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Post by spender on Feb 7, 2011 1:44:21 GMT -5
Botheration.
Spender dove behind a tree, sucking in his (still somewhat ample) gut to avoid detection. Ocean surely had him pinned down. The stoat's first few volleys had more or less hit square on--Spender was, once again, lightly dusted, like a sugar cake. Except not sweet at all.
He'd lost Caden's hat, but he didn't notice it.
To his side, Elliot had been hit as well, though not from the same direction as Ocean was. Spender risked a peek around the tree. Ahhh... Carrow.
Bother!
If there was one creature out of the lot of them he didn't want to hit, it was the mouse. Not after that visit in the sick berth. Before then, Spender might have purposefully singled him out, aiming solely for him, but now... The ferret just didn't have the heart to even engage him in combat. Carrow was Delicate. It had taken his entire life, but Spender had finally realised how not to treat beasts of that nature. He could no more throw a snowball at Carrow than he could chuck fish paste at his twin sister.
And he couldn't attack his own teammates... so early in the fight.
That left Ocean and Selvis. Which left Selvis; Spender wanted nothing more to do with the ermine who had humiliated him earlier. Avoidance was the best solution to the problem. If he gave Ocean no reason to trounce him again, then, eventually, Ocean would leave him alone. There was a line between playing rough and ruthless retribution, and the ermine had no idea where it was (not that Spender was one to talk...)
Ocean was no bully, as such. Spender knew firstpaw how avoidance worked for bullies. The target dodged, the bully chased, ran down, captured. The harder the target, the more fun it was. But Ocean's strategy was to fight fire with more fire--the same strategy Spender had used to climb the ladder of fear and prestige in the schoolyard. Don't run. Fight back. Fight back until there's nothing left to fight, and then you own the rest of the chumps. Fight until you could never be considered a target.
Ocean was no longer such a target for Spender's pranks and antics, and so the ferret moved on...
Quite literally, as it turned out.
There was one use for Caden's jacket. He shrugged it off and planted it on a tree branch. In the darkness of the woods, Spender's browns and blacks blended well. It was the blue jacket that stood out. And now it hung, catching the eye, as he wriggled behind a snowdrift to the next tree over, sneaking in Carrow's direction.
There was no time to see if his plan was working. He left the woods, dashing diagonally across the path behind Ocean's position, and dove into the snow on the other side, putting him behind Selvis.
Spender stood and whirled behind another tree, breathing heavily. Wooo, such a rush! His head pulsed with the war fever. He wanted to dook and leap! But he had to stay silent.
Caden was distracting the longtail. Spender cradled his last snowball, the only one he'd been able to save from his ordeals. It weighed heavy in his paw. He grinned, aiming... He didn't pause to wonder what the strange lump on Selvis's back was as he let fly.
The snowball went wide--Spender's aim was off. He wondered why. It was as if the snowball itself was off-balance. It cracked against a tree very near to Caden with a hollow thock. The ferret's ears twitched. That wasn't the right sound for a ... oh, no...
He tensed, hissing through his teeth. It was a good thing he'd missed. He hadn't meant to use those ones... Hopefully nobeast would notice.
Gathering up another pawful, he began to pack it in and hurl another one when something large, white, and very, very round exploded in his face, knocking him backwards with such force that his hind legs and tail rose in the air for a second or two before falling back down.
Zheep raised his tiny fists (one making an audible 'pop' as it exited his mouth) and crowed his victory.
"Got 'im! I get a million points! I win!"
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Post by Ladorak on Feb 7, 2011 14:31:28 GMT -5
Caden heard the impact of the rock striking the trunk of the tree next to him. At first he was just going to yell at Spender to check his fire. Blasted idiot. That ferret was probably just throwing snowballs at everyone and everything. He gritted his teeth and prepared to stand up to confront the ferret...
But then he saw the rock lying in the snow next to the tree. A piece of black coal in the midst of the white expanse. It wasn't coal though. The albino turned his head to look for Selvis...and saw the weasel standing ahead of Spender. Spender was beaned right in the snout, and he toppled unceremoniously backwards into the snow, courtesy of Zheep.
Caden wasn't sure if Spender had been aiming for Selvis and was a terrible shot, or if he had been aiming deliberately at his albino teammate. Either way, Caden suspected it was the latter, and he was being singled out again on purpose. If that were the case, he would make Spender pay for this...and for breaking his arm several months ago.
Pink eyes blazing, the marten stood up and called out to Selvis. "Hold on a minute Selvis!" the albino picked up the rock that Spender had thrown, hefting it in his paw. "Spender!" he called out to the floored ferret. "You mind explaining this?" he demanded, drawing Ocean's attention as well. The marten tossed the rock up in the air and caught it a few times, to demonstrate to Spender what he was talking about.
Ocean had been trying to track Spender's movement, and had ended up knocking Caden's jacket off the branch before he realized it had no occupant. He turned now to look at the marten and ferret, with Selvis caught in between.
"You nearly clocked me with it! What's the big idea?" Caden summoned the ferret to respond, his brows knit in a look of distrust laced with subtle tones of wrath. "Rocks aren't allowed! We aren't trying to hurt each other after all!" he nearly shouted, but kept his voice just a few levels below that, so that it came out more as a belting challenge than a yell.
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Post by spender on Feb 7, 2011 15:07:53 GMT -5
Spender sat up, brushing snow off his head with one paw. His nose was full of the stuff. Goodness, but that little weasel had a good arm...
Oh... no...
"That wosn't me!" he shouted back. "I threw a snowball, not a rock! I missed 'cos Selvis is cheatin' an' I got smacked when I threw it. He's got 'is back covered, that's no fair. Anyway, I never threw that rock! Yer off yer 'ead! Makin' it up just t'kick me out of th'game! It wos prob'ly Selvis threw it!"
The ferret had his arms folded. His voice was rising in pitch, cracking a bit back to his pre-stripling days. He really, really did not want to get in trouble for something he'd never meant to do, but if he explained the rock... if he told them what he had been throwing those for... That wouldn't go well, either.
He was stuck, as it were, between a rock and a hard place.
He turned his head at movement in the main path. His white face-fur all of a sudden got a bit whiter than usual. Ocean was heading towards him.
Spender took a few steps backwards.
"I mean... I didn't know it wos there... I didn' mean t'throw it... I'm tryin' t'follow th'rules, honest! I jus' want t'play with you all, really, it wos an accident... Someone must've put it in my snowball... Elliot made it, not me!"
Ocean was getting closer. Selvis and Caden seemed to be looming larger than before, as well. Or was everything just feeling bigger the more he felt trapped? The trees were pressing in...
"Hah... aha, haha... it wosn't me! Everyone is imaginin' it! There's no rock... I wos aimin' at Selvis... but not with a sparrow! I mean rock! I mean a snowball in a rock... in a snowball... I gotta pee!"
With that, the ferret turned and fled back towards the palace.
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Post by Carrow on Feb 7, 2011 18:43:04 GMT -5
The first thing Carrow knew about Elliot's response was when he heard the beech marten's high-pitched voice calling to him over the snow. The rodent might have been able to move, but unfortunately for him he had become quite involved in his task. There was one good thing to come out of Elliot's response: even though the mouse was hit squarely on the forehead (something that knocked him down again, though luckily he didn't land with anywhere near as much force as he had a moment earlier when his paws had let him down) he fell away from, and not towards, his snowball pile. As a result, his stock, which had been rather painstakingly crafted under the circumstances, was unharmed. He had a half-dozen snowballs in front of him now, but he was quickly realising that a change of tactics was going to be needed if he wasn't going to stumble every single time he launched one at somebeast. Landing in the manner that he did would no doubt quickly become irritating, and it would be through his own fault that the rodent ended up quite a great deal more injured than he had thought would happen. Even as he was, Elliot's throw - and more specifically the way it connected - left the mouse dazed for a moment.
The snow that hadn't been involved in a direct hit had trickled down the field mouse's shirt, and it was rather agonisingly cold to him; the kind of cold that made him arch his back from shock... and resulted in a familiar pricking sensation in the lower part. He swore. The one night he had been banking on something like this not to happen...! He decided to throw caution to the winds then as he stood up and removed his white shirt. He knew this would make him more of a target (as his brown fur made him stand out more than most) but he was past caring at this stage. All he wanted now was to enjoy himself... and hopefully make it through unscathed. He tied his shirt around his waist before crouching and taking two snowballs in paw. Carrow was looking quite unsure of himself at this stage. He knew there'd be time to rest and unwind later, but now was one of those times where the stripling couldn't help but worry about his condition. He cursed his luck and the events that had made him as weak and helpless as a newborn kit. Oh well... if he was going to get hurt tonight, he preferred that it happened to him while he was enjoying himself. His whiskers bristled and he kicked up some snow, sighing once again before starting off in search of a potential target. Now... where had Caden got to?
The rodent desperately needed to regain his bearings, so he headed off in Selvis's general direction, knowing that his long-tailed companion would be much easier to keep track of than Ocean, who, due to his white fur, was virtually indetectable to team-mate and opponent alike. He felt entirely discombobulated after going to ground twice in as many minutes, so now it was required that he take stock of his surroundings... once his head had stopped spinning, that is. He wasn't used to this kind of carry-on at all, and while he was greatly enjoying the thrill coursing through his system (it was approaching a quarter to midnight now and he felt wide awake, though for once he didn't mind this at all) he was certain he'd need to adjust, and soon at that.
Selvis was far too absorbed in his own search for Caden to know that he was being tailed by Spender. He was looking for the pine marten but getting no results. The area was generally Cadenless. He was wondering about the whereabouts of the albino mustelid as well, and so made a decision to change tack. He knew that it was better for him to cover all bases, however, and took another look before abandoning the search. Caden's camouflage had him stumped, though, much as he was loath to admit it, and so he left the marten alone. He wasn't too fussed about engaging him anyway - the albino wasn't an easy target by any stretch of the imagination and he wanted quarry that fit that description for the moment... even if he had presented himself as the very thing he was after. The longtail, perceptive though he was, only became aware that somebeast was on his trail when he heard a soft, hollow sort of noise quite near to him. He wondered what sort of snowball could produce that kind of sound, even though there was a sneaking suspicion in the back of his mind that a certain ferret had been more, well, 'inventive' in his how he comprised his snowballs than most. He was blissfully unaware that Caden was only a few yards away from him, and even the fact he had been made a target by Spender escaped him until the last moment. He would have been completely poleaxed by Spender's throw if it hadn't been for Zheep on his back.
As it was, though, the exact same fate befell the ferret, who was left almost completely stunned by the force of the blow with which the Dibbun least weasel's throw struck him. The mustelid made no sound, evidently too shocked by the impact to even think of doing such a thing, so the first Selvis knew of it was when his fellow weasel piped up in rather celebratory fashion. Even though things were coming together for him at a rate of knots - snowballing, as it were - Selvis needed his suspicions comfirmed. It was because of this that he responded to Zheep's comment with a query. " 'Got him'? Got who?" Then he turned, and smiled a little at meeting the prone form of Spender. He was completely out of it. Selvis didn't say or do anything else - he still had his mind on the mysterious noise that had been made by that snowball (which seemed to be quite a lot more than it seemed) earlier, so he padded over to where he had noticed it make contact with the tree, stooped... and gnashed his teeth in frustration as he saw a random rock lying against the tree. It couldn't have gotten there any other way than somebeast carrying it with them - and there was no better way to do so in this weather than to disguise it in a snowball. He left it where it was, padding off in search of Elle, knowing full well he could use this against Spender if things got out of paw later, as it really couldn't have been any other creature who had sunk that low.
As it was, he wasn't the one who needed to do such a thing. Caden came out of hiding quite soon after the weasel had padded away, and luckily he hadn't gotten far before he heard his friend call his name. Instantly the longtail stopped in his tracks and turned, jogging back to his pine marten companion, grim satisfaction shining quite clearly in his eyes. "You're absolutely sure you weren't *trying* to hit anybeast specifically with that rock? If you were, I'd say you missed... by a stone's throw," he added, unable to resist a pun but well aware of the gravity of the situation. Whether or not it had been intentional he knew there would need to be some form of retribution for it.
"If you're going to leave now, do us all a favour and please do this, because I'll be honest and admit you've let all of us down. So much for a bit of harmless fun, eh?! What, you can't even manage that properly. Actually, go on. Go and remove yourself from my sight, Spender Cielciosk. You don't deserve to be here a moment longer, not after what you've just done." Here his voice rose. Caden hadn't bothered to shout but the events of the night were clearly starting to take their toll on the distressed long-tailed weasel. "You tried to hurt a very good friend of mine back in August, and you may or may not have been planning to do so tonight. The fact that you even tried a second time shows just how contemptible you are... but then it goes further than that I'm sure! How many of those did you have?! Did you even care who you hurt, accidentally or otherwise, or WERE WE ALL FAIR GAME?!?!?!," he suddenly exploded, breathing like a bellows.
Spender didn't bother responding directly. Selvis scoffed as the ferret made a lame excuse and departed. "That's it. Leave, and don't stop walking until you're well away from here, because I am THIS CLOSE to giving you a taste of your own medicine." He emphasised the point by making two of his claws come perilously close to touching. As Spender left, Carrow, who had been on his way to Selvis anyway but had been alerted by the shouting, came up and looked around at the group, frowning, yet there was also a quizzical look on his face that showed the mouse was completely nonplussed. Selvis looked at him, his voice low and heavy with anger, his long tail scuffing the snow. He held up a paw just as Carrow looked like he was going to speak. "No need to say anything, Carrow. I'll just tell you: Spender has shown his true colours and proved himself completely incapable of playing fair. He threw a rock disguised as a snowball at either Caden or myself just there. Thank the fates neither of us got hit, because that could have done some serious damage.
"That ferret has crossed the line once agan and somebeast is going to have to make him pay for what he tried to do, whether he meant it or not. I can't believe any creature would stoop so low as that - and in a game too! This was only meant to be for fun and sport, but Spender typically couldn't grasp such a concept. I'm frustrated now. Frustrated and disappointed... he may or may not have spoiled this whole set-up."
He pounded a fist into his open palm, sighing heavily and shaking his head in sheer disbelief."Oh well. What's to be done now, mates?," he asked, looking around at his friends and gasping as something that the ferret had said struck him. Wait, what was that he'd said about... a sparrow? What had he done now?! "Shall we continue? I'd quite like to, for one, now that we have six creatures who are willing to play fair and only play fair on these teams... but I'd like to see what the rest of you think first." He waited for one of his companions to speak up. Carrow was silent, taking it all in. Bloody hell, he thought, Spender, you're turning into a bit of an expert at burning bridges. He sighed audibly, disappointed yet not all that surprised that he should try something like that. He looked around him, scooting a little closer to Caden, suddenly feeling quite protective as he realised that the marten had narrowly avoided his second injury in four months. He transferred his gaze to the marten, wondering how things would go in the game from here. He was oblivious to Spender's slip, but unfortunately for the ferret, the other three had caught it, clear as day.
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Post by bookity101 on Feb 7, 2011 21:32:24 GMT -5
Elle's ears pricked when she heard the rock hit the tree then Caden's response to it. She cringed though when she heard Selvis. He must have finally met his limit with the ferret.
'This is not going to be good...' She broke cover and ran for the others, arriving just after Spender made his run to the palace.
"Selvis!" She rounded on the older beast a little. "That one was an accident Selvis! There were a bunch of rocks and stuff back where we made that snowball... we're lucky that I didn't throw one with a rock in it." She shook her head a little before settling back away from the older beast, crossing her upperlimbs over her chest.
"I know that that ferret is amazing at hurting beasts he shouldn't and making enemies out of friends, but it doesn't help at all if we jump to conclusions about him all the time." Her lips quirked a little. "Caden pawdled this better than you did, and he's the one who got his arm broken." She tipped her head slightly to the side, one side of her mouth quirking up higher than the other. She held her eyes to the taller beasts, letting him know that she really wasn't mad at him, a slight bit disappointed that her level headed friend had lost it, but understanding as to why. Suddenly she brought her paws together with a loud clap in the quiet night.
"How about we split the teams up a little differently, I don't think Spender's gonna be back anytime soon." She tipped a smile up at the older weasel. "how about in twos, that way its even more fun and there's more targets." Her grin stretched a little farther, this time to encompass the other boy's standing around her.
"Maybe, Well we can't put Caden and Ocean on the same team," She crinkled her nose at the idea. "talk about unfair to the rest of us... Maybe, well Selvis and Zheep on a team, they already work well together. Ocean and Carrow and Caden an' me together." She looked around for approval from the others.
"What do you guy's think?"
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Post by Carrow on Feb 8, 2011 6:29:13 GMT -5
Selvis sighed again when he heard Elle speak, quite surprised that she was sticking up for him. Then again, he supposed that she hadn't really been affected by all the abuse, physical and verbal, that the ferret had inflicted on her companions. Selvis had been, on the other paw, and though he didn't know what the female beech marten was thinking, she was in fact right in her assumption. The long-tailed weasel had been on a steady course to losing his head ever since the combination of her revelation to Caden and his realisation that his family would probably be lost to him sooner rather than later, had shaken him to his core, and as far as he was concerned, this was the final straw. To say the absolute least of it he was glad to have the ferret out of the picture.
"Oh, accident or not I'm pretty sure he didn't care. That damned ferret doesn't care a whit about any other creature save himself, from what I've seen of him, and I have had just about as much as I can tolerate of him and his ways. I'm sure you all realise he would have sabotaged this night, indirectly or otherwise, and then felt absolutely no regrets about it whatsoever. That's the kind of creature he's made himself out to be. I'm genuinely sorry I'm jumping to conclusions about another creature, because I rarely ever do that, but there is absolutely nothing I can say in Spender's defence. To change the subject for a moment, however... did you two hear what he said there before he left? Mentioned something about a sparrow? What could he possibly mean by that, I wonder?," he pondered, looking from Ocean to Caden and back again. Carrow's ears twitched. A sparrow? he thought, his face paling as a horrible thought flashed across his mind. He'd been using rocks after all... had he made that comment because he'd been...? I hope not. Surely conduct of that sort is beneath even Spender?
"What's that he said, Selvis? Hadn't one of us better, well, go and see what he was talking about? From what you've just told me in the last while, I've reached a rather unhappy conclusion about what he meant by that. I'm not at all sure if it's true, but if it is then I feel genuinely ashamed to even be associated with him," he said gently, deciding it was better to be honest and not keep his feelings hidden - because that kind of approach had obviously not worked out at all well for him in the past. The longtail caught Elle's look, and knew she was a little disappointed in how he had responded. He had to admit that he hadn't been expecting to lose the rag with the ferret in such a manner, but his anxiety and frustration had been building for most of the night and had been spurred along by his disgust at what Spender had done. He had no regrets, though: as far as he was concerned it had been quite a while in coming.
The beech marten's remark that Caden had pawdled the incident better rang hollow in his ears, however. He knew that Caden still resented the ferret. He was finally beginning to understand why creatures like Spender were hated, and as a result could remain ambivalent towards him no longer. It was well within Caden's rights to take his revenge for this, and they both knew it. He had to address the sparrow issue first, however, and responded to Carrow with a small smile, hoping to comfort him in some way. "What we'll do is investigate it after we have the game wrapped up - or at least, that's what I feel like doing. We should put the matter to bed before we turn in for the night, that's my view anyway. Don't worry about it, Carrow, OK?"
The mouse nodded in response, evidently content with his longtail companion's answer. Just so long as he knew that it could be resolved soon, he was fine with it, and so left it at that. He listened to Elliot's proposal, smiling as the beech marten outlined 'his' suggestion for how the teams should break down now that Spender had taken his leave in rather ignominious fashion. He couldn't help but feel the ferret's actions had put a serious dampener on the night. He looked at Selvis while Elliot spoke, noting that his friend seemed visibly tense and nervous about what seemed to be a number of things. His friend had never looked so fraught, and Carrow (not that he was one to talk) was quite worried, even though he was trying his best not to show it.
"I'm fine with any arrangement, really, but what you've suggested sounds good to me. I can't really see it working any other way actually, now that we've been playing for a bit: Caden and Ocean on the one team would be just a tad unfair -" the field mouse winked at his albino marten friend - "and from what I've seen of our weasel partnership here, it's working out pretty well by most creatures' standards. So I'm perfectly alright with what you suggested, Elliot. Anybeast want to say something about his proposal?," the rodent asked now, looking around him, blissfully unaware of the irony of his words. Everybeast around him knew, after all, that the mouse would be the last one to know about Elle. It was for this reason that Selvis had to keep himself from flinching slightly when Carrow said that. He had almost forgotten about having to the tell the mouse, but it was with a painful realisation that he admitted he needed to skip the charades and just tell him. He knew also that he couldn't do that to Carrow too soon. Certainly not tonight... not after all this.
"I really don't mind how the teams are sorted out now that Spender's gone," the mustelid said softly. "Like Carrow, I'm OK with just about any setup we can think of. Elliot's one seems quite fair, I agree with the mousey on that one as well." He smiled at the rodent, who he knew would greatly appreciate the use of the affectionate term. "I'm open to other suggestions, though. I'm also looking forward to a little bit of good, clean fun, because now we're absolutely certain nobeast here is out to get any of the others." What a relief to have Spender resolve the problem for us, he thought. I had been thinking of his track record with us and hoping he wouldn't mess things up again, but well, lo and behold. Now we can just enjoy ourselves - even if what he's done has made things worse for himself. As usual, though, it's his fault, so I'm not going to worry.
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Post by Ladorak on Feb 8, 2011 11:55:08 GMT -5
"That's fine." Caden responded to Elle's suggestions. At least nobody had run off after Spender. Good riddance...the little twerp. He still had a festering resentment for the ferret, but as it turned out, it had been Selvis that had exploded. Caden doubted if they would be playing chess now after this, but he didn't care. As much as he tried to place himself on even terms with Spender, the ferret's inner nature was simply too hard to combat it seemed.
He would try to hurt them, blame them, and generally not get along with them as long as he lived, or so it appeared. Caden didn't feel like chasing off after Spender to go and beat him up. It wasn't worth it. He still had a present to look forward to from Ladorak tonight after all. "We could continue the fight, or just run off into the gardens, slide down snow covered stairs, and throw snowballs from time to time. I'm all up for just running around and having fun out here, regardless of what we do. I want to enjoy this time on land and these memories we'll be crafting. Who knows when we might be caught up in a battle again after all. Why not just have fun tonight? It's almost Christmas after all."
And sure enough, the clock began to strike midnight far above them, it's resonant and throaty gongs echoing out over the snowy fields and forests of the garden. "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" Caden shouted, throwing his paws up full of snow to come cascading down around him as he did so. And so it was.
He went over to Elle's side, repeating the phrase in a lower tone of voice, but speaking so she could easily hear him. "Merry Christmas to you." he said, smiling at her in a reserved manner. Tomorrow, he'd take her into town...as a jill. Secretly of course, but he wanted to take her around all the same. He wanted her to be herself, if even just for a day of exploring.
Ocean gave the group a small smile of his own, folding his arms. Caden didn't seem the least bit embarrassed that he was naked and covered in snow. That was a good thing. "Well fight or running around, it doesn't matter to me. Carrow can be on my team, that's fine. Depends on what the rest of you want to do. I'm good with anything. So come on, what's everyone say? Romp around or continue the fight?"
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Post by spender on Feb 8, 2011 17:15:48 GMT -5
Zheep was yawning, despite the ruckus. He didn't know what the big deal was. He'd beaned the ferret good. He was out of the game now. Simple as that. He hadn't thrown any rocks or sparrows or anything of the sort.
He didn't get the big announcement about Christmas, either. Hadn't it already been Christmas for a while now? They'd just been opening presents a few hours ago! Silly mustelids (and mouse).
"Romp around or continue the fight?"
"Both?" Zheep grinned, popping his head up. All traces of sleepiness had faded from him--they'd settled deeper, lurking until another lull occurred.
"I wanna make a snow weasel, too! I wanna BE a snow weasel!"
Spender collapsed in the snow next to his tunic and hat. He curled himself around it. He wanted to cry. But he couldn't. He was too angry to cry.
After a few minutes, he shook himself off and stood up, head pounding and dizzy. He shook snow off his hat and unfolded his tunic to reveal the wounded sparrow roosting comfortably. He poked it. It chittered awake, found itself still trapped, and hunkered down lower.
"I should kill you now," Spender growled, even as he cupped his paws gingerly around the tiny bird. "'s all I'm good fer... murderin' an' hurtin' an'... Should I drown you? Or bury you in snow so y'freeze? Or crush y'with a rock... or put you in an oven... or throw more rocks, make a game of it... see 'ow long it takes b'fore y'stop movin'..."
The ferret sniffed a dribble of snot back up his nose. He'd put his tunic back on, and as he listed the ways he could off it, he wrapped it up in his beret and held it tight to his chest, like an infant. He headed back to the palace.
"...or drop y'off th'roof... or eat you... or jus' set y'on fire..."
He paid little attention to beasts around him as he shakily made his way upstairs to his room.
Peskers was asleep on the bed, using a wrapped present as a blanket. Spender ignored her. He set the bird down on a chair and began rifling through his belongings, sorting them out into a smaller bag. Toys clinked as he chucked them aside. He bit into a biscuit he'd stolen from lunch earlier that day.
Peskers stirred at the noise and sat up, rubbing her eyes.
"Spender? Come t'bed. Christmas t'morrow. What are you doing?"
"Runnin' away."
"Where?"
"D'no."
"To the ship?"
"No! I 'ate th'ship! I 'ate everyone! I'm gonna go 'ome..."
"You can't... they'll kill you. You can't leave the navy..." Peskers bit her lip. "You can't leave me. You don't hate me."
"Yes, I do."
"No, you don't." She climbed out of bed and wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning over him from behind. "You're my snuggle ferret. And I'm your honey whiskers."
"Don't be gross!"
"Give me a kiss!"
"No!"
She wrestled him, pinning him to the ground. He was cold and wet and she was warm and soft, and he melted at her touch and gave in. She pecked him on the nose.
"You're being silly. Whatever happened out there doesn't matter. They don't matter. I do. I need you... to stay. It's what your promised me."
She flashed him the ring.
"You made me promise," he grunted.
"I made you do what you wanted to do, what you were too stupid to do without me."
"I can't do it, Polly! I can't be nice, I can't follow orders, I can't read or write or do numbers or nothin', I can't remember wot I'm told, I can't figure anythin' out! I'm just a big stupid idiot an' no one likes me an' it's not my fault an' all I do is kill an' hurt stuff, even when I try not to!"
Peskers wrapped her arms around him and held him tight as he burst into tears, head tucked beneath her chin. She glanced over at the sparrow in his beret, quirked her head at it, and then sighed.
For the first time ever, she didn't know what to say to make him believe her. She settled for the next best thing.
"I got you a present..."
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Post by Carrow on Feb 8, 2011 18:38:37 GMT -5
Selvis found himself trembling a little as it dawned on him just how much he'd needed a release like that. It had really been a question of when and not if the weasel was going to start letting his frustration and anxiety out. Spender's misdemeanour had set him off, but now he was coming back down to earth and bracing himself for a rough landing. He stood silent, tears brimming in his eyes as he listened to Caden speak. He was feeling quite sad at this stage, now that his night had taken an even worse turn. He hadn't wanted to do that... it had been years since he'd ever lost his temper, and even then he was unsure if it had been to the same extent as that. He wiped a paw across his eyes, sniffing. He'd just blown up at somebeast for the first time in what seemed like forever, and he was struggling to hold things together.
Carrow could see this quite clearly and was now very concerned about his weasel companion. He needed to speak to him and see what was what, because he knew better than most creatures what could happen if he continued down this path. He'd been truly shaken by something, it seemed to the mouse, but he was almost certain it couldn't have been just Spender and his attempts to spoil their night. No... it couldn't be. Selvis was better than that, and everybeast around him knew it. Little did the mouse know that everybeast around him was also well aware of what it was that was bringing the longtail down.
No matter how upset the Ferlusanian was, the prospect of exploration in the snow immediately snapped him out of the dazed state he had fallen into for the briefest of moments. He came back to himself, and his eyes, which had been staring down at his footpaws in quite an unsure manner, were raised as his head snapped up and he broke out into a smile. He was fluctuating between moods at a rather alarming speed, but this was to be expected. In a way, his night was starting to balance out now, and as it stabilised, so too would the weasel - even if he was quite sure he'd need to let his emotions out in full at some point.
"Why not just have fun. Couldn't have said it better myself. Well spoken, Caden. Now, as for what I want to do, I think I'd prefer to explore for a while before we turn in. It's been a... very taxing night for me...," he admitted, "I'm not sure I could do much dashing around at this stage, if I'm honest." Especially not after that happened, he thought.
Carrow found himself in a similar position. Now that the energy rush, brought on by the adventurous feelings he'd experienced during the brief snowfight, was beginning to dissipate, the old, familiar drowsiness was starting to return. Unable to help himself (or even stifle a paw to cover his mouth, which was usually something he was able to do) he yawned softly and spoke in a voice that didn't sound as energetic as it had been a short while ago. "I reckon Selvis is right. I could probably use something a bit more leisurely to wind down before I go to bed. I think we all need a bit of a breather after that." He glanced at Selvis, and his eyes seemed to say, and you in particular, my weaselly companion. He was very good at spotting the symptoms of exhaustion, and though Selvis was trying to hide them, Carrow could spot a couple - mainly because he was so well acquainted with them himself.
Then the bells tolled midnight, and Caden's shout was echoed by the mouse and long-tailed weasel. "MERRY CHRISTMAS!," they chorused, smiling at each other, not to mention the rest of their group. Caden went over to speak to Elle, and Carrow followed, wanting to wish his closest companion a merry Christmas himself. He smiled at Caden, locking eyes with him for a moment before addressing him in as soft a voice as the albino had used with his fellow marten. "Merry Christmas, Caden. Thanks, too, for being there for me over the past year. I genuinely feel honoured to have met you, and you've been a wonderful friend to me ever since we met. I'm so happy to have you around - and as long as we're together we can get through anything. I'm sure of it. Always remember that, matey."
Smiling, he turned to address Ocean. "I'd quite like to be on your team, but I'm not sure I'd be much use in my state. I'm up for 'romping around', as you put it." Selvis nodded, smiling at the ermine also. He wasn't his normal energetic self, and needed a little downtime before he closed his eyes... and tried to sleep. Now he was starting to realise how his field mouse friend felt.
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Post by Ladorak on Feb 10, 2011 1:37:21 GMT -5
Caden glanced down at his mouse companion, wide eyed at the praise he was receiving. He humbly accepted it, and gave the mouse a solemn nod. "Sure Carrow. I'm just glad that Selvis got that out in the open. Sure I mean, it was a show of emotion...but I felt the exact same way. He deserves to hear that from Selvis. So what are we waiting for then? Let's go!" he exclaimed, dashing off into the snowy path and tearing through the falling flakes before slowing down so the others could catch up.
He dove into the fluffy white banks, rolled around in them, threw snowballs from time to time, tossed snow up into the air to watch it float back down to the ground, and slid down frozen stairways and fountains in his quest to have fun and enjoy himself.
Later that night, he would be unwrapping a very large model of the HMS Agamemnon that Ladorak had gotten him. Ladorak would have course have it shipped back to their house, as there was no way Caden could keep such a large model on the ship, but it would delight the albino to no end to know that he was receiving a model of his new "home" and workplace.
The striplings however enjoyed the rest of their night, forgetting their worries and concerns amid the snowdrifts and falling flakes. It was their dark, white wonderland, and as they exploded and romped through the snow, Caden was determined that he'd never forget this night as long as he lived...and that he would come back here someday in order to enjoy it all over again if he could.
END
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