Jo and the Bush

Jox hesitated, then tried to make an actual vote count instead of just going off of very brief recollections. Var (3): Keldorn 1, Antari 4, Kéamen 9, Madiane 10 Mil (1): Var 2 Madiane (1): Josha 3 Josha (1): Jox 5 Kéamen (2): Var 6, Mil 8 Antari (1): Keldorn 7 He was pleasantly surprised to see that not only was Keldorn correct, but everyone alive had voted. "Okay, change of plans, I've already said that Mil was one of my suspects, so that fact that Var and Mil voted together does actually make me a lot more suspicious of Var. However, when Var voted, there were two votes on him, and he voted on someone that had zero votes on him. Mil voted on Kéamen 4 hours later. It doesn't feel like the vote that Var would make if he were spiked, especially since he's already recanted that the reasoning for the vote. At the time of his vote, he could have voted on Mil, Madiane, and Josha. If he and another spiked wanted to ensure he would survive, it feels weird. If anything, I'm actually now more interested in voting for Kéamen." Jox paused, and considered the absolute nonsensicalness of what he'd just said. He should really start planning out his words instead of just talking aloud. Had he just completely changed his suspicions mid rant? Going from being suspicious of Var and Mil for voting on Kéamen, to going to being suspicious of Kéamen? The votes did kind of seem like Kéamen and Biplet were voting on Var to save Kéamen. He thought about it, then shrugged. "Madiane for now. That does feel weird and suspicious. I want to think more, so this might change." Var (3): Keldorn 1, Antari 4, Kéamen 9, Madiane 10 Mil (1): Var 2 Madiane (2): Josha 3, Jox 11 Josha (0): Jox 5 Kéamen (2): Var 6, Mil 8 Antari (1): Keldorn 7 Jox (0): Keldorn (0): Jox nodded. "I did say that analysis was seriously flawed, and partially based in the idea that you hadn't done anything that made me think you were a Villager, which is still the case. I'm still happy to vote to execute you if a sufficient defense of Madiane and Kéamen materializes."

"Var attempting to find a lurcher does feel suspicious given how few kills have been targeting the more vocal villagers. Possibly that could point towards Spiked!Var wanting to not waste any kills, and so only targeting those who are unlikely to be defended." Jox frowned at the preponderance of citizens casting votes for Var. No one had seriously attempted to defend him or make headway on another train. "I don't know that Var is a likely candidate though. This doesn't feel like an execution that is contested, as I imagine it would be were we about to execute a Villager." Jox kinda did want to execute Var anyway, just in case, because he really didn't want to have saved a spiked by switching to Derrick at the last minute in a previous cycle, but that seemed a poor reason to kill a man and potentially lose the town. "Well Josha, I voted for you for two reasons." Jox held up two fingers. "No one else had voted on you yet, and I wanted a wide spread of votes to see who would get doubled up on besides Var. No one has." He put down one finger. "My prior analysis said that you, Mil, and Fox were the most likely to be spiked, with Antari and Lipitor as follow-ups. I was wrong about Lipitor and Fox, but you three are still suspects because I haven't found a reason to trust you. Of course, that logic is seriously flawed, since Fox was the one I was most certain of, and basing my analysis on. But, well," Jox spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness, "I have no idea who is spiked, and at this point I'm desperate." "Now that I think about it Josha, what are you? You and Mil are the only folks who haven't explained their allomantic status." Jox - claimed Vanilla Copper Stopper - Village Smoker Mil Veriel - no claims Josha - no claims Lijal - Village Vanilla Lipitor - Village Vanilla Teal Village Coinshot Astrid Lefflame - Village Vanilla Kéamen Wither - claimed Tineye - No counterclaims, probably true. John Derrick/AraRaash - Village Vanilla Keldorn - claimed Vanilla Fox - silent Wanderer Village Soother Antari Erlington - claimed Vanilla Var - Claimed Smoker by Madiane Madiane - Claimed Smoker "This is not a very Allomantic village. We've heard no evidence of Rioters, Lurchers, Pewterarms, or Seekers, unless you buy the theory that Teal was the result of a Seeker. I'm personally still confused as to that particular death, but it seems to point towards a Mistborn being involved, though their alignment could be anything. Hey Mil, @KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren, are you an allomancer?"

"Antari has claimed to not be an allomancer in our private conversations. i am also not an allomancer, as previously stated. There seem to be very few allomancers in this vllage."

Jox walked slowly through the town, staring and stumbling. He had no idea what was going on. He didn't have the faintest sense of who to trust. He wanted to trust in Var and Keldorn, but with Fox gone, he had no idea what to think. Var, Keldorn, and Jox really shouldn't have survived this long. Jox didn't know if that meant the spiked were hiding amongst the less active, or if it meant they were hiding amongst the three of them. He was tempted to vote for Keldorn, because the man didn't have any votes on him yet. He was tempted to vote for Mil or Josha, on the presumption that his previous analysis hadn't been completely wrong. He was tempted to vote on Antari for not explaining about Fox. He wasn't tempted to vote on var, since he already had the leading votes, and there wasn't a counter train materializing to defend him. In the end, he decided to vote on Josha while he did some other investigations in private.

Jox drooped, then sank down and hugged his knees. He'd done this. Led this execution. He'd thought carefully, done his best, and failed. What else was he wrong about? Could Keldorn or Var be trusted? Could any of his thoughtsor instincts be trusted? Why was he even awake and trying to think at this time? Night had fallen, but despair kept him awake. Nine people left. Eight come morning. Odds were high the spike would destroy their little town, no matter what at this point. "Jox? There you are!" He glanced through a gap in between his arms and knees to see his mother hurrying towards him. "You're supposed to be in bed an hour before Night-time. Where have you been?" Jox slowly unfolded himself and stood up. The bakery didn't feel any safer than anywhere else in town, but he disn't think his parents would like or understand that. "I was mourning Fox. I don't know that we'll survive without him. I really thought i'd found one." "There are plenty of others who's job it is to find the spiked dearie." Kistaris took his hand and began to lead him to the bakery. "Our job is to keep them fed while they do that. We're bakers, not detectives." (Jox wasn't a Baker. Jox wasn't a detective. Jox wasn't an allomancer. Jox wasn't an asset to the village's defense. Was he anything?) "Ma, have you and pa considered leaving Blackkeep? We co and start new lives somewhere else? A bigger city? A safer one?" She didn't even look at him, let alone take it seriously. "Don't be silly Jox. We've always been here. Blackkeep and it's bakers will withstand anything that gets thrown at it. You've been awake too long. Things will look better after a good night's sleep." Jox didn't reply. He hoped she was right, but he'd been wrong about everything else. Sorry, Fox, Derrick, Blackkeep. They all deserved better.

Jox stared at the strange man in horrible confusion. Why was he so confident? What did he know? Could he be trusted? Jox could save Fox by sacrificing Mil. Mil was one of his three suspects, but he thought it was more likely to be Fox. He decided to carefully wach for the final 5 minutes of the day, and be prepared to change his vote at the last minute if something changed.

"I'm the one who tries to talk, and Fox is the one who thinks loud enough for everyone to hear somehow." Jox stuck out his tongue to show he was joking.

"I had assumed it was because I'm more talkative, and have a wider spread of votes to analyze. Mil has voted on Lijal and Var, and I've voted on Fox, Astrid, and Derrick. I've just had more interactions, so more likely to lead to a connection. See below." . . . "Could you explain why you're voting for Fox? I expect Fox to be evil, but, not gonna lie, that style of vote always comes across as really suspicious to me."

"Keldorn, I don't think that-" Var stepped in and handed Keldorn the latest copy of the Treatise Metallurgic, bookmarked to the page about Soothers. "Nevermind, you've been told." "Var, in our PM's, did try quite hard to get me to switch from Astrid to Lijal. He was sincere in believing that Lijal was the better target, but I refused to switch, because I knew that he would cave and switch to Astrid if I didn't, and Lijal was a friend I trusted. He didn't make those votes in the heat of the moment. He knew we needed an execution, and only switched to Astrid because he really thought that Lijal was out of his reach. I don't believe he was hiding or acting during that time. "While it is plausible a Spiked Var would do the same, since Lijal was active and Astrid was not, I do think he is Innocent."

"He stopped trusting me very quickly. It's a small thing, but when Keldorn is trying to deceive people, his reads don't change nearly as much as they have these past few days. He vacillates a lot when he doesn't have information. When he does know exactly who's evil, he sticks to his reads and gets more irritated that the villagers don't follow his lead. "As for Var, he set up way to many if/then chains that started with his execution. 'If I die, search among X, Y, and Z for the spiked.' He didn't die, and many of those among his suspicions have or their alignments are known to me, because I as one of them. It didn't make sense for an Eliminator to make those posts, when it was very likely he would be executed. his survival came in the last few hours, and if he had flipped Eliminator, we wouldn't have followed his if/then suspicion chains."

"I think Fox might have been the killer pa." Gurvani stopped, and turned to look at where Jox was staring at a open bag of flour instead of kneeding dough. "Uh, you wanna run that by me again Jox?" He shrugged. "I think it's Fox. I'm not sure why. Vibes mostly?" Gurvani rubbed his forehead, and considered whether or not to tell him to get back to work. It was important to find the killers before anyone in their family was attacked, true, but was it really their place? Well, it didn't seem like he could do anything to keep Jox out of it at this point. The only way out was through. "Alright, what has he done to give you bad vibes?" "He was, nice to me? When I was sick? it felt weird." Gurvani stared at his son. "I don't think that killers tend to be nice to people who are sick, or, if they do, I don't think it's differently than normal people do." "I don't know. It just felt weird. Like he was satisfied that I was sick? Satisfied that I wasn't doing anything to threaten him?" "Well, if that's the only reason, I don't think it's enough to accuse someone before Aral. What has he done that doesn't relate to you?" Jox thought about it, now staring at the ceiling instead of the wall. "So far, he's voted on Lijal, Madiane, and Derrick, two of whom we know to be village, and Madiane, who I trust. He didn't really think much of Keldorn's or my first votes on him, but he did defend himself from the side, claiming I was acting uncharacteristically, and he has a lot of experience with manipulating Keldorn. He's actually mentioned me a lot. 5 different times he's talked about me, and he's only talked 7 times. I don't know. Mostly he just says I'm acting weird and leaves it at that. He's never actually voted on me, like he dosn't want to be the one leading a vote, or he's content to just let me aim at the wrong people. Maybe that will change today, with 2 people already calling for my head." Gurvani didn't like the sound of that. "Well, he can't be working alone, so who would his allies be?" "Mil and Josha." "Why? I don't see the connection." 'Two primary reasons. Of the living, he's at least mentioned everyone other than Lipitor, Antari, Mil, and Josha. If Lipitor or Antari are spiked, I have no way to find out, as they have said nothing of relevance to the murders. Secondly, I trust everyone else. Keldorn and Var I trust because of their actions, Madiane and Keamen I trust because of the words of Keldorn and Var, and because of the general vibes I have from them." Gurvani frowned. "So, it's just a process of elimination then? Mil and Josha haven't done anything suspicious of themself?" "Nothing concrete, but Josha was very interested in any possible gossip I could give him. And Mil hasn't done anything that is of note, other than his strange votes on Var and I. Neither of them strike me as having been done with good intent, or even intent to actually solve, just to keep death flowing. It feels like he's just jumped on easy wagons every time. So, yeah, I'd happily vote for Fox, Mil, or Josha." "Do you think they're the only ones?" Jox nodded. With this few Allomancers in town? Yeah. I think there might be a village Mistborn who attacked Teal at the same time that the Spiked did, with this plague of inactivity killing Astrid. Not sure though."

Jox yawned. "I'm off to bed. Tell me later if Derrick was evil or not." He hoped he was, otherwise he'd really regret making this impulse change.

Jox stared at him.

Jox thought about it. "Are you sure Kéamen is more likely to be spiked then Derrick or Var?"

Var (4): Mil, Teal, Jox, Kéamen John Derrick(3): Joshua, Var, Fox Kéamen (1): Keldorn Jox was feeling worse about the vote on Var, but didn't really want to vote on John, nor did he want to move his vote off Var and leave it as a tie. Jox was also realizing that if he left his vote on Var after saying this, and then Var died and flipped Elim, it would look really weird, but Jox really didn't know what to do. If Var or Derrick were the only two options to execute, and they were both villagers, which seemed. . . plausible? dunno. If they were both probably villagers, who's death would give the village the best chance at victory? Jox wasn't sure.

Jox was tired. He'd done a lot of learning over the past few days, and while he really wanted to avenge his friend Lijal by figuring out who the spiked were, he wasn't feeling up for a full analysis like his ancestors had done according to Fox. In all honesty, he'd started writing up one such report, and it had just made him want to stay silent for the whole day. So, rather than do either of those, he decided to focus on the people who were already under suspicion for today. Madiane, Var, Lipitor, and Derrick. First, he went over everything he remembered Lipitor saying. It amounted to nothing. Literally nothing that was analyzable. Even when delivering the bread during the council's Promised Meals initiative (PM), Lipitor hadn't said anything. He would probably advocate for execution if none of the other three struck him as more suspicious, but right now, he didn't see the point in going after the folk hero. Next, he went over Madiane's behavior, and didn't see anything of suspicion. He wished that she hadn't pressured Lijal so much that the urchin had died, but It had basically been a mob. Madiane had come in at the last minute, and Aral Penrod poked his head in. "Hi Jox, you missed Keldorn voting for Kéamen." Jox blinked, then reread. Ah, so he had. Anyway Madiane had come in at the last minute, and voted for Lijal, and Jox could see two likely explanations for it. One, she hadn't heard Var change his vote, and trusted him enough to vote alongside where she thought he had been voting prior to two minutes before her vote, or Two, she would rather vote for someone active rather than inactive. Jox didn't consider her behavior to be all that suspicious. She didn't seem worth voting on at the moment. There was a lot more that could be said about Var. From his vaguely performative speech about allomancy alongside his vote on Lijal, which really didn't make sense to Jox. Surely, he knew that Lijal was smarter than that. Someone very similar to Lijal had fought alongside someone very similar to Var and done quite well, and they had behaved differently at that time. Jox noticed two things suddenly. One, he had now effectively accused Fox, Astrid, and Var of being evil based on their interactions with Lijal. Was he holding some weird biases from his dreams of The Tower's Pressure? He should probably reconsider that. Secondly, he noticed Var talking outside his window with Derrick. He was explaining why he had gone back and forth at the end of the day yesterday, and Jox nodded along with it. It perfectly matched what they had discussed during their PM, when Var had tried to get Jox to vote on Lijal over Astrid to avoid a tie, and Jox had simply shrugged, and told Var that it seemed like the man could easily avoid a tie by switching his own vote, and Jox's preference for Lijal's life seemed to be higher than Var's preference for Lijal's death. All in all, he didn't know where he stood on Var. The man was more suspicious than Madiane, but not suspicious enough to vote on. Jox genuinely appreciated the man's interactions with Lijal. They seemed innocent. Next, Jox thought about John dee Derrick. The cartographer had first shown up to argue in favor of executing someone, against Kéamen's argument's of peace. Jox agreed that someone did need to die, sadly, but that was honestly an ice cold take. It didn't really imply one way or the other about Derrick's own innocence. Then this morning he had done analysis of Copper's reports to Al, and had said some things about Jox that he had to disagree with. Namely, Jox absolutely would have asked his pa to take out the mob boss if he was spiked. He probably shouldn't say that though, but it was true. Either way, he knew he was innocent, so Derrick had gotten to pick between Fox, Mil, and Var as the likely ones to kill Copper. Jox wondered still why he had chosen Var over Fox. In general, he wondered what Fox was doing behind the scenes, but Keldorn seemed to trust him, and Jox trusted Keldorn, hilariously due to Keldorn's own increased suspicion of himself. So, John didn't like or trust Var's motivations for voting the way he did, whereas Jox kinda did. Still, he had one more to analyse; Kéamen. There were three things of note about Kéamen, he had early on soft defended Fox by pressuring Jox about his vote on the man, he had fought with words and actions to prevent any execution, and he had encouraged seekers to reveal their findings to the public. It felt very early Village play honestly. Nothing about it was suspicious He was getting frustrated. None of these people seemed like good targets to execute. If only he wasn't so tired. Jox decided that there was enough information to be gained that an execution on Var might be worthwhile, but he hoped he would have energy later, before nightfall, to do a more thorough analysis of everyone, instead of just these 5. Then, that done, he went in search of Keldorn "Hi Keldorn." Jox waved "Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier. When I walked to Josha during PM runs, the interactions we had pretty much mirrored the ones we were having in the square. Weirdly so at times honestly. As for Astrid, the man didn't say anything at all, and still hasn't, but has read my PM offering bread. Antari meanwhile, is claiming to have been kidnapped. I hope someone manages to break into the inn and free him so he's willing to talk in the square." I think probably Aral just spelt your name wrong? There isn't a Joshua in town, so I think that's supposed to be your vote.

Jox tried to leave the bakery to go to the square, but Gurvani, his father and teacher, put a hand on his shoulder. "Not yet Jox, you have to finish up your school assignments. You can go out to the square to help in," Gurvani checked a clock, "some time. A few hours before nightfall for sure." Jox wanted to fight, but he had to admit that his education was important.

"Well, I think they're more voting on you because you're they don't think Fox is evil? I think? One moment, I need to make a chart." Jox knelt in the dirt, and ripped up one of Astrid's loafs of bread into pieces. The man had never answered the door, so he might as well make use of the bread. One part of it he munched on himself, another part he tossed to Lijal because the kid really did need more food, and the rest he started moving into a little tally box that he scrawled in the ash and dirt. "So, Keldorn voted for Fox, who then voted on Lijal." He drew a fox head and a small human, and put one large crumb next to each. "Then Kéamon voted on Keldorn." A picture of a eye, since the man seemed to be always watching people. "Then I made the Fox news joke, which was never meant to be serious. Sorry about that again everyone." But then Keldorn took his vote off of Fox. I don't really know why? My conversation with Fox was pretty short, and he didn't say much. He said to give the bread to someone who needed it more, which I did, and he said he appreciated my joke, which was nice. I don't really know what Keldorn and he talked about. But whatever it was, now Keldorn's voting for Var." Jox considered what to draw for the man, and settled on a Bagel. "Var gave my family a recipe for Bagels. We might sell those soon." "Almost immediately afterward, he switches to the Wizard for not voting while still talking a lot." Jox drew a newt, since Josha was on the hunt for some newt-bread. "Then I stop joking around and ask about Astrid. Keldorn backs me up." Jox did his best drawing of the lantern that the watchmen carried with him. "That's when you got here and got mad at Fox for voting on you." Jox looked up at Lijal. "And then, weirdly, Mil rolled a die and voted for you, despite an ancestor of his believing in determinism." While dice were more random than people, they were still pretty human. Was that suspicious? Probably not. "And then, it gets kinda interesting. See, my pa once told me about some of the older generations in this town, and Var's ancestors and your ancestors worked together to do some murders once. It's a theory that cuts both ways, but he could be trying to get rid of you quickly because he's worried that you'll be able to recognize he's a criminal, or he could be trying to get rid of you because he recognized you're evil. I don't buy it either way, but it is interesting." Jox put down another crumb of bread next to the crude drawing of Lijal to represent Var's vote. "Anyway, then Derrick showed up, I like him by the way, really cool maps and ideas, and he's searching for Antari. I didn't talk to Antari in person, but I sent him several messages via the barkeep where he's staying, and honestly? I think he might have gotten kidnapped. We should probably send the guards to investigate that tonight." Jox drew a bag of money, then looked with satisfaction at his scrawled drawings and crumbs. "There you have it. People are mad at you and at Astrid. You could probably vote for Astrid if you don't want to get run out of town?" Another crumb of bread fell to the ground from above, next to Astrid's name. Jox looked up to see Kéamen nod down at his drawing. "One more for Astrid." @Hoid Slayer You can do [color=red]Astrid[/color] to vote on mobile.

Jox wondered what Copper Stopper was writing, and whether Tin Al would be having him make a statement of suspicion as a few others had. "So, I've been delivering lots of bread all day, and been chatting with lots of folks, and so far, I haven't been able to find Teel, Antari, or Lipitor. I still have bread for them, and don't know when I'll be able to deliver it. Almost everyone else has either accepted their bread, or refused it. There is one exception though. @Lord Spirit Astrid. I definetely heard him breathing on the other side of his front door, but he never answered it. I really need to know what bread he wants so I can deliver it."

Jox sighed. He definitely wasn't a comedian. "I'm sorry for joking around, I was just trying to make the situation less tense. I have nothing against Fox, I was just joking about not trusting Fox news when I was asked about the news."

"So far, no one's saying much of anything." Jox checked the list he had been scribbling on all day. "Most people who have said anything have simply asked that I tell them if someone is acting weird or suspicious. A few folk have asked that I not deliver them any more bread, which might be suspicious? I mean, who doesn't like bread? The rest have just appreciated the bread. There's still a lot of folks who haven't even accepted the bread, just listened to the choice I offered them, then shut the door in my face. I might just offer up the remaining bread at the end of the day to anyone who wants it."

"Well, some of the new refugees have brought a recipie for a ring-shaped bread, called a bagel, and my Pa is going to ask the council for permission to try making it." Jox looked at the guards still preventing anyone from accessing the council's chamber. By now he had heard the rumors of murder that were filling the town. "I wouldn't keep my hopes up." "As for less local news, well, my Ma listens a lot to Fox news, but that stuff is all terrible to pay attention to." He shrugged. "maybe I'm wrong though, and this one will be different."

Jox was trying to appear small, hunching down in between the handles of the bakery cart. He didn't like that some people were looking at him with pity, and he especially didn't like how many people were looking at his father. "I'm the Baker, and I have today's order for the council! I've been here every morning you idiot!" Gurvani was waving around the message that the council had sent him last night of what bread to bring this morning. "I know sir, but our orders are to keep everyone out of the council meeting right now. Unless those orders change, you can't come in." The guard was repeating the words in the same way his ma had talked to him when he was younger. (Was Jox a guard? He hoped not. He didn't think he'd like to stand there and be yelled at) "Well what am I supposed to do with their order then? Just throw it away? I can't trust you to deliver it to the council can I? Since you're too important to even listen to a lowly baker like me with your big important order from the Aral. Why not go fetch him! He'll let me in. He knows I'm the baker." Gurvani was red in the face. "I can't leave my post sir. You'll have to wait." Jox tugged on his pa's shirt. "I could distribute them pa, you don't need me at the bakery, I can take things around." Gurvani's arm twitched, as if to hit him, but the arm didn't lash out. Instead, he took a deep breath, and turned to face him. "Joxxer, there's 14 separate groups of folk that need bread. They're all supposed to come to the council for it. You running around delivering it would take you all day." "So will arguing with me sir." The guard stated dryly. Jox winced. Gurvani whipped around to glare at him. "I won't forget this." He turned and tossed the council's writ to Jox. "Fine boy. Go deliver the bread." Jox caught the writ and unfolded it. Not very informative, but it did have the names of the people, and what bread they needed. Too bad he hadn't learned to read very well yet. Well, he'd take it one step at a time. He recognized the word for bread, and he knew his numbers. He held up the writ to the guard. "Could you tell me what these names are, sir?" Once he had the names in hand, he set off, to find and speak to each individual on the list.

Jox was fairly certain he wasn't actually a baker. His father, Gurvani, was obviously a baker. and his grandfather had been a baker, and so had his great-grandfather. He was descended from a long line of Blackkeep Bakers, but he was fairly certain that he wasn't a baker. He'd mused a lot about what he was, since he had to be something. All Skaa were something, or they were dead. If he wasn't a baker, was he perhaps a butcher? Or a cobbler? Jox was locking up the basement door and musing about telling his parents that he was actually a candle maker when a runner came down the lane and ran into the bakery. Jox hurried in after him to barely hear the message. "What, all of them?" His father was there, pouring the runner a mug of water. His mother, Kistaris, was peeking her head out the door to the back. "Yus sur." The young girl was panting, hands on her knees and sweat dripping down her forehead. (Was he a messenger maybe? Or was that something that only the youngest and fastest could be? He was near adulthood, and slow. He probably wasn't a runner.) "Council wants all, gasp, your brud, plus a ruceipt. They'll pay." "Why in the Deepness do they need all of it?" He saw Jox then, and nodded in a weird way, pointing to the empty burlap bags for orders. "We'll do it of course, but why?" "Dunno sur." She straightened up, and Jox's father handed her the mug. "Whole manor's worth of folks showed up at the gates. Dunno who they is, but the council wants them fed." She drained the mug. "Thank you sur. I have to go to the butcher next. Got's me a list of places to go. Bye." Jox had already finished loading a few bags, and his mother had joined him in the work. His father stared at the closed door for a few minutes before joining them at the counter. "All our bread." "Good money at least." Kistaris shrugged. "Refugees you think?" (Jox was fairly certain he wasn't a refugee, though he wasn't fully certain what that was. A traveler of some sort, right?) "Could be, or could be an army. One of us and Jox will have to deliver all this. You want to mind the shop or shall I?" "I don't think it's an army pa." Jox wondered aloud. "I think she would have mentioned that. Army's obvious." (Could he be a soldier? No, definitely not. He wasn't a baker, or a soldier.) "Boy's right 'Vani. Everyone can recognize soldiers. Them and Lords are obvious. Anyway, I'll do the deliveries. People tell me more things then they do you. Come along Joxxer. Let's get to the council." Jox, not Joxxer, nodded. (He wasn't a baker and he wasn't a Joxxer. What was he?) "I'll grab Carrow's cart, if he isn't using it." "Smart lad." Jox, the young, thoughtful, flour-covered Baker's Apprentice is here! (As are his parents) He's looking for what his calling is in life. Maybe it's being Spiked?

Now see, i was smiling when I wrote the first two lines, then reread it, and also felt that it sounded angry. So I added the third line, hoping that would be enough to make it sound amused instead of angry. So you're not the only one that feels that way. I think it is the phrase "feel free", combined with the "First off, second off," because both of those phrases are most often used when angry, but in this case, it was genuinely just chill.