Food, freedom and 'pleasant' conversation.
Brockhall: Main Hall
- -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Brockhall Main Hall -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
The room is quite large, and nicely arranged. The walls are formed primarily of the thick and polished, though very dusty, roots of the tree in which the hall is nestled. At the far end of the room is a large fireplace, with a hearth to match. A large oaken table, beatifully crafted, extends across the room, with the far end close to the fireplace. Polished maple chairs are lined along it's length. Though likely intended for some long gone person or group of persons, they are very comfortable. The occasional knotholes dot the walls, and to your surprise they are actually small little windows through which soft beams of light cascade across the room. To either side of the room are a few doors, some bigger than others. The biggest door on the right leading to the kitchens, and its equally impressive opposite leads to the dormitories.
*-*-* Entrances/Exits *-*-*
[D]en
[A]nnex
[K]itchen
- -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Brockhall Main Hall -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
With:
[ZZZ] Oak
[ZZZ] Nash
[ZZZ] Remi
[ZZZ] Maria
Bored. There is now true meaning in the word for Tie as he paces back and forth across the room, barely managing to avoid chairs and any other manner of furniture. At one point he tripped, but quickly stood and resumed his pacing.
There is a determined air of doom and boredom hanging over everyone in the room. Even Nash, as extroverted as he usually is, seems gloomy as he perches on one of the tables and watches the squirrel pace aimlessly. The smallest hedgehog has grabbed hold of his rudder and Nash swings it around to entertain the dibbun but otherwise there is little to no movement from the otter. Finally, he breaks his silence by yawning hugely and stretching his arms up over his head. "What I wouldna give for a heapin' bowl o' 'otroot soup right abou' now."
Tie continues to pace as he grimaces "Hot root? You like that stuff? I would much rather have a scone covered in honey and peppered with fruit with a bowl of meadow cream pie and some strawberry cordial and maybe I would go as far as to eat some walnuts." He sighs and his thoughts continue to think over all the food he could eat.
Nash groans and holds his paws to his stomach, doubling over in mock pain. "Oof, mate! You've got me dreamin' of m' ma's apple crumble cake with hot cider. An' o' course y' canna forget fruit salad and fried fish and shrimps." The otter's mouth is watering and a some of the other scattered captives have started listening. Someone mentions meadowcream cake and there is a general murmur of agreement that it would be delicious.
Tie stops pacing and now he too has a watering mouth "That's sounds wonderful! But we cant forget cherry pudding and peach pie. Those are some of my favorites." He hears about the meadow cream cake and sighs "ANYTHING with meadow cream is good, I think" a few beasts in the group nod in agreement.
"Candied chestnuts!!" The hedgehog riding Nash's tail shouts out. Everyone laughs. "Fresh greens with yellow cheese." Says a middle-aged, female mouse. "Yellow cheese with /anything/!" Says a young squirrel. Soon the food choices are flying fast and thick around the room. "Lookit what you've gone and done now, mate." Nash says to Tie with a grin. He would've winked but it would've been lost on the squirrel.
Tie calls to the little hedgehog "Your right! How could we forget our favorite candy?" He then smiles at Nash and points innocently to himself "Who, me? You're the one who started it by talking about hot root." He chuckels and sits down on the ground where he had stoped paceing.
With everyone seemingly cheered up a little, Nash detaches the little hedgehog from his tail and sets him free in his mother's direction. Then he hops off the table and takes a few strides over to sit next to Tie on the floor.
"Somethin's gonna happen soon, mate. I c'n tell. I don't know what or when, but it'll be soon, I promise you that."
Tie raises an eyebrow "Oh? How do you know?" He then gasps in mock horror "Are you a seer? If so can you give me sight?" He chuckles at his own 'pun' "Really. How /do/ you know?"
Nash doesn't think the joke is quite as funny as Tie does. "Lookit us, Tie. We've just been sittin' here for...days. It's been too long." He scratches behind his ear, struggling to figure out a way to say what he just understands. "Somebeast is bound to 'ave noticed all the disapperances and they'll be coming to fin' us. It's just...it /will/." He shrugs, helplessly.
Tie nods and reaches out to pat Nash sympathetically on the shoulder (if he can find the shoulder that is) "I understand and I am tempted to agree with you. I say that if some beast /is/ coming to rescue us than we should try to 'help' them in any way possible. So when they do come we should have the chair legs ready for use." He grins and looks wistful "Hitting slavers with chair legs...a true joy of life."
"Sshhh!" Nash laughs. "You don't know who's listening." It's not that he doesn't trust the other captives, but the slavers have a tendency to come and go willy-nilly. "But I do agree wit' you, mate. And we will help."
( A conversation can be heard from one of the rooms leading off from the main hall, but the words are indistinct. )
Tie grins "Your right. I will keep my voice down" He says this in a very small whisper that may be hard to hear. "Can I use one of the clubs when the time comes?" His voice is still a whisper and his ears perk as they catch the Muffled and far off voices.
Nash nods. "O' course. You, me, some o' the mice and hedgehogs. The rest 're gonna make sure everyone else is safe in the back o' the room and get 'em out as soon as they can." He speaks low, keeping an eye out on the others. The less the plans are known, the more likely they'll still be a surprise whenever it comes time to impliment them.
Tie grins and rubs his paws together in glee "Good. I just hope I hit the slavers and not you or the others." He shifts his position and frowns "You know..." He shakes his head, pushing the thought off as wishful thinking.
Nash chuckles. "We'll do our best to stay out o' yore way. You just do what y' can." There's no fixing things. And when push comes to shove, you do what you have to. It's that simple.
Tie grins "That I will." Than he lowers his voice lower than his other whisper and says "If I could get my paws on my cane...We would have not only another club, but a true weapon"
The doors of the room where the noises are coming from swings open suddenly, and three figures emerge, the white ermine that the slaves have come to know, who is also the only one who spares them a glance as the trio enters, and with her a female rat with an air of leadership about her, as well as a male stoat. The three of them walk past the slaves and towards the exit doors, before they stop, and the rat adresses them, "One last thing, I need yew two to do a little job fer me." she grins, "As you two may know, we've had some rather unfortunate dealings with the carpenter of Ferravale." she leans against to wall casually. "To put it shortly, we believe he's been talking too much. I want yew to take two o' the others, an' make sure he dosen't sell us out, got it?" she asks, immediately drawing a nod from both of them. "Good," the rat you can only assume is Nikita says, smiling, "Report back ta me when yore done." with that she strides across the room and into her private quarters, slamming the door.
Nash nudges Tie with his elbow. "Y'hear that? Ferilla is leaving with some o' the other slavers to go to Ferravale." He specifically says Ferilla's name because he knows Tie didn't see her. That and he doesn't know the other slavers.
Tie nods "So I heard. Did you see the other beasts with her? And where in the world is Ferravale?" He frowns as he tries to remember if he has ever heard of Ferravale.
"It's past Redwall to the North. Quite a bit from here." Nash keeps his voice low and studies the remaining vermin. "I don't recognize any of 'em except Ferilla. But they'd been sayin' something about Nikita when they got me and I got th' impression that she's the one in charge. That mighta been her right there."
Ferilla's ears perk as she hears the slaves talking, but can't out anything besides her own name. She turns back to the stoat, a skinny, sly-looking beast with shifty eyes that are constantly scanning around the room. "So, whos are we takin' with us F?"he asks her, using just the first letter of her name as a nickname. "Well, who's the least stupid?" Ferilla counters, crossing her arms. "Dunno, what about Berin an' Yeris?" he asks. "Berin's dead Sorp, remember?" "Ah, yer, right." he scratches his chin with a grimy paw, " "Well, how's about we take Yeris an' Pordis then? Is Pordis' arm healed up now?" Ferilla nods, "More or less. Right, yew go get those two, an' meet me back here in a few minutes." Sorp nods and hurries off towards the bunk room.
Tie mutters something than nods at Nash "What is Nikita? I have been curious about that for awhile." He stops whispering so as to try and hear the slavers better than when Sorp has left he seems about to say somthing, but he stops himself.
"She's a rat." Nash whispers. "Mean lookin' one, too." Course, they're all mean looking. "I wonder how Berin died." They hadn't heard anything about one of the slavers being killed.
Ferilla wanders over towards the pair, not quite succeding in making it look accidental. "How are you all?" she asks them, crouching down next to them. She fails to make her voice sound uncaring, which triggers her to frown.
Tie nods, muttering "A rat" He makes a mental note before nodding "I say good riddance to whoever this 'Berin' was." He hears Ferilla and shrugs "Well enough. Did you figure out the riddle?"
Nash smiles at Ferilla's expression and waits for her response to Tie's question about the riddle. He has no idea what the squirrel is referring to.
Appears to not really care that Berin was killed, but she still gives Tie a dissaproving glance, which will of course have no effect on him. "There's something inside it is all I can figure." she muses, glancing over at Tie quickly, and then over her shoulder to make sure none of the other slavers are watching her
Tie grins "If you can't figure it out you could always give it to me....and I could show you it's secrets."
Nash knows this conversation isn't going to get Tie anywhere. He shakes his head and leans up against the nearest wall, listening.
The ermine's gaze comes back to Nash, though she speaks to Tie, "Not a chance." she responds to him simply.
Tie sighs and his disappointment is not hard to see "Very well...I am sure Nash would make sure I do not do anything /dangerous/ with it. Right Nash?" He sounds slightly hopeful.
"Well that depends, mate." Nash shrugs his shoulders in a nonchalant manner. "Who would you be doing dangerous things /to/?"
"Let me just stop you right there and say that yer not getting your stick back." Ferilla says, "Now, aside from that, is there anything I kin try an' get for you?" she asks, sounding hesitant.
Tie grins at Nash "hopefully, nobody." Tie gets an indignant look on his face "It is a /cane/ thank you very much, NOT a stick." He mutters something and decides to let Nash say if they need anything.
"Unless you got some very delicious food on you somewhere, I think we're doin' as good as can be expected." Nash reflects on his words and things they might have been a bit hasty but he can't take them back now. Something's bother him and he can't quite put a paw on it. "Well, and the little uns need water." He looks over at the bunch of dibbuns who have made the best of their situation by messing around under the table.
Ferilla rolls her eyes, "It's a fancy stick, so what." she glances at the otter and sighs, "I'll see what I can do." as she rises and turns she gulps as she sees Jas standing in the doorway, arms crossed, a disapproving look on his features. He shakes his head and turns, "Traitorous bi...." his words fade as he exits, but it's probably for the best, as his next words probably were not approriate for the dibbuns to be hearing. Ferilla wipes a paw across her brow nervously.
Tie looks to be boiling slightly as his cane is yet again called a stick, but he stops himself from saying something he will regret and just growls a little. He frowns as he hears Jas than whispers to Nash "What just happened?"
Nash frowns slightly and whispers. "Jas just saw Ferilla talking to us. He knows something's up. But she should be alright for awhile, she's going to Ferravale and he isn't going with her."
Luckily for Ferilla, Sorp comes back now with Yeris and Pordis. The rat's arm is bruised, but he can still weild his weapons, "Alrighty F, we're here, yew ready ta get going, or you too busy visitin' with the prisoners?" Sorp may seem a little dull, but he's a theif and a spy in the band, and Jas isn't the only one who's seen her talking with the captives. "Yeah, er, let's get going, I wanna be back before nightfall." she tells him.
Tie nods at Nash "Ah, I see...ok well I don't really see but you know what I mean." He listens to the exchange between the vermin and seems to take note of what is said.
"This isn't going to be good for her." Nash watches their only almost-ally as she preps to leave. "We've got to stop letting her be nice to us. Or start being more disrespectful. Or something." Of course, if she doesn't make it back from Ferravale it won't really matter.
Ferilla gives one last glance at the slaves that have caused her so much trouble, though really she made trouble for herself... She shakes her head and waves a paw, "Well, c'mon you three, let's get moving, we've got a carpenter to kill." The four of them move towards the door and are soon gone.
Tie nods at Nash "ok, but..." he frowns than shrugs "Never mind." He hears Ferrilla say 'carpenter to kill' and he winces "I feel sorry for the poor carpenter. Don't you?" He asks Nash.
Nash watches the slavers leave and heaves a heavy sigh. There are so many sad things happening here and they're getting to him. "I do, mate. I do." With that said, he stands up and goes to join the carefree dibbuns underneath the table. "Aaarrg!! Whar's my mighty woodlander crew? What's all this? Do I need to make ye's swab all th' decks?!" The dibbuns shout happily and soon Nash is quite involved in their little games.
