Setting Sail - Family Discussion
(Takes place at the same time as: It Can't Be That Easy).
Characters: Chris, Will, Terian
Location: Golden Pike
Golden Pike: Forcastle Deck
Christopher is sitting on a railing, facing out towards the sea, his legs moving forward and back as he hums a tune, the stoat holding onto the railing tightly so he doesn't fall off.
William comes up from below deck and walks casually over to Chis. "What ya doing up here?" he asks after looking around to see if the twins have secretly cornered the stoat.
Chris huhs and looks towards Will with a smile. "Oh. Not much." he nods. "Being bored." he chuckles a little bit. "Dad is busy getting ready to go with Aikuen to the castle. And Robin is being weird with Syla again." he nods. "Soo, I'm bored." He nods. "What about you?"
William shrugs, "I'm not doin' much right now. I was wondering why you were up here. Thought maybe th twins had been after you again."
Chris-a-bell laughs a bit and smiles. "Nope. I'm not scared of them anymore." he chuckles. "I like to make them think I am though." he nods
William grins, "That's good but you should still be careful. They're gonna get bigger an bigger. Near as big as Aik or Fira once you an them are all grown. They'll be giants." The rat blinks a bit thinking over his own words. A giant Ella and Veni. Oy! "Don't let them play too rough ok," he says.
Chris smirks and nods. "Don't worry. I'm planning on telling them I'm not scared of them once they come of age." he laughs a little and then hums. "I'm bigger than dad. And I'm only six seasons." he nods. "I'm probably gonna be bigger than Robin. Since I'm his height now." he nods. He'll be a tall, tall stoat.
William nods, "Yes but they'll be tall tall otters. And otters are bigger than stoats without being extra big and extra strong."
Christopher nods. "Yeah. But dad says if I'm lucky, I'll get to be Aik's height. There's no way I can be. But I'll be tall, I think." he chuckles a little.
William raises his brow skeptically, "I don't know if you'll get /that/ tall but even if you do they'd still out number you. Cause by then we'll have four giant otters and one more not quite as giant otter since the baby wont be his full hight as soon as you three."
"I won't get that tall. I don't think so. I think dad is just making fun of me when he says that." Chris nods then hums. "I hope its a boy." he nods.
"It would be a change after two girl otters. Though if the baby is a girl I don't think you'll have as much to worry about since you'll be so much older and bigger than her and you'll be able to defend yourself more," the rat says.
The stoat chuckles and nods. "Yeah. But I still want it to be a boy." he smiles. "Robin asked me what I'd want if I were married and expecting." he hums. "I said a boy...and a girl. Twins." he nods, smiling a bit.
"If /you/ were expecting?" the rat asks amused. "At least one of each /would/ be nice, though I don't know about having em two at a time. One at a time would probably be enough for me an Amy. How is your brother doing other than acting goofy," Will asks leaning with his back against the rail and his arms hooked around it. His tail loops around the bottom, looks like he wont be going anywhere for a little while.
The stoat nods and then chuckles. "Speaking of Amy...when are you two gonna have a kid of your own!? Come on, you guys could use one. Make Amy a lot nicer I think." he laughs then hums and shrugs. "Oh, he's doing good. Don't tell dad, but he's going to propose to Syla." he smiles. "In the next couple of days." he nods.
"Really? You're gettin' a sister then. Sister-in-law anyway. However that works. Kinda like me an your mom," Will says ignoring the questions about himself and Amy.
Chris nods and smiles. "Yeah. Sort of." He laughs and then chuckles a little. "But regardless. I'm happy for them. They're nuts about each other." he laughs then smirks. "And don't think I haven't noticed you didn't answer my questions."
"What questions?" Will asks playing innocent, "My ears are all chopped up. Sometimes I don't hear well," he doesn't add that those times are usually when he doesn't want to listen. And he is very lucky he can hear at all with all the damage that's been done to his ears.
Chris chuckles. "I asked when you and Amy were gonna have a kid. Might make her nicer..." he smirks.
William manages to keep a fairly neutral face in front of his nephew as the question is repeated. The rat shrugs, "Don't know. Whenever we have one I guess." He smirks a little and adds, "And don't count on that making Amy nicer right off. Expecting mother can be very unpleasant to be around til the baby's born. And if we did have a dibbun of our own they'd be smaller than any of the others here. They could get stomped on by the baby otter .... or a badger."
Christopher laughs and then chuckles a little. "I'm sore your dibbun would be great friends with the otters...or...little badgers running around. Although how one has a little badger, I don't know." He laughs
William says, "I meant big badgers. We don't have the right sort of badgers to get more badgers. .... And if you really don't know where little badgers come from you need to talk to someone ... that isn't me."
Chris smirks then laughs. "I know where little everything comes from." he nods. "I did get that talk a while back." he nods then hums just a bit. "But I meant that all badgers are big." he nods then shrugs. "I'm sure Seb will find someone eventually." he laughs.
William shrugs, "He might. Think he was gonna head over to th mountain. Might be badgers there."
Chris tilts his head. "I thought he was going to come and live with us." he hums then shrugs a little.
William blinks, "Eh all I know is one of them is going to th mountain. Don't remember which one."
Chris shrugs. "Eh. It doesn't matter really. At least we'd get a use for that big badger sized room at home now." he chuckles.
"Which big badger sized room at home?" Will asks suspiciously.
"You know." Chris says. "That big room I think that's in the Larder or something." he shrugs a little. "Not yours. Or Amy's." he nods. "That other one we don't use.
"Oh that one. I'm not sure if that /is/ a room or not. It could be. If Seb can open it we'll find out if it's a room or not," the rat says.
The stoat nods. "Yeah. I think its a room. Maybe." he shrugs a little. "Sebastian will find out, I'm sure." he chuckles a little bit.
William nods, "That he would. And if it's not I'm sure he'll find somewhere to sleep anyway. The sleeping hall should be big enough for him if none of the other rooms are."
Chris nods then hums. "Should be more than big enough but not very private I don't think." He nods with a hum.
"Well he can stay there til we find a better room for him at least. Unless that locked door really is a room. If it is it probably connects to the door outside behind the dibbuns' garden."
Christopher nods slowly. "Yeah. Would be nice if it was a room. We wouldn't have to worry then, would we?" he chuckles.
William says, "I think it may be. Wont know til we open it. Some of the rooms have names carved by em. I think that one had mine by it so somebeast must have used it for somethin'. And I didn't write my name there myself."
The little stoat nods slowly then turns and stands on the deck with a chuckle. "I couldn't imagine you being a badger!" he laughs at the joke and nods slowly with a little bit of a smirk.
"No," Will agrees, "But one could have had my name. It /is/ a woodlander name."
Chris nods and smirks. "So is Christopher but I'm a stoat!" he smirks.
"That's because your parents are weird," Will chuckles, "/I/ was named by woodlanders. You weren't. Unless stoats are woodlanders now."
Chris laughs a little bit and smirks a little bit and nods. "Robin is a woodlander name too." he nods. "Dad was more vermin then than he is now." He nods.
"Are you sure about that? Maybe they named you after a favorite victim or something," Will suggests.
The stoat chuckles a little and then blinks. "Huh? A favorite...victim?" he asks. "How does...someone have a favorite victim?" Chris asks.
William isn't sure if he should answer that but does anyway. "Well if you really hate some beast so much they you enjoy killin' em that could make em your favorite victim or if a beast likes to tortures his victims he may pick one he likes to torture the most as his favorite. I wasn't being serious though. Don't know why Kentar named you an Robby how he did. But he's always been a little ... odd."
Chris nods. "I think it was mum who picked my name." he nods. "And I'm not sure about Robin." he shrugs a little then smirks. "What do you mean odd?" he asks. "You can tell me." he nods.
William shrugs, "We're all odd. It's not something I can really explain."
Chris hums and folds his arms. "I'm not odd. I'm the only sane one." he nods.
William chuckles, "Are you really? I remember thinking that when it was just me an Aik. You'll learn."
"Alot more sane than me," says a familiar voice coming their way, and there's the ferret, Terian. She smiles to the stoat and rat as she leans her back against the railing nearby, saying, "And I don't think your da's a 'vermin' in the traditional sense, Chris. I think he's a rather good beast."
"I always thought Aik was just...bonkers!" Chris smirks then hums a little towards Terian. He smiles a bit and then shrugs. "Dad's vermin. So am I. So is everyone else here right now. Only thing that would make us woodlanders would be our attitudes." he nods. "Besides, dad wasn't always nice." he nods.
William shakes his head, "According to certain beasts Fira is the smartest in our family. I'm not sure about sanest. She's done some odd things as well since we met her. And yeah your dad was not very nice once upon a time ago. Nearly killed Fira. But that was a long time ago and before he met your mum."
Terian smiles gently, rubbing an eye sleepily as she yawns, before smaking her chops and saying, "I'm of the belief that vermin isn't what you are. What you are is a stoat, and a goodbeast. At this island the locals don't even know what a vermin is. And your da might have been bad once, Chris, but what's in the past is in the past. It's now that is important."
The stoat nods slowly and sighs. "He told me that story." he hums a little bit. "But apparently he enjoyed the trip otherwise." Chris nods then stares at Terian. "Can't change what you are." he nods, shrugging again before looking out over the sea. "I wonder how the swan is doing." he hums quietly.
"I'll drink to that, " Will grins nodding to Terian, "Speaking of which," he tries to ruffle the stoat's headfur but it's to far of a reach. "Want t join me Chris? And you're wrong. Kentar hated us before and he'd lay down his life for any of us now. That's a big change right there. Sides don't swans eat stoats in th old stories?"
The stoat hums a little bit and then chuckles a little. "I suppose. He told me that too." he hums just a bit. "I think it has something to do with Aikuen saving his life or mum falling in love with him or something." he shrugs a little before grinning. "Join you for what? Drinking? Sure." he smirks.
"What else do we have to do around here but wait for our respective fathers to return," the rat says heading off for the galley."
The stoat nods and follows. "True enough. Hey. I bet I can get drunk before you can." Chris grins with a nod, almost as if its something to be proud of. "I'd love a drinking contest sometime." he hums just a little bit. "Robin I think would win."
"Oh no you wont!" Will answers from below deck. "If you get drunk I'll have Seb throw you over board. Or have Garnet do it."
Terian smiles a bit at the two, before sitting down. "I think I'm just going to sit out here for a bit. I don't like drinking that stuff, tastes kinda bad."
Golden Pike: Galley
"Will." Chris frowns. "I think you're way too strict on that don't get drunk thing." he nods. "Dad did it a few days ago on the way here. He fell asleep. Robin does it in his makeshift room when he's bored. He falls asleep too. Just cause Aik is mean when he gets drunk, doesn't mean we are." Yeah. They're too busy sleeping to be mean.
William shakes his head, "Just because you can drink doesn't mean you should over do it. That's all I'm saying."
Chris ohs. "I see." he nods. "I get the point. I guess." he smirks a little then grabs himself a mug of rum. He doesn't get Will anything since he's not sure what he would get before he finds a seat somewhere. "Soooo."
William finds something for himself and sits down near the stoat, "I hope you do. Even if all that happened to you was you fall asleep doesn't mean waking up wont be a pain later. I should know."
Chris nods and then chuckles. "I suppose." he nods, sipping from his mug with a laugh. "I haven't been drunk yet." he hums a little.
William chuckles, "Eh I was about your age the last time I let myself get drunk. Aik wasn't happy about that. Didn't matter I was sick at the time anyway. Though I did strike a deal with the barkeep to switch his drinks. That was almost worth gettin' held in a fast movin' river," he takes a sip of his drink, "Almost."
The stoat laughs a bit and then tilts his head. "Did you switch Aik's drinks to something hard or weak like tea or something?" he asks with a laugh, grinning.
William smirks, "At the time he was trying to stay a way from all drink even safe stuff. So I had the barkeep give him cordial so they wouldn't throw him out for asking for tea over an over. I don't think he'd ever had tea before so he didn't know the different. I also took the chance to order a bottle of ale for myself. He didn't catch on for a while."
Chris oohs and chuckles a little bit with a nod. "I see." he chuckles a little bit more and then hums. "He must have thought tea was weird." He nods then laughs.
William says, "Yeah he did til I got drunk enough to tell him it wasn't tea. I don't like getting drunk. Well no I take that back. Getting drunk and being drunk aren't that bad. It's waking up later and being told what you did while drunk that's the bad part."
Chris nods a little bit and hums. "Its okay once in awhile, dad says." he nods. "Not if you're drunk every day." he nods a little bit he hums
William shrugs, "I guess if you like waking up with a headache ...." He takes a long draft from his glass. "But I'm not too fond of it."
Chris does the same and then shrugs just a little bit. "Eh. Maybe." he shrugs. "I haven't gotten drunk yet." he nods.
William chews on his lip a bit then takes another drink. "Eh maybe you should then. Get it over with. You're young enough, you might get away with it," he says slowly.
Chris nods slowly. "Maybe I will." he nods slowly then smirks a little. "Maybe I wont." he shrugs slightly.
William nods, "That's up t you," then adds as he takes another long swig of his drink, "but if ya do I will deny knowing anything about it."
Christopher smiles a little and nods. "Heh, thanks, Will." he nods slowly.
Terian walks slowly into the room, careful with each step, then she sees William. Smiling, she walks over to the rat, leaning against the table. "Hey nephew," she says with a smile. "Mind if I sit down?"
The rat raises his half empty glass of not water at the weasel, "Go ahead. There's plenty of room."
Terian nods and sits down shakily across from William, looking at his mug curiously before looking to him. "It's weird," she says, mostly to herself.
"Is it?" Will asks with a smile taking another drink. "What dare I ask is weird, other than most of the beasts on this ship?"
William grins, "There's been days when I could have said th same. But I don't as that would just make things worse."
Terian looks confused at the statement. Then she just frowns as she glance up at the rat again. "You're a very special rat then," she says with a smile, "and I'm happy to be your aunt, or sister, or whatever."
"Aunt," Will corrects her, "and I think that makes you Chris' great Aunt or something? Aik's his godfather and sorta his grandfather. It's a little confusing when the stoats are involved."
William chuckles, "Only the giant girl cousin types. But he may grow out of that soon."
Terian laughs at that and shakes her head. "There's no way they'd harm him, I think," she says with a smirk now. "Chris is much too lovable. I know if I were an otter, I couldn't hurt him." Then her smirk stays but she seems somewhat awkwardly sad, or afraid; it's hard to tell which. "We're sort of vulnerable, I guess. We're big enough to be disliked by woodlanders, but small enough to be beaten by otters or...." she chuckles lightly, "eaten by swans."
William hmms, "I'll take your word on it."
Terian looks back from the table to the rat with her head tilted. "What's that suppose to mean?" she asks.
William counts on his claws as he replies, "Mice, voles, shrews, and a few very small lizards. Those are the only beasts I know of smaller than rats. None of them not even the lizards usually are 'vermin' in the usual sense."
Terian nods her head, resting her chin on her paw. "I know," she says, "they're all woodlander and so are all automatically trusting of each other. You and me, we're vermin. We're automatically not trusted, even by our own kind, most of the time. AND we're small enough that we can be eaten. At least they have each other to protect them." Then she smiles and reaches over, patting William's paw gently. "But, we'll protect each other, how about that?"
William lets out a hearty laugh, "Oh ho! I think you'll be good an shocked when we get back t Redwall. We'll have t stop there either before or after we get back t Moledeep. I doubt th swan's kept th larder in order all this time for us and Amy'd be sore at me if I didn't fetch her back home. Very sore." He grins and shakes her paw, "Of course we'll look out for each other. That what this family does. All of us. .... speaking of family when we do stop at Redwall you'll be able t met Flicky an Benar. They're kinda my uncles but they don't live with the rest of us on account one's in the order of Redwall and the other is it's Champion. Even so they're very nice beasts and wont hurt you at all."
Terian smiles at hearing all of this. "Redwall?" she asks the name sounding foreign to her. "What is, oh wait, is that the large castle-like place with red bricks? I've seen it but I've never been in it." Then she looks momentarily shocked. "You have FRIENDS and FAMILY that live there? And are even members of its' order? Wow, William, that's pretty amazing. It seems like a pretty amazing place." Then her eyes widen. "Swan? But, you said, swans eat stoats! There's one living at home?
William grins, "I used t live at Redwall for a little bit when I was little. I got sick of it so we left. Still visit it often. But they're very nice there. Let anyone in the door if they act peaceful." When Moyle is brought up the rat shrugs, "You're not a stoat and she's actually very tolerant of the little ones. She's not like most swans I think. She can talk. Doesn't like to let beasts know she can though. And she hasn't eaten any of our stoats yet prefers the greens Aik leaves out for her. We were worried when she first took over our pond. Pa an I dug it ourselves but we were able to reach an agreement in th end."
Terian looks amazed at that also before smiling, saying, "So, she likes stoats then? AND she can talk? Think she'll like me? I mean, if she lives there then she isn't mean, or at least shouldn't be."
"Well I don't know her that well. She likes to keep to herself. But at first I don't think she'll like you much at all. And over time she'll get used to you like she got used to all of us," Will says.
Terian frowns slowly at that then shakes her head. "No matter. As long as she doesn't attack anybeast." Then she laughs, looking up for a moment before looking back to the rat. "Especially poor Christopher with his phobia of otter dibbuns."
William shakes his head, "She wouldn't hurt Chris. She didn't mind him or th twins before. They'd all be in th pond paddling around her when they were real little. Chris learned t swim before he could walk even. But with the family being about half otters that's not too strange."
Terian laughs and nods, yawning as she leans forward once more on the table stretching out her arms. "I suppose," she says, before looking at her paws idly. "I wonder what swans are like. The only big bird I've seen was an eagle." Then she shudders, pulling her arms back to her and hugging herself. "That's something I wouldn't want to repeat."
William says, "Some aren't too bad. I've seen one or two that weren't bad. But I wouldn't want t get on th wrong side of any of em."
Terian chuckles and nods once more. "Quite frankly," she says, "They scare me a good deal. Alot more than otters." She smiles at that then says, "Like I was saying, we're small enough to be eaten, yet we're not trusted by anybeast, for the most part. So we only have each other to protect each other." Then she smirks. "I won't let any swans get you."
William shakes the weasel's paw again, "Deal. Though I think as far Moyle's concerned I'll be th one protecting you more than you me."
Terian smiles and then looks suddenly worried. "Wait," she says, her paw almost hiding in his, "am I in danger of being eaten, you think?"
William squeazes Terian's paw, "I don't think it'll be that bad. But she does think the pond is hers even if we're the ones that did all the work of digging it an filling it an such. But I think it'll work out ok. And if nothing else you can just avoid th pond. There's all of inside and two other gardens to explore."
Terian smiles somewhat as the rat squeezes her paw and doesn't pull her paw away, somewhat comforted. "Ok," she says, nodding, then perks her head up slightly. "What if I ask her if it's ok for me to be there? Think that'd work maybe?"
William chews on his lower lip a little, "It might. But she doesn't like to let on that she can talk. She'd probably not like it that I told you she can, but I can't see why I shouldn't tell you if you're going t be living there with us."
Terian thinks for a moment as she looks to the side, then once more she looks back to you as if she has an idea. "I'll leave it as an open-ended question, sort've. I'll just say that I hope she doesn't mind me being there. That way she won't know that I know she talks."
William nods, "Alroight. An maybe you kin help Pa put her food out or something t show her you're don't mean her no harm or somethin'."
Terian smiles and nods quickly, looking happy at all of the ideas. "Maybe even I can bring out her food everyday!" Then she leans over the table, gently hugging the rat. "Thanks William," she says.
"If you want," the rat says. He stiffens a little at the hug, "Uh you're welcome." He's still getting used to having an aunt.
Terian smiles, noticing the rat's stiffening and so lets him go, sitting back down. "Uh, sorry. I just kinda got overwhelmed there for a moment." Now she smiles bashfully. "I've hugged alot recently. I guess it comes with being a family."
"It's ok. Just ... it'll take a little getting used to. ..." Will say a bit awkwardly.
Terian chuckles lightly at Will's reaction before nodding, saying, "Alright, I won't do it again unless I ask you first, ok?"
William rubs the back on his neck and nods a little, "Ok. ...." He notices his glass still sitting there and takes a long draft from it. That's better.
Terian looks now to the glass and asks, "Say, William, is that rum that everybeast keeps talking about?"
William hmms and look back up at the weasel, "Thought you didn't drink?"
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