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Jen the Quiet Vice Captain
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 Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 5:47 pm
Donato squeezed her paws for a moment. "I know, I know." He shrugged. "But we always seem to get riddles, not evidence. Just our luck, eh?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 6:49 pm
There was a beat of silence, then Eula laughed. "Yes, exactly our luck."
It was getting dark there in the orchard. She kept putting off leaving, wanting to just stay here with Donato; without riddles, without nightmares, without evil black foxes, without inquisitive woodlanders. Just her and Donato.
She finally drew away, sliding her paws free of his. She put her paws about his neck again, kissed him again. She lingered there, then drew away slowly, reluctantly.
"Okay. Um. All right..." she said, taking a breath as she collected her thoughts. "We should... go now." She beckoned him with a slight jerk of her head, and lead their way out of the orchard back toward Great Hall.
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Jen the Quiet Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 1:29 pm
Donato kissed her back and smiled ruefully as she drew away. "Alright, we might as well get going," he agreed, nodding. He walked with her back into the Abbey.
(I'm sleep-deprived. Excuse me if this post is worse than usual, lol.)
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Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 1:34 pm
::The Great Hall was fully spread... evidently Faith had expected more than the paltry few here, several chairs awaited, with edges of parch, inkwells, lit candles, as well as small bowls with mousemaids moving round serving soup, and small warm bread rolls and butter...::
::The abbess certainly wanted them to have something to keep them going, but Faith herself sat at the head of the table, her chair seemingly tied in place by complex rolls of scroll that seemed to have tangled her up, and she looked studiously anxious...::
::The wall held a larger scroll, where sat the dreaded clue and poem everybeast had heard...::
The eye is an eye until it's spoken.
The abbey is an abbey until it's broken.
A gift from afar,
A vixens token
Will light the way, a guiding star
In the darkest hour, a chance you'll see.
A fallen angel from her tree,
One wing white, one wing black
A quest to set her free
In the sandstone find the key
You, You alone hold it
There is no time to stand or sit
Run, run from the opening pit
And the lantern, may it be lit.
From beneath you, it devours.
::...of course, the splotchiness and rather less-than-perfect quill technique left much to be needed... and the little foxes half-recognisable ink-stained pawprint over the parch certainly gave a finishing touch that made it a bit more laughable than terrible thankfully...::
::Yes, it looked like Faith had set herself ready for the long term, and Dux... Dux who also sat with them... or... sat upside down as it were, was deciding to take a literal sense of looking at it another way...::
...The cake is a lie!!!! ::The raccoon suddenly raised her paw::
::And Faith sighed, smiling a little... obviously... so far... her and her only helper weren't getting too much done it seemed...:: Where did you get that from?
::And then she looked up at Eula, Donato, and she seemed to just light up, as she sat a little straighter, quill in hand a little more formally, trying to look all the part she could as she waved cheerfully:: Glad to see you both!!
Are you here to help with the riddle?! ::She asked hopefully so!::
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Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 9:09 pm
Eula came on the scene, then paused, blinking a few times, valiantly trying to hide her dismay. Was Faith really doing this? Was she really depriving herself of much-needed sleep to stay through the night to work on this riddle?
...The riddle that was now hanging on the wall?! The thing was already burned into her mind, a physical wall-hanging was exactly what she needed at this point, wasn't it?
Sighing, she dropped herself into a seat, taking in her surroundings. Ugh, Dux. She was going to make this an even longer night than it was shaping up to be. Eyeing the raccoon for a full five seconds, she then turned and grabbed the attention of a kitchenmouse. "Emma - do you think you could bring out some cordial? I don't care what kind." Well, it was clear how Eula intended to get through the night.
Flicking her gaze back at the little vixen, Eula put her elbow on the table, setting her chin on her fist. "Faith, I'll stay up and help you any way I can, I will.... but I really must insist that you get some sleep tonight."
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 4:03 am
::Faith blinked a little at Eula's request... and simply threw back her small smile:: I promise I'll get some sleep, what I can't promise is certainly how long I'll be...
There's a lot more on stake than a good night's sleep... and unfortunately, I had hoped there would be more goodbeasts to help... ::Her ears fell just a little, looking at the almost empty table, asides Dux, who had mercifully buried herself upside down with one of the parch scrolls...::
I've been trying to help all about the ramparts today, and I've been shooed inside by almost every elder in the Abbey already, I want to be some use! ::She laughed slightly, placing her quill in the inkwell for the moment::
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 3:14 pm
When the mousemaid brought out a carafe of dark red cordial, Eula stood and poured herself a small glass, then set aside the carafe. Sitting back in her chair, she stared down into her glass, swirling it about slowly. "Well, I can't promise I'll help get us very far in the riddle tonight. Clearly I haven't had any real luck thus far." With that, she took a sip from her glass.
"So what have you and Dux come up with?" she asked, though she was fairly sure she knew the answer. "I think Dux may be on to something with cake. She should elaborate." A sense of humor was the only way Eula was going to keep from losing her mind.
She drew a piece of parchment towards her, then grabbed a quill and uncapped an inkwell. Dipping her quill in, she started drawing aimlessly on the paper before her.
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Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 9:46 am
Unfortunately, I haven't found much myself... ::The vixen admitted with a slightly nervous laugh, her half-smile still there::
I'm hoping with a few heads put together, we might find things we've worked out fit together than just one beast alone...
Unfortunately, Dux and I-
Oh!!! : biggrin ux immediately scrambled, her legs kicking about for a second, sinking below the table, before she slapped a paw on the table, yanking herself up!:: I 'ave a theory on th' cake!!
::Faith visibly winced, but still tried to put on a smile as the raccoon began her recollection...::
Y'see... when I was a lil ringtailed cushion... n' I went n' dived in the pond starkers one Winters day, I got yanked out 'alf frozen n' dyin' of a cold!!!
SO, dear old mama goes n' gets the medicine out, n' knowing I 'ate th' stuff like you get rats 'ate baffs, she'd always go on n' bloomin' trick me sayin' it were cake!!!!!!
So th' cake's a bloomin' lie!!!
::Nod nod, she crossed her arms triumphantly, kicking back... waiting for the first comment to come...::
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Jen the Quiet Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2007 7:44 pm
Donato smiled at Faith when he came in and nodded a response to her question. He took a seat as he surveyed the room. Frowning, he took up a roll and tossed it lightly from paw to paw; he agreed with Eula - Faith needed to get some sleep and stop worrying so much about this riddle. And about running the Abbey. She was all but a dibbun, he reflected as he shook his head.
While Dux explained...explained?... her comment about cake, Donato looked at her blankly. He blinked a few times, then looked up at the riddle posted on the wall to see how this tied in. Another glance at Dux, then back to the riddle. Toss. Toss.
"Sorry, you've lost me."
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Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 4:18 pm
Eula stared at Dux for several long moments, blinking slowly. Her reaction to this pointless story was much the same as Donato's- total confusion. Letting out a quiet breath, she shook her head and returned to the little picture she was drawing. "Well, Dux, good job tyin' it so concisely back to the riddle... you just keep working on that, all right?"
Chewing on the inside of her cheek, Eula set her quill down, looking down at the picture that had formed on her parchment. A fountain, liquid streaming out from it... a skeletal paw reaching up out of the fountain... reaching up to a jewel hanging there in midair... liquid dripping from the stone. She shook her head a little - this has been an image in her mind for a few nights now... from her nightmare. With only the black ink, it was impossible to get the full effect of the picture... the red blood fountain... the shining red ruby dripping... dripping...
She stared down at the picture in silence for a minute, asking herself why she drew it. It occurred to her then... Faith had said she'd had nightmares... Were they the same as Eula's? Looking cautiously at the little fox, trying to make up her mind, she gave in and pushed the parchment slowly over to Faith. "Um, Faith. Does this remind you of anything?"
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 12:10 pm
No one rush ta ask whit I meant 'n all... : biggrin ux muttered as she continued scrawling away before herself...::
::Faith flickered suddenly from the raccoon to the hare, picking up a piece of one her bread rolls and dipping it into the soup:: Hmm?
::And then she caught sight of the picture, and froze, dropping her food and allowing it to sink, pushing the bowl back as slowly, her face drew a little tighter...::
...Usually... ::She spoke past a small lump in her throat:: ...It's red... blood red...
::...It seemed certainly she'd seen the fountain before, as she silently looked to Eula, perhaps wondering if they were both thinking the same thing now, and awaited what had to be said first...::
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 1:27 pm
Ignoring Dux, Donato looked sharply up at Faith when he heard her drop her food. He glanced from Faith to Eula, raising his eyebrows when the vixen spoke. "What is it?"
((I'm sorry, I don't remember - has Eula told Donato about this particular dream?))
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Jen the Quiet Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 11:34 pm
Eula, seeing Faith's reaction, sighed and sat back in her seat. No wonder the fox never wanted to sleep. The same nightmares were keeping her up. Even with the young Abbess staring at her, Eula could come up with nothing to say to her, only shook her head mutely. She had derived no meaning from the dream... but at least now it had some significance... it definitely wasn't just an ordinary - if horrific - nightmare that had her leaving her room in the dead of night to go for a walk in the frigid rain.
"It's noth-" Eula started quite automatically, but quickly caught herself. She was so used to just excluding others and passing off their questions that she was even doing it Donato, for which she was very sorry. "Sorry," she frowned, gathering herself for an explanation. Laying a paw over her closed eyes, she remained in her slumped position, lazing back in the chair as she reluctantly brought the events of the dream to mind.
"It's something I - and apparently Faith - have seen in dreams," the haremaid started slowly. "It starts in a graveyard... or what I can only assume is a graveyard... and it's really misty. And there's a gate... but it just turns to dust... The whole time I just hear this overpowering dripping sound. Finally there's this fountain," she vaguely indicated the picture she drew. She opened her eyes then and looked at Donato as she continued her explanation. "But it's not like how you see it. It's red... like blood. And the stone there... it's blood red and is dripping into the fountain. When I try to grab the stone... the nightmare ends." She hesitated. "Well... it's like... some monster just..." she groaned, not knowing how to explain it without sounding like a scared little five year old. "All I can say is I relate the end of the dream to the end of that riddle."
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Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 5:53 am
From beneath you, it devours. ::Faith said, as if speaking past a lump in her throat... her own quill was very busy... as she took it back and forth, wiping it off and suddenly dipping it into her red soup... and in within a few seconds... she had something that showed their abbess had quite a talent at artistry rather than penmanship...::
: biggrin onato would get a good idea what it looked like now, and Eula...::
::Eula would see it, the blackest creature of the night, the misshapen form that lay somewhere between fox and rat and wolf, the claws, the fangs, and the red eye, standing out from the black fur, that seemed to lift from the parchment and look at her once again...::
...I know the significance of the gem. ::The vixen confessed in a small voice:: ...It doesn't seem related to the riddle... but... the red gem... ::She held her quill above Eula's drawing, and the watered down red she'd conjured dripped, filling the void of the gem, and continued to run, dripping like the fountain had in her dream::
...Redwall used to be described as the red gem you see...
A red gem on a quilt of emerald forest... at least, that's how they described it back in the days of Mathias and Cluny the Scourge...
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Jen the Quiet Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 9:30 pm
Donato leaned forward and drew Faith's picture closer. Looking at it, he shifted in his seat and suppressed a shudder. He looked at Faith and Eula. "You've dreamt this?" He suddenly understood their recent lack of sleep.
He was quiet, putting together what Eula and Faith were saying. From beneath you, it devours. Frowning, he looked around him at the abbey's warm red stones. He shook his head. "Alright. Do any of you have any ideas about the dream?" He paused. "And as far as the riddle.... I dunno. Who was it who thought the "fallen angel" might be Gem?" He asked, quietly, hoping the little bat wasn't eavesdropping on this particular conversation. "The second stanza doesn't sound too good for her. Set her free from what?"
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