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6 - 10: Mudslide It has been a dry few weeks, and many were excited about the rains coming in. But alas, it seems that too much rain has caused a mudslide. The damage isn't bad, but there might be a few people missing that need to be tracked down.

Torsten wrinkled his nose as he walked along his patrol route. There had been a strangely heavy rain recently, so now the ground was sticky and mucky. His boots lifted with a suction sound, and slapped back down wetly. While he didn't mind his uniform getting mussed up from any legitimate work, he was loath to get mud all over himself simply from a patrol; especially when it was still early in his shift!

He stopped short when he heard a rumbling in the air, brow cocking curiously as he looked around. What the heck was that noise?

The shouting started soon after, and he ran for the source. After all, he was a guard! It was his job to run toward the trouble!

Charging uphill, he skid to a halt when he saw a wall of earth sliding down along the street. It wasn't huge, but it was enough to sweep away everything in it's path. "Mudslide!" he shouted at the top of his lungs in warning. He spun and ran to find something to grab onto. His job was watching over the city, but he couldn't do that if he was swept to the other side of town!

The voice that called out was almost outmatched by the ruckus of the mud. Torsten veered to the side the voice had come from and reached out his hand without question. He had never dealt with a mudslide directly before, but he knew about the problems it could cause. He certainly didn't want to become a casualty of the mud for the sake of experience.

He used the assistance to leverage himself up onto the walkway and exhaled with relief. His gaze swept out along the flowing mud before rising to his rescuer. "Tha-"

....Oh.

He needed a moment to clear the stars from his eyes before he could speak. "Thanks for the help. Guess it would be dumb of me to ask, but a guy's got standards; are you okay?"

Torsten nodded heavily. "Yeah, it looks pretty bad out there. ..At least the view up here is nice." Well, a liiittle flirting would be okay, right? He cleared his throat and pushed himself up to stand. "Yeah, I'm good. Would be less good if you hadn't gotten me up here." He joined Alinta at the edge of the walkway to survey the damage. "It looked like most of the people got indoors. Once the mud calms down a little more, I'll start looking for civilians that might need assistance." Torsten sighed and smoothed his hand over his hair. "This is going to take a long time to get through and clear out. Is your home close?"

Was.. that an insult? Torsten blinked with confusion before snorting, deciding that there was no insult intended. "Touché." This woman was apparently the serious type. Whether or not she was enjoying her view, he was more than content to keep appreciating the view he had.

"No. Other end of town. I'm just doing patrols over here today." He looked down at his uniform with a sigh. As logical as it was to run from a mudslide, he couldn't see any way to make running from mud look any sort of cool. At least his uniform was mostly clean.

Of course, that was about to change quickly now that the mud was settling down. It would be time to get back to work and see if anyone needed help. "Yeah. I'm hoping there are no casualties.. but that came pretty sudden. It's likely someone got surprised by it and weren't as lucky as us." He shimmied over to the edge and dropped down into mud that reached mid-calf on him. He looked back up and held a hand up in offering if Alinta wanted to accept it. "Torsten, by the way. Name's Torsten."

Torsten thought a moment before he shrugged. "Guess it's fortunate then. It's my job to be where people need help, you know." His hand waved uselessly in the air as Alinta went by it, amused rather than offended. This girl seemed the capable type. As it should be. "Just glad no one needed scooping up while I was running. That woulda got complicated."

He walked up the street to look in the direction the mud had come from and let out a low whistle. "What a mess. Doesn't look like much damage to the buildings. It swept through and took what wasn't nailed down." He reached out to nudge a café sign lodged in the mud, though there was no café in sight from their current position. He looked up sharply when a faint voice called out.

'Hello? Anyone out there?'

He turned a few times and shouted out, "Hey! Keep talking!" He looked to Ali and pointed to the stairs. "I think it came from that way?"

The stairs had a little mud along the steps, making Torsten move a little slower to keep from slipping back down. The upper level had a heavy layer of muck that had flowed over the wall with the force of the slide. Everything up there had been pushed to one side, piled up in front of a small building. The door to the building was blocked by debris, and through that door peered out a pair of searching eyes. "Hey, are you okay?"

The woman behind the door sighed with relief. "I'm fine, but the door's blocked by all that crap. I can't move it on my own."

Torsten looked at Ali, and then gave the hidden Oban a bright smile. "Don't worry, ma'am. Torsten and Ali are at your service." With a little elbow nudge at Ali, he trotted through the muck and grabbed at the debris to clear the doorway.

The pair was able to make quick work of the debris. Considering the situation Torsten had lost hope for keeping his clothes clean, but he did pause to glare at a mucky glop that had found its way into his hair. With his muddy hands, cleaning that up would have to wait. He tried to scoop at the mud holding the door at first, but it was mud... any hole he made quickly filled back in. Alinta's idea earned a grin and a nod. He grabbed where he could and braced himself. "Ma'am, get ready to push from in there," he called to the woman inside. "One, two, three, go!"

With a hefty heave, the door opened wide enough for the woman to topple forward with a yelp when her feet hit the mud. Torsten's arm snapped out to catch her before she could land and get stuck in the muck. "Are you alright, ma'am?"

The woman blushed and shook her head. "Ah, I'm just fine now that I'm not stuck in there any more. Thank the gods you two came along when you did. Bless you both."

Torsten grinned even brighter and gave the woman a little salute. "Just doing my duty, ma'am. You be safe now." He turned to Alinta and gave her one as well. "Shall we? It's nice having a competent companion, and there are surely others needing a hand."