Redwall RP 10-14-2015 or Fear Angela. Fear her greatly.
RW Abbey: Cavern Hole
This room is slightly smaller than Great Hall, but still of a size large enough to accomodate a great number of gathered beasts. A large fireplace is set into one of the walls, and there are a series of small tables and chairs near one end for beasts who are eating late, or simply prefer the smaller tables for their meals. Cushions and blankets have been set in one corner. A short flight of steps leads up to Great Hall, and along the walls of the stairs, going both ways, the word 'Redwall' has been carved into the stone.
Exits/Entrances:
[G]reat [H]all
[Ki]tchen
Zinnia the badger. Chud the otter. LilyMoore, Angela, and DoraRose the mice, along with Butterclaw the Sparra.
The room is half full as it's the middle of lunch time, Zinnia is here but she is at the far end of the room where she usually sits, away from everyone and eats her soup and bread, she sips some tea today as well. She also has a couple books beside her.
LilyMoore enters, carrying a tray full of food. She looks like she's trying to imitates the hares with the amount of food she has. She spots the badger and makes a beeline towards her, smiling bright as the sun. "Hi, Zinnia!!" She plops down opposite the Recorder and starts eating with a gusto. DoraRose and Angela enter next, discussing something very serious in low tones. The Warrior looks tired, even though she's been back from the tunnels under the Abbey for almost a week. They slowly make their way over to the table where the badger is, not seeming to notice anything.
Chud enters Cavern Hole, his canteen full of water, and a bowl of some kind of soup, surprisingly not shrimp'n'hotroot, in his paws. He occasionally blows on the bowl to keep it from burning his paws. He sits down near Lily and Zinnia, glancing over to the Warrior and the Healer briefly. "Wonder what they're so gloomy about," he mutters.
Zinnia shrugs as she is quiet and eats her soup slowly, she dips bread into the soup and sips tea as she eats. She sighs a little at the fact so many decided to sit close by, but she doesn't complain about it either.
LilyMoore swallows her mouthful of soup and says, "They're worried about the safety of the Abbey. Nana finally got Mom to tell her about what she saw while down in the caverns with the rest of y'all, and now Nana's worried, too." The 2 older mice have gotten some food, and they now sit with the growing group of beasts surrounding the Recorder, and Dora turns to the otter. "What did you think of those numbers? And all martens. I didn't like it one bit."
"All martens...Aye, t'was weird. Seems strange that, if they have such a large force, that they've waited till now to make an incursion. I doubt they were always there...would've seen 'em by now," Chud says thoughtfully, in between breaths on his bowl of soup. "Hmm..." He takes a spoonful of soup. "Ishgood," he mumbles. He swallows, then continues speaking. "All martens. Must be from the north, maybe...no, that's ermine that're from the North...Makes me think, though, that a horde of that size would've been noticed by now. So maybe they have other tunnels and such, other hiding places, and they just now found Redwall. Meaning there...could be even more of them."
Zinnia sighs, she has heard some of what happen from the abbey brother and sister that was down there, she just eats her soup and looks ready to stand up and go elsewhere as the beasts talk.
Frowning, Dora stirs her soup. "I hate to think of what could happen if you're right; the group down there right now could cause no end of havoc. There's no telling what could happen if more should come and join them." Angela sighs and eats her food. Lily has just finished eating when shouts and exclamations of frustration sound out from Great Hall. Fluttering can be heard, then Butterclaw the Sparra flies in. Flying as fast as her can, he ends up crash-landing on the table directly in front of the badger and starts gasping out gibberish. "Lilyfriend! Marekworm! Stoatworm! Isback, but *gasp* memorybye *gasp* byegone! Val*gasp* Valeriefriend vixenworm saytalk *gasp* Marekworm!!"
Chud blinks at the feathery intruder. "Say wot?" He cocks his head to one side. "Guess it doesn't have anything to do with me." He shrugs and goes back to his soup. It's butternut squash soup, with a few other things in [it].
Zinnia tenses as she sees the bird suddenly enter and frowns, she takes the chance to move to a pile of pillows in the corner of the room and picks up her books as she goes over there.
LilyMoore grabs her bird friend and forces him to look her in the eye. "Butterclaw. Calm down. What about Valerie and Marek.....wait, did you say MAREK?!" She looks beyond happy and excited to hear his name. "Where is he, is he alright, can I see him???" The last part of that is directed at Dora, who smiles softly and nods. The sparrow covers his face with his wings and wails, "Marekworm Lilyfriend forgotlost us all!! Valeriefriend vixenworm asksay that Lilyfriend come fastquick, fastquick, because Marekworm can't remember usfriends!!" Lily gasps and looks to her mother, who stands quickly and waves [for] them to follow. "If he can't remember, he might become a raging monster bent of world domination again! C'mon!" The trio leaves, and Angela scratches her head. "Flighty things, Sparras. I never could understand 'em..."
Chud is a bit bewildered as well. "I get what they're saying, but not why they're going." He finishes his soup and takes a swig of water from his canteen. "Wonder if I should go with 'em, make sure they don't get lost in the woods..."
Zinnia looks at all the chatter, she understands but its clear she isn't talking, then what's new she won't hardly talk now it seems. She lays on the pile of pillows and gets a small pouch of hot root out of her robe pocket and holds it as she stares up at the ceiling.
Angela shakes her head and waves a paw dismissively at the otter. "Oh, nah, Dora'll be fine. She can find her way around in the woodlands, usually; it's underground that she gets lost." She eyes the badger suspiciously as she finishes her food, then says, "Oi, Zinnia! 'Tis said that beasts wot sit in corners and gaze at the ceiling need to 'ave their 'ead's checked." She's just gonna push buttons until something happens, 'cause that's what Angela does.
Chud snorts at Angela's proclamation, fortunately he doesn't make water come out his nostrils. "Yeah, underground is weird...had trouble helping beasts get out of there last week. Just...can't go by the sun, can't use moss, can't use landmarks..."
Zinnia slowly turns as she looks at Angela, she fiddles with the small pouch of hotroot and places it back in her pocket again and sits up as she folds her paws in her lap, she listens as she does need to update the logs before their trip.
Angela nods in solemn agreement with the otter, then says, "Never liked bein' underground, meself. I spend so much time tryin' to keep beasts from gettin' buried, I've developed a slight aversion to anythin' that 'as to do with dirt." She stands and slowly stretches, her spine popping.
Chud nods, swigging his water again. "Makes sense. When there's dirt on you, in large quantities, usually it's a bad thing."
Zinnia sighs as she closes her eyes in thought, she stands and goes to head to the great hall, looking down at her footpaws.
Angela glares grumpily at the badger and says, "Oi, Zinnia, c'm'ere. I think ye need some social time. 'Ealer's orders." Yeah, because ordering someone around is TOTALLY going to make them feel better.
Zinnia frowns as she is by the door, she shakes her head no, "No..." She says calmly, now if say Benar asked she would sit back down, but this is not the abbot. She then turns and walks off to either her room or the book binding room, either will be locked once she gets there.
Chud facepaws. "Good try, anyway, mate." He sighs. "Wonder what's up with her?"
Angela sighs, then narrows her eyes at the otter and goes to grab his ear and twist it. "'Er father died, doofus! Did ye not 'ear of Zork's death??" She is a bit irritated right now, and the otter is the unfortunate victim of her rage today.
"Owch! Didn't know Zork had children," Chud says, holding his paws up in self-defense. "Now I know. Sorry, mate."
Angela narrows her eyes and brings her face down close to his, giving him her 'be afraid or be toniced' glare. "I ain't yer mate. Call me Miss Angela, or Ma'am. Understood??" she gives his ear a little shake to make her point.
"Yes...oww...Marm," Chud says, with a cheekily rebellious twinkle in his eye. He quickly shifts his gaze.
Angela grabs her staff and shakes it under his nose, still hanging grimly onto his ear. "Don't cheek me! I was healin' and goin' off to war long afore yer Momma was a sucklin' babe. Don't try me, /kid/."
Chud winces. "Okay, got it, y'can leggo now." His face is flushed bright red under his fur from the situation--an old mousewife Healer beating up on a strapping young Otterscout like himself...
Baring her teeth, Angela sits down, still keeping a hold on his ear. "No. Yer still too cheeky. I'll let ye go once ye've learned some manners." She sets her staff down and starts eating the food her granddaughter left behind.
The young otter glances around, fearful that someone he knows will see. If he gets laughed at, he'll definitely get mad. "Ugh. Sorry."
Fortunately for the otter, everyone else is terrified of Angela, and so are at least pretending to ignore them. The old Healer smiles and lets him go (finally). "Good. Now. /Don't/ let it 'appen again. 'Kay?"
Chud nods. "Aye ma-rrrrr, marm. Thankee for my ear." He rubs his ear awkwardly. Ouch.
Angela smiles in a slightly wicked manner, then continues to eat, taking a nice, long sip from her drink.
Chud goes back for more soup. He brings it back to his seat by the Healer and sips it once it's cooled. This time he also has biscuits to dip in it. "Want one?"
Smiling and nodding, the old Healer takes one. Free food! "Why, thankee. If ye ever get 'urt, I'll not give ye a nasty tonic 'till after I've given ye the anesthetic."
"Thankee-sai," Chud says, smiling slightly. "Did you try the soup?"
Angela nods. "Aye. I wish I was still 'ungry so I could 'ave more." She pulls a little ledger and a charcoal pencil out of her apron pocket and opens the booklet to a page half-filled with entries, which she starts to look over.
Chud glances at the ledger. "Wot ye got there?" Slurp.
"Looks interestin'."
"Plant list," the Healer says without looking up. "I'm writin' down all the plants I've ever encountered and what they look like and what they do. I'm planning on doin' this as a book, with pictures, after I've compiled everythin' that 'as to do with plants from my diaries. Per'aps I should do 2 books....1 on dangerous plants, and the other on safe ones....."
"I could help with that if y' like," Chud offers. "I see lots of plants when I'm out scouting in Mossflower...Any in particular you wanna find?"
Angela shakes her head. "No, thankee, I'm just documenting all the plants I've encountered in my travels. If ye'd like to 'elp, then please collect samples from any plant you see, and I'll see if it's in the records 'ere, and if it's not, then we'll start a new book." She stands and nods to him, picking up her staff. "It's time for my shift in the infirm. 'Ave a good day." and she leaves. Just like that.
Chud nods. "Will do. Have a good day, marm." He stands up as well, returning his now-empty dishes to the kitchen, and heads outside. Might as well get started before frost....
Thanks for reading!
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