Never A Quiet Afternoon

-RW Abbey: Entry-

Oz walks into the entry; he had been checking on the pond and is heading back inside, walking staff in paw.

Flicktail says, "I have a bad feeling Oz, we need to go to the Grasslands and find Marlena"

Oz stops as he sees Flicktail and walks over, "Marlena? Who is that?"

Flicktail asks, "Can you make it with your knee?"

Oz doesn't say anything right away and then nods, "I can probably go that far, long as no fighting is involved"

They head out into the snow to start to look around.

-Grasslands outside Abbey:-

Flicktail Tromps thru the snow as he shouts, "Marlena! "Where are you!”

Marlena is in a an old hut and it shows now just how old it is, the roof caved in and is against the doorway, she coughs and is in a far corner of the home, a blanket around her and a couple things in her paw held tightly.

Oz walks slowly through the snow, following Flicktail as he frowns, "I am not seeing anything out here "

Flicktail exclaims, "A Sparra said she came this way" He tromps around calling out, "MARLENA! Where are ye!"

Marlena does hear the fox and coughs, she calls out, though her voice is a little soft as she is cold, "...Here." It’s sort of loud but not as loud as she could be.

Oz nods, he listens carefully, blocking out the sound of the wind when he can, he looks at the snow for signs of footprints that are mouse like, or anything out of place.

Flicktail says, "I hear her Oz", The fox's big earlike radar he tugs at the door, "Door's stuck"

Marlena is inside the hut, still in the corner, the roof that caved in blocks the door, she sighs and coughs.

Oz walks over to the door and goes to try and tug on it, he frowns, "Maybe..pushes in.." He goes to push the door.

Flicktail asks, "Oz you strong enough to rip out the door? I know badgers are like super beasts"

Panting, Reaper comes sprinting up to the house, he'd lost track of Marlena at the abbey, and then heard that the Badger Father and the Champion had left for her hut and tore out of the abbey like a mad beast after grabbing his weapons, just for in case "Wh..What's goin on?"

Marlena coughs, she manages to talk louder, "Roof...caved in...on doorway..-cough,cough-"

Oz nods "I know Flicktail”, He listens to the mouse maid as he can hear her being closer to the door, he studies the door, "Well we will see how much of my strength is back then won’t we." , He backs up and goes to then run forwards to try and break it down, weather that’s a good or bad idea.

Flicktail blinks "Hello Reap Reap...Marlena is in trouble...I'm throwing a Badger at the problem...”

Marlena frowns, the door does give, mostly and so does a lot of the snow and some roof bits too, she gasps and backs further into the corner and frowns again, well the hut was old and shows it more so now.

Reaper studies the door and the hut intently. "Mom always told me to work smarter not harder, never really listened but let's see here. If we break down the door on a building that is already collapsing it may cause it to collapse all the way, has anyone checked to see if there's a way in on the roof? If it collapsed there may be a way in."

Flicktail says, "If there is room let me in..This fox is snow proof"

Oz shakes off some snow and hmmms, "The otter has a point, we need to be careful."

Marlena frowns, there is some room for one to get to her, maybe, she moves slightly and shivers some, she is cold.

Flicktail Looks for an opening, "You two see if you can figure how to get her out..I'm goin in..Wish we had a Moler" The fox, with thick warm fur begins to very slowly wiggle thru an opening.

Reaper thinks "I'll take that as no one has yet." He starts looking around "So we found a way in then?" He asks and is answered by Flicktail's wriggling into the opening, he looks back at Oz "If I could get that door off its hinges could you lift it, Badger father?"

Oz answers "The door is 3/4 of the way loose, be easy to get off the rest of the way now, we need to make sure they both get out, can’t have two trapped beasts"

Marlena tries to get closer to the door now and falls forwards onto her side and frowns looking at the broken door.

Flicktail Manages to worm in and makes his way to Marlena "Come here Marlena..now you see why I am good at Hugs" He takes the mouse in his arms do his deep soft warm fur surrounds her.

Marlena tries to get closer slowly and then lets the fox get a hold of her as she looks near to passing out.

Oz goes to get the door off so Flicktail has more room, after a tug or two it’s off and is put aside.

Flicktail Gathers up the mouse against his war fur, placing his wool cloak around her as well as he begins slinking toward the door for Oz to grab them both

Flicktail asks, "Anything you need out of yer Hut Marlena?"

Reaper shakes his head at the badger's strength "Wow, Oz, wow!" Reaper starts looking and scanning the fallen roof to see if there is any further danger to getting them out of the hut.

Marlena shivers as she is cold, she manages to shake her head no, she has something in her paw and the blanket, she then passes out in the fox's arms.

Oz goes to get his arms under Flicktails arms and goes to pull him out as the fox holds the mouse maid, he frowns as he hears a noise and takes a deep breath and pulls them out faster just as the hut basically collapse all together, he picks up Flicktail and Marlena, limps as he goes a few feet and then slowly sits them down as he tenses in pain from his knee, he frowns as he looks around and looks back, his staff is in the mess that was once a house, "Oh well..staff can be replaced, beasts can’t"

Flicktail Keeps her warm against him and checks to see what is in her paw, taking whatever it is to keep safe so he can place it by her bed side at the Infirmary

Reaper hands one of his weapons over to Oz, "it's a scythe but it'll work as a staff if you need one, father"

Marlena is still passed out in Flicktails arms

Oz stands, and limps slightly, “I am fine, lets get to the abbey”

Reaper raises an eyebrow, but listens to the badger, staying nearby in case he needs it later

-Rw:Abbey:Infirm-

Oz follows close by, limping badly by the time they reach the infirm and sits down in a chair and sighs.

Flicktail says, "Thank you every beast"

Reaper starts lightly punching his paws together to warm them up... "Everyone okay?"

Oz has a swollen knee now and nods as Flicktail is checked by a healer before heading out of the room, the mouse maid is also tended to, he speaks "I just need to stay off my feet tomorrow, take day off...could of been worse that whole hut almost collapsed on both of them"

Reaper Slips in with a cool, almost minty smelling cloth "Here, put this on your knee. It's something that I concocted to help bring the swelling and stiffness right out of your knee, Oz" , He places it gently on the badger's hurt knee, and sits down.

Oz nods "Thanks, least all is safe now, I have seen...worse before, been through worse when was in the northlands,..mountains." He frowns, "When.." He stops here and sighs sadly.

Reaper is starting to realize that his story is not all that special, starting to. "Where /do/ you come from Oz? What's your story? Least the parts you're okay sharing?"

Oz answers, "I have shared this with others, I am from the northlands in a village called Send,...my parents died when I was two seasons and me and my older brother were adopted by a beast named Silverfangs. Life was ok...even better when I meet a badger named Northstar, we fell in love and wed, had a dibbun and named him Coal,..he was barely half a season when it happen. A very bad snow storm, it made the snow uneven, Northstar wanted to check on her uncle, and I went with her, we were almost at the den when I heard it, an avalanche had started and was coming towards us. I grabbed ahold of a tree,..and I grabbed her paw, but she slipped out of my paw and...her and Coal went off the drop-off, I lost my grip and started to go over too, but somehow I landed on a little ledge 10 feet down, broken arm, leg and dislocated shoulder, but my mate and child were not so lucky, they died that day and I did not."

Reaper looks positively stunned "Oz... I had no idea... I'm so sorry."

Oz frowns as he goes on, “I recovered, wounds did but not emotionally, when I could walk I walked out of the infirm with one thought in mind, even had a dagger, not sure how long I walked but I stopped and was about to..well end my life, but something stopped me, the cry of a dibbun, I dropped the dagger and went, a small campsite with about a dozen beasts...maybe less don’t know, they were dead but one, a dibbun mouse no older than a season or so was alive, I ended up adopting him and naming him Maxtor, he is who knows where now, out on some adventure of his probably all grown up, him trying to sneak south to Redwall is what got me here, I was very over protective of him and at the time I was also a hermit, just me and him, Silverfangs brought supplies once or twice a month."

Reaper is completely speechless at this point. His whole attention is taken up by the badger's story.

Oz is silent, "I suppose could tell how came to live here,..Maxtor wanted to go south, my answer was no, well he put sleeping herbs in my tea and left, I followed once knew what happen and found him here and he got a long long lecture. Anyways at first was not planning on staying, I hated it here so many around and I wanted to be alone again, but someone seeked me out, and didn’t leave me be as the others did...the dibbuns, at first I tried to avoid them, didn’t work, so finally gave that up and let them follow me, told them stories, helped bath them, they minded me ALOT better than the abbey brother and sisters, I..started to enjoy their company, even more so that the adults, the dibbuns called me Papa Oz, well" He smiles "I was offered the job of dibbun caretaker and took it, and now I protect them and love all the dibbuns here and I started to have friends also like Flicktail and Benar and a couple others who are no longer around right now, the dibbuns in a way saved me, I was no longer depressed and grumpy, or hermit like.”

Reaper shakes his head, and if a beast could hear inside it would have probably sounded like marbles rolling around inside a dried coconut. "My goodness, father that is an amazing, and heartbreaking history. I know that I for one am glad to have you around." He smiles ,"But you must be exhausted, I'll leave another cloth like the one on your knee for you, put it in steaming water at some point tomorrow and lay it across your knee until it's dry, it should really help. But for now, sleep, you'll need it to be the dibbun's badger father tomorrow."

Oz chuckles, he does lay down, he smiles some as he falls asleep without saying anything else.