Justice Is Best Served Cold || 1x1 w/ Mai-Ling

[ticked tabby]

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[JK341]

While Nelly may have been fooled by Jade's exceptional ability to hide her intentions behind her cheerful personality, there was definitely something about Rowan that just didn't settle well with her. That face just didnt match up properly with what he was saying, or rather, the way that he was saying it. Nelly suddenly felt Sunpaw place her paw on her shoulder. She always was the most gifted of the three at reading other people and when they are trying to fake it, and this was definitely a signal to Nelly that Rowan CLEARLY was not to be trusted. "Perhaps.....perhaps not" Nelly replied, her eyes fixed on him while slightly squinting warily. "And what business might it be of yours then?"

[ticked tabby]

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[JK341]

Nelly lets go of one end of the map, causing it to snap back into it's rolled up shape that it had been forced to remain in for who knows how many years. "Ehh, I suppose you have a point with that...you wouldn't have raised our suspicion though if it weren't for that strange expression that you have painted on your face, there." Courage speaks up from behind Nelly "I think that we should be going now, we have quite a ways to go from here and if we can make good time now we should reach the foot of the mountain range by sunset." "Oh, you're right friend, I agree that we need to hurry along now." "Nelly, watch out!" Sunpaw yells. Nelly without thinking had turned her head away from Rowan and towards Courage to reply to him, big mistake...

[ticked tabby]

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[JK341]

Nelly wasn't ready to just give up and let him get away with it so easily. "Hey, you thieving wad of haggis, get back here with that!" She barks out and dashes off after him, with the others trying their best to keep up with her. Try as she might, she just can't seem to catch up to Rowan. As his figure slowly shrinks in the distance, she makes a desperate attempt to slow him down. She casts a spell which conjures up a large mallet made of golden light and flings it towards him, but it's no use, he had already gotten too far out of range and it fades away before it can reach him. She chases him up until the fork in the road that leads to either Silford, or Oakdell, realizing that he has indeed got away with it, she stops to catch her breath, the others finally catching up to her. "How could I have been so foolish? I've been a commander for several years now and should know better than to let my guard down around such shady characters!" "Don't be so hard on yourself, Nelly. Nobody is perfect, and if anyone thinks they are then they are lying to themselves." said Sunpaw. "I agree with her on that....could have happened to anyone." "Besides, I think I have studied the map long enough that we could still get around up there without too much trouble." Just then they are met by another dark colored dog coming from the road that leads to silford with gold highlights in her fur and bright amber colored eyes, a familiar yet rather nervous looking face.

[ticked tabby]

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[JK341]

"Hey, look, it's Miriam!" Sunpaw says, pointing to the dog that's running up to them as if she had a race to win. Nelly perks up at the mention of their friend they had made several months ago from their previous mission. "Hey, Miriam, it's so good to see you a--woah easy, there! Don't knock us over, friend!" "Miriam, is everything ok? You look really worried." Courage inquires. "Aye, you look like you just saw a ghost, what's going on?"

Meanwhile in the mountains, Toby had ventured a good ways along the trail when he noticed that it suddenly started getting darker. He looked up into the sky to see some rather ominous looking clouds gathering. "Hmm, could be in for some more snow soon", No sooner did he finish his thought when he did see a few flakes begin to fall around him. As he traveled along, the snow started getting quite heavy and the wind started to pick up, sending some of the dry powdery snow that was on the ground flying up around him. "Oh boy, this isn't just any old snow storm, I better find somewhere that I can hunker down for a while!" He scans the mountain terrain with his eyes and spots a cave just up the hill and trots up to the entrance. "Well, this is as good of a place as any to ride out this storm." Remembering what the messenger back in Oakdell said about the treasure being inside of a cave, he was curious and had a look around inside. It was a pretty small cave, not much bigger than your average house. Nope, nothing but rocks here. He settles down and waits for this blizzard to blow over, watching the heavy shower of snowflakes rush by the mouth of the cave, hoping that he hasnt bitten off more than he can chew as he hears the wind moan and whistle through the cave walls every now and then.

[ticked tabby]

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[JK341]

"Eh, if only I could say that, Miriam." Nelly replies, still feeling a little displeased with herself. "We just came from one of the shops back in Fernbury. We had bought an old map from there when this crooked looking fella suddenly blocks the door and gets all imposing with himself. And the one tiny second that I let my guard down the filthy weasel swipes the blasted thing right out of my paws and takes off down the road. Tried to catch him, but whew was he fast!" Courage speaks up out of interest in Miriam's situation. "You mentioned something about one of your horses feeling ill? We were just about to pass by the general area that you tend to hang around on our way up into the mountains, maybe we could help you out on our way through?"

Back at the cave, Toby notices the storm has finally let up enough that he feels that he could venture back out of the cave and have a look around. "Dang, this storm really piled on a lot of snow." He says as he attempts to measure how much fell since he took up safety in the cave. Unsure of an exact measurement, all he knows is that it's deep enough that it brushes his underside as he walks around. "More dry powder, this stuff is kind of slippery." As he turns the corner of one of the steep cliffs, he is met with one of the huge rams that live up there, taken by surprise it bleats out quite loudly right in his face before jumping away. Toby, scared senseless loses his balance in the slippery powder and starts tumbling down one of the steep mountain slopes, knocking loose several large drifts of snow along with him. He is filled with horror as he starts hearing a loud rumbling noise, and realizes that the worst thing that could possibly happen was indeed actually happening, it would appear that he is now caught right in the middle of an avalanche! Toby tried his best to yell out for help, but his cries were being drowned out by the roar of the snow and ice that was crashing all around him as he continued tumbling down the mountain side! After what feels like an eternity he finally feels everything slow down to a halt, but he is unable to see anything for being buried down underneath the snow drifts. "Ugh, Help! Can anyone hear me up there?" He struggles to see if he can work his way loose, but no luck, he wasn't able to move anything at all and could feel the cold seeping in through his coat, that accident had torn it up pretty badly. "So, this is how it ends, huh? Ohh, why didn't I just stay back there in Oakdell?!" His mind starts racing with all of the "why's", and "what if's" that you could imagine as he begins shivering deep inside of the packed snow and ice.