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

[cheeseerdoodle]

Anger dotted it way through to Airswipe, nobeast threatened him without dieing or suffering "you little earthcrawler!" he shrieked, eyes blazing, what nerve this ferret had, his father didnt rain him to kill for nothing "i can kill you with one peck at the neck! you hear me?! you wont even be able to touch ONE feather where im at!" He looked at Shadowsleek "you...Moon says your decant for an earth crawler" then his fury rose and he turned to the fox and the ferrets.

[Maxodis]

Admittedly, Dax was too stunned by the current events and the seemingly irrational speed at which they were occurring to take note of much that transpired. Were they not just walking away in relative quiet? When was it so easy for a collection of complete strangers such as this to converge on one spot?

All confusion and shock was erased at the threat to his brother's life. His hesitation was instantly vaporized, his cheery demeanor completely replaced by that of cold self-confidence, terrifying in it's lethal , single-minded determination. Had he been thinking, he would have realized that he suddenly found himself unable to feel emotions, as they were locked away in the back of his conscious.

He drew one of the multiple throwing knives that he had inherited from their mother, held it at the tip, felt the balance. It signified his own inner peace, his own unshaken determination to protect the only one in this life that he had. Dimly, he recalled from their lessons from their mother that she had advised to face an airborne opponent with ranged weaponry. Unless you had a polearm, those deadly talons would get to you first. He put a restraining paw against the chest of his raging brother and gently, but firmly, began to push him back. He pivoted on his heel, putting their backs to the forest, facing all that had assembled in the small clearing that by the second appeared to become more and more dangerous.

He spoke, almost in a whisper. His words were empty, detatched.

"Stay back."

[lorki]

Dax had signaled him clearly enough. If his brother had seen the time to fight- or at least to be prepared- Omri would trust him. The young ferret moved his paw quickly from the small knife it had been resting on to the larger bulky handle of the Kukri. He drew the weapon and held it evenly in front of him. He stood about a step behind his brother, the heavy blade positioned carefully so that his body was at near perfect balance and glared at the falcon before him.

He knew well that the falcons threat agaisnt him was what had triggered his brothers sudden aggressiveness, but Omri was open to any excuse at that point to brandish his own weapon. At that point his easygoingness had been heavily overshadowed by his foul mood and the rude behavior of those birds.

The fox he found himself not minding as much, he seemed even slightly entertaining-possibly enjoyable. The weasel that had entered the scene however... he didn't like the look of her and how the falcon addressed her as 'decent.' He imagined the definition of that particular word was very different to the bird then it was to him.

[Shadess]

Shadowsleek scratched behind her ear, and gave a soft glare to Midnightmoon, "decant' wasn't what she was going for. Then her quick mind saw the situation, snorting she sheathed her sword and stood in front of Airswipe and the two twin ferrets, "this is pure ridiculous! You two put away those weapons before Airswipe pecks your eyes out! now look, see, I for one understand this. These birds don't like how ya call them names, so they want to eat you, BUT if you keep your mouths shut and leave with a bow, theyll let cha go!" she sighed and shook her head, not a nice greeting these ferrets got, but it was what they deserved for messing with birds, of ciurse she did not see the whole scene. She personally thought this was all a joke, these two ferrets may be bluffing, may be not.

[cheeseerdoodle]

Airswipe said nothing, he was more of a fighter then a talker, he WOULD go after the ferrets dare they say another word against him. He clipped his beck and folded his wings, his blue eyes starred them down in a warning way.

[Maxodis]

Focused of mind and body, Dax was already in combat. The situation at hand seemed next to impossible to resolve, and was clearly degenerating into what could only be bloodshed. He had already mentally marked all the avians in the area as likely threats. Blood coursing rapidly thorough his veins, in a state of heightened awareness caused by the mad surge of adrenaline, Dax had already considered as many possibilities as he could come up with, assigning to each the tactical action he would make to keep his brother and himself alive. The situation was well under control. The only missing requirement for the implementation for his actions was the catalyst of sudden movement.

The catalyst did not arrive in an expected form. The sudden break of silence came from the cloaked weasel, who, unexpectedly, sheathed her sword and positioned herself in front of Dax, breaking his clear line-of-sight with the perched birds. It was almost as if she were trying to be....

A mediator?

Certainly an unexpected event, but it did not change much. There was no guarantee that the avians would become any less hostile due to her intervention. Past experiences had proved to Dax that those who spent so much of their time in the sky tended to be...instable. No self-appointed arbiter of a weasel would cause him to revert from his well-founded knowledge.

The threat still stood. The only thing that had changed was the fact that this high-minded weasel now stood the chance to find herself the unwilling recipient of the sharp end of a knife.

His blank eyes shifted to the weasel's. The emptiness of his stare mirrored that in his voice. Lacking any sort of natural tone, his question sounded like a statement.

"Who are you to interfere. Step aside, or you shall find misery."

His free paw, once poised to quickly seize another throwing knife from it's hidden sheath, now drifted down to the pommel of his shortsword, settling on it like dust on a battleground.

[lorki]

Omri bristled as he listened to the weasel. She was clearly a friend to the birds and and the fact that she was standing there and lecturing them enraged him further. He, unlike his brother, was clearly emotional over the situation. Clearly annoyed the ferret stepped forward, now standing beside his brother he moved his other paw away from his side and pointed at the weasel.

"Ridiculous? You think we need to bow and back off? Weasel, you ought to figure out who you can lecture and where you're place in an argument ought to be." he growled, staring her down- if a fight started he didn't think she would be their greatest concern. His voice still quite low and hostile he continued, "We don't need a mediator, we need a clear path. Your bird friends and you are blocking us, I think the best way to solve this problem, if you are so keen, is to move."

[zelfur]

Midnightmoon nearly lost it, they turned down a simple solution, just to leave? in his sinister mind, he thought they wanted a fight and where bloodthirsty. He clanked his beck and sqaucked "ferret scum! earth crawlers!" he chirped "me thinks they wanna fight!" he spread his wings wide, ready to take flight towards them with his silver beck.

[Shadess]

Shadowsleek held up a paw to Midnightmoon "no blood shall be spread here, my silver becked friend, not on such a silly thing as this" Shadowsleek nearly agreed with Midnightmoon, such stupid proud ferrets they where, daring enough to fight a falcon? and a mediator? now a line was drawn "look here ferrets, i have fought more, er smarter fights. The most misery you will get is a good missing eye, a broken tail and such. I am a peacemaker, and for stubborn folk like you, can you just LEAVE? this is bird terf! i see you go no direction in partiucler, being travelers. Why ths path? you will only find bird waste and angry becks. now i will not raise a sword, just die knowing your scum who fight those wishing peace." she stepped aside off there cold staring eyes, why on earth must vermin like creatures have no joy and bright eyes? why hers where nice round and brown, where no cold looks entered.

[lorki]

Omri actually laughed, quite loudly too, as if it had been building up and suddenly came out in a short burst of uncontrolled laughter. "So I suppose that means you are peaceful kind beast who wanders the forest making friends with everybody and preaching peace to happy little woodlanders... oh and you just happen to be acquaintances with crow who wants to take down Redwall and a short tempered falcon. Thats believable." He smirked, slightly less enraged and a bit more annoyed.

"In the end, weasel, the actions of your bird buddies started and are continuing this... altercation. Perhaps you are arguing the wrong 'stubborn folks', no?" He turned to his brother, he knew very well the other ferret was quite set in his ideas now, and Omri was a proud and pig headed creature. He gave to yield to the Weasel or the birds.

[Shadess]

Shadowsleek gritted her teeth in anger "and i suppose your a nasty little wanderer who goes to random places and go were ever he likes not even bothering to check up on its history and who rules what." she glared at the ferret and hissed between clenched teeth "look here, Midnightmoon dosen't want to rule Redwall, he just wanted you to try to take it and get your self killed, smart one. now are you going to sit here throwing more remarks at me or are you going to leave?" Shadowsleek took in a deep breath and looked at the sky in a lazy way

[Rocky]

Springheel slumped back behind the two ferrets as the confrontation furthered. He let out a slight chuckle at Omri's words; Sahdowsleek being a peacemaker. "Good one." He said, still laughing. Then, it was as if everything just occured. He was the only one without a weapon. HE sighed and brandished a wicked looking knife, around the size of a long dagger, and slightly curved, like a miniature scimatar. He poked the top of the blade, and cursed slightly as he was nicked. "That wasn't smart." He mumbled. At least the blade was still sharp.

"So. Shadowsleek is it. May I call you "The Peace-Maker"? Or perhaps "The Peace-Seeker?" He mused, adding emphasis to the word 'seeker'. The fox may be young (19), but he did know survival skills. He was going to follow his two steps:

Take in surroundings- There was a falcon ready to attack. A ticked off crow with a chip on his shoulder, a smaller bird whom he didn't know, and a weasel, supposedly a thief that was ready attack at a notice from either the falcon or crow. All against him. Then there were the siblings, Omri and Dax. He was quite comfortable to be on their side, for they both looked like seasoned warriors. Veterans of battle. He let a smile curl on his lips. He was liking the odds.

Pick your target- Well... He guessed that the brothers were going to take on the crow and the falcon, for they had threatened the brothers more than him, and if he just stood idly by, that would leave Shadowsleek open to flank them. He'd keep the thief distracted, should it actually come to battle. Though... The weasel had a sword, and he had a knife... Well... He was a master at hand to hand and could dodge well... Besides, when he was done with the thief, he could concentrate on helping the brothers.

The fox moved closer to Omri and Dax so he was stading behind them. "Should there be a fight, I'll keep the weasel busy." He muttered. While doing so, he looked down and shuffled his feet, so his foes, the birds and weasel, wouldn't know he was saying anything, and he said it so low, only the brothers could hear. "Ill flank her if you like." He muttered again, still shufflng his feet and looking down.

Then he looked up and cracked his neck. "So, yummy birdies. Which one o' you wants to be my dinner?"

[Shadess]

((im sorry, but i couldnt help but laugh at your two steps of survival, my evil history teacher had a whole lector on it in medieval times how that was a skilled plan they used, lol))

Shadowsleek actually smiled, she now had a little game. She grinned with her sharp white teeth. Taking out her curved sword, she twisted it in skilled circles in her hand "peace seeker, good one, fox clown. Am i a peace seeker? no, im a weasel thief, one who likes to protect her birds. So you like to fight when we can simply, walk away?" She winked to the three birds and behind her back with her other paw, pointed upwards at the sky with one claw. "Now so youll fight when all we want is you to go away and leave us alone? there is a word for that, its bloodthirsty " she continued to grin her simple grin and twist her curved blade in circles. For a thief, she wasn't a bad fighter, her parries where good and she liked to jump around to dodge. Yet Shadowsleek still had not intentions to fight.

[zelfur]

Midnightmoon knew her signal, he smiled and spread his wings wide. He did one jump and took flight high in the air, circling the scene below, he had to hold back all energy just not to go after the fox, but he knew that Airswipe would have more trouble then him. The crow eyed them form above, he was high enough to dodge any in coming weapons if they where thrown, but he didn't feel safe.

[Rocky]

"Fox Clown. Ha. Good one." He said with mock admiration. "You need better comebacks, mate." He winked.

So you like to fight when we can simply, walk away?

"Says the initiator." Springheel mumbled. "Look. I dont want to fight. You're... Falcon friend, and that annoying crow are the initiators in this confrontation, and you accuses us of wanting to fight? Ha!" He laughed loudly, probably annoying his foes. "Look. This isn't "bird territory". First of all, its not called that. Its called "Mossflower". M-O-S-S-F-L-O-W-E-R. Get your facts straight." HE said, loud enough for everyon there to hear. Then he looked at the ferrets and shrugged. Some beasts here may think he was cracking a joke, but he was completely serious.

The silver fox twirled his knife, as a familiar emotion flooded through him. Anger. Why were these birds and this weasel threatening them? The two brothers probably wanted to leave, and Springheel was just tryng to make friends! And these birds act like they own the land, practically issue a fight, and then this weasel wants peace? Right now, Springheel wasn't in the mood for peace, but he kept a straight face, and kept up his attitude he'd been keeping the whole time. Again, Springheel laughed. "Now. Answer me. Why do you accuse us of wanting to fight?"

[Shadess]

Shadowsleek put away her sword and slapper head "can i EVER get my point through, im telling you GO just go, is that word even going through your hallow skull? Were just sitting here, waiting for you to leave, but obviously you just want to sit around and make fun of us all day, a lovely game isnt it?" she snarled sarcastically "Now see here mas you see a crow, falcon and Kingfisher are all here, this small little area is where birds roam not all of mossflower you nit wit! no im going to say this one LAST time and i hope your ears catch it, GO!" she sighed and crossed her arms, tapping her foot impatiently. Annoyance was full to a burting point, but a fight wouldnt solve anything but cuts, kills and bruises in her potion, especially for such a small stupid thing as this.

[lorki]

As Omri listened to the fox continue the argument with the weasel his fist seemed to continue to clench ever tighter on the handle of the Kukri. His face contorted ever closer to a full on snarl and his body became increasingly more rigid. That weasel was his east favorite type of beast- the sort that had little logic or honor but liked to play noble. Obnoxious, loud... worse, friends with even more obnoxious and loud birds.

Quite suddenly an odd smile spread across Omri's face and he thrust his weapon back into it's sheath. "My ears did catch it. Peace then!" He shouted, raising up both him arm. He let one fall onto his brothers shoulder, patted him as if to say 'well done' and then let both fall to his sides again, carefully held beside his weapons still. "And what a wonderful thing it is, too! The weasel is right, we ought to just go, be on our way, get out of here. We will do just that."

He gave a slight tug on his brothers arm and stepped ahead of him, he passed by the fox and grinned at him, "care to join us, Springheel, that's it right?" Without waiting for an answer he approached the weasel and dramatically clapped her on her back. "You're such a noble beast, I must say, refusing to draw your weapon. Protector of the birds, oh such a title you must be so glad to hold! And of course I forgot that birds where restricted to one tiny patch and harassed any creatures walking through, silly me! I'll take your advice, and we are gladly on our way." He lifted his paw off her shoulder and quickly strolled quite casually in a large arc around the falcon to continue along his original path, flashing a fanged smile as he did. "You said go, weasel I'm gone."

[Maxodis]

(( Fair 'nuff. ))

The pat on his back brought Dax back to his senses. Briefly glancing at his brother in confusion, he quickly caught the idea and followed Omri's lead. Sheathing his throwing knife, though unsure of the wisdom in it, considering the now-circling crow above their heads, he shrugged his shoulders, both to express his confusion at the sudden change of heart in his brother and to alleviate the tension that had previously been so dominant within them. With a slight chuckle, Dax remembered that more often than not, it was he who convinced Omri that there were perhaps other solutions to predicaments that weren't fighting. Irony, it strikes when one least expects it.

Now fully back into his normal mentality, he recalled that they were in the company of strangers. Immediately, he found himself uncomfortable, unable to speak, tensed. A complete transformation indeed, He though bitterly, aggravated at his sudden shyness. He glanced momentarily at the fox who stood beside him before rearranging his satchel to a more comfortable position on his back and trotted after his brother.

Dax made a point of walking in a wider arc than his brother had around the weasel and the avians, though it was out of nervous agitation rather than spite. He shied away from the circling crow, despite his brother's confidence. There was still no guarantee that it would not attack them. Picking up his pace, Dax fell in stride behind his brother as they reached the edge of the clearing.

[lorki]

Without even glancing back the ferret continued at a quick pace, his ears were angled as far back as they could be- recognizing his brothers footfalls behind him, but more importantly trained on the weasel and the falcon to listen for any sudden or dangerous movement. He gave little mind to the crow circling above, both because he quietly hoped his brother could keep tabs on it and also it had seemed less aggravated by the rest, and been told not to attack by the weasel- whom it seemed to respect.

The pace had brought them out of the clearing full of odd beasts and into the light underbrush just beyond, once out of the clearing Omri slowed considerably- feeling a bit safer in a less open area although the birds,weasel and fox were still quite close. He smirked back at his brother, a silent joke about their luck.

[Rocky]

"care to join us, Springheel, that's it right?"

Springheel couldn't help but let a smile pass his lips. He was just invited to go back woth the ferrets. "I'm on a role." He muttered. He looked at Omri's retreating form, and Dax's, too, then at the weasel. "Yea. I'll meet up with you, if it doesn't bother you. I have some..." He turned to look at the weasel "un-finished.. bussiness, to attend to." He smirked like a baby who just got candy. "Now... tell me, weasel... If you care so much about this "bird country", why are you here? I mean... You're supposedly and "ally" of them, but you're making a big deal out of us being in BIRD-Country, yet you're still here. A weasel in bird country." He shrugged idly and turned at the ferrets, "Funny, eh?"

He winked at the weasel, walked over and patted her on the back, then moved close to her ear and whispered, "If you ever come across me in the woods again with your attitude, you won't have a tongue to verbally express your emotions." He backed away, smiled at her, then jogged over to the two ferret brothers.

"Um... Omri, is it? You sure you don't mind me joining you two? I don't want to intrude on anything... I mean... If you don't want me hear, I can leave... I mean... I'm not afraid of those birds... I have several allies... Including the Skipper of Otters... An archer fox.... Um... And I was an ally of an albino badger, but I think he left these parts... But... are you sure Im not intruding?..."