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Post by lorki on Apr 29, 2008 20:02:20 GMT -5
Calmly she watched the rain drizzle downwards from under the shelter of the pine. the fur on her head was spikey from the rain, her ears tilted forward, listening with ease to the muffled forest sounds. She leaned against a tree trunk, beside her three knives were arranged, she held another one in her paw and appeared to be cleaning it carefully. She glanced down at the weapon and a smirk crossed momentarily across her face. After running the cloth over it once more, she tucked the knife back into the belt at her side and then pulled her dark green cloak tightly around her.
Oddly, none of the knives seemed particularly messy, and anyone watching might presume her to be crazy, obsessively polishing the small throwing blades. However as she looked over the last three remaining she reached for a bottle, hidden in the shadows beside her. She poured a small amount of the liquid onto the cloth and picked up a new knife.
No, Sleetfang was not particularly picky about her weapons staying clean, nor was that what she was attempting to do. She was poisoning them. The poison was not fatal, she was not the type of creature to kill with aid. It was placed on the knives for a distraction. She personally tested each of the nonfatal poisons that fell into her possession, and spent time building up immunity to many of them. This one was her favorite, simply because it worked wonderfully for its purpose, when cut the poison caused an extremely painful burning sensation around the wound.
She sighed heavily and stretched out, ruffling the leaves around her. As she put away the other knife she also corked the bottle of poison and set it aside. She picked up one of the last two knives that lay beside her, tossed it from paw to paw, and then threw it into the small clearing that she looked out on. It hissed through the air and struck its mark exactly. She relaxed again and picked up the last blade to juggle it lazily.
(Hello everyone!! Come meet Sleet, she's not as bad as she seems... I don't think...)
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 29, 2008 20:22:16 GMT -5
OOC: Don't worry, we have plenty of members who will be happy to slam this one's face into a wall if need be. BIC: It was the first time Archon had gone out on patrol while it was raining; last time around, it'd been snowing. With a black coat and custom-built painted steel helmet masking most of his body and nearly all of his weapons, he almost looked harmless. Of course, this was far from the truth, as even when the countless implements of destruction beneath his clothing were ignored, it was impossible to keep one's eyes off the bolt repeater he had cradled in one arm, finger resting seemingly idly on the trigger guard but in truth ready to pounce; the mouse maintained the composure of a predator at ease. His boots, textured to avoid as much noise upon contact with the ground as possible, didn't do much to give his presence away. Of course, it wasn't like he was much of a target, with a ten-bolt magazine loaded, the top one chambered and the mainspring compressed, but it never hurt to try and throw off the odd ambusher. That was something Archon had learned the hard way and he now had many a method to defend from it, ranging from slightly different attire to a seemingly perpetually fixed bayonet. Hopefully, in his mind, the patrol would have been uneventful. He'd travel down the beach like he had already, turn just before reaching Salamandastron, cut into the forest and take the path due north to the fort once he reached it. In the middle of cutting through the forest now, the mouse had given up on trying to conceal himself and trodded with quite the noise, letting his claw rest on the trigger guard and placing the flesh of his finger on the side of the trigger itself. Ironically, the safety was turned on, but that was correctable with a simple push of the thumb that he'd trained for so long to precede the actual pull of the index. It seemed that Archon's hopes were in vain. The sight of metal glinting some distance away caught his eye, off to the left and only slightly off his original course. Not significantly raising his repeater, the mouse casually walked over to the steadily changing motion, eventually realizing it to be a knife in the paw of some sort of mustelid. The rain wasn't helping with visibility, thus his delayed diagnosis, but as he realized what he was dealing with, he brought his repeater to a bit more of a threatening position. He could have put a bolt through the ferret's skull if he detected a threat, or at least her heart. All he detected, though, was yet another predator at rest. "I'm not supposed to pull the trigger and paint that tree with your innards, right?"
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Post by lorki on Apr 29, 2008 20:42:59 GMT -5
She glanced up. Calmly her eyes looked to the mouse as he spoke. She was silent for a moment, partly wondering exactly what weapon he had and partly sizing up the threat. She hated these sort of situations, they never seemed to bother her, in fact they were somewhat comical to her. But continual threats as she relaxed on her own wasn't exactly welcome. Her mind worked fast, she knew immediately what she would do, what she would say, and yet she waited, let the silence drag on for a bit. She flipped the knife to her other paw and twirled it still in an absurdly calm manner. Finally she spoke, "No." She growled, "Your not. In fact, if I remember correctly the polite thing to do would be to ask me my name, maybe even introduce yourself."
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 29, 2008 20:50:03 GMT -5
"Well, last time I checked, politeness to strangers like you is for two kinds of beasts: Beasts who want to look like they care what complete strangers with no influence over them think of them, which is ridiculous, and beasts who actually care what complete strangers with no influence over them think of them... I don't need to say anything about how laughable that is, right?" Holding his weapon steady, Archon seemed a bit jovial; in fact, he was... Actually, he really was jovial. It was obvious that any armament that this ferret possessed, save the knife which he could block with the ebony stock of his repeater if it were thrown at him, was negligible and likely not going to be used against him. It was also obvious that she was attempting to play with him. Apparently, she hadn't figured out who had superior power in their situation.
He continued without letting the ferret interject a word. "I dunno, maybe I do. Maybe I have to because you've already proven that you're stupid enough to keep a beast with armament you've never even seen or recognize the capability of before waiting while you try and act all tough and impassive like all beasts like you do. No, don't bother making some ridiculous threat backed by your ridiculous knife. Don't bother telling me you could have killed me already, either, because you didn't kill me and now I'm pointing a repeater at you."
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Post by lorki on Apr 29, 2008 21:00:23 GMT -5
A scowl passed over her face. "Don't be so full of yourself..." She squinted at his figure "...Mousy. This knife isn't for you, I didn't intend it to be. Why would I talk about having the ability and desire to kill you if I didn't try? If I want someone dead I'll do it, I won't talk about it." She paused, her calm expression returned and she looked vividly towards him, "I'm not the one that came after you, now was I? I'm not the one threatening to do anything. Maybe you should just put your little ego back in place for now and try to not get all big and dangerous on me." Her voice was low, not threatening, but obviously vexed.
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 29, 2008 21:05:01 GMT -5
"You're the one standing out on the forest playing with a knife already, and you're not the one whose job it is to go around and act like this. Yes, it's my job to bother you. No, not you in particular, but it's my job. Isn't that hilarious? I'm getting paid for this!" The only thing that really surprised Archon was that she was able to tell that she was a mouse. His helmet more or less covered his ears, and most of his figure, including his tail, was covered by the coat, so the idea of her suddenly figuring out his species was a tad hard to grasp.
Still, he approached casually, lowering his repeater ever so slightly. "I'm so sorry if you're actually a reasonably good beast and all I've done until this point, but do I know that? I'm from Otter's Fort, probably not a great representative thereof, but I'm pretty good at going around and... Bothering beasts, that's actually bit depressing." Nothing beat chatting it up at the most inopportune of times. It was a good way to make beasts think twice about his stance on a situation. "I'll put my ego back in place if you'll do the same with that blade, though."
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Post by lorki on Apr 29, 2008 21:15:37 GMT -5
"Playing with a Knife alone" She muttered under her breath. Begrudgingly she shuffled around and slid the knife into her belt, she also picked up the small bottle of poison and put it with the knives at her side. As she did she was surprised by his babbling, however, being a creature of intense curiosity and wit she listened carefully to everything that he said. She looked closely at him as he approached, particularly at his weapon, however she spoke directly in reference to his words.
"I'm not sure if you would see me as a 'reasonable good beast'" She smirked at her own comment, it wasn't threatening, more joking in a way. She didn't pause for the possibly negative response, instead she looked at him questioningly. "otters fort?" She said, tilting her head slightly.
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 29, 2008 21:19:56 GMT -5
OOC: I'd like to note that Sleetfang is a bit hypocritical in that she doesn't want to aid her kills but still uses a weapon, which aids a kill, obviously, as well as a poison that, although incapable of directly killing a beast, would still be a major tactical asset if a beast has to deal with all that pain.
BIC: "Of course, come on, we have patrols all over here... Where are you from, farther north than physically possible?" Archon grinned and rested his repeater on his shoulder as he walked up to a good proximity for conversation from Sleetfang. He felt a palm dagger brushing against the base of his left paw and realized that he could at any point, ram a blade into this one's chest before even the mouse himself realized it. "Yes, Otter's Fort, trade hub for all Mossflower and then some, home of some of the world's most revolutionary inventions? OK, maybe you haven't heard of it. Whoever you are... Do I at least get a name?"
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Post by lorki on Apr 29, 2008 21:29:34 GMT -5
OOC: Oh well she isn't all that honorable at all, and hypocritical at times too, surely. In fact she's pretty cheap (if not clever) in most fights.
BIC: "I suppose I can avoid most easily." She said without much care to the question or the statement. Sleet watched his movement carefully, his position, where his paws were, his angle to her. She carefully calculated everything as he moved. "I can't say I'm at all familiar with trade, or inventions for that matter." She shrugged and held out a paw, slowly knowing he was probably just as suspicious of her as she was of him. "Sleetfang, Sleet. And you?"
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 29, 2008 21:37:07 GMT -5
OOC: Glad to hear you've thought her out. How about she gets presented to mid- to post-Renaissance technology? (Poison has got nothing on the repeater! Or the CEL.)
BIC: Switching paws to hold his repeater with his left paw, Archon extended his newly freed right to meet Sleet's. "I'm Archon. I used to have a last name but I stopped using it, long story, I can guarantee you aren't interested. Here's something I'm interested in, though, why are you just... Out here? Don't you have somewhere better to be than, you know, a rainy forest?" He was taking in Sleet's movements about as carefully as she was of him, although he had much less to be concerned about. Having clearly and forcibly assumed a dominating role in the situation, he maintained everything he needed to pose a threat if the ferret happened to be having second thoughts.
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Post by lorki on Apr 29, 2008 21:51:14 GMT -5
OOC: probably kill herself XD. She's not the most... coordinated, outside of classic weapons at least.
The mouse was hardly worrying her anymore. He didn't seem threatening, in fact his babbling had made her feel almost comically comfortable. She tended to let go of threats fairly quickly, she had faith that if reaction was needed she could easily defend herself, it was his odd weapon and his odd threat that had made her uncomfortable. However, she continued to ignore it and just answered his questions, intentionally avoiding conflict. "Honestly, I'm not interested in anything else. I haven't got a job so I was thinking about going to the shore, I've been traveling from... The Redwall area i suppose, have you been there? Not a great place for me." She shrugged, his interest didn't bother her, it was regular for her to be questioned in such a way, she went along with it routinely.
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 29, 2008 21:56:10 GMT -5
OOC: Classic weapons are for the dead beasts, yes... Oh, you're not supposed to look down the muzzle, remember that.
BIC: "Yes, it's a fair place, I guess," Archon shrugged apathetically. If he liked Redwall, he would have stayed there, not moved to the fort to get employed. "Not as wonderful as the fort, of course. But you aren't going to find anything at the shore. You know what's at the shore? Sand. You don't get an entire life from sand." It occurred to him that the several glassmakers that resided at the fort would disagree strongly with this, but he continued nonetheless. He didn't want to sound too incoherent. "If you want a job, you want to go due north. The fort's there, and there are so many open jobs that if they were all filled, I bet the fort population would triple overnight."
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Post by lorki on Apr 29, 2008 22:02:10 GMT -5
OOC: *Shifty glance*... okay?
"I'm not looking for sand." She muttered. he obviously did not understand her 'career' but she figured it would be best to keep it that way. "And I'm not looking for a life either. Otter fort, what good would otters do me? they might as well be sand." She leaned casually back against the trunk of the tree, and shook her head as a raindrop broke through the cover of the branches to land between her eyes. She thought over his suggestion slightly, a place to sleep wouldn't be horrible, and it wasn't as if she couldn't up and leave like she always did whenever she found a real job... She looked at him with slight unease, "How far north?"
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 29, 2008 22:06:45 GMT -5
"Far enough to get a career in ending lives," Archon replied flatly. He realized in that moment that he wasn't dealing with some ferret with a knife but a calculating assassin just as potentially fatal as himself. Not moving his weapons at all, he gave her a shrug as if to amend for his previous seeming incoherence. It wasn't as if he had to move them now, anyway; they were always poised to make a kill. "That's actually pretty far. I'm sure you'll find employment sooner or later at the fort, likely sooner; however, even more likely not with the kind of audience you're used to."
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Post by lorki on Apr 29, 2008 22:13:45 GMT -5
She smirked and put both her paws behind her head so she could rest it comfortably against the tree, even shutting her eyes as she did, She no longer indented to pose any sort of threat to Archon, he'd figured her own and been civil, she couldn't ask for much more and she wasn't interested in much else. But what he said had amused her, "And what sort of audience do you suppose I'm so used to then, Archon?" She turned her head slightly, opened her eyes and looked sideways at him, the smirking smile still playing on her face.
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