03-02-05

Characters involved: Taye, Buckthorn, Darklett, & Shamus.

Salamandastron: Armory

Though the armory is /less/ of a mess than it was, it's still, well... a mess. Taye is sitting against the back wall, where the shelving /was/ before it fell down. Now, the boards that it was made up of are tossed in a loose pile of splintery goodness. His head thunking back against the wall, Taye sighs. How, exactly, does a dibbun of Audri's size manage all of this?

Buckthorn comes in slowly, his arms free of any rabbits dibbuns. The large hare looks around, stepping carefully over fallen debris. "Goodness." He mutters, landing his eyes on the other buck in front of him. "Need help, mate?" Buck asks, offering a twitch of the mustache. Could it be a smile?

Taye tilts his head back forward, his eyes coming to rest on Buck. His grin is a little on the weak side, but it's there. "Couldn't hurt?" He 'hehs', and pushes himself up. "How's Auree...?"

Buckthorn clears his throat, moving a paw around to the back of his head. He scratches idly, wiggling his nose. "Auree? Well... actually... I didn't stick around." He mumbles, stooping to gather up a few scattered daggers. "Rahier was there... I wasn't... er... needed." The buck seems rather nervous.

Hm. Buck's nervousness results in a wrinkled brow on Taye's end of things. "Well... 'm sure she's fine." Ahem. He shifts his weight uncertainly for a moment, but in the end he gets going, bending down to pluck up two halves of a broken staff. Passing the pieces from one paw to the other, he pads over to the pile of to-be-trashed stuff and tosses it on top. He looks up, suddenly. "Ah - I'm Taye, by the way." Pause. "Wasn't sure if ya knew... that." Yes.

Buckthorn continues gathering up things as well. He glances up at Taye. "Uh, Buckthorn. Nice t'meet you." He replies and goes to put up a javelin that had been tipped over. "Most e'erybeast calls me Buck." The hare adds, turning back and continuing to help. "It's nice t'meet yeh, Taye." His nervousness seems to be washed away with the topic of conversation.

"Nice t'meetcha, too." Picking up a couple of daggers, he returns them to their proper place, pausing before turning back to Buck. "So yer a healah, righ'?" Another staff is plucked up, and he balances it in his paws idly.

Buckthorn nods, looking about the room. He was running out of things to pick up. He goes for a rack of swords that, while they haven't been knocked down, have been jostled greatly. He sets them right one by one, making sure they're secure in their place. "Aye... I am." He says, glancing at Taye. "An' you are...?"

Not a healer, that's for sure. He hehs, scratching behind an ear sheepishly as he looks down at his feet. "Runnah - in trainin'. Don't get the full uniform fer anothah season'r so." He hunkers down, picking up a couple of things here 'n' there.

Buckthorn smiles, his well-trimmed mustache twitch solidly. "Well, good fer you!" He says with a nod. "Y'must be excited." The buck points out, moving away from the sword rack. Everything seemed pretty well taken care of... save the piles of things needing to be thrown away. He clears his throat and breaths in. "So, Taye... wot'cha intah... 'sides running... boxin', sword fightin'?"

Depositing those last couple of things on one of the remaining shelves, Taye grins the smallest bit and shrugs, uncertainly. "I dunno... jus' stuff. Mostly I like goin' fer walks... things like that." Shruggity-shrug. "Nevah really learned how t' box. They're /tryin'/ t' teach me how t' sword fight - with m'trainin'. It's a'right." Heh. XD

Buckthorn scratches his chin, looking down at the younger hare. "S'that so? Well... boxin' is right fun." He says with a shrug. "I might teach yeh some day." He suggests, rolling on his large feet. "But walks, y'say? Like those mehself." The buck says with a curt nod.

Taye grins at Buck's offer, and nods. "Think I'd like tha'." Looking around the now-straightened armory, he 'hmms'. "Looks like we did a pretty good job... someone's goin' t' have t' replace that shelvin', though. Still can't believe Auree managed all o' this on her own."

Buckthorn sighs, shaking his head. "Aye... dibbuns..." He mutters, pocketing his paws. "Who knows? She's ah devilish 'un."

The buck laughs fondly and grits his teeth. "I should probably go check on Dah'rk... make sure 'im an' Auree are ok..." The buck gets nervous again, not at all looking like he wants to follow his own words.

And there's that nervousness again. Taye frowns ever so slightly, and nods. "Aye, sure... ya a'right, though? Ya look a bit... ah. I dunno." He glances towards the door. "A bit like I did earlier, I guess."

Buckthorn looks up, a bit surpised. Why was he so horrible at showing his emotions. "Oh... it's jus'... well, ah'long story. Me an' th' Major jus' dont get 'long, y'see." He says simply, shrugging. The buck glances around the room once more. Nope, everything was in order here. Pity.

"The majah...?" No, he's not referring to Darklett, then. He think blinks. "Oh - y'mean Rah? Really? I've nevah known someone not t' get along with 'im..." Heh. Puzzled does he look.

Buckthorn sighs and hangs his head, looking at the floor. "I know... e'eryone tells me so." Buck grumbles and leans against the wall. "But f'some reason I don'. We're both healers... an' we've managed tah steer clear o' each udder fer months... funny, too. Since he's meh commanding officah an' all. But... turns out now I 'ave free rein wid my life... no beast in th' pah'trol really ordahs me around."

This doesn't help him to look any less puzzled, but he nods nonetheless. "Well... I guess that's good. Ya c'n work yer own hours, 'n' all. More time t' spend with... that rabbit, he's yers, righ'?"

Buckthorn coughs and looks up. "Tuck? Sure is... we were on pah'trol ah few days ah'go... ran inta some vermin on th' beach... th' lil' guy was their slave." He says, growing serious. The buck seems none too happy at the thought of the poor rabbit dibbun. Soon his anger fails though, and he returns to normal. "Right... m'livin' it large.." He says, though it doesn't look at all like it.

Taye shuffles his feet a bit. "Ya could... talk t' Rah, y'know. Maybe try t' work somethin' out?" Ever the optimist, Taye. But something tells him that mentioning Rah's his dad would be a bad idea, just at the moment. Heh. ;p

Buckthorn pushes his ears back with a paw, closing his eyes. "Look... I know... we don't... don't... hate each other, y'know? Things 'ave jus' been.... /awkward/ in th' past." The buck tries to explain. "He's ah top notch 'ealer, an' ah good majah... but we've... we've been through ah'lot."

Something else tells him that getting at what 'a lot' is just isn't going to happen, so Taye resolves himself to wondering, and possibly asking his dad about it later. "Well..." He trails off, and looks down at his paws. "Well. 'M sorry. Wish there

Buckthorn shakes his head, clearing his throat. "Don't be... it t'was mostly my fault anyways." He mumbles and then looks to the door. "We should check up on them... yes?" Buck suggests again, glancing at Taye. Oh, if only he /knew/ what was up between him and Rahier.

Taye looks up, and though he too looks a bit nervous at the prospect, he nods. "Yeah... sounds good." He hehs, "Hope Dark's not still mad at me..." He walks over to the door, and waits for Buck there.

Buckthorn catches up with him, walking alongside him. "Don't worry. If he is, I'll talk to him. Dah'rk is meh best friend in th' whole mountain. He'll lissen tah me." He reassures the other, nodding.

Salamandastron: Infirmary

• -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Salamandastron *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

This is the infirmary for the long patrol. This room is one of the most

well lit rooms in the whole of Salamandastron, with several candles placed

strategically along the shelves and cupboards. Many wooden beds line the

walls of this room, each outfitted with impeccably clean white linen

sheets. This unfortunately limits the walking space in this room. Where

there are not beds there are shelves and cabinets that hold a variety of

different medical equipment, mostly needles and bandages. A single stone

sink is firmly lodged into one of the counters. The sink is not fancy, in

fact it is quite awkward. It is a necessity, nonetheless. An open closet

is in the corner of the room, storing a surplus of compact cots, in the

unusual case of mass injuries. The room usually has several nurse hares in

it, roaming around tending to various injuries.

• -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Visible Exits:

[Out] to Level Three [Herb] Room

Snoozing in an infirmary cot, Darklett rests, lying next to the little squirrelmaid Audri, Audri's doll 'unken clutched in her paws tightly as she appears snuggled up against Darklett. It's cute, really. Darklett's nose and whiskers twitch every once in a while, the result of some random sleep-thought.

Buckthorn peeks in, looking around. He scans the room quickly and steps in, walking a few steps. The large hare moves in, gazing down at the slumbering pair. A smile flickers on his lips and he steps back, not wanting to disturb them.

Taye is following close behind, and so, when Buck stops, he stops as well, and peers 'round the larger buck. Ahhh, they're sleeping. He grins, glad to see that Audri's doing all right.

Buckthorn turns his head, pressing a finger to his lips. "He's ah'sleep." Buck whispers. glancing back down at them. The large buck sighed, wanting to have a talk with the other. Buck... Dark was asleep... Buck turned his eyes back up to Taye. "Well... wot now?"

Tucking his paws in pockets, Taye rocks back on his heels and shrugs. "Dunno... looks like they're a'right, though." He looks around the infirmary, as if expecting Rah to materialize before them. "Wondah where Rah got t'."

Buckthorn winces and lets his ears flop back. "Ah... well... m'sure 'es busy..." The hare says, glancing around nervously. "So we shouldn't seek 'im out 'r anything." Buckthorn says hastily, shivering.

Darklett's eyes flick open quickly. Finding himself staring at a slumbering Audri, he's reassured, and starts to drift off again, but he hears voices in the infirmary. His eyes close, but he's listening nonetheless.

Taye sends a sideways glance at Buckthorn, and tries to hide his grin. "Don't worry, I won't start yellin' for him or nothin'."

Buckthorn nods and sitting on a cot. He didn't come in here often anymore. Buck glances around. "It's nice t'be back in here ah'gain..." The healer says sadly, rubbing a paw across his mustache. The buck has abandoned his usual stoic nature to one of emotions. "Used tah spen ah'lot o' time here... y'know."

Darklett recognizes one of the vocies as Buckthorn, and tries to keep his supposedly sleeping form as best he can, although going back to sleep is going to be a very tough task, now.

"How d'ya... y'know. Heal? If yer not in the infirmary?" Taye sits on a cot opposite Buck's, his legs tucked beneath him.

Buckthorn shrugs, looking up at the other. He tries his best to keep his voice down. "I go on pah'trol... help those 'oo can't make it up 'ere." He says, looking back to Darklett and Audri. "I don't come up here much... since I really don' think I'd be wanted 'ere."

Taye looks down at his paws, which rest in his lap. "Obviously, I dunno what happened between the two o' ya 'n' all... but I don't see how that ought t' interfere with yer work. I mean... it's an infirmary. 'Course yer wanted, Buck." Nod.

Buckthorn shakes his head, pushing himself up. "No. Really. Actually... I probably shouldn't be here at all." Buck says nervously, looking around. "That's why I've been practicing boxin'.... most likely m'not even gonna be ah healer f'long..."

Darklett's ears flick at Buck's last statement... He curses himself for this, but all the same listens all the more intently.

Shamus has arrived.

"So... what? Yer gonna be a fightah, instead?" Taye's feeling just a bit out of his league, here, and looks it as he stares back down at his paws. "That just seems... I dunno. Sad. Ya prob'ly became a healah fer a reason. Ya shouldn't just give it up."

Buckthorn grits his teeth, glancing over at Dark. Huh. He must be having a dream. "No... I became ah healer because I liked it... but it's not worth this..." He mutters, resting his head on his paw. "I dunno... th' only hare in th' mountain I really seem tah get 'long wid is Dah'rk o'er there... an' 'ees ah fighter... I guess I should be too..."

Humming a low drone of Humming, comes form the entryway as another Hare, the new one, as he has been called saunters in. Still no trousers like the others, trying to keep the individuality with his own rustic wear which tunic is tucked into. moving easily enough in his arms small parcels, supplies brought up for the healer's cabinets. A smile rests on The Rock Buck's face as he peers over the top. "All lads, where's this go..." asks Shamus as ears perk a tinge, waiting.

Taye's ears droop somewhat. "Ya really should talk t' Rah. He's not a bad guy... Ya could work somethin' out. Really, ya could." He too glances over Darklett's way, his brow wrinkled. Seems to be sleeping, still. "I-" ... ah. Glancing back towards the door, Taye spies Shamus, and nods. "'Llo." At the question, he looks to, well... Buck, what with him being the only healer in the room.

Buckthorn lets his gaze drop. A few odd glances are given to Shamus, but he instead remains silent.

Darklett can barely help himself from cringing as he hears another beast enter the room... He was really planning on hearing the rest of what Buck had to say... Time to drop the act. Darklett sits up slowly, supporting his weight with one paw on the cot. He rubs at his eyes, and puts his finger to his lips at Shamus, pointing down to the sleeping kit on the cot with him.

Looking from the silent Buckthorn back to Shamus, after a moment Taye points towards one of the counters, "Just... put 'em there. I'll look through 'em latah, figure out where they go." And.. then he realizes that the buck's arms are rather loaded, and he hops up off the cot and over to Shamus, reaching out to take some of the parcels from the top. "Thanks very much."

Shamus raises a brow, looking about as he can, a low grunt and with that he starts towards the cabinets, guessing once again he's descended upon the masses at the wrong time. Low whistles and hums nothing more as he goes to do his work. a nod given to Taye as well as part of a smile "Thankee lad." whispered out as you help him out an such. "Naer got yaer name the other nigh'.." Says Shamus as he starts to set them down on the pointed out counter carefully.

Following after Shamus with the rest of the parcels, Taye sets them down carefully beside the others, and peeks inside one before setting it aside. "That'd be Taye, sah. 'Tis a pleasure t' meetcha."

Buckthorn finally looks up. Seeing Dark awake. "Oh! I..." He says, dropping his voice. "m'sorry we woke yeh." Buck apologizes, halfway pushing himself out of the cot. "We can... leave... sorry." He mumbles, getting up to leave.

Darklett turns around, looking quite surprised to see Buckthorn there. "Oh... no, it's alright. I should be getting her up to my dormitory anyway." He scoops the squirrel lass up, cradling her against him with one arm as he moves off to the cabinet Rahier pointed him to earlier, opening it up and taking out two good-sized crutches for Audri. "...Rahier took care of Auree in your -absence- today."

Buckthorn winces, stepping back. "Dah'rk..." He says, his voice almost whimpering. "Look... I knew... I knew Rah was in here... he's a better... better healer than me." The buck protests, his eyebrows bunching up for a more concerned look.

Shamus nods towards Taye. His paw coming out to shake the other Hare's before looking back towards Buck and Darklett, a slight crease of brows, before he looks back towards the young recruit "Ach, Laddie...Nae need tae call mae Sahr.. Shamus is jus' fine with mae.." a grin to ease then tension in the room. another Look at Dark and Buck, quiet now.

Taye looks back towards Dark and Buck, wincing very slightly at the words exchanged. He looks back to Shamus, and smiles weakly. "Nice... t'meetcha." He says this so softly it's probably hard for even Sham to hear, though.

Darklett closes the cabinet, turning to face Buckthorn. "You're right. He is a better healer than you." A matter-of-fact nod follows, along with more speech. "You didn't -need- to be there at all. So, it's no problem that you left, right? I'd better get Auree off to bed," he states, his voice flat for the most part, making it hard to really guess the full meanings behind the words. However, he makes no immediate movement towards the exit until he's done speaking, and even then his walk is slow.

"Hey now." comes the Big Hare from the back his face still scrunched up slightly. Unlike the recruit, the new fellow isn't keeping quiet. "Yae lay off him mate. I don' kow what went wrong, but if he brought yaer wee one ta another healer, then lay off, or if he had a break it ain't his fault then Aye?" eyes watching Darklett. "The buck's a good hare tae even be sewin' us up....Don' blame him fer an accident." and now hands move to hitch into his belt, watching, yeah probably would have been better to be quiet, but that ain't Shamus's style some of the time.

Taye sinks back against the counter, and takes a step away from Shamus. He's already been the brunt of Darklett's anger once today, so he'll just disconnect himself from the situation. Quickly turning to the counter, he begins unpacking the parcels. Ho-hum, ho-hum.

"Sham... Sha... Eh, whatever your name is, I'm sure I'll learn it eventually. You know, when you become -important.-" Darklett muses, as he turns around with a very unlikely smirk. "But you are right about one thing. You don't know what went wrong, which raises the question of why you're even talking in the first place." And all of this is said very calmly, very smoothly-- Probably because he's carrying his daughter.

Buckthorn lets his ears fall. He trembles and sniffs. The usual solid-type hare was reduced to a broken down heap. He couldn't take this. Not from Dark. Buck bites his lip, finally replying. "Dah'rk... please... I... I..." He tries to say, but fails miserably. Instead the hare turns, busying himself with something... /anything/ on the counter behind him. "Sorry..." He mumbles sadly.

And now both ears quirk, as brows raise a puff that sends whiskers moving slightly, and those eyes narrow. "Listen here Sonny Jim." comes the Hare's voice, quiet and calm in his own anger. he was just lookin out for the buck you were rippin into.Quiet mainly so as not to wake your daughter. "I don' give a flyin' bloody whoop, if yae think mae important or nae. But that lad." a nod towards Buckthorn "Don' deserve yaer scorn, no matter what, if he's yaer mate an all. If Not, He lives here with yae an mae, so treat him with respect that a Fightin' hare deserves if yae won't, what a mate deserves." And Shamus' knuckles crack as he grips his belt tighter before turning to help Taye with the parcels as well.

At hearing Dark's words, and then the beginning of Sham's reply, Taye quickly reaches out to grab at Sham's tunic and kind of tug him over to the counter - but, with a fistful of tunic, he realizes that Sham's already... there. Heh. He keeps his voice low. "Don't worry 'bout him... he's just havin' a bad day." He passes an unopened parcel to him, keeping his eyes lowered.

Rather than stay around to argue, Darklett opts to just turn and leave, but not before getting one more statement in. "Taye? Uh... I was just a little scared earlier, when you had Auree. Never thanked you for bringing her up here, and all. So, thanks. Sha...whatever, I'd advise you to calm down before you break something. And Buck, I'm not angry with you. Just disappointed. I'm off to bed, hopefully tomorrow isn't as..." He finds himself wishing he had some sort of profound vocabulary to describe what he meant, but merely comes up with, "...bad."

Buckthorn simply stands at the counter, trembling. He wasn't angry... he was disappointed. That was worse. Much worse. Buck bangs a fist on the counter as hard as he can, the pure frustration of it all finally boiling up inside him. His paw hurt... but as a whole her felt much better.

Shamus looks towards Taye, nodding slightly as he grumbles low to himself, carefully opening one of the parcels so as to put the right thing in the right area..A look back towards Darklett a noise made, nothing more to the response and back he goes, shaking his head grumbling, in that accent of his.."..I'll break somethin'..."

Taye turns when he's addressed, and, looking from Shamus to Buckthorn uncertain, he then offers Dark a weak grin. "Ah.. don't worry about it. Ya were... y'know. Stressed out." He again looks to the other two, wishing they'd step up and say something, but as it is he tries to look as forgiving as possible on his own. Shruggity-shrug.

Darklett simply holds Audri close to him as he walks out of the infirmary, not at all oblivious to what is going on in the room he leaves. He turns out of the infirmary to go to the dormitories.

Shamus nods looking towards Buckthorn after being quiet for a moment "Aye, that lad, jus seems ta need somethin' tae bae angry at.." a pause as he relaxes for a moment more things moved out and set out on the counter, jars and what not. "Don' take is gruff though..Lad shouldn't bae treatin yae as a levret.."

Watching as Darklett exits, Taye sighs deeply, the day's events having drained him quite a bit. "Sah, ya really ought t' give him a break... Beasts're allowed t' just have bad days now 'n' then." He turns back to the counter, and stares kind of dully at some of the unpacked parcels before picking one up and un.. parceling it.

Buckthorn remians silent, his teeth clamped together tightly. This was too much for one day... much to much. How nice of Darklett to pour more stress on the already wigged-out hare. Buckthorn slumps to the corner of the infirmary, flopping down n one of the cots.

The Big Hare nods slightly "Aye I know lad.." a pause as Shamus looks back towards Taye for a moment passing him a parcel. "Jus..Jus.. Yae shouldn't take it out on yaer mates like that in front o' beasts. Thats what's bad about it. Yae'd think he was dressin' him down for shirkin' duty or somethin' worse. Boyo doesn' need that. Not from his messmates." a pause and he looks back towards the Healer a brow raised as Shamus tries to bring a crooked grin to his face. "Yae alrigh' lad?"

Buckthorn nods slowly, glaring at the floor. Bloody Dark. Who did he think he was, anyways? Insulting his friend, then making him feel guilty. Buck really needed to rethink who his pals were... no one. Thats who.

Well, it's official. Today was awful, for all and everyone. Except for possibly Rahier, with his apparently unending cheerful disposition. XD Finishing with the unpacking of the final parcel, Taye steps back from the counter and turns. "I'm gonna... yeh. Sleep. Night, ya two." He pads trudgingly over towards the door.

Buckthorn lays down on the cot he was sitting on, his jaw still set. "Night." He finally grunts, snapping his eyes shut.

Shamus is still silent when he nods towards Buckthorn, already following Taye out. A look back for a moment "Sleep well lad..If he's yaer mate..he'll apologise." said quietly a smile and then a look to Taye as he goes to walk out with him. "Night Lad.."