Water, water everywhere...

[alley_kit]

Who: Kit and anybody

Where: The Chocobo Barn and the Guest Apartments
When: Backdated to the 19th
What: Flood event! Kit will be trying to get the Chocobos to safety on higher ground, then trying to save the books in Building 2's 1st floor library by getting them to higher floors. Help will be needed in both places.
Warnings: Flood related dangers maybe?

Chocobo Barn

The chocobos were agitated, squawking at one another and pawing the ground in their stalls. The flood hadn't yet penetrated their barn, but it soon would, and they could smell the rising water outside and sense danger.

Kit hurried to get Salali harnessed. "Easy girl," she murmured, petting her chocobo's head to soothe her. "It'll be alright. I know you don't like going out in the rain, but we have to. It's not safe to stay here. We've gotta get you and the other to higher ground."

Though even as she cinched up Salali's harness, Kit wondered how she was going to do that. Salali was used to her, so Kit could handle her easily despite her nervous state. But the other chocobos wouldn't be so easy to handle, especially for someone as small as herself. She could probably handle them, but only one at a time. And getting them to accept her hand to get them harnessed and lead them out would take time. Too much time. No way she'd be able to get even half of them to safety on her own before the flood waters closed in...

***********************************************************************************

Guest Apartments

Kit leaned against the wall tiredly. That was the fifth box of books she'd brought up, and she'd barely cleared one shelf. The flood waters would soon reach the apartments, and when they did, not only would the people be in trouble, but the books in the library on the first floor would all be ruined. She recognized that the safety of people was more important, but still, all those books, all those stories and all that knowledge lost... she couldn't allow it! Not even if she had to haul everything to the upper floors herself.

So once she'd caught her breath she headed back down for another load. She had to get as many books upstairs as she could before the elevators stopped working. If they did, this was going to get a lot harder...

Comments

Guest Apartments

[pizzaninja]

Michelangelo entered the lobby of his apartment building, completely drenched and dripping water everywhere. Not that he minded or anything since he was a turtle - but holy moley it's been pouring lately. Since he had arrived here in the city, it had been raining more often than not. If it hadn't been for the news thing that had come on the network recently, he would have wondered if it was the norm.

The only thing that bugged him was that it tended to be a little chillier than he would have liked - but hey, it could be worse. He'll live.

The ninja looked back out through the main doors with a slight frown. It definitely didn't look good at all. Even the pizza place he worked at had been closed due to the flood warning. Movement behind him caused him to turn around - and he spotted Kit. He waved, before wringing the water out of his bandanna tails.

"Hey Kit! What's up?" He headed over. "Can you believe all this rain? If it wasn't the fact that the pizza place is closed I'd have to swim to work!"

Re: Guest Apartments

[alley_kit]

"Mikey!", Kit greeted, sounding relieved. Mikey was her friend so he'd be sure to help her, right? "I'm glad you're here. Yeah, this is a crazy amount of rain."

"There's bigger problems than trying to get to work, though," she said. "We already had to go to the Chocobo Barn to get the chocobos to higher ground, and it likely won't be too long before the water gets here, to the apartments. The people can move to higher floors if they have to, but if the bottom floor floods all the books in the library will be ruined."

"That's why I've been trying to move them up to higher floors," Kit said, indicating her box, empty at the moment. "But there's way too many for me to do it all by myself. Will you help? Please?"

[pizzaninja]

"Woah are the Chocobo's okay?" He hadn't had a chance to go down to the Barn and check them out yet, though he'd heard about them. "Yeah I hear that. It's pretty intense out there." He gestured outside, his jacket dripping water. Though it was more to keep out the chill than the water.

"The library books? Yeah I'll help!" He hoped some of the locals were helping too - he hadn't gone in there that much, but he knew there was a good collection of books in there! "I'll grab a box and take a load up, drop off my jacket at my place and come back for another load. I'll even grab my backpack!"

[alley_kit]

Kit nodded. "Yeah," she said. "We moved them to a storage building that'll be high enough to avoid being flooded; it's been fixed up so that they can stay there for the time being." It wasn't ideal- the place had obviously been hastily rearranged to accommodate the chocobos (and one horse)- but it was safe and would serve for the time being.

None of the locals were helping yet, as evidenced by Kit's relative lack of progress, but this was partly her fault, as she hadn't informed anyone of her plans before starting in on them. But anyone who came by would likely get roped into helping, at least for a little while.

"Thanks!", Kit said. "The more people help, the faster it'll go." She began loading a box up herself as well, taking books from the easily reached lower shelves. Another bonus of getting taller people to help; she wouldn't have to get the stepladder to get at the higher books.

Chocobo Barn

[smallspot]

Never before now has Diarmuid been more glad that his father taught him how to swim. He might not be that good at it, but it does give him some peace of mind and allows him to focus on getting his and his brother's stuff up to higher ground. Once that is done, the first thing he thinks to do is head to the stables and check things out. Blackie is there and he wants to make sure his brother's horse is safe too.

When he gets there, he is glad to see that Blackie apparently has already been moved. Maybe his brother took care of her while he finished up at the apartment? Whatever the case, that leaves him free to run over to Kit when he sees her with the chocobos.

"Can I help? What can I do?"

Re: Chocobo Barn

[alley_kit]

"Diarmuid!", Kit said, glad to see her friend. "Yeah, you can help me get some of the others harnessed. Salali's easy, cause she knows me, but the others are scared; I don't think could manage all of them in time. Once they're harnessed, it shouldn't be too hard to lead them out a few at a time, but til then..." Kit trailed off, leaving the obvious conclusion to that sentence hanging.

One last check, and she was satisfied that Salali's harness was secure. "OK, Salali's all set," Kit said. "Grab another harness from the rack over there, OK?" Kit pointed to a long row of pegs along one wall many of them hung with chocobo harnesses and reins. Saddles were fewer, sitting nearby on a rail. "Do you know how to put one on?"

[smallspot]

Diarmuid nods and runs over to where the harnesses are, "I think so! They don't look too different from the one we put on Blackie! I just hope I don't get tangled up in this one like I did Blackie's!"

Once he has one loose, he carefully approaches one of the chocobos and holds a hand out to it, "I won't hurt you. I promise! Let me help you get away from all this wet stuff, okay?"

The chocobo gives the boy a wary look, but after a few moments, bows his head to smell the boy's hand. A few sniffs seems to convince the bird that Diarmuid means him no harm and he comes closer with a friendly wark.

[alley_kit]

Kit led Salali over, watching as Diarmuid allowed the chocobo to smell him, letting it approach at its own pace. She smiled. Diarmuid clearly knew how to handle animals.

Kit tied Salali's harness to a pole, then stepped up to join Diarmuid, allowing the chocobo to sniff her briefly too. "I'll help you this time," Kit said, "just to be sure. Then you can do the others yourself> You don't need to worry about saddling them, though, unless you're planning to ride one out of here. We just need to be able to lead them."

Chocobo Barn

[beforetights]

Cu Chulainn came running as soon as he saw the rain everywhere. He wanted to check on Blackie and see that she was okay. When he sees that the area is flooding, he rushes into the barn and, without checking for the presence of anyone else, goes to the only horse among the birds.

"Blackie! There you are. Come on, I've got you. Let's go."

As he comforts his agitated horse, he notices out of the corner of his eye the large amount of chocobos and the little girl herding them all.

"Hey, do you need help?"

Re: Chocobo Barn

[alley_kit]

Kit looked up as the boy entered. She didn't know his name offhand, but she thought she recognized him as one of Diarmuid's friends. He went first to the only non-chocobo in the stable to comfort the animal, before noticing her.

"Yeah I do," Kit said. "We need to get these chocobos harnessed so we can lead them out to safety; they've got a storage building that's on higher ground where the animals'll be safe, but the problem is getting them there. I dunno if I'll be able to get them all harnessed in time."

Re: Chocobo Barn

[beforetights]

"I can help!"

He doesn't reach for the harnesses, but reaches to lift up a chocobo. He gets it off the ground, but gets knocked down when the chocobo struggled.

"...Stupid bird!"

He rubs his nose. "Where's harnesses?

Re: Chocobo Barn

[alley_kit]

Kit is surprised that he can pick up a chocobo, but rolls her eyes a little when the inevitable happens. "You're lucky he didn't kick you," she says. "You'd have more than a bumped nose t worry about if he had." Chocobos have strong legs, and though the claws on their feet aren't especially sharp, they were still enough to injure.

"The harnesses are over there, on the rack," Kit says, indicating a row of harnesses hanging on pegs along one wall. Saddles sit nearby on a rail, though it wasn't necessary for every chocobo to be saddled, since most of them would be led rather than ridden.

Chocobo Barn

[spacejackaroo]

Well, he asked for some kind of excitement and he got it. Granted, a flood you can't physically pound into submission, but it gave the Lasat something to do. Even if that something was mostly sidestep the floodwaters as they started to cover the town. Great.

As Zeb continued to navigate his way over terrain, mostly by climbing walls and whatever other obstacles he could. Eventually he found his way over by the Chocobo barn, something he'd dismiss had he not seen the myriad of birds and one small kid trying to wrangle them. Does this city have a professional anything here?

He knew e would regret it but...he had to check in on the small stranger. Before she got herself kid or worse. With a leap he made a small impact on the ground beside the bar, “What, don't you have anyone helping you with this?”

Re: Chocobo Barn

[alley_kit]

Kit looked up as the tall purple being entered. It took a moment, but she recognized him; she'd met him when he first arrived. "Razma would normally be here helping," Kit said. "The original two chocobos here are his, so I thought he'd be here already when I came down here. But I figure he got stuck somewhere cause of the flood or got roped into helping somewhere else, and if I wait for him, it might be too late."

"I can handle Salali easy," Kit said, giving her chocobo a little pat as she checked harness and saddle one last time to make sure they were secure. "She's mine, so she knows me. But the others will take longer to get harnessed, as nervous as they are, and we can't lead them out without harnessing them. I can handle most of them, but I don't know if I can do it fast enough on my own."

"Would you be willing to help?", she asked. "It'll go a lot faster with a grown up helping, especially a big, strong grown up like you." A little compliment never hurts, after all, when you're asking somebody for help.

[spacejackaroo]

“A lot of good he's doing right now,” scoffed the Lasat. Figures some would be abandoning the job already. He rolled his shoulders, getting the kinks out.

He made way to the two chocobos, knowing full well this would be a hell of a job already. His jaw wound up as he replied to the girl, “Don't make a bid deal about it, I don't think it's right for them to dump a job on a little kid like you.”

Even compared to Ezra she was little. “You go take care of your Salali, I got these two.” He approached slow, hunched over and arms spread out as he hoped to snatch one by the torso.

[alley_kit]

"Thanks, but nobody dumped it on me," Kit said. "I came here cause I wanted to. I can't do a lot of the big stuff, but I try and help where I can. Especially in times like this." And it was actually a nice change to have something she could do, as opposed to having to just watch events that were largely out of her control.

Kit was about to point out the harnesses to him and ask him if he knew how to put one on, when she turned and saw what he was doing. Was he really going to try to...? "Um... I don't think you should do that," Kit cautioned. "You're liable to get kicked if you just try to grab them, and chocobos can kick pretty hard."

Guest Apartments

[ribbonbon]

She hadn't had to go outside since the candy shop was closed and her employers were helping out with the flood preparations in other parts of the city, but Pilouette knew how bad it was getting out there and had been scuttling about the apartment buildings, doing what she could to help. She made her way down to the lobby to check things out and was relieved to see that the water hadn't yet reached the apartments.

However, upon seeing Kit making her way to the library with that box, she began to trot over with a puzzled expression on her face.

"Kit! Hey, what are you up to down here...? Like, we're not sure how long it'll take for that water to reach this district, so wouldn't it be safer to get to a higher floor?"

Re: Guest Apartments

[alley_kit]

Kit looked up at Pillouette, smiling just slightly at her friend's concern. "It would be yeah," Kit said. "And I'll do that when I have to. But I want to try and save the books in the library if I can. If the bottom floor floods, they'll all be ruined. Mikey's already helping, but there's still lots of books to go. Would you give us a hand too?"

Even together they might not be able to get all the books out of reach of the flood waters. But Kit was still going to try.

[ribbonbon]

Pilouette's eyes widened just a little, surprised. Of all the things that had gone through her mind through the flood preparations, rescuing the books from the library hadn't been one of them. At least some of those books were probably really important, too...

"Whoa! I hadn't even thought of that! Like, good thinking!" she replied. Pilouette nodded sharply and smiled as she began to walk alongside Kit. "I'll do my best to help out! Um, how many books have you guys gotten out so far?"

Guest Apartments!

[symbolofstrength]

Sam had been minding his own business when he came across Kit by chance, and curiosity and concern quickly came over his face. He approached the girl, leaning down slightly both to get a better look (was she injured?) and to make it easier for them to talk.

"Kit? What's wrong, what happened?"

Re: Guest Apartments!

[alley_kit]

Kit glanced up at the Professor's concerned voice. "Huh? Oh! No, I'm fine," she assured him. "Just tired is all. I was helping get the chocobos to safety earlier, and now I'm trying to get the books in the library to higher floors so they won't be ruined when the first floor floods. It's hard work." Which would be even harder if the elevator quit working, as it eventually might once the building started to flood.

"Would you help?", she asked. "A couple of my friends are already helping but the more people the faster it'll go, really."

[symbolofstrength]

Sam nods at her request, visibly relieved, but now there's something else to worry about. Are the adults around here so irresponsible that this task is left to a child?

"Of course -- you don't mind if my Pokemon help too?" He holds out two miniaturized Pokeballs from his pocket. ...Two?

Guest Apartments

[dadcepticon]

Krok is not so noble as to think of the well-being of other residents first. Spinister can fly; he's safe enough from the floodwaters, should they rise any higher. They're not much trouble even for Krok just yet, but one of his favourite places in the entire city is in grave danger.

So he sloshes his way to the first floor of building two, already working on a plan to talk Spinister into airlifting books away… and finds a soggy Kit scrambling to similar ends.

"Kit!" He forgets propriety and reaches to pluck her up in both hands and out of the water.

Re: Guest Apartments

[alley_kit]

Kit hated to admit it, but the battle she and her friends had been fighting against time and the rising water to save the books in the library was quickly becoming a losing one. They'd cleared off the bottom two shelves of the place, and part of the third, but it was clear that they weren't going to make it in time. Especially when the elevators had stopped running, which slowed them down significantly.

Still, even knee deep in muddy water, Kit was determined to save what she could. So focused was she that she didn't really notice Krok splashing up behind her, which made getting suddenly plucked out of the water and thus off her feet... rather startling to say the least. She yelped in surprise, almost dropping the book she'd been holding. Almost, but not quite, and she sighed in relief once her grip on it was secure.

It was about then that she realized who had grabbed her. "Krok!", she said, managing a bit of a smile despite being cold, wet, and tired. "Did you come to help too?"

[dadcepticon]

He honestly hadn't realised Kit was already here with others working, and chagrin colours Krok's tone as he wades to a tabletop and gently sets Kit down there. It's out of the water for now, but may not stay that way much longer.

"Yes," he lies. "I'm sure I can carry more at a go than most of you, so let's get to it, shall I?" He pauses; he's grown so used to giving orders on the W.A.P., but this isn't his ship and Kit isn't his crew. And if she started this operation, well.

He smiles at her and delivers a dress inspection-crisp salute.

"Where do you want me first?"