Return from a long journey

Welcome to Black Arch Fort. We hope you enjoy your visit.

You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.

Join our community!

If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Return from a long journey
Topic Started: Jul 16 2008, 10:53 PM (92 Views)
Riptide Ruva	Jul 16 2008, 10:53 PM Post #1
Level One Poster Posts: 25 Group: East Tower Guard Member #58 Joined: July 14, 2008	Riptide was tired. He had been journeying for nearly a season now, and he was nearly home. However, home could wait a for more hours, and he found himself entering the Compass Point. His mind was one a mug of ale. Before he knew it he was at his familiar table and his paws were resting on its familiar surface. He was also greeted by a very familiar voice. “Get yer footpaws off my table ya scruffy riverdog! Don’t care how long you’ve been gone, I know ya haven’t forgot all my rules!” “Burku my beauty! Well, I think you got prettier while I was away, but I hope your ale has stayed the same. May I have a mug of it, my lady? I just got back from a long journey, and I’m dyin’ of thirst!” Rip’s footpaws slid off the table as he stood up and swept the squirrel innkeeper into a hug. The old Burku bopped him on the head with the wooden spoon she was carrying, but her heart wasn’t quite in it. Rip had always known how to get to her. “Oh, ya scoundrel! Let go of me so I can go get yer ale, nutty otter. Hmph.” Attempting to hide a smile the squirrel scuttled off to get the requested drink. The moment she disappeared into the back room where she kept the best ale Rip’s paws were on the table again. With a contented sigh the brawny otter leaned his chair back on two legs and tucked his arms behind his head. It was good to be back.
	Lieutenant Colonel Riptide Ruva Profile


Sage	Jul 28 2008, 09:53 PM Post #2
Posts: 5 Group: East Tower Guard Member #60 Joined: July 24, 2008	At set of tall, thin ears swiveled in the direction of the door and tracked the progress of weary footpaws as they came to their ultimate destination on the tabletop after a minor debate about the properness of such a placement with the innkeeper. Thankfully, there was a head attached to this particular set of ears and as the old woodlander sauntered off to fetch some brew, the eavesdropper turned his head to look at the burly otter who would so defy the squirrelmum. The head, like the ears, belonged to Sage, a young rabbit not yet out of his leveret years, and it certainly showed what with his petite frame and soft features. He was clothed in a loose shirt and slacks that just exposed the very top of what looked to be a very unfriendly scar on his chest. The leveret was nothing special to look at save for this scar and the peculiar mask-like fur pattern around his inquisitive green eyes. His mind had been wandering back to the swamps and his squirrel friends when this new creature had entered and shaken Sage from his day-dreaming -- quite a feat -- with his barbaric appearance. The leveret had seen many strange beasts in the past five years he had been away from his warren, but each new one was so exotic to the sheltered child that he couldn't help staring now and again, soaking in the shape, size and oddities of beast with his eyes and tucking them away in some secret corner of his mind. Who was this creature with his war paints? Where had he come from and where was he going? What stories could he tell? Instead of these intelligent and thoughtful questions, the words that left the child's mouth were, "You look like the evil sea otter from the story 'bout Rosefoot an' Leechpaw." Sage picked up the lemonade he had been drinking and took a sip, blinking and smiling vaguely at the otter he had inadvertently insulted. His mother would have had something to say about keeping ones observations to oneself, but Mama wasn't around. Edited by Sage, Jul 29 2008, 04:17 PM.



Riptide Ruva	Jul 29 2008, 04:27 PM Post #3
Level One Poster Posts: 25 Group: East Tower Guard Member #58 Joined: July 14, 2008	Riptide might have been expecting to run into somebeast to talk with, but the voice that reached his ears wasn’t quite what he had anticipated. It was much younger, that was for sure. It was also rather curious that instead of being greeted he was being compared to an evil sea otter of legend. “Oh, do I look that much of a villain, lad?” By now the otter’s twinkling dark eyes had found the young rabbit. A grin graced his face as he sized the youngster up, thinking him maybe fourteen or fifteen years old, if he was any kind of guess. He looked a little travel worn, and far too young to be out on his own with such an innocence about him. Riptide was careful not to let his thoughts show on his face as he got up and lumbered over to where the leveret was seated and took up a chair beside him. “Really, I’m much more like a sea otter hero at heart.” He shot the lad a quick wink. “Where are you bound, young’in? Black Arch, perhaps? Or are you just leavin’ there? I’m on my way back, you see. Tis my beautiful home.” At the mention of the fort Riptide’s eyes gained a longing sort of look to them, and for a second or two he stared past the rabbit and at the space above his head. He was mainly dreaming about being back to the kitchens and joining in at mealtimes with all his old mates. And of course, there were all the charming female otters about the fort. He had hardly forgotten about them on his journey either. “If I had to guess I’d say you weren’t leavin’. You’re far too skinny for Laurel to have let you go just yet, and she would have sent you off with a laden haversack and some clothes that don’t look so worn yet, either.”
	Lieutenant Colonel Riptide Ruva Profile


Sage	Jul 29 2008, 08:23 PM Post #4
Posts: 5 Group: East Tower Guard Member #60 Joined: July 24, 2008	"Black Arch?" Sage tested out this name, enjoying the images it elicited in his mind. A dark-hued, rock entrance way with creeping green vines snaking up the sides in unexpected patterns. Perhaps a lone gull crying out overhead in a gloomy sky as the wind whispered through the nearby forest and the waves demanded attention with their rumbling roars below the stark, weather-worn cliffs. Very nice. I'll have t'write that down in my journal once I get a bit o' ink, the leveret nodded dreamily to himself, then realized that the otter was still looking at him expectantly. "Is that what that big buildin' up ahead is, sir?" The seadog nodded. "Well, I suppose it should be obvious from my question that I'm not leavin' there," the rabbit laughed. "I'm not bound anywhere in particular, either, though. My home..." his smile grew a great deal broader and unsettling, "is not a welcome place these past few years. So, I'm a wanderer, you see," the leveret continued more normally, whatever that may mean for one with his head in the clouds. "I'd like t'become a bard someday, but first I have t'find somethin' or someone worth tellin' about. Somethin' like the story o' Rosefoot an' Leechpaw, but I wouldn't mind havin' a sea otter for the hero in my tale." Sage was nodding to himself again, running his paw around the edge of his cup. "Yes. A hero what looks like a villain. Almost like the story o' Deyna, the Taggerung!" Sparkling green met warm brown as the leveret's ears and eyes shot up to lock gazes with the elder woodlander. "Would you mind if I wrote about you in my journal someday, sir?" An electric moment passed, then the rabbit's eyes grew distant again as he added. "Oh! But I suppose I should know your name first. Hah! What a tale that would be without a name for the hero. I'm Sage, most recently o' the Cleefwood Swamp Squirrel tribe. An' you, sir? I should think a home as grand as the one ahead entitles you t'an equally grand name." The compliment, like the insult, was inadvertent and accompanied by an equally oblivious grin. Edited by Sage, Jul 31 2008, 02:08 PM.



Riptide Ruva	Aug 2 2008, 11:01 PM Post #5
Level One Poster Posts: 25 Group: East Tower Guard Member #58 Joined: July 14, 2008	“Ho-ho, Denya the Taggerung, eh? I’ve never heard that story. Perhaps you’ll tell it to me sometime, eh matey?” Riptide was enjoying his talk with the young rabbit. The fellow seemed a little odd, but who was he to even guess that? He knew very little about how the minds of leverets and younger beasts worked. For all the otter could figure the lad was acting as normal as any other young rabbit his age. The smile he flashed him when he mentioned his old home, however, struck a bit of warning into Rip’s mind. He decide it was best not to press the subject and talk of happier things. Such as getting the little guy into the fort and to the kitchens as quickly as possible. “And you can feel free to write about whatever you want in your journal. Aint that the idea behind them?” The otter shot him a bit of a perplexed look at this question. He had never attempted to keep a journal himself—one more thing to keep track of in his mind—but he thought he had a pretty good handle on how it all worked. A journal was a very private thing that you wrote and kept all your secret thoughts in. Rip had never thought he had much use for such a thing. For one, if he kept one he’d probably want to write it in when he was off by himself for a time, and he would never choose to do that if he had the option of hanging around someone else. In short, his journal would never be written in. The otter’s eyes danced in amusement as the rabbit introduced himself as Sage. He liked the name on the spot and thought it fit the young leveret quite well. “Oh, I have a very grand name, of course! It’s fits where I’m from and my grand size, ho-ho!” At this the roguish otter took the chance to raise his arms and show off his muscles to Sage, grinning proudly all the while. He thought to himself though that he had managed to keep quite the serious look on his face. Burku noticed he was falling short, for she returned to witness this spectacle, carrying with her two mugs of her best ale. “Riptide Ruva! Would you leave that poor Mister Sage alone? You’ll scare the poor thing!” The husky old squirrel was at the otter’s side in second and shoved him away from the rabbit. Slamming the drinks on the bar she then turned her back to Rip and faced Sage. “There now, don’t worry. He’s not nearly as mad as he acts sometimes, I promise he’s safe.” She whirled to face Riptide again, just as he was recovering from her interruption. “Isn’t that right, Major Riptide? You’re being good to my new favorite customer?” Again she spun and was now looking and talking to Sage again. Each time she turned the tone of her voice changed. It was gentle and soothing as she spoke to the rabbit. “There dear, he’s not trying to whisk you away from me now, is he?” Her voice turned to ice when she faced Riptide again, who was now clutching his mug and attempting to shield himself with it. “You wouldn’t do that to me, would you Major? Steal my new favorite friend from me? After I went through all the trouble of telling him he could stay here with me where it’s [/i]safe[/i]?!” Burku’s eyes had a flame in them that Riptide had never seen before. He cowered behind his mug of ale, and despite the fact that he was truly a good foot and a half taller than the squirrel she certainly appeared to be towering over him. With one death glare shot at the otter, the squirrel innkeeper turned her attentions again to the rabbit. Her voice was gentle and sweet again as she carefully placed his glass of lemonade on her tray. ”There now dear, let me fetch you another glass of lemonade. Your supper is also nearly ready and I’ll bring it out to you in a moment. It’s good, hot food that you don’t have to elbow nasty otters out of the way for. Don’t you let him touch a thing when it comes out, you hear? Carrot and mushroom turnover isn’t any good for otters, but makes young rabbits big and strong. Sit tight now.” As she made her way to the back room again Burku made sure to jostle the otter as much as she could on her way past him. She shot him one more death glare before disappearing behind the swinging door into her realm. Riptide was still hiding behind his mug of ale. Slowly his eyes moved to look at Sage, though he dared not move any other part of his body. For a moment there he thought the innkeeper was going to skin him alive. “So… Burku has uh… asked you to stay at the inn, then?” His voice was low and husky. Much as he would never admit it, he was afraid Burku might overhear him and come back. She might not even bring him more ale, he realized after he had asked the question. ((So... >.> My plan is that Burku is resistant to the idea of such a cute, young little rabbit going off and joining the fort. Take that and do what you want with it. XD ))
	Lieutenant Colonel Riptide Ruva Profile


« Previous Topic · Archives · Next Topic »