Jerad nods to Theodore, though reluctantly. He would help with locating the mouse's parents, but it seems the others from outside the rosebush were taking care of it... and that some of them were not too comfortable with his presence. So, it seems that he's done all he can do for them. "Yeah,"he says to Theo. "Lets head back."
Peanut nods as Clive says they need to hide while he is going to try and hear what is going on with the farmer. She waves goodbye to Theodore as the two rats head off towards the rosebush, "Hope to see you again!" she shouts after him.
Readjusting the little mouse so that she can run easier, she continues to carry Mitsy and follows Num to the haybale on the other side of the barn where she said her home was located. She also starts shouting, "Joshua! Joshua!" as they run.
Looking towards the farmer as he is running towards them, Peanut sees something that makes her stop in her tracks. "Num!! Clive! It's.. its Dragon!!" she calls out to her friends, unsure what to do right now and terror has her frozen in her tracks with the mouse in her arms.
Clive sees Num helping Peanut and decides he is no use to anyone dead. He continues his previous plan of hiding and hopes he can avoid detection by Dragon
The Farmer walks up to the doors of the barn with his lantern in one hand and the cat, Dragon, between his feet.
"Go on now boy, I'm busy." Farmer Fitzgibbon's mutters as he steps through the barn doors and tries to step around Dragon as the cat weaves between his legs and meows. "I told Elizabeth something was up out here. Was there a fire?"
He walks to the workbench and tuts to himself, then utters a few nearly inaudible sounds of disapproval.
"Someone has been here." He says finally, looking around."They didn't steal anything though? Just broke the lantern?Hello!? Who's there?"
No answer.
"How did this happen?" He mutters as he keeps working, picking up the remains of the lantern, which has now been out long enough, and sprayed well enough to be cool. "There's a tiny little hole in this? What in the world..."
He sets the lantern back down and examines the black soot on his fingers before wiping it off on his pants.
"If you're still here, I'm calling the cops!" He says as he steps away from the barn door and starting back toward the house...
Peanut shivers in her little hidey hole with Mitsy, happy to have the little mouseling to cling to as she knows Dragon is still out there. As Num asks her his question, she shrugs "I have no idea."
While all of this is going on, there is no answer for Joshua. Things are quiet. Mitsy holds on to Peanut for dear life, her face buried in the hedgehog's quills while things get unnaturally quiet.
"So strange." The Farmer says to himself as he pauses outside the barn door and looks back inside, oblivious to any of the tiny creatures hiding around him, watching him, examining his every move. "What on Earth is going on here? First the tractor and now this? What am I missing?"
He simply stands there awhile, thumb on his chin while he thinks. Only his eyes move, shifting from the table, the lantern, to the tractor. He shakes his head finally and slowly pushes Dragon aside with one of his feet.
"Go on boy. You're going to trip me." He says, then steps off, this time disappearing back toward the house.
Dragon, on the other hand, remains. He sits still a moment, his head tilting from side to side as he sniffs out...something. Someone.
With the journey home disrupted, Theodore found some place to hide with Jared. Once the farmer and Dragon leave, he releases the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Is he gone?" He whispers to the larger rat, "Is it safe to leave? Oh I hope no one get's caught."He peaks out to stare in the cat's direction.
"I live here." She says, looking around from her Peanut-mounted vantage point. "I don't see my daddy. Go through there."
She points through a gap between hay bails.
As Peanut and Num help Mitsy, there is shouting in the high grass. The little creatures outside the barn begin to panic as Dragon goes on the hunt, disappearing like some monster into the grass. There isn't much of anything to be done about it; Dragon is doing what Dragon does, and the scattered survivors in the grass are the only thing providing cover for the party near the barn...for the moment, anyway.
Jerad looks off after Dragon, gritting his teeth as he debates on what should be done. What could he do about it anyways? He lets out a long sigh. Now that he'd already started heading towards the rosebush, he wouldn't be able to get to the grass in time to stop whatever would happen anyways. Now all he can do is hope that the survivors from the barn continue to be survivors. Oh how he hates bloodshed.
"Yes," he says to Theodore. "I... hope they all escape. I wish there was something we could do for them, but I'm afraid we'd just draw attention to ourselves. Hopefully the grass will give them enough cover to escape." Even though he thinks they should keep moving on their way, his large dark eyes stay fixed on where the cat had disappeared into the grass.
To Num, "I'm going to take her through that gap, keep an eye out and I'll be back." Peanut pushes through the gap as Mitsy pointed, hoping to find something good...
As they move she says to the mouseling, "In case we don't find your father, there is a nice mouse family we saw earlier, shall I introduce you?"
Clive goes back inside the barn, and tries to find somewhere high up with a view outside the barn in the direction of Dragon for a better vantage point.
Peanut and Num are able to move easily into the back of the hay pile, finding a cozy little house inside that is set up with all sorts of warm, fluffy nesting, some crude furniture, a collection of bottle caps that are being used as plates, a couple of thimbles full of water, and all the modern amenities a mouse could ever ask for. What they don't find is any sign of Mitsy's parents. As Peanut asks about introducing her to the mouse family, the little one looks up at her and asks a simple question.
"Isn't that the direction Dragon went?"
As Jerad and Theodore look out across the field, they begin to realize that both the Farmer and now Dragon are lurking in the space between the barn and the farmhouse...meaning they're both obstructing their travel back to the rosebush.
Then they hear the slam of the screen door again, and a feminine voice saying something near the farmhouse, before the tell-tale bark of Titan, the Farmer's dog, as Elizabeth lets him out to do his business in the yard...
It becomes apparent that there isn't a way back to the rosebush this evening, or at least right now, that isn't fraught with danger.
And there is also the mystery of who the rat was that tried to burn the barn down just moment before. Was it someone from the rosebush or...?
Num looks to where the hugeman is.
"Joshua," Num shouts. "You're girl looking for you."
He then looks at the rest of the animals scattering.
"We need hide too," Num says and heads towards where Peanut had said the girl's father would be.
Jerad nods to Theodore, though reluctantly. He would help with locating the mouse's parents, but it seems the others from outside the rosebush were taking care of it... and that some of them were not too comfortable with his presence. So, it seems that he's done all he can do for them. "Yeah," he says to Theo. "Lets head back."
Peanut nods as Clive says they need to hide while he is going to try and hear what is going on with the farmer. She waves goodbye to Theodore as the two rats head off towards the rosebush, "Hope to see you again!" she shouts after him.
Readjusting the little mouse so that she can run easier, she continues to carry Mitsy and follows Num to the haybale on the other side of the barn where she said her home was located. She also starts shouting, "Joshua! Joshua!" as they run.
Looking towards the farmer as he is running towards them, Peanut sees something that makes her stop in her tracks. "Num!! Clive! It's.. its Dragon!!" she calls out to her friends, unsure what to do right now and terror has her frozen in her tracks with the mouse in her arms.
Num grabs Peanut and drags her and the child into the closest passage that goes into the bales of hay.
"That big cat," Num says. "They still swat you if play dead."
He gets them as far back into the hay as possible, then turns, drawing his two axes, peeking around a corner if possible to see what's going on.
Clive sees Num helping Peanut and decides he is no use to anyone dead. He continues his previous plan of hiding and hopes he can avoid detection by Dragon
After joining more my signature got out of hand so I am now a proud member of the extended signature club!! :)
The Farmer walks up to the doors of the barn with his lantern in one hand and the cat, Dragon, between his feet.
"Go on now boy, I'm busy." Farmer Fitzgibbon's mutters as he steps through the barn doors and tries to step around Dragon as the cat weaves between his legs and meows. "I told Elizabeth something was up out here. Was there a fire?"
He walks to the workbench and tuts to himself, then utters a few nearly inaudible sounds of disapproval.
"Someone has been here." He says finally, looking around. "They didn't steal anything though? Just broke the lantern? Hello!? Who's there?"
No answer.
"How did this happen?" He mutters as he keeps working, picking up the remains of the lantern, which has now been out long enough, and sprayed well enough to be cool. "There's a tiny little hole in this? What in the world..."
He sets the lantern back down and examines the black soot on his fingers before wiping it off on his pants.
"If you're still here, I'm calling the cops!" He says as he steps away from the barn door and starting back toward the house...
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Num stays quiet, watching the huge man and the Dragon cat. He's very curious and looks over to Peanut and whispers "What are cops?"
All the time he keeps his eyes on Dragon.
Peanut shivers in her little hidey hole with Mitsy, happy to have the little mouseling to cling to as she knows Dragon is still out there. As Num asks her his question, she shrugs "I have no idea."
In his own hiding spot, Clive is having similar thoughts. Thecopse. What a strange name. Is that test tube guys name?
After joining more my signature got out of hand so I am now a proud member of the extended signature club!! :)
While all of this is going on, there is no answer for Joshua. Things are quiet. Mitsy holds on to Peanut for dear life, her face buried in the hedgehog's quills while things get unnaturally quiet.
"So strange." The Farmer says to himself as he pauses outside the barn door and looks back inside, oblivious to any of the tiny creatures hiding around him, watching him, examining his every move. "What on Earth is going on here? First the tractor and now this? What am I missing?"
He simply stands there awhile, thumb on his chin while he thinks. Only his eyes move, shifting from the table, the lantern, to the tractor. He shakes his head finally and slowly pushes Dragon aside with one of his feet.
"Go on boy. You're going to trip me." He says, then steps off, this time disappearing back toward the house.
Dragon, on the other hand, remains. He sits still a moment, his head tilting from side to side as he sniffs out...something. Someone.
And then he's charging into the grass...
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
With the journey home disrupted, Theodore found some place to hide with Jared. Once the farmer and Dragon leave, he releases the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Is he gone?" He whispers to the larger rat, "Is it safe to leave? Oh I hope no one get's caught." He peaks out to stare in the cat's direction.
Num let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding once Dragon takes off into the grass.
He looks down at Peanut and Misty.
"You live in the hay?" Num asks, looking around for any sign of a mouse parent.
The little mouse looks at Num and nods.
"I live here." She says, looking around from her Peanut-mounted vantage point. "I don't see my daddy. Go through there."
She points through a gap between hay bails.
As Peanut and Num help Mitsy, there is shouting in the high grass. The little creatures outside the barn begin to panic as Dragon goes on the hunt, disappearing like some monster into the grass. There isn't much of anything to be done about it; Dragon is doing what Dragon does, and the scattered survivors in the grass are the only thing providing cover for the party near the barn...for the moment, anyway.
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Jerad looks off after Dragon, gritting his teeth as he debates on what should be done. What could he do about it anyways? He lets out a long sigh. Now that he'd already started heading towards the rosebush, he wouldn't be able to get to the grass in time to stop whatever would happen anyways. Now all he can do is hope that the survivors from the barn continue to be survivors. Oh how he hates bloodshed.
"Yes," he says to Theodore. "I... hope they all escape. I wish there was something we could do for them, but I'm afraid we'd just draw attention to ourselves. Hopefully the grass will give them enough cover to escape." Even though he thinks they should keep moving on their way, his large dark eyes stay fixed on where the cat had disappeared into the grass.
Theodore looks at Jerad, then towards where Dragon went, then back towards Jerad. "Should we try to get home? Or should we go back to the barn?"
To Num, "I'm going to take her through that gap, keep an eye out and I'll be back." Peanut pushes through the gap as Mitsy pointed, hoping to find something good...
As they move she says to the mouseling, "In case we don't find your father, there is a nice mouse family we saw earlier, shall I introduce you?"
Clive goes back inside the barn, and tries to find somewhere high up with a view outside the barn in the direction of Dragon for a better vantage point.
After joining more my signature got out of hand so I am now a proud member of the extended signature club!! :)
As Peanut and Misty enter the gap in the hay, Num moves in after them and turns to watch the barn.
Peanut and Num are able to move easily into the back of the hay pile, finding a cozy little house inside that is set up with all sorts of warm, fluffy nesting, some crude furniture, a collection of bottle caps that are being used as plates, a couple of thimbles full of water, and all the modern amenities a mouse could ever ask for. What they don't find is any sign of Mitsy's parents. As Peanut asks about introducing her to the mouse family, the little one looks up at her and asks a simple question.
"Isn't that the direction Dragon went?"
As Jerad and Theodore look out across the field, they begin to realize that both the Farmer and now Dragon are lurking in the space between the barn and the farmhouse...meaning they're both obstructing their travel back to the rosebush.
Then they hear the slam of the screen door again, and a feminine voice saying something near the farmhouse, before the tell-tale bark of Titan, the Farmer's dog, as Elizabeth lets him out to do his business in the yard...
It becomes apparent that there isn't a way back to the rosebush this evening, or at least right now, that isn't fraught with danger.
And there is also the mystery of who the rat was that tried to burn the barn down just moment before. Was it someone from the rosebush or...?
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York