in the end we still pretend (open)

[Northwind]

It was cold.

Winter was coming - something Aeolus had definately not prepared for, nor had any of the Winds Cast. Birds and snakes should not be roaming the woods as the snow fell, and Aeolus had the sinking suspicion he was going to turn into a block of ice if he didn't get to the warmth quickly. Then again, he would probably just inch his way back to the Winds Cast camp and pull together some miscellaneous brush as some sort of cover from the cold. That was almost certainly what the birds would be doing after they got back from their latest mission, involving a rat gang and a warlord with a lot of enemies. He had no doubts they would be able to handle it; the crows were behind them, just in case.

The massive black snake moved sluggishly through a tangle of dying branches and into a small open space, decorated with fallen leaves and yellowed ferns. He examined it for a moment before moving forth to curl up in the opening, pulling his coils together to conserve whatever meagre warmth he had left in his body and settling his triangular head on his body.

His tongue lazily flicked out to taste the air, a reflex reaction, and he stiffened slightly when he caught the scents of other creatures, but realized it was just the previous passerby. Senses dulled by the cold, he wouldn't have realized if there had actually been an army behind him, but his fangs inched out just in case, preparing to sink into any uninvited visitor - if they were hostile.

Snakes rested and slept with their eyes open, and anyone would be smartest to simply assume he was awake, treating him with the utmost caution, and he'd probably wake up at any small sound. With a weak twitch of his tail, he drifted into a kind of half-sleep, waiting for any other sounds to approach.

[Arturo]

Arturo's options were rather limited. With winter coming and his raft gone, he had to find shelter. The only shelter around was Redwall, though, and he would only relent to that if he was on death's doorstep. So he had to find somewhere else to stay; a cave would do nicely, or maybe some abandoned home hidden in the woods. Even the remains of Camp Moss would do nicely, if it was still empty and he could find it.

As it was, the ferret trudged through the underbrush in search of anything useful. He pulled his cloak tighter about him and muttered curses at the wind that swirled around him, but it simply blew anyways, oblivious to his discomfort. Nothing else had gone in his favor in weeks; why should the weather? As soon as he could, he was going to have to head south. There was no way he would survive the entire winter here.

Dropping from a fallen log, he straightened up to resume his fruitless search, but he stopped as the fur on the nape of his neck began to rise. Something was wrong...not wanting to chance on being unprepared, he drew his sword slowly, eyes darting about the clearing. At a faint noise behind him, he whirled suddenly, leveling the tip of his sword at the adder he'd unwittingly stumbled across. After a few moments of scrutiny, however, it seemed like the threat was--well, not a threat. The snake wasn't reacting to his presence.

For a few moments, curiosity and logic battled it out in Arturo's head. Curiosity won, and the ferret gingerly prodded the sleeping predator.

[Northwind]

The harsh cold numbed the snake's nerves, and he didn't register the prod the ferret delivered to his scales, which wasn't powerful enough to really catch his attention anyway. Nevertheless, the serpent's sluggish sense of smell eventually realized that there was something behind him, and the scaled beast half-raised his head, tongue flicking lazily from his mouth to further sense the air and the creature behind him.

His head half-turned, allowing a dark eye to examine the vermin who had woken him. There was a hiss of scales on leaves as the snake followed through with the turn to stand face-to-face with the ferret. His tongue flicked out slowly once more as he lowered his head a few inches, observing the creature critically and giving him plenty of time to scramble away as he did so.

"What brings you here?" he asked steadily, shifting his position on the leaves so he could rest coiled up and prepared to strike if the ferret raised his blade against him. For now, however, he was content to watch and wait - of course, he would also be asking some questions, even if the ferret didn't want to reply. "Actually, I have seen a lot of your kind around lately..." And mainly where the Cast is involved, he added mentally; since Redwall had been reclaimed, requests to kill self-proclaimed warlords had risen drastically.

If the ferret watched him closely, he would know there was nothing to fear from the snake; with senses and reflexes dulled, Aeolus wouldn't be making a move in attack anytime soon. Of course, it never hurt to put up a brave front.

[Arturo]

"What brings you here?"

Well, that wasn't what I expected. Arturo thought, unsure of what to do. It didn't seem like the snake was being coy, though having never spoken to one, he couldn't be certain. What he was certain of, though, was that the sword in his paws would be of little use to him. By the time he could really put it to any use, he would probably be dead, and if there was no fight approaching, he certainly wasn't going to be the instigator.

"Just passing through," he answered, sheathing the sword and leveling his gaze at the adder's face. He did his best not to look it in the eyes; he knew that much about snakes. He also knew that, with winter coming, this one should have been readying a burrow or a cave, not resting out in the cold. His curiosity piqued, he asked, "And you? This doesn't seem like much of a spot to wait the winter out, if you don't mind my saying so."

[Northwind]

"Just passing through."

The adder shifted and glanced from side to side, noting the lack of any visible trail on either side of the small clearing and shrugging as he did so, insofar as a snake could shrug. Perhaps there was a trail he had missed - it could happen to anyone, as he decided.

"And you? This doesn't seem like much of a spot to wait the winter out, if you don't mind my saying so."

His tongue flicked out lazily as he considered. "It's not permanent. I'm waiting on a couple birds," he said cryptically, glancing up at the sky as he did so on an instinct. Of course, they would probably be taking a while longer. When they arrived, he'd take the ferret's advice and seek out a cave, although he couldn't be out of commission the whole winter, and neither could the Cast. "I'm already sick of winter," he grumbled.

He'd probably rest for a few days, wait until most of the freshly fallen snow was melted by some weak rays of sunshine, and go out on a self-assigned mission. He didn't know exactly what he would end up doing, but he would figure it out when he got there. "And exactly where are you going? Maybe it's just me, but I'd think a ferret wouldn't be too happy to live in the cold for a season."

[lorki]

Well... there it was. Sleet stood over the corpse with a look to very passionate disgust on her face. It was the hare who had managed to nearly kill her... or what was left of it at lease. Sleet rarely left her knives sitting in bodies, however this forgotten one had turned to a blessing in disguise... well... sort of. She'd escaped the abbey, at least for the day. It was unlikely Redin would miss her... and if he did he ought to be smart enough to figure she had needed a break. Begin surrounded by not only beasts that seemed to increasingly loath her, but also by beasts she'd been commissioned to kill, was wearing down her patience and her sanity. It had been days, perhaps over two weeks even, since she'd handled a weapon, it was unbearable. So there she stood, glaring down at the dead old corpse of a hare, eyes seeking out the glint of metal that would remind her where she'd stuck her knife.

After a few moments of examination, the petite ferret bent and wrenched from the body a single throwing knife. A grin immediately over took her face as she wiped the blade clean on the dead hare and twirled it around in her paw. It wasn't an awful lot of protection, considering she was wondering a forest full of enemies, blue Sleet wasn't looking for trouble. She merely desired an escape, any sort of conflict that came her way she could hopefully talk her way out of, run away from... or deal with with a single knife. She tucked the knife under her belt and continued on her way into the forest.

As she wandered farther from the abbey, her mind distanced itself from her problems, all the pressing issues that had demanded so much of her time. She thought instead of the weather. The cold was a welcome change to her, while she detested long bouts of freezing weather, she felt refreshed by the late fall weather. her paws tapped against the knife at her side while she thought absentmindedly about sneaking it back into the abbey with her. Feelings of helplessness and insignificance bothered her greatly, and her safety was obviously in question around the abbey... well it might as well be in question everywhere.

The distant sound of voices reached her keen ears after some time walking. She stopped and raised her head to glance around the forest around her. A cool breeze tossed itself against her face, bringing with it a clearer sound of the voices. She blinked, tilted her head to the side slightly and twitched her left ear. She ought not to go after the sound, as it could turn into a confrontation. She considered the single knife in her belt, considered the long lonely walk back to abbey, considered the prospect of a friend of foe up ahead, considered her own curiosity. As always, the latter desire won out. The ferret perked up, and with her assassins grace, swiftly and silently moved in the direction of the voices.

What she found almost made her giggle. She stared through the sparse trees and Arturo and the snake. She had never liked snakes much, they scared her like no other creature had managed to. She'd killed one once... but that was with an arsenal of weapons to use and the help of horrified mouse who had pelted the snake with pine cones from a tree. A knife fight with an adder would be a different story... Still, the snake did not appear to be hostile towards the ferret who looked somewhat recognizable. While waiting to see if the snake ate ferret after discussing the cold, Sleet pondered to herself where she'd seen him before.

[Arturo]

"It's not permanent. I'm waiting on a couple birds."

Somewhat put off by the odd remark, Arturo just replied, "Birds. Huh." Any other time, he wouldn't even have been here; all his instincts screamed not to stay around a potential threat, particularly a large, scaly one with poison fangs. But he was desperately in need of some distraction from his own irritation, and this seemed to fit the bill nicely.

"I'm already sick of winter."

Well, then we have something in common, he mentally agreed, glancing around at the trees, already without most of their leaves. Winter hadn't even arrived and it was already bothering the two of them; apparently, Mossflower was making up for the early spring with an early winter, and they both agreed it was nothing to be pleased about.

Maybe snakes weren't so bad as everybeast thought.

"And exactly where are you going? Maybe it's just me, but I'd think a ferret wouldn't be too happy to live in the cold for a season."

"And you would be right," he admitted. "I'm headed south, to get away from all this. No way I'm sticking around for snow." As he finished that sentence, his hackles began to rise again. His normal paranoid nature instantly kicked into alert, and he listened intently to the edges of the clearing. "Of course, there might be those who disagree," he muttered, doing his best not to look suspicious. Idiot, he shouldn't have let his guard down just because he was having a nice chat about the weather.

"Are you expecting anybeast other than those birds?" he asked Aeolus, chancing a quick look around. He may have let the intruder get this far, but there was no way he would let them get any further without his knowledge.

[Northwind]

"Birds. Huh."

He glanced up again at this comment reflexively, but the only thing above were the trees' bare winter branches, almost invisible in the cloudy sky. The forms he'd been hoping for weren't there. He narrowed his eyes irratibly at this, but there was nothing he could do.

"And you would be right. I'm headed south, to get away from all this. No way I'm sticking around for snow. Of course, there might be those who disagree."

Aeolus flicked the tip of his tail in a snake equivalent of a shrug. "If I could leave, I would. Unfortunately, I have...business around these parts." His tongue flicked out lazily, tasting the air as it did so, and he half-froze, glancing around at the gray trees. Everything appeared to be a dark gray at the moment, and it was hard to tell if what he thought was there was actually there. He took one more quick glance around the forest as the ferret spoke.

"Are you expecting anybeast other than those birds?"

"I was about to ask you the same question." The snake's eyes flicked from side to side as he looked for any intruders. It was lucky the wind was often erratic - otherwise, he might not have scented the enemy he now knew was there. "There's something - someone - here."

It would be really helpful if at least one bird turned up now, he decided as he examined yet another tree for signs of another creature hiding becide it.

[lorki]

Sleet listened to them talk, they clearly both had some splendid instincts, as their eyes began to search the forest as soon as she got near. However, Sleet was a bit of an expect in her line of work, she didn't mind being a bit full of herself, she was exceptional at what she did- hiding included. So she stayed out of sight, although she could not control her scent, which she figured would be picked up any moment by the snake, if the wind began to cooperate with it.

"There's something - someone - here."

She waited a moment, let them search a bit more, let them wonder for a bit. She supposed exposing herself would not be too terrible an idea, as long as she kept her distance. Snakes, she knew, were a bit sluggish in the cold. And none could scale a tree or leap around the canopy as she could. Feeling confident that the only consequence of her action would not be immediate death, Sleet cleared her throat.

"Aye, that would be me." She stepped into sight and waved merrily towards the two of them, she motioned nonchalantly at Arturo, "have we met, by any chance?"

[Arturo]

"I was about to ask you the same question."

Even more on edge, Arturo let his paw stray back to his sword. Whether or not he liked it, experience had taught him that such an instinct could be quite a life-saver; he wasn't going to be caught unprepared. Neither was the snake, it seemed, and the ferret decided it was rather comforting to know he was on the same side as a deadly, if sluggish, serpent.

"Aye, that would be me." She stepped into sight and waved merrily towards the two of them, she motioned nonchalantly at Arturo, "Have we met, by any chance?"

Though he'd done everything he could to avoid being surprised, Arturo couldn't help but be. It was rare that he ran into the same creature twice, and rarer still that they be one of the really interesting ones. "We have," he replied. "Though I'd hardly recognize you without your Dibbun." Curiosity about the badger cub flickered into his mind; he hadn't seen or heard from him since that one day in the woods. Of course, he probably never would. Caion had probably forgotten him long ago.