[PRP] Swamp Journeys: Search for the Illusive Swamp Rose

[akuma_kessaku]

Faithofthefallen s Teepee


Akuma_Kessaku s Teepee

 

[akuma_kessaku]

Beatrix has spent days wandering the murky swamp lands just northeast of the cursed graveyard in search of the illusive swamp rose. Years ago her mother had mentioned that the rose is rumored to have healing abilities, but this trait was unimportant to her. She merely wanted it to pluck a few flower from its bush and add it to her mother’s collection. It was a tradition Beatrix has kept up on since her mother’s passing. She wanders the Eastern forest in search of beautiful flowers to decorate her mother’s makeshift tombstone. Beatrix has uncovered every rock, searched every meadow, every bog, rummaged through each bush, and inspected every tree so thoroughly that she has gotten each and every flower that she is aware of in the area… except for the swamp rose. It was her last piece to the puzzle before she broke out of the eastern lands and ventured across the Aa-wi-u-s-di Plains.

Tromping her way through the itchy muck of the Eastern Swamp, Beatrix searched through the forest desperately trying to get her bearings. The trees stretched up like skeletal arms grasping at the sky as they sunk into the swamp floor. Mossy mold and thorny vegetation spiraled up the trunks seemingly pulling the trees into the earth. The air stuck to you with a musky hot stench, only making the gnat infestation all the more irritating. All in all, it was a miserable place to be stuck in and nothing looked familiar.

Lifting one hoof at a time completely out of the glop she managed to work her way to semi-firm ground and collapsed at the base of a tree, “Mother…” she panted, “This is impossible. How can a flower possibly grow in something like this…”

Faithofthefallen

I finally ripped off the bandaid. ;-;

 

[Faithofthefallen]

Ellion pulled his hoof from the stinking puddle of brackish mud with a sickening slurping sound, wrinkling his nose as he shook his leg a few times in an attempt to knock off the worst of the sludge but only succeeding in peppering himself in dark muddy speckles. His search was not going very well. He had tried flying through this area but it was too closed in and his wings got tired, he had even shrunk down, flitting from tree to tree, but he couldn't cover as much ground that way and he could easily fly right past the object of his search with his narrow line of vision at that size. So he was continuing on foot, although by now he was almost certain that the mare who had told him of the swamp rose and its' mystical healing powers had been pulling his tail. Still, Vesper had been sick off and on for months now and Ellion was growing worried, regular herbs hadn't done the trick so he was off in search of this plant. He hoped to get some seeds and perhaps manage to plant them in a boggy part of his parent's garden so they could be cultivated to help others who were sick or injured.

He thought he saw movement up ahead, a flash of pink and grey moving through the trees but he could have imagined it, but perhaps it was an inhabitant of the swamp? If so, he could ask for directions. "Hello?" He called out, "Hello? Is anyone out there?"

akuma_kessaku

 

[akuma_kessaku]

Beatrix jumped to her hooves and held her breath, 'Skinwalker? No,no... They wouldn't say anything... It wasn't a familiar... too big.' peeking from behind the line of trees that blocked his sight she found a flutter. A colorful one at that. He seemed slightly out of place with his drab grayish green surroundings of the dying forest, but the mucky swamp was taking its toll on his pale green coat.

"You're... Far from home." Beatrix stated as she started his way, "Aren't-cha." Coming to a squishy patch, she hopped to a stone, long, and then touched down on another relatively dry patch, "Tell me, What brings you out here? Not that I have a problem with the company... Civil Company is few and far between." she tipped her head, "Also, don't walk much farther, you'll sink into a four foot dip that takes hours to get out of." The evidence was obvious that she had just escaped from such a hole herself.

Faithofthefallen

 

[Faithofthefallen]

Ellion's crimson eyes skimmed the new mare from head to hoof, his open face breaking into a friendly smile. "I see that, thank you. Yes, I am quite a ways from home, I came in search of something, a plant I heard could be found only in this area." He glanced around at their murky surroundings dubiously, not wanting to insult her by expressing his true opinions of the swamp. "Its... Rather nice enough here I suppose, do you live nearby?" As he spoke he sidestepped around the sinkhole and approached her, his thin membranous wings fluttering with each movement and his beads clinking together softly. "My name is Ellion." The mare was strange looking, some of her markings vaguely reminded him of bones and blood, but she seemed nice. Perhaps if she was familiar with the area she could help him find what he was looking for.

akuma_kessaku

Sorry about the short tag, got family over

 

[akuma_kessaku]

Beatrix wrinkled up her snout and tipped her head, “Nice enough? You have strange tastes in what is nice…” She giggled, “I do live in the “Swamplands” but thankfully my mother has placed us near moving water, so it is much prettier, and lots better smelling that this place. ”

Hit by a sudden burst of energy she began prancing about like a young filly and chimed, “You’re searching for something? Me too! A flower for my mother. She loves flowers y’know.” Suddenly she stopped and looked around, her ears flicking and turning.

“We’ve been looking for hours though, and she has managed to get me very lost, yet keeps assuring me that we’re close…” her ear began flicking again, and she shook her head violently, “Stop it Mom! I’m trying to talk to someone! Where’s your manners?” Snorting she took a quick breath and turned to Ellion, “It’s miserably hot and sticky here. We’re lower in the swamp. If we start heading north northeast it should get a bit hillier. The trees will break and hopefully we can catch a bit of a breeze? Maybe get our bearings? What do you say?”

Faithofthefallen

 

[Faithofthefallen]

"That does sound much nicer," Ellion agreed with mock solemnity, "Alright, maybe this part of the swamp isn't exactly... [i[ideal. But I've seen worse!" he wrinkled his nose, "Maybe not smelled worse though." His face cracked into an indulgent smile at her carefree antics, he liked a mare with a bit of silliness in your nature.

The stallion swiveled his head around, trying to determine if there was someone standing outside his line of vision the mare could be talking to, but as far as he could tell, they were alone in the swamp. He decided to gloss over that, whatever her idiosyncrasies, she seemed a nice enough mare. Perhaps she had just been breathing swamp fumes for too long, especially if she had been traveling in this mess as long as she said. "Perhaps we are after the same flower then, now that would be a strange coincidence. My mother, Vesper, she has been ill. I heard rumors of a flower with strange healing properties native to this area. A 'swamp rose,' I'm not sure if that is its true name or simply what it is known by. I hope to find one and cultivate it, perhaps it will help my mother and it not.... Well if not I shall have to keep looking for another solution."

Ellion began walking in the direction indicated, "That sounds lovely, I feel as though I've combed this area from top to tail and have seen no sign of the flower... Although I have only a rough description to identify it by. I don't believe I caught your name, lady?" There were a lot of large pools in the direction they were headed, stepping carefully, he picked his way over to a stunted tree and pulled a long thin limb off with a twist of his neck. "We can use it to check the depth before we step." He revealed with muffled excitement through the branch clenched between his teeth.

akuma_kessaku

 

[akuma_kessaku]

"Wouldn't that be funny! Looking for the same flower and yet this is the first time we've bumped into each other!" She chimed while prancing on ahead. Quickly spreading all four of her hooves to come to an immediate stop she spun around and her jaw dropped, "By George you're right! I never introduced myself!"

Smiling a great goofy grin she stood straight and announced, "I am Beatrix." she then spun and continued prancing on, "So how many days have you been wandering the swamps? It's not a very safe place to be traveling by yours-"

She tipped head to the side and flicked her ears a few times and then snorted, "Y'know what ma. You just behave yourself." looking back at the stallion cautiously stepping behind her she muttered, "My mom says hi... She think's I'm ignoring her now that I have a friend."

Her ears flicked and flexed again, then she abruptly shook her head, attempting to blow off whatever else the ol' mare was whispering to her.

Hearing the snapping of a branch she turned her head to see Ellion with a tree limb in his mouth and smiled, "That's a wonderful idea!" she lifted a hoof to turn and retrieve a branch from the same slumped over tree as he and found herself sunken to her knees, "Ah!" she screeched as her look changed from surprise to despair, "Too late.... I'm stuck." she groaned as she continued her slow descent into the muck, "Well, If I don't squirm too much I have a good hour before I'm consumed by this..... pungent pool of filth."

Faithofthefallen

 

[Faithofthefallen]

Ellion smiled and bobbed his head in agreement. "Well I've only been here for a few hours actually, just arrived, but I can't believe I managed to run into someone looking for the same flower in all this mess. Hopefully we find more than one." He jumped to the assumption that they would look together without much thought, four eyes were better than two after all.

"I was shrunken before though, which can be rather hard to see I suppose, but it was taking to long to cover the same amount of ground even if I was flying, walking is faster and I can see everything around me much better." He wasn't quite sure how to respond to the mare's side conversation with a member of their party he couldn't see, he didn't want to offend her by only playing along or by ignoring her 'mother' but he didn't have a good solution for the problem. Ellion decided to think on it a bit while they traveled.

The stallion whirled around to look at her, "Here," he held out the thinner end of the branch, "Grab on, maybe I can pull you out!"

akuma_kessaku

 

[akuma_kessaku]

Clamping down on the offered branch, Beatrix pulled hard with her neck muscles, avoiding the use of her limbs to prevent shifting herself further into the sinkhole.

After what seemed like an eternity of the most terrifying game of tug-a-war she had ever played she felt her front hooves nearing the surface. Pulling free of the mucks grasp she found semi solid ground and bucked her back legs free, then proceeded bucking, prancing, and shaking the sticky sludge free of her hide.

once most of the excess muck had been flung off, she collapsed, "I.... Owe you one..." she weezed between breaths before bursting into a fit of laughter. Nothing like a brush with death to bring out your sense of humor, eh?

Catching her breath, Beatrix rose on slightly wobbly legs and Nodded, "Alright, I think I am better now, thanks for your help. I'm sure glad you were here!" Snatching a branch to prod the earth she continued, "Let's get to higher ground."

~~~ About an hour passes~~~

Beatrix had abandoned her trusty stick half way up the massive hill at the edge of the bog. As she shakily pulled herself to the top she collapsed at Ellion's hooves, "Sorry... I took so long..." She huffed, "I've never been this winded before, getting stuck must have sucked a lot out of me, but here finally are... Best view of the swamp."

It wasn't exactly beautiful, but the bare hill overlooked the forest tree line and provided a 360 degree view; perfect if you were looking for something. As an added bonus there was a slight breeze, giving a welcome break from the sticky humidity of the swamp below plus the air was free of decomposing vegetation.

"Well," Beatrix sighed, "I've looked in the most logical places along the river, there, and i skirted the graveyard yesterday morning just to check it off my list." She had been a few other places, but none with distinguishable landmarks she could point out. "See anything promising?" she asked while looking up to Ellion.

Faithofthefallen

 

[Faithofthefallen]

Ellion's neck and leg muscles burned with this unfamiliar use but slowly and surely, Bea reached the edge and safety. He dropped the branch and panted a little, his eyes over wide as the dangers posed by this journey were finally comprehended. "I'm glad you're alright!" He replied sincerely, skipping back a couple steps to avoid being splatted by the offending mud. He wasn't quite quick enough, a large glob smacked him right between the eyes, startling a laugh out of the stallion as he peered at it with crossed eyes, "OOps!"

He surged towards her when she fell to the ground with concern but stopped a few paces away when he realized exhaustion rather than injury had brought about the collapse. "Not at all," he assured her, "Anyone would have done the same." He waited with her while she recovered, needing the rest himself to be perfectly honest, before following her to higher ground, relieved to move away from the offensive smelling muck.

~~~~~

As they finally reached the top of the hill, Ellion squeezed his eyes shut enjoying the breeze ruffling his hair and cooling the sweat on his skin. Soon after Beatrix followed, collapsing once more, he leaned down, nudging her gently with his nose and whuffling at her hair affectionately. Assured she was alright, he straightened, they were comrades in this search and he had already grown fond of this rather quirky female. She was odd, but he found her mannerisms entertaining. He approached the edge, feeling a little weak in the knees from the sudden dropoff, a feeling that was completely illogical considering the wings on his back but there you are. Scanning the area below and shook his head slowly, "I'm not even sure what it needs to grow or I would know where to look." He paced back and forth, "I know the petals are golden and edged with black... I suppose I thought that if I wandered through enough swamp I'd have to find it. Never been in a swamp before though, I didn't realize exactly what I was getting myself into." He snorted. "Perhaps... over there?" he motioned towards a section of the swamp that looked overgrown and somewhat menacing. "Everyone says its difficult to find, perhaps because it grows in places no one wants to venture into." He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the area, "I don't think anyone in their right mind would want to go in there. So it might be a good place to start."

akuma_kessaku