New Around Here

[Mareth]

OOC: Okay, since Hanging Around is obviously dead, I'll start this topic a day or so later, 'kay?

Mareth sat on his bunk, his back against the wall, polishing his long blade with a cloth. He kept his weapon in pristine condition, now that he had time to, and had reason to. The barracks was near empty, now, though he had no idea where everyone had gone to.

His recruitment into the Horde had gone smoothly enough; though nobeast had been particularly helpful to him, none had pointedly taken the time to make his life difficult. That was mostly how it had always been; Staying in the background, doing his duties without question, content to take orders, not give them.

The other beast whose bunk lie next to his was another otter, her fur blonde-ish, though not nearly as light and silver-tinted as his. She was a short, but tough young beast, with an amiable nature, and was pleasant enough to talk with. She was gone, though, as well.

The otter finished up polishing his blade and picked up its scabbard. It was just a plain black affair, with steel bands that were spaced evenly down it, holding it together. Before Mareth slid his sword back into it, he took up the cloth and began to work on the steel bits of the scabbard. He kept his equiptment in good condition.

He worked on in silence.

[Chicory Rue]

Rue swept down the hall in silence, musing to herself. She was glad to get away from the noisy hustle and bustle of the rest of her Horde-mates, and a little, well-deserved break in her own quarters would do her a lot of good. She paused right before she got to the doorway of Mareth's room. On the one hand, she did very much want to lie down in her own bunk and doze off for a while. On the other, she wasn't all that tired, after all, and Mareth was a newcomer, whom she had never talked to. In fact, the only thing she actually knew about him was that he was an otter and a fellow Horde mate. And besides, it had been a while since she had talked to someone new, from the outside.

Hoping her presence wouldn't be too unwelcome, she knocked quietly on the doorframe before going in. She nodded at Mareth and said, "Need any help, there?"

[Mareth]

OOC: Yeah! A reply!

Mareth looked up from his polishing at the sound of a knock on the door frame.

"Need any help, there?"

A badger stepped into the room. By the sound of the voice, it was female, but Mareth could have been mistaken... He answered the creature.

"No, I am almost done here, thank you. But you are welcome to come in," he added hastily, gesturing an unused bed next to his.

OOC: Wow. Sorry this is so short, but there's really not much to say...

[Chicory Rue]

The female badger ambled in and sat down where Mareth had pointed. She looked at the otter thoughtfully. "My presence here isn't disturbing you, I hope?"

OOC: This is even shorter, sorry. You're right, I can't think of a lot to say either. At least at once. ^^'

[Ananka Spela]

Ananka was walking down the hall to her barracks, whistling an old song that she didn't know the name to and twirling an arrow around like a baton. When she neared the doorway she stopped to hear what was going on inside. She'd only been there three days but she had already learned to enter carefully. Since one of the voices belonged to Kronos, the otter whose bunk was beside her's, and the other to a badger named Rue who seemed pretty descent, she entered the room and closed the door behind her.

"I'm not butting into anythin' here, am I?" she asked. Obviously she wasn't since both creatures looked pretty content and weren't glaring at her. Without waiting for an answer she walked over and sat on her bunk, still twirling her arrow.

[Mareth]

As the badger walked into the room, Mareth set aside his sword and scabbard, tossing the cloth into his open pack hanging on a hook next to his bunk. He looked up at the badger.

She had a remarkably kind face, for being part of a fighting organization, though that was one of the only remarkable things about her. She sat down on the bunk next to his.

"My presence here isn't disturbing you, I hope?"

"Not at all; I was finished here anyway," he assured her. "I am called Mareth", he said, extending a paw in greeting, his right.

At that moment, the otter Ananka, the one whose bunk was near his on the other side, entered the room. She looked around for a second, and walked toward her bunk, shutting the door behind her.

"I'm not butting into anythin' here, am I?"she said as she entered, not really waiting for an answer.

Mareth looked over at her as she entered.

"Sorry, meet you Ananka," he said, waving a paw in her direction. "Ananka, meet you... I am sorry, I do not believe I have your name..."

[Chicory Rue]

Rue nods and stands up to acknowledge Ananka's presence, giving a short, stiff bow before sitting back down again.

"Oh, dear, how rude of me, I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? My name is Chicory Rue, though you can just call me Rue. Everyone does."

[Mareth]

"Honored to meet you, Rue."

And he was being honest. It was nice to have anyone to talk to, let alone a kind beast like her. She was a normal looking badger, with a kind face that suited her demeanor. I had been a long time since he had had a real conversation; since he left Regalia, he thought. God, how he missed the stone city, set into a series of huge caverns near the eastern shore.

He'd been born there, some 32 seasons ago. He never knew a mother; she'd gone when he was born, but his father had been a kind man, a soldier in the Regalian army. He had died in battle when Mareth was 17 seasons old. By that time, Mareth had also taken to the soldiering life, and loved it too. He wasn't too headstrong to take orders, but had a good head on his shoulders, and was pretty good with a sword.

'Ah, well,' he thought. 'That is all in the past, now.'

To Rue, he said, "So, Rue. How long have you been a part of this army?"

[Chicory Rue]

Rue smiled, recognizing the reminiscent look on the otter's face- a look that she often had herself. Aloud, she said, "How long have I been here? Let's see, now...I don't know, really- a moderate amount of time, I guess. Not too long, though- not half as long as some of the older veterans, like Flameclaw and Typh."

She leaned back against the wall, sighing. "But, I don't intend on staying here forever...I still have an obligation to fulfill, and these bones of mine aren't getting any younger...one of these days, I'm just gonna up an' at em'- but not for a long while yet, you can be sure of that."

Rue sighed again. A momentary silence descended. Then she asked, "So, what brought you to the Horde, Mareth?"

[Mareth]

"It is quite a long story. I am not sure that you would want to hear all of it..."

But he looked at the badger's face, and saw a look that told him that she would not mind listening.

"I have not been in this part of the country long; Only for a few seasons, at very most. My original home was near the eastern shoreline, in a huge expanse of caverns and waterways, almost underground. There is a city there, called Regalia. That was my home for 23 seasons or so."

"Regalia is so deep into the caves that most creatures living there are in the darkness for most of their lives. That is why I, and most other natives of Regalia inherit these violet eyes, and light fur."

"I was brought up by my father; a soldier in the Regalian army, and a great fighter. He was kind to me, and my childhood was as good as it could have been without a mother. She left after I was born. Obviously, as I grew, I had no greater desire than to join the army in which my father fought. I began training at about 12 seasons. When I turned 16, I was allowed to become a part of the armed forces of Regalia, and I took my job seriously. My father-" He paused, his head down-turned slighty. "My father was killed in a war fought against invading rats, part of some tribe that lived on the shores, near Regalia."

"His death only forced me to work even harder at training, even off-duty I worked with the older veterans, learning how to use my sword correctly. Almost ten seasons after, the soldiers were tasked to rid the shores of vermin; even more were settling nearby, thus posing a danger to our people. Our travels led us to come inland a ways, and at one point our whole division was fighting a massive group of rats. We were broken apart, all of us scattered to the winds. It was not long after that I stumbled upon this place, joining only because I have nowhere else to go."

He finished speaking and leaned back against the wall behind his bunk.

[Ananka Spela]

Ananka stood in stunned silence as Mareth told the story of his life. Finally she managed to utter a single word. "Wow" As if the effort of saying that one word had drained all of her energy, she flopped back on her bunk and sighed. "I'm afraid my story is only half as eventful. Though, I'm not exactly that old either." she chuckled

"I was born in a city called Western Valinor to my parents, Iluvatar and Varda Spela. Valinor was a peaceful city that had only one war in its two thousand year history. My parents moved there after they met in a city to the south called Dorthain where they grew up. Both fought in wars there for most of their lives, so they trained me in a militaristic manner."

"Most would think that means overstrictness, but it really wasn't that bad. The more I did things right, the less strict my parents became. All they wanted was a daughter that didn't have her head up her..." she laughed "Sorry, but its true. My mom told me her sister, Annela was like that and that if I ended up like her she'd disown me."

"By the time I was 15 my parents let me do whatever I wanted. Not because they were irrisponsible parents, but because they trusted me. I never was one of those people who felt the need to wreak havic when let out of my cage. I studied History, Math, Science, and Astronomy at a local school and finished when I was 18. That's when I decided to leave home."

"I left on a rainy day in October, near my 19th birthday. Neither of my parents cried, knowing that I could handle myself and that I'd write plenty. Well, that I did. I don't think I've gone two days without sending something out to them. Well, four days after I left I came across a battle scarred badger. He had to have been one of the wisest creatures I ever met. Well, of course I asked him where he came from. That's when he told me all about the Horde and the adventures he had whilst he was among their ranks. He gave me directions to where it is and well, here I am!" Ananks ended her stroy by raising her hands above her head as if she just fell from the sky. She had a good laugh about this and went on to ask Rue about her adventures. "If you don't mind me asking 'o' course."

OOC: I really didn't know Regalia was known for its Otters, hehe. That's alright, my character is from the land of the Valar in the Silmarillion, oh well! Oh, and her father is the father of the Valar and the Valier, hehe, and her mother is one of the Valier.

[Mareth]

OOC: Oh, shut it, Ananka. You and your Tolkein...

Mareth listened intently to the younger otter's story. Her's was a much different one, most of it happy. He had left out the part of his story about his best friend, a bat named Andromeda who was also a native to the caverns. She had been killed in the same fight that had left him in the middle of the wilderness, before he came to this new place.

Mareth smiled at the young, energetic, otter, who was now asking Rue what had brought her to the Horde. He could only wish he had that energy.

[Chicory Rue]

OOC: Waaaaaaait a second. Just to let you know, Ananka, this is not the Silmarillion (although I admire your taste).

IC: Rue sat up again from where she had been leaning against the wall, listening to the two otters tell their tales. She laughed thoughtfully. "I'm afraid my story isn't quite as interesting as yours," she said aloud to nobody in particular. "But, let me tell it anyway. It won't take very long." She cleared her throat once before she began.

"I'm a badger of the Western Plains, born and raised. There's not many of us plains badgers left nowadays- nearly all of the badgers you find these days come either from the woodlands, or the Mountain."

The badger's eyes crossed dreamily, as if she were in a daze. "The Mountain...since I was little, my father (who was the great-great-great grand-nephew of Orlando the Axe) told me all sorts of stories about the great rocky citadel that guards the shore. I used to dream about it all the time. Still do, in fact. Anyway, point is, when I came of age, I left my beloved old home in the plains to go and seek out my fortune in the wide world (my, I am getting rather fairy-tale-like in tone, aren't I?)."

"Well. The first place I decided to go was Salamandastron. What better place to start, especially when I had heard so much about it already? So, I set out. On the way, I ran into an old acquaintance of mine, named Dirk Thornclaw. He asked me to come with him; I agreed, rather reluctantly. I owed him a favor from long ago. I agreed to go with him, hoping that it wouldn't take too long- I wished to get on with my journey as quickly as possible."

She stopped, thinking. "That's where I fell, so to speak. He showed me the town, the sea, the jetty, the beach, where he and his acquired army made their home. I was instantly transfixed. In my life, I had never seen anything besides the wind-swept, dusty plains, the woods of Mossflower, and once, the river Moss. I decided to stay, at least for a little while."

Rue sighed heavily. "And I haven't left since, even after all these seasons. Of course, my mind is made up- sooner or later, I will leave this place, complete what I set out to do." She smiled slightly. "It's a bit pathetic, really. But, there you have it. The story of my life." She frowned to herself. No, that wasn't completely right. She had left a lot out. Quite a lot. But, she mused, there was no need for her to elaborate. The simplified version was good enough.

OOC2: Aaah, okay, don't kill me, I know that was a pathetic story, I typed that in like five minutes. I'll make up a better one, I promise, as soon as I get the time.

[Mareth]

As he listened to Rue's story, Mareth could not help but get the impression that she was leaving out quite a bit of it. No matter; he had left things out as well.

"Well, I hope that you eventually get around to finding that mountain, Rue," said Mareth with a smile.

"I, on the other paw, have absolutely no idea as to where Regalia is in relation to here. Maybe, I will return there, eventually, but the chances of that are quite slim." Mareth breathed outward, and stretched out his legs. "Now, have you any idea where one can find some food around here?"

[Ananka Spela]

OOC: Alright so I'm horrible at making up names and I'm reading the silmarillion and well, the names just sorta stuck in my head a wee bit.

BIC: Ananka perked up at the mention of food. "Man," she sighed. "I don't think I've eaten a descent meal since I got here. I er," she looked around sheepishly. "I haven't been able to find the kitchens. I've been living on what was in my bag from when I was traveling."

She got up from her bed and streched. "I imagine Rue, our nice wonderful badger friend who hopefully tolerates suckups can help." Ananka chuckled to herself. She wasn't really a suckup so the opportunity to be one was actually kind of fun.

[Chicory Rue]

Rue jumps up, grinning. "Of course, my dear Ananka. Imagine that! Living on your dry rations when there's so much delectable food to be had around here. C'mon, Mareth, Ananka- I'll show you guys down to the kitchens."

[Mareth]

OOC:

Are you going to start a new topic, or should Ananka or I do it?

[Chicory Rue]

OOC: You guys can. I'm feeling kinda lazy right now.