I am relieved when Hashal states that we have arrived at our destination, or at least a spot where we can make enough money to get the supplies we’d need. The building itself looks rather unimpressive and when we enter I recoil slightly at the smell. The stench of dust and paper and ink is almost overpowering, as if they go out of their way to make this scent as strong as it can possibly be. Still if Hashal seems fine with it I can put up with the stench for a short while. It is, after all, still preferable to all those kids wanting to touch me in that very innocent but unpleasant way. I half work up the nerve to ask why they don’t bother to air this place out everyone once in a while when another human walks up and greets Hashal.
Remembering that I’m supposed to be some sort of special familiar I don’t think my question would seem all that appropriate for me to ask in front of someone else, especially if this is a stench that I should be accustomed to from my supposed master. Not really caring much for the particulars so long as he isn’t trying to betray me I only half listen to the conversation while I explore this building a bit more, listening only for particular phrases that would indicate he’s referring to me, which never seem to come up. This building is fairly unspectacular on the inside as well. There seem to be a few windows, but they seem only intended to let light in rather than something that can be actually opened.
The two humans come to some sort of agreement and begin to walk into the back room. Not thinking anything of it I follow behind, the other human not really seeming to care either. Once in the back room Hashal is handed a bunch of blank parchments and a bunch of other documents and then left alone.
“So what are you doing now?” I ask.
“Simple work really, just copying everything that is on these pages onto new ones.”
“That sounds incredibly boring.”
“Well that’s what I’m being paid to do.”
“If you want, I’m sure I can figure out a spell that can do that for you really quickly.”
“No, no spells. It has to be in my hand. It’s a matter of principle. Besides, I’m doing more than just copying. These are manuscripts for books from other people. I’m also being charged with proof reading them first and removing any errors the original writer had made. Give me a few hours and I’ll be done. Rest assured.”
“If that’s how it’s going to be I’m going to go explore instead. I’d suffocate if I had to stay in this stuffy building too long.”
“Suit yourself.”