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Post by drake2 on Feb 18, 2009 22:05:07 GMT -6
Azrael looks over the forest where he had decided to rest. So much had happened recently, he had tried to take control of his clan, failed been banished to lands unknown and now he found himself in this strange new land.
What will I do here in this bizarre land? Maybe I'll run into a creature in this forest that can give me some information about this land, and if not it may make a good snack.
Azrael allowed his tiredness to overcome him and he went to sleep up on his tree perch.
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Post by Tirael on Feb 25, 2009 20:00:12 GMT -6
Tirael trudged through Mossflower, glad that there was only a little snow. Still though, it was cold, and he wanted very much to get home and warm up by a fire. Drawing his cloak tighter about himself, he tried to distract himself with the sights, and looked around.
He stopped dead in his tracks.
Up in a tree was one very...hostile-looking bird of prey. The otter backed up a step or two before realizing it was sleeping. Sighing quietly at his good fortune, he moved away slowly. Then he stepped on a branch. He froze and winced at the loud crack! it made, then turned slowly, fearfully toward the bird. With any luck, it would go on sleeping and never notice his presence...
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Post by drake2 on Feb 25, 2009 20:26:12 GMT -6
Upon hearing the crack Azrael's eyes flew open. He quickly scanned his surroundings, when he saw an obviously very scared creature standing below him his first instinct was to swoop down and kill it, then he figured it could be of use to him. Also to a creature that had only ever seen a few other types of creature, this beast standing before him looked very much like a ferret, but flatter, so he decided to go with his best guess.
"What is this strange ferret standing before me?", he inquired.
(yes it is short, sorry)
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Post by Tirael on Feb 26, 2009 20:26:01 GMT -6
"What is this strange ferret standing before me?"
Tirael's fear turned to indignation in a heartbeat; he didn't care for being mistaken for vermin. "Ferret!? I'm an otter!" He would have thrown some kind of insult in there as well, but he was still wary of the falcon staring down at him from the tree. Curiosity starting to replace his fear, he asked tentatively, "Who are you, anyways?" If he was going to be insulted like this, he deserved some kind of civility too. The fact talking might distract the bird also proved useful in his mind, though he hoped it wouldn't come to that.
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Post by drake2 on Feb 26, 2009 21:04:02 GMT -6
"Who are you, anyways?"
"I am Azrael"
He said nothing for a short time, examining the creature before him that had called himself an otter. Azrael had never heard of such a creature, only knowing what beasts he had lived near in his clan, such as Hares, Rats, Ferrets and Birds. So Azrael decided to save himself embarrassment later by looking a little dumb now.
"I have never heard of such a creature, but this is not the North, so I guess it is to be expected that there are new creatures. Now I have given my name, maybe you should do the same."
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Maxodis
Hordebeast
We were born for this.
Posts: 161
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Post by Maxodis on Feb 26, 2009 23:23:19 GMT -6
The otherwise tranquil silence of the late winter day was broken by a muffled noise. Barren trees and thick vegetation silently glowered at the young otter who was the source of the disturbance disapprovingly. A light breeze blew through darkened branches, sighing softly in resignation. Oh, the foolishness of the young! How many falls would it take to teach this young otter that sprinting recklessly throughout Mossflower was not a particularly good idea, particularly when there was still some traces of ice and snow upon which to slip and fall.
All this was lost upon Danol, however. He quickly rose to his feet, brushing off bits of mud from his tunic for probably the fifth time in the past hour. He paused a moment to defiantly stick out his tongue at the icy tree root that had caused him to slip before breaking into a light jog in the direction he had been traveling. He hadn't gone thirty feet before he stopped suddenly, aware that his bow was not on his back, as it should be. Frantically, he scampered back to the spot of his tumble. With no small amount of effort, he located his prized, if not simple, bow. Luckily, it was unharmed. A sudden afterthought caused him to check to see if he had lost any arrows. By some stroke of luck, all fifty brightly fletched arrows were accounted for. He chuckled nervously to himself as he imagined a situation where he had only arrows to defend himself with.
Realizing belatedly that it was time for him to continue on his way, the otter took a second to regain his bearings before striking out once more. 'Go find Tirael' An exasperated Skipper had ordered, after several hours of enthusiastic pestering on the account of Danol. It wasn't exactly a hard task, nor was there any readily apparent reason to do so, but a command was a command, and the young otter was happy to do as requested. He'd been following Tirael's clear tracks for the past few hours, eventually tiring of taking the time to stop and search for individual signs of the older otter's passage. It was clear that Tirael wasn't deviating much from the direction he was heading in, which allowed Danol to run at a breakneck speed without worry of losing sight of where he was to go. Admittedly, his progress had been halted several times already when his momentum and gravity refused to work together, but it was clear that by now, he was nearly caught up.
This belief was confirmed several minutes later when Danol all but ran over the one he sought as he crashed through the trees. Suppressing a surprised yelp, he futilely dug his footpaws in the soft earth, finding no purchase. He plowed right into Tirael with a cry of dismay, bringing the both of them down heavily.
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Post by Tirael on Feb 26, 2009 23:49:21 GMT -6
"I have never heard of such a creature, but this is not the North, so I guess it is to be expected that there are new creatures. Now I have given my name, maybe you should do the same."
This bird didn't get out much, apparently. Tirael was a little put off by Azrael's attitude, but at this point it seemed right to be polite. Sighing, he began, "My name's Ti-" He cut off as a crashing noise came from the woods to his right. Snapping his head in that direction, he saw something coming straight at him. As it collided with him, it literally knocked the realization into his head.
Danol. Of course.
As the younger otter plowed into him and knocked him over, he found himself wondering when he would be endowed with a touch of good sense. The air was driven from him in a whoosh as he hit the ground. Rolling out from under Danol, he got up and brushed snow from himself. He then extended a paw towards his friend, saying with a touch of exasperation, "Danol, it helps to be a little more careful when you're running around the woods." A little more quizzically, he added, "What're you doing out here, anyways?" He wasn't usually given the task of scouting by himself, and it wasn't likely that he would have a message to deliver; that was usually a task reserved for squirrels. It also wasn't likely that he would have come at Tirael from the exact direction Tirael had come himself; was he following him? That thought wasn't received with much pleasure.
Tirael then remembered that Azrael was still watching. Embarrassed that the falcon had seen the whole...incident, he tried to look busy with Danol while sneaking a glance at the bird. What a fantastic first impression.
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Post by drake2 on Feb 27, 2009 19:30:23 GMT -6
Upon hearing a crashing noise Azrael's head flicked to the side where he heard it coming from to see something barrel into the otter that he had just met. After the otter and the thing that had crashed into the otter had both fallen, Azrael prepared to swoop at the intruder, but then saw the otter greet what had barreled into him, what appeared to be another otter, but still could have been a ferret. What stopped him from swooping in on said creature was how the otter greeted him.
"Danol, it helps to be a little more careful when you're running around the woods."
So, it appears they know each other, and I doubt that , even as strange as they may be, the creatures of this land take kindly to having their family and kin killed.
Azrael decided to just wait for an explanation.
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Maxodis
Hordebeast
We were born for this.
Posts: 161
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Post by Maxodis on Feb 27, 2009 20:20:16 GMT -6
The errant young otter in question shook his head dazedly as he briefly struggled to determine which way was up. Several attempts were made to take the offered paw, but it was hard to catch a paw when it was being waved about. That was kind of a mean thing to do to a creature, offer to help him up then prevent him from taking his paw. Or at least it seemed like Tirael was doing it intentionally. It was really hard to tell when the world seemed to spin on a crooked axis.
After some bit of effort, Danol was able to catch a firm hold of the wayward paw. Firmly anchored to something solid, he pulled himself to his footpaws, if not a bit too quickly. His sudden movement caused him to slide off-keel on a patch of frozen ground, which did nothing to aid his sense of vertigo. Suddenly lightheaded and nauseous, the young otter quickly released Tirael's paw and plopped back onto the cold earth.
"Danol, it helps to be a little more careful when you're running around the woods."
Danol snorted indignantly. "I wos bein' careful! Just maybe not at the time..." He looked away sheepishly, scuffing the ground with a footpaw.
"What're you doing out here, anyways?"
Happy to change the subject to save himself from further embarrassment, Danol piped up quickly. "Skipp sent me!" He deflated slightly as he realized what the next question would be, and his lack of an answer for it. He decided hasty admittance would be better than nothing. "Er... don't know why, really."
He cut off abruptly, coming to the realization that his bow had become displaced once more. A quick appraisal of the ground proved that the missing weapon was not on the ground in the immediate area. He looked up sharply, ignoring the resulting airy sensation that went to his head as he scanned the lower branches for a sign of his bow. He went stiff as his eyes spotted a peculiarity among the trees that happened to be not-bow-shaped. The young otter knew little of the world and had seen just about as much of it, but he'd heard tales of great hunting birds. The descriptions he'd heard were vague and enigmatic, but paled in comparison to what he now witnessed.
"Blimey..."
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Post by Tirael on Feb 28, 2009 1:25:57 GMT -6
"I wos bein' careful! Just maybe not at the time..."
Tirael raised an eyebrow and gave Danol a look that implied what he thought of that.
"Skipp sent me! Er... don't know why, really."
It only took a moment for Tirael to understand what that meant. He had seen Danol pester the Skipper before. Though, to be honest, he felt a little sorry for Danol; he was so enthusiastic, and he clearly admired Skipper. Hoping to ease the younger otter's embarrassment, he did his best to make something up. "Well, he probably needs to talk to me about something." Appropriately vague, but it wasn't inconceivable. Then, Danol apparently noticed Azrael's presence.
"Blimey..."
"I'm not sure he's going to try anything. Just...don't let him think you're scared," Tirael murmured. He really didn't stand from the position to say it, but he had to. Looking up to Azrael, he said as calmly as he could, "Well, as I tried to say earlier, I'm Tirael. And, uh, this is Danol." He didn't know what else to say, so he simply stood a little awkwardly, awaiting the response.
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Post by drake2 on Mar 2, 2009 21:36:34 GMT -6
"So, you are Tirael," Azrael said as he looked at Tirael.
"And you are Danol," Azrael said as he looked at Danol.
Azrael was silent for a few seconds, observing the two otters before him.
"What can you two tell me of this land? Also, you two seem to be afraid of me, don't worry, It would not be...beneficial to me to kill you. The last thing I need is a clan of otters hunting for me."
Hopefully my reassurance that they wont die by my talons in the near future will work and allow them to get past their fear and tell me something useful.
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Post by Tirael on Mar 2, 2009 21:54:43 GMT -6
"What can you two tell me of this land? Also, you two seem to be afraid of me, don't worry, It would not be...beneficial to me to kill you. The last thing I need is a clan of otters hunting for me."
Seeing as Danol was still gaping, and Tirael was the older of the two anyway, he elected to speak for the both of them. "You'll have to excuse me, that phrasing hardly sounds reassuring." He didn't sound scared; it was more of a declaration that he wasn't going to take any bad business. Trying to summarize the goings-on of Mossflower was difficult, but the otter took a deep breath and tried. "Well, it's a long story, but there's a fort over that way..." It took a few minutes, but he managed to explain the story in a comprehensive, if concise, way. "So that's what's going on. Now, do we get to hear your story, or would it not be beneficial for you to say?" He was still a little distrustful of Azrael, but that was fading slowly. In fact, he was hoping the falcon would ultimately prove an ally; having a bird in the ranks would open up a lot of new windows...
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Post by drake2 on Mar 2, 2009 23:22:12 GMT -6
"It seems that the North and this land that you call Mossflower have one thing in common, a hatred of vermin, we arred with them many times."
"Now, do we get to hear your story, or would it not be beneficial for you to say?"
"My story, I guess a story for a story seems fair. I was born into a falcon clan far, far to the North, led by a falcon named Orroer. Eventually he died and leadership passed to another falcon called Oessae. His rule was not good for the clan so I gathered some other falcons that had the same view I had, and we plotted to overthrow him. All went well until the eve of the final coup when we were betrayed by my nest brother Ryoam. I was able to save some of the falcons involved in the plot, but several, including me were exiled. I then flew across this land until I cam to rest in this tree. And here we are."
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