Easy Target [Rocky, Open]

[Tirael]

As great a home as Redwall was, the heavy stone walls eventually began to grow suffocating, much as the endless caves of Camp Moss had. Tirael had begun to miss his frequent sojourns into the woods, and with the threat of N'tashi's soldiers now out of the picture, now seemed the perfect time for a walk. Grabbing his supply bag and his staff, he set off into the sunlight-dappled Mossflower, feeling more energetic than he had in days.

A few hours later, he found himself on the banks of the River Moss, gathering calendula. He crouched by a patch of the pink flowers, carefully picking out the best samples, when a sound nearby caught his attention. He froze, except for an ear that turned toward the source of the noise. Reaching for his staff, he stood slowly, brandishing it nervously and glancing around the riverside.

"I-I don't know who you are, but come out," he said nervously, hoping the rather limited training he'd received from Enon would carry him through this.

[Rocky]

Easy target. Easy kill.

The fox's eyes glued to the otter, a paw slowly went for his knife. Deep green eyes betraying no emotion gleamed in what little sunlight reaches his body, hidden through thick foliage and underbrush. Curved knife drawn, the fox dropped from his perch in a tree that camouflaged him well, his right arm shooting up as he fell, and grabbing the branch, leaving him dangling from the thick bough. Leaves fell around him, a result of his large frame shaking, and never once did those eyes leave the otter down by the waterfront.

Paw uncurling, the fox allowed himself to fall, hoping no sound would give way to his prescence and reveal himself to his potential prey.

Snap!

His land would have been as near to silent a fox his size could make, had it not been for the stick he did not notice. Pausing for a moment, ignoring the small pain in his foot, the fox kept looking ahead, knife in left hand, right hand loosely at his side. His legs lowered himself into a squatting position, making himself as small as possible, hoping once again that he would not be noticed. His gaze however, told him one the one thing he did not want to happen: the otter was aware. The long arm of the young male riverbeast slowly and shakily went for his pole, the fox observed, and the hidden beast knew at that moment, he could not sneak away from this, and try an ambush again.

As the otter turned, the fox made its move.

Ducking even lower then before, and rolling to the left, the creature moved so his, still potential though less likely prey, could not focus. He knew otters were creatures of awesome power, and he had to be careful not to let this fight, if there was going to be one, go near the water as he knew he would not stand a chance. Rolling forward once more, the burly figure finally revealed itself to the otter. Knife still in paw, he straightened out, his muscles in his legs smoothing out from the tension he had just put them through in staying low for what seemed like 10 minutes, though clearly was not even close to that thought. Head looking from the ground and moving upwards showed the otter that this creature was a tall, thick fox with bright orange fur, and a scar running along his snout; an old "memento" from his days when he was weak, stupid, and fool-heardy.

As the fox took a step forward however, he showed one of his many weaknesses that he learned to hide so well; a limp in his leg, although a slight one at that, a limp nonetheless. Another.. old memento. Head co cking slowly to the left, the fox stared at this creature, his eyes widening for just a brief moment as he realized something... he knew this creature. A healer. A prisoner. One of his.

Voice dripping venom, the fox spoke, "You're rebellion seemed to work. Bah, N'Tashi was a fool, anyway." He cut off his words there, his raspy voice dieing away into nothing, becoming what he himself would be some day. "Tell me.. Is that daughter of the Skipper still running around? I'd love to.. meet her, again."

It had been a bit since the fox came back to this area of Mossflower. Having been hired as a merc by the lazy fool N'Tashi, Jakk had made a name for himself among the slaves and more particularly the guards. He had actually helped the slaves at one point, supplieing a certain young otter maid with one of his own knives which he was restless to get back to fill that empty sheathe across his chest. The fox had surprisingly learned much since that encounter, both good and bad, so.. in a way people could say... Jakk Shadowclaw, former officer among N'Tashi's soldiers, was back.

OOC: LOLOL That was bad ahah

[Tirael]

Tirael took a step back as Jakk revealed himself. He kept his back to the river, knowing it was probably his one advantage over the larger, menacing fox. At about the same time that the former soldier realized who he had in his sights, Tirael realized who he was staring back at. One of N'tashi's officers...he gripped his staff harder and tried to stay calm.

"Your rebellion seemed to work. Bah, N'Tashi was a fool, anyway."

The otter said nothing, simply waiting for Jakk to continue his little monologue. He wasn't going to make this worse by talking. For all his apparent naivete, he knew better than that.

"Tell me.. Is that daughter of the Skipper still running around? I'd love to.. meet her, again."

Tirael couldn't mask his surprise at this; he thought Tampa had only been seen as a typical slave, like himself. Memories of that winter rose unbidden in his mind, and with them came an anger that temporarily shoved aside his fear. "Stay away from my sister," he growled. "In case you haven't noticed, we're not your slaves anymore."

[Rocky]

Lip quivering into a smirk of delight, Jakk did everything he could not to blurt out a response to the otter's answer. He knew he had struck a sensitive spot and that brought delight to the fox. Leaving a deep impression in the dirt behind him as he took a step forward only to form a new one, Jakk's smirk left his face as he spoke again, "Oops. Did I strike a nerve?" Eyes flashed as the sun struck them, a result of moving even closer to the otter he was... tormenting. "You know.. I'd love to see the way she looked.. up close, with my blade buried deep in her abdomen." A smile twitched at the edges of his lips, though this time it was not out of delight. A sort of gesture, moreso, to get a rise out of the one standing a few meters from him, possibly goading him into a fight that Jakk Shadowclaw had been looking for. A fight that the young fox knew he could win, and all the otter needed to do was swing that staff of his, and it'd be on.

Casually twirling his knife in his left hand, a sigh pushed past his open mouth, mingling with the scents and the air that filtered all around the two creatures. There was tension in the air, anyone could tell, as the tall fox stared at the young otter, his grin fading to nothing, and the otter staring back at him, his grip still as tight as when he first grabbed his staff. "Tell me now.. Do you know how to use that, uh, stick in your paws? Can you wield it at all?"

[Tirael]

Tirael took another step back as his foe advanced on him. Blurting out that Tampa was sister was stupid, and he knew it, but it seemed like he could stall this fight a while longer. Having chided himself for his previous blunder, he decided he would make stalling his only focus for now.

"Oops. Did I strike a nerve?"

He's quite smug, Tirael thought as he took yet another step back. It was obvious now that Jakk was trying to goad him into a fight; if the fox knew him better, he would probably have found some other way to waste his time. Provoking the timid otter into full-blown violence was an unparalleled ordeal, with a result that almost certainly wasn't worth the effort. Of course, he doesn't know me... Maybe that could be an advantage.

"You know.. I'd love to see the way she looked.. up close, with my blade buried deep in her abdomen."

"Well, that's interesting, because she never mentioned that," Tirael said. "Either you're a lousy liar, or she just never thought it interesting enough to tell." If this was the best that Jakk could do, he was going to have to try harder--though that wasn't something the otter hoped for.

"Tell me now.. Do you know how to use that, uh, stick in your paws? Can you wield it at all?"

Glancing at his staff, Tirael admitted, "If I have to..." ...then I just defend myself long enough to get into the river and away from him. Truth was, despite all his eagerness to learn and practice, Enon had only put him through basic training and nearly killed him with calisthenics. He was no expert at this. "Look, I'm not much worth to you or anybeast in a fight." If he couldn't be the master of combat, he could at least go for 'boring prey.'

[kiara]

Kiara had found herself a nice tree to climb up for an afternoon nap. Though she was no squirrel, she had learned the basics of climbing trees. The treetops were much safer when it came to sleeping with vermin running around.
She found herself a nice, sturdy tree with thick branches for her to lay upon.

The mouse-maid was not very far into her nap when she was awoken by nearby voices. Looking around, she could see the otter and fox from up in the branches, and it didn't look very good.

Missing the first part of what had happened, she was interested to see who would strike first. Usually in most cases it would be the vermin. And if the otter was to attack first, then the fox probably would have provoked him. But still, attacking another for taunting was wrong. Like that old sticks and stones saying. The fox did not hurt him, nor did the fox deserved to be attacked.

But atlas she did not know what was going on, she would just have to wait and find out ... And perhaps intervene with her arrows, should things get out of hand.