Just a Lady-like Excursion [open]

[Treble Tiderunner]

Lorna stalked through the woodlands at the head of a squad of soldiers. The vixen was in a bad mood, as was evidenced by her silently lashing tail and black expression. The few soldiers from her original crew were absolutely silent, noting the absence of her daggers and the replacement of her special cat'o'nine, with sharp metal shards braided into the strands. She could flay a creature with that and leave them alive and skinless at the end.

The rest of the crew muttered among themselves, but pointedly stayed far from their commander unless absolutely necessary. Lorna herself was silent, though her face contorted as if she were having a silent conversation with herself.

The nerve of that stoat! Ordering me about like some sort of lackey. She well recalled the state of the stoats private quarters, food congealed on plates, hangings torn, furniture smashed and bedding tangled, on the floor. A frantic, sweat-soaked N'Tashi had ordered her out, in the early morning hours, to find some fanatical mouse.

It was now mid-morning, and the fox captain was not happy.

[To stop confusion, there are exactly 25 vermin + 1 Lorna. Mark 'em off as you kill 'em]

[Brooke]

Violet was leading the usual patrol around Camp Moss. Suddenly a very winded Squirrel jumped out of a tree.

"A patrol left from the Fort, they're headed this way!" Violet nodded. She patted the squirrel's back.

"Go back to Camp and let Skipp know. Then, take a break, you have done well." Violet counted how many she had with her; it wasn't many. She tested her blades, then turned to face the patrol.

"OK, we have a patrol coming this way, everyone, get ready to defend Camp Moss. Now, organize yourselves by weapons and would a squirrel head up through the trees to pinpoint exactly where the Fort patrol is and what direction they are coming from? Now, move yourselves!" Violet went around talking to everyone to find out what weapon they knew how to use, then placing them in that area.

[[Sorry, not the best!]]

[lorki]

Ungracefully a cloaked figure tumbled from a low tree branch and landed awkwardly on the cold ground with a reverberating thud. Groaning a quite vulgar word the ferret turned over to lay on her back, staring up at the canopy of evergreens. She cursed again and pulled up a dark paw to rub her temple. She hadn't meant to fall asleep on the oddly comfortable branch- she knew it wasn't ideal for that sort of rest but her body must have been ready for the nap. She blinked in the brightness of the morning, last she remembered it had been nearly dawn and she'd just finished... oh.

Sleetfang turned her head and found herself about twenty feet from the dead body of a squirrel. That was what she had finished, climbed into the tree to clean off her swords and then she must have dozed off. She glanced about for any other company as she sat up and brushed debris off the back of her head and the cloak. She pushed herself to stand and walked over to the squirrel, leaving bodies out in the open like that was not very professional.

The ferret yawned as she dragged the body into thicker brush and covered it with decaying leaves. Returning to the tree she pulled down a small satchel that hung from one branch and with it the sheath and twin blades. She double checked about the area for anything else before seating herself at the base of the tree and producing a large hunk of stale bread from her bag. "Good morning, Mossflower." She muttered sourly before chomping eagerly into her breakfast.

(She's a bit away from the two patrols, out of sight but a loud noise would probably reach her from them, or vice versa.)

[maxodisv2]

There was yet another creature in Mossflower in a dark mood that morning.

Redin Outmir had been stomping through the woodland for the past 5 hours, cold, hungry, half-lost, and ultimately unsuccessful. He had woken to the sound of a squirrel falling dead nearby him. After much confusion, Sleet had calmly explained to him that she had woken to see the sentry hanging in the tree above him. Feeling cheated at having missed an opportunity to participate in what might have been a half-decent fight, he had stomped off to scour the area for any additional opponents. It did not take the weasel long to come to realize that his ability to efficiently scour for anything was hampered by the fact that the sun was not yet up.

It was now midmorning. He had been hauling his weighted polearm half the night, wearing his normal sparse garb, which, while comfortable, did little to protect him from the pervasive cold or the morning dew that formed on his fur. He hadn't eaten since the day before, and to top it all off, he had missed a large amount of sleep trying to search for creatures that probably were not there. Unbeknownst to the irritated weasel, he had struck off in exactly the opposite direction of Camp Moss' sentries. Frustrated, the weasel continued pushing through the woods, unsure of his direction. The sudden 'thump' somewhere in front of him caused the weasel to hesitate and perk his ears towards the sound. Moving into a swift jog, his bells and chains rattled loudly, announcing his approach. Rounding a tree, he brought the polearm to bear, arcing the scytheblade in a swift slash.

He quickly diverted the path of the weapon so that it embedded itself in the cold ground with a dull thud. He blinked in surprise as he saw Sleet sitting against a tree, eating her breakfast. It took a few minutes for this information to register: he had been traveling in circles. He cursed loudly and ripped his weapon from the ground, tossing up large clumps of earth. He continued his incoherent tirade, raging in a small circle as he howled his agitation to the relatively quiet morning.

Chest heaving, he glared darkly at Sleet as she calmly continued to eat her bread. Blinking, he recalled his hunger. Rage subsided, he walked over to her and retrieved the bag from where it lay next to her, peering inside it. No food. His brow furrowed blackly. Dropping the bag next to Sleet, he stalked a short distance away, muttering sourly.

“Wot a rotten mornin' this 'as turned out t'be...”

[lorki]

How oddly use she was to her odd angry friend, although she wouldn't hesitate to admit his weapon had fallen a bit too close for comfort. It made her somehow glad to see him rage about- perhaps she was happy to see he hadn't wandered off for good, perhaps she was entertained. Either way he had in an awfully strange way, brightened her morning. Black eyes watched him search her belongings for food, she felt almost guilty knowing he wouldn't find any.

After he had resigned and walked away clearly displeased she spoke. "I don't think you got enough rest, Redin." She mused, a smirk sliding across her face as she took another small bite of the bread, she looked down at the remaining chunk. She tilted it in her paw and sighed. Begrudgingly, she pelted it at the weasel- quite a bit harder then a friendly toss. She looked him up and down and then, still quite a bit sleepy herself, announced, "you're fickle."

[Maxodis]

"I don't think you got enough rest, Redin."

The weasel, still not facing Sleet, merely snorted as he continued to mumble to himself. "Not 'nuff sleep, HA! Thats rich, comin' from the one who prob'ly spent th' night in a bloody tree.....not 'nuff sleep...." He kicked at a pile of leaves and was surprised to discover that underneath the very leafy exterior the mass was very much solid and malleable. Surprised, he turned to look at Sleet in a silent question. Reflexively, he caught the thrown chunk of hard bread, unintentionally closing his grip on it a bit too tightly. Half of the stale bread crumbled as a result, escaping his grasp and falling to the ground. He glared at the fallen crumbs. He didn't want to feed the ants, for fur's sake.

Regardless, he shoved the remaining bread into his mouth as he regarded the stiff corpse he had uncovered. He grimaced as he chewed on the bread, which made loud audible cracks and snaps as his jaw worked to break it into manageable chunks. As he regarded the dead squirrel, he began to wonder what it had been doing in that tree to begin with. He glanced questioningly at Sleet, posing his query around the significantly large chunks of bread in his mouth. He made little success.


(( Take note that I'll be improvising a great many of our curses when I use Redin, as I can't picture him without his foul language. Like this one here "for fur's sake", is meant to be the equivalent of our FFS (Which I'm not going to define for you if you don't know what it is. :x) ))

[Treble Tiderunner]

Lorna had stopped her troops on a knoll. The hordebeasts took every advantage of the stop and the Moss nearby to rest and get a drink. Lorna had sent a scout ahead, and he now stood trembling from the run and fear in front of the fox.
"You're certain?" Lorna snapped, tapping the toe of one foot. The ferret gulped and nodded, holding in a sigh of relief as Lorna released him.

"A partol of woodlanders are coming." Lorna announced. "Be prepared. We're moving out now."

[lorki]

"You know I did that for a reason, covering it up." She growled, narrowing her eyes just slightly. A gust of wind blew at her and she pulled the cloak tighter around her chest, blinking painfully as the harsh sudden blast hit her eyes. When she glanced back up Redin was staring questioningly at her- face bulged from his small meal. She placed a paw over her mouth the stifle the laughter, she couldn't stay in a foul mood around him for too long, he was too entertaining.

She stood up and kicked leaves and twigs back over the body. Her tail twitched back and fourth. "And I'm not saying I got decent rest myself. I was busy, after all, saving your tail. And, well, judging by your absence you must have been doing something quite important and worth your while." She caught the weasels eye and winked, quite aware of the cruel joke she'd made.

[maxodisv2]

"And I'm not saying I got decent rest myself. I was busy, after all, saving your tail."

Swallowing the remains of his breakfast, and suppressing the need to cough at the sensation of the dry bread scraping the sides of his throat, he squinted at her in exasperation, taking note of her seemingly endless amusement. Silly creature couldn't remain serious for more than a few minutes. Tch. Irritating though it was, her mirth was infectious.

"And, well, judging by your absence you must have been doing something quite important and worth your while."

At this, the weasel scowled at her, though his anger had already begun to fade. Catching the wink, his glare darkened. He thrust a claw threateningly in her face. "If you don't watch wot y'say, you'll wake up one mornin' and find that yore tail 'as grown shorter overnight."

[lorki]

Her expression straightened out, became still and edged on viciousness. She reached up with one paw and tugged lightly at the chains that thread between the piercings on his face and those in his ears. "Really? Because you might end up with wounds rather then rings much sooner then next morning if you keep that up." Her voice was just as serious and dangerous as his had been.

Sleet glanced behind her then to look at the slightly stubby tail that flicked to and fro. It had once reached the ground... no more. That lovely 'battle scar' was the beautiful work of a badger but then again she had done the same in return after all was said and done. The though triggered her paw to check that her knife belt was secure at her waist. Her mind returned to Redin and his threat. She swiftly turned her head back to see he had yet to stop pointed is claw in her face. She seemed to think very hard for short moment before a cruel mischievous smile spread over her face and she shot forward, fangs sinking into Redins paw as she gave a triumphant but muffled shout.

[Brooke]

[[OK, I'll try, but I have no brain so sorry!]]

Violet made sure that everyone was armed and ready before she started moving them towards where the squirrel had pointed, behind everyone else, Tirael walked with his sling in paw. Violet walked up to him.

"Are you ready with your herbs to tend to any casualties?" She needed to know if he needed any herbs before they got to the clearing.

Violet stopped everyone from going further as they entered the fringe around a clearing and called everyone to her,

"No beast is to walk into that clearing until either we see the patrol, or we are charged. Do we have any other healers other than Tirael among us?" She looked at the group expecting an answer.

[[Bleh, sorry not my best]]

[maxodisv2]

"DAGH!"

The resulting yell reverberated throughout the surrounding area leaving the morning comparatively silent as the echoes faded. The weasel immediately attempted to withdraw his paw from Sleet's jaws, but the action worsened the situation, as her fangs were firmly lodged in the fleshy gaps between the bones in his paw, where his nerves protested loudly at their displacement, sending highly uncomfortable shocks down his forearm. Unable to dislodge his abusive friend, he began to shake the paw, and her head along with it. "YAH, LEGGO my paw yew ugly, mangy, tree-dwelling, sorry excuse fer a midget!"

[lorki]

Sleet couldn't hold on for long. Her laughter was too hard to contain. One of the more powerful swings of his arm sent her stumbling away laughing so hard that she hardly made any noise at all. Her eyes squinted up, her fangs were quite obviously gleaming as her face contorted into a chuckling snarl. She turned back to Redin, finally able to regain some breath from the late fit of giggles. She couldn't clear the amused grin off her face.

"A midget, Redin?" She scoffed, that was the nicest he'd probably ever been in a situation where she... well quite bluntly beat him up. It was quite a regular altercation between the two of them, to say the least. She reached back around and thumped him on the back.

[Tirael]

"Are you ready with your herbs to tend to any casualties?"

Patting his bag, Tirael said, "Of course, I always stock up before going out on a patrol." He knew the drill, why did everybeast always question if he knew to be ready beforehand? Ah well, they all meant well. Fact of the matter was, yes, he was ready. Also as usual, the more warlike beasts moved around him to keep him safely in the center.

"No beast is to walk into that clearing until either we see the patrol, or we are charged. Do we have any other healers other than Tirael among us?"

A disjointed chorus of 'no's met Violet's question; normal patrols rarely contained more than one healer. As the various patrollers geared up for action, the quiet was shattered by a pained yell.

"DAGH!"

Tirael looked up as his ears swiveled toward the sound. A few of the beasts around him looked at each other; one shrugged. One mouse, Verlan, said to no one in particular, "What was that?"

[Rocky]

Jakk was angry, for he wanted to go on this patrol, but then he realized it wasn't all it turned out to be. He thought there was going to be a big fight, but it turns out there wasn't anything... yet. He pawed his cross-vest, making sure it was still there along with all his knives, then as if he needed reassuring, he pawed behind him, his hands touching the hilts of both blades on his back. He slowed his pace and a ferret behind him slammed into his back, "'Ey! Watch where yer goin' you scummy fox!" Jakk rolled his eyes, turned and just growled in the ferret's face. "You slammed into me. You hit me, I didn't hit you. So watch it!"

Not caring what the ferret's expression was, Jakk turned back front and fell back in steps with the other troops. He was about to ask Lorna what was happening, whether they were going back or not, when Lorna's words reached his ears:

"A partol of woodlanders are coming." Lorna announced. "Be prepared. We're moving out now."

It was all Jakk could do to sigh a relief, "At last." A grin passed his lips, and he pulled out his two blades and walked to the front, "Im ready on your command."

OOC: Sorry... In a hurry...