Let's Jam {Vsevolod}

[Nagini]

It was a nice day, or at least as nice a day as it could be with snow everywhere. And it was melting. Morwenna was not enjoying that bit. She hated the way she sank into the snow if she tried to walk atop it. The silver ferret missed the hard snow that there'd been earlier in the season.

But that was life, and now, to avoid getting her cloak wet, Morwenna chose to get a good big stick and beat herself a path through the snow. She supposed she could've used her glaive for this, but the stick was thicker and she could kind of shovel with it in addition to smacking the snow flat.

Maybe it was technically a branch or something. Morwenna didn't know and frankly, she didn't care. Now that she'd gotten to a less snowy patch of land, she didn't need the tree part. She cast it aside at the end of her path. This, she decided, would be a good place to camp. She found a dry bit of land and went to set down her pack. Before it touched the ground though, Morwenna heard something that told her she was not alone: the sound of snoring.

She froze briefly out of instinct, and then a more logical part of her took over. Snoring meant sleeping and sleeping meant unawareness. Whoever this beast was, they were either deeply asleep or deeply skilled in fake snoring.

Morwenna assumed the latter for the moment. She put her pack back on, removed her glaive from her back, and took off its scabbard. Quietly, she moved in the sleeper's direction. After sneaking around a bush, Morwenna caught sight of a paw. It stuck out a bit from behind a thick tree, and Morwenna cautiously moved forward and peered around the tree's trunk. She saw none other than a brown ferret and he was passed out. He kind of looked familiar, but Morwenna couldn't put a name to his face.

She stepped out from behind the tree and looked him over. Doesn't seem to have much on him, she observed. That is a handsome bow though. She was tempted to steal it, but didn't think she could get away with it like this.

Even if he is asleep, Morwenna thought, keeping herself a good distance from him, I bet that the second I grab it, he'll wake up and stab me or something. All I'd do with a longbow anyway is sell it and there's nowhere here to do that. She wasn't about to take something that good to a little village here.

Now that she had decided not to steal his things, Morwenna felt much freer. For starters, she could quit the stealth maneuvering. She was no longer afraid of waking him up. In fact, she actually wanted to. She wanted to learn who he was so she could quit feeling like she was forgetting something very important.

Morwenna turned her glaive so that the blunt end faced him. For a second, she thought about smacking him with it to wake him, but decided that'd be a bit harsh for a first attempt. Instead, she gave him a light poke and said, "Hey, get up. I wanna talk to you", but nothing happened. He went on snoring.

"Hello?" Morwenna poked him again--this time harder--but got no reaction. She kept trying. Poke. "Hellooo?" Poke. "Mr. Ferret?" Poke. "Anyone there...?" Still, nothing. He hadn't even moved when she poked his cheek!

"Are you serious...?" Morwenna muttered darkly and thought, How can someone sleep this hard?! She narrowed her eyes at him and turned her glaive back over. She moved closer, crouched, and prepared to poke his arm with the point of her blade.

No, she thought suddenly and stopped. That's stupid. Morwenna stood up straight and now had a much better idea. She went over to a good pile of snow and, holding the glaive on her lap, made a snowball. She then took the glaive in her left paw and hurled the snowball with all her might at the ferret's face.

((Poking and deep sleep approved beforehand.))

[Maxodis]

The over-sized snowball hit Vsevolod dead in the face with an impressive splat, the loose ball of snow breaking along his muzzle and neatly covering most of his face. His response was as brief as it was basic. The ferret flinched from ears to tail, his limbs jerking straight out from the relaxed position they had been in when he'd passed out. Alas, hardly had he flinched did he go limp once more, almost immediately spiraling back down into the depths of a vodka-induced slumber.

It wasn't until several long seconds later that his true reaction took place. His face still smothered with snow, it took hardly no time for his deep breathing to draw a particularly large clump of snow into his nose. His body more aware of the gravity of this situation than he himself was, it naturally followed that the Vsevolod's survival instinct employed a tactic that hadn't thought to try.

The small mountain of snow rumbled and shook briefly before exploding outward with a violent sneeze. Here, it should be noted that this was no simple sneeze. This was no mere natural reaction, to be covered politely by a paw and excused for after. Vsevolod had abused his body with ludicrous amounts of alcohol at length, with little regard for how hard it had to work to keep him warm and alive when he passed out in freezing weather, within a bed of snow. This was no mere sneeze, this was his body's payback. This was personal.

As a result, not only did the ferret sneeze hard enough to blast of an impressive amount of snow clear off his face, he also sneezed hard enough to discover that he was terribly hungover. Hardly had the last of his breath been forcefully expelled out of him did the pain hit him like a sledgehammer. His head pounded fiercely, feeling fit to burst. The sudden wave of agony, followed so closely by utter confusion, sent the ferret into a fit of thrashing. This action, in turn, caused him to knock against the tree trunk behind him heavily enough to deposit an immensely heavier load of snow right atop his head.

Another several seconds passed slowly, the silence only broken by the muffled sounds of Vsevolod's frenzied digging as he worked to free himself from his snowy prison. In a short time, he succeeded, bursting free from the substantial pile of snow...

...And into a world filled with sunlight and fresh snow.

His day had yet to start, and already Vsevolod had given up on it. Dejectedly, the ferret let his face drop, burying it in the snow.

[Nagini]

Morwenna was somewhat shocked at the force of his sneeze, but she had to hold back a laugh when he started thrashing and ended up covered in even more snow.

It's his own damn fault, Morwenna thought. She had another snowball in paw and when he dropped his head back into the snow, she threw it at the back of his neck.

"Oi, don't go back to sleep," Morwenna said. She walked over and prodded him again with the butt of her glaive. "I want to know who you are."

If he still didn't get up, then she'd poke him with the blade. Or hit him. She couldn't choose. Hitting him would be a lot more satisfying though, and it would probably be more effective. Still, there was also the added risk of knocking him out if she decided to hit him in the head, and then she'd be right back where she started.

I'll hit his back, she decided.

[Maxodis]

"Oi, don't go back to sleep. I want to know who you are."

Vsevolod was still attempting to make sense of the first minutes of his awareness when the disembodied voice came to him. It was a female's voice, but it wasn't familiar. If it wasn't familiar, logic followed that it could not be the voice of that Sable. Unless he was hallucinating. But he couldn't be drunk enough to be hallucinating still, the unbearable pounding of his head attested to that. The rational part of his mind continued to press at him; Who was she? Why did her voice sound familiar? Is she the reason you're covered in snow? The answer to that last one was simple enough. Of course she was the reason he was covered in snow. Only a female would go to such lengths to wake a poor beast from their sleep in such a fashion. They were spiteful like that. It then followed that the rational mind asked if she had such little regard for his comfort, was it possible that she was armed and he was in danger, particularly if she was demanding to know who he was? To this, his answer was simple.

"I'm not who you're looking for," He grumbled, batting away the butt of her weapon with the back of his paw. "I'm just a sober drunk who just got brought out of his wonderfully deep sleep to a world with snow and a hangover strong enough to drop a wildcat. Kindly go away."

[Nagini]

When he batted her glaive away, Morwenna raised it and was about to make good on her thought of hitting him in the back with it, but reconsidered. If she struck his back, she might break it, and a broken back wasn't something you easily recovered from.

Morwenna repositioned herself and picked a better target: his paw. She didn't care if that broke, but she was pretty sure she wasn't using enough force for that. If her aim was right, she'd even negate some of the force through hitting him with the shaft portion of the end of the glaive and not the actual butt.

"And just how," Morwenna asked as she struck at him, "do you know you're not the one I'm looking for? How do you know you don't have a nice bounty on your head or something? Drunk or not, you look like the sort who would, and I recognize your face from somewhere.

"I'm not going anywhere," Morwenna said firmly, "so if you don't want me to start carving things into your skin, get up and talk to me."

[Maxodis]

"And just how," Morwenna asked as she struck at him, "do you know you're not the one I'm looking for? How do you know you don't have a nice bounty on your head or something? Drunk or not, you look like the sort who would, and I recognize your face from somewhere.

"I'm not going anywhere, so if you don't want me to start carving things into your skin, get up and talk to me."

He recoiled at the stinging pain his his paw, jerking it back. Really, this was no way to start a day, hungover or otherwise. The ferret had to ask himself why he had bothered to return to Mossflower after having put it and the life he'd fled behind him. Things were much simpler when none knew his face. Life was easy as an anonymous drunk. There was never any of this mess. He could drink, he could pass out, and not a single soul would pay any mind to him. Why had he came back? His mind drifted to the simple golden ring hanging on a chain around his neck. The memories of its significance began to seep back into his thoughts.

That was about as far as Vsevolod got before he reined his vagrant thoughts in. He stood up quickly, if not uneasily, his unscathed paw placed against the trunk behind him for support. He was not rising to comply with his assailant's demands. Shutting his eyes tight in preparation, he stood for the effect that would come next.

The pain that rocked inside of his skull was almost debilitating. Vsevolod staggered, his claws digging into the tree behind him both out of pain and to maintain a better grip on the one object keeping him standing. Hot agony radiated from his head, washing over his body in waves. For a few brief moments, the pain was everything. When it passed, the difficult memories had faded, once again locked securely in the back of his mind. Hangovers could be wonderful things.

Steadier on his footpaws, the ferret rubbed a paw over his eye lids before slowly opening them. It was bad enough that the sun chose to shine brightly that day; the freshly fallen snow reflected it perfectly and offered his eyes no place to hide from its glare. Open they did, albeit not without sharp lances of pain through his skull. His abused eyes offered him the sight of a blurry gray splotch against a background of white with a scattering of darker brown splotches. Wonderful. Still, Vsevolod had always had exceptional eyesight, no matter the circumstances. His eyes were already rapidly beginning to come into focus.

And focus they did, in merely the time it took for the ferret to reach into his overcoat and withdraw a metal flask. As he put it to his lips and tipped it back, he was granted a clear image of the bothersome creature. As his eyes met hers a rush of thoughts overcame him, most prominent being the awareness that she was definitely familiar somehow. Immediately followed by the stab of fear and caution because he could not remember where he knew her from. The long swig of vodka did little to calm his thoughts, though already he could feel the effects of his hangover dulling.

Vsevolod whisked excess clumps of snow from himself with a series of sharp brushes with his paw. He stepped out of the disturbed pile of snow imperiously, bringing him hardly a foot away from the other creature. He stood with his back straight, his posture flawless from years of practice as he glared disapprovingly at her. After briefly appraising her, he curled his lip in disgust. "Who am I?" He asked, a hint of incredulity in his voice. "Who are you? Who are you to disturb a creature you might not even know, rousing him so rudely from his sleep? Who are you to lack the slightest semblance of manners. Were you raised by mongrels?" His scowl darkened as he leaned closer. "You will answer my question before I even acknowledge yours, soldier. Who are you?"

Addressing her as 'soldier' was a bit of a gamble. Vsevolod really could not remember if he knew her face from his years spent as a Captain of N'Tashi's forces. Still, there was something about the way she carried herself, and something about her weapon, that pulled him toward that conclusion. Whether it was right or not was yet to be seen.

[Nagini]

"Who am I? Who are you? Who are you to disturb a creature you might not even know, rousing him so rudely from his sleep? Who are you to lack the slightest semblance of manners. Were you raised by mongrels? You will answer my question before I even acknowledge yours, soldier. Who are you?"

Morwenna felt a bit perplexed when he got out a flask and drank from it, but she was not fazed when he buckled down and took such a strong stance and tone at her. Even when his scowl grew and he got closer, she held her ground. When he called her 'soldier' and asked who she was, she smirked and looked him straight in the eye.

"I was not raised by mongrels," Morwenna began. "My mother is very respectable even by goodbeast standards, and while I don't always use them, I do possess manners. I did try to wake you more politely, but when you continued to be unresponsive, I went with a different approach."

Morwenna took a step back, but not out of intimidation. "As to who I actually am though, that would be Morwenna Fairpaw." She maintained eye contact as she spoke and put the blade of her glaive to his throat as she finished. "Now who are you, aside from a drunk?"

[Maxodis]

"As to who I actually am though, that would be Morwenna Fairpaw. Now who are you, aside from a drunk?"

Equally calm and collected, Vsevolold failed to react when Morwenna placed the blade of her weapon at his throat. In fact, he refused to acknowledge it altogether. It was a denial born from confidence, from the knowledge that her weapon was no danger to him. His hard eyes remained on hers as she leveled it beneath his chin. "Applying idle threat over the simple knowledge of knowing my name. I have yet to hear you utter the word 'please'." The grim corners of his mouth twisted into a condescending smile. "Your mother would be so proud, I'm sure."

He raised the metal flask again to drink from it, but not before tapping its side to the glaive held to his throat. His eyes refused to leave hers as he took another long sip from the flask. They burned with defiant challenge, silently proclaiming that there was nothing that she could do or say to break his indomitable will. That was almost true. There was one thing, but it was impossible for this stranger to know of it. Even if she did, Vsevolod could already feel the alcohol working its wonders on his body. If she did, there was little stopping him from drinking until he was all right again.

"But I cannot continue to express my disgust for you lack of manners without practicing them myself," He said evenly, the smile faded back into his previous grim expression. "I am Vsevolod Petrenko, a name that should hold no significance to you as it no longer means anything to anyone. I was also mistaken." He tilted his head to the side slightly, disgust creeping into his voice. "You are no soldier. You clearly have no honor, nor a sense of dignity. You are nothing more than another vagrant, wandering with no course nor direction. Not yet a bandit, or you would have already tried to kill me. Tell me, who did you have to kill to obtain that weapon?"

[Nagini]

"Applying idle threat over the simple knowledge of knowing my name. I have yet to hear you utter the word 'please'. Your mother would be so proud, I'm sure."

To that, Morwenna just grinned, gave a shrug, and simply said, "Force of habit and my mother's opinion is irrelevant here, but yes, she would probably chastise me for being so rude to you. Not for failing to say 'please' though, but for hitting you and whatnot."

This was fun. Morwenna was glad that she'd chosen to wake and accost him. This was the most useful thing she'd done all week! The grin remained on her face even as he went on and continued to insult her.

"I am Vsevolod Petrenko, a name that should hold no significance to you as it no longer means anything to anyone. I was also mistaken. You are no soldier. You clearly have no honor, nor a sense of dignity. You are nothing more than another vagrant, wandering with no course nor direction. Not yet a bandit, or you would have already tried to kill me. Tell me, who did you have to kill to obtain that weapon?"

After he tapped her glaive with his flask and finished speaking, Morwenna removed the blade from his neck and took a more relaxed stance. "You're right," she told him, keeping as steady a tone as before. "I'm not a soldier--at least not by your standards. I am a vagrant, but not a beggar or a bandit. I'm a mercenary, not some random murderer, and I do have a sense of honor and dignity, but again, they're by my standards, not yours."

Morwenna rotated the glaive in her paw while it stood upright. "I've taken jobs that required killing, but I killed no one to get this," she said, watching the way its tassel moved for a moment and then returning her gaze to Vsevolod. "I didn't steal it either--I bought it myself before I even entered this line of work.

"Same with the armor, except for the haubergeon--" Morwenna indicated the sleeve of the chainmail shirt as she said that, "--but that was neither stolen nor earned for killing someone. It was payment for an escort mission and the clients were really quite lovely." Morwenna laughed a little at a memory of them. "Yes, very lovely."

After regaining herself (although she did have a wider smile on her face following the laugh), Morwenna pointed a bit at Vsevolod with her free paw and said, "I do know where I know you from now though, and your name still holds some significance to me. I remember you from Fort N'Tashi. You were a captain, but then you vanished one night and never came back. It's a bit of a shame, really. You missed a great battle."

[Maxodis]

Of the many lessons taught by his father, the first and unarguably most valuable was the importance of being cautious. 'Consistent vigilance will serve you better than any weapon'. And it had. That one vital lesson had saved his hide more than enough times for the ferret to readily put his complete faith in it. He acknowledged that Morwenna was no less of a threat now that she had backed off; rather he accepted that in relaxing, she made it more difficult to read her intentions. An unpredictable creature was unmistakably more dangerous than one whose purpose was clear.

Even as the other ferret withdrew her weapon and began to speak, Vsevolod did not abandon his guarded vigilance. He appeared to listen to her speak with mild interest, yet none of the words she spoke reached his ears. His attention was focused on her eyes. He scrutinized them carefully, searching for even the slightest indication that she was speaking anything other than the truth. Years of rigorous practice with his weapon of choice had granted Vsevolod unnervingly sharp eyesight, but that was not all. By some process that ran deeper than a physical level, he felt that all of his training had taught him to recognize when a creature was telling a lie by the subtle impurity that would fill in their eyes. It was a talent he prided himself for, one he held full confidence in. As Morwenna spoke...

Her eyes remained clear.

Vsevolod was slightly perplexed. She showed no signs that she was lying about anything she had said. He had not seen any minute changes in her body language to betray her either. Though he did not feel comfortable believing it, Vsevolod was almost absolutely certain she was telling the truth. What bemused him most was her inconsistency. What right-minded creature shifted so quickly from waking and threatening a creature to chatting with them amicably? She certainly had no reason to trust him. Inwardly his caution spiked, though he was careful not to let it show. If she truly knew who he was, she would have ample cause to fear him. If she truly knew who he was, at the very least she would show hesitation. Yet, neither of these were present in her. Who was she?

"I do know where I know you from now though, and your name still holds some significance to me. I remember you from Fort N'Tashi. You were a captain, but then you vanished one night and never came back. It's a bit of a shame, really. You missed a great battle."

This statement cut cleanly through his silent evaluation of her, its significance burning brightly in his conscious. It explained some, but not all of the unknowns that tugged at his mind. Vsevolod found himself irked by the elusiveness of her intent, the fluidity of her character that he could not easily pin down and anticipate. From a part of his mind deeper than his cognitive thought, the ferret chuckled gleefully. So many creatures were easy to read. Easily predictable, easily outmaneuvered, easily manipulated, Vsevolod had long since found the company of others to be a dull experience. Morwenna provided a challenge. He would rise to it.

He offered her a rueful grin. "A great battle. Yes, it is a bit of a shame..." He trailed off, his eyes seeing through her for a brief second. It was definitely shameful, even if he had left before the battle for other reasons. His father would not have been pleased. He blinked, shaking his head slightly to cut off that train of thought before he brought his eyes back into focus. "Then what I've heard is true. The fort has since fallen to the enemy." He spoke quietly, his words a question in the guise of a statement. The grin persisted on his face but failed to reach his eyes. "All that was is no more."

[Nagini]

"A great battle. Yes, it is a bit of a shame... Then what I've heard is true. The fort has since fallen to the enemy. All that was is no more."

"Eh, I wouldn't say that," Morwenna replied. "The vermin horde just doesn't control or occupy it anymore. It's not as if the place got destroyed."

She paused. "Well, I don't think it got destroyed. I know the place is at least still standing. I haven't been back since the fight. I doubt the woodlanders would be very appreciative of my presence seeing I fought and killed a few of them in the battle. I don't think I treated them very badly when we occupied the fort though."

Morwenna shrugged and changed the subject. "So where exactly did you go?" she asked him.

[Maxodis]

"Eh, I wouldn't say that, The vermin horde just doesn't control or occupy it anymore. It's not as if the place got destroyed."

Vsevolod did not agree, though he kept his opinion to himself. It did not matter whether or not the building was being occupied, or even if it had been destroyed. After maintaining a firm hold on it for so many years, N'Tashi's forces had been driven from its walls. They had failed. The circumstances surrounding the event were obsolete; a failure was still a failure, no matter how you chose to dress it up.

"Well, I don't think it got destroyed. I know the place is at least still standing. I haven't been back since the fight. I doubt the woodlanders would be very appreciative of my presence seeing I fought and killed a few of them in the battle. I don't think I treated them very badly when we occupied the fort though."

It would not matter if you had personally educated their children and cared for their elderly, he thought bitterly, they would still tear you limb from limb if given the chance. Despite his best efforts, merely her simple mention of the word 'woodlanders' caused his false grin to sour in disgust.

"So where exactly did you go?"

"On vacation," He replied slowly, crossing his arms over his chest. It was almost impossible for her to not realize he was playing evasive. "Being a Captain had its benefits. Enjoying a paid, if not ill-timed vacation was one of them." He arched an eyebrow at her, his face otherwise unreadable, as if to dare her to call him on his bluff.

[Nagini]

"On vacation. Being a Captain had its benefits. Enjoying a paid, if not ill-timed vacation was one of them."

Morwenna gave a short laugh. "I think it was well-timed," she told him. "You got out of there before everything fell apart. I hear they actually let our kind into the abbey though, the woodlanders. I don't know if that includes former hordebeasts though."

She'd seen the way he'd looked when she said "woodlanders" the first time and wanted to pick at that a bit more. She wondered just what it was about them that bothered him so. Well, aside from them being the ones he'd been against for so many years.

She didn't feel like staying on the topic of woodlanders though. She wanted to know more about Vsevolod's vacation right now. She could come back to it later.

"Ah well," Morwenna said in a finishing manner. "So, how did you go from being a respectable captain on paid vacation to being a passed out, no name drunk in the middle of Mossflower Woods? It seems like quite a far cry to me."

[Maxodis]

"I think it was well-timed," she told him. "You got out of there before everything fell apart. I hear they actually let our kind into the abbey though, the woodlanders. I don't know if that includes former hordebeasts though."

"Unlikely," He replied curtly, his eyes narrowing. "And even if they did, the question would be if the ones they let in made it out alive. Anything could be going on inside those walls."

"Ah well. So, how did you go from being a respectable captain on paid vacation to being a passed out, no name drunk in the middle of Mossflower Woods? It seems like quite a far cry to me."

"Vodka." He said simply. He tapped a claw to the metal flask in his paw for emphasis. "Alcohol does a wonderful job of reversing a creature's life. Particularly in great quantities."

He was solidly refusing to give her the answers she was seeking. Not until he was certain what exactly was the question she was asking. Vsevolod found himself no less puzzled at this new line of questioning. What did she stand to gain from his answers? What did it matter to her where he'd vanished to or why?

There was still the intensely frustrating question of her identity to deal with as well. Nothing about her sparked any sort of memory in his mind. She certainly hadn't served directly under him; he would not stand to have such an unpredictable creature at his command. Vsevolod had made no companions during his years at Fort N'Tashi. He had been far too focused on completing his goal to allow himself to be distracted by others. His eyes passed quickly over her. For that matter, they had not shared any personal relations either. Sober or not, that would be one of the last things he could manage to forget.

Still, he could only reasonably pursue one of her many unknowns at a time. Patience was the key here. She was curious, and he wanted to know why. There was some significance he was missing. One of them would get what they wanted. It just remained to be seen who would give first.

[Nagini]

"Unlikely. And even if they did, the question would be if the ones they let in made it out alive. Anything could be going on inside those walls."

"True." Morwenna nodded. "Quite true, which is why I am loath to return there. I do miss the grounds though, particularly the records room." She'd stumbled across that one night when she had nothing to do. "So many great words, that place had," she said wistfully.

"Vodka. Alcohol does a wonderful job of reversing a creature's life. Particularly in great quantities."

"Yep, alcohol will do that," she agreed, "but I prefer ale and cider and such. I've had vodka once and hated it. A hedgehog once tried to pay me with what he said was a rare bottle of it. I took one sip--" she held up a finger in emphasis, "--and could barely swallow it, so I told him to keep it and I took a very fancy wine stopper instead."