Joe Reaves (featheredwolf) wrote in 50episodes, @ 2007-08-20 13:42:00 |
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Entry tags: | empire records, joereaves:huminal |
Mark, PG, Empire Records
Title Mark
Characters Joe, AJ, Mark, Warren
Rating PG
Prompt #37 Animal (50 Episodes)
Summary Mark joins the pack
Universe Huminal
It seemed that once Joe's pack had started to grow, it took on a life of its own. Only a few months after they had adopted Warren yet another cub would join them. Joe and AJ were at the market again, but unlike when they'd found Berko, AJ was no longer a child. He was twelve years old, an age when many huminal younglings were starting apprenticeships. Unlike most families, Joe could afford a tutor for AJ and he wouldn't choose an apprenticeship until he was at least seventeen.
He was old enough to be trusted not to get into trouble if he wandered away from Joe and was often gone for an hour or more while Joe bought supplies for the club and for the pack. That kind of shopping was boring for AJ, so he would take his allowance and look for paints or other things that he could use in his art.
The sight of Joe wandering around with a young pup in a sling had become common at the market and many of the stallholders would take a moment out of their day to come and coo at Warren. It seemed no one could resist his big brown eyes when he looked at them.
Joe had just ordered some more glassware for the club from a young coyote. She ran the market stall for her father while he made the products, but she was more interested in Warren, who was trying to touch the coloured glass, than Joe's order. Taking his hand, she had just started telling him what a handsome pup he was when AJ ran up. He was pale and shaking.
Grabbing Joe's arm, he tugged him back the way he'd just come. “Dad, you have to come and see this. You have to help him,” he insisted.
“Go,” the young coyote said with a smile. “My father will deliver your glasses when they're finished.”
Joe followed AJ, letting him pull him along. “What is it, AJ? What's wrong? Who do I need to help? You're shaking.” He put an arm around his shoulders as they walked. “Did someone hurt you?”
AJ shook his head. “I was looking for paints and there's a stall right at the far end of the market. By the slave cages,” he said. “I didn't mean to stray into the slave market. It's horrible. I hate it. But I did and there's this youngling. He's only five but the slave owner said he was stupid. No use to anyone.”
“He told you that?” Joe asked. He wished he could keep AJ sheltered from that side of city life, but it just wasn't possible.
“He was telling a customer,” AJ explained. “This big fat guy. He wanted a couple of monkeys to work for him and the guy showed him the other two in the cage and said he could have them but the little one was slow and no use. He said he was going to kill him, Dad. You have to do something.”
Sadly it was a fact of life that if a slave was damaged in some way, it was often cheaper to kill them than pay for treatment or even food and shelter. Joe knew it happened far too often and he certainly couldn't save every slave who was going to be killed, but AJ didn't know every slave. He'd found this one and Joe would try to save him if he could.
They emerged into the slave market and AJ pulled him over to the cage. There was just one slave left in it. As AJ had said, he was a very young monkey. He was sitting all on his own, poking at the dirt in front of him, but he smiled when AJ crouched down next to him.
“I told you I'd come back,” AJ said softly. “This is my dad.”
“Hi,” Joe said, sitting next to the cage. “What's your name?”
The monkey looked at AJ quickly and he nodded to him. “My name's Mark. AJ came and talked to me; don't be mad at him? What's that you're carrying?” He reached out and prodded at Warren, who grabbed his hand and held on to it. Mark smiled broadly. “It's a baby! What's his name? Is he your baby? Can I play with him? No one wants to play with me. The big man made my brothers go away now too. Will you play with me?”
Joe chuckled at the torrent of words coming from the little monkey. “Well, he's called Warren and he's my cub. I have to go and talk to the big man now. AJ will stay with you and when I come back we can play, how about that?”
Mark nodded happily. “I like AJ. He's my friend.”
Joe got up and walked over to the slave dealer, who had been watching him suspiciously. “How much for the monkey?” he asked.
“He's the last one I have. I couldn't sell him cheaply,” the owner said, looking Joe up and down and obviously deciding he had money.
“My son heard you telling your last customer that the monkey wasn't any use,” Joe pointed out. “You were going to have him killed. What's wrong with him?”
“Ah, he heard that?” the trader asked, realising he wasn't going to be able to pretend he was worth all that much after all. “He's stupid. Can't follow even simple directions. Gets distracted far too easily. He's young and fit but you can't trust him with much in the way of work. He might get better if you're willing to train him, but that's a long term investment and most of my clients want immediate results. I can see you're much more discerning and can understand the value of training a slave over time to get the best results.”
“Nice try,” Joe said dryly. “If I wasn't interested you'd have him killed. So the way I see it, I'm doing you a favour by taking him off your hands.” He fished a small pouch out of his pocket. “I think this should be a more than fair offer to cover your expenses in bringing him here.”
The trader weighed the bag carefully. He obviously wanted to try and drive the price up higher, but he wanted the monkey off his hands as well and any price was better than none at all. Grudgingly he held his hand out. “It's a deal and you've got a right bargain there if I do say so,” he said.
Joe shook his hand briefly, concealing his disgust at this man who dealt in huminals like they were simple, dumb animals and saw nothing wrong with killing them if they weren't going to turn a profit for him. “I'll take him now. I'm just about done with my shopping for today and I don't want to have to pay a delivery fee when I can take him home myself.”
The owner grunted but agreed, following Joe back over to the cage and unlocking it. “All right you little brat, get up! You go with this wolf and mind you do as you're told or you'll be back here again.”
Joe glared at him and took Mark's hand. “Come with me, Mark, and when we get home you can play with AJ.”
Mark jumped up and took his hand trustingly. “Can I play with the baby too? I'll be really good. I know lots of cool games but no one ever wants to play them with me. I could teach you.”
Joe smiled softly at him. “That sounds like fun. You hold my hand till we get home and don't wander off and we'll all play with you.” He led the young monkey away from the slave cages and back through the market towards the club, smiling at him when he was talking and fighting to get a word in edgeways whenever Mark had to pause for breath. “You're never going to have to go back there again, Mark. You belong with us now.”