An Ocean's Call

[Delthion]

Lord Redstripe was gazing out over the sea that beckoned to him, yet he knew he could never sail. He had always wanted to seek out the mysteries of the waves that taunted him so. But he was a Badger Lord, and his subjects needed him. Nevertheless, he could still hire a band of sailors to scour the waves for him. This he had done, and the time was at hand for the motley band of seabeasts to make their maiden voyage. He walked down to the field outside the gates of Salamandastron, where a great feast was being held for the sailors. A twinkle appeared in his eye, This will be a good night, he thought. One more celebration before they have to suffer whatever injuries the sea has to throw at them. He sat down in his seat at the head of the largest table in the throng, and the feast began.

OOC: Sorry for taking so long, this is kind of thrown together, but we will embark tomorrow.

[The Grey Coincidence]

Foxglove was not a fan of feasts. Oh he loved them of course, and his stomach could have told you that from a mile away, but inevitably somebeast would ask him to 'pass the salt, wot', in complete ignorance of his inability to speak and it would remind him of the seer he'd slain and his so-called fate, long ago dictated. Nothing infuriated him more than said reminder...


But the food was good.

[Ouroboros]

"Don't talk much, do you?" came a voice from Foxglove's left, where a thin and scruffy shrew sat with an amused look on his face. The shrew reached for a pitcher of elderberry wine to refill his cup, the third time he had done so thusfar.
"Can hardly blame you, I suppose. Sat here surrounded by the finest food for miles - not to mention the finest drink - and you have to listen to hares." The shrew snorted as he offered the pitcher to Foxglove.
"Name's Thorne. You get hurt, you come to me. You find some sort of exotic wine on an island somewhere, you come to me. Hmph, let's hope so. After this," he chuckled, motioning to the food laid out in front of them, "it's just bread and rum where we're going."

[The Grey Coincidence]

The otter accepted the cup of wine, jabbed once in his direction with his left paw, then opened and shut said paw like a pair of jaws before shaking his head.
He had never truly perfected sign language, and communication was made more difficult with only one paw available and the sweetly-scented elderberry wine so close to his nose.

[Ouroboros]

"Hmm. Not so much 'don't talk' as 'can't talk', then?"
Thorne motioned to the bracelet of teeth around Foxglove's paw.
"Those aren't yours. Wrong shape, have to be closer to a fox's teeth than an otter's," the shrew mused, draining his cup, "Seen a lot of disturbing things, but even I don't know if I want to ask about that..."

[The Grey Coincidence]

Chugging the eldrlower wine at a perhaps unhealthy pace, Foxglove Lackjaw grinned. He liked this shrew. They had an uncommon sense of perception he was not-at-all familiar with, yet thankful for. Upon licking the remaining dregs free of the cup, he set it down and extended a paw towards the shrew.
After all, a voyage set upon alone was deadly dull.

[Ouroboros]

Thorne nodded with approval as the otter downed his cup.
"We have something in common, it seems," he chuckled, accepted the proffered paw, "hopefully we don't drink through the ship's stocks too quickly. Seen one of the best searat crews in five seasons slaughter each other over the last keg in a few hundred miles. Fortunately, this crew seems more sound of mind... except the otter with a fox's jaw clamped around his wrist."

[The Grey Coincidence]

Lightly he punched the shrew's shoulder. He was not a fan of word games, they were rather hard for an illiterate mute. Although perhaps Thorne had a point. The fox's teeth was rather macabre jewelry.
The otter grinned wider at the memory. Perhaps he was insane, but the seer had stolen his tongue, in return he'd stolen her teeth... and her life but that was besides the point. The bracelets served as a constant reminder of the words she'd spoken. Death at sea, there was no fate more humiliating for a creature of the water than a death at sea.

[Sebias of Redwall]

A tall hare walked up to their table, carrying a large plate of different varieties of food. As he sat down next to Thorne, he accidentally bumped into the shrew with his elbow.
"Woops! Sorry there me ol' chap! Didn't quite see you there. Wot!"

[Tungro]

Cayden sat in his room packing up the rest of his belongings. The sounds of feasting rang in his ears, but he wanted no part in it. Now was the prime time to find any loose belongings that any creatures had left in the open on there way to the festivities. He chuckled to himself, he would be long gone on the sea voyage before anybeast noticed that they were missing something. He decided he would stop by the hare Frodrim's room first. He had seen him trying to choose between two amulets to wear. After he chose, he had left the other one on the table in his room. Cayden causally strolled into Frodrim's room. His eyes fell upon the amulet on the table, he looked around to make sure no one was watching, then took it up an cautiously put it into his inner pocket. This was the way it went for some time until he though he had a nice bit of trinkets to add to his collection. After he disposed of the loot in his lockbox, he dressed himself in the best he had to offer and strolled into the mess hall.

[Ouroboros]

Thorne gave Foxglove a bemused look as Toby sat down.
"Watch it, hare," the surgeon said with a smirk, swiping a wedge of fine cheese from the new arrival's plate, "don't want me to have to perform eye surgery, do you?"



"You're in the wrong place, sailor," came a voice from behind Cayden as he entered the mess hall. "They're holdin' the feast outside."
Like Cayden, Montgomery had worn his finest on the night before the departure of the Fortuitous, though despite the effort that had gone into producing his uniform, the lack of awards left it lacking. Montgomery was aware of this; it tore at him. Wearing a dress uniform with nothing pinned on it may as well have been wearing nothing at all, for the recognition it carried. Subconsciously, the hare felt himself paw at the empty patch of fabric over his chest as he passed the otter.
"Believe me, it's far from one you'd best be missing. Tonight's a night to remember, isn't it?"

[The Grey Coincidence]

Typical clumsy hares... Thought Foxglove as he filled his goblet once more. Although... some of the hare's chosen pasties certainly looked appealing. And a good taste in food was always welcome. He nodded once at the clumsy hare, raised his goblet and drained it as swiftly as he could.

[Sebias of Redwall]

Toby gave the fox seated at his table a long look.
The chap looks like he got into a fight with a river pike, he thought, glancing at the otter's deformed tail.
Holding out a paw, Toby cleared his throat. "Eh hem. My name is Toby Clewiston, what's yours? Wot?"

[The Grey Coincidence]

The hare wanted his name... why did everybeast want names? Could they not just refer to him as 'him'?
Not wanting to get on the wrong side of his new shipmate, the otter jabbed one finger at the tooth bracelets to mean 'fox', mimed a motion of putting gloves on, for 'glove', shook his head and repeatedly crossed and uncrossed his arms to indicate 'lack' then pointed at his jaw... to mean 'jaw'.
Foxglove Lackjaw had not always been his name of course, but it was the name he'd chosen when he decided to defy destiny. Besides... it had a very lovely ring to it.

[Sebias of Redwall]

"Ah," Toby said knowingly, "Braceletpaw Crossmouth. I gotta admit that is a rather interesing name. Wot."