HANDS OFF MY SNACKS / O, raccoons?

[COLT MADISON.]

[align=center][div style="width: 370px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.4; color: black;"]— It was nearing noon when Colt finally awoke that day; since moving out of the infirmary and into his own room in the lodge, he'd been struggling more and more to wake up at a reasonable time. He yawned, rubbing sleep from his eyes, and slid out of bed. It was pitch black in his room; he drew back his heavy curtains, letting in the bright white light of the snow-covered world outside. He opted to open the window - just a crack - as he'd left the fire burning in his mini-fireplace overnight and it was quite toasty in his bedroom. Enjoying the frigid breeze, the mercenary pulled on a pair of jeans, his boots, and a wool-lined shirt, tucking his coat under his arm. He snagged an apple from the bowl of fruit on his bedside table and left his room, ready to start the day.

For the next few hours, Colt patrolled Flintlock's territory, checking if any of the traps he'd set had caught anything worthwhile. They all came up empty, unfortunately; after making sure to reset them all, he would head back to his room in the lodge to change into dry clothes. Whistling, he opened his bedroom door - and froze. "W-What the-?!" Colt's window had been thrown wide open; the culprits seemed to be... an entire pack of raccoons. Five of them, at least - all sitting in Colt's room. They'd trekked snow all over the place, knocked over some furniture, and gotten into his trash and snack stash. He gaped at them, wide-eyed, entirely unsure of how to process this. The raccoons stared back, frozen in place. He scowled, giving his head a little shake. "Oi, get out of here! This is my room, you little freaks! Get out, or else!" 'Why the hell am I talking to them like they'll understand me?'

He waved his arms at them, hoping to scare them off, but they didn't budge. Colt had no idea what to do - he simply stared at them, blinking incredulously. Well, this... was the weirdest thing to happen to him in a while.

[EDMUND.]

[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 6pt; letter-spacing: 2.5px; word-spacing: 0px; line-height: 12px; color: #000"]With the stress of an imminent fight, it made it difficult to take notice of the more amusing parts of life. And so, after spending a couple of hours in his office, a refilled glass with whiskey at his desk, Eddie realised he ought to take a break and get himself lunch. Stepping out and wandering down the hallway, he frowned as he neared Colt’s bedroom, curious with the commotion inside. Peeking his head into the doorway, he would soon realise what the problem was. ❝ Uh- ❞ Eddie was speechless, staring at the racoons with astonishment before looking over at Colt. ❝ You didn’t leave your window open, did you? ❞ 

He’d lived up in these mountains for years, but never had he seen something quite this bizarre. Eddie was a man who always seemed to know what to do, but with this incident? He was utterly stumped. ❝ Have you tried shooing them away? ❞ Eddie questioned, frowning over at the gaze of racoons before taking a step back and looking over towards Colt with parted lips and a perplexed expression. ❝ We can’t let them escape out of your room and into the lodge. ❞ Now that would be a disaster, a group of racoons rampaging the lodge, and not something he wanted to deal with today.

[freddie]

[align=center][div style="background=transparent; borderwidth=0px; bordercolor=; width: 400px; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 125%; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; color: black"]

— it wasn’t every day that freddie saw a raccoon around these parts. sometimes they would make themselves known in the nearby forestry, hanging around in the late hours. guess it never occurred to freddie that they’d gotten so used to seeing the people of flintlock lodge that they wouldn’t be too afraid to get close to them -- let alone crawl into the lodge during the early mornings.

sprawled out across the couch, lounging comfortably, fred’s brows raised at the sound of colt yelling at something. oh, he couldn’t resist the urge to see what had colt in such a frenzy. getting up from the couch, he stretched his arms lazily above his head as he wandered towards colt’s room, seeing eddie already on the scene. peaking curiously into the room, he raised his brows at the sight of the raccoons. “christ.” he didn’t even know how he was supposed to react to seeing raccoons within the lodge.

still, he couldn’t help but find the situation a bit laughable. lips pulling into a grin at colt’s wide-eyed, surprised gaze, he laughed a few short notes of laughter. “they’re called 'trash pandas' for a reason… they must like whatever garbage lives in this room. ‘ey, colt?” was he calling colt garbage? maybe. it was possible they were simply enjoying the warmth and refuge the room provided; still, fred wouldn’t be inclined to agree. he much preferred his own story.

[spoiler=tags ― updated 08/31.][size=8pt]◜BASICS ┊ THE CURSES OF DIAMONDS AND RINGS ◞
‣  ❝ frederick flynn stirling ❞ | freddie, fred, freds | male [he/him] .
‣ 24 years old . | june 20th; gemini.
‣  currently the warlord of flintlock lodge

◜PERSONALITY: ESTP ┊ ONLY AT FIRST DID IT HAVE ITS APPEAL ◞
‣  boisterous . adaptable . athletic . articulate . brilliant . captivating . charismatic . charming . clever . confident . precise . youthful . loyal . amusing. aggressive . deceptive . proud . smooth . stubborn . traditional . argumentative . conceited . difficult . greedy . power-hungry . impatient .
↳ lover of beer and attention
↳ considers himself royalty

◜ APPEARANCE ┊ NOW YOU CAN'T TELL THE FALSE FROM THE REAL ◞
‣ five foot ten & one hundred and seventy five pounds ; reference .
↳ blonde hair kept short and neat
↳ muscular, toned build
↳ blue eyes , often alight with mischief , a deceitful smile

◜ FAMILY ┊ EVERYTHING YOU TOUCH TURNS TO GOLD ◞
‣  kelby stirling x lydia clarks | whereabouts unknown
‣ has a brother named william and two sisters named harriet and lucy
‣ large family; multiple cousins and other relatives

◜ RELATIONSHIPS ┊ STATUES AND EMPIRES ARE ALL AT YOUR HANDS ◞
‣  bisexual ; monogamous | never had a serious relationship before
‣ current lover to mollie hawthorne
↳ no strings attached . sees her as a best friend . is terrified he has developed genuine feelings for her.

◜ INTERACTIONS ┊ WHO CAN YOU TRUST ? ◞
‣  [ 9/10 ] physically  |  [ 9/10 ] psychologically .
↳ difficulty w/ guns [ very difficult ] | difficulty w/ melees [ difficult ] | difficulty w/ hand-to-hand [ difficult ]
‣ [member=1512]elysian.[/member] | dm for any major plots .
‣  friendly or nonviolent actions may be powerplayed .[/size][/spoiler]

[RICHARD.]

[align=center][div style="width: 400px; text-align: justify; font-size: 12px; font-family: times new roman; letter-spacing: .6px; color: #494949;"]any type of chatter was enough to grab onto the young van doren's attention. when he colt yelling from upstairs, it wasn't young before seb began to make his way upstairs to check out what was happening. it took him a second to figure out what the situation was, the dots finally connecting when he moved to peek around the trio crowding around the doorway. he hadn't seen anything like this before at the old van doren estate. if it did ever happen, he could only imagine the stress max would be under over it, which was enough to make him start chuckling to himself.

"woah! i didn't know you had so many friends, colt." he crouched down to get a better look of them, a smile on his features as she looked up at the three men, but more specifically, he looked towards eddie. "i say we keep them! look at how cute they are!" seb himself couldn't even tell if he was truly serious with the exclamation he made, all he couldn't focus on were the dark beady eyes staring back at him. he started cackling at the comment freddie made, before the laughter was broken up with a dramatic gasp. "guys, look at their little hands! that one is holding something like a little person!"

[COLT MADISON.]

[align=center][div style="width: 370px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.4; color: black;"]— Colt wasn't surprised that the chaos had drawn the attention of other Flintlockers. He would've preferred if they'd just stayed out of it - less embarrassing for him, at least - but he could understand their curiosity. He looked to Eddie with a wince - great. Even more proof that he was nothing but trouble for the Lodge. "I, uh..." He chuckled sheepishly. "...I might've left my window open, yeah." He eyed the little creatures, who had gone back to scurrying about, seemingly disregarding the humans that had gathered to continue foraging. Slowly, the mercenary took a slight step forward. "Have you tried shooing them away?" "I tried, yeah. Little bastards don't seem to care about me." Eddie was right - they couldn't be allowed out into the Lodge. It would probably take days to find them all.

Colt continued into his room, glancing back at Freddie with a roll of his eyes. Of course he had to show up. “They’re called 'trash pandas' for a reason… they must like whatever garbage lives in this room. ‘Ey, Colt?” The mercenary scoffed; he had to admit, that was a subtle and witty insult. Not that he'd ever say so out loud. "Y'know, you're right, Freddie. These guys must've smelled your stench from down the hall and found the easiest way inside," he would shoot back with a smirk, gesturing back. "Make yourself useful and block up the entrance, will you? Don't want any of 'em getting out into the hall."

A few moments later, he could hear Seb's voice from the doorway behind him. He couldn't help but laugh at his friend's words. "More like unexpected guests, but I guess I'll take it." He crouched down, waving his arms at one of the raccoons. It skittered into a corner of the room with an annoyed hiss. "I don't really think they'd appreciate that, Seb. Besides, they stole all of my damn snacks!" There was a tug at his pant leg; one of the raccoons had approached him and was crawling up the side of his leg. Colt yelped, jumping to the side as the little creature scrambled up onto his back. "H-Holy- Guess they're not scared of humans!"

[freddie]

[align=center][div style="background=transparent; borderwidth=0px; bordercolor=; width: 400px; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 125%; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; color: black"]

— “these guys must’ve smelled your stench from down the hall and found the easiest way inside.” as much as fred and colt had their differences, fred could at least appreciate that colt could shoot insults back with just as much bite. lips twitching, he shrugged as he conceded lightheartedly, “that is another possibility.” it was easier to just let the conversation die down than keep digging at the other man, especially when there were other, more pressing matters at hand - like goddamn raccoons trying to make themselves comfortable in the lodge.

turning around, he decided to shut the bedroom door to keep the raccoons from getting further into the lodge. he observed as seb fawned over the animals, huffing a short breath. hell, at this point, not only would the raccoons take over the lodge, but the flintlockers would let them. though, it didn’t look like they were interested in infiltrating the lodge. he looked at the raccoon seb gestured towards, and the snack it held in his hands. looked like they were more invested in the food colt had holed up in his room.

“they must be used to seeing us around.” guess if they always observed flintlockers and became less afraid of their presence, they would be more than willing to be around humans -- so much so that they’d be unafraid to scramble up onto colt’s back. “christ. you’re one with the animals, snow white.” eyes wandered over the situation, pursing his lips briefly. “colt, you deal with that one.” looking towards seb and eddie, he gestured to the other ones. “we can handle the rest, yeah?”

[spoiler=tags ― updated 03/04.][size=8pt]◜BASICS ┊ THE CURSES OF DIAMONDS AND RINGS ◞
‣  ❝ frederick flynn stirling ❞ | freddie, fred, freds | male [he/him] .
‣ 24 years old . | june 20th; gemini.
‣  currently the warlord of flintlock lodge

◜PERSONALITY: ESTP ┊ ONLY AT FIRST DID IT HAVE ITS APPEAL ◞
‣  boisterous . adaptable . athletic . articulate . brilliant . captivating . charismatic . charming . clever . confident . precise . youthful . loyal . amusing. aggressive . deceptive . proud . smooth . stubborn . traditional . argumentative . conceited . difficult . greedy . power-hungry . impatient .
↳ lover of beer and attention
↳ considers himself royalty

◜ APPEARANCE ┊ NOW YOU CAN'T TELL THE FALSE FROM THE REAL ◞
‣ five foot ten & one hundred and seventy five pounds ; reference .
↳ blonde hair kept short and neat
↳ muscular, toned build
↳ blue eyes , often alight with mischief , a deceitful smile

◜ FAMILY ┊ EVERYTHING YOU TOUCH TURNS TO GOLD ◞
‣  kelby stirling x lydia clarks | whereabouts unknown
‣ has a brother named william and two sisters named harriet and lucy
‣ large family; multiple cousins and other relatives

◜ RELATIONSHIPS ┊ STATUES AND EMPIRES ARE ALL AT YOUR HANDS ◞
‣  bisexual ; monogamous | never had a serious relationship before . noncommittal
‣ ex-lover to mollie hawthorne
↳ when she announced she was pregnant, he broke things off with her to avoid commitment . still loves her .

◜ INTERACTIONS ┊ WHO CAN YOU TRUST ? ◞
‣  [ 9/10 ] physically  |  [ 9/10 ] psychologically .
↳ difficulty w/ guns [ very difficult ] | difficulty w/ melees [ difficult ] | difficulty w/ hand-to-hand [ difficult ]
‣ [member=1512]elysian.[/member] | dm for any major plots .
‣  friendly or nonviolent actions may be powerplayed .[/size][/spoiler]