Meadowood: Good Company

[Gatorman]

Sue and Lindy had already put in several good hours installing weapons in Sue's hovercar, and what was more, received a few visitors coming in from the south, two of which were Cyril and Espio. The other two, whom neither one knew, were a female squirrelmunk and a very ill blue hedgehog. The tapir and the mouse proceeded towards Rouge's lodge to tell Rob what was happening.

Sue walked up to the door and gave the door three soft knocks, trying not to disturb Rouge while at the same time getting Rob's attention. "Rob," she whispered loudly. "It's us—Sue 'n' Lindy. We got some news."

[Jamie Lee]

However, no answer would come from inside. What they would find upon peeking through the door was that, while Rob was in there, the exhausted looking hedgehog's body sat stretched from his chair, to Rouge's bed where his head lay in sleep. Notably was that his hand was gently closed around hers.

[Gatorman]

Sue sighed. "I've got to wake him up," she said to Lindy. She didn't want to do it, considering how peaceful the two of them looked, but it had to be done. Sue slowly walked inside and gently shook Rob's shoulder. "Rob?" she whispered. "Rob, it's Sue. We've got company."

[Jamie Lee]

With a soft groan the hedgehog's eyes cracked open into slits. Lifting a hand to groggily rub at them he glanced up at the tapir standing over him. "Wha?" he asked, pushing himself up. Immediately his eyes drifted over to Rouge, a frown tugging at his lips upon realizing she still hadn't stirred, and glanced back to Sue. "Company?"

[Gatorman]

"Yes, sir. Cyril and Espio are here with two visitors from the south. One of 'em's feelin' very sick. He threw up on the bedsheets I offered him, so yeah, it isn't lookin' too well." She glanced over to the sleeping bat. "How's she comin'?"

[Jamie Lee]

Lightly brushing against the bat's forehand with his fingers, the hedgehog's frown deepened as he shook his head. "Hasn't moved at all," he said melancholily. Taking a moment to gently squeeze her hand he rose up, nodding to both Sue and Lindy, his sore muscles aching in protest from sitting there so long. "Well, let's have a look at these visitors then. Lead on."

[Lans]

As typical for her, Lindy simply nodded before she turned and led the way back to where they had left the newcommers.

[Leda]

Elsewhere on the boardwalk, Sally stood with her weight gently rested against the rail, staring passively into the surrounding wood. Now that Sonic actually had a bed and a roof over his head and a doctor to look in on him, much of her anxiety had passed. In retrospect, he probably had something as simple as the flu, but even that wouldn't have been easy to deal with so far from home with only meager supplies.

Oh, that's right, the princess recalled with a blink. We left our packs behind. ... But it's already after dusk. I guess they can stay there until tomorrow... "At least Sonic had the presence of mind to bring the power ring," she mumbled, glancing at the golden loop encircling her elbow.

Sally released a sigh from deep in her lungs. This mission sure wasn't going as planned so far. She would need to completely rework the intended strategies in lieu of Sonic's illness. Hopefully there would be someone in this village that could help in his place... But if that chameleon was any indication, she could very well be on her own.

"Oh, Daddy," the squirrelmunk lamented, "what am I going to do?"

[Gatorman]

Enter Sue, Rob, and Lindy. "Ah, there's one of 'em now," she said, eager to make the introduction. "'Scuse me, ma'am?" the tapir called out. "Ma'am, I'd like ya to meet Robert Hedge. He's the leader of the Meadowood Freedom Fighters." She turned to Rob. "Rob, this is—" Sue then realized she could never complete the introduction. A soft curse and a clearing of the throat later, Sue finished her sentence. "This, Rob, is one of the visitors. I'm sorry, ma'am, but I didn't get your name."

Sue then retreated to where Lindy was standing, and felt it would be better if Rob were to do the talking from now on. Her face turned a full hue of red that very moment.

[Leda]

At the start of the introductions, Sally resumed her typical cordial composure, but it... faultered for a moment. Her brows furrowed, almost in confusion, but a moment later she erased the expression with a shake of her head. "I knew it.

"I'm sorry, I seem to have been a bit airheaded in general this evening," the squirrelmunk began with a quasi-forced laugh. Extending her hand to the hedgehog, she finished, "My name is Sally Acorn. It's a pleasure--" and a relief, "--to meet you."

[Jamie Lee]

Nodding as Sally finished her introduction, the Rob cleared his throat and raised an arm in preparation to shake... only to falter. His own brows furrowed in confusion as he looked Sally over.

"Sally Acorn? You wouldn't happen to mean as in... Princess Sally Acorn?"

[Leda]

"......Heh," Sally chuckled awkwardly. "Yes..."

[Jamie Lee]

His eyes widened in a mixture of surprise and even more confusion. A moment of dumbfounded staring quickly lead to the hedgehog dropping onto one knee. "Your majesty!" he said, bowing his head in reverence. "I-it's an honor to be in your presence! What brings you to our humble village?"

[Gatorman]

Sue's jaw dropped in amazement. A princess! A princess in the flesh! But, rather than bow her head, the tapir continued to relegate herself to spectator, simply watching all the action unfold before her eyes. She still had no clue, though, as to the identity of the bedridden puke machine hedgehog in the guest lodge.

[Lans]

"The...princess?" Yes Sally's revelation had even managed to penetrate Lindy's shell. And she was honestly not sure how she should feel about this. "..."

[Leda]

To be fair, it was all very flattering, but... This really wasn't going to help anything. "Thank you, Mr. Hedge, but that really isn't necessary," Sally gently coaxed, tugging at the hedgehog's arm to encourage him back onto his feet. "More importantly, my friend and I have come in urgency; I think it would be best if we talked in private."

[Jamie Lee]

"Aye, your majesty," the cloaked hedgehog said, nodding as he rose back to his feet. "I might have guessed it was important for you to come all this way out here. Sue, Lindy," he turned toward the two, giving a jerk of his head. "Could you leave the two of us to speak?"

[Gatorman]

"We were just leavin', anyway," replied the tapir. "C'mon, Lindy. I'll offer you a drink." With that, Sue started back towards her lodge.

[Lans]

Lindy just nodded and quickly turned to leave with Sue.

[Leda]

Letting out a quiet breath as the peanut gallery dispersed, Sally glanced back to Rob and gave him a passing smile. "Thank you, Mr. Hedge. And thank you for your hospitality, as well, at least for Sonic's sake."

The princess paused then, unsure if it was worth bringing the other issue up now, or getting right to more important matters. It really was only a trifle, and not worth trumping the more serious discussion...

[Jamie Lee]

The archer smiled "Truly my honor. I hope the others have also treated you well," having said this, his expression grew more firm. "So then, what urgency brings you and your friend out here?"

[Leda]

The mention of the others made the squirrelmunk even more sorely tempted to bring up Espio's behavior, but business before... well, whatever that was. Definitely wasn't pleasure.

"I'll get right to the point, Mr. Hedge," Sally began, her tone more grave than a moment ago. "Our band of Freedom Fighters operating in the Great Forest has a spy inside of Robotropolis. He recently intercepted an executive memorandum that was issued to Robotnik's general in what used to be Mercia." The princess paused for a moment and glanced aside, as though looking for something. She had brought a copy of the message along, but as it was left behind with the rest of the supplies, she would have to paraphrase.

Her eyes returned to the archer's. "The gist of the message was instructions on poisoning the Oak River."

[Jamie Lee]

The response to this news was silent, but the concern that knitted itself across Rob's brow was all too obvious. "The trees..." he murmured softly, remember Ridgy's earlier concern. Then, his breath catching and his eyes widened, he looked upon Sally with a sudden urgency. "Your Highness, do you have any idea what the symptoms are?"

[Leda]

"All that was really detailed was that it seems to be an incredibly powerful sedative. The hope is that once consumed, those poisoned would become too weak to take care of themselves, and..." The princess failed to finish her sentence, instead scrunching her mouth into a troubled frown.

[Jamie Lee]

This only seemed to bring an even more troubled expression to the archer's face. Clinching his jaw he turned away and motioned for her to follow. "Princess, do you think you could come with me?"

[Leda]

Sally nodded silently, and fell into step just behind her host. Despite having made no verbal cue, it wasn't difficult to tell that the poison had already begun its assault on the village. The squirrelmunk clenched her fists at her sides in her self-frustration. Had they made it too late?

[Jamie Lee]

Leading her through the shady village, Rob lead her to one of the residential lodges. He paused, knocking on the door out of courtesy and waited for a moment. When an answer failed to come he sighed heavily, cracked the door open to peek, and then then them both inside.

Revealing the snowy white bat resting under her undisturbed blankets, Rob made his way to the chair he'd been diligently sitting at for the past day and took her slender hand into his. He sighed deeply. "She collapsed yesterday evening and hasn't budged since," he lamented. "So far I haven't heard news of other villagers falling ill though. I knew it was serious, but... I had no idea..."

[Leda]

The princess eyed the clearly heartbroken hedgehog with deep sympathy. "I'm so sorry," she said, approaching and taking a seat on the opposite side of Rouge's bed. "If it's still early, it's possible she can still be helped..." Sally sighed as she peered into the bat's emotionless face. "What's her name?"

[Jamie Lee]

"Rouge," the archer responded, gently giving her hand a squeeze. "She's... one of my best freedom fighters. It's going to be difficult planning anything in Mercia without her..."

[Leda]

"She seems very... important to you," Sally replied at length, allowing the subtext to speak for itself.