laenavesse: (❧ psycho)
laenavesse ([personal profile] laenavesse) wrote in [community profile] efryndiel2014-08-18 05:24 am

[ ficlet ] ToX: Campfire Stories: Do You Know the Mutton Man

Canon: Tales of Xillia
Title: Do You Know the Mutton Man Who Lives on Murderberry Lane
Characters: All with Alvin telling the story
Rating: PG (some graphic undertones)
Summary: Once again the group is around a campfire and Alvin tells another story. This time, it's about a butcher who sells mutton.
Notes: This is the second of two little stories I wrote for an RP. I've altered it a little to fit a more canon setting. Although it technically has the whole group, Alvin is the one telling the story. There's no particular time frame. Three guess where the inspiration for this story came from.

First story: Gentleman of the Mines.

crossposted to [tumblr.com profile] laenavesse

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"Ah, another fine meal," Milla sighed in content as she helped gather the dishes. "Thank you, Jude."

"It's no problem," he answered with a smile. Before he would have felt a bit more awkward, but he was now used to and just happy to see her satisfied.

"I'm just glad it's not mutton," Leia groaned as she stretched herself out on the ground. "They were really intense back there."

"Not too surprising," Rowen said before taking a sip of his tea. "Sharilton is quite the hub, and I believe there were a lot of sales at the time. Meat in particular are best sold the day of."

"Hm...you know, this reminds me of a story," Alvin grinned.

"You're becoming quite the storyteller, aren't you?" Rowen said, the corners of his lips twitching upwards in a light, amused smile.

"Nah," he chuckled. "But it does help pass the time and Elize is already asleep. If I'm going to share it, now is a perfect time."

"Uh oh." Leia sat up and looked over at them. "Now I'm torn between whether I want to hear it or not. Is it really bad?" Bad enough to actually make Alvin consider not to tell it in front of Elize?

"It's not for the faint of heart," he shrugged before looking toward Rowen. "But Rowen's probably heard of this one. You know, the one about that butcher?"

"'That' butcher?" Rowen stroked his chin for a moment before his eyes widened. "Ah, yes, I do believe I know the story you're talking about." His gaze then drifted to Leia and there was a bit of a mischievous sparkle in his eye. "It's not too gruesome, but if you're afraid..."

"W-What!?" Leia jumped up. "I'm not afraid!"

"And there she goes," Jude murmured toward Milla as they returned to their seats. "Though it's really probably not that bad, and now I'm curious."

"Leia, if you need comforting support, you are more than welcome to sit next to me," Milla offered before patting the empty place next to her.

"You guys!"

Alvin and Rowen only exchanged glances before Alvin began, Rowen smiling into his tea.

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[[Note: this is narrated by Alvin.]]

As we all know, mutton is a common commodity around here, and it's always advertised as the freshest you've ever seen. Now the best place to get mutton is the trading hub Sharilton, the "The City of Hails and Farewells." Because of all the trade that goes on, competition can get pretty tough—including selling mutton. Just like how we saw today. So one particular butcher tried to spice his up a bit.

Every night, the wife would hear the all too familiar chop chop of her husband's knife and the meat grinder turning. He would try different formulas and recipes—but none seemed to give him the edge he needed. But then one day, she noticed he started inviting travelers over to the shop. He explained he wanted to try non-local recipes and gain inspiration from them. After all, most who bought mutton were travelers themselves. A fine idea, she thought, and paid no more attention to that. Not too long after, business began to do well, so it seemed that it was a pretty good business maneuver.

One day, the wife of one of those travelers stopped by and asked if she had seen her husband. They had been recently married and were staying overnight as part of their honeymoon, but her husband had yet to return from his excursion around the town yesterday. The description given did sound familiar, so the butcher's wife told her to try asking her husband, who was out back. Grateful, the young woman went to the back of the shop. The butcher's wife did not hear anything more about it, and when she asked her husband over dinner, the butcher just smiled and said that he was able to help the young wife rejoin her husband. She was relieved and then complimented on how delicious the mutton he had prepared for dinner was. Again he just smiled, glad to hear that she approved.

"It's the freshest I've made yet!"

The next day while eating some mutton for lunch, the wife bit into something hard. Confused, she pulled it out and discovered a ring. It was a small thing with just a couple of diamonds, and it didn't quite fit, but it looked so new. Believing it had been a hidden surprise from her husband, she quickly went to the shop. She could already hear him dutifully chopping away at the meat. However, when she flung open the door, the bright happy smile vanished as she saw what her husband was actually chopping.

Or rather...who.

"Oh, Tilly. Didn't I tell you not to come in here while I'm working?"

Chop. Chop. Chop.

Despite his wife's presence, he continued to cut and hack away with his large knife as if the meat he was working on really was just a normal sheep. But of course it wasn't.

She couldn't speak. She couldn't scream. She had realized whose ring it was she held and she fainted.

The next day, a patron of the shop found the front counter empty. Usually the wife was there to tend to it, so confused, he rang the bell. The butcher came out a few seconds later, a towel wiping his blood soaked hands. Not an unusual sight from a butcher When asked where his wife was, he just laughed and said she had gone to see her ill mother for a while. The patron gave his condolences and purchased his usual amount of mutton.

"I guarantee you this one is very fresh," the butcher grinned.

When the patron later ate it as part of his sandwich, he had to stop and pull out a long strand of blond hair. It looked like it belonged to the butcher's wife. He was a little disgusted—after all who likes finding someone else's hair in their meal? But the mutton was so good, he decided to just shrug it off and continue eating it.

The wife was never seen again.

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"...I think I'm going to be sick," Leia groaned as she pressed her forehead against Milla's forehead.

"Why?" Milla asked as she glanced at the other girl. "It wasn't particularly that graphic. The body on the table was only implied—"

"Stop! Stop! Just the implication was already bad enough!"

"Why do all your stories have such gruesome endings," Jude asked in mild disgust. "Though I can see why you didn't want Elize to hear it." Especially since this had a bit more realism than the other one.

"The gruesome ones are the best ones," Alvin shrugged with a grin. "Even Rowen approved."

"It is a classic tale," the older man nodded, "one that likes to make it's way around every now and again, especially with the younger residents of the city. I also believe it was based off a true story."

"Seriously?" Alvin asked a little surprised. "I thought it was completely made up."

"Oh no. While it might not have been mutton per se, I do believe that several decades ago there was a butcher who murdered his victims. But rather than feeding them to people, the bodies were—"

"Uuuggh, seriously!?" Leia yelled as she covered her ears with both her hands. "We just ate! Ugh, I'm never eating mutton or meat ever again—I'm going vegetarian!"

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