Cave-In
Stubb, Trace, Angus, Garth, Kiara, Moruwil, Malcolm, Amos, Hactor, Darkmane
Location: Sandstone Quarry (Tunnel)
Stubb's breaths come in ragged gasps as he tags along at Angus' flank, and his legs pump against the rocky incline of the tunnel floor. The glow from the phosphorescent lake charts their course in its eerie pallor. The weasel's fur is matted with the damp from the humid air, but each stride brings him nearer to the mercy of the open air above. "Fink oi can feel i', ma'e," he says in the interval between pants. "Tha cool noigh' air--" As his sentence concludes, a deep tremor shakes loose fragments of rock from the ceiling above. "Oy! Watch i'!" Stubb shields his face against the debris. "Yore kickin' dust in moi face, ma'e!"
Trace isn't too far from Angus and Stubb, trailing down the hallway after the squirrel, though not at the sprint she had carried herself with earlier. It's getting darker now, except for the faint glow of the lake illuminating the rocky path. And she honestly doesn't hear the squirrel or even know if they're still following him at this point. The rat pauses in her steps after a few moments, rubbing at her forehead to get some of the dust away as the quarry roof sprinkles her with debris at the tremor. "Fast little bugger, isn't he?" she mutters aloud.
The behemoth bounds, soaked and seething. His head twists back to regard the puttering weasel, but this gesture does not slow his determined stride. "All apologies, mate," Angus says in a winded half-growl. "But," his speech is broken by gasps for air, ".. we gotta haul it--fer m'boy. Ain't goin' t'let a bit of dirt in yer teeth stop us, aye?" There is almost a smile at that point, but the lizard quickly looks ahead, scaly brow furrowed, as another vibration crawls up his legs. He attributes the tremor to his own vehemence and continues to barrel at full speed.
Stubb spits, "Ay. Oi'll keep me mouf closed, den." He grits his teeth. "For tha boy." He casts a look back at the others, mere silhouettes against the muted glow from the lake.
Garth grumbles, why did he even come here, he has decided to come here and looks a bit unintrested, "We leave"He eeps as he falls onto his behind and hisses and coughs dirt,he looks around ajusting to the darkness.."Hey..where ya go?"
Kiara frowns, tunnels dark and scary noises,she slips into a tunnel and starts to go down it, hearing Garth she moves faster.
Trace continues on her path, ears perked as she listens for signs of the squirrel or .. really, of anything. Except for the boys behind her and the random tumble of the occasional pebble, there's not a whole lot of sound in here. The rat still keeps a paw on her whip, coiled at her side.. just in case.
Moruwil is up ahead, finally caught up to the back of the shrew-group. He whispers loudly to the front of the line and it carries with ease in the rocky passage, "Where is she?! Mally!" He sends one of the shrews in the back up ahead with orders to have her wait inside a cul de sac which back-tracks from the main path...
Angus eases into a trot as he becomes gradually disoriented. Tongue lapping, the dragon scans the subterranean horizon for any sign of Moruwil or, more importantly, his child. For now, there is evidence of neither, and his lizard head sinks in despair. But as he wallows, the echo drifts; a muddy psalm, a blink of hope. Angus stops, gazing for the source of the phantom voice. "Did ye' hear it?" he rasps, frantic, searching for insight in the faces of Stubb and Trace.
Garth starts to follow the dibbun hare, he hisssses low as he wasnt planing on staying this long,he tries to make out where she went and not so good on keeping his temper down"Come on girl, you get back here now!" the yell causes some dust to fall and he starts having a coughing fit.
Mal lumbers clumsily through parts unknown of the caverns, hampered by his feminine sartorial bonds, an expression of sullen resignation apparent on his saurian features. Some tatters of the dusty and cave-worn dress drag behind him like a bizarre train on the damp rock floor of the tunnel, disregarded by the "tomboyish" monitor lizard.
The tremor that shook the tunnel a moment ago was mere prelude to the thundering crescendo that now courses through the earth. Stubb, in mid-step, finds the ground suddenly half an inch from where he left it. He trips and lands with a crack. "What in the 'ell is goin' on?" He rises shakily, steadying himself with one arm against the wall while a cascade of pebbles flows down the path against them. "Dem shrews causin' an earfquake now?"
Kiara whipers and sppeeds up, she finds a slight area where it goes down some,she gasps and tumbles some,she slams her paw into the wall and starts crying now, tears roll down her face and she starts to wail.."I want my daddy!!!"
Stubb chuckles and calls into the darkness. "We'll foin' your daddy soon enuff, Amos!" He snorts at his own joke.
There's definitely /someone/ up ahead. There's no missing that whisper as it echoes against the walls and Trace squints in the dim lighting. With the weird sounds and vibrations of the place, it's almost hard to tell if the sound came from in front or behind them. She's still moving forward, though the next tremor that rattles the place sends the rat stumbling toward the wall with a, "Whoa!" of surprise. An arm jerks up, raising above her head as if to avoid the spray of tiny rocks, and then the only sound that can be heard is the high-pitched wailing of Kiara. "Flip me.." Trace curses, flattening her ears back against her head with a scowl.
The monitor lizard child squeaks as he feels the earth shake violently all around him. Unbalanced, Mal trips over his dress and falls flat on his face. Soon the previously silent cavern was filled with the clattering raucous noise of stone smashing stone as the whole place seems to come down around him. Panicked, he scrabbles on all fours trying to escape the avalanche, but too late. The child collapses under a pile of heavy debris.
Angus lurches and flits his tongue, waiting to be privy to his companions' intuition. Slithering to the luminous pond, the dragon sloshes at its shore, elbow and knee-deep in the viscous water. His eyes had fallen to its surface, watching the ripples of his intrusion disperse in the distance, but, as the next tremor thunders, the lake is alight with radiant undulation. All Angus can do is drive his claws into the shifting sand below; he grips the quavering earth, and fires a frantic glance to the others. ".. not good," he squeaks.
Garth growls now as the termor knocks him down, he lost the dibbun and he isnt happy right now,his eyes narrow as he goes to follow the wailing.
Moruwil jogs up past the line of shrews and into the cul de sac. No sign of Mally! He waits... and waits... "There's no /time/ for this, c'm--" Just then a shrew reports, "She's on 'er way back 'ere, sire... but, shouldn't we all be...? Puttin' distance between them and us, er?" "No... I have a plan." The squirrel glares at the shrew, "Yessir."
The shrew leaps in fright, "Sire, the cav'rn!" The answer comes from somewhere unknown, as the torch the shrew is holding is put out by debris, "Get her in here /now/!"
Angus doesn't do any of that. He runs up the tunnel with the others. "Oh shi--" he squeaks, as he grabs the shuddering cave wall beside him.
Mal finds himself in a tight space only a couple of feet across. The other rocks around him having barely prevented the larger stones above from crushing him. Bruised and battered, he cranes his neck up to see a dim bit of light coming from a hole above him. Mal painfully crawls his way to the hole, crying softly and piteously from pain and distress as he does. The hole turned out only to be big enough for him to stick his head out. Trapped, he could move no further, only look out forlornly with his head stuck out from the middle of a rubble pile.
Kiara crys more as the cave in happens and tries to get away from the noise and all the dust,she whimpers about her paw and keeps moving, she frowns and coughs, she whimpers at the voices not knowing which way to go.
Garth hissses as his tail gets hit with alot of rocks, he coughs and ducks as a large pile of stones block his way, he cussses under his breath and can see threw a small opening,he goes to try and move some rocks, causeing some to fall and replace them, an opening slowly forms but its slow going.
"Daddy, I ain't no one's daddy, " Amos appears from the back of the group, sleeping hare on his back he eys the others clearly dumbfounded, cursing all the dust and wondering what they've got themselves into now.
Shrews are furiously trying to dig out Mal! One of them yells at the others, "C'mon, Mory'ill said she 'as to go wif him - get her outta dis mess!" Suddenly, a fresh tremor rocks the whole place and most of the shrews bolt save for two. "Okay... we gotta tell his princeship she's stuck. 'E won't like it, but we can't do nuffin' ourselves ma'... c'mon!" He looks at Mally, "Stay here, luv!" They run down the path.
Mal continues to sob quietly, his usual throaty roar dampened by the extreme pain and fear. Helplessly, he can only watch the shrews as they attempt to free him, his muscles restrained by inexorable stone.
Angus is dumbfounded by the quaking tunnel. The vibrations of the tremor have shattered his nerves, so he is halted, shaking with resonant uncertainty. "We gotta' get outta' here," he mutters, blinking at the settling dust. "Stubb? Ratty love? Kitteh?" The lizard cranes to catch sight of the others.
A rain of dust sweeps in a particulate cloud down the tunnel, emanating from where the baby monitor's form is lodged. Beyond Mal, the distant rumble of rocks knocking into place continues apace: the path to the surface is well and truly sealed. Stubb hacks up a wad of phlegm and spits it against the wall. He looks back to Trace. "You aw roigh'?" His voice is thick from soot.
Stubb's voice is drowned out by the lizard's. He looks up toward Angus and nods. "Ay."
Garth tries to move rocks and fails badly,he cusses loudly and sends down more dust and some smaller rocks,he hissses.."I hate dibbuns!!"
Moruwil gets word from the shrews and shakes his head... if they could see him, they might think him ill. He sits down on a rock and gets up, sits down, and paces some. Sits down. "Listen, maybe we can... if they see her up ahead... maybe we can still escape, back down the tunnel. Don't make a sound... shhh.."
Kiara whimpers and tumbles a little, she bumps into Amos and blinks, she starts to cry again and her right paw hurts from crashing into the wall.
Now the place is just filled with sounds of debris falling and everyone trying to talk at the same time. Not that Trace has much time to listen, trying to keep herself steady and /not/ hit on the head by falling rocks. And her tactic of holding onto the wall stops working as debris begins to topple in her general direction. Instead, the rat finds herself stumbling ahead, choking on the dust and trying to keep herself steady. "Still here, chaps!" she chokes out as she continues on her way toward the hazy forms of the others, now less interested in Moruwil and finding the baby monitor, than just getting the heck out of here.
Startled, Amos grabs the hilt of his weapon and curses until he realizes who it is, "Ah, ya okay there uh, " He looks to the ceiling and the dust, "Aye, lets get out of here, sounds good to me!"
The howling of the other lizard meanders up the tunnel, and Angus' lips twist in a frown. "Sounds like m'cousin took th' brunt of it," he laments, as his hand lifts to the back of his neck in exasperation. He turns to the sound of the others, waving an arm to part the dusty cloud. "Aye, still here," he echoes with a grim laugh. "But .. aye, mates. Let's not dawdle." The dragon then reels, making his way to the presumed mouth of the tunnel.
Garth cussses again as more rocks crash down around him,he spits "You all can keep the Hare!! I hope ya all die!!" He backs out just as more rocks fall around him,he escapes with a cut footpaw and a broken tail, he hissses and leaves.He chuckles to himself "Just tell the archer she died..."
Hactor regaining his balance from the quake, leans heavily on the crutch, nervously watching the roof of the cave. "Stubb, " he says quietly, not even sure he's there in the darkness, "The sooner we get that squirrel and lizard pup, the better!"
Hactor regaining his balance from the quake, leans heavily on the crutch, nervously watching the roof of the cave. "Stubb, " he says quietly, not even sure he's there in the darkness, "The sooner we get that squirrel and lizard pup, the better!"
Kiara whimpers and speeds up some best she can and heads to the promise of a large opening after this tunnel, she coughs up dust and whimpers as she heads down the tunnel, right now not careing who is here,she just wants away from the tight closed in space of the tunnel.
Stubb nods through his coughs. "Fink i's slowin' down..." Indeed, the larger matter has mostly stopped coming, replaced instead with a trickle of rocky sand. He starts to follow behind Angus, then turns back. "Ay, true enuff, 'Actor. Though... Moigh' make sense for some uv us ta double back, catch 'em on de uvver soide, eh? Tha rocksloide prob'ly slowed em down too a bi'."
Angus glances over his shoulder, unaware that Hactor had joined in the fevered pursuit. Foxes are know for their craftiness, though, so the dragon does not dwell on his miraculous arrival amid the choas. He continues to scramble up the tunnel, which has been disfigured by the quake: gaps exist, boulders have tumbled. And, up ahead, where the glint of moonlight once existed, now it is simply dark. ".. shoulda' brought a damn torch," he grunts, fumbling with the terrain.
"You sure the thing didn't just crush them?" Trace remarks, finally making her way up to the group now that everything seems to have slowed down. Honestly, she's lost all sense of direction at this point with the dark and the dust and the fact that the terrain seems to have changed. Are they even following the same trail they were on before? "Anyone even know which way /is/ back anymore?" she asks, with a edge of frustration to her words.
"Up?" Angus grunts, slinking along. "Got here by runnin' down, so .. gotta' go the opposite, aye?" He crawls over a monstrous rock pile, approaching a completely devastated section of tunnel.
Moruwil whispers very quietly to the shrews, "She /is/ okay? And you're sure that none of them would be able to move the rubble on the near side of her?" "Nah, yore princelyness... not a dozen of um could do i'.. the rest of us was on her far side, afore the whole fing caved in... hopefully they's can get 'er out, and we's can meet 'em on the other side..."
Amos calls after the little hare as she moves past him, he coughs at dust, and moves to exit the cavern the way they came. He pushes against the rocks, trying to feel to see if he can make his way out. He grunts and goes back towards the others, catching up with the little hare.
Kiara whimpers as she gets nearer to the large opening,she stops as she is getting tried now and looks around trying to see in the tunnel, she sits agaist the wall and starts to cry, she is covered in dust, imjured paw, and has no clue where she is and if anyone is after her still.
"Down, love. Down is back." Stubb squints in the general direction of the downward slope, in the direction of Trace's voice. The light that once echoed from the glowing lake seems to have been snuffed out. "If it ain' caved in, too. Bloody 'ell..." He barks, "An shut tha girl up, Amos! Can' fink wif da' racket."
Amos closes in on the dibbun, "Alright, " He responds to the weasel, "Don't worry, it'll be alright little one, " He smiles, trying to be comforting.
Moruwil quiets the shrews, "They're passing by, I think. I can hear them..." It seems that even the squirrel's circulating blood is too loud for his liking, and his racing thoughts, to him, scream 'here we are'!. His knees shake, especially at the sound of the lizard. Dad.
Great. Now she's /really/ confused. Angus says up. Stubb says down. For all the flip Trace knows, she ought to just try sideways. The rat holds onto part of a crumbled wall with one hand as she just tries to remain within sound distance of the others. "So which one is it, chaps? Up or down?" she tries again, before just pausing in her steps and trying to catch sight of.. something. Her eyes are slowly growing used to the dark, but it's not like there's even a flicker of light in here to give them way. Trace squints, seeming to catch sight of .. something. "There!" she then shouts, wincing as her shouted voice brings another little tumble of rubble. "There's something that way." It's probably the rock pile blocking the exit. But it's a different color shadow than the rest of the shadows, at least.
Hactor sniffs the air once, twice then smiles slightly. "I can smeel em," he declared wickedly and quietly.
Angus winces as the rat bellows and more rubble plummets. He blocks a pebbly onslaught with his forearm, and turns to spy what her zealous shouting is about. The lizard wrinkles his nose, unable to discern much of anything in the distance. "Aye--somethin'. A bunch of bloody rocks," he snorts, kicking at a bit of rubble beside him. The rocks scatter loudly up the tunnel, stopping when they hit the blockage.
Kiara sniffs, as Amos talks to her her eyes go wide, she frowns and backs up some, well she gets quiet and coughs a couple times.
Stubb clenches his jaw at Trace. "Foine. If dere's somefin' da' way, you go da' way, love. Oi'm bloody loopin' aroun'. Anyone as wants ta come wif can do so. Don' fink you'll 'ave much luck ge'tin' out day way, anyways, an in tha meantoime, your son, you bloody SON, Angus, is gonna ge' away wif dem bloody shrews!" He irritably ducks past the rat on her ascent and charges back down the tunnel in the direction they came.
Mal's soft sobs come to an abrupt halt as a piece of flying debris brains him on the noggin. Shocked, the juvenile dragon howls in rage and pain, thrashing his body inside his narrow crawl-space futilely.
Hactor sighs and and begins to quickly hobble after Stubb, grumbling about shrews and squirrels, and people in general.
Trace is just starting to come up with a retort to Stubb about how he wouldn't know up or down if it hit him on the head, when a /different/ dibbun cry breaks through the air. And it's most definitely coming from the 'up' direction. Trace's lips purse together tightly as she states after the weasel on his way back down, "Fine. Go get yourselves lost, then! Last I heard, rocks didn't /cry/ like that. Angus??" Where'd that monitor go, anyway? And does it matter? Trace is making her way up at this point, climbing over rubble and trying not to trip and fall on her face in the process.
"Don't worry, we've been in scapes worse then this!" Amos half believing it himself, looks to the cieling somewhat uneasy, "Ya want us to go up or down Stubb, maybe take the kid with me and find a way out in the back?"
Angus grinds his molars as the weasel lashes out. "Fine, mate. Fine!" he hollers at Stubb. But he does not linger on the departure of his chum; the critter turns to continue his foray, determined that up is out. It is only a step or two before the shrill cries of the babe trumpet dow the gullet of the cavern, and the lizard absolutely loses it. "It's him!" Without hesitation, he vaults forth, traversing the last stretch of tunnel between him and Mal.
Kiara rubs her eyes and stays close to Amos, she doesnt make any sounds any more and her right front paw is swollen now.
Hactor nervously licks his lip, and apon hearing the cry his ears go back. "Stubb!" he hisses in the dark. You sure we goin the right way. I meen after all..." he trails off, trying to keep his footing and squinting his eye to see where the weasel whent.
"Den stay, if it' suits you, ol' man!" Stubb's huffy flight down the tunnel upsets the fragile balance that the rubble lining the tunnel has managed to finally achieve, and a minor rockslide begins anew, carrying the weasel precariously along with it. Amid the noise that he's stirred up, he cannot distinguish the whimpers of the lizard pup, nor even the content of Trace's retort. Amos, though, he hears: "Do wha' you wan' wif 'er. Jes' see as she don' go squallin' about every last fing!"
Mal is in full temper-tantrum mode now, beating his body against his restraints, and roaring as hard as his two season draconian lungs can muster, hot acorn-breath steaming forth from his toothy maw. Fortunately for his own survival, his efforts don't manage to budge the stones at all.
"Oi, that's him alright," Trace states, flicking an ear back at the din of sound, as Angus shoves ahead and she hurries to keep up. Already, the rock wall is starting to come in contact with the rat and the monitor, and she finds herself pausing to climb over some of the bigger stones, or to toss smaller ones out of the way. "Watch it to make sure this doesn't tumble down again!" she offers to the monitor as he barrels on ahead. Someone's got to pay attention, at least.
"Old man?" Hactor says stopping for a moment. He squints at the coarse ground and says to himself, "Old man? Old man?" He then looks up and after a moment growls, " Old man my arse!" He then begins to follow Stubb, almost in as much of a huff as the weasel himself.
Stubb and Hactor leave. Continued here.
Amos leads the little hare behind him, checking on the hare on his back who amazingly is still sleeping he decides to catch up to the others, and watching the weasel and Hactor headed in the other direction, "Angus, is who?" He moves towards the top of the tunnel, having lingured towards the back. Hearing the cries of another dibbun, "Ya child?"
"Oh praise toads!" In a fit of paternal glee, Angus skids into the rubble, head first and wailing as loudly as his progeny. He has yet to realize Mal's predicament, and the rat's dire advice is lost to his emotional typhoon. A shaking hand grips the floor of the tunnel, and the monitor drags himself nearer to the imprisoned youth. "Son .. m'sweet child, I'm here. I found ye'." The elder lizard is, for all intents and purposes, curled up around the little one's sobbing skull, soothing it with pets and protective nuzzles.
Mal squeaks in fear! Having never seen a creature as large as his father, the lizard doesn't know what to make of this creature who has suddenly engulfed him. The juvenile madly twists back and forth, trying to squirm his way out of Angus's grasp and back into his crawlspace.
"Oh dear." Not only is Angus going to bring another rockslide on top of them, but he's going to make the kid scream even louder with his sudden onslaught of fatherly affection. The rat climbs her way atop the pile, finally catching sight of the little head peeking through, and dropping to her knees to somehow try to soothe the poor thing. "Angus, you're scaring him half to death. Shh. It's okay, little one. Stop screaming. Please? I've got a headache enough.." She lifts her gaze to the area around them, the rock still horribly unsteady at this point. "You're gonna have to get him out before this whole thing comes down again, 'Gus.." she reminds the lizard with a bit sterner tone. Stern!!
Angus grapples with the squirming youth. "Son--son!" he pleads, in attempt to calm the wiley worm. "S'me! It's me .. yer papa. I came fer ye' .. I found yew." But the descent of Trace bursts his joyous bubble. The lizard looks to her with a defeated stare, then back to Mal and the impenetrable mountain of debris. He draws his bottom lip in, sniveling. "We gotta' free him, love," he whimpers, clenching the babe so it cannot slip back into the rock pile. "Help me .. help me dig him out, aye?" Angus sits up, and warily inspects the stony quandary.
Amos leads Kiara close to the others, charged with keeping her quiet and burneded by the hare on his back he watches and continues to reasure the dibbun, "They just went to find a way out, " Referring to the weasel and fox, grinning, "Our leader ain't let us down yet, " He turns to look at the lizard son, "Little one don't'cha worry either, ya dad and us gonna take care of ya!"
Mal hasn't given up yet. Angus is holding his head immobile but that doesn't stop him from screaming as loud as he can, pouring out his day's distress so that everyone -- EVERYONE can be aware of what a terrible time he's been having.
Moruwil and the two shrews silently creep out of their hiding place, hearing the rather raucous reunion reconciling the reptiles' removal from each other. They use it to their advantage, to move stealthily as possible between the two groups, careful to use rocks as their support and not the unsuspecting backs of their pursuants...
Kiara just stays by Amos and when he moves a bit aways she follows him. she does stay quiet now and blinks some as she tries to look around.
"Right, right.. we've got it.. we've got it.." Trace is almost saying this more to herself than to the monitor as she drops to the ground and starts trying to remove rocks from around the youngster. "Just-.. don't let him go. We'll get him out. Slow-like.." Because if they do this too fast and the thing comes crashing down on them again, they're all toast. "That a way. There we go.." An ominous rumble from the pile causes Trace a brief pause, before she states in a bit higher-pitched tone, "Okay, maybe not /that/ slow. Maybe a bit faster, right?"
".. if th' lousy leaf-lopers harmed one hair on yer head, I'll rip 'em t'shreds." Angus consoles Mal, all though his efforts have thus far gone unrewarded. "It'll be all right now, son. Gonna' get ye' outta' this--back t'the surface." His hand drifts gently over the young lizard's snout, calming its howls. "Shh, son .. s'all right now." While comforting the youngster, the monitor bobs an obedient nod to Trace. "Still, son. Stay still .. th' lass's tryin' t'help ye'." He freezes at the groaning rock pile, eyes glassy with dread. "Kitteh? Y'down there?" he calls, all though the shout is reserved. "Come put them damn paws t'use, aye? And bring up th' leveret--maybe she kin calm 'im."
"Come along little one, lets go make a new friend, " He smiles at the leveret, moving up to approach Trace and Angus and seeing the young lizard. He removes Dangeon gently from his back, lays her down to rest and grabs a rock oposite Trace. He gestures Kiara over to Mal.
Kiara blinks and looks at Mal, seeing Angus she whimpers a little at first and backs up, she wacthes him and grows intrested in the smaller lizard and looks at Mal now, she blinks and studys him, she then speaks "Hi..." she says quietly.
Mal's howls continue, basically unabated. The stamina of the young dragon, while not infinite, significantly exceeds that of ordinary woodlander dibbuns. He seems otherwise unaware of his surroundings.
AWESOME. It's just one big daycare here. But hopefully they'll get this thing done a lot faster with Amos helping out and the hare dibbun trying to quiet him down. Trace works quickly, tossing rocks aside and making a little pile at the edge of the bigger pile as they try to loose him. And, just when it seems like they might actually get him through, as the ratmaid lets out a, "Just a couple more.." the whole pile seems to shift with the weight of everyone atop it (and the loose room where the rocks have been tossed aside). "ACK."
Angus eases up on Mal, but does not release him. As Kiara timidly approaches, he pays her a meek smile, and then returns his gaze to the hysterical lizard child. But the moment is ruined when the rock pile shifts yet again, and the monitor clenches it--as if his paternal grip on the mound could stop it from squashing his son. "Oh lordy," he grunts, muscles tensed. "I say we jus' start tuggin' before too long. This thing's gonna' go .."
Kiara looks at Mal still and smiles at him a little, she looks at the pile of rocks and frowns but stays quiet.
Amos starts to work faster, keeping an eye on both hares as he moves rocks away from the lizard child, "Don't worry little ones, everything be alright!" Amos smiles, "Ain't that right ratty?" Trying to lighten the mood and keep the dibbuns from halloring more than they are already.
Mal's howls are cut off into a squeak as he feels the rocks move, but fortunately the movement had no deleterious effect on his narrow remaining space. The young lizard does not continue bawling after the rocks had settled, reduced to mere sniffles. His eyes roll around in his squamous head, taking in the scene nervously.
Kiara frowns,she looks at the rocks and at Mal again,she touches his head lightly, as a rock moves she frowns again and tries not to cry.
"Oh of course! Fantastic evening we're having!" Trace remarks, moving quite a bit faster now as she shoves rocks away from the child. "Angus, erm. Tug? Hard?" One of these times, the rocks are going to just shift and he's going to have a half a second to get the kid out before the rest of them go tumbling down.
Angus likewise does everything in his power to quell tears. He is almost drained by now, though; emotionally expended and exhausted from what seems like weeks of nonstop running. When Trace gives the order, the monitor complies. With a heavy heart, he works his hands as far into the gap as is permitted, clenches Mal tightly and begins to yank. The lizard wrenches with all his might, as a last ditch effort; one foot is planted against a large and seemingly sound boulder, but the other is wedged in a bit more precarious of a spot. He tugs and grunts and struggles to wring Mal to freedom.
Mal is dragged bodily out of the rubble, his scales protecting him from the scrape of rock against his body. His limbs scrabble convulsively, trying to gain a footing, and to help extricate himself, but he is soon free. Awkwardly he stands hunched over in the remains of his pink and blue dress, tears and snot smeared over his face, feeling tired and miserable.
Kiara blinks as she looks at Mal, she ;ppls at the larger lizard and the others and back to the small lizard again.
Amos crowds around Angus and the lizard child, having grabbed Dangeon and placed the sleeping doe on his back and then grabbing the hare dibbun's good paw, "See, told ya it'd be okay, " He smiles at the newly liberated lizard child especially, "Hello there son, am a friend of your da', nice ta meet'cha!"
Mal shrinks back from the stranger!
When the young lizard bursts free of its tomb, Angus falters and loses his grip. But, in light of his fumble, at least the elder monitor is the one that is sent crashing--not the fragile babe. The senior dragon grunts, thumps against a variety of particularly pointy rocks, and lands, heaving, in a cloud of dust. He pants, almost surprised, and stares at the gloriously unclad sight of his son. "Ye' all right, son?" he croaks, but quickly glances to the others. "Aye, lads. Phase one of the master plan's gone off without a hitch, but I doubt we should dwell on th' victory." A moment of clarity, but it quickly lapses into a toothy grin. He bounds to tackle Mal in a giant, loving embrace.
Mal doesn't answer, shyness around strangers and the confusion of the situation stilling his tongue. He looks around furtively for his shrew minders but there is no trace of them.
Oh, it's about time. Trace lets out a sharp breath of air as she just plops down to sit on the rock pile and wipes a bead of sweat from her forehead. "There.. and he said not to go /up/," she scoffs, before moving quickly down the rock pile in a half-tumble as it starts to shift underneath her again. "Where to now, chaps?" Or, maybe they shouldn't go anywhere for a minute. It's almost refreshing seeing the monitor so happy about finding his kid. She offers Amos a wink out of her peripehral. "Need to dry your eyes there, mate?"
"Is alright, really, this ya dad, " He gestures to Angus, "We're his friends, ya ain't got nothing to worry about, " He smiles, "Isn't that right?" He turns to the other dibbun, hoping she'll help calm him down. She smiles. Turning to the rat he gestures towards the direct that Stubb and Hactor went, "Meet up with Stubb of course, maybe they found a way out."
Angus eventually finds his feet. "Well, shall we, mates?" he coughs, toughening up. The lizard trots to Mal, intending to swoop the child up, whether it consents or not. "I kin probably grab both th' kiddos, if ye' get Dangles and this lass," he pauses to indicate Trace, who seems to know her way around a rock pile, "leads."
Mal's gaze and attention had slowly been drawn toward Angus like a moth to flame, now that he is adjusting to the situation. He drinks in the older lizard's appearance with a hunger in his eyes that even surprises himself, having never seen anyone like him before.
Trace offers a quick salute to Angus, before sliding back down the pile to the ground. "We've got this," she states, ready to be done with this place and out of here. Though the second they reach the surface, unless it's night at this point, they're all going to be squinting for an hour. The rat checks over the pile briefly, before nodding toward what looks like a little squeezey hole. It's something that /she/ ought to be able to get through, but Angus is going to be sorely out of luck. "We'll have to move a few more out of the way here.. and we ought to be able to get through. Unless the whole thing comes down.."
"Aye, sounds good, " Amos grins, "I got them both, " He smiles down at the hare dibbun, while Dangeon mutters something in her sleep about drink of course and Darkmane. He grunts, "Well, nothing to be done about it except to get to work I suppose!"
Angus awkwardly slings Mal over his shoulder, much to the youngster's dismay, and heads after Trace. "Aye," he mumbles, and starts to carefully swat at rocks with his foot. "Or .." He watches the insecure clog tremble. "Ye' think we could just start a lil' avalanche of our own? Ye know, make th' whole bloody pile fall through t'the cavern?" He sort of urges this with his foot motion, while gazing around the tunnel. "If we kin find a sorta' .. safety nook, it'd all tumble past us, right?"
Trace surveys the rockfall ahead of them, nodding at Amos' words and then glancing over to Angus with a quirked brow. "That's..." She pauses, before a grin slides across her lips. ".. Just crazy enough that it might work." She frowns, stepping forward to nudge at the pile with one of her boots and feeling the instability of it. "How fast can you two run?" she asks, nudging at it again and then glancing back over her shoulder. "If we can get to /that/ spot fast enough," she gestures with a paw to a little outcropping, cave-ish area in the tunnel, "This whole thing ought to just pass by.." Shouldn't it? It makes sense. And it's a lot better than moving them all by hand.
Amos grunts, but grins, "Eh, what the heck lets go for it."
Angus warily scrutinizes the pile, then his eyes roll to the planned refuge. ".. Aye, well." He secures his grip on Mal, and glances to Amos and Trace. "Ye' got the hares, right, kitteh?" Back to the mound, the monitor is focused on its unsteady foundation, sizing up the rocks. "I'm thinkin' if I go fer this one, an' ye' two go fer those, it'll dislodge it right quick." He steps back a pace; this will be one hell of a move, if they can pull it off.
Mal shifts in his dress awkwardly on his parent's back, his muscles rigid and tense out of fear of being picked up and of being dropped from the great heigh that is Angus. However, the feel of scale-upon-scale is oddly comforting to him.
"Aye, got 'em both, " Amos grabs the leveret and slings her over his shoulder, "Lets do it!"
"Let's do this thing!" Trace echoes, positioning herself toward the edge of the pile with a boot securely against the edge of it so she can get a stronger hold on the rock. "On three.. One.." The rock pile seems to shudder, just with the thought of it all.
Angus follows suit. He wedges his foot against a large rock at the pile's base and works to dislodge it. Combines with Trace's efforts, the blockage groans and quakes, betraying its desire to give way.
Mal yelps and wonders if the cavern will hold! He clings tight to Angus with his hands and feet despite himself.
Amos throws in his own efforts, the rocks groaning and quaking even more, "Just a little more!"
Trace pushes and tugs against the rocks, grunting with the effort and it's as her boot shoves the rock that the pile shudders with an audible groaning sound. And as a steady rumble starts to pull across the pile, the rat suddenly backs away several steps before shouting, "Go!" as the whole pile begins the laborous process of falling.. right toward them.
Among the initial rumbles of the taunted mound, a faint shout is heard, ostensibly from above. Angus cocks his head, perplexed, but hasn't much time to dwell, as Trace has all ready unhinged the thing. He sucks a sharp breath and takes flight, smacking Amos on the shoulder as he passes. "Run, kitteh--RUN!" he hollers, glancing to ensure the rat is also on the move. "C'mon, mates, duck an' cover!"
The Wildcat holding his charge firmly over his shoulder, with Dangeon waking sleepily up for a moment, "What'sit going on?" She mumbles before falling asleep, the dibbun makes her cries known even as Dangeon grabs him around his neck. He's runnning though, not having to be told twice. Dangeon falling quiet again, breathing hard he reaches safety with the others.
Trace is getting the heck out of dodge! The rat races for the little hidey-hole, not really stopping to check and see if the others are coming, but shouting a, "Get moving!" over her shoulder. The rock tumble doesn't seem to want to slow down at all, roaring behind the group with an ominous tumble of rock and debris. And seconds before the path of the beast rolls over her, Trace throws herself into the safe area with a gasp of, "AGH. We all here?!"
Angus shrieks as the rat plows headlong into his chest. He mistakes her for a rock at first; his shout is pure dismay. But when she speaks, the stumbling dragon breaks into a triumphant cackle. "Oi!" he bellows, pumping a fist as the avalanche thunders past the mouth of the niche. With a quick tilt, Angus performs a haphazard headcount, and, sneezing with the dusty upheaval, confidently gleams, "Aye, love. It worked .." He trails off, marveling at the mayhem as the slide begins to subside. The echo of smashing rocks can be heard far off in the cavern below, and the ground trembles to herald their triumph.
Mal squeaks as he is jostled about, he clutches at the tatters of his dress to cover his modesty.
Amos pants, checks to make sure he hasn't lost his charge. The dibbun squirms, crying until he sooths her, "We're safe, the lot of us!" He laughs, relived himself, "Dangeon, ya OK?" No answer, seems the older hare has fallen back to sleep. He shakes his head, "We're all safe though mate, how ya and the young'in Angus and ratty of course?"
Trace lets out a gasp of her own as the monitor shrieks, and she pulls back abruptly before breaking into a bit of nervous laughter. "Look at that.. we did it!" The rat then lets out a whoop, breaking into laughter for real as she peeks her head out to the rocks settling ouside the safety spot. From above, there's a hint of light now breaking through the darkness of the cavern. "We're all in one piece, then? Ha! Look at that.." The rat lets the rocks finish settling, before she crawls out of the safehold onto the new layout of rocks.
As the stony wreckage settles, there is a stint of silence--disbelief. The refugees managed to scramble from harm's way, and remain intact, all though likely coated with a thick layer of dust. Reality hastily asserts itself: a gruff vulpine voice bridges the cloud. ""Are you there? Is anyone there!?" it calls.
Angus whoops and ejects himself, horrified son in tow, from the hiding spot. "Woo!" he howls, whirling as he lowers Mal into a victorious embrace. "We did it, mates! How d'ye' like that, ye' bastard quarry? Get the best of us? I think not!" His shouts cause the tunnel to lurch and tremble once more, and the monitor swallows his pride. "Er .. S'us, mate!" he replies to the familiar voice. "Be with ye' in a jiff."
Dangeon and Kiara close by, Amos grunts, "Maybe ya better not tempt the quarry, lets get out of here pronto!"
Angus begins his careful exit, grappling with loose earth as he makes his way to the surface.
