Star-gazing

[Scarlet]

A long, slender form was sprawled upon the ground, the figure's body curving to fit the arch of the hill. Sweet green eyes were hooded in a hazy fashion, as if the weasel were in the process of uncovering something important. The breath in her lungs seemed to be caught in her chest as it's rise and fall stopped, before she settled her lashes against her cheeks, optics obscured by thin lids. She released the air, and her torso fell dramatically as she lost the idea in her mind; it wasn't the answer.

With a heavy sigh, Natasha let her emereld orbs roll open, pupils adjusting to the darkness around her; night reigned, and the corsair would have to be careful not to fall asleep here. When in Mossflower, the weasel had only one place that she could think, and that happened to be where she was - amidst all the stars. Looking at the distant, fickering lights brought a strange peace she did not know how to attain elsewhere, so star-gazing had become a pastime of hers.

She admired stars; tiny balls of energy, so little yet so very beautiful. They didn't need a fancy dress, or praise to keep on shining - they just did. They shone regardless of what anyone else thought, yet stars also struck the pirate as being very shy; only appearing at night, to shimmer endearingly below, eager to contribute whatever little light they could. To Natasha, stars were determined.

From her vantage-point, the weasel could see nearly the whole sky above her, and the flicker of motion did not go unnoticed. The light of one star seemed to fade, diminishing, and yet again Natasha caught her breath, watching as the star began to fall. Quickly, the weasel clasped her paws underneath her chin, and close her vivid green orbs, thoughts whirling as she frantically sought out a wish. Finding one, her lips moved to silently mouth the words; the star faded from view as it's light completely vanished, assumedly hitting the Earth - maybe even the sea? What joy it would be to catch a falling star...

The weasel's ears pricked as the sound of paws crushing grass alerted to her a new presence; she had let her crew run about Mossflower at their own leisure, so she was not particularly cautious. However, as a shadow fell over her, that did not stop the creature from drawing out Lutra, her pistol, and pointing it squarely into the beast's face.

[Firestripe]

"Whoa whoa whoa, sorry captain! I didn't know you were here..." *Came a voice from the beast that had a gun in his face, who happened to be Zeph. Indeed he was telling very much the truth. He'd been just strolling around the forest, making sure not to lose track of where he was, so that he could finally be alone and relax. He was always tense to a degree around other creatures because that's just how he had grown up and over time that tenseness wears one down, as was the case with Zeph. He was simply walking the woods so as to be alone so as to finally get that heavy burden off himself. He was not caring as much for the surroundings as much as having it all to himself. That is untill finding a pistol stuck in his face, then he saw the captain and got all tense again, as he did whenever around other beasts. He held up his paws to show that he intended no harm for indeed, she'd snuck up on him more so than he'd snuck up on her.*

[Scarlet]

{ooc: Yay, my orangey font color is working! *does happy dance*}

The weasel lowered her weapon as she recognized one of her crewmembers. She squinted her eyes, and the little light that was shining down from the stars which she had admired so thoughtfully revealed the face of Zeph. Natasha sighed, for now her alone time was gone, and she would have to stop trying to answer unanswerable things, which was strangly relaxing for her. With a click she uncocked Lutra, and slid it back into its holster. Sighing, she rolled back onto her back. " What are you doing here, Zeph?" She asked, gazing once again up to the stars.

The weasel had no fear that Zeph would try to kill her, as she knew many of the other crewbeasts would, because he had once saved her life. She was, regretably, in debt to her 'hero' for that time he had pulled her away from certain death. She remembers clearly that stormy afternoon, when Zeph ran to save her when she was holding on for dear life to the edge of the deck rail. Natasha had ever since felt somehow 'safe' when Zeph was around, though she would never admit it to anybeast, and rarely even to herself. Deep down Natasha knew that Zeph was the only person she could count on to be there, a kind of friend in the cruel, heartless world of corsairs.

The night around them was still, except for the creaks of the old trees, and the occasional sounds of the rest of the crew wandering about Mossflower. Farther to the north, a thin coloumn of smoke could be seen, but whether it was one of her owns fires or some hapless woodland creatures, Natasha knew not. She accepted it for what it was, which was a coloumn of smoke. The stars above sparkled endlessly, sprinkled across the sky like a kind of sugary confection.

[Firestripe]

"Nothing, actually. I was just walking, not meaning to run into anybeast and as I said, I didn't know you were here." *Zeph stated matter of factly. He dropped his paws back to his side but still remained somewhat tense, as he always was around otherbeasts. Though he may have saved Natasha's life, that didn't mean he was any more at ease around her than other creatures. He didn't see himself as a hero, in fact, he didn't really think much about that day at all when he had saved her life nor did he think that she owed him anything because he didn't feel that she did. In fact, he didn't see her much different from the rest of the crew, except for the fact that she was captain. All his life he'd been a step away from getting the heck beaten out of him by everybeast and he had formed an extremely hard shell around himself that had as of yet never been broken through by anybeast. So in saying, he'd never had any real friends, never had a relationship, never had anything. It wasn't something that could just be gotten over in a moments time. That's why he'd been trying to be alone now, so he could release the tension that had built up in him during his stay on board the ship. Sometimes, well, alot of times, he just needed to be by himself and that doesn't happen to much on board a ship full of pirates.*

[Scarlet]

Natasha nodded, hoping he saw it in the dim light. " Well, now you know that I am here." She said, just stating the fact of the matter. She was still half sitting half laying on the grassy 'hill' that was situated in the middle of the small clearing in the woods. The weasel ran her paw through the grass and plucked a small purple flower. She idly plucked its petals off one by one; I'll find him, I won't find him, I'll find him, I won't find him, I'll find him... One more petal left of the flower she held. She tossed it away angrily, a sudden wave of emotion overcoming her.

Any one who knew Natasha would know that she had been thinking about Andre, as she did numerous times every hour of every day. He was almost constantly in her thoughts, though to Natasha's frustration, she thought about him less and less as the seasons passed by. Stupid flower, had one too many petals.... She thought, still frustrated. How come she couldn't just find him? Was the world really all that big, or was he avoiding her? Maybe he was trying to find her and they were chasing each other around in circles, neither one catching up with the other. Curse you, Antone! She exclaimed in her thoughts, fiercely letting loose a string of curses in her mind. An mole with one eye would be able to tell she was desperately upset.

Realizing that Zeph was still there, Natasha made an attempt to start a conversation, for secretly she was dying for someone to talk to. " So, what have you been doing, Zeph?" She asked, her voice sounding very nonchalant and casual as she hid the frustration, anger and desperation that clouded her thoughts and haunted her always.

[Firestripe]

"Well, uh..." *Started Zeph, a bit awkwardly for he was quite unused to any kind of lengthy conversation or any kind of conversation period.* "...as I said, I was just walking, meaning to keep to myself and be by myself..." *Though it may seem as if Zeph was trying to put Natasha off by saying that he meant to be alone but in fact he wasn't, he was merely stating a fact but as unused to conversations as he was, he didn't know the difference, sadly enough. He could tell that Natasha was upset about something but it's not like he could, or would, do anything about it so instead of trying to kill her as most pirates would and instead of trying to comfort her as most gentlebeasts would, he just stood there wonder why she was trying to have a conversation with him. Nobody ever had conversations with him unless they were to give him an order or he was giving an order, never to just talk like a normal beast, pirate or otherwise. It was strange to him and he didn't know what to make of it.*

[Scarlet]

Natasha looked up at him from where she lay, seeing the wonderment and confusion on Zeph's face. Knowing well enough he had no friends or any other creature to talk to, she was sure he didn't mean to be rude by saying what he said. It still irked her, nevertheless, but she tried her best not to show it. Keeping up the facade she simply said, "Oh, that's interesting. I was doing the exact same thing. Well, besides the wandering part. " She laughed slightly, then sighed once more. " You should try star-gazing by yourself, all alone. Its what I always do when I want to be away from reality and other creatures." She still had no idea why she was still talking to Zeph, but for some reason, she found it strangely relaxing.

She absentmindedly fingered the necklace she always wore. Andre had given it to her as a present once, before they got seperated by Antone. It was made of amber beads, with a small bronze pendant in the shape of a star in the center. In the center of the star was an emerald the size of a tiny pebble, though it sparkled in the starlight, despite of its size. She loved this necklace and it fit her perfectly, matching her brilliant green eyes with utmost preciseness.

So many thoughts were reeling through her head; Thoughts about Zeph. She liked Zeph well enough, and it was nice to get to talk to him for once. They hadn't really talked since the incident, for because he saved her life Natasha had restrained herself from taking him down for the words he had said before then. She was pretty much over her anger about that, and was satisfied that normality had settled between her and Zeph.

[Firestripe]

*Zeph wasn't really sure how to take that, it seemed to him like a cue to leave, her telling him that he should try star gazing alone. He was actually about to take his leave when he heard something behind him further in the forest. He turned around and squinted into the darkness, trying to figure out what the noise had been. That was when a spear came flying out of the pitch black straight toward him. With a curse he dodged to the side and the spear flew past him and thudded into the ground. He drew his sword and brought it up to bear in one fluid motion. Thats when he noticed the foliage around them start moving quite a bit and dark figures appearing from the forest.* "This... is not so good." *He said to himself more so than Natasha though it was cerainly loud enough for her to hear. He slowly started to back up in a defensive posture as these shadowfied vermin surrounded himself and Natasha.*

[Scarlet]

As soon as the noise had occured, Natasha had leapt off the ground and drawn her pistol. So in saying, she very nearly got hit by the spear that was intended for Zeph. As it hit the ground past her, she was drawing a dagger from her belt. Armed now with pistol and dagger, she was ready for whatever foes lie hidden in the thick foliage around them. Natasha's head was whirling with so many different counter-attacks and attacks, defenses and parries and stuff of that sort to use against your enemy.

She and Zeph were facing opposite directions now, ready for anything that leapt from the dark that surrounded the clearing. Another spear was hurtled through the darkness, and Natasha deflected it with a skilled twist of her dagger. It fell to the ground silently, landing on the thick grass and moss that padded the clearing. Natasha gave a scornful laugh " Is that the best you can do?" She asked the darkness. She saw nearly invisable creatures circling them near silently, besides a crackle of a twig and the whoosh of a branch being passed occasionaly.

Coming out of the woods, a lithe rat painted with berry extracts on his face and arms came to a stop before Natasha. Natasha lifted her chin defiantly as the rat shook his rather large spear at her. " What do you want?" She asked, her voice tinted with defiance, matching perfectly with the annoyed look she formed on her face. Natasha was completely absent of the feeling of fear. Life's difficulties had taught her that if she was to be frightened of everything she should be, she would be frightened all her life

[Firestripe]

*Zeph turned his head to see who Natasha was talking to, he wasn't really sure why she would be asking them what they wanted when it was obvious that they just wanted to kill the pair. Zeph knew better then to stop and chat, that's what could get a beast killed. He also knew how fast creatures such as these rats could launch a spear for, though he hadn't had a run in with these specific vermin, he had dealt with others much like them in the past. They were vermin that continued to live in tribes and use old weapons, despite the progression in technology. They were violent creatures that attacked out of nowhere for no reason other than to kill. He also knew that they weren't creatures to bandy about words. So in saying, Zeph already knew what the leader vermin was about to do and put a stop to it mid-way. The rat had, in a split-second, already gotten his arm cocked back to throw the spear when Zeph also already had his pistol in paw, had stuck his arm out past Natasha and had fired a shot at the leader rat. The shot hit the leader in the throat and he fell over with a gurgle, not having gotten the chance to throw his spear. The other vermin that had surrounded them at first, from what Zeph could tell based on what little light there was to see with, looked to be stunned by the death of their leader. After having gotten over that, many expressions turned to pure anger and hatred and the shadow rats started to ready themselves for a charge by letting out war cries and other non-sense. Well, it seemed non-sense to Zeph at least for he saw no reason to it other than to get over fear of the death that many of them would experience through a direct charge. He smirked to himself.* "I don't think they liked that." *Indeed, it seemed as such and Zeph readied himself for the inevitable charge by quickly reloading the shot he had used on the leader and then bringing his blade back up to bear in a defensive posture.*