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theCorniest rolled 1 100-sided dice:
60
Total: 60 (1-100)
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 Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 11:55 am
 This was shaping up to be a really horrible month for Maple Milk.
The whole ordeal of helping Never Idle had been an exhausting, embarrassing, and probably useless endeavor. Then she'd had to deal with the tree that had fallen in front of her cave, and she was damned lucky it had been warming up by then because there were no hairy kiokote to keep her warm. (Not that she was especially proud of that, but the fellow was comfortable.) And before the way could be fully cleared, it had started raining, so she'd had to spend two nights out in that, so she'd caught a cold.
And now? She'd gone out to gather plants for a remedy, or at least easement of her symptoms, and she'd managed to misstep, slip, and land in a surprisingly deep mud puddle. Her initial, undisciplined thrashing had only served to get her stuck deeper. After forcing herself to stop, to relax and let herself float in it as best she could, Maple weighed her options and found them both bleak and limited.
Swallowing her pride, Maple called out, "Help, I'm stuck. Help me..." a croaking litany that was accentuated by her crow circling overhead, cawing in distress at his mistress' predicament.
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 8:44 am
Ughhh, groosss. Light the Night lifted her hooves gingerly, carefully trying to find the driest footing she could without getting even more mud caked on her legs. It wasn't really working. All of the wet weather really turned this place into a soggy disaster. The doe blurgs in disgust when she sinks down knee-deep into a gurgling pool of something that she doesn't particularly want to think about. At least it's not in her hair. She's gonna give her friend a real earful if this berry or leaf or whatever that supposedly grows here doesn't help with her after-party headaches. That was a pretty crazy party, though. She can't help a small smile and an unconscious flick of her tail. He was such a cutie. Totally worth it.
A cawing crow in airborne hysterics shocks her out of the reverie. "Hey! What's your problem?! Damn-" Her yelling scatters a few songbirds, but she's cut off when a thin voice floats through the marsh. She leans forward and picks her ears up to actually listen. Help? That annoying crow is circling something. Oh no. Her hoof is freed from the muck with an unattractive slurping sound as she moves forward now with more speed and less care about the mud splatters. Whoever it is sure sounds pathetic.
The black and brown and mud all over doe stops short when she comes up onto the source of the voice in the wallow. Sallow complexion, all kinds of broken horns, ribs stickin' out. Oh gods is she already dead? No... no not dead, just old. Wow, what a crone. Poor thing must be, like, a hundred years old. Now she's not sure if the crow is a pet or a flying advertisement for a free soon-to-be meal.
"Hey! Hey can you hear me?? You needed some help out, right?"
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 8:57 am
Maple's volume had been dropping steadily as she waited in the mire, but hearing a doe nearby complaining about the mud made her redouble her efforts, her voice now a caw not unlike her crow's. However, when the doe took longer to draw near than expected, and Maple heard what she assumed was a suitable volume for conversation, she was stunned momentarily into silence.
"I can hear you just fine," she wheezed crossly. "My ears haven't got any of this blasted mud in them, it's just got the rest of me stuck. I do - Mildew will you shut up," she hissed crossly at her still-frantic crow, which subsided reluctantly - "I do need help freeing myself. I would owe you a debt of gratitude," she added pleadingly, already dreading future interaction with her.
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 10:53 am
"Oh!" Just then the doe realized she had been shouting, and she momentarily felt a little bit silly. But only for a moment. "Sorry!" The volume did get turned down. Unfortunately it was not nearly enough. The younger doe walked around the edges of the mudpit, carefully, trying to find a good spot to attempt a rescue from. Nothing looks particularly promising, and there's no sense jumping in to be a hero only to have two stuck kin.
"You really got yourself in here good, huh," she said, stating the obvious while she tried to figure out how to approach this problem. One spot along the bank felt a little firmer than the rest, and she mushed it a bit with her hooves. The clay underneath didn't slip, but the bright ocher that oozed out was definitely going to stain her coat. Light the Night wrinkled her nose, both at the clay and at the raven named Mildew. How charming. "This spot looks good, don't go anywhere!" she half-spoke half-shouted before pushing her way into the brush. Don't go anywhere? Really?
It took some effort to yank a long, dangling aerial root from the rest of the tree and drag it back through the undergrowth. It took even more effort to throw it out where the old crone could reach it. And still more effort to pull and pull and yank until the old doe's teeth hurt and Light the Night's legs hurt. With a last great pull, her hooves slipped and she fell into the cold mud butt-first with a totally unladylike plop and a terrible shriek of surprise. This was totally not working out at all and now her backside was covered with something that she did not even want to think about.
"I'm gonna... I'm gonna see if I can find some more help. You're really uh.. in there and I need some help so you can get some help." She stood up and shook herself, looking terribly uncomfortable but not complaining about it. There had to be someone else around here. Some motion in the distance caught her eye, a shadow between trees.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAY! HEY YOU OVER THERE!" Motherfather have mercy the volume goes to 11. She leaned into the shout as if it will make it louder. Maybe it did. "THERE'S SOMEBODY STUCK OVER HEEERE!!"
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Tiarana rolled 10-sided dice:
Total: 0 (-0)
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 11:18 am
Melt loved the swamp, but he hated it when it rained. On the plains, storms passed quickly, and the water drained into the ground not long after, but in the already-waterlogged swamp, storms lingered for days and the water rose higher and higher, and the mud with it. His fur absorbed water and mud like a sponge, and he found it extremely difficult to move...and to navigate the treacherous ground, if the viscous soup could be called that. He was just then thinking about quitting the swamp for a few days and returning to the plains when he heard a shout. Melt squinted through the trees, spotting a flash of color and shadow, and followed the shouting to its source. "What's the proble-" he started, before spotting the kin stuck in the mud. Covered in muck as she was, it was hard to tell, but - Melt's eyes widened in recognition. "Well, you've gotten yourself into a predicament here, haven't you? Don't worry, we'll have you out of there in no time!" He grabbed the root Light the Night had already thrown out, and gave it a good stern yank. The root was strong, but Maple hardly moved.
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Tiarana rolled 1 10-sided dice:
2
Total: 2 (1-10)
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 11:19 am
((boy it sure does help if I actually roll
although maybe it doesn't actually help much at all))
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 11:39 am
Despite her reviling the younger doe's lack of volume control, Maple had no choice but to grit her teeth and, well, grit her teeth, until she damn well couldn't anymore. Even when both their mouths weren't full anymore, it was damned hard to get a word in edgewise with the loudmouthed fool. Maple barely choked down a pained groan when she saw who her would-be rescuer recruited - that warm, fluffy b*****d from the week before! There was pretty much no way he would ever take her seriously after this, and that shouldn't have bothered Maple nearly as much as it did.
Maple hurriedly grabbed onto the root as the kiokote buck reached for it, but she really did groan when she had to let it go after one brief pull. "That's not going to work," she moaned, "you're either going to pull my teeth out, or my head clean off!"
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space crawfish rolled 2 10-sided dice:
9, 6
Total: 15 (2-20)
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 12:12 pm
"Hey! Thanks! She's super stuck and-" Again Light the Night's voice petered out when she realized that somehow in the great wide swamp these two knew each other. She took a step back and watched them for a moment. It had become obvious by then that the crone probably hated her, but how in the blue hell she managed to snag such a cute boyfriend was totally beyond her. It was only then that Light the Night became aware that she was covered in gross glop. Feeling a little deflated, she nonetheless plucked up.
"Don't yank. Let's both pull at the same time, real gentle. Can you..." She looked over at the crone and almost asked her name, but she was fairly sure she was just going to be spat at. "Try and shimmy a little, do a little dance and it might be easier to get ya out." She leaned over to pick up the root again and looked at the buck to do the same. Man, what a looker. It was just her luck to not only meet him like this but then find out that he's into somebody that's old enough to be her grandma.
(sure does help if I roll too. rollin' twice since i forgot on the first post. total is 17)
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Tiarana rolled 1 10-sided dice:
9
Total: 9 (1-10)
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 12:30 pm
"Alright, alright, whatever you say," Melt said to the old kin as he moved over to accommodate Light the Night. "We'll just try this again one more time." He picked up the root and signaled to Light the Night to pull. With their strength combined, Melt and Light the Night managed to pull the doe partway out of the muck, but it wasn't enough. "Hmmmmm," Melt said, after a good deal of straining. "Perhaps we could find a better way to do this. A sling, maybe? I don't imagine her teeth can take much of this. I don't imagine my teeth can take much of this."
(total: 26)
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 12:43 pm
"They definitely cannot," she panted. "We're making some headway, but please, no more of that," she begged, too tired, aching and desperate to even try and save face.
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 1:06 pm
"Do ya think she's out enough that we could push?"That was tough on all of their teeth, and the idea of doing more of that was very unappealing. There's progress, though. "We're gonna end up pullin' some teeth if we keep this up."
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 1:31 pm
Melt appraised the situation thoughtfully. "We'll need more roots," he said, and disappeared into the forest to find some. When he returned, it was with three long, flexible aerial roots and several large, broad leaves. He carefully tied the roots together and secured the leaves in the center, then gave one end of the bundle to Light the Night. "Take this and go around to the other side of the quagmire. Our dignified friend should be able to climb on. Then come back over here and we'll pull her out." The buck scrabbled at the roots for a moment and soon had them knotted around his legs. "Like this, this time!"
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space crawfish rolled 1 10-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-10)
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 1:49 pm
"I've, uh, never been one for arts 'n crafts but..." The dark-pelted cracked a smile and did as she's told with the bundle, and she couldn't help but feel at least a little tiny bit bad for the old crone. Least there was a hot date for her to look forward to after~ With some difficulty, she could tie the knots the Kiokote requested. They were not as pretty as his and probably not as strong, but she hoped they would get the job done. It was a clever of him to think of this. "You ready? Let's go!"
(total: 29)
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Tiarana rolled 1 10-sided dice:
7
Total: 7 (1-10)
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 1:53 pm
Seeing that Maple had climbed onto the vines and Light had come back around to his side of the mud, Melt started pulling. With the roots tangled in his legs, it was more difficult to move with any speed, but he soon saw that Maple was getting closer to safety. Melt was glad he was a kiokote, even if his muscles were less ripply than most. (total: 36)
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space crawfish rolled 1 10-sided dice:
8
Total: 8 (1-10)
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Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 2:11 pm
"Aahhh haha hey this is working!" The excitement of progress helped refresh her, but she'll be damned if this wasn't hard, miserable work. The, uh, load being spread between two kin made this so much easier. The knots were awkward feeling on her hooves; she almost tripped over them a couple of times. She would be damned, though, if she tripped and fell into gross muck in front of these two. She felt almost guilty about taking a few peeks at the Kiokote, though. Almost.
(total 44)
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