Marooned (more or less) (Penny Bone)
After four long and relatively uneventful hours of rowing, the exhausted and disheveled crew of the lifeboat run ashore on a rather expansive beach. The late evening sun is starting to set, throwing brilliant colors of red and orange into the sky. The waves crashing on the surf lend to the lullaby of evening. Lush, tropical, greenery covers what can be seen of the beach and the sounds of exotic birds can be heard as they start to settle down for the night.
"Welp, we're here!"
"Wherever 'here' is"
"Aw, shut up. Don't be so cynical!"
"Cynical?! Do you even know what that means?"
The fox brothers continue to argue adamantly as they crawl out of the boat and onto the beach, not waiting for the others. Rolli, the one eyed vole, looks dubiously out at the tropical greenery,
"Oui dunno abou' this, capin'. Oui neve' liked trees en' such. Mebbe we shoul' 'ead back out."
The little vole scratches his head, pulling out a clump of fur as he does so. Orlop eyes the vole with a look of queasiness, mutters to himself,
"I'm not goin' back out thar', but mebbe we should toss you out." He shakes his head and follows the fox brothers over the side of the boat.
Kazi just dies. Or wishes he did so. It's becoming ever so clear that the young marten has never worked a day in his life. The beast simply topples over into the boat, breathing heavily. "Are...we...there yet?"
The other beasts leave him be as they leap out with a loud splash. After three days at sea none of them wish to be stranded on the boat a moment longer.
"Land! Sweet land!"
Tera shouts as she heads off onto the beach. She falls over and kisses it while Cid makes sand angels. Shaking his head at their displace Kildby the weasel scowls as he says,
"Dissorganized rabble. If I were captain they wouldn't get away with such nonsense."
He glances backward towards the captain behind him and says quickly,
"Er...just hypothetically speaking of course sir!
Juan seems to have made a miraculous recovery from his sea sickness earlier, as he leaps joyously from the boat and onto the beach. He sinks his toes into the still warm sand and shivers with delight,
"Ah! Never before did I think land would feel so welcome!".
Meanwhile, the fox brothers have retreated to the line of the forest and they observe their companions from afar. Vincent elbows his brother and nods towards Tera,
"You know, maybe it's time you settled down with a mate. The captain could do the ceremony."
Fronko gives his brother a withering glare,
"I could say the same to you, bucko! Besides, it should be /you/ to settle down first. You're older"
Vincent raises an eyebrow and huffs,
"Is that so? And I suppose this is the only time I'll ever be able to use me being the oldest as a trump card?"
Fronko shrugs, then grins,
"Most certainly!"
He chuckles, then gets suddenly serious,
"But what should we do about the captain."
Vincent shrugs,
"Did you see the way Tera took charge back there with the gulls? If anything, she should be the next captain."
Fronko nods and the brothers continue to converse. Meanwhile, Orlop gives Kilby a sidelong glance,
"Would ya' now? Why don't you go right ahead 'an try and convince 'em ta to anything ya' ask?"
He waves his paw around the beach, daring the first mate to take up his offer.
Kilby swollows. Standing ridged he waves a paw towards the shore,
"Alright you miserable scallywags. Time to set up shop. We should spread out and aand...and find some fire wood. And a place to hold up for the night before it gets dark."
The weasel waits patiently for his orders to be followed. The only response he gets is from Kazi, he snores loudly from inside the boat.
In anger Kilby drags the marten out by his tail and into the water.
"Kazi! Secure the boat to land!"
He says as he stalks off, barking order at the other beasts to set up camp. Kazi struggles to get on his feet, glaring daggers at the weasel's back.
Orlop smiles contentedly as Kilby goes about the dirty work of convincing everyone to start preparations for a camp. First mates are the best! Rolli starts collecting driftwood along the shoreline, keeping well away from the trees. Vincent and Fronko break off their conversation as Kilby starts dishing out orders. They get stuck with the job of digging a shallow pit for the fire, which the set about begrudgingly. Meanwhile, Juan joins Kazi,
"Need a hand, mate?"
The water soaked marten just glares at the rat for a long moment. After a pause to calm himself down Kazi cracks a smile.
"Sure. Help me drag this thin ashore..."
The marten looks about the island they found themselves on.
"Where ever these shores are..."
Sometime later------------------------
Night decended slowly upon the island. If it wasn't for the fact that they were stranded here Tara might have found the sunset that painted the sky to be amazing, almost as amazing as the night stars that dotted the sky. She always did like the night sky, especially on the ocean. She would just lay back and stare at them as a child until she fell asleep.
But not this night. The fox like so many of her crew mates was huddled in a tight ball, arms wrapped around her legs. There were no songs of mirth this night. The vixen, the pine marten and the weasel all huddled around the fire pit in silence. Only Cid slept easy on the night shore. He snored loudly. "So..." Began the fox. "I did inventory again...mostly for something to do. As far as food goes we are in some pretty sore straits. We have a day, maybe less left, we should also find some fresh water...just to be on the safe side. We also have a couple of blankes two rapiers, and a what ever you lot brought for weapons..."
Rolli and Juan has joined the group around the fire, while Orlop and the fox brothers sit farther back, keeping a loose watch on the camp. At the mention of weapons, Juan reaches into one of his pockets and pulls out a small penknife, saying meekly,
"I, uh, left my other weapons on the ship."
Vincent scoffs at the rat's words,
"Ha! We may be starving in a few days, but at least you'll have a little knife with which to stab and flies. Wonderful."
He pulls out his own weapons; a standard cutlass,
"This here is Maralaid. Unlike that little toothpick, she can actually do damage."
He grins cheekily. Fronko rolls his eyes at his brothers antics and swings his cross bow off his back,
"And I have this."
Kazi leaned back in the sand, paws folded behind his head.
"We may need the fly stabber yet...if there is nothing to hunt on this island..."
The vixen shriveled her nose. "Oh don't talk like that. I'm hungry enough as it is." Tera's stomach growled to prove her point.
"We should get a hunting party together in the morning and go looking." Kilby yawned as he leaned back, supporting himself on his paws.
"We should post sentries for the night. Just...to be on the safe side."
He says off handedly. He is worried he might have to pull an all nighter after a busy day of directing people where to work.
There is a general murmur of agreement at the suggestion of sentries. Orlop speaks up from the back of the group, taking over as captain once again, "Juan and Rolli, the both of you go take a look around up shore. Stick together and report anything suspicious. You two,"
He gestures to the fox brothers,
"Stay up until they get back, then turn in for the night."
The two brothers sigh, but nod their agreement. After Orlop sets up an official watch docket, Rolli and Juan set out upshore. At first they try and make small talk, but soon their voices fall silent as they are consumed by the darkness.
"Have fun with that." Kazi said, giving the departing rat and vole. He stretches himself out, his back to the flames. "Hey Kazi?" The marten stirs at the sound of Tera's voice.
"I just wanted to say...I thought that was rather brave of you to come with us." The fox said quietly. "Thank you for standing up with Juan and the rest of us."
The marten responds only with silence. At first the fox thinks that he has fallen asleep but then he replies, "He reminds me of my little brother." The marten said flatly, rolling onto his belly, "That and it was only a matter of time before they caught me sneaking food from the pantry."
At this the fox's eyes blaze. One shining moment for the pine marten...and he throws it away...Growling to her self she curls into a ball and falls alseep.
Little did the party know that several pairs of eyes watched them from the safety of the jungle. After a short while they turn their attention away from the camp and to the rat and vole out on patrol...
Rolli clutches onto Juan's arm, looking fearfully into the woods,
"You know, oui neve' liked trees. Me uncle Mar'y got 'nabbed 'boui a tree. 'e went inna' woods an' neva' came back. All we 'erd were tha' crackin' of tha' twigs."
Juan looks disgusted that Rolli actually touched him and he attempts to disentangle himself, saying as he does so,
"I'm sure these trees are much nicer. Now get your paw off of me!"
Rolli looks mildly hurt by the rat's sharp words, but removes his paw none the less and rubs his own arms, causing a cloud of fur to fall to the ground. Juan shivers and glances over his shoulder back to the slowly dwindling fire...
A pair of shadows move from the jungle to the beach. They crawly slowly on their bellies, hardly making any noise as they disturb the soft sant below their claws. Their dark soulless eyes barely reflect any light as they move cautiously but purposely towards the two rodents. Just a bit farther...just a few more steps and...
With little warning the two beasts wander close enough to be in range of their weapons. Two shadows in the night leap up, launching bolo's at the vole and rat before charging after them!
The rat and the vole have no time to react. The bolos capture their foot paws and they fall to the ground, but not before Juan let's loose with a rather high pitched shriek that, before this night, he didn't even know he could make. Rolli manages to roll over onto his back, but that is as far as he gets before their shadowy captors are upon them! Rolli lashes out at the nearest figure, but his attempt is dodged with unnerving ease. More figures detach from the forest to join the first two, swarming the two rodents and overwhelming them. As quickly as they had come, they were gone, disappearing once again into the forest; Juan and Rolli spirited away along with them.
Thanks for reading! I'm really not sure how I feel about the way I edited dialogue in this log, so if you have any thoughts, please let me know! The spacing feels a little inconsistent or something.
