Stories, fighting and chair legs!
Brockhall: Main Hall
- -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Brockhall Main Hall -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
The room is quite large, and nicely arranged. The walls are formed primarily of the thick and polished, though very dusty, roots of the tree in which the hall is nestled. At the far end of the room is a large fireplace, with a hearth to match. A large oaken table, beautifully crafted, extends across the room, with the far end close to the fireplace. Polished maple chairs are lined along its length. Though likely intended for some long gone person or group of persons, they are very comfortable. The occasional knotholes dot the walls, and to your surprise they are actually small little windows through which soft beams of light cascade across the room. To either side of the room are a few doors, some bigger than others. The biggest door on the right leading to the kitchens, and its equally impressive opposite leads to the dormitories.
*-*-* Entrances/Exits *-*-*
[D]en
[A]nnex
[K]itchen
- -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Brockhall Main Hall -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
With:
[ZZZ] Remi
[ZZZ] Maria
[ZZZ] Nash
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Tie is sitting right by the door with his back to the wall and it may seem that he is sleeping, but he might not be. Most of the other slaves in the room are either sleeping or just sitting.
Nash the entertainer has readily attracted a group of younger woodlanders who are seated in a semi-circle in front of him. For the last half-hour he's been reciting tales of his journeys and adventures. It is obvious that he is not one to let the truth get in the way of a good story and his stories are full of daring-do and activities that violate the laws of physics. No one really seems to care though. "After I went and ran 'im through, m' sister, Siobhan, ran up behind the other two and WHACK, WHACK! Gave 'em what for with a rock." He laughs. "There was only three of 'em left and would you know they all turned tail and ran like 'eck down the road?" His audience reacts accordingly with laughter and applause and a young hedgehog points out, "Yore sister is crazy." Nash grins. "She shore is. And she'll be lookin' fer me right now. I 'spect her to waltz in that door any moment."
Tie murmurs "If she /does/ come in the door I will be the first to greet her and if she saves us I will give her /anything/ she wants." He grins at the thought. He starts to crawl toward the group, hoping he is going to right direction "So Nash. How do you know she is looking for you?"
Nash shrugs. "Because she's my sister. And that's what family does." There is a general murmur of agreement and head shaking amongst the group. "That and she's probably mighty worried. I was supposed to be back at m' holt a few months ago."
Tie crawls a bit more than feels about, trying to find the groups location. He feels a beast and decides that its far enough and he sits down by the beast who happens to be an older mouse. Tie nods, muttering "that’s what /some/ family does." than in his normal voice "Where is your holt?"
Nash settles in for another story. "Well, mate, good question. M' holt is way down South. Further South than anyone in this room ever been I'll wager. We're so far south that you ask a dibbun from my holt what snow is and they don't have a clue. They've never seen it!" He holds his paws out in shock. "My holt has been on the coast for seasons and seasons. It's been there for so long that no one around remembers when it wasn't. Sorta like yore Redwall Abbey. My holt was started by an otter named Skillig Bigpaw who defeated the rat army and killed the tyrant Jorrik Heesig. You all wanna hear about it?"
Tie grins "Sounds like a fun story. Tell away my friend!" He nudges the mouse beside him and whispers something at which they both chuckle.
Nash catches the laughter and sends and mock glare in Tie's direction. "Well then, twas many, many seasons ago, more than any of you 'uns kin count I wager, when Skillig an' his crew o' otter warriors were lookin' for a place to settle down like. They'd been sailin' an' fightin' for a season an' most o' them were just done wid it all. They decided they wanted to settle someplace where it was warm and where they'd never hafta worry about food. They knew that if they wanted t'be warm, they'd hafta go south so they did." Nash pauses. "It weren't two days after they started lookin' that they caught sight o' a beautiful stretch o' beach that was warm and green and covered in all sorts o' clams and shrimps. (Well, the shrimps were in the water but ya know what I mean.) So they gets off the boat to go explorin' and turns out they just love the place!"
Tie can't see the glare, but the mouse pretends to wilt. Tie asks Nash "Why did they love it? Was it the shrimp or the whether?" He grins muttering something to the mouse.
"It were the weather /and/ the shrimps, mate!" Fully engrossed in his story, Nash stops paying attention to the insolent squirrel. "So they set up their camp and got to work makin' the place 'ospitable like. They built cabins, a dock, workshops, whatever it is that the otters were gonna need to make their holt a home. It took 'em a few months but they finally got everythin' all finished and beautiful when, out o' the blue, here comes a whole army o' RATS and in front of 'em marched the most dangerous-lookin' rat of 'em all, Jorrik Heesig!" Nash plants his paws on his hips and glares at the dibbuns sitting in front. "He wore a horse skull on 'is head and had rabbit ears tied on a belt all around 'is middle. 'is weapon was a trident with hooks on the end so as to do th' most damage possible. So 'e marches 'is army right up to Skillig's holt and demands that they all leave!"
Tie frowns. He is starting to get very interested "Well that Rat had a lot of nerve. What did Jorrik Heesig do?" The mouse nods "Ya, what /did/ he do?" Tie nudges the mouse, muttering "I just said that and I think he heard me" The mouse glares "Well I was just driveing the point home!" Tie sighs and soon they are getting into a bit of a argument.
"Children! Calm yourselves!" Nash calls out over the crowd. No worries, he's smiling. "Well anyways, so there's Skillig and Jorrik standin' there in th' middle of the town, nose to nose, Jorrik wid his rats and Skillig wid his otters. And what does Skillig do? Why, th' first thing that popped into his head o' course! He punched ol' Jorrik right in his ugly nose!" Nash mimes the movement swinging his right fist around in a nice arc. "An' Jorrik flew right over back'ards into 'is own army!" He laughs. "After that it was just a matter o' time afore th' angry otters killed off most o' the vermin and th' rest ran back 'ome to their mummies. Skillig made shore ol' Jorrik was dead an' they buried 'im nice as yer please off in the forest somewheres. And that, mates, is the story about how m' holt came to be!" He bows low, relishing the applause.
Tie and the mouse are still arguing, but when Tie hears Nash say 'Children' His ears stand strate with indignant "I am NOT a child thank you very much!" The mouse smiles smugly "Yes you are." Tie turns toward the mouse with a very mad look on his face which can't be seen very well "Well if I am still a child you are still a dibbun! Take THAT you, you....ninny!" Him and the mouse fly into such an argument that they miss the end of the story.
Never mind the two in the back of the room, everyone else loved the story. But now he's done for the day. The others scatter to their various locations around Brockhall and Nash perches on a chair, watching the two fight. It's humorous and it's probably allowing them to blow off steam which is good.
At that very moment Tie dives onto the mouse, showing himself a bit less helpless than he would like to think. In fact it might make some beast think of him as able to see...In any case the mouse falls back and they get into quite a fight, rolling around on the ground as they throw a punch here and there. Tie's cap does not stay on through this and it ends up a few feet from the fight.
Nash isn't going to stop them. He's a firm believer in allowing young people to get themselves hurt if they're dumb enough to get into a fight. Instead, he turns his attention to the chair he's sitting on. They're going to need weapons eventually and these sturdy legs look like they would make very excellent clubs.
Tie and the mouse are finally at a standstill and they slowly walk around each other. The mouse is now very curious "How did..." He is cut off by Tie who growls in a low tone "Don't ask and if you tell I will do something I do not like doing." The mouse frowns than starts to walk away, but Tie grabs his shoulder and brings his beaten face close to the mouse "You promise?" The mouse narrows his eyes, but nods "I promise." With that he drifts away to the other slaves and Tie goes to pick up his cap, doing so he dusts it off and puts it firmly on his head and over his eyes.
Nash flicks an interested ear but keeps his questions to himself. The chair is just about in pieces by now and, thanks to the help of an enterprising mole, they've got the four legs separated from everything else. The oak is still as sturdy as ever and Nash test thumps it against his paw. "Yeh, this'll do it." He nods happily. "Oim guessin' yur roight, sur. Ain't much what can take a hit frum a piece of oak." The mole tugs his nose in acknowledgement.
Tie recovers his composure and makes his way over to Nash "What are you doing? It sounds very interesting." He feels his cap and pulls it a bit lower.
Now that the first chair is in pieces, the next one will be even easier. "We're makin' clubs." Nash says simply. The mole starts to pull out a third chair but Nash stops him. "Wait, 'old on, mate. We canna tear up too many o' these chairs or someone is bound to notice. An' I don't think we've more than six or seven beasts what can manage this anyway." The mole nods. "Gud thinkin' sur. An eight clubs is easier to hoide than twelve, Oim thinkin'."
Tie rubes his paws together and asks Nash with a Fiendish grin "Can I help in anyway? I may be blind, but I am sure pulling chairs into bits can't be /to/ hard" He really knows nothing of chair Ruining.
There's an odd splintering noise as one of the legs is forcibly removed from the second chair. "Actually, mate, as much as I can unnerstand why you wanna do this, we're almos' finished. You /could/ fin' a good hidin' spot for 'em though." Nash hands the squirrel one of the legs as an example. "They're not too big but there's eight of 'em."
Tie frowns in disappointment at the first part, but when being told he can hide them he grins "Sure thing. They won't find them if I can help it." He feels the club and notes how long it is and the thickness. He nods "Can I take this with me the find this hiding place?"
Nash nods and finishes up the pile of chair legs. "Yep, I'll bring th' others along once we're done gettin' rid of these other bits." Nash's plan is to hide the parts in various places around the room. He isn't quite sure how they're going to explain it if some of the bits are found but they'll cross that bridge if they come to it.
Tie nods saying "Right" as he makes his way to the wall of the room and starts to feel along it as he walks. He comes to the fireplace and grins than it falls from his face "They would notice it in there…maybe." He shrugs, deciding to ask Nash about it. He continues to walk around the room.
Nash watches Tie as he maneuvers around the room. His ears perk. The fireplace may not be any good for keeping the legs in but it would certainly do well if they could manage to burn the bits of chair. "Mmmm....I'm thinkin' it's gonna get a tad bit chilly in 'ere tonight." He says to himself. He feels bad about the next part of his plan but if he can get Ferilla to give them a fire....
Tie sighs. The only place he could think of hideing the chair legs would be under the table and thats not a very good hideing place. He sighs and shuffels over to Nash "You have any ideas? We could all hold a leg, but thats about all I can think of."
