Fun In The Snow!
The day is drawing to a close, the sun setting off in the distance. Redwall stands off proud in plain view of the meadows and glows in the dying embers of the day's light. Snow gently falls from the skies above and settles on the blanket of white that has already covered the lands from the days prior. The meadows though aren't as quiet as one might usually find though as a dibbun bounds through the snow, jumping at the snowflakes that waft down in the gentle breeze. Bear's trying to catch them in his paws, and on his tongue but only seems to miss every time he bats at the sky, though he doesn't stop trying, the young badger's long scarf trailing behind almost like a tail with a mind of its own.
Plodding through the snow and stepping into the meadow from the forest is the not quite back to hulking frame of Dag. The beaver is minus the pack he normally carries on similar excursions, instead he carries a large wicker basket that has cloth hanging over its rim with one paw and his double pawed hammer with the other walking staff style. The basket has a few chunks of rusty stone in it, as well as a few stones of the variety that are useful to a blacksmith. As Dag notices the frantic dashing of the badger he stops and simply watches the young creature.
The badger doesn't notice the beaver yet. At all actually. He's still dashing through the snow, but after a little bit, he stumbles, falling face first into the snow, creating quite a mushroom cloud of the white powdery snow. He slowly sits up and wrinkles his nose, brushing himself off as he stands. "Brr..." he grumbles to himself, tugging his coat closed a little tighter before glancing up to the sky, walking forward without looking, getting closer to the beaver without noticing.
After watching the little creatures antics for a small while Dag has a grin growing on his mug. The beaver stays in place for a little while yet to simply watch. Once the little creature begins to wander closer Dag sets both the hammer and basket down on the ground as carefully as he can to avoid making to much noise, he has an evil little plan forming in his head. The beaver stays bent down long enough to get a double paw full of snow that he begins to pack together in his paws, not to firmly though, then he lobs the white missile at the badger under pawed whilst trying to stifle a laugh.
Bear doesn't hear the beaver's laughter. He does stop though a few yards away, looking down from the sky to see this big white ball fly towards his face. His eyes widen and before he can react, it impacts square between the eyes, knocking him over onto his backside. "Aaaargh!" he calls out as he hits the ground. He spits out the snow that got into his mouth before wiping off his face. "Heeeey!" he finally spots the beaver. "That's not nice!" he says before grinning a little, grabbing a ball of snow, returning the projectile with ALMOST the same force that Dag had thrown at him. He doesn't really know his strength yet.
With his laughter getting the better of him at the consequences of the snow ball that he had thrown Dag does not notice the badger returning fire. The ball of powdery menace thrown by the badger goes POOF when it hits dag in the chin and then we have a white faced beaver. Shaking the snow from his face Dag side steps away from the things he had set down and grabs up another ball of snow, this one he throws a bit harder over pawed saying " Nay et's not nice ta do that, but! sure is amusein! "
The dibbun breaks out laughing when he watches the beaver shake away the snow-beard. But his eyes widen as he watches that second snowball fly in his direction. Quickly he dives out of the way, ending up covered with more snow than the ball would have provided. "Argh! DIS MEANS WAR!" he shouts before burrowing himself under the snow, only to reemerge seconds later, trying to build a makeshift fort to protect himself.
More laughter erupts from the beaver as he sees the badger go face surfing in the snow. When the badger starts to build a snow fort Dag raises a brow, short of making a snow tower he is not going to have much cover soon. So the beaver makes up for it at the moment by lobing multiple snow balls at the base building badger.
Bear didn't really have much time, but he got the fort just as high as he needed it to be to hide behind. When snowballs start raining down on him, he covers his head and hides behind the fort before doing up a pile of his own projectiles. "I'mma get you!" he calls out, ducking out from the side, starting to launch his own attack.
Bear didn't really have much time, but he got the fort just as high as he needed it to be to hide behind. When snowballs start raining down on him, he covers his head and hides behind the fort before doing up a pile of his own projectiles. "I'mma get you!" he calls out, ducking out from the side, starting to launch his own attack.
Now the beavers only choice is to keep just far enough away to make it hard to lead him while not making it impossible for the little fellow to score a few hits. In turn Dag runs back and fourth while stopping occasionally to pick up paw fulls of snow and to toss them back, with the occasional ball tossed up under pawed to arc over the top of the little fort. A few of the snow balls thrown by the badger do hit Dag of course, and leave clouds of snow slowly dissipating in the cold air.
Bear gets hit several times, making him jump. But finally, after getting rather impatient, he digs himself under the snow, trying to get around Dag without being detected. He isn't sure if he makes it though by the time he emerges from behind the beaver, but if he does, he charges with the traditional badger war cry. "Eulalia!" his high pitched voice squeaks out as he runs at Dag, trying to push him face first into the snow.
After a few minuets of not seeing the badger Dag starts to get worried, he thinks he might of hit the little fellow to hard and knocked him out cold. He takes a step towards the little snow fort raising a paw to his face to shield his eyes then stops as he hears the squeak of a war cry come from behind him. Dag has about enough time to plant his other foot paw against the ground to stop himself from falling over from the little badgers impact. However the snow that he had placed his foot on was a crust formed over a small hollow in the ground, and he starts to topple, as a last act the beaver reaches out to grab hold of the little badger, intending to drag the little thing down into the snow with him.
The badger's eyes widen when the stranger pulls him down into the cold, white abyss. But its not really abyss like as he hits the ground, a cloud of snow rising in the air from the combined impact. He just starts laughing before going to try and sit on the beaver's chest victoriously. If the beaver is on his back of course. "Ha-ha, got you!"
The beaver does land on his back side, and to stop the badger from gouging or tearing out any hair he reaches a paw behind the badger to push him into place as he hopes with a minimum of scrabbling. " So ya think eh? now what's a lil you doin out 'ere all by ya lonesome eh? " The badger speaks with a wink and a snow covered grin.
Bear tags the beaver's chest just to confirm his victory before he shrugs. "Plaaayin." he replies with an abrupt nod. "Why are yous out here?" he asks, tilting his head to the side slowly as he wonders. "Wass your name?" he asks almost directly after the last question. "Where you from?"
In answer to the first question Dag points to the things he had been carrying then in the direction of the abbey to the third as he says " I's call meself Dag lil'un, whats you's call your self? an I didn't hear where ya came from either. " Lastly the beaver reaches up a paw and goes to tweak the little badger on the nose.
Bear looks towards the Abbey, tilting his head a bit the OTHER way now only to blink. "Dag huh? Weird name!" he nods before patting himself on the chest. "I'm Bear. I come from...uh..." he points south...and then north. "That-ah way!" he nods, giggling when the older beast tweaks his nose, making him wrinkle it a little bit.
Tilting his head Dag follows the badgers paw in all of the directions that it points. He finally replies " Well 'ello Bear, well do ya know where you're maw an paw is? its awfully cold ta be out 'ere when it gets dark ya know. " This time the beaver uses the other paw to feint another tweak to the badgers nose while really going to flick the badgers left ear tip with the other paw.
Bear nods and smiles. "Hi!" he blinks a bit though at the mention of his parents. "Uhm...I dunno." he shrugs. "We were uh...camping and they got lost." he shrugs. "They'll be here soon though!" he smiles, not realizing just how far away he really COULD be from his mom and dad.
Dag reaches a paw up to ruffle the fur on the badgers head replying " Well then! mayhaps we should wait for em ta come an find ya before we wonder off any further eh? " The beaver does turn an eye in the direction of RedWall, but from where he is on the ground with a badgerling on his chest it is rather hard to see at the moment.
"Um. Maybe." Bear shrugs a bit and smiles before he finally gets off of the beaver, sitting down in the snow with a bit of a plop. "They find me always." he nods a little. "Will be fine!" but the truth is, he doesn't know where his parents are.
Bear nods and smiles. "Hi!" he blinks a bit though at the mention of his parents. "Uhm...I dunno." he shrugs. "We were uh...camping and they got lost." he shrugs. "They'll be here soon though!" he smiles, not realizing just how far away he really COULD be from his mom and dad.
Dag reaches a paw up to ruffle the fur on the badgers head replying " Well then! mayhaps we should wait for em ta come an find ya before we wonder off any further eh? " The beaver does turn an eye in the direction of RedWall, but from where he is on the ground with a badgerling on his chest it is rather hard to see at the moment.
"Um. Maybe." Bear shrugs a bit and smiles before he finally gets off of the beaver, sitting down in the snow with a bit of a plop. "They find me always." he nods a little. "Will be fine!" but the truth is, he doesn't know where his parents are.
Sitting up now that the badgery lump is off of his chest Dag looks down at the thing while thinking of dumping a paw full of snow over its head. In turn the beaver speaks " Alright then! so? now what are we gonna do with ya while we wait eh? " The beaver is about to get up, not that he doesn't mind a good sit, but his hind end is getting COLD.
Bear shrugs a bit and glances around, folding his arms and shivering a bit. "Dunno. Kinda cold." He says after a bit of thought, the badger dibbun slowly standing. "Hungry too." he nods, glancing around. "Do you have any food?"
Standing up Dag nods to Bear and crunches over to where he had set down the basket, he pulls a bark paper wrapped parcel from among the rocky chunks and other odds and ends of the wicker basket. Crunching his way back Dag says " Well not to much, but alil somethin for sure! " there is a chunk of cloven bread and a hunk of soft white cheese in the paper parcel.
( B blinks and smiles when he's offered the package, taking it and unwrapping it, taking some of the bread, cramming it into his mouth, chewing rather quickly. The badger then plops himself down again, not seeming to care how cold the ground is right now. "Thanks Mr Dag!" he says, mouth still half full as he eats. )
Reaching down to pat the now famine faced badger on the head Dag says " Not to fast ya lil ingrate! or ya will get sick ya know? seen a hare or two turn green at da gills from tryin ta bolt to much to fast. " Dag looks up and around with two things in mind, to see where Bears paw prints lead, and to see if any other beasts are about.
The badger huhs and then swallows slowly, nodding. "Otay." he replies, rubbing his muzzle on his sleeve before he finishes off the bread and then the cheese, still eating quick but not as quick as before before he jumps up and glances towards Redwall. "What's that?" he asks, pointing to the Abbey.
Dag bends down to get the last bits of snow wiped away from his basket as he replies " Ya sure ya want ta go in there instead o waitin out 'ere for your parents? an yes there are a badger er few in there, an most o dem is alright enough. " With that the beaver turns to look first at Bear, then back to his tracks that come from the woods.
Bear hms a bit and looks back towards the forest, shaking his head. "They'd go there." he says after a bit. "I wanna go. Can I pweeeeeese?" he then smiles a little bit. "C'mon! Its cold here!" he nods.
Dag grins a slightly worried grin down at Bear and nods to him as he starts to pick up both his hammer and his wicker basket. " Ok then, if ya think that ya parents will know ta head to the place that will be a where we will go. " Hefting the basket up and over his shoulder then gripping his double pawed hammer in the same paw walking staff fashion Dag reaches out the other paw to Bear.
Bear smiles brightly. "Thanks Mr. Dag! Thanks!" he doesn't seem to notice the paw though as he starts to run off ahead, the badger heading for the abbey, waving his arms. "C'mon Mr. Dag! Hurry up!" he says before he dashes through the snow excitedly.
Rolling his eyes at the impatient little scamp Dag starts to trudge after him through the snow calling out " 'Ey! don't get to far ahead now alright? dis 'ere ain't so light ya know! specially after I's 'ad your fat lump crushin me chest! " Dag could move faster, but he is still stiff in places and sore in others that are still recovering from his illness.
