Welcome to Gaia! ::

The large Wildtype surveyed the Sentinels assembled before her. They were all combatants who were in Deep Woods for their biweekly report, and she knew a good number of them since she was the Corporal they usually reported to. Others were strangers, and while she knew their names she had yet to connect the name to a face.

"I hope you didn't have any plans for tonight, or the next few nights," she said, without looking very sorry, "Noctua needs your services. Two rangers in the same area are late with their reports."

One late ranger might just be bad luck, but two might indicate something serious. She had never reported in late, but some individuals seemed to make a habit of it. These two, however, had been very reliable up until now.

"It could just be a delay in reporting because of bad weather," she said grimly, "But we'd rather not take any chances at this point, so we're sending a few teams over to investigate. "

The Corporal scanned the crowd. Moonstride could lead one of the teams, she was reliable and trained for most situations. That male with red eyes had to be Edelweiss, and he should have some knowledge of the terrain. The female with blue eyes and stumpy eartufts had to be Silverbirch, and her corporal had said that the girl was quick-winged.

"Right," she said and narrowed her eyes before starting to bark out orders, "I want Moonstride, Silverbirch and Edelweiss to try to locate Juniper, a mist ranger. She patrols in the cold forest, near the border of the mountains, north of Sparkle river. If she's on her way here she's probably flying near the river. Fly to her territory and keep your eyes open along the way. Edelweiss should be familiar with the terrain. Moonstride will be in charge in my absence."

She surveyed the assembled combatants again, picking out her next team. Bogbeak talked too much, but he was competent with proper guidance. Myrtle was never as pleased as when she got someone to boss around, and perhaps...

"Myrtle, Bogbeak, Dogwood. You're looking for Catkin, Ghost ranger," she trailed off and frowned at Moonstride, "What are you still doing here? Fly now! I don't want any detours, and absolutely no heroics. If things turn nasty you fly back to Deep Woods as quickly as possible and get some backup."

The weather wasn't exactly pleasant tonight. Big wet snowflakes started to fall after only half an hour of flying, slowing them down considerably. Finding Juniper would not be easy.

Specific details: It will take several nights to get to Juniper's territory. The weather soon becomes even worse, and while Moonstride is trained to fly in almost every weather-situation her current team mates aren't. Their mist plumage offers good insulation, but it's difficult and dangerous to navigate in what is rapidly starting to look like a blizzard. They'll need to find a safe place to wait out the storm before continuing.

Injuries are possible in this scenario.

The night seemed unusually unfriendly tonight, and an ominous feeling bubbled within the young scout. Usually placid, Silverbirch listened with rapt attention to details of the mission spelled out by the Elite, uttering not a single sound throughout the briefing. Her eyes wandered to the Elite she was assigned to, and the older, more experienced scout with striking bloodred eyes. Both of them she had seen only occasionally in passing glances.

At Moonstrike's prompting Silverbirch prepared for flight, subconsciously passing her Will over her companion to check on him. However, instead of following immediately behind Moonstrike, the young scout lingered, respectfully letting Edelweiss go ahead of her.

The pace she set for their trio was fair enough to be able to throw her voice over the winds (which were beginning to pick up slowly as the minutes ticked by) and be heard; however, it wasn't nearly enough to make good time in Moonstride's eyes. Then again, she was feeling particularly wary today, her wing itching to speed forwards through the snow and frost and find shelter quickly. Unfortunately, she would have to rein her panic-induced instincts as they have trained her to and bear with their pace for the moment.

Meanwhile, the trio had passed a particular tree that Moonstride's companion Lani, Rave was perched on. The little bird, although accustomed to various weathers, looked irritated at the growing cold in his terribly puffed up appearance. However, as soon as his little beady eyes locked onto his owner, he took flight. His little body swayed with the wind at first before he managed after a few good flaps to start his way towards Moon. He maintained a good distance from the group, often flying in the gales cut out by their wings or where ever felt easier to the little bird.

Moonstride seemed to know where the little Lani was or she didn't seem to care very much. She was more focus on her two companions. The private let her eyes drift back to lock onto the location of the other two (assuming they've already began following her). Her speed slowed, her wing flap aimed in a slightly different direction, in order to fall back closer to the other two. As soon as she was within fair conversing distance from both mists, a few strong flaps of her wings then allowed her to easily catch back up to their pace. She lifted her voice just enough to be heard over the wind. "Call me Moonstride," she offered slightly dismissively before continuing while eyeing passing trees to insure their direction, "I will tell you now not to push yourself; if you need a break or find the pace too difficult, speak up. Do I make myself clear?" Her cold and commanding eyes flickered towards both mists to emphasize her point.

Edelweiss kept the pace easily, he found, though the occasional wind buffet did cause trouble. Still, nothing he couldn't handle, at least yet. He nodded at Moonstride's notice to alert her if the pace was too difficult. The weather was bad, and fast or slow they would take a long time to fly to where they were going. His own home territory was a good full day's flight from the deep woods, even with perfect weather.

He observed calmly when the female--Silverbirch--passed him up to join Moonstride. Increase the pace? Hmm..."I do not mind the current pace. I would not mind going a bit faster. The weather is poor though, and it seems to be getting a little worse. We might find Juniper quicker with a faster pace, but if the weather gets any worse I would advise against it." He'd seen some intense conditions near his home before. Farther north there could be whiteouts, which made flying nearly impossible, unless one liked flying beak-first into branches or trees. Or the ground. Still, the forest was relatively well used in this area, and the trees were far enough apart that a quicker pace didn't distress him that much.

[ OOC: Sounds good to me. Heheheheheh >:} ]

Oh, she's moving up. Silverbirch noticed and smiled inwardly, thankful for the change of pace. Up... down.. up...down went her wings as the mists fought on through the cold night. With a more effort than usual the scout cut her way through the snowstorm, weaving purposefully through the trees. In obedience to Moonstride's instruction she kept close to the elite and older scout.

Now and then a dark head peeked out from Silverbirch's thick plumage. The mus rather enjoyed the feeling of the wind against his face and settled contentedly on his owner's shoulder, cuddling close to the sentinel for warmth and security.

The next few hours passed rather uneventfully, not counting the foul weather and the noticeably fiercer winds as the mists fought on.

Despite the earlier enthusiasm, Silverbirch had to admit she was starting to tire though she had yet to voice it out. Just a bit more, then perhaps she would request for a break.

Moonstride seemed to be focusing harder than usual on navigation, her eyes constantly flickering from tree to tree to insure she recognized their exact location. She would not have them waste any amount of time traveling along any path except the shortest and most convenient. However, the constant battering of the storm was near torture to all three of them no doubt. Luckily for Moon, she had flown through worst and this was no comparison to what 'worst' was for her. However, at the same time, she knew they would need to find some sort of shelter too. Despite how strong she may be feeling while in flight, she knew the real extent of her weariness would not begin to show until they have stopped.

The elite noticed Edelweiss moved up towards her and shifted her position closer to catch his words. At his comment, her eyes flickered to Silverbirch. The younger scout had begun to look a little weary a while back, she had noticed also. "Look for shelter," she called to them as her final verdict on the matter. There should be some run-down or abandoned hollow tree around this place. After all, they were fairly far from the 'high-demand' territories now. He eyes focused on the tree they passed hoping for anything that looked like decent shelter material.

(OOC: Left it open for anyone else to find something. :])

The older scout frowned as a harsh blast hit him head on. A rest would be nice, he agreed. Surely if they were unable, or unwilling to fly through this, Juniper would also be grounded. Time they would lose, but better to endanger one lost sentinel than the whole four of them.

Edel took to looking around as well. There should be, if nothing else some coniferous trees around. Their thick branches would be better for shelter if it came to perching alone. Thankfully it was Silverbirch who spotted something. A larger tree, it had fallen dead enough to begin going hollow. Still, it looked sturdy enough. He circled the old tree while waiting on Moonstride's verdict.

"It will do,"

That was all Silverbirch looked forward to hearing. The mist descended from her position in a hurry; so hurried, in fact, that it looked as if she almost fell from the air. At first glance it would seem to be from sheer exhaustion. But then again, it could just be her rough-ish nature. Whatever it was, Silverbirch's landing was certainly a lot more forceful and of greater impact than Moonstride's - she dislodged at least twice as much snow from her branch, and... what was that sound?

Not one sticking around to find out, Birch scrabbled to the nearest branch, feathers slightly puffed. And just in time too, as the branch she had alighted on seconds earlier gave way from the abuse it was subjected to.

"Ah. Oh... t'was a bad branch eh?" The sentinel mumbled, looking sheepishly at her teammates. She made no move to enter the hollow - no, not before Edelweiss and Moonstride. Silverbirch was aware of her rank and position - she was the younger and least of the three. Fluffing and sleeking rapidly in embarassment, Silverbirch proceeded instead to pretend to look for her companion... only he was nowhere in sight. For real.

Silvebirch let out a hoot, annoyance (and worry) in her voice. He must have fallen off when she landed. Just when they'd just settled down.