They Thought Redwall was Safe! (Is Redwall as Safe as they Say it is? Part 3!)

[Ashleg]

OOC-
Yessir! @Groddil
IC-
"Yeah, come on, let's go see if we can find somebeast who's seen them." said Duncan as he completed the run down the slope.
He waited for Bracklew at the edge of the town and then journeyed in, eyeing the place with interest.
"Hah! Well, isn't this place just dandy. A white squirrel and a golden mouse shouldn't be too hard to pick out."

--

Rapshade whimpered and squeezed Rayne's paw, lying back, and inside of him there piled some unexpressed gratitude to the mouse for her kindness.
The room seemed so still despite him still crying.
"B-be honest," the ferret panted between sobs, "Do y'think I can ever change? I don't want to be HATED an--" coughing, Rapshade's words were lost to his mind. But he had gotten the idea across, finally out of his mouth as he had been scared to consider before. It seemed like he would relapse back into bawling any moment.

[LT Sandpaw]

Bracklew shook his head. "You might be surprised, all manner of beasts travel through Riverblue, even vermin if they're peaceful. Remember this is the home of a number of the Vigil. Even if somebeast saw Maxy and Stumbly they very well could have signed it off as another one of those passer through and not given them a second thought."

Winding his way across the wooden planks and under the open gate Bracklew led the way towards the town center. "We'll ask Charm and her guards if they saw them. The Riverblue guards know about everybeast that enters and leaves their town, they'd be the beasts to ask."

~*~*~*~

"Change, anybeast can change Rapshade." Rayne said, giving the ferret a meaningful look. "Whether it be for bad or good I do believe anybeast can change, but change isn't your problem here. Nobeast trusts you Rapshade."
Rayne was purposely blunt in her choice of words, not wanting to bandy about the edges of reality. "You've hurt so many here, and your actions stained the lives of all Redwallers with blood and war. If you want to be unhated, uh, less passionately disliked you'll have to win their trust. And even I'm not optimistic those wounds of the past can be healed so easily."

[Ashleg]

"Lead the way!" Duncan flashed a grin and fell behind.
Once his squirrel friend was well in front of him, his nose went to twitching as he tried to sniff out food. This was a town, so they had got to have grub somewhere.
Oh, yes.
The hare's mouth watered. There, slapped peacefully on somebeast's windowsill, was a berry and meadowcream pie!
Duncan skidded on his heels. "Bracklew, would you mind if I just took a detour for a second? You go on ahead, find Charm, wot wot!"

--

Rapshade's ears drooped.
He sniffed and let go of Rayne's paw so he could quickly wipe his eyes.
"My apologies," he whispered through a hiccup.

Relishing the silence, the ferret shifted and caught sight of Maxy sitting up. Alarms went off in his head. He tugged desperately on Rayne's sleeve. "Oh, blast, pretend I'm crying over my wounds!"

[Hickory]

It was a pleasant morning for Rowan. She had spend the night perched in the branches of a widespread oak tree, with an uneventful evening beforehand. The morning was starting out the same.

She had actually gotten lost the previous evening, having veered off the path on accident, whereupon the woodland quickly swallowed her up. However, she managed to gaze upon the belltower of Redwall (her original goal) and Rowan forged her way through the forest.

At long last, she emerged out of the woodland onto the plains. Pulling her cloak closer about her in response to a particularly cold breeze, the squirrel turned towards the Abbey, approaching one of the smaller side gates. As she drew closer, Rowan picked out something on the ground, something oddly still. Logic said it couldn't be a rock. Out of curiosity, she picked up her pace, whatever it was, it certainly looked like a bo-

"AAAAAHHH!"

The squirrel recoiled as she realized the something was, indeed, a body, bloodied from the hole in its chest. She fell backward in shock, wondering why there was a corpse outside the Abbey.

OOC: Have her scream heard from within.

[Ashleg]

Fangfang lie half asleep in his bed, ears flicking and tail twitching every few seconds or so.
And then...
"AAAAAHHH!"

Fang screeched and tumbled from the mattress, clutching his chest.
"Tha'...ain't good..." the rat gasped, fear-stricken.
As he gathered himself, he inched towards the window and peered over the sill.
Yes, there was definitely somebeast there, at least as far as he could tell.
But did she really have to scream?

Fangfang hurriedly fastened his cloak and raced downstairs to the exit.
"Hiya, Aver, Petu! No time t' talk!"
He skidded to a halt when he got to the East Gate, heart racing.
If there was something dangerous out there, this would be goodbye. But since when am I smart?

With a flick of a yellow paw, the runt had the gate open and was also staring down at the body.

[Hickory]

Rowan's eyes flicked to the strange rat and then back to the body. "I... I was just coming towards the gate when I saw this!"

[Ashleg]

"Well, I've seen many o' dead things..." said Fang, tapping his footpaw.
Suddenly, the small rat's face grew dark. He rounded on Rowan, teeth bared.
"But this! I've known 'er since she were liddle! Why'd you kill 'er?! Stumbly didn't deserve that!"

[Hickory]

"What?! I don't know what you mean by that..."

The squirrel picked herself up, staring at Fangfang. "Where did you get that idea?"

[Ashleg]

"Oh, I was a pirate, I knows 'ow it happens. You stab 'er with somethin', she goes 'aiiiiieieieighhh'! An' then you pretend you found it."
The rat folded his arms, staring at Rowan crossly.
"Not so innocent, are ye..."

[Hickory]

She stared at the rat a few moments longer before starting to brush by him. "Let me speak to a *proper* Abbeydweller, I'm sure they won't be as nearsighted as you..."

[Ashleg]

Fangfang yelped and scrambled to block her.
"But I'm plenty proper! An' I'm not..." he crossed his eyes. "Nearsighted."

[Groddil]

OOC:

"he [ferret] up his eyes."

Welp. It's official.

We've jumped off the slippery slope and dived straight into OverlyPoliticalCorrectville, Tennessee. Wow. There are no words. Bloody hell.

[Ashleg]

OOC-
Gosh darn.
Now I need to change that innocent word to something more innocent.
So done.

[Hickory]

"What I'm trying to say," replayed Rowan with a trace of impatience, "is that you are misreading the situation. I didn't kill the poor mouse any more than you did."

[Ashleg]

The rat stuck his tongue out.
"Who did then?"

Behind Fangfang approached Father Abbot, wiping the exhausted look from his face as he neared the two.
"Boy," the old mouse wheezed. "You two look riled up."
Stopping, he placed his paw on the vermin's shoulder.
"What is going on?"

Fang turned.