A happy poacher (open)

[Bog]

It was a relief to be clear of Boston. Being in that city had been tiresome. Even though the long-since-fled Tories had been oh so kind in providing the Continentals with provisions, however unintentionally. Starling's haversack was still well filled with stolen food. Enough to keep him for a month, perhaps. Especially since he wouldn't have to share any of it.

The regiment was still in Massachusetts, however, which was a fact that irritated Starling. He had no great love for this colony, even though he'd served in one of its regiments. There wasn't much good he could say for the Massachusetts Line. Not, he reckoned, that it was proper for him to do so anyway, being a Vermonter.

The only good thing about their situation was that they were now in camp, for the time being, with no greater responsibility than guarding a two mile stretch of the Post Road, on the border to Connecticut. This afforded the men plenty of opportunity to forage and hunt when they weren't drilling or standing piqcuet. Foraging and hunting were two of Starling's favourite activities.

In fact, he was out laying snares now, well enough removed from his company's assigned bivouac to avoid interference from any of the others. There had been an attempt that morning to steal his ill-gotten provisions and it had soured Starling's opinion of the men in his company for the day. Unless standing picquet, he wanted nothing to do with his fellow soldiers.

To his surprise, there was already a snare laid in a place he had been about to claim for his own thin wire snare. Some other clever beggar had beaten him to this spot. But, he realised, that other clever beggar was nowhere to be seen and there was a rabbit caught firmly in the snare. With a grin, Starling loosened the thin wire from the rabbit's neck and held the dead creature up to examine it. It would make a fine stew, he thought, and laid the catch aside.

It was the work of only a moment to reset the snare, to give the appearance that nothing had been caught by it. Then, picking up the rabbit, Starling got back to his feet. This was not a bad result for work he hadn't had to do himself!

A crunch of twigs being trod on stopped him moving, just as he was stuffing the rabbit into his haversack. Somebody was close by. That much was obvious. Was it that other would-be hunter? Or, perhaps worse, was it some roving band of Tories? Starling kept completely still, wishing he had thought to prime his musket. The firelock was loaded, but he'd kept the pan empty to prevent any sort of accidental discharge. Now, of course, he was regretting it.

[faithfulguardian]

The forests of Massachusetts were a plain sight, typical scenery of tall, leafy trees and rolling hills and glens. nothing special in that regard, yet it still felt like a place of solitude and serenity to Danny. She was glad the commander had sent her and Tey on a foraging trip into the woods. He had given them leave for three days, and they were still in the middle of their second.
The day before had been filled with setting traps and snares all around this deserted area of the woods, no enemy movement had been spotted here in months, so Tey had suggested they only bring hunting supplies. Danny had carried a bag with food and snares, as well as her rifle and knives, but no pistol, and not very much extra ammunition.
They meandered silently through the dead leaves, a drizzling rain had come the night before and made everything soft and silent. Danny was thankful for the wet leaves, as any crackle could alert grazing prey like deer or squirrel. they were heading for the snares they had set yesterday when a sound heard by Tey cause him to halt and give Danny the signal to crouch. up ahead was a small ridge, on the other side one of their snares waited, but something was wrong.
Tey turned to Danny and moved his hand up and to the right, telling her to move that way, he then pointed at himself and pointed to the left. Danny nodded and began walking forward, bent double, and loading her rifle at the same time. just as she was coming up the ridge, a twig snapped beneath her foot and she cursed to herself. she moved faster and came up and over behind a thick oak tree, coming around she put the butt of the rifle against her shoulder and moved in to see what was waiting at her snare.

[Bog]

One hand had just closed, very slowly, around his powder horn when he became aware of eyes on him. From behind. Damn it. He couldn't spin about fast enough to meet that threat, especially with an unprimed pan. Nor could he tap any powder out to fill it. If he was quick enough, he might be able to get a hand on his belt-knife, but he doubted it. It was too likely that whoever was behind him had a musket that was both loaded and primed.

His only option was to try to get his musket primed as quickly as possible, without getting himself shot for the trouble. It was an even chance that this interloper was a man in his company, but an even chance was too much risk for him. Besides. It was much too likely that he'd been seen stealing the rabbit that was now safely out of sight in his haversack.

"If you're gonna shoot me," Starling snarled, "be man 'nuff 'least not to do it in me back."

[faithfulguardian]

Danny came around the tree and spotted a man crouched on the ground, he held a musket and had his hand on his powder horn. He wasn't loaded. she sighed with relief and stretched herself up to her full height rather than bent over. slowly she made her way down the hill, keeping one eye on where her feet went so as not to slip and another on the man who had still not moved.

"If you're gonna shoot me," He snarled, "be man 'nuff 'least not to do it in me back."

Danny snorted. "Ah'm not gaentae shoot yae, stand up and turn around, man. tell me what yer doing here, and next to my traps." She reached the bottom of the hill and halted about four feet from the man, sure now that he was a colonial.

---

Tey had crawled off to the west and then begun circling back to the north where he had heard the sound. he was sure it was a man, whether friend or foe they were about to find out. he hoped his friend Macfurson was in position. he smirked to himself (a rare occurrence) the child others knew as 'Danny' could take care of herself, he knew that by now, he had never known a girl so fierce. he found himself having a great respect for her, even if she was white, and a foreigner to his lands.
Tey slowed suddenly and crouched down, another sound reached his keen ears, something else was coming through the forest. he tried to name what it was, but it was difficult, it could be a man running, but it sounded too light, it could be a deer, but he could not make out how many footsteps were being made. He decided he would ambush whatever came his way.

OOC - Tey refers to Danny as Macfurson sometimes, that is his pronunciation of her last name.

[Katie]

Abby Franklin was an explorer. She never liked to sit still for more than a few minutes unless she absolutely had to.

Now she was going back home to Massachusetts from escorting her elderly grandfather up to Boston, Massachusetts so he can leave on a boat to go to France on behalf of the colonies and the Congress of the hopefully new United States of America. She had watched him board the ship and then was heading back towards Philadelphia to help Moses run the Pennsylvania Gazette.

It had been awhile since hse had been back there, not since she had said goodbye to Andreas, a new friend of hers that she had met and befriended back in Philadelphia. He had left her and Ben, her grandfather one night saying he couldn't impose on them any longer and had hugged her goodbye and left. She honestly missed his company and wished she could have helped him.

Shaking her head of his thoughts, she snapped out of her trance as the carriage she was riding in suddenly lurched forward and she literally fell over to the side and the door had come undone.

"Stop please stop!" She yelled towards the driver grabbing her bag of food and canteen of water she had brought with her until the sweat began to form on her hand and she felt it slipping.

"Stop!!" She screamed loudly and the driver turned towards her and smirked as he made the horses go faster and she felt herself flying backwards back onto the dirt road just outside of Concord, Massachusetts.

"Thanks!" She yelled snapping at him before groaning and standing up before grabbing her things and then deciding that she would have to go back by foot towards Philadelphia or until she found someone who would give her a ride or a horse. She began walking down the road and into the woods at least until nightfall. She would be safer in the woods.

Humming a song, she made her way down the forest down the road glancing around trying not to get nervous. There was nothing to be nervous about...right?

[Bog]

Stand up? He was bloody standing. Then again, the voice behind him sounded like it came from someone a little lower to the ground than he was. That might account for it. Starling drew himself up to his full height and turned round. If only he'd had the chance to prime his musket. Well. There might be time for that yet. It was a simple thing to accomplish, anyway.

Now that he was facing his interrogator, Starling was almost tempted to laugh. It was only a damn boy. Of all the stupid... he shook his head. "What, that?" This was a bold one and no mistake. He held up his left hand, musket and all, so the boy could see the wire snare hanging from that hand. "Lookin' for a place to set this, ain't I? No harm in that."

Anyway, if the snare already in place did in fact belong to this boy, Starling felt even less guilty about robbing it. He had no interest in feeding children or even supporting them. It was time to leave here and find another place to lay his snare. If this half-pint wanted to shoot him, he would have done so already.

[faithfulguardian]

Danny's anger flared. this man was obviously not intimidated by her standing there, even with a rifle. She puffed out her chest like she had seen so many of her male companions do when their pride was ruffled.
"Aye, that, it's one of my traps and yer aboot tae put yer foot in it!"
She didn't believe him, not for a second, he may have been setting traps of his own, but he was definitely checking out her's and Tey's as well. "Don't yae turn away lad, I was marksman champion of Boston three times running back in '74! I fought at Lexington and Concord, the latter of which is just up the road, men died there because of me. I can blow yer head off as easy as blowing off the wings off a sparrow!" She was bluffing obviously, she had only won one big marksman contest, but it had been the only one held. and she would never actually shoot to kill, especially since the man was not loaded. still she kept a wary eye on the hand holding the musket, if she wasted a bullet, he could load much faster than her with that gun.
"I warn yae, Lad, this glen is surrounded by my allies, Mohawk braves every one. And they'll be less kind if they get their hands on yae." She hoped it was true, that Tey stood on the edge of the gulley they stood in, she hoped he had made it around and was watching over her. she hoped he would come up with something to aid her. she hoped.

---

Tey had placed himself on top of a small rocky outcrop, wedging himself between two of the taller rocks, he waited there for his prey. the footsteps were louder, he knew it could not be a native, nor a tracker, they walked with no concept of the quiet stalker. he concluded it was a city dweller, but what they were doing in these parts, he did not know.
The figure soon came into view, and Tey raised his eyebrows ever so slightly. It was a woman. a girl in city dress, carrying only a canteen and a small bag. Tey removed himself from the rocks and began creeping along the edge as she walked ahead, her eyes darting side to side, but not behind. When the rocks became close enough to the ground, Tey slipped off into the damp leaves. Sunlight had begun filtering its way through the tree tops and drying the leaves, but they were still soft enough as to make no noise when his moccasins landed on them. He crept up behind the woman, who was a full foot shorter than him, and gave a low grunt. sunlight danced off his bare chest and face as the winds stirred the treetops above, the girl spun with the wind, eyes wide.

[Katie]

Abby had a sudden gut feeling that she was going to land herself into trouble. She should have taken Moses' offer of escorting her up here because she was honestly trying to hurry the hell out of there. She felt like she was being watched every where she turned and she kept trying to convince herself that she was really alright.

She started walking a bit faster past some brushes and tall trees admiring them as best as she could. Suddenly she heard a low grunt behind her and she gasped in shock as she turned around sharply facing an extremely tall man who looked white, but also looked Native American.

Oh God, she thought to herself, before slowly swallowing trying to get the lump out of her throat.

"Um hello, are you friend or foe?" She asked him curiously.

(ooc: Sorry it sucks, got called into work early)

[Bog]

Did he look like some stupid city swine? Even nearly falling down drunk, Starling was too much a woodsman to put his foot or any other part of his body into a wire snare, or any other sort of hunting trap. He curled his lip at the boy's pathetic boasting, but humoured the child and turned back.

"Aye, an' what? So you can shoot. D'you want a medal for it? Piss on yer Injun mates too." Starling curled his lip. They were some distance away from his company, but not so far that a warning shot would not rouse them to alarm. Hopefully. Anyway, what did this half-pint think he could gain by bragging so about having been at Lexington and Concord? Half the Massachusetts colony had been, to hear them all talk.

"You sure you done any fightin'?" The Vermonter sneered. "Don't even sound like yer balls have dropped yet!"

[faithfulguardian]

Danny did not know how to respond to this big man before her. he was obviously not afraid of her, and she could not remedy that by making boasts, she knew that now. but how else to bend him to her will? what did she plan to do with him? she didn't even know who he was.

"Shut up yae, unless yae want a mouth blown oot the back o' yer head tae." she snapped at him, then gave a sharp whistle off into the trees, a signal for Tey to show himself. Nae tell me, are yae for the English, or the Colonists?"
She gripped the rifle tighter, ready for any move he might pull, and hoped Tey was going to show himself soon.

---

Tey stared down at the girl before him. the question she asked was stupid. any New Englander knew that the Mohawk sided with the British father across the ocean. he only grunted again, she was no threat to him, but should he leave her here alone? where was she going?

Suddenly there was a sharp whistle from the East, both of them looked in the direction it came from. Macfurson. Tey made to move off but stopped and looked at the girl. he grasped he upper arm tightly and motioned with his head "Come." was all he said before beginning to pull her along with him.

[Katie]

Panicked more now than ever, Abby gulped silently feeling a huge lump form in her throat which always happened when she got nervous. She had no idea what to do or say in this situation, if she was being honest with herself, she was truly scared out of her mind. She did not know what side the Indians were on and she glanced up at him once more. Suddenly she recognized a mark on him and she remembered that the mark was the sign of the Mohawk tribe.

Wait, weren't the Mohawks with the British? She thought to herself and then her eyes went wide even more taking a few steps away from him after she heard a loud whistle coming from her right side. No way in hell she was going to be someone's prisoner, she was the granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin for god's sake!

"No I do not think I am going to go with you today, good day to you." She replied taking a few more steps before starting to sprint down the dirt path hoping to avoid the tall Indian again. They could not find the papers that identified her. She was in trouble either way right now.

[Bog]

What in the hell sort of question was that? Something very near repulsion soured Starling's expression. Him, a God-damned Tory? It defied belief. Only an idiot boy could ask such a thing. Especially to anyone not in a red coat. For once, Starling was perfectly glad to be in the green of a New Hampshire regiment.

"If yer gonna do all that, why ain't you get on with it an' stop wastin' my time," Starling growled. It was not lost on him that he was being asked that sort of question with a Continental regiment encamped not more than a mile distant. There was something amiss here but he was not entirely sure what.

He shifted his musket, bringing it up to Shoulder Arms. There was no danger from this boy. For now, he was prepared to abandon his slight advantage and prepare to move off. "Anyway, I reckon if you've gotta ask somethin' that sorta stupid, you don't need an answer."

[faithfulguardian]

Tey jerked his head back as the girl released herself from his grip and took off down the trail, she was a quick one. Tey smiled, a bit like Macfurson. before he turned and ran after her, he called out in his own language to his friend.
"come away, Macfurson, you are needed!" he then began to run after the girl, his feet barely making a sound as he fairly flew over the forest floor.
It wasn't long until he caught up with the girl, maybe an acre and a half down the trail. he reached out an arm and grabbed hers. spinning her around he caught her across the face with a backhanded slap.
"No." He said firmly.
"Tey!" A cry from the woods stopped him from hitting her again, but Macfurson could not stop him from binding his captive. he pulled a rope of leathery sinew from his pouch and tied her hands in front of her.

---

Danny was about to reply angrily to the man before her when Tey's call caught her ear. he had taught her a little of his language, so she understood the words directed at her.
she started backing up, back up the slope she had come down, the rifle still pointed at the man's chest. she eyed his own musket warily until she reached the lip of the ridge.
Dinnae try tae follow me, sir, I will shoot yae." with that she turned and took off after the sound. it took a few more hills to spot her friend, and when she did, Tey had a young woman in his grip. when she saw the slap she put extra speed to her pace and cried out to him to stop. honestly, sometimes the man could be so rough.

[Katie]

Abby was genuinely shocked at how strong and muscular this man was. Or Indian, but why was he in the woods lurking around for something to do or someone to catch? There was no way she could or would ever let him ever catch her once more. She surprised herself at how strong she could be so when she snatched herself away from his grasp, she took off down the road going as fast as she could.

She knew that the moccasins that Indians wore made it less obvious that they were around so she kept running as fast as she could hoping and praying that she would find somewhere that she could hide at for awhile, or until day light appeared the next morning. Suddenly she felt a sharp tug on her arm and she spun around facing him.

"Let me go now." She told him firmly trying to release herself once more, but stopped short when she felt a slap come across her face. Gasping loudly, she held her cheek gently before getting enraged at being hit again. She had let Ewan hit her once and she had sworn that she would never let anyone hit her again.

Reaching out with one arm, she shoved him away from her as best as she could, "How dare you hit me! Men! You do NOT hit women under any circumstances! Leave me alone!" She literally barked at him before she felt him grabbing her other hand and then wrestling with him more trying to pull her hands away. She was not going down without a fight and she knew she had some fight in her.

Suddenly a different kind of voice echoed through the woods and she gasped trying to move away from him, but he had a firm grip on her and she suddenly froze before he tied her wrists together and someone else appeared. Oh great, she thought to herself.

[Dallas]

-ANDREAS

Andreas placed his hand lightly on a tree as he walked over a patch of mud. He had been traveling for weeks, most of it had been walking. Every now and then he had managed to hitch a ride, but they had never taken him very far. He had only ever stopped at a town when he needed more food or directions. The nights had been cold, but he had thick skin so he could handle it, though he was starting to wish he hadn't completely ditched his jacket. Can't let anyone know I was in the Hessian army though. It seemed like a distant memory at this point. After he had left Abigail's house in Philadelphia he had worked his way slowly to Massachusetts. He had managed to avoid large groups of redcoats as best he could. It had been strange meeting someone so fast, and he was sure that he'd have to make it up to her some how. That was if he ever saw her again.

The main road wasn't to far away, but he tried to avoid it since redcoats could travel along it, and even the regiment he had been in. The risk he was taking was still high, and he knew that he would be tense until he finally joined the continental army. As a boy he would have never imagined that he would be doing anything like this. It did make him wonder if his family was getting along alright. Dominik would be there to help them, and even then Andreas had never really helped much on the farm by the time he had been taken away. Still his family would always be at the back of his mind.

Suddenly he heard a few shouts coming from up ahead. He crouched down slightly and looked for where they could be coming from. He inched forward slightly as he scanned the forest intently. There was some movement to the right of him and he started walking closer, hoping that they wouldn't notice him. Though he noticed a lad running towards the other person or people. He felt himself shiver when he realized who it was. “Danny?!” He said rather loud. Andreas stood up baffled that Danny was actually there, he hadn't been expecting to see any of those lads again. Last time he had seen Danny it had been a skirmish in New York, and the boy had yelled French at him thinking that he spoke it. He looked over his shoulder to see what Danny was running to, but there was still to many trees in the way.

[Bog]

Somebody was calling for the boy, using a name that struck Starling as unusual. Makfersun? What the devil sort of name was that? He grimaced. It was unimportant, next to the awareness that somebody calling for him meant the half-pint wasn't alone. Which in turn meant there were at least two people now in between Starling and his company's bivouac.

But he wouldn't follow the boy. Starling curled his lip. As if he cared enough, even with the slight danger the child's presence made. With a shrug, he resumed his careful tramp deeper into the woods, again looking for a likely place to set up his own snare. If it came to it, he'd fight them both. The boy and whoever his companion was.

His progress was halted again by a shout, though this time the shout was not directed at him. Somebody new was calling after 'Danny'. Starling glanced back but didn't immediately see anything of interest. Still. The information he now had was useful. Three people were close by now. One of them was called Danny and the other Makfersun. Knowing names would make it easier to track them later, if Starling was so inclined.

It was best, perhaps, to prime his musket now. He reached for his powder horn. The odds were beginning to come against him, with the arrival of a third interloper onto the scene. Being ready to fight was of a particular importance. Then, with the pan filled and shut, Starling reversed his direction. Whatever was going on here, he meant to find out.

[faithfulguardian]

Danny had little time to think when she heard her name called, the voice was somewhat familiar, but she couldn't think of who it was. swinging around to the side she brought her rifle up to her shoulder quick as a flash and located the person from which the voice had come. She squinted at the man that stood before her, no coat, no uniform markings at all. should she know him?
Then it dawned upon her and her eyes widened, the Hessian! from the skirmish in New York! what was his name? Andrew...no...Andreas. she suddenly realized her rifle was still trained on him and lowered it quickly.
"Hey! never thought we'd see each other again!" she called to him. then she beckoned with her rifle for him to follow her, she had to get to Tey before he did something stupid with his captive. she glanced behind her for the colonist, but there was no sign that he had followed her. so she picked up her feet and trotted down to where her friend waited.

---

Tey had dragged the girl off the trail and into the trees towards Macfurson when he heard the cry of another man, he paused, unable to get a visual of the man as his eyes scanned the forest. his friend seemed to recognize the stranger, however, so he relaxed and forced the girl to her knees to wait for his companion.

[Katie]

Realizing that she really had no choice but to follow the mysterious Indian to wherever her fate would make her, Abby slowly followed the man as he dragged her off the road. If he was going to take her somewhere, then she sure as hell would take her dear sweet time and fight back. She never backed down from anything without a fight.

Abby's ears perked up as she heard the call of another man, there was someone else here!

"HELP!!!" She screamed as loud as she could before being dragged towards a brush and was pushed down on her knees hiding her face. Her hair was pulled behind her and she grimaced at her wrists that were now red from the rope. She decided to try one more time to be found scowling at the Indian once more.

"HELP ME PLEASE!!!" She screamed before ducking away from something that came in her view hoping that she was loud enough to be heard and found hopefully.

[Dallas]

-ANDREAS

Andreas backed up a little when he saw the lad point the musket at him. Then Danny lowered it and looked just as shocked as him. Andreas nodded, and began to follow the boy towards the people he had been going to. Though he could have sworn he heard someone else from where Danny had come from. Wonder what kind of trouble he's in. He looked around and gripped the strap to his haversack again, feeling a little insecure without any sort of gun on him. So he tried to stay close to Danny who looked confident that his gun was loaded.

Suddenly a shout erupted across the forest. A woman was crying for help. What the hell has he done? He squinted to try and see what was ahead. After they had passed a few more trees he could see a large Indian man and a woman with her hands bound by rope and her face pushed towards the ground. Danny didn't seem startled by the Indian so he assumed that they were friends, though the lady looked like she might be a Colonist he had captured. Her hair was bright red, and for some reason she seemed vaguely familiar. At any rate he didn't like how rough the Indian was being. “You do not need to be so rough with a woman.” He didn't care if it wasn't his place to speak to him like that. He also didn't make an attempt to hide his German accent. Danny needed to believe he was still with the Hessian army.

“What is all this...” He mumbled under his breathe as he looked back towards where Danny had come from. He didn't want anyone to sneak up on them, but he still wanted to find out what all of this was about. Danny seemed to be on top of things though, so it would probably be best to let him handle it.

[faithfulguardian]

Danny covered the last remaining yards between her at Tey swiftly. she did not like one bit the way her comrade was treating this woman, even if the colonist was an enemy of his, Danny was not an enemy of hers until proven so.
She slung her rifle over her shoulder and used both hands to shove Tey away from the girl. it took quite a bit of strength as he was much stronger than her and had his feet always planted firmly. the part of his mohawk name that meant 'tree' was not wrong.

"We dinnae treat prisoners that way unless they provoke such treatment, understand?" She gave him a warning look and he eventually nodded in consent. "It's 'treat others as you would be treated' is it not, brother? dae yae not remember our treatment at the enemy hands?" She raised an eyebrow, knowing the memory was not something he wanted to think on. she was right. Tey scowled

"Her people treated us like dogs, why can we not return this favour?" he asked darkly, stepping over the girl so that she sat in-between the two of them, her escape routes cut off.

"Because it would not be Christian of us." Danny answered, exasperated. she knelt down in front of the girl as Andreas the Hessian caught up to them and stood close. she turned first to the Hessian. "been a while, aye Andy? this is my friend, Akwiran;iate the Mohawk, but yae can just call him Tey. Tey, this is an acquaintance met in that skirmish yae missed a while back, Andreas the Hessian, Ah'm sure yae can call him Andy." Danny pointed to both as she said their names, then turned her gaze on the girl. "Tae finish, so we are nae impolite, Ah'm Danny, the Scot, and yae can call me Danny. now, are yae going tae be good, or dae I have tae keep yae tied up?" Danny took the girl's hand in her own, so much cleaner than her own, so much more womanly. she wondered if her hands would ever look like that again.

OOC: Danny gets humorous when the situation gets stressful, conflicts she does not like!