The Great Plague

LoyfeCycleProtector · **Reply #100 on:** June 18, 2013, 04:36:41 AM

Littlefoot tapped his foot nervously on the ground. "Hmm... If they didn't tell us anything when we were apart for lunch, I don't see how splitting up again is going to change anything. You know... What was that thing over by the rock circle?"
He paused for a moment, and frowned as he received a bunch of blank looks from his friends.
"You know, the signaling thing? That big hollow trunk you blow in to call for emergency meetings? What if we used it to gather everyone in the valley over at the rock circle? Then we'll have the whole valley to ask." He paused again, looking between his six companions with a hopeful expression.

StrutEggStealer · **Reply #101 on:** June 18, 2013, 02:24:07 PM

Ruby nodded, approving this idea. "That sounds like it will work because it will be hard not to." She looked around. "We just need a log that is big enough, I suppose."

LoyfeCycleProtector · **Reply #102 on:** June 19, 2013, 10:05:26 PM

“I remember seeing a hollowed log in the stream less than twenty yards from the rock circle,” Littlefoot said. “If me, Cera, and Spike go wrestle it out of the water, we can get Chomper to use one of his roars to get a loud call going. Petrie can fly up overhead to tell us if it worked.”
He turned to Ducky, who was perched in her usual spot on top of Spike’s head. “You should probably come with us in case one of us gets pulled into the current: the stream’s not that fast, but I’d feel safer knowing you were there.”
Littlefoot paused, and then turned to Ruby. “And Ruby?... While we’re doing that, could you go gather up some traveling supplies in a banana leaf? I’m… well… not certain that our folks are going to listen to anything we say, so maybe it’d be a good idea to have everything ready for us to leave the moment this meeting is over.”
He turned his gaze to the west. The bright circle was beginning to set in the west, slowly sinking behind the great mountains that encircled all of the Great Valley. “Unless the adults can think of a better idea, it might be up to us to go find some kind of medicine.”

Kor · **Reply #103 on:** June 20, 2013, 12:52:21 AM

"Yea, we better have an idea what to do if they don't tell us." Cera said with determination in her voice. "Grown ups can be so .... annoying." She said shaking her head and one of her front feet.

"I mean, they'd rather argue then do what needs doing. Then doing what needs doing." She said. She calmed down a bit. "Though I suppose we should give them a chance to tell us if they need a certain type of green food or something else." She said looking at the others present.

StrutEggStealer · **Reply #104 on:** June 20, 2013, 09:30:09 AM

Ruby nodded, pleased with her mission. "I'll be right back. I won't be too long." She started off at a swift clip, to the Tall Trees. As she worked, the Fast Runner couldn't help but worry. All this talk of the unknown was beginning to bother her, and it made her frightened to know that the young ones might be dealing with something far more dangerous than previously expected. She sighed, suddenly leery of going on a rescue mission. Who knew what would happen to them? What if... they didn't come back?

Ducky123 · **Reply #105 on:** June 20, 2013, 05:21:35 PM

Ducky was generally pleased that Littlefoot had a task for her. She still was in a depressive mood though. She said, "I am coming with you, yep, yep, yep!" but she chattered her 'yep 3x' without her usual joyfullness. It sounded kind of indifferent and uncaring.
"We should hurry I suppose?" she asked.
The little Swimmer though wondered why they actually need her. The current wasn't that strong and her friends could swim after all. She didn't dare to tell it her friends and didn't felt like telling them, anyway. She was just happy that she didn't have to sit around waiting and doing nothing. Ducky hated to be useless...

LoyfeCycleProtector · **Reply #106 on:** June 21, 2013, 10:22:16 PM

The gang led themselves over to the creek and began to follow it upstream. On the way, they saw no adults at the popular drinking banks, or any of the usual places along the stream where people tended to congregate. The only people they ran into on the way were Hyp, Nod, and Mutt seated under a Willow near a bend. None of them looked sick, but they did look deep in worried thought. They barely raised their heads as the gang passed before going back to their fretful expressions.
The rock circle was totally empty-- another oddity given how popular a resting place it was. To their pleasure, there was indeed a very large hollow log only a few meters off the bank.
As Littlefoot, Cera, and Spike waded into the stream to get it, Chomper sat next to Ducky. He noticed a certain sullenness in her posture that seemed decidedly unDuckylike.
"Are you okay, Ducky?" he asked, scooting closer to her.

Littlefoot gritted his teeth as he felt freezing water wash over his feet, watching as Petrie hovered nearby. The log was almost perpendicular to the stream, cutting a ripple into the stream as it obstructed its flow. It was easty to tell that one end of their log was buried in the stream bed. Littlefoot turned to Cera, Spike, and the fluttering Petrie and asked: "Alright... how are we going to get this thing on shore?"

Ducky123 · **Reply #107 on:** June 22, 2013, 10:21:28 AM

"Well, I'm worried about my mommy!" Ducky answered. "I mean... what if the illness which our parents have will do harm to them?" Being close to start crying she continued, "What if they do not make it???"

The Anonymous Person · **Reply #108 on:** June 22, 2013, 10:37:16 AM

"Uhhh...me not so sure!" said Petrie sadly.

Kor · **Reply #109 on:** June 22, 2013, 11:40:03 AM

As Cera walked along with the others she noticed the lack of adults at the various places they usually could be found.

"They can't deny something is up." Cera said looking at one of the sights that usually had grown ups at.

She looked at Ducky, feeling the same sadness but now showing it. "We'll do what we need to do to save all of them. Haven't we always done that. Like the time we saved Littlefoot's Grandfather." She said to try to cheer Ducky up.

StrutEggStealer · **Reply #110 on:** June 22, 2013, 11:41:51 AM

Ruby wiped her brow. Tugging banana leaves was harder work than previously thought - especially since the banana trees growing in the Valley possessed inaccessible heights of twelve feet or more.
Ruby had plucked five of the big leaves. She rounded them up and hurried to meet the Gang.
She jerked to a stop when she noticed three familiar looking faces - Hyp, Mutt, and Nod. By their downcast expressions and the way they ignored her presence, Ruby felt it appropriate to assume these three 'hardened bullies' were just as worried about this unknown illness as she and the rest of the Gang were.
This didn't do much to comfort her. She hurried on.

Dosu2Dinner · **Reply #111 on:** June 23, 2013, 11:39:03 AM

Spike tried to offer comfort to his friends, but as a mute, there was limited things that could be done - besides, he himself was worried...

LoyfeCycleProtector · **Reply #112 on:** June 24, 2013, 09:33:37 PM

Littlefoot nibbled his lower lip as he stared at the log for some kind of inspiration. Even with Ducky there, the current troubled him. It wasn't that he was afraid of getting swept away: it was that the stream drop-off was no more than a few feet from the log, and a push from the stream at the wrong time could cause one of them to fall into deep water.
There were times when a clever or novel solution was best. This was definitely one of those situations, but for the life of him he couldn't think of a single answer. He had no choice: they were going to have to put their feet to the fire and tackle this directly.
He took a single deep breath, and then plunged his head under the waters surface. With what little visibility the murky water afforded, Littlefoot saw the log was indeed partially buried in the silt. 'Nothing too bad,' he thought to himself, and emerged.
"Okay. Spike? You've got the strongest forearms out of the three of us, so if you could dig from the front of the log, Cera and Petrie can use a vine to pull the log forward. I'll push from behind," Littlefoot said. "If we can just get it out of the stream bed, we can just float it over to the bank. If we break it, it'll be no use to us as a signaling horn."
Ah, the thrill of leading. He felt potent--alive-- whenever he led, and that was a sensation that dimmed fear and lessened doubt... two things he had in spades right now. An image of his grandpa being unable to get to his feet dug at him, and he forced himself to give a confident, phony smile to the gang.
"Ducky, if it looks like one of us is gonna slip, don't be afraid to shout."

Chomper vaguely heard Littlefoot's instructions, but was primarily focused on Ducky. "Oh... Umm... Well, I-it could be worse, couldn't it?" Chomper said, regretting it the very instant it left his big fat mouth. Thinking fast, he followed up with: "I-I mean, at least she's not in pain or anything. She's just too tired to move. So it could still be worse, right?"
In a vividly Cera-esque moment, he could almost here a slow sarcastic clap in his head. 'Oh wow. That was real comforting. I think I can almost here the grass screaming for hands so they can slap themselves in the forehead,' a voice in his mind intoned.
He blushed hard, turning away from Ducky with a wince. He really hoped Ruby would be back soon...

StrutEggStealer · **Reply #113 on:** June 24, 2013, 11:06:05 PM

Like a bolt of sky-fire, Ruby appeared, dragging the leaves. "I am back and I have the leaves with me!" She announced, slightly out of breath. She tilted her head, the feathers on the back of her head rising with interest. "Is there anything I can do to be of help?" She asked, watching the Gang.

Ducky123 · **Reply #114 on:** June 25, 2013, 11:16:25 AM

Despite Ducky appreciated Chompers fairly bad attempts to comfort her they didn't make her happier. She started to think about whether her Mommy felt pain or not. On the one hand she mainly slept through the day. The little Swimmer never felt pain in her sleep yet, even not in her scary sleepstories where she get regularly attacked by Sharpteeth and other evil creatures whose only aim was to eat Ducky.
Littlefoot interrupted her thoughts. "I will shout, Littlefoot!" she replied, indifferently. Though her friends were very important her family was more important, family was the most important thing in Ducky's life. Loosing her Mommy was even worse to her than loosing her home, her brother Spike, her Swimmer siblings or her friends. Ducky would rather be eaten by a vicious Sharptooth or thrown into a fire pit than loosing her Mommy. Without her Mommy her life would be senceless!
She continued her thoughts ... She just sat there looking at the ground, daydreaming and not noticing much of the things happening around her...

StrutEggStealer · **Reply #115 on:** June 29, 2013, 09:43:08 AM

Ruby waited on-claw, in case the Gang needed her. she trotted the length of the stream as she watched, her heart rate beat a little faster out of anticipation. And it was then she noticed Ducky, sitting rather despondently on the other side. A familiar instinct kicked up in Ruby, and she momentarily forgot about the task at hand and hurried over to her friend.
"Ducky, what is it?" She asked, concerned.

Kor · **Reply #116 on:** June 29, 2013, 01:24:41 PM

"We can do it. We've moved logs larger then this in the past." Cera said, with her usual arrogance. "Maybe we could use a vine if the log is in the mud to deep or the water is to deep at that end." Cera said.

She went over to help Littlefoot move the log, looking it over to get an idea of the best possible angle to push or bash it from.

Ducky123 · **Reply #117 on:** June 29, 2013, 02:42:30 PM

Ducky was so deep in thoughts that she didn't notice Ruby at first. Not until Ruby poked her.
"Oh, hi Ruby!" she mumbled. "I am afraid that something bad happens to my Mommy! I mean... what if she will not wake up again? I do not want to loose her, nope, nope, nope!" A tear streamed down her cheek. At least her friends cared for her...

StrutEggStealer · **Reply #118 on:** June 29, 2013, 03:43:04 PM

Ruby's first reaction was a swift embrace. After that, she wasn't sure what to do next. True, she could see Ducky was terribly worried, but wouldn't it be lying to say everything would be alright?
Then again, Ducky was small, and young. Maybe she would benefit from a reassurance such as that. Ruby bit the edge of her beak and then slowly released the little Swimmer. "Ducky..." she started slowly, softly. "Your Momma will... get well soon. We will help her get better even sooner!" She smiled widely.

Ducky123 · **Reply #119 on:** June 29, 2013, 04:02:43 PM

"Oh, I hope, I hope!" Ducky sobbed. She stretched her arms hugging Ruby's leg. "But what if we will not be fast enough??? I am sooo scared, I am, I am!" The little Swimmer shed more tears.