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 Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 2:12 pm
Old Loganberry is no longer the magnificent Sentinel he once was, or so the rumours say. With age weakening his talons and dimming his eyesight his territory should be easy to conquer for someone younger and stronger. The former Gatherer has a very nice territory just outside Deep Woods, and anyone winning it would become the envy of the neighbourhood. Well, it's worth checking out at least!
But all calls remain unanswered. Old Loganberry seems to be somewhere else at the moment, and without the territory owner present the contesters can not lay down the challenge officially. While they wait for his return they have the change to snoop around in the outskirts of his territory. They might notice a few Sentinel-feathers of varying colouring scattered on the snowy ground below. And is that blood? Maybe the old fart isn't as harmless as the rumours said after all...
Specific details: Minke has heard the rumours on her way towards Deep Woods, and Garth has been encouraged by his parents to check the territory out. It's not too far from his parents' territory and it's much better than his current one. They're not too far apart and should be able to see each other without much difficulty. If they should call to check if Loganberry is at home they will hear each other, but they won't get any answer from the ex-gatherer.
Injuries are possible in this scenario, and if one of them should win the territory others might challenge him or her in the future since this is a desirable place to live.
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Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2008 9:47 pm
Well, he didn't much care for what the neighborhood had to say about him, and he didn't really mind the territory currently held. The reason he was on his way to Loganberry's territory now was only because of his parents' opportunistic urging, quite the force to be reckoned with when they were in unison. Really, his parents looked out for him more than he did himself! Aside from his own hunting, Garth had little ambition of his own to make any sort of a change. As far as he was concerned, he was content to huddle from the cold in his dead tree for the rest of his days. But he respected his parents; he didn't hesitate in turning his wings into the small currents toward the outskirts of the Deep Woods after his latest visit was done.
It was worth having a look, thought the Shadow as each muffled, strong beat of his wings brought him closer to his destination. Maybe even he would find some sort of inspiration, once he saw the prospective hunting grounds in a former gatherer's territory. Maybe he'd like it. But ultimately, he could at least tell his parents that he went and looked it over while the old bird was supposedly out.
Bright orange eyes picked up the small smears of color on the white canvas of the Ground upon reaching the vicinity of the elder's claim. Briefly, the hunter allowed his flight to lower him past the lower limbs of the surrounding trees for a closer look, bobbing over what were judged as blood-spattered feathers before he was climbing back up again. He picked out a branch to settle on and landed. Even though he had been told Loganberry was not home, it was still safe to linger on the outskirts of his holding. What he had just seen, the scattered bloody feathers, suggested he wasn't the only suitor to the territory.
Naturally silent from deep-seated habit, Garth considered calling out, but in the end settled for casting his intense gaze into the trees as far as it could go.
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Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 2:42 pm
Okay, now, this was looking promising. For weeks now, Minke had been winnowing her way into the denser forest of the south, hounding rumours of fruitful territory and the Sentinels she was strong enough to push out of them. And here, she can already tell, was somebody's gold mine of a location. Minke changed her pace from ground-covering to exploratory, gliding from one long branch to another. Oh downy Noctus, look at all the ground cover, look at all the - oh, my, look at all the Sentinel feathers. She paused on her branch, huddling and trying to interpret this new information. What type was this old bird, again? And who else was here? From her seat, she looked up and into the canopy, wondering just who had moved in here. Her white shape must be the easiest thing to see up here...well, good, she thought, let whoever else might be lurking see what a fine big Sentinel is moving in!
Minke let out a call, rather cocky yet polite, a sort of "I'm in your territory, but my presence makes it mine" kind of affair, and resettled herself, waiting to see just who was around.
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Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 5:33 pm
He could not deny the potential that he saw in what his sight passed over. When the cold matter melted away, this area would thrive. Unlike his own home- when winter passed, all he had to look forward to was an onslaught of insects and slow rot. His bleak gave a good, grinding clack at the thought. Before any more traitorous feelings could begin to breed, however, the solemnity was pierced by a most assumptive noise.
Garth swiveled his head toward the noise, but located nothing right away. A challenger, it would appear, judging by the bare sprinkle of humility in its voice. The hunter allowed the hoot to reverberate through the trees, and ample time for a reply that never came. Well, that settled it- Loganberry wasn't home or wasn't interested. So he gave his own reply, a low deep hoot that sounded reproachful in all respects, if stiff with restraint. It wasn't his territory, he couldn't tell her to leave. He was pretty sure it was a her.
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Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 5:50 pm
Minke swiveled her head about in the lull after her introductory hoot, appraising the quality of silence and wondering, briefly, if this Loganberry dude had died of old age. It would almost be a letdown, oh! Who, now, was that humorless hooter...
She gave another little hoot (not quite so cocky this time), flapping up from her perch and homing toward Garth's call.
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Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 6:10 pm
Ah, now he could see her. His keen vision was attracted immediately to the movement, and the white plumage just made the presence of the other Sentinel blinding. She was searching for him. Garth felt immediately more sullen, in his own wary way. However he may be regretting it now, he had invited it upon himself, and though he could have left her to search for him without help it was not in his character to be impolite without a more justified cause. So he hooted again for her, reservedly, and fluffed his feathers for warmth while he waited to be found.
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Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 7:00 pm
From his perch, Garth could watch the big Mist sweep slowly through the area, see her turn toward his call. It didn't take long for her to spot him, roosting stoically in the winter limbs of a young oak. Minke glided in to settle an acceptably polite measure away, close enough for conversation and little else. Her yellow eyes gleamed with belligerent energy just waiting for an outlet, but luckily, she was more or less capable of knowing when to be polite. Shifting from one talon to the other, she cocked her head rather coyly at Garth, busting into a grin. "I'm guessing you aren't old Loganberry."
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Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 7:42 pm
"Do I look old?" Garth retorted in kind, gruffly. His eyes wavered in place as he took her in with a cool, studying gaze. Sizing her up, and yes she certainly was...sizeable. He didn't lack in that department, both his parents being of strong and elegant structure upon his conception, but he couldn't help but notice. Maybe she had something else in her besides Mist, or perhaps things from the Cold regions tended to grow hardier. Though he couldn't recall a pale Sentinel quite so large as her by immediate memory.
"Loganberry is away. I'm guessing you aren't here for a visit?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 5:21 pm
"Heh." Minke's eyes slitted as a brief fantasy of humbly meeting old Loganberry for a midnight visit played its way through her head. But when they opened again, her humor had fled in favor of a long, intimidating stare. "You from around these parts?" She shifted again, gently flexing her talons as she readjusted her wings - haunching her shoulders, fluffing out her feathers just a tad - all the while keeping eye contact, maintaining her attitude. She'd come here to stake a claim, right, and what reason did she really have to make friends with this schmuck?
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Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 5:34 pm
"I am." He replied shortly, narrowing his eyes back at her in return. Otherwise he seemed unphased by her. He sure wasn't much for conversation, was he? But he held her gaze as if it were a challenge. "What of it?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 3:14 pm
As of yet impervious to unsettlement, Minke took his returning gaze in stride. "Well, I was sort of curious, 'cause I'm not from around here." Her eartufts dabbed downward, a hint that the underlying message was, I am here for a reason, and I have nothing to lose. But...still, the giddiness of for the first time being so far from home, that was a hard thing to completely quell. "The forest here is really top-notch, isn't it! I mean, we get big trees up north, no doubt we do, but every one down here! They're giants!" Her intimidation act had lagged, a little bit, at she was grinning excitedly again. "So, I'm moving in down here. I'm gonna pluck the bajeezes out of whatever poor sap gets in my way, too." And, it was unclear if she was challenging Garth, really, or maybe offering him an in to friendship. She wasn't overtly frowning with her glare, at least.
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 11:36 am
Garth didn't stop himself from clacking his beak as the female went on. He didn't need the hints, he knew the situation. The male was not one to be bullied. When he was pushed, he simply became staunch and pushed back, shut off, whatever he needed to do. So when she began to move into a more uplifted ensemble, he had to shift a little. His skepticism didn't have to last very long.
"It's very crowded here. Not a lot of room," He told her rather bluntly. Why was he doing this? He didn't even know if he wanted this place, much less if he was willing to fight for it! But Minke's attitude was making him tense, which certainly didn't bring out the best in him. "Planning to kick the old bird out of his home?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 9:31 pm
At his first words, Minke felt a vestigial sting of admonishment roil unsettlingly within her; she had misjudged him, assumed he'd be as rough and ready, as happy to scuffle as she was. Her beak clicked shut as the little p***k of shame converted to a small quantity of anger, and her overwhelming presence seemed to sink into itself and take on a normal size. But on his final question, she gained back her ground; a quizzical rightness displaced her irritation, and she narrowed her eyes at the obvious. "Well, yes. And you aren't?" And she knew, she knew he was. He had no reason to be so standoffish if he wasn't!
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