bravenewworld | A Close Call?

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A Close Call?

It comes suddenly and without warning. The ground beneath the land shakes with great force and fury, the great towers of Union shifting dangerously due to the magnitude. Somehow, miraculously, nobody is injured, but great structural damage is sustained on many of the connecting bridges that keep the city together.

On the streets, people are fearful. What if another quake comes? What if they aren't as lucky that time? Teams of Engineers are all over the city, checking on the damage and making what repairs they can. Electricity has been knocked out in many areas and crews are still struggling to recover it, although the Signal Tower remains with power and broadcasts over radio and television are sent to reassure the populace.

Thankfully, no aftershocks come. Messages are already coming in from other ally cities, Caldera and Citadel are mostly fine, Refuge, while fine, has devolved into panicked prayer to appease whoever they offended to send such a large quake. As surveyors go out to examine the damage, they will find that new underground routes have been opened all over. Unfortunately, those who went to investigate have not returned, sending a second wave of panic through many of the cities. The Union Council is working with the governments of the other cities to plan a proper response, and they hope to announce within the next few days as the city recovers. For now, however, the new paths are strictly off-limits to all citizens, and have been placed under heavy guard by the Swords of the Savior, the Steel Battalion, and some Valkyrie volunteers.

((Feel free to use this post as an IC mingle to react to the earthquakes!))

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[kitty's eyes get wide. She...has never been up this high before! Squeaking, she barrels back to huddle against the wall and Bagon.

Nocturne looks dubiously at Gold, but then at the hiccuping egg. Uh.

...the bat wiggles a wingtip at the eggbaby, who immediately Prii!s and the gets up to try and follow. Then she hiccups again and falls back down.

This could take a while.]

[ Oh thank goodness, fuzzy thing did not fall. Bagon clutches her new friend (as much as she can with arm nubs) and quivers. No falling. You can't fly. No falling.

If only she could fly. But after nearly falling by accident, she's scared of trying. ] B-bag.

[ Gold skedaddles to get that water dish so neither Nocturne nor baby have to suffer any longer than they have to! Where did he leave it....it's in the kitchen....wow, the kitchen's a mess -

A crash from down the hall. Someone tripped over a bunch of fruit on the floor. But he's got this! He'll save everyone. ] Joooooooollll.

[kitty meeps plaintively, even as she squishes herself into Bagon's side.

Eggbaby gets to the outer edge of the fluffy pile before she gives up and refuses to get up again, hiccuping morosely. Nocturne sees that look in her eyes and puts on some more speed, hoping to gather at least some of the pillows together before the inevitable torrent of tears.

An ear flicks in the direction of falling stuff, but Nocturne's got a job to do!

....kitty hears that and her tail gets even more puffy. The shaky thing is back!!!]

[ nOooOOOOooooooOOo not the shaky thing. Even Bagon is shaking! It must be bad! ] Gon.....

[ And then the door bangs open and in slides Gold, carrying a full and sloshing water dish marked with a lightning bolt (and a leaf, because what in this dormitory isn't). Found it!! You're gonna be okay now, baby!! ] Jolt!

[ Triumphantly he places the water in front of baby, managing to only spill a little on the nearest pillow, and watches with bated breath. Now you can drink and feel better! ] Jolteon.

[Bagon's fear kinda feeds into kitty's fear and...this is just a really bad downward spiral, isn't it? It takes a long moment, but kitty eventually looks up and squeaks. Nothing's happening...

Eggbaby is momentarily distracted from the weird way her body keeps falling over! She pats the water, giggles when it splashes, and then hiccups again.

Nocturne has all the smaller pillows in the place and is currently trying to move Gold's bed.]

[ Bagon herself continues to quiver; kitty's squeak makes her hug her new friend all the more tightly. Don't move! You'll fall!

She might take a bit more convincing.

Gold also seems perplexed. Baby doesn't understand what the water's for? Well, now that he thinks about it, he's never seen her drink from a water bowl. Maybe she needs to see how. He dips his muzzle into the water and grins a drippy grin at Minuet when he's done. It's fun! ] Jolteon!

[ Sorry, Nocturne. If he were aware of your mighty struggle he would ~~make things worse~~ attempt to help, but as it is, baby has his full attention. ]

[that squeeze makes kitty squeak again, and well. Maybe there is something to be afraid of...!

Eggbaby watches Gold, and then leans right over the edge, nubby little arms reaching for the water. An ill-timed hiccup, and she's about to fall into your water bowl. Oops.

Nocturne gives up when she loses her grip and flies head over tail through the air. Alright. Fine. A couple of flaps, and then she's perched on the top shelf again.]

Noi! Noibat! [young friends, the earth shakes no more! There is naught to fear!]

[ FALLING BABY!

Gold shoots out a paw to try and impede Minuet's downward progress, but may just end up getting water everywhere. Should baby end up bottoms-up in the drink, however, he'll waste no time in trying to drag her out. Otherwise he's just got her propped up and is thinking. What if he lowers her carefully by easing up on the paw that's holding her? ] Jolte ee eeon...

[ Bagon herself continues to shake, but she does lift her head at the new arrival. You flew. She whimpers, scared and envious. ] Bag.

[....whoaaaa, good catch, Gold. Eggbaby is balanced precariously on your paw. Eggbaby blinks and then giggles, arms wiggling and feet kicking excitedly.]

Toge toge - to! - priii! [do that again!

Nocturne spreads a wing dramatically, while keeping the other one against her body.] Noi.

[she bows, delivering a fanged grin for the babies. She would be very pleased if her new friends would enter her (incredibly fluffy and not at all scary) lair.

Kitty stops pressing so tightly against Bagon and stares at the bat, a little mystified by all the words.]

[ Gold's getting better at some things. This one time, he extracted a Chikorita from a door, it was awesome. He was so proud of himself that he forgot to check where he was going and ran into a lightpost on the way home.

What was he doing now, though? Oh. Right. Gold bounces baby on his paw, then lowers her sloooowly towards the water. Drink it? ] Ee?

[ Bagon also finds herself full of questions, bewildered by the bat. It also looks fuzzy. Maybe...she should go get the other fuzzy thing. That flew.

She sits up straighter and extends a nub. Hesitantly. ] Gon.

[ Will the shivery feeling in her knees let her stand? ]

[eggbaby doesn't seem to quite get what's she's supposed to be doing, so she's just giggling (and hiccuping occasionally) and splashing at the water. At least some of it gets in her mouth...?

Nocturne takes that nub with her claws and leans in to ~~boop it with her nose~~ kiss it.

And that's a half-hooded, knowing look.] Noi? [won't you follow her?

Kitty has almost forgotten to be scared and instead, just stares. Hey, she should get cuddles (?) too!]

Jolt... [ Well, baby's happy. That's important, supposes Gold. But will she stop hiccuping? And what's he going to do once his leg gets tired? It's starting to ache....baby is held even closer to the water....and wobbles...

Bagon is also staring, finding her knees and slowly standing up. She pats kitty with the other nub. You too. She doesn't want to lose any of her ~~security blankets~~ fuzzy things.

Where are they going? ] Bag bag.

[Togepi manages to hiccup just as she starts wobbling and....falls into the drink.]

Prii! [whoa, that was sudden!!! And...she's sitting up and splashing happily. Bath time is super easy for this baby, apparently.

Nocturne slowly pulls Bagon (and therefore, kitty) closer and smiles, fangs peeking out a bit.] Noi, noibat.

[why, where else would she take you but to safety? Just imagine, a pile of soft things, all the comforts one could ask for!

....she's gotta do this one at a time, though. She's honestly not that much bigger than you guys.]

[ ...It's probably good this particular egg likes water so much, given her Trainer. Gold is running out of hiccup-stopping ideas, though. How to make baby drink? How to help???? Maybe baby doesn't...drink from a dish....surprises stop hiccups too, right...?

He dips his paw in the water and splashes her right back. Splash fight! Stop hiccuping!! ] Jolt!

[ Bagon is inching towards the edge with this reassurance, but remains inclined to drag kitty with her. If she goes with you, though - will she fly? ] Gon?

[well, baby did live in the hot springs before all this.

And baby just kicks her feet happily and tries to splash Gold back. She might be more successful at getting the immediate area wet, however.

At the very least, the less she's paying attention to the hiccups, the faster they seem to go away.]

Noiii. [that's a svelte smile. Would she make promises she can't keep?

Kitty crawls forward on her belly and takes a peek over the edge. That's...still really far away!]

[ What water droplets manage to hit Gold's nose make him sneeze. He fluffs up, too, but manages to keep from discharging electricity - which, given how wet they're making this corner of the room, is probably a relief. ] Ee!

[ This is kind of fun, though, so he swirls his paw around in the water before flicking it at baby. An unintentional race has begun: can baby's hiccups stop before they run out of water?

Bagon gets skittish again when she sees kitty so close to the edge, but. Nothing is shaking. Kitty isn't falling. And this other fuzzy thing seems nice.

So she hops to the edge herself and pulls both her new friends close to herself. They're going to do it! They're going to fly! ] Bag!

[ .....It's a good thing Nocturne stacked all those pillows. ]

[Gold's sneezing apparently makes a pretty funny face, because eggbaby is going through the motions of splashing in hopes of making it happen again.] Toge toge!

[meanwhile, Nocturne decides she's not cut out for this Pokemon rescue business. She's going to try and wiggle her claws out of Bagon's grasp and grab onto the other Pokemon's shoulders with the claws on her feet instead. Maybe with some frantic flapping, she can turn this into a controlled fall....??

Kitty has no idea what 'flying' is, but if Bagon is excited about it, she's gonna be excited too!]

Edited 2015-04-23 17:59 (UTC)

[ More? Well, he can splash more...if you want....but.... ] Jolt!

[ That sneeze got a spark. From his back, so all that happened was that baby's playmate fluffed - and lit - up for a second. Maybe it's good that they're going to run out of water to play with soon.

Mutual excitement is enough impetus for Bagon to take a deep breath, scrunch up her face, puff out her chest, and remind herself that she, too, shall fly beautifully someday. With this in mind - and pointedly not looking at the ground - she jumps. While still holding onto kitty. ] Baaaaaaaaaaaaaag!

[whoaaaa. Togepi's eyes get wiiide. That's so cool!!] Pri! Toge toge! [congratulations, Gold. You have thoroughly impressed eggbaby.

Also she doesn't seem to be hiccuping anymore!

...meanwhile, Bagon and kitty are getting off to an excellent start. Sort of. Kitty was surprised so she's clutching onto Bagon, claws digging in.

Either way, thanks to the frantic flapping above them, they're practically hanging in midair during apex of their jump. After that though, they're definitely falling.

It's faster than Nocturne would've liked, so she's just going to be thankful for all the pillows down there.]

[ Oh, she likes that. Gold takes a step back, removing his paw from what little water remains, and fluffs himself up again. By concentrating extremely hard, he manages to send a spark flying from one of his ears to another.

Even he grins when he manages this. And then - ] Jol!

[ Funny. He hadn't meant to say that. It just popped out...

Bagon hasn't noticed any of the escapades beneath her, however. She's flying! She's flying! She's actually flyiiiiiiing -

In a downward direction -

But that doesn't stop her from feeling exulted. Today, she flew!!!! ] Gooon!

[ Thwump. ]

Prii!! [eggbaby giggles excitedly, arms wiggling and feet kicking. She is totally going to start following Gold (for more entertainment) around later.

Kitty hits the pillow and...immediately gets squished by Bagon. Those are definitely squeaks of protests there.

Nocturne kinda flops sideways onto a pillow, bounces a bit, and then lies there, breathing hard. She is never ever doing this again.]

Jol! [ Gold paws at his muzzle in dismay. Hiccups are contagious. Who knew???

Bagon, however, is speechless - mostly with elation. She flew. She flew! She....

...is kind of uncomfortable, maybe she better roll over. Rolling off kitty, she lands tummy-first on a different pillow, catching her breath. Then she's trying to climb to her feet, failing, and looking around for her friend. When she sees kitty, she kicks her arms and legs in excitement. ]

Gon! [ She flew! Want to do that again? ]

[eggbaby apparently has no idea how infectious she was, and will respond with an excited Toge! whenever Gold hiccups.

Kitty doesn't respond for a moment, busy unflattening herself from a pillow and shaking herself. She mews at Bagon, excited because her friend is excited. It kinda felt like falling, but really?? Did it happen? (whatever flying is)]

[ Bagon rocks back and forth on her tummy until her feet find purchase on the ground, then manages to pick herself up (though she wobbles backwards). What was she doing? Oh, going to fly one more time.

She toddles over to kitty and offers a nub. Let's go back up. She will fly you to safety again. ] Gon gon!

[ ...Gold is only just noticing all the children are on the ground now. This merits a relieved sigh, and then a panicked hiccup when he notices Bagon pointing towards the desk hutch again. ] Jolt! Jolteon eeeee eon! Ee jolte - Jol!

[ He hadn't meant to say that last bit. It shoots out of him so fast he jumps. ]

Toge! [you're going to have a something of an echo for a bit, Gold.

Kitty reaches up with a paw, bopping the proffered nub. She squeaks and then twists over to get back up on her paws. She's totally ready for another adventure!

At Gold's cry, Nocturne darts over to the hutch with surprising speed and spreads her wings and hisses. She is soooo not doing that again.]

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