08-08-06

Characters involved: Darklett, Taye, & Tranbuck.

Salamandastron: Training Room

"...a squirrel, no tail... She's got dark fur, almost like mine, named Audri?" Darklett sighs. "Thanks." And goes on to the next group of hares. "Any of you seen a squirrel, no tail, dark fur like mine, named Audri?" All answer to the negative, and he sighs again. "Thanks, sorry." Slump. The major looks around the room, resting on the short archery targets, then going down to his belt. With a quiet grunt, he starts walking towards them.

And who could already be standing there? Why, it's Taye! Arrow after arrow thunks into the target, but the spread of hits would seem to suggest he's not aiming for the center. They form a loose semi-circle, so far, around the outer edge. He's amusing himself.

Darklett's ears twitch as he notices Taye already taking up one of the spots at the short range. "...Hey," he almost grunts out as he walks up next to him, looking at the target riddled with arrows. "Nice shots."

Darklett's appearance nearby distracts Taye, and the arrow he was in the process of firing flies wild, striking not the target but the wall above and behind it. His brow furrows, a soft 'tsk' sound made with his tongue to the roof of his mouth. "... Well. 'Least it didn't mess up the pattern."

Darklett's brow furrows, and he drums his paw against the prep table. "Oops. Sorry. Hey." Dark looks to the other, leaning sideways into that table. "Have you seen Audri in the last couple days?" The way he asks it is so forced its intended casual tone is completely lost.

Tranbuck quietly walks into the room.

"... Uh. No. Haven't seen 'er. Why?" He pauses, turning halfway to face Darklett, dangling the bow from a paw. Squint. Questions of Audri that sound like this are /never/ good.

"I haven't, either. Think she's gone again." Grumble. Darklett looks toward the targets, and takes out a knife, then another. "Probably gonna go look for her, or something." Toss, and... Hm, slightly off from the bullseye. The second knife is tossed and hits a little more off to the side, the major's paw going to his opposite side and rubbing there tenderly.

Taye watches the flight of first one knife and then the other with increasing surprise. He glances to the side at Darklett, eyeing the side-rubbing curiously. "... Maybe she's just... Halyard? Um. You a'right, there?"

Tranbuck heads in the direction of the weights. Going to about the middle of the row, he lifts a weight experimentally. Nope. He tries a heavier weight. Smiling, he takes its twin in the other paw and throws a few practise punches. Good. He goes into a 'duck 'n weave' routine with the weights, first towards one wall, then to the other, a light sweat breaking out on his forehead.

Taking a big breath and eyeing the target carefully, Darklett drops his paw from his side as soon as he hears Taye's question. "Ye-... No. Still not alright. Getting a little better." Apparently done throwing, he starts walking towards the target. "She could've told me if she was going, but I'm gonna check there first."

Tranbuck places the weights back in their row and walks to the padded area in the southern end of the room. He puts his arms straight out to his sides and closes his eyes. Taking a few deep, slow breaths, he flips over backwards. Unfortunately, he overbalances on his landing and falls heavily on his back with a quiet cry of dismay.

"I'll ask around, too. M'sure she's just run off without thinkin' about it." Because the alternative is unpleasant to think about, of course. The quiet cry of dismay nevertheless reaches Taye's ears, and he sends a glance Tranbuck's way and arches a brow. Hum.

Darklett pulls the knives out of the target, about to continue in that vein, but his ears flick at Tranbuck. Hum, indeed. He pads toward the prep table and steps around it. "...Is he alright?" Another ear-flick. "...Wait, nobeast is around him. What happened?"

Tranbuck gets up and shakes his head, as if awoken from a daydream. He abandons his attempts to flip and takes one of the practise swords from the pile and starts gracefully attacking the mannequin. After a few hits, however, the sword breaks clean in half. Hm, unlucky. The end bit spins off and impacts with Tran's right paw with a sickening 'crack' noise. Fortunately, he's left-pawed. He drops the handle and clutches the paw to his torso, this time an actual cry of pain tears itself from his lips.

Eeeeer. Taye's eyes pop open wide and he looks from Tranbuck slowly around to Darklett, eyebrows raised. "M'thinkin'... padded rooms. Nicely padded rooms." He glances back to Tranbuck, then.

Frown. "What the..." Darklett shakes his head and puts both throwing knives back in his belt. "Hey! You alright?" he calls out across the training room, brow quirked in a sort of amused vague concern.

Tranbuck hears Darklett's call and looks up. 'I think mah wrist's broken.' The aforementioned paw is held at a strange angle. No blood, though. At least he won't stain his shirt. XD

"Ya'd best run on up to the infirm, then. 'Least yer leg's not broken, eh?" That's Taye, always putting a positive spin on things. Eh heh, heh. He offers a lopsided grin, pointedly not looking at the bad angle of the paw.

Tranbuck forces a smile through the pain. 'Yeah... I guess so. Fare th' well.' He trots out the door to go to the infirmary.

"Err... Yeah, the healers'd best do that. Don't think it's broken, though." Darklett tilts his head at the paw. "Didn't really do anything to... break it..." He watches the hare leave, and hmphs. "Guess so."

Taye watches Tranbuck head off, shaking his head eeeever so slowly. "Now /that/... is an unlucky fellah." He plucks up his bow, slinging it over a shoulder before he turns his attention once more to Darklett. "Like I was sayin'. I'll ask around."

Darklett hops up to sit on the table, just looking at the door Tranbuck left through, as if waiting for some sort of scream of pain from beyond as he talks to Taye. "I don't know what to do about her, Taye. I just don't know."

"She's got worse luck than that guy, that's fer sure..." Taye looks away from the older buck with a suddenly worried frown. "Lock 'er up. That's the answah."

"Huh. She'll still find a a way, you know." Darklett shakes his head and looks towards the younger buck with a matching frown. "Nothin' I do to keep her in the mountain works. I don't wanna have guards follow her around night and day, and I sure don't wanna lock her up, but I don't want her disappearing like she does, either!"

Erf. "Someone needs t' have a talk with 'er... that's the thing. She needs t' undahstand that it's not just fun 'n' games fer us." Meh. Taye shakes his head, looking toward the door as if expecting her to appear there. "M'gonna talk to 'er. When we find 'er."

"I figure getting her tail chopped off would probably make it stick in her head that isn't fun and games for /anyone./" Darklett sighs, biting at his lip. "I've talked to her countless times before. She doesn't listen. She'll just run off again."

"We'll see about that. We'll jus' see." Meh. Taye shakes his head, looking... unhappy. He hadn't even realized Audri was missing, which perhaps is part of what's making him feel bad. "I jus' hope she's a'right."

"Mmhm. One of these days she's not gonna be alright when we find her." Dark's ears fold over, and he looks to Taye again. "Try to be convincing as you can next time you talk with her. I don't want to have her locked in the mountain, but if I have to, I will."

Not! Making! Him! Feel better! Grr, argh. Taye fidgets nervously, taking a couple of steps toward the door. Fidget! "Maybe I'll go out lookin' /now/..."

Darklett slides off the table and goes to grab Taye's shoulder. "Hey. That's a bad idea, and you know it. It'll be dark out there soon, you'll hardly make it out of the mountain before you can't see anything."

"That's what the moon's for, Dark," Taye replies as he shrugs the major's paw from his shoulder. But he doesn't head any further toward the door. "I'll just start for Halyard, s'all. It's only a coupla hours, hour 'n' a half if I run it..."

Arm dropping to his side as it's shrugged off, Darklett narrows his eyes towards the exit of the training room and sighs. "...Well, make it a couple of hours, 'cause I'm coming with you."

Taye glances back over his shoulder with squintily narrowed eyes. After several seconds, he dips his head in a nod. "I'll get m'pack. Meetcha at the niche." Without another word, he turns and jogs for the door.

"Yeah," is his response, following Taye out the door and heading for the niche. He's got everything he needs on him.