An Ill Wind and a No-Good

Stubb, Erebos, Carn, Marandus, Sandy, Dangeon, Floten

Location: Marshank

(Sometimes Club) — Feb. 12, 2012

Winter has sprouted fangs. The cold today is sharp, and the coverlet of cloud has been pulled back to reveal a bare blue sky outside. Stubb throws a peevish look at it through the kitchen window. A hairline crack runs down the length of the glass, colonized by a vegetal clot of mossy growth. It was only by rubbing its dirty surface clean that the weasel could see through it at all. With every burst of wind, the pores of the whole building seem to open, letting icicles of winter cut in through the hard-won warmth radiated by the cook fire, and this window in particular is causing trouble. Stubb tears off a piece of rag and wedges it into the corners, hoping to stem the flow.

Although Stubb is inhabiting much the same place as Erebos, the lizard pays him little mind, and certainly does not join him in his weather watching. He's far to busy to stand and look about idly, besides, why would he want to move closer to the cold? Instead, he has taken up a position in the center of the room near the firepit, his great fur coat now stained, and attacks a nearby chair, wrenching it apart into a great pile of firewood. The chair seems to be the second thing he's dismembered today; besides him lies a swatch of hide, fur side down, and upon it several lumps of meat, waiting to be cooked. Between the repeated crack-splinter-clunks that come from the poor piece of furniture, Erebos spares a cursory glance at the weasel, tongue flickering at every new draft the blows through the building. It tastes like stone and mildew and rotting wood, but over his stay in the fort the lizard has become used to this.

Carn comes in, his plaid cloak wrapped about his shoulders, claymore on his back as always. His finger still has a small bandage on it from his unsuccessful knife game. He steps up to the fire, warming his paws, "Good day ta yew, Scaly," he says with a hint of a grin.

Stubb glances at Carn without much interest, then turns back to the window to evaluate his work. One of the rags caulking the frame falls loose, and he irritably jams it back, his lips forming a curse. His pet rock watches stonily from the countertop.

Attracted by the sounds of other active beasts Marandus shrewdly pokes his head around what remains of the door frame and peers into the room, the bird pays little mind to the cold so long as hes out of the worst of the wind. He studies the others present in the room as his eyes poke around the enclosed space of the kitchen. At one particularly loud snap from the chair Erebos is demolishing he shakes his head back and fourth in surprise and makes a slight cackling noise as he eyes the lizard.

Having taken mostly to herself in the days gone by, Sandy was keeping out of the way of others, with very little, if anything, to say to them. And at the moment, she was doing what she now did best - keeping quiet, idly scrubbing at a ruined plate without really thinking about it. It may have seened that she was off her rocker, but when she talked, it was clear she wasn't.

Stubb pockets the little rock and withdraws from the window, having given it a final, half-hearted nod: his stamp of approval for a job done well enough. He turns toward the cackling bird, and his brows immediately knit. "You don' 'ave nuffin better ta do dan spoi on us earf-bound beasts?" He's down to using just a cane to aid his convalescence, and it gives him an air of crotchety authority. "You lot are sappose ta be good at buildin! Make yorsewf useful!" The weasel briefly eyes a pile of last night's dishes.

Stubb looks back at the beaked miscreant. "No shortage a jobs ta be done, wha' wif dis place fixin' ta fall on our 'eads any momen'."

There's a clamour of a wooden cup escaping somebeasts paw and rolling on ahead. Indeed, it's the cup that arrives first, spilling not a drop- it seems to have been bone-dry for a while. It rolls across the room and halts near a wall. "Oi! Y' bally well get back here unless ya're leading me t' m' booze! Somebeast, apprehend that bloom'n vessel! 'S trying to desert!" Dangeon sort of bursts her way into the kitchen in hot pursuit of container. She blinks, then greets with; "'Scuse me. 's anyone, eh, seen m' friend? He's hard t' miss; wooden, about a paw tall, kinda hollow?"

Marandus Points his attention away from Erebos to Stubb and merely cocks his feathered head sideways at the weasel and cracks his beak open as if to speak but he closes it a moment later with a soft hissing whistle. After which he shuffles backwards slightly so that only his head, still tilted and staring at Stubb hangs around the door frame. The gull turns his attention briefly to Dangeon as the hare passes but quickly returns his eyes to Stubb there after.

Carn, having not moved much from his original position near the fire, turns to face the gull, "Och, 'o's dis den?" he asks, indicating the unfamiliar bird. "We find some otha' lowlife ta use up our already meager supplies?"

Sandy closes her eyes, and continues her unwinning war on cleaning the permanently-damaged and filthy plate. Not planning on talking to anyone, unless directly spoken to.

The sudden influx of beasts doesn't rub Erebos the right way, but he sparse them his most cutting of glances, except for the squirrel and hare. Dangeon warrants a sneer for some reason, but only in passing It is the moniker of 'Scaly' that truly makes him scowl. His blank black eyes follow Carn's movements until he crosses in front of the fire, tossing the newly made tinder into the pit. Only then does he turn his attention away. The sound of talons scraping against the stone floor is much like nails on a chalkboard. At length the claws circle around the shaft his javelin, and with a swift motion, he stabs the weapon downward into the meat. There's no ovens or stoves for him apparently. Food goes straight over the fire. Perhaps the amenities of the indoors are completely foreign to him.

Stubb levelly meets the gull's eerie stare--or tries to. Just as the weasel is opening his mouth, a little creature bumps into his paw: wooden, about a paw tall, entirely hollow. And quite dry. The impact sends it backtracking a few inches, then it topples onto its base. "Oy, lady. Jayne, fancy you comin' out a hoibernation jest as our liquor supplies is mysteriously deple'ed." He's stuck with the pseudonym he first knew her by. Old habits. "Dis it?" He deftly lifts the vessel on the end of his cane and offers it to Dangeon. "Guess even yore wooden friends ain' used ta you sober."

Alright then. Nobeast seems in such a good mood. She actually responds with a winning smile for Erebos' sneer. And then gives a little jump forward as she's offered her cup back. "That's the fella! ... Wait, depleted?" The hare eyes Stubb suspiciously. "Well it bally well wasn't me. Feel this cup! 'S drier than Amos' cooking!" She leans in then, conspirationally. "Ya wouldn' happen to have any idea of when they'd be... 'pleted' again, would y', Stubby?"

Once Stubb looks away from Marandus, the gull shifts his body around to the other side of the door frame and peers over to Carn this time. He levels his head at the squirrel as he backs the rest of his feathery bulk back out around the door frame and out of sight. He makes a further cackeling sound at mention of himself but otherwise he keeps his silence for the time being.

"If oi knew that, oi'd be a happier beast boi far," Stubb says grimly. "An oi'm afraid we're runnin' low on water, too. Bin boilin' seawater." An involuntary grimace mars his face. His attention drifts back to where the gull was a moment before. "An dis bird still ain' declared hisself. Seems content ta poke 'is nose in our business at every turn, but don' say nuffin'." He pulls his stone from his vest pocket and squeezes it.

It seems the rag has unjammed itself. The wind kicks up again, sending a noticeable, biting chill into the room along with the noticeable change in pressure. The beams and trusses groan and creak yet again, and the fire billows out, threatening to weaken amid the chill.. the towel ends up on the ground just inside the window..

"We could eat the bird." This solves approximately one problem in her mind, yet Dangeon declares it like it might be the solution to everything. Her eyes have taken on an involuntary widened expression upon hearing of the lack of alcohol and, to a lesser effect, the water; this lends a somewhat comedic urgency to her only suggestion. At the influx of cold air, her fur bristles up. Great, now she's wide-eyed and fuzzy.

Sandy glances up from her plate for the first time in a half-hour - noticing the sudden cold and loss of light. Dropping the plate (which shattered at her feet), she folded her arms. "Who's going to light it this time?" she asked; she certainly didn't sound like she intended on lighting it.

Erebos remains characteristically silent, the javelin balanced on a knee, the impaled flesh rotating slowly over the fire. That is until the wind buffets the flame. The lizard utters a low, deep word, the language unrecognizable, but the tone identifies it as an oath. "My clawz are full. Buzhtail, you are ze clozezt. Ze ozer bird catchez feezh from a ztream. Zere muzt not be a zhortage of water."

Stubb chuckles at Dangeon's suggestion but leaves it at that. "Looks loike it relit i'self, ma'e," he responds to Sandy, nonplussed. Indeed, the fire was weakened only momentarily by the gust. He mutteringly puts the rag back, poking it into the gaps around the edges of the window frame.

Carn shrugs at Merandus' apparent unwillingness to speak, turning back to the now diminished fire, shivering just slightly. "Och, I'm begginin' tew agree wit' Scaly, dis winter's too cold fer my tastes. Besides, why're we even 'ere if we're jus' starvin' an' freezin' ourselves ta death? Why not go out in da woods, where we cain at least get sum food an' firewood." he shakes his head.

Marandus Backs further from the doorway as he hears mention of himself being used for a source of food, his webed feet make quiet scratching sounds as he steps back in the momentary gloom. From his now lessend point of view he looks down the center of the room watching the fewer number beasts in turn ocasonaly preening an erant feather.

Sandy watches the fire quietly. With her paws free once again, due to the broken plate, she didn't seem to have much other to do but join the others. In whatever was really convenient. "Who's bright idea was it to stay here for a whole damn winter, anyways?" she asked, sounding a little miffed. "We could have done so much better had we headed for some place that isn't an abandoned pile of firewood and rubble!"

Dangeon winces, ears splaying as Sandy breaks the plate. "...Noisy." She mutters, mostly to herself. She watches Erebos and then listens to the various complaints and talking. "Beh... Every bally time we stay where beasts live sombeast sets the bloom'n' guard or an army on us... It may be a freezing, desolate, wasteland of a ruin with no food and no water and no booze bu- Oh. Well, y'know," She pauses, looking forgetful. "I'm sure the point I had was going to be a /jolly/ good'un, so... Hurrah!" She grins anyway.

The rag. It has a life of its own... the thing is again on the ground the moment nobeast was looking directly at it, though again it could have been the wind - right? The wind is stronger, this time; it sets the chandeliers out in the mess hall rattling and swaying, and loose boards banging rhythmically in the upstairs space like somebeast who forgot their effects from long ago knocking to get them back. The fire is again threatened, but there's another sound.. scampering?

"Ay? And 'oo's keepin you here, eh?" Stubb barks at Sandy. "Who asked you ta tag along? An' don' you got a troibe ta go back to?" he adds, looking at Carn. "You ain' bloody slaves, neiver a ya. Be glad you go' walls around you, an dat we ain' go'--ay, wha' she said," he nods in Dangeon's direction. "We was chased, better part of a year, princess." He snorts. "Tha woods. The woods! Fraid of a gust a wind an' 'e talks a tha woods." He falls quite and begins to cool down, but he overlooked the fallen rag in the midst of his anger. "Oi'm bloody stayin'," Stubb says in a chilly tone. "We jes'--we jes' need ta resupploiy is all." He nods. "Head ta Collinsel an' resupploy."

Sandy folds her arms and huffs. "Stay. STAY. You're a damn fool, if you ask me!" she shouted irritably. "You want to stay in a place that's liable to fall down on your head in your sleep, where damn foxes are bound to pounce you and cut your head off to slam down on a pike, that's like DAYS away from civilization to 'resupply'! You're a fool! A damned fool!" she shouted angrily. Perhaps the stress was getting to her, but it seemed that today wasn't the day to snap to Sandy...

If there's one thing Erebos likes less than hares, it's scatterbrains. And to see one beast that is both things causes a noise that rumbles up from his stomach, boiling to a hiss in his throat before he quashes it. The second gust causes him to duck his head into his collar. The argument that is beginning to wrack the room does not interest him in the least. It is only the fire that he looks at, and it makes little noise, allowing his ears to catch a scritching in the background. his head tilts, putting his earholes in better position to listen.

Carn scoffs, "Yer, sure we got walls, but dere's more holes in these walls den in swiss cheese. Hardly a protection from the elements, if yew asks me."

Marandus Blinks and shakes his head a further time as the fire flares back up then creeps back to the door as he hears Stubbs dirge and pokes his head back around the door frame to listen. He still keeps his silence for the time being.

The doe is delighted with the reminder of being chased that Stubb provides. "..I knew I had a point!" Dangeon exclaims, pleased, then shudders at the cold. "We've got t' stop openin' that bloomin' thing..." She moves across to fix it.

Stubb seeks calm from his pet rock, which he nestles in his palm.

Sandy glares between the two. By now, she was more or less seeing an idiot and a drunken idiot, more than likely doomed to die in a dump like Marshank. She had a strong urge to give the two of them the biggest row she would ever manage, but she felt there were too many beasts about. Even though it would probably hurt their dignity, she wasn't that low, so she just settled for, "Idiots..."

In the window, staring right back at Dangeon, is a rat. Floten keeps his eyes on the doe for a while, an evil grin pressing into his ugly features, as the wind buffets his cloak, sending up its tattered and wormholed end, level with the creature's neck. He blows her a kiss, wiggling and waving the digits of a paw at her. He winces a moment when the wind assails him, but he wraps the cloak around his neck as a scarf, his garments seemingly warm enough by themselves. He peers beyond her at the contents of the room...

Stubb reaches over and nudges Dangeon with his cane, oblivious to the appearance of Floten. "Whatta you reckon we could get for her in Collinsel? Moight as well get some money out a her if she ain' provin' useful around 'ere."

Not entirely a stranger to hallucinations, Dangeon smiles politely at the rat as she closes the window. It's a few more seconds before she registers what she's seen. "Hm? She'd need t' lose the tongue first..." The hare is lucid for a moment before she's frowning and looking back out of the window. "Who is that?"

Sandy glared even harder at the two; she had a dirty feeling she knew what they were talking about. Promptly, she grabbed her cutlass, drawing it. That was about all she did, though.

The guttering fire has recovered once more, and the smell of cooked meat permeates the room. While the flank selected, bankvole, if anybeast was curious, has begun to crisp around the edges, its flop and the squelching sound it makes as it is tugged from the spike lets all in the vicinity know that to the average epicurian, the cut is still raw. Erebos hardly seems to mind, and he tears the rodent steak in two with his needle teeth and muscular mendible. He chews a few times, and then swallows, the food sliding down his throat in large lumps. A sharp appraising look trails from Stubb, to Dangeon, to Sandy, and then back to the doe as she spouts a non sequitur.

Marandus Eyes the rat on the other side of the drafty window pane from his current place in the doorway, then after a moment the gull takes a tenative step into the room and looks intently into the fire before starting towards Erebos slowly wadeling side to side across the cold floor. He selects a spot that gives him a clear path towards the entreyway door and starts to settel down there a few pace lengts from the lizzard.

Despite his support of Sandy, when she draws her weapon his paw moves up to his claymore hilt, not that it would do much good. The room is too small to swing the massive blade, at least without decapitating every other beast in the room. "Easy dere lass, sure we dinnae agree wit' 'em, but let's try tew avoid any bloodshed." this is strange, considering he seems like the type that wouldn't mind bloodshed.

"I's a rat," Stubb says dully. "A dead one, if 'e don' get out a that cold." He mirrors the creature's menacing grin, mimics the undulating digits. "An a dead one if 'e trois ta get in."

Sandy glanced over to the other squirrel, before putting her cutlass away. She was still noticably mad, and looked prone to snapping at the smallest thing anymore. "I just got OUT of slavery... If those two bastards try to put me back INTO slavery, I swear, I will behead them, then gut them, and leave what's left to the crows!" she said, voice trembling with... who knew what. Anger, cold, fear? It could have been any of them by now.

The rat takes a quick tally and then looks back at Dangeon, a paw slicing across his neck threateningly. He presses his face comically up to the glass, making his grotesque, bloated face even more so, and then... well, pulling away, the rat seems to have trouble. A /lot/ of trouble. He's stuck to the glass. For a moment anyway, before ripping his face from the frozen surface painfully and taking out the pane with it. Upon seeing the weakness in the glass, the rat takes the hilt of his sword and begins knocking the panes in, as many as he can before making a retreat...

"He seems bally friendly, 'oever 't is." Dangeon comments idly, while her ears catch Sandy's ranting... and provides her with a fit of giggles which end with "...Drunk crows. Hee." The idea seems to amuse her. And then the rat is... being very, very odd. Definitely not a hallucination then, even if Stubb hadn't confirmed it before; hers are entirely more sane. "... A little overly friendly! Get away y' window-kissin' nutcase!" The hare moving back as the vermin starts to vandalize the place. "Well. That's just bloomin' rude, that is."

Carn finally catches sight of the rat in the window, and his brows knit together, "Erm, dew we jus' kill 'em?" Not much to say, but hey, he hasen't killed anything in a while, not since all these vermin became his 'friends'.

The tinkling crash of glass breaks Erebos out of his gory reverie, and he tosses the other half of the flesh into his maw, having no trouble swallowing It whole. Hunger thus quelled he rises to his hauches, giving the gull a curious look before he moves closer to the window, bloody claw flexed to keep his talons bared below the hem of his coat. One or two glances are thrown over his shoulder to check and see exactly what the bird is doing, before he cranes his long neck over Dangeon's shoulder, face pinched with distaste at the proximity they are in, and peers outside to spy the rat. His serpentine tongue flicks over his lips, wiping away spots of meat.

"Ratz geeve more meet zen volez..." Erebos observes. "You zay we are zhort on food."

Marandus Quickly turns at the sound of the shattering glass and raises his body off the floor and throws his wings up as if to take flight faning the fire about as he does so. He focuses on the comotion around the window for a bit longer then folds his wings back to his body slowly as he gazes about at the other beasts in the room to gauge thier reactions to the disturbance, especialy Erebos.

Cold storms into the room like a barbarian army unleashed into a defenseless city, and Stubb is caught momentarily breathless. "Ay, best we get it done wif quick." Any animosity from earlier has evaporated like heat from a room. "Bird--you wanna make yoresewf useful? Keep tha rat in soight." He pats his sides. "Best oi get a real weapon, though oi can' be much good wif moi leg loike it is..." He looks around. "Oi'll shout ta you from tha walltop. An' rouse 'gus, if oi can."

Sandy snorts and remains quiet now, looking ready to just leave the whole lot of them to be killed by the vandalizing rat. The comments about it seemed to piss her off more. "He's going to FREEZE us to death, you long-eared idiot!" she shouted, storming off towards the longhouse's hallway.

Dangeon leans toward Stubb. "I think she's mad at you..."

The hare... doesn't seem entirely bothered by Erebos there. At least, not like she should be. Perhaps it's having gotten used to Angus, she's not seeing the threat, or perhaps she's just not quite right in her brain. "Y' mind backing up, ol' chap? You're meal's kinda drippy and this is m' best outfit..."

Carn is not really sure what's going on here. "Why 'aven't we killed 'im yet? 'E's a strange rat that we donnae have the food tae support, not tae mention he's broken our window." he eases the claymore out of it's sheath slightly, loosinging the blade to be ready for any action.

Marandus Casts Stubb another tilted glance and holds the weasels face in his eyes for a moment before emiting a peirceing cry and hopskiping towards the doorway in a featherey dash. He slides out through the door frame and makes for the outside where he can take to the sky and watch for the rat.

Stubb is already on his way out, headed for the walltop. "Get movin, then," he shouts to Carn and Dangeon.

(Floten grins at the attention offered, though he seems to know there's no use in trying to track or kill him. The rat only has to get outside the fortress, though he wastes no time scurrying back to his escape point - a graple with its roped end tossed over the inside of the wall. He scurries the short distance to the ramparts directly behind the longhouse, gripping the rope and keeping an eye on the bird...)

"Eef you 'ave a problem, I zuggezt eet eez you 'oo movez away, not I. By my azzumptionz you are eell eequeeped for a fight." Erebos drawls, all the same wiping the volejuice from his bottom jaw. His translucent lids slicking over his eyes furiously to keep them from drying in the bitter chill of the outside, he pushes his head further towards the window, before whipping away with a disgusted noise upon seeing the rat retreat. "You want to be ze firzt to fight, buzhtail? /You/ go outzide eento ze icy wind and 'eave about zat overzized zword os yourz." The lizard is one to talk. His scimitar nearly matches the claymore's size. Though it looks more proportional strapped to his back.

Carn needs no second bidding by Stubb, though he does glance back at 'Scaly', "Och, dinnae worry, we'll be back soon. Yew stay nice an' warm in here." he says mockingly. before going out towards the ramparts

Dangeon frowns at the lizard. "What d'ya bally well mean? Who are y' callin' a bally 'eel' anyway?" She sighs and then starts to give chase too. She only draws her weapon once she's outside. "I s'pose Angus' brother's got a point; short on food, we could use tha' rude rat..." She follows the squirrel.

Marandus Makes his way outside skittering to a stop just past the entery way to get turned against the wind, then with a hop skip and a flurry of flaping wings the gull takes flight and starts winging his way up above Marshanks walls. As he starts to circle up around the inner walls he wings over the Kitchen searching for the rat.

Carn walks along the well weathered stones of the ramparts, claymore drawn and swinging slowly at his side, looking for a certain rat as well.

Dangeon hardly appears to be even looking for the rat. She is... but it looks more like she's jut taking a stroll with her sword; there's none of the urgency that the others have.

Floten makes certain he is followed, at least to this point, as this is sort of the point of things... the rat readies the rock he's left atop the wall, next to the graple, squinting down at the narrow alley between the longhouse and the south walltop - he waits for any of them to appear below the ramparts, before spotting Carn already atop the wall. He tries to yell above the wind, though it's easier being the wind is at his back. "Don't come any closer, or your mousemaid friend /dies/!!! The lizard will know who I speak of... make sure they get this message!!!" He tosses the rock at Carn, with the note wrapped about it. The rat grins and takes the rope, standing atop the highest point of the ramparts...

Stubb struggles up the stairs, some distance behind and exercising caution on the crumbling flagstones. The sea has burdened the wind with a residue of icicles that stings the injured weasel's nose and ears; he narrows his eyes against the bracing air. Clasped in his paw and balancing across the hook of his cane is a long, straight rod that he must have retrieved on his way from the kitchen. In his other paw is a short length of rope. He pants up abreast of Dangeon.

Carn gives him a strange look, and as the rock lands at his footpaws he yells back, "Wat mousemaid, mate? We only got one, an' she's loony!" he refers, of course, to Frigg. He advances forwards, claymore gripped on two paws, "Let's have us a noice liddle chat mate." he says.

Marandus Spots the rat as he circles but the gull is to high up soaring in the cold winds to hear the words and so he simply wings in circles above the rats position watching the beast. The cold wind is starting to get to the gull already though.

Stubb whispers to Dangeon, "Oi fink we're missin' somefin'." Up ahead some distance, Carn can be seen shouting into the wind.

Floten is just about to slide back down the side of the walltop... when there's a sharp /crraaaAAAACKKK!!!/ above the gusty din, from the roof of the longhouse... The wind has kicked up a rather nasty splintered plank of wood, the noise-maker from the second gust while they were inside, and it catches the wind and sails about for a moment, before being sent straight at the back of the unassuming rat. Floten stares down at himself--a strange, rosy-hued wood sticking straight out of his middle--and then looks back up at the others, falling straight to a redundant death outside the walls of the fortress. He narrowly misses a sled with a group of vole slaves lashed to it.

"We may be missing somethin' but that something certainly didn' bally well miss 'im, did it?" Dangeon responds, an eyebrow raised at the spectacle. "Can we go back in now? 'S cold out here, Stubb..."

"Oi weren' expectin' /that/," the weasel responds blankly.

Carn walks to the edge of the wall, peering down at the rat's crumpled body as he resheathes his sword, a frown on his face because of it's lack of use. As he walks back towards Stubb and Dangeon, he picks up the rock, takes off the message and inspects it...

Marandus Watches the rat's folly and notes where the rat comes to his final rest, he wings over to the battlements and settles down on the stones near Carn, his eyes look back to where the rat landed. He huddles down on the stone for a few moments to regain a bit of warmth as he waits for the others to react.

Carn hands the paper to Stubb as he passes him, "See what yew cain make outta dat, ah'm gonna go take a nap." no clever pun, unfortunately, maybe next time.

The note reads: "To the rough assembly of creatures recently escaped our stronghold: I, Verahgo, monarch and sole ruler of the newly established Empire of Rats in Ruingate, do hereby decree that you return the hare in your present company to me, outside the gates of Ruingate. In exchange, I will not send my ranks out to execute you one by one. Sincerely, Verahgo Venhashshashin"

"It was anticlimatic. Which is kinda nice. 'S jolly and new." Dangeon shrugs, smiles, and turns around, without asking to read the note. Time to go back into the... well, not the warm. Indoors, anyway.

Stubb smirks. "Wonder if dey got booze in Ruinga'e."

Marandus Lifts himself up and takes back to the air with a flutter of his wings. He zeroes in on where the rat had fallen and lands near the body. The gull prods the body watching it for the moment as he stands out in the grip of the elements. After the gull is satisfied that the rat is dead he hops onto of the corpse and latches onto the rats still flexible tail. With a quick movment the gull fixes one foot onto the rats left arm to assure his grip on the grizzly prize, he lets the wind fill his wings and with a heave of his wings the gull manages to get airbourne. He takes a single circle to gain the proper height then rides the wind down to the long house entry and proceeds to drag the corpse inside.