A Rare Afternoon (OPEN)

[Eckolet]

Crissy of course did not take a straight line towards the glint. She went off in a tangent, coming around. Her eyes spotted another hare, and possibly a third creature, though at this distance, she couldn't be sure. Sand flying behind her, Crissy's paw strayed to her saber, this time grasping it firmly. She would see what sort of creature this was.

Part of her hoped that Verdy followed. Maybe she would share in glorious battle with the elder hare. But maybe Verdy would walk Jamie inside. That would be okay too. She knew that she should have obeyed the request of the other hare, but she would not be reprimanded in this unless she got injured. Or at least she shouldn't be. It wasn't as if she had directly violated an order from a superior officer, after all.

So, when Crissy met up with Eastpaw, she was close enough to the creature to see it was indeed a ferret. And to see that her suspicions of a third beast were correct.

- - - -

Sin eyed the hares with a battle light in her eyes. This would be tough. Though their eyes were turned to the ferret below her, she knew that at least the male sensed her. The little female running up didn't even turn an eye in her direction.

Instead of attacking, she would wait here, let them find her. Maybe they would take her to their mountain. She would act nice, she knew how to do that much. Talk smoothly to them. It would be easy.

So long as she didn't attack them, it should be fine.

[mirima]

"It's quite all right lieutenant, mayhap it's better if'n you DO follow after Crissy. There might be-"

Verdy grinned, a little sheepishly, and tried to interrupt him before his sentence was done with her own assurance that she would not follow Crissy -- no, in fact, that she would do nothing of the kind and that there was no way she was leaving an injured hare alone outside the mountain when there were vermin around no matter how much she wanted to go and chase said vermin away. That was, at least, her plan. However, both lieutenants were interrupted by a stern voice that Verdy personally hoped would never address her.

"JAMESON SERSEA." ... She reached the pair, giving Lieutenant Verdy a ‘Thank you very much I’ll take it from here’ look.

It took a lot of will not to run away right then and there. The only thing that kept Verdy from turning and dashing off to join Crissy was the thought that Roseleaf would probably use this instance against her if she was ever stuck in the infirmary. As it was, she took a few slow steps away from the pair. An angry -- angry and armed -- healer was not something she planned to deal with, not ever.

"I suppose you thought this was a good idea?"

Despite her misgivings, though, it was her duty to stay. Verdy winced slightly and turned back around again in the hopes of putting in a good word for the other lieutenant. After all, it was her conversation that had kept him out here in the first place and her lie that had kept him out even when he wanted to go inside. "Look here, m'gel," she said tentatively, attempting not to offend the haremaid too much. "It was a bloomin' terrible idea, but f'give and f'get, y'know? I imagine he'll pay for it so there should be no trouble. B'sides, it's a bloody beautiful day, wot wot!" She smiled slightly, acutely aware of the odd look she acquired whenever she wasn't wholly happy with something.

"Was jus' headed in for a bite t'eat though, so no need to go draggin' me in."

"Honestly, 'e was," she said, slightly softer. "'Tis my fault that he's still out here, marm."

The prospect of running off was getting more attractive by the second.

[Tulian Solum]

After waiting for a few seconds and seeing that this beasts paw did not move at all Seig thought that he should make a move, but then he heard the shuffling of another pair of paws on the dunes heading toward them, so he went back to staying still.

Once the other creature had arrived Seig noticed that both their paws were the same, so at least they were the same type of creature. But again, just like the first they said nothing. Rolling his eyes under his helmet he slowly stood up, not making any sudden moves as he did so.

Finally standing he reached up and tilted his backwards helm up enough to see who his guests were, and breathed a sigh of relief that it was hares. Which may have seemed off for a 'vermin' to make in the presence of creatures such as they. But at least it wasn't those merciless sea coast otters he had heard stories about as he headed toward Mossflower. At least the hares should give him a chance to speak before they slew him...blinking he tried to get that thought out of his mind. Everything was going to be fine, no-one was going to kill anyone.

Smiling a little he pushed his helm off his head so it was resting against his back he reached over to pick up his halberd. Standing to attention once he grabbed it in front of the hares he gave them a sharp salute. Although he had to lean back and fourth slowly to keep standing up straight with footpaws together on the shifty sands.

"Seig Averi, infantryman of Fortress Taruil, pleasure to meet you both Sir and Mam."

He may have looked a little silly standing there with no boots and a backwards helm over his back but he was going to make sure they knew he was disciplined and respectful...

(Hope it's decent, not feeling that great today )

[Eckolet]

"I am not a ma'am," Crissy said with a nod. She looked this creature over with a frown. "You are dangerously close to peril, did you know? Mayhap a sort of smallish confusion on your part." She gave the vermin winning smile suddenly, brightening up. "Unless you were preparing to surrender, wot wot!"

Ever the hopeful one, and the romantic, the notion struck Crissy suddenly and she ran with it. Even if it wasn't true, it would make the day more interesting. This was just the thing she needed after escaping the fortress. A run in with a vermin. Maybe he would be peaceable like.

- - - -

Standing fully, Sin looked over the group with a careful eye. They would approach her next if she was lucky. Of course, luck hadn't exactly been with her of late or she wouldn't be wandering over these accursed sand dunes like some sort of vagrant. She slid down to the bottom of the sand dune, catching a footpaw at the bottom and stopping quickly. It wouldn't do any good to get too close. Let them come to her.

[Tulian Solum]

His smile slowing falling away as the hare spoke Sieg just made a small; 'ah' sound after she had finished talking. This certainly wasn't what he had been expecting when he walked toward the fabled mountain. But, he began to remember as he nodded to the hares and slowly put his halberd down on the sand, he was a ferret. And from what he heard his kind didn't have the best reputation here.

Taking his helm off his back he slowly set it beside his halberd. Taking a step back he turned around and sank to his knees while holding his paws behind his back to hopefully show that he meant no harm and would comply. As he had noticed that both hares were armed and this could very easily turn violent. So he wanted to do what he could to keep it from drawing to that conclusion.

This way he could also hopefully make a good reputation with them before they immediately put him with the robbers and killers that seemed to be all over. But as he knelt looking away from the hares he noticed something at the bottom of a dune near him. But then he went quickly back to looking straight ahead, the hares were his concern now and hopefully whatever was down there would be courteous enough to let this go off without to much trouble.

It may have seemed off for him to kneel there in silence but in his mind he was now a prisoner. And his captors would say if they wanted him to do anything. He could just hope that the hares didn't think he was good saber testing material. But the stories he heard of them had painted them as honorable creatures and they wouldn't kill a beast that willingly surrendered.


(If someone wants to post before me I'll delete or edit this.)

[Eastpaw]

"I am not a ma'am," Crissy said with a nod. She looked this creature over with a frown. "You are dangerously close to peril, did you know? Mayhap a sort of smallish confusion on your part." She gave the vermin winning smile suddenly, brightening up. "Unless you were preparing to surrender, wot wot!"

“Now, steady on, lass.” Eastpaw lifted a paw to check the other hare before she was completely lost in her romantic notions of perilous vermin and surrender. His keen eyes returned to the ferret, who was laying down his halberd. What was the creature doing? As Sieg knelt, facing away from them, it became clear. He was surrendering.

Sometimes Eastpaw wished his life weren’t so complicated. He hoped his younger companion would follow his lead, despite her outranking him. He knew little of the female hare, she was excitable, and-- well, he didn’t know much else about her. They had rarely interacted, and he was new to his rank. In his previous years in the patrol, he had been deemed too reckless to hold rank, and he had liked it that way. He wanted nothing more than to find his sister.

But nearly a year ago, the family had been reunited. Now he applied his full attention to the requirements the Long Patrol placed on him, and he had recently risen to corporal.

“And you-- ” He indicated the ermine with a paw, “Stay back please, miss.” It wouldn’t do to jump to conclusions about her intentions, if he didn’t intend on also jumping to conclusions about the ferret in front of him. His attention was on the ferret, though he could still see the ermine out of the corner of his eye.

“We’re not officers. Stand up, and tell us, why are you here?”

[Eckolet]

With a quick smile, Crissy watched the ferret surrender. Oh, this was her lucky day. "He's surrendering, wot! Are we going to do the interrogation right here?" she asked Eastpaw. She didn't much like the questioning part, but it had to be done. Leave it to the upper ranks. Speaking of upper ranks, where were those officers at? Glancing towards the mountain, she noted that no one else was headed their way.

Crissy looked back to the ferret and nodded as Eastpaw told him to stand and explain. She would leave the questioning to the other hare, not really wanting to focus too much on the ferret. Mainly because there was that other creature out in the dunes, seemingly waiting. But someone needed to deal with the ermine. "Would you like to take a gander at that there other vermin or question this one?" she asked the hare, nodding her head at the ermine.

- - - - -

Sin stood there, watching as the ferret actually surrendered. The idiot. Deciding that sitting might be a wiser course, she sat in the cool sands of the dune, lounging in the shaded spot. This would be a good place to meet with whoever was going to speak with her. Maybe they would take her to their leader. But Sin did not let an ounce of emotion show on her face, feigning boredom and fanning herself with her hand.

[Tulian Solum]

Continuing to look straight ahead as the hares talked back and fourth Seig raised a eyebrow. The hares couldn't seem to agree on the best way of dealing with him, this certainly hadn't been what he expected from hearing tales of the legendary hares. But, he reasoned as he nodded and slowly stood up, they were just creatures like him, and they weren't officers, so they could be forgiven for there indecision.

He was a little apprehensive to turn away from this mystery creature but his captors had given him a order so he had to follow lest he ruin his chances. Turning to face the hares he kept his expression neutral and he held his paws out a little so they wouldn't think he was trying anything. Spreading his feet a shoulder length apart he kept looking at the hares, making no move to grab his halberd or approach them.

His expression faltered a little when the female hair so casually called him a vermin. Frowning at her he wrinkled his nose a little before returning to his neutral expression. It wasn't his place to try and judge or correct her. And this was also they're home so they could call him what they wished as long as it didn't go any further then that. The raiders back home had called him far worse.

Clearing his throat a little he tried to give a little smile before replying, hoping to appear sincere. "Truthfully sir, and ma'am, I had heard tales of the legendary mountain and its hare defenders. I just wanted to see if such a fortress existed here and how it compares to my home." He cringed a little at the word, memories of what he left flooding back into his mind. He recovered as best he could back to a friendly look but it may have seemed like he didn't mean what he said.

[Tulian Solum]

(Are we going to continue without Miri or end this thread early?)