The Hunt, part II: The Survival

[Aidara]

Time: Immediately following Off for the Long Hunt Completely enthralled with the task that Sai had given her, Addy had even completely forgotten about the cat the prowled along the edge of their camp. Straying a little too close to the forest in the process of covering up the blood splatters in the dirt, she was sharply reminded of the lurking danger when there was a violent rustling in a bush directly behind her. Addy immediately dropped all the wood she was carrying and sprinted to the center of the campsite towards her twin. “Not again, not again, not again...” Skidding in the dirt and landing on her rump when she tried to slow her headlong dash, she looked around frantically for her bow “Sai! My bow! Cat!” The woman’s nerves were completely frayed, her ability to control her emotions having disappeared along with all of her energy and clear headedness. Simply put, Addy was exhausted. Groping around while she scooted backwards in the dirt, the healer found a stick and a rock. She grabbed both and wielded them uncertainly while watching the moving shrubbery. “I think…I think it’s coming…AH!” It wasn’t a scream, exactly, but more of a startled exclamation. As Addy spoke, the bush in question erupted with a burst of leaves, dead bracken and brown fur. By now the entire camp was doubtless watching the intrusion into their camp, or at least Addy hoped Kovac was paying attention. He did have the bow. However, when the animal detangled it’s self from the edge of the forest, it seemed that Addy’s anxiety was unnecessary. It was a goat. “You have got to be kidding me.” Shouting angrily at the offending creature, Addy chucked both the rock and the stick in it’s direction. She had a sneaking suspicion that it was the same goat that startled her earlier on the trip and was disappointed when her makeshift weapons fell many feet short of the goat, who barely flicked an ear towards the humans as it continued to graze. “This…trip is getting ridiculous.” Pushing herself to her feet, Addy stomped back over to where she dropped her pieces of wood and stooped to pick them up, muttering angrily under her breath the whole time. Though usually even tempered, her patience was clearly running as thin as her energy. “Addy, your other patient lives!” At first, Kovac’s call didn’t penetrate through Addy’s exhaustion, and she ignored the call thinking the hunter was snarking at her dramatic goat attacks. It wasn’t until she stood back up with her armful of wood and saw Renol in the opening of the tent that she realized what was going on. “Renol!” The re-gathered wood was promptly dropped once more as she sprinted over to the injured Endal. “Renol, I thought you were gone for sure. You shouldn’t be moving, by the way. Stay there and don’t touch your leg. We need to keep it as clean as possible…Don’t you have pants?” Back into healer mode Addy was all business once again, her exhaustion and frustration momentarily forgotten. But for how much longer could the little woman sustain this pace? It was miraculous that she was still awake. Still, there was a note of relief in her voice and small smile on her lips as she spoke to Renol. It was when Renol informed her that he had no other pants and had actually just asked Kovac for some that Addy sat back on her heels, thinking. “Alright, well it would be too painful for you to try to put them on anyway. You’re not going to stand, and your leg is much too stiff and fragile to bend right now.” Holding up her hand to fend off any possible protests, Addy got to her feet and begun to strip off her ruined shirt. Though she still wore her undergarments, the healer met Kovac’s eyes with a dimpled smile “Go on, make a comment. I dare you.” Taking the shirt and folding it as best she could, Addy then knelt down by Renol’s side. The old, blood-and-dirt saturated bandage that she had tied after stitching him up was removed, her shirt swiftly tied in its place. “That’s about all the clean fabric we have left. I don’t think even washing in the river can salvage what we have left, so try and keep that clean?” It wasn’t really a question. “Do you feel faint? Cold? Anything?” Reaching forward Addy placed her hand on Renol’s forhead, checking for a fever. Finding him cool but clammy from a previous fever during his unconscious period, she nodded “I think you’re okay. Better than I thought, actually. If you had a fever, it has already broken. We still have to get you out of here and you’re not going to be able to ride Fereo. So we’re making a sling to carry you on.” Rising to her feet, Addy turned to Kovac and Sai. The former was still scanning the forest edge while the latter continued to clean up the camp. Addy marveled at their persistence. Kovac had just recovered from poisoning, and there he was sitting and guarding his companions even though there was an extreme weriness ectched into every line of his face. If Kovac looked that bad, Addy started to wonder what she looked like. Sai was in her prime. Never had the healer ever felt so much confidence that someone could get the job done. Sai would take care of them all, salvage what she could, and make sure they all got home safely. With a surge of pride and love for her sister, Addy called out to her. ” Sai, Renol is awake! What’s the progress over there?”

[Sairque]

Stuffing another pair of indistinguishable bryda into the ripped backpack, Sai was already moving toward the next article of clothing that the bear had apparently tried on before discarding. Addy’s underwear. Those she stuffed into a side pocket as a treat for whichever of the boys this pack belonged to. Might be a nice surprise. Chortling to herself, the endal continued with clean up, every few paces marked by a careful scan back over her exhausted companions. Having just completed the visual reassurance, the healer’s cry jerked Sai upright from where she had been picking up someone’s katinu. Unfortunately, there was a tree limb between her head and straightening. Smacking solidly, she cursed, grabbing the injured area with one hand while reaching for whatever long blunt object was nearby with the other. By the time Addy brought her rock and stick to bear, Sai was leaping over obstacles straight toward her, a snarl of pure ferocity turning her visage into the mask of death for whatever predator thought to prey on her camp. Apparently the full bag bouncing off her leg, dangling with one strap over the arm brandishing a fishing pole, didn’t cause the slightest hiccup in her acrobatic leaps and full sprint. Due to a large downed tree directly to the right of Addy and the beast, Sai didn’t see the animal emerge and allay everyone’s fears. As they breathed in relief, the flight leader hurtled over the trunk in a dramatic pose with the pole above her head and ready to bludgeon the unknown creature to death. And then it was a goat. Eyes the size of plates, the startled woman tried to correct her trajectory with windmilling arms and shedding weapons. The goat bleated its objections as the human gracelessly smashed into it. It was long gone by the time the flight leader regained dignity enough to stand. So was Addy, having trounced off to meet Renol. Slightly injured that Addy neglected her, having just been attacked by a goat in order to protect the elder sister, Sai brushed herself off, ignored a few scrapes, and moved to Kovac’s side. She hadn’t even noticed Sai rushing to save her! In a show of appreciation for his earlier comment regarding massages, she dropped off the bag of clothing at his side. “Here, to prop yourself up with and maintain vigilant guard.” Stifling a smirk, sharing a knowing look with the man, and perceiving Addy to still be in the dark regarding her movements, hastened back to where she had been working. Sure enough, soon Addy called out and the woman perked up, glancing over with a grin and a wave. “Kovac’s napped, Renol’s napped, looks like it’s your turn, sister-mine,” she called heartily, much rejuvenated by the rather simple prank in the face off all the destruction. “Renol, you should probably get to bed , too! My only use for you right now is keeping Aidara busy sleeping!” Yes, literally, that was an order. And upon thinking of an answer to the second question, she realized that in her own exhaustion she’d gotten a little off track with her search for items. “You have shelter and dinner for the evening, progress is progressing!” Progress. What did they need? Ending the conversation elegantly by turning her back and pretending to resume work, Sai kicked at a stick and tried to organize herself. They had food, though cold by now, Aidara had progressed nicely in cleaning up attractants, shelter… Shelter. No, she’d already salvaged the two tents and set them up. Looked like all that needed done was centralizing their belongings in camp and pulling out the useful stuff. Having done most of it, the last few items she found were Renol’s weapons down where the actual stand-off betwixt bear and man. These she placed with the other weapons next to Kovac. Next to him, with her hair matted in blood, stains on her clothing and skin, Sai took in a deep breath and admired their survival. Though the area was still littered with woody debris, smoking in great patches, and contained a massive pile of non-essential gear, Sai felt secure in their survival. “Well, Kovac, what am I missing?”

[Renol]

OOCOnce again, sorry for the delay in posting. Just when i think I have everything worked out, something else pops up. And for the last few days, I have been working hard to get my muse back. Hopefully it worked. Renol cocked his head to the side a little at Kovac’s comment. Lives? Come on… It hadn’t been that bad, had it? Really? He thought about it for a second. He didn’t really know how long ha had been out or how much blood he had actually lost, but he hadn’t felt light headed or anything when he sat up quickly, so he was sure it wasn’t too bad. He looked down to the exposed portion of his leg and the work Addy had done to him, realizing that it there was still an agonizing pain flickering through the entire wound and it itched like crazy. At least the itching meant that it was still healing even more, most of it was probably lingering affect from the healer’s touch. Renol looked up as Addy came moving over toward him in a hurry with another, what he though, had to have been an over exaggeration,[colr=red] “Gone for good? Tisk tisk, girl. It’s like you harely know me at all.”[/color] He shook his head, smiling a little. By the way the others looked; things had been even more difficult while he was out. Everyone looked tired and distraught. His eyes went wide for a little bit as Addy removed her garment, folding it up slightly. He couldn’t help himself really, smirking like a schoolboy,” Now that’s what I call ‘bed-side manners’” He reflexively jerked back a touch, blocking his face with his hands in defense against a shot she was sure to take on him for the snide comment, but he couldn’t help it. He wanted them to understand that he was alright. He wanted them to stop worrying about him. He’d make it, one way or another. He nodded about the order to keep it clean, not even protesting about the standing up thing. Not that he’d listen to her. He had to get up and start helping again, even if he did have to use crutches. He’d accept those before he accepted sitting on his arse that whole time waiting to get picked up. That… Was a no go. He looked to her once more, shacking his head a little when she asked about how he was feeling. He smiled as she made the comment about being better than she though, holding back a quick comment so he didn’t get slapped again. But it flashed from his face into a deep scowl at the comment about not being able to ride back, “You’ll have to forgive me Addy, but I’ll be long dead and buried before the day comes that I can’t ride Fereo. You can cut this leg off if it’s holding me back, I can do without it.” If he had ever had a serious look on his face before, it was nothing compared to severe nature of his features at that moment, “The sling will not be necessary. I am nothing without Fereo. If I cannot ride then I am worthless. And that, my dear, is one thing I cannot tolerate. I will ride the bird home, come death or flood, I assure you.” And with that comment, he ended that part of the conversation, resolutely. Renol looked up once more at the sound of Sai’s voice, smiling once more. She was just out of his vision wherever she was, but it was good to know that she was alright. Mentally, he had taken for granted the fact that Addy had actually been there to help him meant that Sai was alright. If she hadn’t been, he knew Addy would have been by the woman’s side for nothing less than the end of existence. But still, it was good to hear her voice, even from a distance. But then she even made the comment about him staying where he was and sleeping. He scoffed out loud at the comment, “Petch that. I am already tired of being a cripple. Fetch me some branches to fashion into crutches and I will help with the task left to be completed. I still have two good arms and one good leg, gods damn it. After everything that happened, I will not sit here idly by as you all do the rest of it.” He glowered a look to the immediate company, determined to make his stand, so to speak. He would not take this sitting down. Well…

[Gossamer]

. Character: Aidara Experience: +1 Observation, +1 Leadership, +1 Unarmed Combat, +1 Medicine Lore: Sometimes Things Don’t Go As Planned Character: Sairque Experience: +1 Observation, +1 Leadership, +1 Brawling Lore: None Character: Renol Experience: +1 Persuasion Lore: Keep My Leg. Additional Note: Another fragmented thread. You need to start getting these finished Aidara. . .