One Step Further ((open))

[Tirael]

"How're ye feelin'?"

"What he said," Tirael said, announcing his own entry to the infirmary. Edging into the room, he revealed the tray he was carrying. On it was a nice sampling from the breakfast being served downstairs. Shifting his gaze from Django to Selina, he continued, "For you. Django, if I'd known you'd be here, I'd have brought more." He'd checked in a half-hour previous; as one mouse had been sleeping and the other absent, he'd seen it prudent to fetch a breakfast. After all, Selina probably wasn't in the right condition to go downstairs herself yet. Setting the food down on the bedside table, he sat himself down on the bed next to Selina's and awaited an answer to his (well, Django's, really) question.

[Ivyrose]

"How're ye feelin'?"

Selina blinked at the mouse, eyes large as an owls. She didn't reply at once. Instead, she fiddled with a loose piece of fabric, like she wasn't supposed to be there. Collecting the courage to speak, the young mouse opened her mouth.

But instead of words, a small gasp of surprise escaped her mouth. Another creature had entered the room, carrying a tray with an assortment of wonderfully smelling food. She sniffed at the air, smelling more of the tempting aroma from the other side of the door.

The young mouse shook her head, she was being rude. Nodding politely, Selina introduced herself. "Hello." She started timidly. Glancing up at the creatures, she noticed no negative emotions in their features. She spoke further, a little more confidently this time. "Hello, my name is Selina." Her own voice surprised her, her usually gentle voice sounded slightly raspy. Possibly if from lack of use. Blinking, she continued. "I come from the North. Thank ye for fixn' up my footpaw sirs." She nodded in the direction of her injured paw. "It's feeln' mighty fine, tis." It was true. Almost all of the pain had subsided from her paw. The only thing she could feel was the slight twinge of pain if she shifted in the bed.

Overall, Selina felt beat up. From her run through the woodland and her fall. Usually it was her who was treating the injured, not her being treated. The young mouse quickly realized how dry her mouth felt. Her tongue felt like dried wood. But she waited, patiently, for something to be offered.

[Django]

"Django, if I'd known you'd be here, I'd have brought more."

Django shook his head. "Thankee, Tirael," he said. "But I'm fine." He hadn't eaten yet, but he made mental note to go downstairs and fetch his own breakfast in a little while.

"Hello, my name is Selina."

Django smiled. "Selina, eh?" he repeated. "'At's a nice name." . . . For a pretty mouse, he added in his thoughts.

"I come from the North. Thank ye for fixn' up my footpaw sirs." She nodded in the direction of her injured paw. "It's feeln' mighty fine, tis."

"Glad ta hear it, Miss Selina!" Django replied with an even brighter smile. He glanced at the tray on the bedside table. "Oh, are ye hungry? There's plenny a' food 'ere for ye. What would ye like?"

[Tirael]

"Thankee, Tirael," he said. "But I'm fine."

"Fair enough," the healer said with a slight shrug. A moment later, his attention turned to Selina's tentative introduction. The main thought on his mind as the soft-spoken mousemaid gave her name was that she wasn't a psycho-crazy-assassin-killer like the last several creatures he'd brought into Redwall. Clearly, Django was better at discovering newcomers than the otter was, or they'd probably have an axe-murderer roaming the abbey.

Refreshingly, Selina was not an axe-murderer, so Tirael felt he could relax. Apparently, the two mice couldn't, though: Selina still looked very nervous and Django was increasingly agitated, for reasons the otter realized were very different from the maid's. It was difficult to stifle a smirk at these thoughts, but Tirael did his best. Nothing more than a faint twitch at the sides of his mouth betrayed his amusement.

"Yes, please, eat," he added after Django's rather more enthusiastic invitation. "Whatever you were doing before we found you, it's going to take plenty of rest to undo the damage it caused. That, and staying off that footpaw, of course," he noted, indicating the splinted appendage. After a moment's thought, he asked, "So...what were you doing before we found you?"

[Ivyrose]

((Can I say there is an adder in the woods? o.o Or at least something scary like that...))

"Selina, eh?" he repeated. "'At's a nice name."

The corners of Selina's lips curved into a small, modest smile. She had never thought much of her name, let alone think of it as pretty.

"Oh, are ye hungry? There's plenny a' food 'ere for ye. What would ye like?"

Selina's eyes shot down to the sheets of her bed. "A drink would be mighty fine sir." Her voice was starting to loose the roughness and gain the gentle, calming tone that was always in it. She glanced up from inspecting a loose string from her covers. The young mouse didn't want to demand much from the creatures she had dragged out of bed and no doubt had caused trouble to. These were nice creatures indeed, offering her help and food. Nice creatures, Selina repeated in her head. If they had thought of her as too much trouble, they probably would've chucked her out the doors already. The thought gave her confidence. Looking up, she looked at the beasts.

The mouse, the one that the otter had called Django, was a sandy color, with black spots on his head and paw. The otter, the main healer Selina had guessed, was like most other otters. His throat was a creamy light brown and a the rest of his fur was a rich brown color. Each were clad simply, they wore nothing glamorous. Which was totally fine by Selina, she wasn't one for fancy clothing.

"So...what were you doing before we found you?"

Selina's smile, modest or not, faded. Making a fool of myself, she thought bitterly. Yet her fear had be genuine, real fear. Stiffening, Selina's gaze shot back down to the loose thread in the bedding. A musky smell, no, the musky smell that she had smelled the woods filled her nose. Her eyes widened slightly, very slightly, as though she was trying to see again what was back in the woods. The way the grass had shifted, the way it swayed, betrayed that something had been hidden in it. Something that had been following her.

Opening her mouth, Selina tried to speak. Yet no words could escape her mouth. It was like they were hiding, weary to come out, though they were bidden by her tongue. Blinking, Selina tried to clear her head. Then a sound escaped her mouth, one of fright. A soft-high pitched whimper escaped from her lips, then she fell totally silent, her eyes frightened.

((Sorry if I got their descriptions wrong, this is what I got after quickly skimming their bios. Also, terribly sorry for the LONG wait. *kicks self for not getting on sooner* Say if there's a problem with the possibility of an adder in the woods, it was what I could come up with. :b ))

[Django]

"A drink would be mighty fine sir."

Django poured Selina her drink and offered it to her, his bright smile never wavering. He hoped the maid didn't notice the slight flush that colored his cheeks as she looked him over. He was suddenly self-conscious. A light dampness of sweat covered his fur from training with his staff all night, and his fur was disheveled, too, no doubt. He needed a wash, but at least he didn't smell bad.

He perked his ears up as the pitiful whimper escaped Selina's mouth. His smile disappeared as hers did, as his concern for her grew. Something had really scared her last night, or she wouldn't be on the verge of a panic attack. Her pretty eyes widened ever so slightly, and Django suddenly felt like he should say something. But what?

"Yew alright, Miss Selina?" he asked gently. He nearly flinched when her eyes got even wider, evidence of her escalating fear. "Miss Selina, what's the matter?" What could scare a mouse this badly? A wildcat? A vermin gang? An adder?

((Ooc: No worries about the descriptions, Ivy, but I'm just letting you know that Django's markings are dark brown, not black. It's no big deal, though. ))

[Tirael]

Tirael grew concerned at Selina's sudden silence. She looked decidedly disturbed, and he knew from experience that whatever had the power to so suddenly wrench her from a state of general contentment wasn't pretty. Idiot, you shouldn't have asked her about it, he couldn't help thinking. Curiosity had overcome tact, a bad slipup for a healer to make; the ill and injured didn't need their caretakers making things worse.

"Yew alright, Miss Selina?"

Almost startled by Django's interjection, the healer glanced at the mouse, whose agitation was growing (again). Not good. If Selina sensed the discomfort of those around her, she'd probably grow even more uneasy herself. No sense in letting that happen, though, so Tirael decided to take action.

"Miss Selina, what's the matter?"

"Probably not a good idea to ask her that," the otter murmured. "My fault really, I should have known better." Rising quietly from the bed he'd been sitting on, he moved to Selina's and glanced again at Django. "Hold one of her paws--not too tightly," he instructed the mouse, knowing he'd want some way to help. After a moment, he spoke to Selina in a firm, controlled voice. "Selina, you're in Redwall. You're safe, nothing and nobeast will harm you. Come back." He went on, essentially repeating himself; hopefully, they could convince the mousemaid to come back to reality.

[Ivyrose]

Head swimming, Selina had the sensation of dangling over empty space. It was like one of the eagles from her homeland had plucked her up it it's strong talons and wouldn't let go. She could almost see the eagle, strong and brown, it's head held high and proud. The blurry shape of the eagle had seemed to taken shape and was now a full blown Golden Eagle. It opened it's beak, making Selina's heart skip a beat. A strong voice flowed from it's beak, like that of the otter healer who had tended to the young mousemaid.

"Selina, you're in Redwall. You're safe, nothing and nobeast will harm you. Come back." It spoke.

Then the strong talons let go.

A sensation of free-falling through empty space overwhelmed Selina. She could almost feel the wind blasting her face. In a flash, Selina felt like her make-believe eagle had come back. Though this time it was clinging to her paw. Her sudden feeling of free-falling faded to a complete halt. It was as though she had softly hit the bed without ever leaving it. Selina had a sickening feeling that if the eagle hadn't been grasping her paw, she would've been crushed against the ground.

Her legs trembled slightly, and her ears were ringing.

Selina counted how many times she blinked her eyes. One. Two. Three. Her senses started to clear, her vision blurred with colors of fresh vegetation and the rooms walls. The young mouse struggled to take deep, controlled breaths. Slowly, she regained control of herself, her breathing sounded less frantic, the fear from her eyes faded.

[Django]

Django relaxed as Selina did, watching as fear visibly left her face. He held on gently to one of her paws, as Tirael had instructed, keeping his eyes trained on the injured mousemaid. He didn't ask anymore questions, biting his tongue for fear of making her panic again. Tirael was right. If Django was uneasy, Selina probably would be uneasy, too. It wasn't hard to tell when some beast was uneasy, after all.

But the young mouse couldn't help but wonder what had got Selina so scared. There were plenty of nasty creatures on Mossflower, to be sure. It could have been anything from vermin to large predators. He wouldn't know until Selina explained. If she didn't want to explain, though, it was understandable.

Glancing at Tirael, Django silently asked what to do next. Selina was still silent, which may or may not be a good thing, even though she did look a lot less frightened. Should Django give her that drink now? Or did she just need to rest again?

[Tirael]

Tirael stared intently at Selina's face, still repeating his little summons back to the world of the conscious and sane. The trick had always worked for Tampa when she'd pulled him out of nightmares as a child; though this particular hallucination was probably more vivid--and thus, harder to dissolve--than his nighttime terrors, it seemed to be working. Gradually, the mousemaid's breathing steadied, and her eyes resumed their original brightness.

Welcome back, he thought to her, watching her disorientation from the position of hard-earned experience. Remembering how odd it felt to suddenly be surrounded by such calm, he waited until she looked largely recovered before breathing a relieved, "Glad to have you back. Settle in, I'll go see to getting you a more permanent place to stay." His breakfast forgotten, the healer got up, nodded a farewell at the two mice, and headed for the door.

Once out in the hallway, he hesitated for a moment before heading for the stairs. Selina couldn't give him an answer about what she'd seen in the woods, but there had to be someone who could.

[[Alright, bonding time for the two of you. Or not. 'sup to you now.]]

[Ivyrose]

"Glad to have you back. Settle in, I'll go see to getting you a more permanent place to stay."

Selina blinked at the otter. "Thank ye," She murmured. Her head felt light, but the room had stopped spinning. Selina watched as the healer left the room. It suddenly felt empty, like a whole crowd had left the room, leaving just her and Django.

It seemed like her attention was snagged to her front paw, which she flipped this way and that. She studied it like it was the most interesting thing in the world. Letting out a little cough, she dropped her paw to the bed.

Silence filled the room. Smoothing the fur on her paw, Selina glanced at her companion, Django.

((*wince* Short.))

[Django]

Django turned and watched as Tirael left. The mouse suddenly felt small, and a strangled gasp escaped his throat when the infirmary door shut. He slowly turned back to Selina, smiling awkwardly. It was just the two of them, and Django had never felt more self-conscious.

For a long moment, he simply stood there, desperately trying to think of something to say. He opened his mouth a few times to speak, but no words came. He mentally kicked himself for feeling so uncomfortable. Why couldn't he just speak to the nice mousemaid?! He had a tongue, didn't he?

"So, uh, Selina," he began, avoiding her pretty eyes. "Um, d'you want that drink now?" He realized she still hadn't gotten her drink. And it was his fault. Idiot, he thought, picking up the cup from the bedside table. He offered it to her politely, trying to keep his cool. What was it about this pretty mouse that made him so nervous?

He quickly thought that over and realized he'd answered his own question. She's pretty, that's what it is, you imbecile. Hoping she wouldn't notice the blush that had begun to redden his cheeks, he tried to make his expression less nervous-looking. At least that worked. His smile relaxed into a more friendly one. But he was sure his face was red enough to match the stones of Redwall.

((-giggle- Poor Django. He's never been around a pretty mouse before.))

[Ivyrose]

"So, uh, Selina. Um, d'you want that drink now?"

Selina graciously accepted the drink, not knowing how nervous she was making Django. She dropped her gaze and nodded in thanks. "Thank ye sir..." She felt like 'sir' was to formal, but she didn't know what to call him otherwise. Django just didn't feel right, unless he told her to use his name.

Taking a sip of her drink, Selina quenched her thirst. Trying not to gulp the whole cup down, the young mousemaid took painfully slow sips. Letting the cool drink refresh her, Selina gazed around the tidy room. Appreciating the neatness of it all, she dropped her gaze.

Smoothing a wrinkle of her sheet, she noticed Django's paw. He was gently, so gently that she hadn't noticed, still holding her paw in his. Training her eyes on the bed sheets, Selina felt her face go hot.

((Poor Django indeed. x3))

[Django]

"Thank ye sir..."

"Oh, ye can jus' call me Jan," Django said, feeling a little strange at being called 'sir'. "Everybeast does." It was true. He was pretty sure one of the otter crew members had given him that nickname. And then it had just stuck.

It was then he noticed he was still holding her paw. How could he not have noticed that? He let go gingerly, hoping he hadn't made her feel uncomfortable. But by the blush creeping into her pretty face, he could see it was already too late. "Oh, I'm sorry," he apologized, rubbing the back of his neck. "Tirael asked me t' 'old yore paw," the explanation sounded so lame. "I--he--we both wanted t' make sure ye were alright."

Good Lord, was that blush on his face getting hotter?! Thinking about how nervous he was just made him more nervous. He tried to think of something else. "So, uh, where ye from?" Why was his brain frying itself at this most inopportune time?

((A wee bit short . . .))

[Ivyrose]

"Oh, I'm sorry," he apologized, rubbing the back of his neck. "Tirael asked me t' 'old yore paw. I--he--we both wanted t' make sure ye were alright."

Selina focused on the stitching of her bed's sheets. "Tis fine..." Being a healer herself, the mousemaid knew how somethings, odd or not, were quite necessary. Feeling his paw withdraw from hers, Selina expected her blush to subside. But it did the exact opposite, it sped further across her face. Oh great, she thought.

"So, uh, where ye from?"

Selina took in a slow breath, she hadn't talked about her past to many creatures before. Then again, she hadn't had many to talk to between her leaving home and arriving here. Letting her breath out, she tried to tackle the subject as best as she could.

"Um, well..." she tripped over her own words. " As I said, I come from teh North..." Her voice trailed. Giving herself a little shake, Selina tried again, making a bit more progress this time. " Well, yes, I come from teh North, from a well a-," she didn't want to sound barbaric by saying she came from somewhat of a tribe. "-where I lived with my family, S-Django." She finished, barley catching herself from calling Django sir again. Glancing up, she smiled a slightly embarrassed smile.

Pushing herself in a more comfortable, upright position, the mousemaid felt pain shoot up her leg. Wincing, she attempted a smile at Django, but failed horribly. The smile came out as a pained grimace.