A Way of Keeping Busy [Open]

[Treble Tiderunner]

Tampa, bent under half the burden of a large log, saw less of where she was going and more of where she was right at the moment. The otter maid and a few other beasts had been up since dawn, laboring to gather wood, for burning and to repair various things in the Fort. Tampa craned her neck, peering ahead.

Fwummp!

Tam felt the ice underpaw, even as she started to slide and skidded into a large snowbank, dropping her half of the log.

Oooof! The end hit her a glancing blow between the shoulder blades, forcefully expelling her breath but doing her no major damage, slowed as it was by its slide through snow.

[Brooke]

River grunted as Tampa fell as he now had to hold the entire log. Looking around to make sure no one was looking, he offered her a paw to help her up.

"You Ok?" he asked her. He waited for her to regain her breath before helping her grab the other end of the log again.

[[Sorry not the best]]

[lorki]

Blood dappled the mid morning snow in sporadic patches. The moving shadow did not need to glance down to know he was following the right path, he could smell the bleeding creature ahead, he could feel the radiating fear, he could already taste the outcome in his mouth. The shadow moved quicker then the prey, gaining speed, momentum. Agilely he bound across a fallen log, unsheathed long claws raking against the rotting wood. Step step step, leap, step, dodge, step, turn. Chase... chase.

Estlin allowed his mouth to hang open and a snarl to overcome his features, his muzzle wrinkled back to show off his bright white fangs. The smell became much more clear as he inhaled the scent. Yes, he was close. His clawed foot paws gave him perfect traction on the layer of cold forest debris, no need for shoes or boots. He threw his head back and let out a short triumphant laugh as he swung one arm out, the razor edged gauntlet cut down a small sapling as he passed. Shade hid his form, only the sleek running blur was clear through the trees, only the black outline of a diamond noticeable in the quick shifting movement.

In one sudden action the wildcat planted all four paws on the ground to push himself into a leap, he flew over a fallen rotting log. His long claws darted out from his glove-clad paws. They fell on the back of the running mouse. One clawed paw found its way to grip into the mouses back, the other hit bluntly against the mouses head, twisting its neck around at an unnatural angle. Death would have been quite instant and in fact nearly painless- Estlin was an effective hunter.

Silence fell over the dense forest, minutes passed before the wildcat righted himself and shook droplets of blood off his paws. He wiped his paws and face not he red cloth tied around his waist and stalked calmly away from the mauled body. His ears perked towards the sound of something being dropped. Curiosity nudged at his mind and he angled his stride towards the noise.

(Hope that is not too gory- he had to eat before running into the otters or bad things would happen to them...)

[Tirael]

Laila, who had been doing her best with a hefty bundle of smaller branches, saw Tampa go down and sighed. Dropping her load, she trudged over and helped River heave her up. "She'll be fine, she's Tampa. Careful though, Tam, ye know we can't get ye much help if'n you get hurt worse. Now, let's get movin' afore we get beaten for 'takin' our time.'" The shrew then picked up her bundle and was about to set off before she froze. Her eyes darted around, her ears twitched, and her nose wrinkled slightly.

"There's somebeast nearby," she said in a grim murmur.

[Treble Tiderunner]

"You Ok?" "Ooww..." Tampa said weakly on account of her lack of a significant amount of oxygen. She breathed in deeply as she accepted River's paw up. "Just a bit bruised." She rolled her shoulders, stretching the tense and sore muscles.

"She'll be fine, she's Tampa. Careful though, Tam, ye know we can't get ye much help if'n you get hurt worse. Now, let's get movin' afore we get beaten for 'takin' our time.'"

Tam winced. "Don't I know it." She, while not as rash in her hatred of vermin as River, still sported her own scars, some as recent as yesterday. Laila froze, her nose and ears twitching.

"There's somebeast nearby," she said in a grim murmur.

Tampa, who had been bending to pick up her burden again, muttered out of the side of her mouth.

"You mean somebeast who's not of our merry band of captors?" She said in a light tone, poking fun at their situation.

[Rocky]

"You mean somebeast who's not of our merry band of captors?"

"So you sensed it, too." A voice called from behind them. Out stepped a black otter grabed in a sleeveless black shirt with a V-Neck and red hemming, black trousers to match his shirt, and chainmail underneath, knives in his thick belt, and a broadsword on his back. "It's not me." He said reassuringly.

He walked over to the slaves then his gaze met Tampa's and he couldn't look away. He allowed a grin to spread across his face and he said to them, "Call me Rocky."

his gaze finally looked away from Tampa and he looked towards where his senses said the thing was. Something told him it wasn't good, either. Not thinking it through, for his mind was flooded with his past, his newly arriving friend in Mossflower (Arel), and the otter he just saw, he walked in front of the slaves and pawed the blade on his back.

"I feel that you're correct." He said to Tampa again as she felt it wasn't someone from the fort. "Whatever it is, it's bad." again he voiced his thoughts, looking for the thing that tipped off his senses and hoping to God it wasn't something he couldn't handle.

[lorki]

He guessed already that the creatures he was approaching were workers, quite probably slaves from the fort. Generally he avoided the beasts from the fort, and he wasn't particularly interested in the slaves. But he had heard that the fort had not always been under rule of the horde... once it had been controlled by a community of small insignificant little things. How fun that would have been for him...

He was decent at concealing himself in the foliage of the forest, but considering he didn't normally have to sneak up on beasts, he preferred to chase, he didn't give much mind to hiding his large looming figure. His sharp eyes could now catch the figures of the beasts- three otters and a smaller one... a shrew. Otters he didn't mind so much, he found them obnoxious and often ended up in fights with them, but he was not a fan of water so a chase or hunt rarely involved an otter. But if one ended up dead...

The wildcat cracked his neck and hid his bloody claws as he got nearer to the group. They clearly sensed him already. Being slaves he doubted they had heard of him, though a few beasts he'd run into called him by name, immediately recognizing the rumored killer. He appeared on the trail in front of them a fanged grin spread over his face, "What do we 'ave here..." He purred quietly, more to himself then to the others, he would let them greet him, whatever that entailed.

(Edit, somehow cut off the first bit of my post....)

[Brooke]

River tensed as he felt a new presence enter the clearing. He turned to Tam, but seeing she was otherwise occupied he turned to Laila.

He whispered, "Don't look around, but I think we're about to find out who and what our visitor is. Tell Tam." His paw went to his hip where he normally kept his sling.

[[Sorry its so short!]]

[Treble Tiderunner]

"So you sensed it, too. It's not me."

Tampa straightened, twisting her upper body around to watch the newcomer. He was a stranger to her, and well-fed, so not a slave. And armed. She assessed the blade, good solid quality, and looked to have been used many a time. “Really. I never would have guessed.” She muttered, easing the log back down to her footpaws as she faced the direction the unknown creature came from.

"Call me Rocky."

“Hey, you!” A weasel guard shouting, belatedly investigating the noise and the reason for the back up, (slaves were lined up along the path blocked by Tampa and River’s log back around the bend in the path.) “Get back to work!” He was backed up by his partner, another weasel, equally nasty.

Tampa swung towards Rocky. “Get out of here, you idiot!” She snarled in an undertone. “You don’t want to be here when that pair shows up!”

"What do we 'ave here…”

Tampa took an unconscious step back as she stared up at the large bulk of the wildcat. She tensed, moving into a combat ready position. She may not be openly armed, (to be caught with a weapon was death), but she had a dagger in her tunic. Either way, she would not go down without a fight.

“Not something pleasant… for you.” She snarled with real vehemence at Estlin.

[Rocky]

“You don’t want to be here when that pair shows up!”

"They're so-o-o scary." Rocky said sarcastically. He didn't necessarily like being called an idiot, but he could understand why she said it. Though, he kept quiet, not wanting to insult another or snap back at her.

Then, he concentrated on the wildcat and he took a step back, surprised a bit at it's appearance. He regained his posture and took two steps forward, lettinghis hand stray to the curved dagger in his belt, and leaving the broadsword hilt. "I highly suggest you leave. Besides... You're outnumbered by me, these slaves, and possibly the guards." He kept alevel tone, but inside, he was sure he wouldn't get much use out of slaves, and the guards would probably make it guards vs. cat vs. otter.

No matter what he was thinking, Rocky kept a tough front, and although this wildcat was larger then him, Rocky learned that looks can be decieving.

[Tirael]

"Don't look around, but I think we're about to find out who and what our visitor is. Tell Tam."

Laila nodded, but there really was no need; Estlin didn't seem overly worried about making his presence known. Unlike Tampa, Laila had no weapons on paw, but she was armed with her paw, a short fuse, and an apparent inability to recognize when restraint was a good idea. She watched as the...the cat became visible and regarded them with a tone of obvious disdain. She fumed, but managed to restrain herself from getting herself killed trying to kill him. Don't do anything, do nothing for Brend, he needs you...

"I highly suggest you leave. Besides... You're outnumbered by me, these slaves, and possibly the guards."

Though Laila wouldn't have minded seeing the guards try to fight Estlin (it would feel incredibly nice to watch the cat rip them to shreds), she didn't want any of her friends getting hurt, and even she could tell they would if they had to fight. Irritated, she had to content herself by spitting at the cat and saying through clenched teeth, "Even a raggedy kitty like yourself should be able to tell that much." Not much of an insult, but it was enough to cool her down a bit. Just a bit.

[[...bleh...]]

[lorki]

The wildcat's grin fell just slightly as he appraised the group. He had been correct, they were simply slaves- small insignificant dumb creatures. His kin had never kept slaves in his former kingdom. No, the idea was often tempting but wildcats were strong, to have some stupid worker do everything for them would have been disgustingly lazy. Besides, food was difficult to find- no smaller beast would be spared to live the life of a slave so long as even a single one of their kind was hungry. But in a place like this- literally blanketed in these creatures he wasn't surprised they had been turned into slaves. They were too easily controlled, broken and manipulated, the life of a servant was fitting.

“Not something pleasant… for you.” His blue eyes snapped sharply to the female otter and his smile widened again.

"I can't say I expected somthin' pleasant. Whas' good in a group o' dirty worthless slaves, hm?" They were lucky he had already eaten, otherwise a conversation would have been the last thing currently happening. But as it were, Estlin was not particularly interested in a fight, at least not with slaves. How much would it take? A blunt hit, a quick twist of his paws. There was no fun in a lazy slaughter.

But then there was that other otter, the one armed with a few different types of blades and such. The female otter gave him away, he was not a slave, probably some creature from that camp in the woods.

"I highly suggest you leave. Besides... You're outnumbered by me, these slaves, and possibly the guards."

Estlin tilted his head slightly, his bright eyes shifted from Rocky's face to his paw, now resting near a dagger. He answered both Rocky and the shrew that had backed him up with words his father had told him since he was a child, "Numbers withou' skill are nothin' t'be compared to one with it." He said darkly.

A trickle of anger ran down his back at this otter for suggesting he could be so easily taken down by this crew. The cats face darkened, light colored eyes fixed back on rocky as he gave a small fierce shake of his paws. His oddly long claws appeared like instant daggers, still bloodstained from his earlier kill. "Are you attemptin' to begin somethin' 'ere, otter?"

[Tirael]

Are you attemptin' to begin somethin' 'ere, otter?"

Laila's short temper began to flare up; it wasn't just Rocky. She wanted very...very much to start something. It took every ounce of strength she had to not leap at Estlin and fight him tooth and nail. "Seems to me you're the one who wants to start something, cat." If he did, she couldn't be blamed for starting anything...

[[Sorry it's short, writer's block...]]

[Rocky]

"Are you attemptin' to begin somethin' 'ere, otter?"

"Maybe I am." Rocky snapped back before properly thinking it through. Although he said it without thinking, he just shrugged it off, not caring what the wildcat's reaction would be. Rocky liked fights, and although he did want to fight this cat both for a challenge and to show who had more skill, he also didn't want harm to come to the slaves. Innocent slaves.

Right now Rocky, although he felt he would make it on his own, was wondering where Meko was, for it was strange that the two weren't together at this moment. Meko was probably off fighting vermin. Oh God Rocky though, I really hope he doesn't get himself killed. He tried to ignore the pit feeling in his stomach and he let his thoughts stray back to the wildcat.

Then, although Estlin said the words before, Rocky took no heed to him, but oddly, he did now:

"How do you know these beasts have no skill? Are you being honest with yourself in outwardly saying you have skill? How do you know you have enough skill to defeat another, because judging by the way you act, I bet you just attack the weak and unarmed." He took a step forward, half drawing the blade from his belt.

Rocky's inetntions were to, if it came to a battle, to get the slaves out of harm by tempting Estlin to move his position away from the slaves.

Rocky then had another thought cross his mind: where were the guards? Surely they would know if there was a wildcat guard, and that a fully armed otter wasn't a slave, and they surely saw them, but where were they?

Then he took notice of the shrew behind him. He turned slightly, dropping hs guard momentarily as he stared at the shrew. Based on her words and the look in her eyes, that shrew was a fighter, and probably a darn good one, for shrews were known to be good fighters. He grinned inwardly at the thought of having back-up, and that he wouldn't be alone in the fight that seemed just around the corner.

[Treble Tiderunner]

[[Lol, love how Tam’s discarded as a fighter. Fun times, fun times. Plus, you all are free to use the guards, remember.]]

"They're so-o-o scary."

Tampa rolled her eyes, Rocky had failed to see her point. Her point being, two guards call more guards, and they all would outnumber and weigh down a lone fighter to capture him. Simple math. And slavery in the fort had taken another turn for the worse, with N’Tashi making one of his rare appearances and raving about a dangerous mouse and a traitor within the horde. He’d had three weasels, a rat and a fox executed yesterday for no apparent reason, again raging about traitors.

"I highly suggest you leave. Besides... You're outnumbered by me, these slaves, and possibly the guards."

Tampa’s brain registered Rocky’s words, but she remained focused on the wildcat, one paw closer to her tunic where she could draw her dagger quickly, the other out for defense and a delaying action. If she had to she could fight bare pawed, but she preferred not to.

"Numbers withou' skill are nothin' t'be compared to one with it." He said darkly.

Tampa smirked, moving so she was hidden from the guards view by Rocky, and drew her dagger. “Ye are assuming we are wi’out skill. A dangerous assumption, kitty.”

"Are you attemptin' to begin somethin' 'ere, otter?"

“I might be. Or I could be invitin’ ye t’tea. Which d’ye think it is?