Running from the Past (Literally)

From Redwall MUCK Wiki


Setting:

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Halyard Village ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The pit you are standing in lies in the very center of the room. It is about

two feet down from floor level, but there are no steps; one must merely jump

down. The pit is the only portion of the room that is kept at all clean, the

sand raked smooth and appearing fresh. You stand in a fighting pit.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Characters:

Lutea, runaway Taggerung

Shixon, Juska (provided by Vannon)

Crossfang and Rsk, thieves (provided by Vannon)

---

The match in progress is, for lack of a better word: brutal. A vividly tattooed ottermaid has wrangled a young buck into a head-lock, releasing with a yelp as he clamps down on her forearm. Say what you will, but those buck-teeth /hurt/! The two scramble upright, but only for a moment, before Lutea tackles him again, once more dragging him down to the sand beneath her. She manages to straddle him, chomping at /his/ paws as he attempts to punch her off. Two quick strikes to the face end his resolve, and he slaps the sand with a reluctant cry, his nose breaking with a dramatic spray of red. The crowd cheers as the otter hauls herself off of him, a paw extending down to pull him upright, as well. "Anyone else?!" She demands, triumphantly, running a lap around the interior of the pits as the hare stumbles away, clutching his muzzle. Working all morning, working all night, and then fighting till she has to work again, seems to have put the otter in better spirits than she's seen in months. She's always been an odd one.

And the crowd goes wild. "The lass wants a fight! I say we give her a fight!" Shouts a weasel from the rim of the fighting pit. "Bruiser! Send her Bruiser!" The vermin around the pit start shouting for a beast named Bruiser. Over at the bar a very large pack rat turns his attention away from mug of mead in his paw. He smiles at his name being called, crushing the mug as he slaps it down on the table.

The rat lumbers more than he walks, easily pushing foxes and ferrets out of his way. At the edge of the pit he scoffs down at the otter. Giving her a sneer the rat then let's out a tremendous shout, ripping appart his garments with his bare hands before leaping into the pit. "Now lass...you are going to see how to fight prop-"

THUD!

The rat never sees the paw coming as a beast leaps into the pit with him. The fire colored fox lands on the rat's head, sending him face first into the sand and unconsciousness. The fox is male, wearing a loin cloth and shawl about his shoulders both made from animal hides. He is tattooed in a similar manner to the otter.

"No one harms the Taggerung..." The fox growls loudly before drawing a bone made dagger from his back, "No one but me!"

Lutea bounces on the balls of her feet, rolling her neck and shoulders as she prepares for, what is shaping up to be, one /very/ satisfying fight. And then the tides turn dramatically. To be fair, it was only a matter of time before something like this happened: she never made any real attempt to /hide/ herself since fleeing the Juskasor - but she is surprised by this sudden appearance, nonetheless. As if it will do her any good, the otter snatches her vest from the edge of the ring and pulls it over her, hiding the massive tattoo on her back - the symbol of the Taggerung. "Shixon! Shix! Th'ol' Shixxy, my fav'rite vixxy. 'Ow are y', mate?" She asks, grinning wide. And then, all at once, she spins about to clamor up and out of the pit - unaware of what is really happening, she is quickly grabbed and shoved back in. The audience doesn't want to miss out on a good, unfair fight, now that one of them is armed. "So, uh..." The otter circles, eyes flicking back and forth, nervously. "What brings y'ere?"

"Your head...on a pike!" The fox barks, dripping drool from his teeth as he launches himself at the otter, aiming his dagger strait for her face. Say what you will about Juska, they are a very direct people who don't beat around the bush.

"Traitor! You left us all! Now I will have the honor...of leaving you in pieces!"

Lutea side steps, easily. "Jus' - calm down, let's talk about this - whoa!" She is stumbling around, backwards, with her paws up, ducking and avoiding all of his blows without returning with any of her own. It doesn't take long for the crowd to grow bored with this show, and the cheering begins to dissolve into boo's and shouts of 'FIGHT BACK!'. "Listen! Jus' - FINE!" She suddenly charges forward, ducking low and then twisting to punch up at his chin, trying to keep clear of that knife. She doesn't wait to see if he goes down - she vaults back out of the pits, and is actually /able/ to side-step the crowd this time, racing for the door.

The fox takes the blow to the chin, he steps backwards, then spits out a tooth before chasing after her, scurrying up the side of the wall like a squirrel. "Coward! Face me like a warrior and /die/!" The tod matches the otter's pace step for step, trying to grab her by the tail and pull her back, back towards his deadly dagger seeking her life!

"Is this what you left us for? Soft beds and a full belly? Traitor! I'll take your hide as a trophy.../then/ kill you!"

Lutea scrabbles at the ground as she is grabbed and falls to her knees. He yanks her towards him, and she flips onto her back, kicking out, hard, at his middle and then taking off again. This is bad, this is /bad/ - misfortune just seems to follow her, doesn't it? She can't get too comfortable in one place before being shaken out of it. She shoulders her way through the crowd, eyes wide with panic, cursing her stupidity - she should have been more careful, /especially/ in a town like this one.

The fox drops to one knee, growling at the otter as she runs out the door. "Cur! There is no where you can run we can't find you! I'll Kill you!"

"I'll kill you!" shouts the fox. Despite Crossfang's outbreak, and slug to the arm, the lizard only gives her a narrow glance before replying. "Isn't that a tad over dramatic? You did send me after a fruity pastry..."

"Blueberry. I said blueberry! Does this look like blue berry to you?" The vixen wags the pastry under his nose, "I hate cherries...absolutely HATE them."

Crossfang eat's the pastry anyway. Little did the thieves realize that an otter was coming their way through the crowd.

Racing out of the shack, the otter comes crashing through the East Square. Skipping over the broken stones and half-rebuilt buildings, she turns to crane a look over her shoulder, looking for her pursuer - and crashes right into Crossfang. She tumbles, head over rudder, and shoots back upright to keep going - not looking back. "SORRY!" She calls out, ducking down a side alley, skidding on the stones with the sudden change of direction.

The otter comes face to face with a brick wall. In short, a dead end.

Both literally and metaphorically speaking.

"Of all the nerve!" Crossfang comes around the corner, pastry smeared across her muzzle and drawing her saber. "You little...little...Rsk! Think up of something to call her!"

Before the lizard can open his mouth there comes a shout from back at the fighting pit, "LUTEA! You miserable traitorous coward!" The lizard gestures with his thumb to the distant fox as he moves through the crowd on all fours like an animal, nose to the ground and following the otters scent. "What he said."

Lutea growling in frustration, the otter - mostly - ignores the fox and lizard. She has a /lot/ more to worry about at the moment. Faced with the dead end, she spins around to face them...and then charges. Leaping, she grabs a hold of the fox and uses her as leverage - climbing her like a squirrel climbs a tree. She leaps from the fox's shoulders to the lizard's, and uses his head as a launch pad. Grabbing at the adjacent brick wall, she manages to latch onto a window-sill. She briefly releases one paw to punch hole through the window - slicing her paw up, but shattering the pane so she can climb in.

The vixen's shout in dismay is nothing compared to the shout Rsk gives as he is used as a sort of launching board towards the window. Inside Lutea comes into the living room of a small appartment. Nearby a rat screams bloody murder, wrapping her towl tighter around herself before throwing the door shut to her bathroom. "Burgler! Burgler! Help help!"

Ignoring the occupant, the otter bursts out the door and hangs left to dash down a long hallway - preferring to leap out a back window, rather than race back down the stairs to meet with /any/ of her pursuers, again. This one, at least, she yanks open, instead of breaking. She casts an anxious, panicked look into the crowded street below - it's a long drop. Taking a deep breath, she back tracks several feet and gets a running start - folding her paws and leaping, like a diver, through the opening. Her momentum is adequate enough to bring her to the roof of an empty vendor's stall, and she rolls from /that/ into the street with a heavy 'thud'. Lutea groans, sore from the impact, staggers back upright, and takes off towards the Village entrance. Her life just got a little bit more complicated.