|
Post by JezusBagels on Jun 16, 2009 14:01:18 GMT -5
Malphorius frowned a deep, wrinkled frown, pausing to look at her. "Young lady, if and when you reach my age, you'll learn that when you start something, you damn sure better follow through with it. I have to finish building this fire," he said quite matter-of-factually. He turned back to the stack of wood, about halfway done with his pyramid shaped pile. His arms ached.
|
|
|
Post by ivory on Jun 16, 2009 14:40:22 GMT -5
She nodded. "Of course you do. Just wanted you to know though, in case you got thirsty." She looked around again, spotting Ivory amongst those of the crowd, before moving her gaze on.
Angel took a few steps in their direction before calling over her shoulder, "I'll get you some help." Along with some of her own.
She stopped by those that looked as if the could at least walk and took turns asking if they'd help to build the fire or carry back some water.
|
|
|
Post by Brandwyn on Jun 16, 2009 20:42:15 GMT -5
Rick overheard one of the women say they had found a spring in the woods. He smiled at Malphorius' reply. He remembered his Grandmother saying much the same thing many years ago.
"Good. We will need some water. Maybe that fellow that just climbed back into the wreckage can find some buckets down there." Rick pointed to what was left of the ship. "Once we get the fire going, I will help haul water, but maybe you can find some help in the meantime."
Rick turned back to the fire and helped Malphorius shape the signal fire. "Are you sure this is a good spot for the signal? I was thinking to build a second fire for that down on the beach once we got this one going." Rick asked the physician. He wondered if there was really any point in a signal fire. Would there be any ships out there to see it?
Kira came trotting back out of the woods, two near-chicken sized birds swinging from her mouth. She plopped them down at Rick's feet and looked up at him expectantly. Rick knelt down and petted her. "Good girl! I had a feeling you had gone hunting. Feel free to bring some more back if smell any. There are a lot of people here to feed." Rick pointed to the birds and said, "guard!" and then skirted the woods, looking for more firewood, leaving Kira to guard her kill. He kept an eye on her, just to be sure she didn't mess with the old man, but she seemed oblivious to him. She lay down next to the birds and began to lick her fur clean.
|
|
|
Post by Tandar on Jun 17, 2009 7:42:35 GMT -5
Rip exited the wreckage of the The Sweet Maiden with Rift at his heels. He was hungry now. Andy thirsty. So thirsty. In his haste, the assassin had forgotten to check the ship's galley for supplies.
Too late now, he thought. I'm not going back in there.
Rip and Rift slowly made their way toward the throng of survivors. Had there been bodies on the beach, Cannon would have been looting them by now. As it was, almost everyone seemed to be accounted for. Rip approached an elderly man building a fire. The enormous white tiger padded up silently beside him.
"Water?" he croaked.
|
|
|
Post by ivory on Jun 17, 2009 8:24:59 GMT -5
Satisfied that she had enough people for the task, Angel started to make her way back to the spring after watching the other half of the group head to help the old man. There was someone beside him now, but Angel couldn't make anything out about the person except for the gender, and that was only based on possibilities. The stance leaned more toward the dominate male, though she'd run across women with the same form of confidence and power, so wasn't completely sure. There was a tiger beside him and her hands went to her waste where multiple knives used to be, but were no longer there. She took a step in there direction before noticing that the beast wasn't doing anything threatening. In fact, it looked kind of like a pet, though she knew that wild cats' could never stay that way forever. There was always that hunt in them, that thirst of their first home. No, they wouldn't be pets, but...friends in a sense.
She shrugged it off as she turned away from them and stepped into the coolage of the trees. She'd already picked someone to watch out for any stragglers, a position she'd rather have, and so guided them to the water they'd found earlier. With each step, her throat became drier as if her brain knew what awaited them at the end of this particular journey.
|
|
|
Post by JezusBagels on Jun 17, 2009 10:49:36 GMT -5
Malphorius stood back as the wood took the sparks from the flint and tinder and slowly started burning. He crossed his arms in satisfaction. "Now that's a good fire," he said to anyone who might be paying attention to him. He noticed the extra wood on the ground near the forest and scratched his chin. Nightfall would soon be upon them and there were a lot of people. He instructed a few of the burly looking men to start building a second fire further down the beach so that everyone could be warm at night. He handed them the kit and they happily complied. Malphorius sat, watching the ocean, thoughts of rescue (or lack there of) racing through his mind. Suddenly a man and a tiger approached him and the man said, 'Water?' "Eh... Some people just went to get water. They'll be back... when they get back."
|
|
|
Post by Brandwyn on Jun 17, 2009 11:49:20 GMT -5
Rick heard Kira give a warning growl and snapped his attention to the now blazing fire near the old man. He saw another man with a white tiger talking to Malphorius. It was a big tiger too. Kira wasn't looking too pleased, but had done nothing but place her paw on the dead birds and watch the tiger, her tail slashing a bit.
Rick hurried back over and dropped the load of firewood on the pile and greeted the man while motioning to Kira to stay still. "Hello." It was hard to talk because the saltwater had dried his throat and mouth out. "My name is Rick." he nodded towards his lynx, "and this is my friend, Kira."
Rick looked the tiger over and admired the sleek cat. "Nice tiger." He smiled warmly. "You didn't happen to see anything we could carry water in on what's left of the ship, did you?"
Rick hoped there wasn't going to be a fight between the tiger and his lynx. He was fairly certain Kira would end up loosing that battle. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, but she seemed to be holding still so far. He never knew for sure if she was going to listen to him or not.
|
|
|
Post by Tandar on Jun 17, 2009 20:14:11 GMT -5
"Thanks. Nice to meet you Rick. I'm Rip, and this here is Rift." The assassin nodded toward the white tiger.
Rift remained silent, but stared intently with bright blue eyes at the lynx and then the Ranger.
Cannon looked down at Kira, noticing her for the first time. He slowly reached out a gloved hand to pet her if she didn't object.
"Actually, I forgot to check the galley, but I'm sure there are some pots we can use to hold water. I can go back and recover some if you want. Will we need to boil the water or is it safe?"
|
|
|
Post by Brandwyn on Jun 19, 2009 10:15:48 GMT -5
Rick started to warn Rip not to touch Kira, but stopped when he realized Kira was going to behave. Perhaps the tiger had an affect on her. Normally she would have slashed at someone if they had reached for her while she was guarding food, but she was far more concerned with the tiger than it's master.
Kira ducked slightly as Rip reached for her and then sniffed his hand and dismissed him. She seemed to ignore Rip's petting as she watched the tiger, one paw still on her two dead grouse.
"Kira, " Rick knelt down next to her and held out his hand, "Drop." He pointed at the birds. Kira looked at him for a moment and then slowly removed her paw and let Rick pick up the birds. She watched them anxiously as Rick stood back up with them in his hand. "Don't worry, you will get your share." He reassured her and she seemed to understand the tone of his voice. She forgot the birds and turned her attention back to the tiger. Slowly she reached out with her nose to snif at it.
Now it was Rick's turn to be anxious. "I hope they get along with each other. I think Kira might come out on the bad side of a fight between them." Rick took some string out of his belt pouch and tied the legs of the birds up in a neuse and strung them up in a tree branch.
"I will clean them when I get back." he turned towards Rip, "I will help get those pots, if you don't mind." He looked back at Kira and said, "Kira. Free!" and srpread his arms wide. Kira chirped her special sound that she was happy and bounded off into the woods again. Rick watched her go and then turned back to Rip. "She'll probably come back with more meat of some type, if I know her. Lets go get some buckets and pots. Boiling that water would probably be a good idea."
|
|
|
Post by ivory on Jun 19, 2009 11:49:33 GMT -5
Ivory finished helping one of the passangers to the treeline before heading beneath their coverage herself. She kept an eye on the man, making sure he didn't attack anyone. If he was to die, she would be the one to make sure it happened. She'd trailed him too long to lose him to another.
After a few minutes, it was pretty evident that he wasn't currently a threat. Though still built enough to do harm, he was clearly too drained to do anything but breath. Taking the break, she closed her eyes.
|
|
|
Post by ivory on Jun 19, 2009 11:49:52 GMT -5
Angel lead them back to the spring easily enough by following her previous trail. She allowed them to soothe their dry throats if they wanted before hoarding them to the other side where she'd spotted a group of trees tied together by vines. No doubt they'd need rope later on, but her aim were the plants hanging upon them. Gourds.
She'd lost quite a few knives during the crash and had no yet taken her time to search the wreckage, but the small one fastened in her boot was still there. She retreived it and set to work cutting down the yellow plants, ordering the others to do the same with sharp rocks or other tools they found they had access too.
After they'd cut quite a few of them down, she had them cut off the necks, revealing that the inside was hollow. Nature's bowl, she explained and in understanding, they each dunked theirs into the spring, scooping up water to carry back to the crash site.
It was a small group compared to the total of passangers now trapped on this island, if indeed it was an island - she resolved to follow the shoreline later and make sure for wouldn't it just be life's laugh if they were only a few miles from civilization? - but if everyone only took a few sips at a time, it'd soothe quite a few throats until they went back for another batch.
|
|
|
Post by JezusBagels on Jun 19, 2009 13:27:21 GMT -5
Malphorius looked up. His neck ached. He squinted at the sky and figured that they had about an hour or two before dark. His stomach rumbled and it occurred to him that he hadn't eaten at least since the day before. He wondered if any food had survived the crash. They certainly had enough able-bodied fighters among them to hunt for food, but why go through the trouble if they didn't need to? The thought amused him. How fortunate for the other passengers and he that so many people on The Sweet Maiden were strong and trained in combat. Almost too lucky to be coincidental. He let a soft chuckle out. The sand felt good beneath him. Lowering his head from the sky, he wondered when those that had gone to the spring would return. He was parched.
|
|
|
Post by Tandar on Jun 19, 2009 14:15:48 GMT -5
"It's okay. Rift is usually good with other felines."
Rip barked out a command in Teutlandtish accompanied by a quick gesture. The tiger laid down by the fire and stared at the elderly physician. The assassin turned and headed for The Sweet Maiden.
It was getting cooler now and the shadows were lengthening. Cannon walked in silence, inconspicuously checking to make sure all his knives were intact. He made his way through the wreckage to the ship's galley. Very little debris covered the floor here because most of the supplies were tied down and secured. Rip strode over to a rack of pots on the wall and selected a particularly large one. He tugged on the knot holding it.
"This should do nicely. We could grab some rations while we're here."
|
|
|
Post by Brandwyn on Jun 20, 2009 18:20:33 GMT -5
Rick followed Rip through the wreckage to the galley and grabbed a full wineskin and a couple of other pots. He had grabbed a section of fishnet while they clambered across the tilting deck and had laid it out on the floor of the galley and tossed a bunch of stuff on it.
"Yeah, we should get as much off as we can carry. Who knows when this wreck will be taken back out to sea." he looked around for the food. "We could be here a while and we are going to need as much as we can salvage. I think this is the larder."
Rick opened a latched cabinet and found dry goods in it. He wondered how to get the rice and flour back to shore without getting it wet. "Hey, did you happen to notice if the dingy at the back of the Maiden was still intact? We might be able to load it up and lower it over the side with a bunch of stuff and get it to shore that way."
Rick intended to try to make it to his cabin too, if it was still there and see if he could find his pack and his bow and arrows. He could make more, but it would take a few days for the wood to be shaped and cured. He felt naked without his bow. He also wondered what Rip's profession was. He carried himself like a warrior, kind of, but not like regular army. Maybe he was a mercenary. Well, they would most likely have more time than they wanted to find out all about each other, Rick thought glumly.
|
|
|
Post by JezusBagels on Jun 20, 2009 18:26:15 GMT -5
Malphorius looked up at the sky. It was going to be a clear night. He sighed because he knew they wouldn't be that lucky forever. They would need shelter; protection from the elements. Perhaps they could use pieces of the boat to build something? They would be better off building individual shelters. One large one would be easily toppled in a storm, and then where would they be? He stood and walked down to the beach, looking at the wreckage. Much of it was already broken into smaller pieces. They would do what they could with all of that. What they really would want were the floorboards of the deck and cabins. Long, straight... usable. He called some men over and--after much persuasion--explained the situation to them and convinced them to help haul wood and start building immature protection as best they could.
|
|