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 Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 6:54 pm
Light colored feathers rose on all ends as she encountered Bristletuft - or at least, Bristletuft's shadowy form and her threatened hiss. Before she could puff herself some more and ready herself to lunge at the 'creature', the Elite calmed a considerable amount and demanded her name.
...Hmm. Eerie cave monsters shouldn't be able to speak like that, so Sandstorm paused. She still couldn't see who was addressing her, as the cave was dark without a single ray of light emitting from anywhere. She could hear the ravings of the artisan/crafter echoing from the inside of the cave; something about following a mus to safety?
Now that was just preposterous. Keeping her guard, she looked in the direction of Bristletuft and answered, her tone of voice neutral, though eyes were menacing and bright. "Who wants to know?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 7:04 pm
Bristletuft steps out into the storm and into visibility, twisting herself to the side in a brief 'badge-flash' to show her Elite marking to the newcomer. "Bristletuft. Stand down and come inside, quickly."
The Elite gives the Aberrant a blatant once-over, nodding briefly at the other female's attitude-- that will at least be helpful if they're ambushed. That makes three sensible birds and one... somewhat crazed semi-liability. Hopefully, that will be enough. Bristletuft repeats herself: "Name?" So saying, she turns and moves back inside, leaving more than enough room for Sandstorm to follow.
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Jaeger Erdarastrix Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 7:13 pm
The masked bird settled to rocking serenely back and forth on the floor of the cave, humming dully to herself. The one visible eye roved over the others in turn, lingering on a claw here, a feather-pattern there...She would get some good mask ideas out of this, that was sure. The thunderbird seemed angry..what inspiration! If only she had some wood she would get to it right now...With a seeming disregard for any orders the elite might give (she seemed to have decided to ignore Ename anyway) the shadow began to slink towards the back of the cave. Her going was slow, and for all her outward lunacy she was quite alert beneath the surface. Pausing, she lifted a rock with her will, pressing it to her side for use as a weapon if needed as she slipped into the darker depths of the cavern.
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 7:44 pm
Chancing a glance away from the depths for a few moments, Arbutus swivels his view towards the entrance. The Elite had stepped outside to engage the new arrival. From what he can see through the rain and darkness, things appear to be going well. Perhaps the added company will discourage any further, real threats, he thinks to himself cheerily.
With any luck, perhaps the new visitor might be an Apothecary. Maybe they could prescribe something for the poor masked- wait… It seemed that, in spite of his attempts to ignore her entirely so far, Arbutus was suddenly aware of the Shadow's disappearance. Where in Noctua had the creature gone?
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 8:05 pm
Sandstorm maneuvered a few steps away from Bristletuft to keep her distance safe, incase for whatever reason it may be, she were in danger. Those thoughts completely diminished, though, as the 'badge' was in clear view for her eyes to absorb, and even the name sounded a little familiar to her.
She immediately went into an attentive, respectful mode. Not many would receive this gesture from her: mostly those that she felt deserved it. She snapped her wings together and straightened her posture before following the Elite inside the cave, at which point she settled herself and bowed her head once. "I apologize for causing any trouble. I am Sandstorm, a ranger."
She took this opportunity to glance over the cave. Now that she was actually in it, and eye-sight adjusted, she could see a little bit better than when she was just outside the mouth. "....there are only two of you here?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 5:25 am
Bristletuft hops heavily back to the rock she had been perched on before Sandstorm's arrival and swivels to face the mouth of the cave again. The storm is variable, and there is always a chance that a brief change in the intensity of the downpour will lighten things up enough to make the area visible. Perhaps Hallux is close by.
She glances at Sandstorm. "No trouble. Good to have a ranger on board." Bristletuft speaks in clipped sentences, but there is real relief hidden somewhere under there. "Two? No." She frowns slightly. "We have Arbutus, a Gatherer, and..." Head swiveling, the Elite surveys the back of the cave... and she clacks her beak in sharp irritation. "And some addle-skulled wood-faced non-combatant-- wherever she's gone."
The last thing they need is Ename fluttering further back in the cave and waking up something that's sleeping. "Arbutus! Track that bird down and bring her back! If you have to knock her silly, do it!" Her attention snaps back to Sandstorm. "You watch here, with me. I saw a flutter behind you while you were flying in. Where is it now?"
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Jaeger Erdarastrix Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 2:30 pm
Arbutus quietly chuckles to himself at Bristletuft’s order. While quite sure that “knocking her silly” would be less then helpful for her overall condition, he can’t help but consider it for a moment... Bah, nonsense. The old bird is a nuisance, but she seems harmless enough- if only a bit creepy.
Fluttering down from his perch to the damp cave floor, he peers into the dark, trying to catch some glimpse of movement within-- Nothing, though he’s able to pick out a few faint sounds further in over the heavy rainfall outside. Perhaps she’s taken to conversing with another one of her invisible Mus?
Edging further into the dark, he calls out, hooting quietly. “Miss Ename?... ma’am, are you there?”. Nothing.
Sighing once again, Arbutus gathers himself up as steadily as he feels his nerves will allow and dutifully, albeit slowly, ventures into the dark.
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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 3:06 pm
Addle-skulled? She must be speaking about the one that she had heard earlier...and frankly, it wouldn't be much of a loss if something were to happen to the stranger if Bristletuft is that much annoyed by her. In any case, for the most part, Sandstorm plan went by well: she is now away from the fools from above, and now in much better company.
Or at the very least, less annoying.
"Yes ma'am," She responded, and continued to survey around incase anything were to show up. "....a flutter? Oh, you must mean Du-"
As though on cue, a tiny figure landed outside of the mouth and quickly darted inside to avoid being hit by frozen rain nearly the size of his head. Sandstorm is surprised to see him this early - she expected at least another half hour for him to carefully maneuver through while the storm became worse.
"Dune!" She called, and the lani immediately hopped over to his master. She took a step sideways to give him room to stand while she checked him out. "...looks like you got hit a few times, though nothing that can't be healed over time or affect your flight. Good." He seemed to be very proud of this, and showed this by standing a little straighter and barely puffing his chest out.
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Jaeger Erdarastrix Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 5:39 pm
"Ah, your Lani? I'm surprised he made it through the storm." That was fancy flying-- a large bird like a Sentinel can power through bad weather, but the small flighted Companions are terribly buffeted by the wind. Any Parus keeper who hasn't sheltered their stock from this storm will be lucky if they have any left come tomorrow night. "My Lepus is out there somewhere-- who knows what else could be on the prowl? Keep an eye on the ground, and I'll watch the skies."
Settling heavily in place, the big female narrows her eyes at the storm-- but she's listening behind her to the progress Arbutus is making. That foolish Shadow female is a liability, but hopefully the male will be able to keep her under control until the Thunderbird can calm down.
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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:58 pm
Ename heard the male coming after her, and ducked behind a rock in response. It wasn't so much that she didn't want to be found as...well, in the end that really was it. As far as she could tell (and that was much farther than most here with her thought her capable of, I do say) there wasn't anything stirring in the cave. She wasn't so dumb as to go in much further, but she didn't much like that some young upstart had taken to pushing her around, elite or not. "In my days, elites were right proper. They respected their elders and the alders and the oaks. Pishpaw, this new generation is a head too short of a lettuce garden if you ask me!" She mumbled to herself while pulling a few more pebbles up into her feathers. One never knew when they'd need to fight back, right?
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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 11:12 pm
“Ma’am?...”
Still quietly stumbling through the increasingly dark cave, Arbutus has nearly lost his patience. “Miss Ename... please, show yourself!” he calls, struggling to keep the irritation from his voice. How could she have gotten so far ahead of him so quickly?
Unable to pick out any movement in the dark or sounds over the rainfall, he continues on past the rocky shapes lining the cave walls… only to stop a few moments later. The path appears to bend up ahead. A sickening knot begins to rise up his throat… Surely she wouldn’t be fool enough to venture further- not even in her state? The cave is almost completely dark past the bend, the last faint glimpses of light dying out just along the corner.
Stopping just short of the inky darkness, he tries alerting her again. “Ma’am?”
Suddenly, Arbutus can hear what sounds like the faint clatter of pebbles shifting, and quite close. The cold grip of fear slowly creeps up his back; his nerves steadily approaching their limit.
“Ename?” his voice is now little more then a whisper.
For a moment, every horrific tale he’d ever been told as a fledgling seems to rush unbidden through his mind…
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Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 5:20 am
Ename had quite the chuckle, watching Arbutus search about for her. Hee hee, can't fine me... She sang to herself, tugging up a final rock. That was plenty, she decided. Oh, my, it looked like he was quite afraid...Well Ename loved to be 'the creepy old lady' and whatnot. She was known to strike fear into the hearts of hatchlings forest-wide! Perhaps she could increase her reputation...
Without a single sound, she shifted to be perched right behind the unsuspecting male. Her eye glittered beneath the mask, illuminating the back of his head. Slowly she leaned in, almost but not quite touching him. "...Boo..."
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Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:44 am
"Yes. He comes from a fine lineage - all combatant companions." From the tone of her voice, you can tell that even Sandstorm is proud of her Dune, though there isn't any other way she'd show it [especially in public]. It's nice to not have to worry about the lani most of the time; he's smart enough to realize when he's in a dangerous enough situation to just fly out and find a place to wait it out until Sandstorm comes looking for him.
"Dune," She ordered, "Go find a nook in the cave and stand watch. Alert us if you spy anything."
The lani made a chirping sort of noise of understanding, and flew to a part of the wall where he could easily grasp at with his talons and keep watch. At the same time, Sandstorm turned around and faced outside of the cave. "Are you expecting him to come here, or will he wait out the storm?" Even squinting, she could just barely make out the few feet outside of the cave before it's enveloped in darkness.
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Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:31 pm
Damn that infernal bird!
At the sound of her voice, Arbutus could’ve sworn the colour had bled from his feathers. Whirling around to face her, he can just make out her silhouette against the dim light. What-- had she doubled-back and been stalking him all this time?! “What in blazes are you doing back here?” he hisses, now totally convinced the Shadow is completely mad.
Allowing himself a deep sigh, he ruffles his feathers as he attempts to regain his composure. “Ma’am… Miss Ename, do you need me to escort you back to the entrance?” he asks as tactfully as he can.
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