( Dark clouds loom overhead, releasing a light rain over the quiet shores while the waves lap against the white sands. Having taken a break from their trek home, the little group has sought shelter by the forest's edge save for one. Audri has wandered a few feet away from the others, finding a spot on the shore where she is busily constructing what seems to be some sort of sand sculpture. Lips pursed, she studies her little creation thoughtfully while her paws beginning molding another part. )

"We can't stop for long," Darklett speaks, sitting down and relaxing his footpaws for a bit along with Taye, Seven, and Audri, scratching at his knee to pass the idle time. "I'd imagine they're not thrilled back at the mountain at you two being missing for as long as you have been... Audri," he calls out. "C'mon in under here out of the rain. I don't want you getting any sicker."

Taye is seated near Sev, who appears to be sleeping, against the trunk of a tree. His knees are drawn up to his chest and his arms are wrapped around them. His chin rests in the nook between his knees and his eyes are half-lidded, either extremely relaxed or exhausted, one or the other. He only blinks when Darklett speaks, his ears twitching toward the older buck.

Audri sighs, adding one last finishing touch to her creation before heading back over by the others. She plops down beside Taye, drawing her legs up to rest her chin on while her arms loop around them. "I wasn't gonna get sicker." Grumblegrumble.

Darklett frowns at Audri, catching the low-spirited mumbles. "Aud, I don't want to take any chances. Given everything that's gone on the last few days, the last thing I want is you getting deathly ill. Okay?" He looks meaningfully down at the squirrelmaid, his eyes shifting over to Taye from her. And then to Seven. Both either sleeping or close to it. He shakes his head, and looks downshore, as if magically, the mountain will be in sight.

Close to it, but Taye still gives a weak ear-twitch when Audri sinks down beside him. Shifting slightly, without really opening his eyes, he slips his arms out of his unbuttoned uniform tunic and slips it around Audri's shoulder and puts his arm around her. Mutter. "Warmth. S'good," he explains, resting his chin back upon his knee.

Audri bobs her head, ears turning downward. "I know. Sorry." Is her quiet reply, face going behind her leg, trying to hide the fact her breathing is troubled again. Blinket. She chances another glance at Taye, offering a tiny smile as she leans against him. "Yea."

Darklett stares down the beach again. "Guess it could be worse. Raining harder." He looks towards Audri, picking up a wind-fallen leaf and blowing it, swirling it around in the air, before it falls back down to the ground. He tries to repress a smirk at the sight of Audri and Taye, but ends up having to turn away instead.

( A sound halfway between giggle and snicker escapes Taye and he presses his muzzle to his knee, muffling the sound against his pants. After a few seconds, he offers, "... Sorry. Ha. Could be worse. Nevah mind." Eh heh. )

Audri is fighting for breath again, but she's trying to keep the fact hidden by hiding her face behind her legs. Taye's antics get him a quick glance from the maid, along with a little snicker of her own.

Darklett's ears perk as he looks back towards Taye, brow quirking towards him for a moment, before he looks out again. "Yeah." He leans back against the tree he'd been using as a backrest, looking towards the sleeping Seven, then downshore, almost impatiently.

Despite his apparently silly mood, Taye does notice Audri's labored breathing. He hugs his arm tighter around her, rubbing her opposite arm. "All righ?" he murmurs.

Argh. Audri's ears fold down, glancing up at Taye with a shrug. "Gettin' hard to breath. 'll be fine in a bit though." She replies, resting her head back down with a slight cough. "Hope the rain stops soon."

Darklett looks to Audri, hearing her speak to Taye. Biting his lip, he lifts himself on his arms and shifts over nearer to her. Not invasively, but. "Are you still cold?" he asks, look of concern present across his features.

Taye offers her a tired smile, giving her shoulder a gentle shake. "It'll stop. 'Tis just a little sprinkle, you c'n tell by the clouds. Look," he gestures with a nod upward.

Drat. Audri sighs, which does not help with her breathing but she's just ignoring that for the moment. She shakes her head, offering her dad a smile in hopes to ease his worrying. "Nah. 'm fine." Her attention returns to Taye again, bobbing her head. "Yea."

Darklett hesitates at first, then smiles back at Audri, a few teeth showing, even, as he reaches over and pets her headfur briefly, before scootching away, allowing them their space, and all. He looks towards Seven, then the beach again. Paws twitch against each other.

Taye's eyes shift between Audri, Darklett, and finally Seven, whom he considers with a worried frown. Sleeping like the dead, he is. He shifts slightly away from Audri and reaches out a paw, his finger extended. And... he prods. The buck's foot, that is. Poke-prod.

Both ears spasm forward and Seven's eyes open to peer upward towards the foliage as if he heard something far off that worried him. However, the prod to his footpaw gets a quick glance as well, his brows furrowing somewhat. Hmph? Seems that the runner wasn't quite as asleep as they all thought, in the end. His attention has turned away from the footpaw poke again, both ears twitching as if to catch some noise that has faded away.

Oh, the warmth is moving away. Audri looks towards Taye again, making a little whimper of annoyance as her head goes back to resting on her knees. Her breath still sounds uneasy as she stares at her footpaws, looking bored.

Darklett keeps staring off, a little sigh coming out as he fidgets with his paws. He doesn't notice anything going on behind him.

Taye's eyebrows go up. What's he looking at? Taye looks around that way but - oh. There's an annoyed whimper being directed at him. He looks back around to Audri and blinks. Ooh. He leans painfully over her way and catches her shoulder, tugging her over his way. Lean on him. XD He takes his other paw, going to ruffle her headfur gently. "Ya wanna know what I'm gonna do s'soon as we get home?" He grins down at her.

Seven glances towards the other three, looking a little curious as to what could be going on in that direction. However, there is nothing interesting, so the runner just rolls over quietly and army crawls off in a seemingly random direction, though his ears continue twitching and flicking as if being called by radar.

Whee, there's warmth again. Audri is pulled over, snuggling up to the runner once again as a few random coughs pop up. She hms, glancing up at him with a smirk. "Raid the kitchens?" And Sev gets a curious look.

Darklett is distracted, this time, by the speech, and turns to see Seven is awake. Good, good. But when he's about to get up, Seven starts crawling off, and... His ears perk, watching him carefully... But at least playing it quiet. "I know that's what /I'm/ gonna do, anyway, heh!"

( Sev gets a glance over Taye's shoulder, but he doesn't move again. He only smiles slightly and looks back around to Audri and Darklett with a shake of his head. "... Nah, nah. I admit, that'll be pretty close on this'un's tail. But... me? M'gonna head /straight/ fer the baths. The baths n then the sauna. And I ain't comin' out fer..." He considers for a moment, then gives a firm nod. "Six hours." )

With one glance over his shoulder towards the others, Seven continues along through the underbrush, ears laid flat now as he shuffles his way as quiet as possible from the small group. At least let's hope that the buck knows what he is doing. Soon enough he is out of sight of the other three.

Oo. Aud's ears perk up at this, nose crinkling in thought. "A bath would be great actually. That 'n new clothes. 'n a blanket." She replies, coughing again as her face goes back behind her knees.

Darklett looks over to try and locate Seven, but doesn't look too distracted. As he does it, he even continues the conversation like nothing's happening at all. "Heh, what? Not used to sleeping underground? Little dirt never hurt anybeast." He gives a meaningful glance to the other two, and shifts his position to try and get a better look to where Seven went off to. "Come to think of it, a bath would probably do me good..."

Taye gives Aud's shoulder what he hopes is a soothing rub. "We'll have 'em all soon enough." He sends a glance over her head off in the direction Sev has disappear and sends a glance Darklett's way. He doesn't look too concerned, sooo... he takes his cue from him. He grins, offering a heh. "I'm gonna steal a whole bag o' candied chestnuts when we get back, too. The cook c'n smack me ovah the head with a spoon if she wants to. It'd be worth it."

And so a bit away from the area of forest where the group still holds a conversation, Seven comes to rest, his head tilting to the side to peer out towards the sea area. Nothing to the buck so far, so he sits up, tucking back against the trunk of a tree. He looks about casually, ears flicking in their direction to listen for the conversation. Finally he turns to glance at the bark behind him and then pulls out a knife. Where'd he get that? Confiscated from the house or Darklett perhaps. This aids the hare - who isn't naturally arboreal - in climbing up the tree. Wheeee.

Audri doesn't mind the rub, breath actually sounding normal again as she looks off towards the shore. "I want some fresh baked bread 'n some fruit. Especially strawbe-" And she stops, body suddenly rigid as she catches a whiff of something. Unlike her normally calm self, Aud begins to actually spazz like Taye would. XD Her breathing begins to go erratic as she tries to curl up.

Darklett's ears perk up, but he stays nonchalant, leaning back casually and looking off in the direction of Seven again, a brief moment passing, before a nod and a chuckle, albeit delayed, are let out of the buck's mouth to Taye. "Don't worry, I'll cover you. Distract 'em, keep 'em from..." He spots Audri's sudden panic. "...Looking." He gulps and looks off in the woods, a knife slowly, wordlessly being drawn as he looks at Audri, expectantly.

As soon as Audri starts to curl up, the distracting banter dies on Taye's lips. He shoots another, startled look Darklett's away and then leans forward, squeezing her shoulder gently. "Aud? Aud, what is it? What's wrong?"

The cause for Audri's panic materializes from the surrounding trees, a corsair that looks like he's seen his fair share of fights. He is a tall weasel, that smells much like rum and sea air, which can be clearly smelt now. When he sees the group, he is at first startled, but then yanks a saber loose from his belt. "'EY! They're over here alrigh'!" For now he stays back, for the fact that there are two grown hares with Audri. More can be heard coming now.

Audri has turned into a shivering ball of fluff, having been spooked by whatever she smelt. She tries to calm herself, taking deep breaths before glancing up at Taye, eyes wide. "Rum. They drank rum 'n there's rum on the air." Erk! And her fears are confirmed when she hears the voice, claws digging into the ground.

The first thing Darklett does is hurl that knife he'd just unsheathed towards the weasel that's shown up, drawing two more. He looks for Seven, and curses under his breath as he's nowhere to be found... Darklett runs over towards the weasel after he throws it, whether it connects or not, the point is to put himself between the vermin and Audri and Taye.

The first thing that /Taye/ does is stand, trying to drag Audri up with him whilst positioning her close behind him and himself between her and the presumably approaching vermin. He keeps a vice grip on her paw, whilst drawing a short sword with the other.

Lucky weasel. His first instinct is to swing the saber out, which deflects the thrown knife off to shudder to a halt in the trunk of another tree nearby. He belows towards those arriving again. "'Urry up!" This is yelled as he goes to rush into Darklett, to throw him back with the blade both held diagonally to guard his body. Snarl. That's when two more corsairs emerge, a ferret and marten. However, the ferret doesn't last so long. He flies back with a horrid noise as an arrow sticks itself in between his eyes. Good job. Anyway, our sniper still remains unseen.

Run away! That is Audri's first instinct after initially the voice, scrambling to her footpaws after Taye manages to rouse her. Biting her lip, Aud glances to Taye and his paw, actually trying to pull hers away so she can sprint down shore to hide.

Darklett raises his paws to let his throwing knives act as daggers to clash with the vermin blade, but... That never comes, as the weasel falls down, slain by the arrow. No time to think about that, though. "Taye, you and Audri need to get away from here," he speaks, rather calmly for what he does next, which is growl and hurl those two knives at the ferret and marten.

Taye feels Audri tugging, but he doesn't yield until Darklett has spoken. With a swift nod, he releases Audri's paw, turning with sword still drawn to run off in whatever direction the vermin... aren't. "Stay close, Aud!" he speaks in a furious whisper as they start off.

Unfortunately, the ferret ducks a little behind the marten, to allow him to get hit by both daggers. Which.. he does, in the shoulder and side, doubling the hob over. He snarls in pain, before ripping these out and tossing one right back at Darklett, though it's obvious he's been weakened. The other aims to go around the older buck towards Taye and Audri, with a long dagger to try and attack Taye.. if he can catch him..

Audri bobs her head, already sprinting away from the fight trying to remain calm. "I will." Her eyes stay focused on the sands ahead of her while she attempts to keep her thoughts on anything but what's happening.

Darklett grunts to himself, getting two more knives from his belt. Terrible throws, Darklett. He spots the marten going for a throw, and backs off a few steps, letting the knife fall short at his footpaws, before hurling the ones in his own paws at the hob's back as he tries to catch Taye and Audri, an attentive eye kept on the ferret right after he does so.

It takes only the one glance over his shoulder for Taye to be convinced of something. Shifting over so that he's briefly running behind Audri, he sheaths his sword and puts on an extra burst of speed in order to... scoop her up, one arm under her arms and the other hooked under her knees. "Need to go /fastah/," he grunts and lowers his head, running with all he's got, easily outpacing the vermin behind. He's not a runner for nothing. How long he'll be able to keep up such a pace, injured and carrying a young squirrel, is another story.

Maybe the corsairs have gotten smarter. From the direction Audri and Taye are running comes a rat, moving swiftly to - without warning - send a punch in the direction of the buck's nose. Or, if not, full body tackle him. This would be aimed to knock him off kilter and get the squirrel from his arms. Surprise is best sometimes. The ferret aiming to catch Taye, though, is slaughtered by two knives planted deep in his back. He dies before he hits the ground. As a final insult, he actually lands on his own blade as well. Harhar. Martens, however, are fierce creatures, especially when wounded, so this hob rushes to tackle Darklett full on, aiming to get claws and teeth in him. No time for weaponry.

Audri squeaks as she suddenly scooped up but its only Taye. She sighs, resting back in his arms, eyes turning to the fight just in time to see the ferret fall. Aud seems to relax as nothing has gone wrong yet, only to suddenly be face to face with a rat, body going rigid once again.

Darklett watches the ferret hob fall and thus turns his attention away from that direction. Just in time for an injured marten to tackle him to the ground, claws digging into him, but a quick-thinking headbutt to the nose fending off the gnashing teeth. Another follows, trying to put the marten out, wincing against the claws rending deep into his shoulders. "Get... Off me!" He yells, paws going to throwing knives to jab them up under the marten's ribs.

Taye's eyes widen as a fist suddenly comes for his face and a rat... toward, well, him. There's no way for him to stop at his full-out speed, but he /does/ twist away from him so that the impact of the tackle strikes /him/ and not Audri. He is driven to the ground, Audri quite likely being launched from his arms in the process. He lands with a pained grunt, all the air knocked from his lungs. His eyes watering and a snarl ripped from his throat, he twists around to blindly grab at anything, any part of the rat that he can, to keep him occupied and off of Audri. It wouldn't hurt to keep him from drawing a weapon, either.

Headbutt. Erf. The marten gets it right in his nose, though he ducks his head for the second one, claws bearing down further into the hare's flesh and ripping downward. That is, as the knife is shoved under his ribs. Blood comes forth from his mouth and the hob begins to sag heavily down on the hare, dying. As soon as Taye is downed by the rat and Audri is bounced out of his grasp, the rodent lunges to scoop the squirrel up - which he does easily in her stunned state. However, his tail is nabbed by the buck and he pauses to send a kick at the runner on the ground. That is.. when another buck comes out of nowhere. Or.. more accurately.. out of a tree. Seven lands on the rat's back, dragging him over backward with him. WHUMPF! Crack. "NNGH!"

Audri is indeed tossed from Taye's hold, landing on her abdomen in a stunned state. Blinking, she goes to scramble to her footpaws, intending to dash off only to be scooped up by a rat. -.- Aud was intending to claw the rat's face, but then there's Sev. Once the rat is on his back, Aud gives him a firm kick before scrambling away.

Darklett cringes as the claws sink into him and rake through his fur, making him cry out in pain... Luckily, the clawing stops, and he shoves the marten off of him, crawling to his footpaws and looking around for what other danger there is... And rushing towards the rat, skidding to a halt as Seven seems to have it taken care of... And he can't really risk a throw, as he might hit Seven, Taye, /or/ Audri, just wielding two knives and looking for an open shot at... Anything, turning around to look for any more vermin.

"NNGH!" That's not a very pleasant sound, but in this instance it's music to Taye's ears. He too scrambles up and, with one grateful look to the rescuer Seven, starts off after Audri, drawing his weapon as he goes. No more tackly vermin for /him/.

In a room page-pose, Taye is off in... meh. Ten minutes.

Audri doesn't get very far downshore before her breathing becomes labored. Being the resourceful squirrel she is, Aud does the smart thing and climbs a tree, curling up in its branches until someone comes after her.

Heh. Yeah right. That was Seven.. He goes to shove the stunned rat off of him, though the vermin is coming to, looking dazed. Pain. Ow. Seems that the crack was actually the buck landing on a big stick. The rat is rolled through the grass, beginning to get up again as he, too, looks dazed. Ermf.

Well, that's a clear shot if he's ever seen one. The dazed rat is a little groggy, which is perfect for Darklett's purposes... He sidesteps so Seven isn't in his trajectory line, and quickly hurls both his knives, aiming for the chest and head. At fairly close range, too.

... Well! There goes Audri up a tree. Taye stops short some distance off from the tree and doubles forward, taking a breather with paws pressed to his knees. Huff-huff-huff-groan. He straightens after a handful of seconds and turns, squinting back in the direction they've run. Where /is/ Sev?

Aimed knives at close range equals a dead rat. And it would seem he was the last corsair too. Oh well. Seven rolls over, to try and push himself up, but the hare isn't very big.. and just was crushed in between a sea rat and thick branch. Thanks a bunch. Plus.. his shoulder is acting up again. For now he stays on his elbows and knees, staring at the leaves, then straightens up to peer about, ears flickering questioningly.

Audri's nerves are quite frizzled, the squirrel taking deep breath while murmuring something to herself. Her legs are drawn close to her chest with her arms looped about them in a hug, eyes roaming over the forest floor.

"Seven." Darklett scans around for any more vermin, squinting... All's still. Nodding to himself, he kneels down to retrieve his knives. "Are you alright? Took a pretty hard fall, there." He looks questioningly towards the runner for a moment while he goes back to pick up and clean the rest of his knives, hurriedly.

... Well. All's quiet. Taye looks searchingly back the way he's come for a moment longer before he feels something funny at his side. His nose wrinkling, he looks down to see blood spotting his tunic. "... Heh," he breathes softly, and then drops down into a sit, indian-style, reaching up under his tunic to feel tentatively at the bandages. More blood. "... Ripped m'stitches," he mutters, aaaaand just sits there. Someone'll stumble upon him eventually. For now, he'll just be dazed.

Seven gives a deep breath, then peers up towards Darklett as he is found to be talking to him. Grunt. "Yeah.. I'll live.." He goes to stand, and his back protests. "AH F(censored)!" At least it means he's alive.. and now Taye can find him. That is could find him if he were still looking. His paw goes to his back to rub at it, eyes closing. "I 'ate fores's.." Mumble.

Darklett retrieves all his knives, placing them back in his belt and heading off to where Taye and Audri went. "C'mon," he urges Seven, the hare bleeding from his shoulders and upper chest, but... Either not minding, or pretending to not mind at the time. "Shouldn'ta stopped for that long, I /knew/ it."

Audri's gaze finally falls on the dazed runner who is starting to fall over. That's never good. Pushing her panic away for the moment, she scales down the tree to land beside him, breathing a sigh as she spots the blood. Aud quickly sits beside him, lifting his tunic to remove the old bandages while fishing out her thread and needles. With the bandages removed, Aud goes to stitch him back up.

Seven growls a little, cursing under his breath and saying not so nice of things as he sends a scowl in Darklett's direction before standing up. The sniper is still rubbing at his back as he follows the older buck, glaring at the ground now. A kick is sent towards the dead rat as he steps over him, before following again.

Eventually, he comes across Audri and Taye. "...Is he alright?" he asks, with a grimace as he looks over the dazed Taye. "...Looks like we'll be stopping here, then. Again." He shakes his head, and turns to Seven. "We'll alternate watch shifts until Taye's up and going again."

Audri soon finishes repairing Taye's wound, tearing off strip of fabric from her shirt, using it as a bandage to re-tie around the wound. Oo. Her ears flick up, catching Sev's not to nice words, bobbing her head to Dark's question. "Yea. Just busted his stitches, but I fixed 'em up so he'll be a'right." Aud mumbles, pulling Taye's tunic back down before turning back to her dad. "Do ya need yer wounds looked at?"

All else is ignored, or maybe Seven isn't tuned in to it. He knows that Taye is wounded, but he also knows that Audri has taken care of it. No worries. That means, his focus falls completely on Darklett, giving him a look, then nodding. "Alrigh'.. Le's alterna'e shif's.... Yer firs'." Not a question. Almost challenging.

Darklett's ears perk up, a brow raising with them. "Well." He straightens up his back, and poor Audri doesn't get an answer. :P "I figured since you were takin' a nice forty winks before, you'd be ready and willing to take first watch, Seven." He looks back at the other buck, straight-faced.

Audri sighs, glancing at his shoulder with a frown. "Would ya sit down so I can look at it? 'n don't argue." She grumbles at Dark, pushing herself up to head over towards water to dampen another bit of cloth.

Seven snorts, giving Darklett a scowl. "Well, maybe ye need me on watch. Seemin' as I some'ow eard those corsairs an reacted firs'.. even though I was 'sleepin''." Sarcasm. He really wasn't sleeping. An ear spasms towards Audri, but he doesn't take his eyes off Darklett.

Oh, poor Audri just keeps getting ignored... Darklett returns the scowl with his same straight face. "What're you trying to say?" He steps towards Seven, trying to look as dangerous as possible. "Huh?"

Argh. Audri throws her paws up, walking off away from the arguing pair, fur floofed in annoyance. "Fine. Bleed to death. What do I care? Bunch o' idiots." She grumbles, storming off into the forest and disappearing from sight.

Seven doesn't back down. He smirks a little, knowing that the threatening stance is actually Darklett seeming to be threatened. "Tha' yer no Majah. An' there was a reason ye were fired so I don' think yer fit t'be givin' me ordahs. Alrigh'?" Ears have perked forward completely. "So back off." Green eyes narrowed with a dangerous expression now.

Seven's words not only get Dark to fail to notice Audri's leaving, but also to grit his teeth and shake slightly, before he responds. "Major or not, I've still got more experience leadin' than you. That means I'm more /fit/ to give orders than any other beast with us!"

Seven moves forward a bit more, tilting his head and keeping the eye contact. "Then do somethin' /righ'/ fer a change. Cause, frankly, I think ye come off as incompeten' sometimes. Aye?"

Darklett's face changes at the second attack of words from Seven, his features seeming to shift downward. But he doesn't back off, facing off with Seven, only... with a little less ferocity. And he doesn't have a comeback.

Seven waits for the comeback. It doesn't arrive. For a moment he just glares at Dark, then he slowly begins to unbristle as he gives a triumphant nod. "Aye." And goes to turn away from the older buck without another word.

Darklett takes a few steps backward after Seven turns away, and looks off into nothing, face pointed towards the ground to the side of him. "...Audri?" He calls out, stepping in the direction he... /thinks/ he saw her disappear to. "Audri, get back here, you shouldn't run off like this."

With a final glance to Darklett, Seven sits down to lean back against a tree and just rest. Cause, his back hurts and he isn't making it better by being tense. Letting the older buck search for Audri, the sniper makes a point to fold his arms and settle back with his eyes closed. Haha. Defiance. Take that. He is soon dozing comfortably.