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Post by Leda on Feb 25, 2009 1:55:05 GMT -5
Escourted by her male entourage, Tikal led Manic and Ridgy through the continually thinning foliage of the Oak Forest, until the trees gave out all together, revealing only open plain and the winding river. "Here we go," the echidna announced. "The Elder wanted us to find him some more evidence... And I need to forage more food for everyone." Glancing at each of the men at her sides, she asked, "So! Where do you think we should begin?"
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Post by slomoto on Feb 25, 2009 21:36:03 GMT -5
"Well, like all good investigations, we should begin at the source!" Ridgy declared, remembering his fathers words, though he attempted to make them his own. "Which way to the source of the river?"
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Post by Lans on Mar 1, 2009 1:53:04 GMT -5
"Duh dude. The river comes down from the mountains near the city. It goes right through...it..." Manic's eyes widened as he said it. For the first time he saw a point to this whole thing. "...Dude, you don't think...?"
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Post by Leda on Mar 1, 2009 1:55:10 GMT -5
"Think what?" Tikal prompted, tilting her head ever so slightly at the hedgehog. "What is, it, Manic?"
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Post by slomoto on Mar 1, 2009 20:12:13 GMT -5
"This sounds weird, but I don't know what I think. I just got a hunch." 'From my dad sitting on my back...' Ridgy added in thought. He looked at the two of them. Tikal's little reaction to Manic's response was so cute and innocent sounding. She was beginning to depend on him a little. It was a good sign. Ridgy knew the signs well from watching other lovers gather around and pass by, leaving him by himself. There still weren't any sparks between them though. He'd have to do something about that. "Of course, spending YEARS traversing the woods in search of ancient civilizations can give an opossum a certain intuition when it comes to these things. It's kind-of like being the village tracker." He bragged.
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Post by Lans on Mar 3, 2009 16:57:36 GMT -5
Manic facepalmed. Why oh WHY did he have to go back into moron mode now!? "NO I mean, like...the river runs right through the city, and you're going on about something wrong with the trees and stuff....what if Isk is doing this? Poisoning the river or something!"
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Post by slomoto on Mar 3, 2009 23:09:38 GMT -5
"Maybe that's true, but now that I'm looking around here, it seems the trees are doing fine." Ridgy walked over to a nearby one and gave it a stout clap with his gloved hand. It almost immediately tipped over and fell to the ground with a boom, the shard-filled stump that was left behind practically blackened by all of the rot it was filled with.
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Post by Leda on Mar 3, 2009 23:54:17 GMT -5
The priestess recoiled at the display, then tenatively examined the sapling's innards. "...I... I don't think that's a good thing..."
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Post by Lans on Mar 4, 2009 1:44:37 GMT -5
"Like, nothing wrong with the tree's around here huh?" Manic deadpanned.
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Post by slomoto on Mar 4, 2009 9:23:08 GMT -5
"I wouldn't say that..." Ridgy said, cleverly responding to Manic's cynical remark as though Ridgy was answering his question genuinely. "Come on, it won't be long until we get to the bottom of this." Ridgy trudged forward through the woods towards the mountains in the distance.
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Post by Lans on Mar 9, 2009 20:34:59 GMT -5
"Look dude, we're not hiking all the way up to the mountains, and I'm totally NOT going to Mercia following you. We should probably get back and tell Rob what we've got now," Manic told Ridgy.
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Post by Leda on Mar 10, 2009 1:24:58 GMT -5
"Oh...." Tikal suddenly whimpered, her posture shrinking. She hadn't expected to be going back so soon, and as such hadn't collected anything to forage along the way. Now she'd be heading back empty-handed... Unless the boys were willing to periodically stop, but it sounded like this was an urgent matter. Did she even have the right TO ask them to wait on her? The priestess frowned and eyed the dirt and grass around her feet, agonizing over her situation. " Mmph..."
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Post by slomoto on Mar 14, 2009 12:59:19 GMT -5
Ridgy tweaked the tip of his pointed nose as he thought about what should they do. "Well, we did promise we'd help Tikal look for food and supplies, and we can't leave her family and that Wolverine fellow behind. We'd better start looking away from the river though. If we do find vegetation here it would be contaminated."
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Post by Leda on Mar 14, 2009 22:38:41 GMT -5
A grateful smile spread across the echidna's face. "I would like that! That's so kind of you! Thank you so muAAUUUUGHHHH!!" All of a sudden Tikal disappeared with a splash, as the weak and muddy soil beneath her feet suddenly caved into the roaring river's will. Before she could attempt to stop herself, the priestess was already being swept along with the water, thrashing to keep her head up among the swift current. "M-MANIC!! RIDGY!!"
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Post by slomoto on Mar 14, 2009 23:39:24 GMT -5
"Tikal!" Ridgy dashed into the river and dove in head first. Then he realized he couldn't swim. His head surfaced and his arms thrashed wildly about. "Manic! Help us!" As they rapidly swept down the river, Ridgy managed to catch up with Tikal, and grabbing her arm, managed to hook onto a nearby rock with his tail. "I am a floating, I am light as a leaf..." He said to himself repeatedly as he clung to the rock, trying to keep the two of them from dipping their heads below the water.
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Post by Lans on Mar 15, 2009 22:50:18 GMT -5
"Hang on dudes!" Moving quickly, Manic rushed towards a bank near where they were in the river, pulling out a length of small rope from his pouch as he did. Quickly tying one end around a tree, he rushed back to the edge with the rest. "Catch it Ridg!" [dice=6][rand=382830736653320579300077840309551129289943669588128443928032820815]
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Post by slomoto on Mar 16, 2009 21:15:37 GMT -5
[dice=6] Ridgy caught the rope and let go of the rock. He and Tikal swung backwards into the river. He had anticipated Manic pulling him back to shore, but given both their weights, and the pulling of the rushing river, the two Freedom Fighters were struggling just to keep one another from sliding any further away. [rand=336537335917662442396830330567546563213540405038647220019532149938]
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Post by Leda on Mar 16, 2009 22:04:23 GMT -5
[dice=6] And then another factor decided to join the fun: Tikal's cloak, now soaked through with water, had become incredibly heavy. Despite clinging to Ridgy with all of her might, the current's grip on her garment quickly overpowered her, and the priestess slipped through his fingers. "R-RIDGY!!" she shrieked, disappearing among the waves. "HEEEELP!!"[rand=17408161318095416337489645445232275519905017345519788138838723776]
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Post by Lans on Mar 17, 2009 5:14:03 GMT -5
"Oh man, oh man..." Manic moaned, trying to think of what to do quickly. If he had his board he could just zip out there and garb Tikal...but he didn't have it, and Ridgy couldn't do anything... "oh man..." he said one last time as he broke into a dash, doing his best to try and get ahead of Tikal...before he dove headlong into the river towards her!
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Post by slomoto on Mar 17, 2009 21:39:04 GMT -5
"Manic, wait I still-" Ridgy's eyes bugged out when the rope went slacked and he was tossed backwards into the river again. He thrashed, his arms and legs flailing about the water as he flew backwards, faster and faster, and then stopped. His thrashing slowed down a bit when he noticed he was laying with his back up on the opposite bank of the river. He still did it though, while simultaneously laughing madly out of relief.
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Post by Leda on Mar 20, 2009 22:11:51 GMT -5
Gasping when she managed to bob above the surface, Tikal thrashed and paddled with all of her might toward the green body that had just joined her. While she normally didn't have problems with swimming, the Oak River had hit a particularly unforgiving patch involving rapids and mini-falls. Combined with the chilling water, what seemed to be a simple act was quite the ordeal. "M-MANIC!!" she cried, coughing out the water that continually assaulted her airway.
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Post by Lans on Mar 23, 2009 19:14:31 GMT -5
"I'm comming!" Manic gasped out between gulps of air as he desperatly tried to swim towards her, all the while mentally slapping himself for not thinking this through. Still, too late now. Working with the current, he managed to make it to her. "Got you!" he said as he wrapped one arm around her. So NOW what genius!?
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Post by Leda on Mar 24, 2009 21:35:07 GMT -5
Tikal latched hold of the hedgehog, but as she'd gone numb in her outermost extremities, it really came down to elbow strength. The pair tumbled off a couple of short falls, but at last, the rush of the river slowed, and before long the duo had made their way to the rocky bank. Coughing and dragging herself from the frigid water, Tikal's body shivered violently beneath her drenched cloak. "Ar-r-r-re y-y-you ok-k-k-kay??" she struggled to ask through chattering teeth.
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Post by Lans on Mar 26, 2009 0:43:52 GMT -5
Manic didn't respond for a few moments, dead tired as he was from struggling to keep them both afloat, barely having enough left to pull himself out of the water. "L-*cough* ...Let you know in a minute, kay?" he said weakly as he lay there, shivering himself, but unable to do much until he got a little strength back.
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Post by Leda on Mar 26, 2009 21:39:14 GMT -5
After struggling to release the clasp of her garment (not so easy with numb fingers), Tikal allowed the cloak to flop to the ground with a wet slap. She then made her way to Manic's side and cuddled up against him. "W-We n-n-need to sh-share our body h-h-heat," she explained through her freezing stutter, hugging her shaking body against his own.
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Post by Lans on Apr 1, 2009 22:04:42 GMT -5
Manic felt a shiver that had nothing to do with how cold he felt. However, he was too exhausted to really do much with the situation. Instead he wiggled himself closer to her out of a genuine need for warmth. "T-thanks..." he muttered.
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Post by Leda on Apr 4, 2009 21:14:04 GMT -5
It was probably a good half an hour, if not more, before Tikal felt confident enough to get up on her own. As she rose to her knees, however, it occurred to her that perhaps Manic needed some more time. She turned her face skyward; twilight was setting in, and darkness would be on them before long if they didn't get to work on a campsite soon. Frowning, the priestess leaned over her companion. "Manic? How are you feeling?"
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Post by Lans on Apr 4, 2009 22:43:29 GMT -5
"Like that time Rob-man made me organize the parts closet by myself after I scared him with that SWAT head..." Manic muttered.
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Post by Leda on Apr 4, 2009 22:49:34 GMT -5
Tikal let out an airy giggle. She'd been hearing a lot about this Rob person as she'd traveled with the green hedgehog. "Well, we need fire, or it's going to be an awfully cold night with a lot of bug bites. I'll do my best to set up camp for us while you recover, okay?"
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Post by Lans on Apr 4, 2009 23:53:22 GMT -5
"Nah...I can help," He said, rolling over and pushing himself up. His whole body felt like lead, but he wasn't gonna let her do everything while he just lay there.
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