Oak Forest - 'Chidnas Camping Out

[V for Vizetta]

"Hm... perhaps I should look at the trees directly-"

Crash had looked up as the elder spoke, and suddenly everything WOBBLED, causing him to nearly topple over.

Of course, this got the elder's attention, as he cast a concerned look the wolverine's way.

"Are you all right, Crash?"

"I... I think tho. But if we're goin' thomewhere, we'd have to take it thlow."

Athair considered this for a moment, then turned to Ridgy. "I would like to help you, but... at the moment, I feel I should tend to Crash first. The suddenness of his ailment is concerning, to say the least."

[slomoto]

"Ailment?" Ridgy blinked. "Oh, of course." Ridgy said, nodding in understanding. "We have plenty of time, and besides, I'd certainly like to know more about this wonderful civilization of yours." It took all the possum could, including a visible struggle of his neck to keep from glancing back at Tikal as he said it. "Just let us know if there's anything we can do to help."

Ridgy took a seat by Manic, wearing a self-satisfied grin that showed how happy he was to be right about the trees.

[Lans]

Manic just gave him an eyeroll while scooting a tad away from him.

[Leda]

Frowning deeply, the priestess quickly checked the temperature of the tin cup she'd boiled the tea into. Despite the lingering heat, she still picked it up, and scooted back to Crash's side. "Here, drink some of this," she encouraged. "It's still a little hot, but, it might make you feel better."

[V for Vizetta]

The wolverine glanced at the cup, and took it gratefully.

"Thankth..." Crash sipped at the cup a little, wincing at the heat, but hoping it worked. He was... still feeling kind of wobbly, like the world was trying to balance on a pole or something...

Athair, however, was quiet, trying to determine what was wrong. He wasn't sure what the symptoms even WERE, so would wait to ask after he'd finished his share of the tea.

[slomoto]

Ridgy watched Athair's motions for a moment and had an eerie thought: what if what that wolf-thing was suffering from was also the ailment Rouge was suffering under back home? He wrinkled his brow and looked down at his boots with his hands folded over his lap. Should he say anything? Why should he be the conspiracy nut of the woods? He continued to mull it over until it made his stomach hurt, but he still didn't say anything.

[DB]

The ... well, not oldest echidna there, but pretty old echidna simply sat quietly off to the side on a makeshift seat of a boulder, steely watching the procession before him.

A slight tinge of concern came to him when he saw the wolverine begin to wobble.

Concern that it was contagious, that is.

[Lans]

Manic glanced around at everyone. The sudden silence was getting to him, and he hated quiet. "So...where're you guys from?"

[slomoto]

Ridgy perked his head up, looking two and fro. He looked around at the assembled group and his blood went cold. In the fight between staying still and looking strong and the feelings of doubt he had, his insecurities won. He stood up and began to walk away from the camp, into the woods. With him gone they could focus on what was really important: getting that wolverine fellow cured. 'Maybe things would be better off if I didn't just think about stupid trees....huh, Dad?' He said mentally, as he walked further and further away.

[Leda]

Meanwhile, Tikal had decided to work on daddy issues of her own.

Doing her best to discreetly slide away from the others, the priestess retreived the pack she'd recovered from the ground just earlier, and scooted toward Pachacamac, standing no higher than her knees. She smiled, but it didn't look like a very confident one. "I... I found it," she weakly explained, holding the bag out for him to take.

[V for Vizetta]

Crash, meanwhile, had sipped a small portion of the tea, and for a moment, the world stopped wobbling.

"Hey... I think that thtuff did help." The wolverine mumbled, setting the cup to the side. He still felt a little... wobbly, but he didn't think he'd be toppling over anytime soon...

Of course, then the world tried to prove him wrong. By seeming to TILT for a second, making him have to catch himself on the log he'd been sitting on.

"Ok... maybe... not." Of course, the sudden shift was making him feel slightly nauseous... and why did he feel TIRED all of a sudden?

Athair sat next to the ailing wolverine, still not sure what was wrong with him, but juding from his behavior, dizzyness was one of the symptoms.

[DB]

Pachacamac raised a brow at the offered item, carefully taking it away from Tikal and examining it closely- inside and out.

Everything seemed to be in order.

"Good, Tikal. Thank you."8

[Lans]

"...That's right, everyone ignore me," Manic muttered to himself. He shot a glare in the direction Ridgy had gone. It'd been his idea to come out here in the first place, and now he was wandering off...figures. And people accuse me of being a flake, Manic thought to himself. He let out a sigh.

[Leda]

Few things resonated so sweetly in Tikal's ears as her father's voice saying the word "good". Especially following a particularly embarrassing and shameful hair-brained idea of hers. Swelling with relief and joy, Tiki smiled and nodded to her father, then slinked away so as not to continue violating his space.

Instead, she took a seat next to Manic, and smiled at him. "Hello."

[slomoto]

There was an energetic rustling of the foliage in front of the camp, followed by Ridgy immediately entering, having his foot caught on one of the logs the assembled group was sitting on and falling flat on his face. "Oww...grumblegrumble." He stood up to his feet and giggled. "Mmm...but I don't care." He looked around amongst the assembled group and his sudden exhuberance vanished. "Eeehmm..." 8

[V for Vizetta]

Athair and Crash both looked up as Ridgy made his none-too graceful entrance, but Crash quickly returned to occupying himself with not passing out.

"Welcome back." The elder spoke quietly, returning his attention to Crash, and trying to establish what exactly was ailing him.

[Lans]

After a slight glare at Ridgy, Manic had returned his attention to the echidna girl who had surprised him by coming over to sit with him. "Uh, hi," he said trying to affect his most charming smile, "I'm Manic."

[Leda]

The priestess flinched at Ridgy's fall, but as he seemed to be alright, remained at Manic's side. "I'm Tikal. Are you from around here?"

[Lans]

"Well, sorta," Manic told her, "I, like, used to live up in Mercia, but that was before the fat man took over. Now I hang out here with Ridgy and the others."

[slomoto]

Speak of the devil. Ridgy re-appeared with a few more sticks to throw into the campfire. "It's getting late. In a few hours we're gonna need the fire more than the sun." He walked back to one of the logs and had a seat. He glanced over at Manic and Tikal having their conversation. 'Well, just my luck,' Ridgy thought to himself 'every girl I fall for has got a beau only moments later.' He shook his head to himself, and removed his pith helmet, resting it on his chest. As he sat there, again kicking up his legs, he tought of his father's words.

'Find the source....hmmm...'

[Leda]

Tikal glanced at Ridgy, considering his words. He was right; it would be wiser to get provisions for the night before it fell, especially considering that the size of their party had doubled. "Elder?" the echidna girl asked, peering toward Athair. "Should I go gathering again?"

[V for Vizetta]

The elderly echidna turned towards Tikal as she spoke, and considered for a moment, before he nodded.

"Please do, Tikal... and take Manic and Ridg with you. We don't know this forest as well as they do..." The elder then paused, and nodded as he came to a decision.

"And... while you search, take note of anything that doesn't look healthy, or otherwise seems abnormal. I will remain here with Pachacamac and Crash."

The wolverine, meanwhile, seemed to be doing... somewhat better, but he was still looking a bit wobbly... even mildly disoriented.

[Lans]

Manic drooped a bit when Tikal asked to leave, but quickly recovered when he was told he was going with her. "Hey, no problem chief. Like, if there's something out there to find, I'm the hedgehog for the job!"

[slomoto]

Ridgy's chest swelled, then he exhaled and stood up, his hands beating his chest. "All-right, I will make you proud fath-er, uhm...I mean, I won't let you down Athair. I'm going to get to the bottom of this or my name's not Reginald E. Didge!"

[Lans]

"Which is something I wouldn't go bragging about dude..." Manic said to himself while holding back a gigglefit at Ridgy's full name.

[Leda]

Tikal smiled. This sounded like an interesting bit of exploration, and she wouldn't even be going by herself. Plus, there didn't seem to be any right or wrong answer, save for whether or not she DID provide food.

Tugging the hood of her cloak over her orangey head, Tikal rose to her feet and turned to Manic and Ridgy. "Well, let's go! Sooner we get to it, the sooner we get back!" Assuming them to follow after, the echidna jogged lightly off toward the open fields off from the forest.

[slomoto]

"Right. Off we go then! I'll lead the way! I know the forest like the back of my hand!" Ridgy pointed a finger towards the direction of the woods where he would lead. Then, upon noticing he had a small inset on his hand, shrieked and rapidly began brushing the miniature intruder off his glove. "Iet-iet-iet-eit!"

[Lans]

"Riiight," Manic said as he and Tikal passed him. "Like, why don't you just stay behind us dude. We'll make sure the scary crickets don't get you."

[slomoto]

"It wasn't a cricket it was an...Altarian poisonous scarab. I saw the three sixes on it's left outer shell. Honest!" Ridgy continued to stammer as he followed behind the two of them.