[IC] The Two Sides

[wallaberry]

Kianna heard a cry for help, and she perked her ear's up. Her eyes narrowed and she bounded towards the river. Her eyes scanned the water silently in order to find the origin of the sound. The Rabin was slightly concerned, as there was a chance it was a Brom.

[xiaomiau]

@Fionraella Misha shook, frozen in place by the edge of the river. She half considered her options, digging her fingers into the fabric of her shirt as her mind raced. She raced towards the edge of the water, forcing herself to watch the water instead of turning tail and running for her life. Maybe that would be better. "No!" she whispered, mentally slapping herself. What are you thinking? She was poised to lunge into the water when she heard a noise in the bushes on the other side of the river.

[Fionraella]

Destin whimpers as he feels blackness lick at the edges of his vision. He manages a few last kicks, propelling himself closer to the Rabin side of the river. His eyes then close and he lets out his last reserves of air, before letting the river take him away.

[wallaberry]

Kianna spots a figure in the water as she neared the banks, and her eyes followed it along. She groans inwardly before preparing herself to jump in after it. Tensing her muscles, she leaps into the water with a splash and dives after Destin.

[xiaomiau]

Misha crouches beside the river, shaking and breathing heavily as she watches a familiar form bolt from the very unfamiliar opposing woods. Now's the time to run, she thinks. She braces herself to speed away, but she can't help but stay to watch out for Destin. He trusted me, she thought. He said he cared about me - and this is what I do.

[Azereiah]

@Hawksnest565

Brick smiled and shook his head. "Can't make any promises there. Better me in the medicine tent than a friend in the grave, anyway."

He looked around at the plantlife. None of it seemed familiar to him at all, but then, he'd never been much into herbology in the first place. He gathered an enormous amount of dead, fallen leaves and twigs, and stuffed them into his sack - he'd have to dry them in the sun later for use as kindling. After filling the sack, he moved closer to Aya to examine everything she was collecting.

"Tell me what's what and I'll be sure to bring some back with me every so often. I don't know half of what these are."

[wallaberry]

Kianna swims after the motionless Brom, churning her paws to propel her towards him. She nears the small shifter and bites for his scruff. The water was chilling her to the bone and she struggled to veer them towards the bank.

[Fionraella]

Kianna swims after the motionless Brom, churning her paws to propel her towards him. She nears the small shifter and bites for his scruff. The water was chilling her to the bone and she struggled to veer them towards the bank.

@wallaberry

Destin's body was soaking wet and he appeared dead. His skin, if she could have seen it, was pale and slightly blue in color. He wasn't quite dead, but definitely unconscious and not breathing.

[xiaomiau]

Misha stood up straight and watched the pair struggle in the icy death grip of the river. She couldn't contain her feeling of uselessness as she stood on the bank, unmoving and unhelping. "Please live, motherf*ckers," she said under her breath.

[wallaberry]

Kiannna steered them to the shallow part of the river. She ignored her burning muscles as they neared a spot to pull themselves out of the river. She lifted Destin up and pushed him onto the shore-like area, before climbing out herself. Her chest heaved from the effort.

[Hawksnest565]

@Azereiah

Aya couldn't argue with his logic there. "Just make sure you don't end up in the grave either, okay?"

She smiled at his offer. "Thanks! That would be a really big help. This is definitely the most useful place to find herbs, so if you ever come by here I would recommend it." She begins to point to some of them. "Okay, you should recognise some of these. Here we have lavender, I can use that as an antibiotic." She moves from the purple flowers to some tiny black berries. "This is elderberry, which is good for colds. It'll be really helpful in the winter. I'd like some echinacea too for chest infections but it's closer to the river. We'll head there next. And, ah-" she picks a few leaves from a green plant and grinned. "Peppermint! A lot of people like making tea with this, but it's just as useful for helping upset stomachs."

[wallaberry]

Kianna shifts and looks over Destin as she tries to catch her breath. "What the hell, dude?" She pants, rolling him over as she bit the inside of her cheek. She frowns as she attempts to preform CPR and empty his lungs of the river water.

[Azereiah]

@Hawksnest565

Brick recognized the names of the plants from what he referred to as a 'hippie pharmacy'. Not very effective, but better than nothing. At the mention of tea, though, he was reminded of a neighbor from an apartment next-door to his. The man grew some sort of herbs in jars of water using short cuttings - perhaps he'd be able to do it too. He made a mental note to also buy small glass jars whenever he went out to town.

"Pretty basic stuff. Pity there's not much stronger around here - but if it works, it works."

He collected a reasonable amount of each - what he reckoned would be a good one week supply - and very carefully placed the herbs in a pouch on his sack.

"Three down, one to go. Off to find some echinacea, then?"

[wallaberry]

Kianna presses her palms on his OCELOT CHEST and tilts his head in hopes that that would help him cough up the water. If not, she was probably going to shake him really hard. That'd work, right? Kianna was unaware of Misha's presence.

[xiaomiau]

Misha stands on the other bank of the river, horrified. She can't see if Destin is breathing from here, but she can see Kianna struggling to save me. She winces. Even an asshole like her is better for Destin than me.

[Hawksnest565]

@Azereiah
"You bet. We'll head for the river, then. That's really the only other point of interest." Aya frowned momentarily. "Keep your eye out, okay? People often patrol the edge of the river. Hopefully we'll get lucky and it's quiet there." She picked up her backpack, full of her own herb pickings, and set off on a march.

[Azereiah]

@Hawksnest565

"Got it."

Brick held his sword at the ready and walked alongside Aya. Given how large the river was, he wouldn't have to worry too much about arrows, so long as he saw them coming first - he was more worried about what lay on the Rabin side of the river. A few moments passed, and the thought of an ambush crossed his mind.

"If we're attacked, run like hell back to the camp."

[Hawksnest565]

Aya shivered about how serious he sounded.

"H-hey now! It's not usually a problem everyday. I mean, well, it is but..." she shook her head, thinking about how the other day she'd met Destin. He'd been so nice. Would Brick try to attack Destin if he saw him? He didn't exactly seem like the violent kind. Perhaps it would be better if they ran then? "Listen, we'll just see what the situation is when we get there. Who knows? Maybe even one of the other Rabins will be out."

She drew the jacket she was wearing around in her a little closer, feeling cold at the thought of what could await at the river.

[Azereiah]

@Hawksnest565

Brick saw the worried expression on Aya's face and patted her on the head once, assuming that she was mostly worried about him.

"Hey now, I'm not saying we're guaranteed to get into a fight. I just want to make sure you know that if something bad does happen, you getting back to camp safely is my #1 priority. In any case, I don't care if there are fifty Broms on the other side of the river. They're not a problem unless they start trying to kill us."

[Hawksnest565]

@Azereiah

Aya was strangely comforted by the man's touch. He seemed confident in what he was doing and she felt he could trust him.

"Thank you." she smiled, and began to walk ahead. "It's not too far from here! The river can be a really pretty sight when you're not fighting someone. It flows pretty fast though, so make sure to be careful when you're at the edge. It can flood after heavy rain too but it's usually not serious. There's also some shallow crossing points. That's where fights usually break out."