The snakey's been found out...and Auntie is dead. :( or Really, really, REALLY rough day.
Ferravale : Chieftain's Home : Main Room
Blisa the cat and Ferdinand the ferret. Basilisk the whiptail snake. Scioto the cat.
Ferdinand looks out the door leading to the bedrooms, then strolls confidently over to the kitchen door and enters. Blisa soon peeks her head out of the bedroom, looks around, then opens the door and waves. "Nobeast's here. You can come out now, Basilisk."
There is a slithering noise from the bedroom area. Very slowly a large whip tail head appears in the room followed by a wide dark green scaled body. The snake has grown...comfortable to say the least in his new but still temporary home. While the wood-kin beast's diet may not be healthy for the snake it is certainly filling. Since it's better to keep a predator like Basilisk well fed rather than hungry the snake has found himself rather spoiled by the beasts and it shows. "Bassssilisssk..." the now much plumper snake hisses as he enters.
Blisa smiles happily and lays a gentle paw on the snake's head as she guides him into the main room, to over in front of the fireplace. "Would you like some shrimp-and-hotroot-soup? An otter dropped some off yesterday, and neither Ferdy nor I like it." She makes a face of disgust, indicating how much she really dislikes it.
The snake cringes, apparently he likes soup about as much as these wood-kin beast. "Basssillisssk doessss not eat....soup." The snake's head raises to his full height. It is already very apparent what the snake DOES eat.
Scioto comes home about now, he doesn't look in the best of moods and then he sees this snake and it's in his house, his eyes go wide and his sword is quickly drawn.
Blisa shrieks and stands between the snake and her father, arms outstretched. "Don't kill 'im, Daddy! He's a good snake! He's my friend! And...and I sometimes feel like having a scaley bodyguard would be good to scare off slavers, right?" Ferdinand comes running out of the kitchen and hesitates, cringing at the chewing-out he's expecting from his boss. This is going to be interesting...
The whiptail is still young, so it only stands a head taller than Scioto. It is big enough to wolf down a ferret like Ferdinand but with some difficulty. And it doesn't react well to the sword. Swords equals death in Basilisk's book. Standing at its full height the snake coils, ready to strike, and then a small bundle of fluff and fur stands between the snake and its prey/predator. Basilisk can only stand there in shocked silence. No one has ever thrown them selves at a snake to SAVE it before. He doesn't honestly know what to do...
Scioto grips the sword and looks ready to slice the snakes head off, he speaks to Blisa "What!?" He says in disbelief and glances at the body guard as he looks ready to scream, he takes a couple deep breaths as a guard from outside appears..."Sir?"..."WHAT!" Shouts Scioto and looks very mad right now, the guard drops the note and rushes off, the cat bends down and reads the note, "Hmmm...Redwall..yeah yeahh...great the fox...he.." The sword clanks to the floor as his eyes go wide and rereads the note.
Blisa breathes a sigh of relief and approaches her father. "What's the note say, Daddy? I'm sorry about not telling you about Basilisk...I...I just wanted a friend, that's all, and I knew you'd want to kill him..." Ferdinand, however, does not relax just yet. His tail poufs up as he gets filled with unease over what the note might say.
Basilisk stands there in stunned silence. Wood-kin are...very odd beasts. Going from anger to...not anger. Is that...what is that emotion. Wood-kin act like that right before they get eaten. Fear? No...sorrow. Yes. Must be sorrow. The snake decides to lower his head a bit and slither towards Ferdinand. He coils around the ferret in a friendly way, and only so much to have his body resting at the ferrets feet and his head on his shoulder, "Thisss isss the papa cat. Yessss? Basssilissk was told not to go near himssssss..."
Scioto looks at the note a 3nd time and drops it as he drops to his knees, he seems unsure weather to be angry, sad, or what, finally speaks, "She's...dead"
Blisa tenses. "Who?" she asks in a whisper, almost afraid to know. Ferdinand, after stifling a freaking-out fit from the snake touching him, nods. "Yeah. He'th Papa cat. But he'th thafe....I think." He frowns and cocks his ears to hear who it was who died, although he has an inkling on who it is.
Scioto frowns at the note, its going to be up to one of them to read it, he stands and goes to a chair after putting his sword up and just stares out a window, he feels tears and just lets them come, yes he cared, it was his sister...yes she was a slaver and he hates slavers but...it was still his sister and it still effects him about her death.
The snake hisses softly to himself. If the two cats are distracted, perhaps he could get away with quickly scoffing down the ferret. Basilisk decides against it...for now. The wood-kin's already ample feed has made an ample sized snake as it is. perhaps if the ferret were to visit the kitchen more he would make a better meal. For now though the snake merely listens in on the cats.
Blisa is starting to freak out. "Who?! Who died?! Talk to me, Daddy!" She shrieks, then snatches the note from out of her father's paw and reads it. Ferdinand pats the snake's head and takes a step toward the kitten, keeping an eye on everyone in the room. "Blitha..." he murmurs, pretty sure that only 2 deaths would make his boss act the way he is; those of Blisa and Safana.
Scioto frowns still, still in shock maybe at the news, he clears his throat, "The ummm...." He sighs and finds the words, "Your friend can...stay for now." He lays a paw on his forehead like he has the worse headache ever," I ...need..." He groans, stress...first a surprised guest is in the special guest room, then the snake, then Safana's death and...he's passed out!
The snake grits his teeth, fangs in this case. Oh if he didn't eat his own brothers and sisters what would they say of him? acting like a...a pet! Just for some food and a home next to a fire place. The humiliation! Basilisk should kill them all! He will make them all pay! Instead the snake says, "Basssilisk needs cheese bread..." to the departing ferret. The snake then slithers toward the cats, peeking his head up above the couch to see what is going on, "Bassilisssk..." the snake hisses at the comment. It's a ...snake thing.
Ferdinand rushes over to his boss, then growls low and runs as fats as he can into the kitchen for tea things, a wet cloth, and a cheese loaf to keep the snake quiet. Blisa, meanwhile, hasn't heard anything her father just said. As she finishes the note it get crumpled then torn in her paws as she starts to scream. It is a feral, dark sound, like that of a beast dieing slowly, painfully. It gets louder as she falls to her knees, tears pouring down her face, her sorrow evident on her face...even to the snake.
The snake slithers half on half off the couch, He actually looks a little terrified of the kitten. Blasted wood-kin emotions, always getting the better of them. The snake comes closer to Blisa, "Kitten...what isssss wrong?"
Scioto stays layed on the chair, for now not doing anything.
Blisa is sobbing and screaming and rocking back and forth, numb to the world, for the most part. Ferdinand comes rushing back out of the kitchen and sets a cheese loaf beside the snake, quickly reading the note as best as he can while it's still clutched in the kitten's paws. As he goes over to his boss as he answers the snake's question in Blisa's stead. "Her aunt died. Now her father ith the only family the hath left." He goes to bathe Scioto's forehead.
Scioto groans but doesn't come fully awake yet as the cloth is pressed to his forehead.
Basilisk fails to see the significance of this event, but does realize that a happy cat family is all that stands between him and a slow, terrible icy death out side. Might as well make sure the papa cat has a reason to keep him around. "Husssh little kitten." The snake wraps his wide tail around the couch and starts to pet the cat with it, "There issss no need...to cry...every thing will be alright." The snake ignores the bread for now, "You ssssstill have your papa."
Blisa is sobbing so hard she can't move from where she is, much as she'd like to. What she'd really like to do is run. Run away from everything, like she tried to do when she was younger. She tried to run from the darkness of her past, of seeing her mother and baby brother be murdered, of being kidnapped and held captive by an insane fox. She tried to run from everything. But it never worked. It never helped. And she can't right now, 'cause she's sobbing too hard! But the petting of the snake's tail has calmed her screams into something else...something between a wail and singing. It is eerily beautiful, like the song of the sirens of myth. Ferdinand holds the wet cloth to his boss's forehead by reflex and stares in awe at his mourning charge. Where did this come from?
Scioto's eyes flutter open slowly and groans as he comes to.
Basilisk pauses. His eyes widen. Usually the only sounds these beast-kin types makes are shouts of anger or pleas to be spared. This is...this is different. Basilisk can only stare at the small kitten.
Blisa continues to wail-sing, but it's gotten quieter, and is starting to fade into heart-wrenching sobs. But the remainders are still there. Ferdinand is not aware that his boss is awake, all of his attention on his charge and her eerie mourning-sound.
Basilisk leans away from the kitten, not quite sure what to make of her. "That wasssss..." Basilisk shakes his head, now he KNOWS the beasts are getting to him. The snake doesn't finish but leaves his tail next to the kitten.
Scioto speaks quietly, "Need to go to..Redwall. Let..Lorimis and Benar know of gathered...help" He frowns on one name "Marek.." Yes he said Marek was helping, that's right..."And need talk...to" He blinks a few times, headache, "Talk to Nightbreath soon, aid Redwall against Nightfur and his slavers"
Ferdinand nods and hands his boss some tea. "Drink thith firtht. May Blitha and I thtay here with the thnake? I think it would be a good dithtraction for her." Blisa is now sobbing, and has fallen onto her side on the floor, no longer wailing, screaming, or sobbing, just sobbing.
The snake tilts his head to the side, "Out of...curriossity...ssssince I no longer have to hidesss from the papa cat...doesss this mean I am confined to thissss..." he searched for the right word, "Dwelling?"
Scioto looks at the snake as he sips tea, he is still chieftain and sits up better, "You, need to stay here snake, besides...its cold out for snakes and you can not eat any member of this household."
Ferdinand nods in agreement with his boss, and scoops up the kitten, whose sobs are slowly dieing into just regular crying. He hands Blisa to her father.
Scioto holds Blisa close and speaks softly to her "I am here Blisa, I am here"
The snake gives the cat a look of pure innocence. Which is impressive, or maybe not so impressive since he is a snake, "I sssswear. No one in this.... household will be... harmed by Bassilissk." The snake grins widely, showing off his fangs.
Ferdinand glares at the whiptail snake. "That better include me!" Blisa hides her tearstained face in her father's shirt and cries softly.
Scioto holds Blisa close and sighs, " Things will be ok, it will"
The snake chuckles at the ferrets statement. "Any beassst in thisss nessst issss ssssafe..." The snake grins again, he never agreed to beasts 'outside' this household. "Are you feelin'ssss better kitten?"
Ferdinand frown, clearly not happy with the wording of that sentence, but decides to let it drop for now. Blisa, whose tears have basically stopped now, shakes her head in answer to the snake's question, her face reflecting her heartbrokenness.
The snake tilts his head again to the cat. He moves closer, there isn't much the snake can do though. Comfort is NOT a word in his vocabulary. "Are you...alrightsssss..."
Blisa shakes her head and sits up, trying to not start crying again. "I...my...Aunt Safana...is dead...and I'll never see her again..." she hiccups as she holds back a sob. Ferdinand sits down and sighs. "Did you ever have anyone you loved, thnake? Thomeone you didn't think you could live without?"
The snake stares at the kitten blankly, "No." He says flatly. Probably not the best answer he could give so he continues, "Losssss of a loved one...is painful...but in the end. Life goessss on. You will move forward...the pain will ssstop with time..."
Blisa blinks and sniffs. "Are....are you sure? How do you know that?" Ferdinand nods, then stands and picks up the cheese loaf that the snake has abandoned on the floor and starts to take it apart thoughtfully.
The chuckles to the cat, "You are ssstill alive? Yessss? Sssseee...you will keep doing ssssoooo. Bassssilisssk knows," Basilisk turns his attention to the ferret. At first he is offended that the creature is eating HIS food. Finally the snake decides that it might go towards making the ferret a tastier meal later on.
Ferdinand isn't eating the loaf. He's just pulling it into smaller pieces. He sets the pieces down and picks up his charge. "You need to wath thothe tearth away, honey..." He murmurs, acting very much like a big brother more than a bodyguard. Blisa nods and pats the snake on the head as they walk by. What a rough day.
Thanks for reading!
Groups:
