So, be honest, were you wondering where Todd was?

I'm glad we got to see a bit of him in action, though! This picks up in the prison cells.

 
Todd woke up on a cold stone floor. He rose and took stock of his surroundings only far enough to spot his new friend Milly. He moved to check her out even as he remembered how he'd gotten them into this mess.

The evening had gone pretty good at the start. After eating their fill of spaghetti at the Spaghetti Heaven Todd had treated the others to ice cream from this particular neko's cart- his real motive being to get close to this stunning piece of cat flesh and get to know her better. As the evening had worn on, and the others had taken his subtle- and not so subtle- hints to get lost. Todd and Milly struck up a friendship and, when Milly invited him up onto the roof of a nearby building Todd had figured he had hit the jackpot.

Milly, however, had acted distracted as they spooned on the ledge, high above the city, and Todd could understand why. Nearby- too close for comfort in his estimation- another gang battle raged.
But that was down there- and so far away. Todd did his best to take her mind off of the violence with music, sweet words and- when she let him- sweeter love. Here was something worth staying in this stinking city for, he thought.

And then he had appeared- a robed form, threatening them. Todd moved between Milly and this threat, fangs bared and growling.

He barely felt the lightning as it knocked him cold instantaneously. Some hero he was!

All this flashed through his mind as he knelt by her side. "Milly.. Milly girl- you okay?"

"Urgh.. let me sleep five more minutes, mom. I can't be late to work," she muttered, half out of it.

Todd chuckled. "Don't have the right equipment to be 'mom', darlin'- although the thought of waking you up in the mornin' sounds pretty nice about now."

Milly sat up with a wake, like a gunshot going off. "Tom? Where are we?! This better not be one of those racial arrestings.. this isn't the Lafin era anymore! Wait.. where are we?!"

Todd smirked. "Todd. We're in somekind of dungeon it looks like and I have no idea what or who this Lafin dude is. But don't worry.. they haven't made a cell that'd keep ol' Todd Blackpaws in it for long. Lemme' get a look at this lock."

Todd went over and "had a look" at the lock on the door. Well... apparently someone had made a cell that would keep Todd in it- and that person lived in Honourburg and worked for whoever had them locked up, it seemed. He tried to pick the lock- but was hit with a jolt of magic that blew him across the room!

She crawled over to Todd, looking at him concerned. "The Laflin act, years before even you were born, was some religious balloga about cross-breeding being against the One and Only's will. Those were pretty bad times for immigrants in this country. Are you going to have to be blasted across the room more than once to get us out of here?"

Todd looked sour for just a second before smiling again. "Me? Why honey that was just me and that lock gettin' to know each other!" He sat up, a few stray charges still running through his fur. "For one thing, I can tell you that lock's a regular lock- but the mechanism is protected by a magical field. You touch the field and... well you saw what happens. Key's probably got a null spell on it."

"Oh so we're going to die in here?!" Panic lit up her eyes. She then looked at Todd, who wore a wide grin on his face. "Why are you so freakin' happy about it?"

Todd's smile couldn't get any wider. "A good Bard has a few tricks up his sleeves for any party. Observe." With that he started fooling with the collar of his shirt, and began to pull out a new tool to add to the ones he'd been using to pick the lock. He then knelt down and began to fiddle with the lock again- this time being rewarded with a *click*! He stood and pushed the door open just a hair- checking up and down the hallway. "C'mon- coast's clear!"

She took a step towards him but stopped. "Are you crazy?! They'll try to kill us if we try to escape! Won't we be safer here?"

Todd looked back. "A second ago you were saying we were gonna die here. C'mon."

"Of old age maybe, not bulletholes!" She stepped forward again. "What're you gonna do if we run into trouble, sing 'em to death?!"

"Pretty much- hey and this guitar isn't my only weapon."

She stepped forward, ready to exit, then let out a shrill scream. "Tom! The door's trying to close!" She instinctively grabbed it, but the door seemed to be moving with a mind of its own.

Todd threw his body into the door- wedging it in the jam with just room to spare. "Out, out, out!" He hissed at Milly

"I can't get by with you in the way it's gonna kill you, oh no no no leave me behind!" She threw her weight into the door, barely able to stop it from moving. When he refused to move out, she leaped, sending them both flying out the door and into the wall on the opposite side of the hallway.

He had been planning on extricating himself from the door after she had climbed over him and out- but this was fine too- especially as it ended up with them in quite the tangle of bodies. He would have stayed there except for two things 1) the possibility of guards coming along to check and 2) the sickening crunch of something that had been left behind.

"Sorry," she said with a frown. "I panicked back there. Just a bit. You probably couldn't even tell."

Todd smirked. "You? Panic? Never!" He extricated himself from the furpile and went over- wrenching what was left of his guitar from the door and putting it away. "Guess I'm a capella from here on out." He then took the scent of the air, mostly for any one nearby- but what he got made him smile. "This way, c'mon!"

The girl stumbled to her feet and followed him closely and quietly.

"I've got a bad feeling about this."

Other than the flashback, I wrote the girl. The two meshed well. Now that they're out of the cell, they're on their way- and we're on our way to a Sir Fumblies's piece!