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Post by wolfsbane on Apr 1, 2008 14:32:57 GMT -5
Wolfsbane had been in Otter's Fort for merely three days now, but the trees and forest called out to him. The natural instincts of a squirrel made him feel naked without a tree to climb up, whether just to climb for fun or for protection. The trees and forests were not only Wolfsbane's home, it was his way of life. No matter where he was, he liked to climb and glide through the trees to remind him that he was, indeed, a squirrel.
Wolfsbane strolled down the path from Otter's Fort and through the village. Soon, he reached the heavily densed woods of Mossflower woods. He expertly climbed up a random tree, the feel of the bark innately comforted him. He climbed to the highest branch of the tall oak tree. He looked down at the kingdom of trees below. Ever since he was but a babe, he loved climbing to the top of the tallest tree and pretending he was the king of his imaginary kingdom. He was a full grown beast now, but he couldn't help but reminisce about his home. Wolfsbane stopped his thoughts from wandering too far into the past, knowing it wouldn't do too much good. He inhaled a breath of the fresh woodland air and jumped. When he jumped, he put his in front of him, like an otter would as it jumped into a stream. The cool air rushed into his face as he dove downward. He loved the rush that gliding from tree to tree gave him, but he knew it was nothing but a glimpse of a bird's life. Oh how he envied the birds... they were so lucky, so majestic, so... free. He spotted a rowan tree that he wanted to land on. He spread his "wings" and maneuvred his flaps. Without a sound, he landed on the trunk of the rowan tree. He climbed and flew among the trees... this was his kingdom, his home, where he felt the safest... amongst the trees.
Suddenly, three dark shapes flew out of nowhere, speeding toward Wolfsbane. Wolfsbane's warrior instinct enabled him to dodge them. The three dark shapes landed on branches behind him. They were three crows, staring at him, intent on making him their lunch.
"Kaww!! Treeclimberkaw kawfood!", exclaimed one of them.
Wolfsbane knew their intent. The northern lands had been full of crows, and he knew he had to defend himself. He whipped out his bow, uncollapsing it while unclasping it from his back. He jumped down out of sight and put an arrow to the bow. He was outnumbered and he didn't feel like killing them, unless they provoked them further. He expertly shot an arrow to the branch that the three crows were standing on. The arrow quivered on the branch, slightly shaking it.
"Begone, you filthy scavengers! Afore the next one pierces your gut!"
The three crows ignored the warning and flew down toward their quarry. With a sigh, Wolfsbane notched another arrow to his bow, took aim, and let it fly. The arrow flew straight and true, catching a crow in the wing. The crow fell to the earth, and the other two scattered into different directions. Apparently, they had lost their appetites.
Wolfsbane shouldered his bow and headed back to Otter's Fort. He had had enough of the trees for now.
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 1, 2008 18:09:54 GMT -5
Archon felt a bit cheated by the squirrel's retaliation. Of course, the mouse himself had never been the crows' target; a more accurate term for his role would be "predator". A bayoneted repeater in one paw and a rake sword in the other made it clear that he was ready to do some serious killing, which wasn't going to happen now that Wolfsbane had scared them away. Since he didn't actually know the squirrel, he felt it would be best to treat him as a potential hostile. Not that he had anything against this one, but any beast he knew or didn't know to be armed was a possible threat until he could actually deem otherwise.
Typically, a mouse like Archon would never just go out alone on a patrol. The last time he'd done this, it had resulted in capture by a band of vermin and he... Hadn't fared well, to take all the wind out of that story's sails. It seemed that with fort patrol members crawling all over the forest these days, though, he'd be safe enough to at least go on a walk along a main road, well-armed, in broad daylight. No trees for them to hide behind on this part, either... Well, trees, but so far away they... Can't you think of something interesting to think about? Like that squirrel?
He sheathed his sword well before reaching this unknown entity, unfolding the stock of his repeater and feeling its metallic click as it reached home and brushed against the thick fabric covering his shoulder's fur. By the time he figured the beast was within earshot, they were close enough for him to have put a bolt into Wolfsbane's skull and he was sure he'd been seen already. This was no reason to prevent him from keeping his weapon raised, though. "Hold it!" The mouse's voice rang clear and his vocabulary put it right between a greeting and a warning. "I'm assuming you've got some arrows for that thing." A bow? What?...
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Post by wolfsbane on Apr 2, 2008 13:34:32 GMT -5
Wolfsbane keen squirrel eyes had seen the mouse's approach... and his drawn weapon. Wolfsbane had never seen anything like it throughout his travels... but he assumed it was a weapon... and dangerous. What he had seen in his travels was that mice were generally friendly beasts, so he did as the mouse asked. He stopped where he was and raised his hands to show that he was unarmed.
Wolfsbane quickly sized up the situation and came to a couple of conclusions. First, since the mouse was coming from Otter's Fort, he could assume that this mouse was either a warrior from Otter's Fort, or a traveler who had been turned away or was leaving Otter's Fort. Either way, he didn't want to seem like a threat... besides, the mouse didn't look evil. Wolfsbane chastised himself inwardly. He had learned long ago that appearance didn't mean anything. He mentally shook his mind. He thoughts were wandering again.
"Ahoy there. My name is Wolfsbane Treeflyer. I just arrived at Otter's Fort a couple of days ago. I'm sure Captain Fishrudder will vouch for me."
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 2, 2008 14:26:28 GMT -5
"Oh, great, you met Fishrudder..." Archon lowered his repeater, removing his foregrip paw from the corresponding part of the weapon but refraining from decocking it. He wasn't one for formal greetings, particularly because he had no idea who this squirrel was and would rather keep wary than be polite. Having abandoned the concept of judging a beast by his or her species some time before, his reaction would have been exactly the same had he been talking to a monitor lizard... Not that they'd go this far north so soon. He had to keep his mind off Mokwa, who had arrived mid-winter and nearly died in the process, so he could speak further. "Well, I don't have as much of a reason to shoot you now, since you just gave me the name and rank of an actual officer who I know."
Taking a short breath before continuing, Archon headed up close enough to the squirrel for them to talk without raising their voices– About twenty feet. "I'm Squad Captain Archon, and welcome to the fort that we actually aren't even in right now. Besides, if you're a fort member... How come you're out here, anyway?" It occurred to Archon that he could be asked the very same question anyway, but he continued regardless. "Going alone on a patrol is a ridiculous idea, you can't tell me you just came out to kill some vermin."
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Post by wolfsbane on Apr 3, 2008 15:07:51 GMT -5
Wolfsbane snapped off a salute like he'd seen the hares of Salamandastron do before answering the question.
"Much as I would enjoy that, I'm sure vermin avoid Otter's Fort... Nae, I came to enjoy my home."
Wolfsbane presented his arms and pointed to the whole forest behind him.
"The trees. For a squirrel without trees is like an otter without water. I'm not truly comfortable unless I'm in the trees... This is my domain. Now... I return the question back to you. What are you doing out here by yourself? From what I understand, patrols usually have more than one beast."
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 3, 2008 16:39:36 GMT -5
Archon couldn't help but wince at the salute. Informal as he was, the mouse despised the gesture and had practically outlawed it within his squad; he couldn't blame Wolfsbane for not knowing that, but he could blame him for doing a Salamandastron-styled salute. Before his mind could start to digress with the topic of hares, he caught himself and decided to answer the question. "Those crows. I thought there were more than three of them, I saw at least five on the way over here. I'm not on a patrol, but I am out for a hunt."
After a few seconds, Archon realized he had to correct himself. "Not for food or anything, you understand. But we get reports of hostile birds harassing land traders, particularly on the route due south, all the time. Plain old patrols can't do much, and it's not our job to provide escorts for importing ships and caravans. All the same, I went out here to eradicate some crows."
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Post by wolfsbane on Apr 4, 2008 13:32:23 GMT -5
"Hmm... I did not know that. Otherwise, I would have slain those birds myself. I thought they were merely thinking of me as lunch."
Wolfsbane paused for a moment, thinking quickly. Since he was new to the area, maybe he could get to know it better with this Archon. At the same time, he could get to know Archon better, as well as the runnings of Otter Fort.
"Offisah Archon, permission to join the hunt, sah!", said Wolfsbane, Salamandastron style. Even though he wasn't a hare, he tended to pick up the dialects and accents where ever he was. In fact, his northern accent had all but disappeared, except for the way he talked, not many beasts could tell the difference. Depending on his mood, the son of the tribe of Treeflyer was known to speak in whatever dialect he felt like.
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 5, 2008 13:55:35 GMT -5
Archon sighed and put a paw to his forehead, giving Wolfsbane the most exasperated look yet. "Yes... You can. Just stop talking like you're from Salamandastron. And could you quit it with the saluting and 'sah' stuff? I may be pretty rigid about some things but I'm more laid back than all that." Hopefully, he'd made his point across. Checking the safety of his repeater to make sure it was on, he glanced around the surrounding area idly.
It looked like the crows were gone for the moment. However, they wouldn't be gone for good– and thus no longer a threat– until they were dead, which they obviously weren't. Knowing he couldn't blame Wolfsbane for his actions, the mouse felt without a clear objective with his target lost. "But you scared the crows off. Now my target's gone."
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Post by wolfsbane on Apr 6, 2008 12:06:39 GMT -5
Wolfsbane chuckled.
"Sorry about that. I'm prone to changing the way I talk depending on the situations, and it's a hard habit to break, so you'll have to get used to it. So... you want to kill those crows? If you knew crows like I do, you'll know that they never wander far from a quarry. I'll gather they're up in the trees right now watching us. If you really want to kill them, I suppose I can get them out into the open. "
Without another word, Wolfsbane scrambled up the tree with an agility only squirrels possessed. Soon, he was out of Archon's sight. Wolfsbane silently crawled up to the trees, looking for the crows. He spotted them four trees away, looking at where Archon was. He glided to a branch above them, and landed on it without making a sound. He swiftly took out his longbow, weilding it like a club.
"Treeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeflllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyer!"
He landed amongst the crows, whacking them mercilessly.
"Begone ye scavengers!"
Thwack! Whack!
The crows tumbled off the branch into the open air, giving Archon some targets.
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 6, 2008 13:45:03 GMT -5
Archon took four shots to land every single crow on the ground, clearly dead. It was done with before he even knew what had happened and he almost took a fifth shot into where he saw a whisper of movement amidst the leaves; it took all of his restraint to keep him from hitting Wolfsbane as well. Stupid... Going right amongst them like that, he's asking for it...
It looked like the squirrel was just going to sit up there until further notice, so Archon decided to call out to him. "Hey! Wolfsbane, get down from there! Do you want me to think you're a crow, too?"
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Post by wolfsbane on Apr 6, 2008 14:08:55 GMT -5
"Oh! You're blind? I didn't know that.", said Wolfsbane in jest.
Without another word, Wolfsbane leapt from the branch, and glided toward Archon. He used his flaps to maneuvre himself to the ground a few feet from the mouse.
"Nice shots, Archon. That metal lunk is actually useful for something. Me? I prefer my good ole longbow."
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 6, 2008 14:11:59 GMT -5
"You know, I don't even care, because if you pull that thing on me I'll either bayonet you, crack your jaw with the handle or put a bolt in your knee faster than you can draw your string back. It doesn't matter to me if one expendable soldier refuses to accept technology... You are expendable." The term 'metal lunk' was a bit offensive to someone who had helped invent the device, thus Archon's heated response. He didn't want Wolfsbane to think they were equal, even if he didn't appreciate salutes.
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Post by wolfsbane on Apr 6, 2008 15:39:57 GMT -5
Wolfsbane hadn't known that he'd hit a touchy spot. Being a warrior, he knew when he had said something wrong. He'd obviously said the wrong thing. He had described the device like he'd seen it. It was the first time he'd ever seen anything like it. There weren't much things that complicated where he'd come from. He decided to offer his apologies.
"Sorry about that. I shouldn't have called your weapon a metal lunk. I would've been mad if someone said something like that to my weapons."
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 6, 2008 16:11:44 GMT -5
"Yeah, I like your twig with a string a whole lot," Archon responded in acidic concurrence with Wolfsbane's response. He may have had weapons he had strong feelings about, but they weren't revolutionary technological inventions. It was, as a result, likely more offensive to him than this squirrel could have even imagined. Bows had been around for hundreds of years, but this...
This had to be ignored in order to make any progress. "Whatever. Let's just... Head back, if that's all there is for targets."
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Post by wolfsbane on Apr 7, 2008 7:38:26 GMT -5
Wolfsbane's pride was wounded... but he bit his tongue and didn't say anything back. His father would've flayed him if he talked back to an officer. Wolfsbane quickly shook off those thoughts.
As the two started walking toward back to Otter's Fort, Wolfsbane sniffed the wind. He held a paw in front of Archon to stop him.
"Wait. I smell vermin. Stay here, I'll recon."
Without another word, Wolfsbane vanished in the foliage. A couple of minutes later, he appeared next Archon.
"A tribe of primitive ferrets called the Flitcheye are in the woods. They're usually by Northwestern Mossflower. I wonder what they're doing here. It's highly unusual for them to leave their area of comfort."
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