Taking the Initiative [Dark]

[Bee]

"Indeed we shall, Minh my dearest."

So they resumed their trek, and for a time it passed as uneventfully as anything passed for them recently--there was a low level of terror, a moderate level of mildly lost, and an intense determination to be done with the bloody Range forever and into new territory.

An hour or so into their walk, Mnem heard a new sound, apart from chirping birdies (gods and goddesses, they were so bloody cheerful that Mnem wanted to fly up and strangle them all and boil them) and crunching brush. Running water. Mnem was in no hurry to get back to any kind of wet-making substance after the incident at the lake, but it would be nice to refresh their store of fresh water.

Then she saw the boat. A nice little canoe, beached in the dirt and tied to a tree. It looked sturdy. Good thing, too, because the water looked rough. Getting closer, she could see rocks and whitewater. Not for the faint of heart then. But the river went in the same direction they were traveling, and looked to be a very fast mode of travel. Could it lead them into the Marsh?

She eyed it warily for a moment. A little name was etched into the side. Loganberry Marionberry Halleberry Finch. What kind of fool name was that?

No matter. Mnem had a sneaking suspicion that this boat would not be tied to its owner much longer.

[Kiki]

Bee and Dark receive 1 token each, to be redeemed in Ashwin's Shoppe. This will automatically be added to your recorded totals in the shoppe. Congratulations, and keep up the good RP!

[Dark]

Minh cast a wary eye over the hull of the canoe Mnem seemed so keen on liberating. While she wasn't exactly traumatized from their too-recent brush with certain death, Minh wasn't looking to repeat the experience any time soon, and that meant avoiding several things, being mainly: 1) crazy village people, and people in general; 2) large bodies of water; and 3) giant, scary Marlin-fishes of death. And while there weren't really any of those things around--a river was too narrow and shallow to be the home of mutant fish, or so Minh hoped--she didn't particularly care for the connotations. But that was just her being picky.

"Are you sure that canoe is sea worthy--river worthy--or whatever--you know what I mean?" Belial chirped something that had to be derogatory, and swooped down off her shoulder to take perch on the bow. Apparently, he didn't have the same reservations about this voyage as she did. Of course, considering he'd slept through their last misadventure, that really wasn't surprising.

[Bee]

"I think if we can navigate this little bastard down the river, it can get us out of here faster than going on foot, and I don't know about you, but I've had enough of this godforsaken mountain range to last me several lifetimes."

This was true. If Mnem ever came into a position of considerable power, her first order was going to be to have the whole place burnt to the ground and then salted and poisoned so nothing would ever grow back. Whether she would order some kind of evacuation first was still up in the air. She stepped over to the canoe, where the Tove had apparently already found a home. Monty sniffed at the thing curiously for a moment, growled, hopped in, and subsequently urinated on the bottom as if to claim it as its own.

"I think the pets have decided," she said dryly. "Aye, Captain Monty."

[Dark]

Minh snorted in disgust but didn't argue. Apparently, they were taking the boat, even if it meant capsizing and subsequently drowning. There was no way two inexperienced boaters would be able to manage white water, especially considering the volatile nature of the small stretch Minh could see. The only thing that they were speeding towards were their deaths. She avoided commenting, though. Barely.

With no small amount of trepidation, she pushed the canoe farther into the stream and crawled in, keeping one paw hanging over the side and bracing the canoe against a rock. Wouldn't want to go floating off to their deaths before they were properly ready.

She stared down at the paddle blankly, "You do realize you're the only one who can steer this blasted thing, right? Me and the mangy animals are pretty much useless." Minh ignored Monty's indignant look.

They were going to die.

[Bee]

Mnem looked at the oars tiredly. Yes, she was going to have to do the work. With a broken wrist. This would not do at all. "I suppose we can just walk the boat past the danger zone and then hop in as soon as we get to calm water." Though how long it would take to get to such water, she didn't know, and being in charge of the canoe's propulsion was still not an appealing idea. Damn it, why did everything decent presented to them have to go so miserably sour so quickly?

She had the sudden violent urge to smash the damn boat to pieces and throw the broken boards into the river. "Okay, Minh, out. New plan. We--" She had just begun working on the tether when Monty decided it was a toy and tried to yank it out of her hands. She fell forward into the boat, pushing them gently out, the rope ripping like cheap fabric and floating harmlessly on the water.

"Well," she said, bleakly. "Looks like we go by river."

[Dark]

Minh eagerly snatched up the first bit of sense she'd gotten from the group, moving to comply even as Monty lunged. She watched the rope snap, stumbling as the boat lurched into the current and she sprawled in the bottom on the boat. She wrinkled her nose at the strong smell of urine, and struggled to regain her feet.

Sabotaged.

Minh made a lunge for Monty, "I'm going to kill you, you fucking rat." Monty skittered out of the way, and all Minh accomplished was flattening herself in the bottom of the boat again. The vessel tipped alarmingly and she decided it was probably best for everyone if she stayed where she was.

Pressed up again the floorboards, Minh could hear ever fluctuation in the rush of the water and the scrap of the rocks against the boat as the current dragged them across.

"We're going to die."

[Bee]

"Yes, probably," Mnem said plainly. She could not imagine a lot of scenarios here that did not end in them dying violently and sinking to the bottom of a watery grave. In a gesture of pure futility, she grabbed the oars and made to paddle with them. Her wrist seized up in angry protest and Mnem quietly, politely told the joint to go fuck itself sideways and then jump off a cliff.

They hit the rough water quickly. Their canoe was batted around like a toy in a demented child's bathtub--by some blind stroke of pure luck, they were managing to avoid the most terrible rocks, brushing against only a couple that scraped the sides but dealt no real damage. Monty was clinging to her leg for dear life, and in a moment of vindictive malice, she considered kicking the little fucker into the river to drown.

It seemed like hours of unending terror before they were finally out of the worst of it, past the rocks and into relatively calm waters.

Mnem sighed, and relaxed.

Then the boat capsized.

[Dark]

Minh came up sputtering.

It was inconceivable that, against all odds, they would survive the rapids only to be, in the next instant, so cruelly tipped over in completely calm waters. It was unacceptable, and if she hadn't been busy treading water and trying not to drown, she might have had choice words with Lady Fate. Instead she settled for succinct.

"What the fuck."

It didn't help that the boat was sinking. Making a split decision she dove under, pushed up under the keel, trying to force both herself and the boat towards the surface. They had to get the boat righted, but they couldn't flip it with so much water trapped. It would only do to sink it faster.

The craft had been built light so that it would skim the water and should have been easy enough to put to rights, but fatigue and panic weren't making the task any easier. Lungs beginning to burn in earnest, she kicked with the last of her strength. Where the fuck is Mnem?

[Bee]

Mnem, for her part, had gotten smacked in the head with an oar while the boat was flipping over and then had to immediately struggle with a very aggressive submerged rock that had attempted to scrape her knee off. In addition to causing a not insignificant amount of pain, it had put her in a mildly unpleasant mood.

She made a quick break to the surface for much-needed oxygen before driving back under to assist Minh with the righting of the boat. It was remarkably difficult to lift, and the entire time she was helping to push it up, she was wishing they could just let the damn thing sink to the bottom of the river and forever remain a haunted house for fish.

But at last they broke the surface of the water, and returned their vessel to its proper upright position. With their boat in place, she was finally able to spare a thought to their pets--Monty and the Tove had both swam to shore and were perched on rocks, looking at them curiously.

Fuck them, Mnem seethed mentally.