A New Face.... (Super open ^^)

[lorki]

“You think you can steal from us and just walk away from it?” The bulky ferret snarled, his fangs bright, clenched, threatening very near the face of the rat who was suspended by the ferret in the air. “Did you think that was a good idea, eh?” Omri dragged the rat around and stepped forward, shoving the other beast up against a tree, already partially beaten the other creature grimaced in preparation for a strike, but it never came. The ferret stared evenly at the rat, his expression an even mixture of expectancy and disgust.

After a long moment the greasy black rat realized that this corsair actually expected an answer from him. Uneasily he answered, “I.. er… Ah los’ a bet…”

In an instant Omri dropped the rat and took a step back, chuckling. He turned and grnned at two foxes that stood behind him, “boys… this fellow stole from us to pay back a bet! We’ve got a gambler!” The pair behind him laughed loudly, exchanging excited glances. Omri turned back to the rat and sneered, “Have you paid back this bet yet, rattie?”

The beast shook his head quickly, “Naw…”

Omri smirked and bent down so that he looked the rat in the eyes, “ in that case, I have a bet for you. I will play you and…” he pointed a claw towards himself, “if I win you will give us back what you have stolen and then I will let those two decide what to do with you.” He gestured back to the two foxes who grinned maliciously at the offer, then pointed a claw a the rat and tapped him roughly on the nose, “if you win, my new friend, you will give us back what you have stolen and get a… hmm… I’d say a decent head start before I personally come after you. Are you fast, Rattie? Because I know what those fools will do, me however… well me, I’m full of surprises. Do we have a bet?”

Wide-eyed the once quite rude and snappy rat was forced to agree. Omri produced a deck of cards from his pack and shuffled. The two nearly identical foxes loomed over them while Omri dealt the cards out and glanced carefully down at the ones in front of him. He sighed, cracked his neck and cheated.

The young ferret always had to be careful to be sure he lost, but never by a large margin, considering he rarely lost among the others and could quickly be figured out. He had taken quite a long time (probably much longer then another beast would need) to learn the perfect way to cheat to lose by just a little. This game was a quick one and when the rat fearfully lay down his last card Omri dramatically threw the rest of them across the ground and stood up. In response the foxes disappointedly backed off.

Omri pulled out one of his kukris and pointed it at the rat who fell backwards and pathetically squeaked, “Yew sed ya would’n kill meh!”

“Not yet, I’m not. Where is it?” The ferret snapped.

“At mah camp. Jus’ a bi’ thata way.” The rat pointed and immediately the foxes went off, darting through the underbrush.
Omri waited, blade still pointed at the rat, his jaw set and expression annoyed. His stance did not falter a bit until he heard a high yip and howl from the fox duo. He pulled his kukri back and shoved it back in place at his hip, “it’s good of you not to lie to us, rattie. You ought to take good use of your head start, no?”

The rat stumbled to his feet and bolted clumsily away from the daunting ferret. Omri sighed, his entire composure seemed to slump instantly from fierce and scary to tired and somewhat irked. He was glad to be alone for once, he’d spent too long on that ship and tracking whoever happened to get on the wrong side of the captain. It always ended the same way too (unless they severely deserved to be chopped to bits) he had to fake a kill, fake a chase or decide to let them go for cooperation. Lying to a ship full of vermin was more work then the thrill of sailing was worth at times.

Omri walked slowly after the rat, not wanting to be there when the foxes returned. He would take his break in piece and return when he felt ready. He’d ditched the ship multiple times before and each time upon his return his life was threatened, his dignity insulted and then he was gladly welcomed back. So without much regret he strolled into the woods, arms crossed, shaking his head as he listened to the fading scrambling of the rat, thinking as he did that he should have worked into that bet an inescapable bath for that creature. Disgusting.

(Yeah its crazy long.... mainly because I'm still developing the character so i really needed to set it up... Sorry if it seemed like a bit of a read, the only important part is... well... he's walking aimlessly in the woods now.)

[zelfur]

Midnightmoon stood dully on a branch not to far awawy form the burly ferret. The crow had been ease dropping and watching the whole thing, well if you asked him he wouldn't say ease dropping, he would say that he couldn't block out the sounds or close his eyes. Midnightmoon looked cruelly at the ferret, his gold eye shined. With a loud caw he flew down infront of the ferret and crooned " Scraw! deary me! lemme see, a ferret and foxes aye? poor ol' rat, you took some advantage of 'im! i saw you play those cards, you where cheating, if my golden eye dosen't mistake me. You cheated to keep the rat alive, im not sure weather or not to respect you, ferret! Shadowsleek would take a good laugh at yer"
Midnightmoons dangerous silver beack got ready to snap if this ferret tried to take a stab at him.

[lorki]

Omri stopped abruptly, his hand quick to snap and rest on the handle of one of the small knives. He eyed the bird evenly, not quite sure to whether take this as a ridiculous welcome home or a simple annoyance. He shifted his weight and tilted his head, scowling as the crow spoke. "Well you must be mistaken something if you think I took advantage at all. You see I did my job, got back what rightfully belongs to my ship and on top of that I don't have to put any work into punishing the beast, If you want a good laugh go spook that poor rat, I'm sure you'll find him quite edgy."

The ferret attempted to side step around the bird, he couldn't simply stand there. if he wanted to take his leave into the woods he would have to do just that. The foxes would only wait so long until they came after him, and while not the most intelligent beasts unless he moved they would find him. "Oh," He glanced back at the crow and smirked, "if you want an answer... Yes, you ought to respect me."

[zelfur]

Midnightmoon eyed him suspiciously and spread his wings wide, blocking the entrance he put a talon forward to push him backwards
" caw! nice thing for a vermin to do, i know what your up to, new comer. Clamin' things an-" then an idea struck him and made him snort "i see your having some trouble movin' along, i know a place thats easy to take over, its called Redwall abbey, take a look at it" The crow knew the ferret might never liston, but he needed to get the word out some how.

[lorki]

Omri scowled, he considered whipping out a Kukri and slicing the birds leg off but decided against it. "I know the abbey, bird." He snapped, "unfortunately I have better things to do with my time then to wage war on a little red fortress. Hell, I'm not a fan of the color. Why don't you go peck at it, or something." He moved side ways to walk around the crows wings.

Was that honestly what this part of the forest was like? Random plotting birds was bad enough, ones that got in his way and tried to recruit him were worse. Perhaps he ought to have stayed on the ship, at east no body blocked him. Next foul move my this bird and he wouldn't mind pulling out a weapon. Omri was not a quick to anger beast but having already been taken for some cruel ferret looking to take over some abbey he had already been rubbed the wrong way.

[zelfur]

Midnightmoon smirked, he got inside the ferret. He knew he should fly off to warn Tameroos horde, but why not have some fun?
Midnightmoon sweeped his wing in a gust on wind right into the ferret and then flew upwards away from his grip "well well well, a sharp tongue! your not the only beast here, ive seen horded bigger then yours, they could swipe you down in a minute, if you dont mind me, im going to see if your little foxeys like to play with my beak" he flew higher in the air

[Maxodis]

The ferret made his way through the quickly darkening woods, dimly observing the leaf litter that he was trudging through. On a whim he turned each step into a little kick, throwing up more leaves into the air, where they hung suspended for a precious moment before beginning their graceful descent back to the tranquil earth. The sounds made by his progress had a rhythmic quality to them, and he found himself humming sections of his latest composition, a small smile on his face.

His cheer was relatively short lived, ending as he let out a soft, wistful sigh, imagining within his mind the short breath of air that he had released back into the world as a visible substance, saw it leave him and disintegrate, becoming less of an individual as it was reunited with the small breezes that had been the origin of it's existence, it's creator and benevolent keeper, as it had been for all eternity.

Pausing for a moment, he considered this thought. The small smile played it's way across his features once more: He'd have to remember those words and use them in a poem, one day. He shifted his grip on the leather harp casing, which by some cruel irony was more than twice the weight of the frail instrument. Wincing as the joints in his paws, already tired from a long session of practice with the harp, complained at the abuse they were now seeing. He made another mental note to make some sort of handle for the case, or perhaps affix it to the wide belt that he attached his satchel to.

Dax Briaar blinked in mild surprise as he entered the small clearing where he had left his twin brother Omri several hours ago in order to find a quiet place to practice and think. He hadn't realized he was this close to the meeting spot. A brotherly greeting formed on his lips, but died as he saw that Omri was looking into the sky. This was by no means a normal pattern of behavior for his brother, but it was not this fact that caused Dax hesitation. Omri also appeared to be quite agitated.

That tended to not be a good thing, as it usually resulted in either them fighting for their lives or with Dax attempting to talk their way out of a situation that was quickly going decadent.

Dax followed his brother's sight, saw the ascending crow, then looked at his brother once more, chuckling in a weak attempt to ease the mounting tension.

"What did I miss? Did you lose a staring contest with a crow?"

[lorki]

Normally he could have easily heard his brother approaching through the forest. Omri did think his brother to be an awfully noisy beast; with his harping and his composing and his reciting and singing and... moveing. He could generally keep tabs on Dax just from the amount of noise his twin produced regularly. However, distracted by this ridiculous road-block of a crow he had completely forgotten his twin existed.

The chuckle brought his attention away from the bird and his displeased scowl fell on his brother. Quickly the look faded to an evenly unamused yet calmer expression. "I wish that was all I was bothered by. I don't lose at staring contests." His shining self confidence could have blinded every beast within an acre, "No, this crow was just in my way. You didn't miss out on anything yet..."

Omri cast an angry glare up at the bird, as if daring it to even try to bother him again. he'd had enough obstacles to deal with today. "C'mon, lets go." Although there was no place in mind he wasn't about to wait around. He beckoned his brother forward and stepped away from the crow, "You have fun there, birdie." He mumbled, one paw still carefully positioned over his weapons

[zelfur]

Midnightmoons quick mind caught hold of suspicion, it was oviuos two ferrets where up to no good, hasnt the WARR horde given mossflower enough trouble? A thought struck him, just pretend to be some dumb bird so that they wouldn't worry about him, then when the time came he would get his revenge for being called "birdie". He also needed to scrape up some info for Shadowsleek. But two ferrets with no horde, how much trouble could they be? they could gain a horde, that would be much worse. With a loud caw he said "have fun earthcrawlers, take heed to my warning, im not the only little feller you'll bump into" he dived farther away and out of site, like a black arrow through the sky. Yet he perched not to far away on a loose tree branch, thinking to himself what o nearth the two twin ferrets would be up to.

[Rausaro]

Abruptly, a small Kingfisher landed next to Midnightmoons, startling the larger bird. "Kraaah! What are you doing, fisheater?" The Smaller bird tucked his beak over shoulder and started grooming. "Kree! I watch! What else would I be doing? Sitting alone is for owls. Now quiet, I listen. These ferrets shall be watched. My friend will be interested!" The Crow ruffled his feathers. "Why do ye not watch at day? Fisheaters don't fly at knight!" The smaller bird shifted to a more comfortable position. "No hawks."

The Crow, however, was not satisfied with such an answer from an intrusive little bird. Regardless, he would get an answer.

Despite the smaller bird's bright appearance, the bird was not tropical, nor was he a pushover. As he watched the pair of Ferrets below with one eye, his other carefully watched the crow. Crows and kin had nasty reputations in some parts of Mossflower, like the long dead General Ironbeak and the deposed Doomwyte. However, this particular bird had no fear of greater birds. After all, he had a beak that could spear a foe easily. But few of these things mattered to the bird. After all, he enjoyed the rush of scouting.

"Krrrr... What brings thee here, Crow?", the fisher murmured as he watched. Midnight glared. "Kraa, I should be asking thee the same!"

[Maxodis]

Hesitating a moment in the clearing, Dax looked once more to the Crow as it spoke down to an uninterested audience. Frowning slightly, he went over the sounds that he had heard within his mind, trying to decipher them. For whatever reason, Dax had an unimaginable amount of trouble understanding words that came from birds. Their language was simply too harsh for his musical ears, he mused to himself, though not seeing that as a logical reason to simply discount the crow's words (If you could call them that, even). Still piecing together what he could define into a logical statement, Dax jogged after his twin.

Falling into stride alongside Omri, Dax was silent for a time. It was obvious that there was something about that crow that was causing his brother to be so aggravated. Momentarily, Dax considered asking directly what had really transpired while he was away, but this thought was ended as soon as he remembered the other situations that had caused Omri to be so agitated. This minor realization dwarfed the dim surprise that was caused by a sudden understanding of the Crow's words. Considering this for a moment, Dax belatedly noticed the ominous warning given by the crow, and considered what it meant.

Suddenly aware of the suppressing silence from his brother (and his careless, loud progress next to him), Dax placed his footpaws with more care and consideration, as he had been taught since before he could remember. Glancing briefly at his brother's expression, Dax decided to make a stab at getting his twin on a topic less distressing than the one unspoken.

"It's nice to be able to breathe clean air again. Are those foxes of yours finally gone or did you force them to bathe at knife-point?"

[lorki]

Omri crossed his arms as the crow backed off. He was actually quite thankful that his brother had shown up right on time- Omri was a good-natured creature but his patience ran thin and wasn't helped by the growing hunger he felt. He knew just as well as he was sure his brother did that he was a rash beast, and that crow would have been entering dangerous territory very soon. As they walked past where the bird had stood Omri wondered absentmindedly if Crow would have made a good dinner- he made a face at the thought.

He hadn't noticed the tense quiet, he was too busy and caught up in annoyance and hunger. His brothers voice brought back his attention. "No... no, I got rid of them. I wasn't about to go and try to do that, they can stink up the forest away from me. Thats fine." He smirked and hopped over a fallen branch, "It's hard to believe the first thing I hear is 'Hey, welcome to the forest, why don't you go take over an abbey!' Ridiculous birds... I've never liked them." He shook his head, realizing then that he was babbling angrily, and keeping himself edgy and displeased.

He tried his hardest to calm himself, the best thing he could think of would be to eat but he wasn't about to jump all over his brother for their food. He cast a glance at Dax, "how did the composing go then?" He eyed the bag his brother carried hungrily.

[zelfur]

Midnightmoon continued to glare at the small colorful fisher bird before him; not many small birds had enough guts to talk to him. But the words of the ferret distracted him he couldn't help but crone "kraaah! hope you earthcrawlers get eatens by thee adders! they eat yous up real good!" His golden eyes flashed at the ferrets and his dangerous silver beck was clanking.

[cheeseerdoodle]

Airswipe Featherheart was gliding high in the air, he closed his eyes with pleasure as a playful breeze came and took him farther. His stomach grumbled and his sharp eyes scanned the area below, thats when he saw two tasty looking ferrets, a crow and a small Kingfisher. He knew the crow as Moon, full name as Midnightmoon, for his shiny silver beck and talons. He let out a shrieking cry to warn the ferrets below that he will dive if they dare not move.

[Rocky]

"Ah, me mates. Whats goin' on here. Surely not bein' a bully, eh?" A fox said, slowly walking out of a brush, hands spread out, palms facing Omri and his brother. This fox was around 20, and, he was one categorized as... Unusual. His fur was silver and he wore fur... From an enemy... His attitude changed in an instant and he walked over to Dax, gripped the ferret's paw with his, and started shaking vigorously. "Nice ta' meetcha, matey. Call me Spring, if ya like. Real name's Springheel Jakk. Long story don't ask." He tapped the ferret on the shoulder with the back of his hand then walked to Omri. "A big burly chap, eh? Nice ta' meetcha, sire." He, like he did previously, gripped Omri's paw and shaked vigorously. "Like I said to your..." He turned and pointed to Dax "Call me Spring, or Springheel Jakk. Just don't call me Jakk... At all." His voice changed to a dangerously low tone. "I'm just jokin;, matey!" He said heartily. "Though, Kindly, don't call me Jakk..."

The peculiar fox released his grip and turned his back to the ferret, and faced the crow, "Watch your tongue, mate. These ferrets would eatcha in a heartbeat." Now, turning to the two ferrets, he licked his lips, "Crow's be tasty. Yum." He turned back to the crow, sighed, and winked, "I'm just kidding, ya yummy birdy." HE turned back to face Omri and Dax yet again, and held his paws out again. "Now... Have ya heard some stories about dear ole' Springheel Jakk? Master at acrobatics, and supposedly crazy. Mad, some say. Surely ya' have." He smiled a smile that would make any other beast tht truly knew him laugh, but these ferrets probably thought he was some crazed fox who escaped an asylum or something.

Spring's personality switched back to normal, and he stared at Omri. "Now... Why do you pick on the bird?" And then he turned to face the crow, "Now... Why do you pick on the ferrets?"

[zelfur]

Midnightmoon wasnt amused, he gave the fox a dull look and screeched " ACK! what are yer, peacemaker? me no talks ta earth crawler!" his golden eye blazed witth fury, but then with deep breaths calmed down, he pointed a wing up ward at the falcon "see dat, foxey? dat an invitation ta dark forest!" Midnightmoon gave a small weird smile from his silver beck and then added "Shadowsleek heard of yer, you play nuetral, both gud and bad, lemme see what sir Airswipe think!"

[cheeseerdoodle]

Airswipe dived in at great speed like an arrow to the ground. He landed perfectly in foront of the fox and squinted at him "Midnightmoon, quiet!" he hissed and bent his beck low to be face in face with the fox "leave, earthcrawler, this is bird land, we give no respect to the likes of you and" he jumped back and pointed a talon at the ferrets "your little twin friends who like makign fun of us, i give you warning, you are lucky, foxey" his deep blue eyes never elft the fox for he knew that foxes where cunning and good at tricking aniamls.

[Rocky]

'Not talk to earthcrawlers? I'm aghast!" Springheel said, with mock surprise. "Well, if I'm not mistaken, you're talking to us now, eh, mates?" He said to Dax and Omri. As the crow pointed ot the falcon, Springheel Laughed, "Please. I've eaten things scarier than that... Yummy birds. In fact, I ate a falcon." HE acted like he was thinking, but shrugged. "Attack if you want. When others see you, they'll know you tangled with me, bird." His voice was a dangerous tone... well... Actually it was a normal tone. Springheel liked to think it was a dangerous tone. Though, Springheel meant every word. Sure, the fox thought he could beat the bird in a fight for several reasons, but the falcon was a trained killer. Born and bred to fight. Or so Spring heard. "Look. If you beat me in a fight, you'll still be left with... Oh... probably a smashed beak, and a broken wing, but I ain't givin' you an invitation to attack, but... Go ahead. We'll see who wins."

[Shadess]

Shadowsleek the weaselthief was swishing her long curved sword at the thicket of the wood to clear a path, but that was when she heard cawing, talking and flapping of wings. She dashed to the scene only to find Midnightmoon, a falcon, a Kingfisher, two ferrets and a- fox?
Shadowsleek marched on the path, her brown eyes wide and her traveling cloak hanging to her, she didnt want to put her hood up, what point was that? She did show her black fur and nice white fluffy patch of fur on her chest thought, to prove her markings where different.
"whats going on?" she snarled through sharp white bared teeth, she held her sword at the ready.

[lorki]

Omri looked the fox over with a mix of horror and disgust on his face. So this is what the forest became without his mother killing all the annoying ones off. Full of rude birds and.... well purely crazy foxes. It was difficult for him to keep his composure as the fox shook his paw. He wanted to badly to just kill them all and continue with his nice walk, eat some stale food and find a place to sleep.

And now this fox wanted to be a mediator?! he couldn't believe it, was this the kind of luck he was suppose to have? The powers that be must have some sort of hate for him. He reached up and rubbed his temple with one paw "No, I can't say I've heard of you." Manners.. manners... manners. He reminded himself carefully. He was edging closer to the tipping point. "My name is Omri, but I'm really afraid we haven't got time to chat, we need to find a- Arrhg!"

He stumbled back as the falcon appeared in front of him. What was this suppose to be? As the bird lectured him he could hear his blood pounding in his ears. That was it. "I will personally pull everyone of your feathers out with my bare teeth if you don't get out of my way!" His fangs were bared, his ears pinned back, his tail swished dangerously from side to side- the picture perfect angry ferret. He had yet to unsheathe any of his weapons but it seemed like only a matter of time.

He glanced at Shadowsleek as she appeared. That was exactly what he needed. Three birds- one of which seemed ready to eat him, a crazy fox, and now this... a seemly quite vermin-like creature who was obnoxiously edgy, standing there with her sword drawn like she'd entered a war zone.