[ORP] The Flood

[Annora Lyrisa]

Opal twisted in alarm to look at Wander, then looked back at the others hesitantly, relieved. From no one to more than one was such a relief that for a moment, she stopped paddling at all, simply floating on the water as she tried to keep her eyes dry of tears. "Thank you," she murmured to Wander, carefully draping herself over his back with no little relief.

Her muscles ached from all the swimming, and the feel of a warm body in the cold water soothed her more. She closed her eyes, assuming that when he spoke of safety, he meant toward the others, and let her mind drift just a bit. But her ears remained alert, listening for the least sound that her weight was too much for him, lest they both drown through his chivalry.  

[Draigathar]

Hearing a voice, Shadow looked quickly to see where it came from. With her heart racing, and her mind reeling, she saw the Kiokote and his cheetah. "H..Hi." she stuttered. "I would appreciate the help, thank you. I am very lost and not at all sure where to go, and I am getting tired." As she began to swim along side the Kiokote she decided quiet was not her friend right now but maybe, just maybe, he could be... "Y..you have a very pretty cheetah." she said, stuttering again from nervousness, "My name is Healing Shadow, but you can call me Shadow if it is easier."  

[Annora Lyrisa]

"Shadow's nice," Freedom nodded as best he could in the water, his eyes darting all over. She looked tired, and if he didn't find a perch soon, Swift would be in trouble as well. "He's called Swift Sunset, and I'm Freedom Across Skies. Call me Freedom," he directed, perking a bit as he spied a thick tree, the branches sizeable and still seeming firm.

"Over here," he said, swimming a little faster so that he could deposit Swift on the branch and come back for the doe, if need be. He made it, staying still as Swift Sunset crawled over him onto the branch, and then turned back to swim toward her again. "Can you make it?"  

[theCorniest]

Rockface's back stiffened as another mongoose scurried up his back, and he found relaxing difficult when the doe he was assisting slipped down lower in the water. His ears unproductively back against his neck and his eyes on the doe, he replied, "I don't think so. I'd say a tree, but those have started falling over, and I don't think I can carry you like a mongoose," which he took a moment to glare at. Hopefully it didn't relieve itself on him like several others already had.

He turned his head to look around again, careful to not jostle the doe. Once more, he called for the missing sister -

"BOWLEGGEEED," he began, "YOUR SISTER'S LOOKIN' FOR YOUUU." He added silently to himself, Please, for the love of the swamp, get over here and help me keep her from drowning.  

[Draigathar]

Seeing where Freedom was swimming, Shadow began in that direction but her legs seemed to be made of very heavy wood. "Swift is a very pretty name and yours is nice as well Freedom. I am not sure I will make it there though. My legs, they are getting harder and harder to move. Maybe if I just rest a bit..." As she said all this she stopped swimming and began to relax which in turn caused her to begin to sink, but her legs were too tired and heavy to fight...  

[Annora Lyrisa]

Not good! Freedom thought, as he saw her begin to sink. The worry drove him forward faster, and he ducked beneath the water, his body cutting through to dip just under her. His back slid against her belly, and he pushed up again, amazed that it had worked and she was now on his back.

And heavy. He hadn't factored that into the problem. Certainly, heavier than a cheetah, anyway. "C'mon, Shadow. Stay with me just a bit longer. You can rest over here," he managed, wondering as he swam if she was always so talkative, or if it was the fear pushing her to keep the chatter going.  

[Draigathar]

A she was sinking she felt something come up under her. Her mind was almost as heavy as her legs she was so tired. Then it dawned on her it must be Freedom he was saving her. If he could be so kind as to try and save her the least she could do is try to help, she knew she must be heavy (or at least she felt she must be very heavy).

"I...I will try. It is so hard though and I am so tired but it is close yes?" She couldn't believe she had actually had a conversation with someone. It had been so long since she had spoken with anyone it amazed her a bit that she remembered how. Shaking her head a little to clear it she tried to move her legs in such a way that it would be helpful to the Kiokote.  

[Ruriska]

Be Mine lifted her face into the nuzzle and let out a soft, content sigh. Nothing to worry about at all. If that’s what the adult said was true, Be Mine would believe it, even with the current situation. “I’m glad.” Her little tail wriggled. She had never had a mother, but perhaps this was what it was like?

The flood water seemed to have slowed; pushing sluggishly at the dead tree, the debris it was carrying piling up against the trunk. For the moment it held strong, but anymore weight would be too much for it to hold.

Fall For You jumped from one branch to the other, twittering constantly and watching Vexed console his foal friend. He spred his wings and moved higher, bright little eyes looking around at worl and watching for any of his own kind fleeing into the trees.  

[Shiningamisgirl]

Thunderstep kicked strong and hard against the deep tugging current, the raging pace of the flood had finally started to ease yet the depth of the water was still an issue, even for one such as himself. The sight of passing bodies and frantic calls of the drowning and the lost, both disturbed and angered him. Here he had been driven to this land by the Ache, by the unrelenting dreams and pulling deep in his bones. It had been so easy to come here. Even though he'd only been on the sucking, wet, swamp that was the kimeti's home for a short time, he'd grown to enjoy it, what little he knew.

To see it all washed away so easily, to know that there would now be so much less for him to see. That maybe, he would never fulfill his own driving dream. The thought made Thunderstep growl against the waters tug, and gasp as something brushed across his flank, not Kimeti or their strange little creatures. Instead the lifeless floating body of one of his own kind.

The sight of Kiokote bodies was surprising, he'd not known the flood had come through his old homelands. He had no reason to care for his kinds fate, he had after all left them, he harbored no ill will against them either. He simply felt an emptiness where his sense of kinship should have been. Yet when he heard the Grey Ones call he answered, numbly swimming towards the sound of it's worried voice. The Grey one looked half drowned, tired, yet still swimming, searching. It would have been rude not to answer. "I am here!" Thunderstep was sure there would be others.
 

[Herbclouds]

Peregrine trudged along through the terrible task that lay before him. Triage had long given up and taken to wing, in order to avoid the water. Although Peregrine felt worried about his winged friend alone in this disaster; he knew Triage could manage. The rushing water was only getting higher and higher every second. "What'll you do now," The buck asked Take Flight suddenly. Everyone was probably asking themselves the same question. Peregrine was lucky, leaving behind all your possession and a static home.... The nomadic lifestyle isn't all bad.  

[Amizade]

After waiting for a few moments and hearing no reply, Briume (politely asked Tooth to loosen her grip on his neck and) cleared his throat to yell out this time. Just as he opened his mouth, a voice rang across the waters... "BOWLEGGEEED."
Another soul!
Eager to find other kimeti, the buck kicked his hind legs furiously in the water, propelling himself towards the noise.
"YOUR SISTER'S LOOKIN' FOR YOUUU," the voice rang out again.
Looking for someone? I hope this Bowlegged alright... how many lives has this flood already taken?
It was hard to move quickly with most of his body draped across a log, but Brume wasn't willing to let it go just yet. He kicked harder, urging the log to move forward.
"HELLOOO? ANYBODY THERE?"  

[Jun D]

Honestly, just the cutest little thing! Such a bright spot amongst all this destruction and death. Hope fanned brighter in Vexed's eased heart; if such a defenseless little creature could have come through the initial torrents unmarked, there must be others who have lived.

"You can call me Vexed," she said, "what is your name? And your lovely little bird's?" That she was still not looking at - oh, no, not looking at at all.  

[Jun D]

"Charm," she repeated softly as she dropped the vine as well, "and Night." Glancing back at her cheetah - he was close against her, propping up the spindly legs of the foal she carried - Far showed no signs of tiring. She considered the landscape and made her decision.

"I will go with you, Charm," she paddled over to follow, "if there are more of these foals, we should keep them together. It will be hard enough as it is for them to find their kind after." Besides...she had to admit she was curious to see the siblings together. She and her brother were perfect mirrors, did these two match each other like their same bright eyes? "My name is Dark is a Way," she belatedly returned the courtesy of introduction, "my brother is Light is a Place."

The latter slipped out of her mouth from sheer force of habit.  

[Shiningamisgirl]

Thunderstep twisted to see the new voice addressing him, yet another Kiokote with a cat draped across his back. We're the cats of his home plains good swimmers? They ran like the wind, but he scarce remembered seeing them swim or fish. "It would seem so." Thunderstep grunted in response, staring long and hard at the pair for a moment longer before turning his gaze, and most of his attention back to the water.

"We're you swept down with the rest, are there many of you?" Thunderstep frowned as he asked, speaking to the other without quite looking at him and his pet. Thunderstep was just now considering the magnitude of things, the flood had seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. The thought that it had ravaged his old home as well as his new one, it was quite unnerving.