Stop the fire [Q]

95/100 HP

_____Alice was growing tired of the damage to the forest people seemed to cause. Most times it was just chopping down trees, but as she watched the amber colored fire burn away at her home and animals running in fear of the danger the faerin could only feel displeasure towards others. People did not fully seem to care for the forest as Alice dipped the bucket into the water and ran to splash the fire at the base trying her best to stop the fire from spreading. Kitsy moved to spit some water at the fire to help slightly before the small girl ran back to get more water.

”I hope others come help us Kitsy, this ain’t looking that good for us or the forest…”

_____Alice dunked her bucket in the stream again and rushed to the edge of the fire to splash it, if she could stop its edges the rest of the fire would not be able to keep burning outward. Even if she was faster or could carry more water each trip she was not going to be able to do a full lot to stop the burning of the forest. She had to decide what part of the forest she was going to have to surrender to the fire until she could regrow it. Blinking and freezing for a few moments before she got a crazy idea and turned to the forest dropping her bucket.

_____Hands waving for her UI as she fished around her spell list for anything she could try to use to help her out in this event. After a few moments she found the perfect spell and began casting it, the ground shaking around the fire as the plants and some trees began to move away from the current burning area. It was extremely slow and Alice was eating her energy to get things moving, however it was clearly going to help in the long run by removing the things the fire could spread towards.

_____Alice looked around the area for anyone who got her message sent out for help, she was fighting the fire since it was smaller, and before it had spread to burn the odd plants that caused her current damage over time situation. Hands waving her UI again to recast her spell and move some more of the forest away from what she could not save sooner.
@Claire Thalassa | @Solaria

 

95 / 100 HP

When the request for aid fighting a forest fire appeared, Claire accepted without hesitation. There was no time to sit around and wait, especially since the fire was in Brisshal with its miles of forest and grassland ready to go up in flames. Thankfully, it wasn't difficult to see where the problem was. Just look for the enormous column of grey smoke in the sky, couldn't miss it.

Running over to the scene, brought out her spell list and got it ready. Smoke inhalation would be an awful way to go, though, so Claire brought her scarf over the lower half of her face and moistened it to hopefully prevent her from breathing in any of the larger particles.

Now, to get to work. Running right into the middle of the blaze was foolhardy and dangerous and a good way to suffocate, so Claire sure as hell wasn't going to do that. A river ran around most of the outer perimeter of the forest, so Claire situated herself a good distance away, in the areas that were unlikely to be put out immediately. She'd get the most done there, where she could conjure water out of the air and it didn't have to be transported.

As she began casting the spell to douse the raging fires, Claire kept an eye out for the two others who were also coming to fight the fire. She recognized @Alice when the quest was posted, which she... wasn't quite sure how she felt about, to be perfectly honest, but @Solaria was still mostly a stranger to her, despite the fact that they had fought together. Hopefully the two of them wouldn't do the foolish thing of mindlessly running into a burning forest, but...

Well. Claire had seen people do stupider things.

 

95 / 100 HP

Having been wandering in a village not too far from the flames that sent smoke high into the air, it was a bit startling even to Solaria when she saw the puffs of dark air. What surprised her more, however, was an SOS she received. Was it a world chat message? It was strange she'd received it, though she was more than glad to have gotten the offer to help out. In a frenzy, while worrying over whoever sent the message, Solaria sped to the spot of the fire.

The closer she got, the more the hot air hurt her lungs. "Damnit, this fire's already gotten out of control, hasn't it?" Paling slightly, she looked to the others that were there to fight the flames that singed their throats. Looking around, she couldn't really recognize either @Alice or @Claire Thalassa, but was certain they'd manage well if they worked together.

"Are you guys here because of the SOS too?" She coughed between small sections of her sentence, musing, "I came as fast as I could. I'm Solaria. Any plans on how to get rid of these flames before the forest comes down completely? Anyone know some hydromancy? If not, I think there's a river really close..."

 

• 90/100 HP

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_____As Alice saw the other two arrive her heart sunk in her chest. The last time she saw Claire or Solaria she cost both of them their lives in the wurm caverns. She never even got around to saying sorry to them for what she had done and now she ended up asking for their help protecting the place she called home. She could not even bring herself to look at them as she cast her spell again to move a few more plants away before she spoke up to them.

”Not the best conditions to be re-meeting… Guess bad luck sort of follows me… If you have Nature magic you might have the spell to move plants, or if you got anything with heat maybe try to burn the edges faster so they fade and it can’t spread… Or will the fire down…”

_____With each slight pause in her speech her voice grew fainter until she looked to just be mouthing anything else she had to say. Waving her hands some more to move plants but forgetting her direction and sending a bush into the fire to cause a large buff of smoke to hit her and cause her to start gasping for air and moving towards the water to drink some to sooth her throat. At the current rate they would suffer some level of damage before the fire was out and needed a solid team plan to avoid that.
@Claire Thalassa | @Solaria

 

90/100 HP

Stopping the fire was more important than airing out personal problems. Claire was still quite miffed about the whole tunnel situation but there wasn't a point to mentioning it now.

"You appear to be the only one with nature powers," she said to @Alice. "And it appears that none of us have any control over fire." Claire took a deep breath in, and partially regretted it when she immediately inhaled some acrid smoke. Trying to come up with a plan of action to deal with the fire was rather tough to do while hacking up her lungs. "@Solaria. You seem to know how to use your blade. While Alice is moving away parts of the forest, you should try to cut away burnable brush around the perimeter. That way the two of you can make sure there's nowhere for the fire to spread."

Claire glanced at her energy meter out of the corner of her eye. Decent. Not great, but that was to be expected. She could probably last a while longer at this rate, especially if the blaze was being controlled by the other two. "Meanwhile, I'll focus on putting out the fires that have already started."

She herself wasn't intending on getting any closer to the fire, but Solaria would probably be getting rather face-to-face with it. And the smoke kept on spreading... "If anyone gets burned or starts feeling the effects of smoke inhalation, then the both of you are more able to deal with it than I am. So just keep an eye out for each other."

Claire looked back at the other two to see if there were any objections.

 

90 / 100 HP

Solaria felt that @Claire Thalassa had a good idea of how to deal with the fire. It was very insightful, and it would be a good way to keep her skills from getting rusty. "Alright! I'll cut down anything that looks like it's gonna be in the way or cause things to worsen. But you two have to call me if you feel in danger, okay? I refuse to leave you to fend for yourselves."

Nodding as if she'd said something quite wise, the girl was showing her need to protect quite clearly as she swiftly drew her blade and ran before the two, going after plants that were a bit too close to the fire and them at the same time for comfort. "Sorry, you guys," She told the foliage she destroyed. "I promise, we'll return you to your lush selves soon enough."

As she seemingly destroyed the plants in a haphazard fashion, she quickly pocketed seeds and fruit she could pick up during her movements, swiftly going from slash to retrieval to slash.

"There's way too much ground to cover!" She groaned, glancing in the direction of @Alice. "How are things on your end, Alice?"

 

• 85/100 HP

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_____Alice was not able to spare much time to speak as she kept recasting her spell to move anything larger that could not be cut as quickly as other things. It pained her to see the area getting cut down by @Solaria but it was the best plan they had at the moment and needed to do it quickly or risk more forest. The trees took time to uproot and some took more energy to get willing to move for her as she struggled to keep things going on her end to make sure she was not dead weight again.

”Not well here either… The trees aren’t all wanting to move and go slow… add on the energy it eats up I doubt I’ll make much difference for us…”

_____Grumbling about her own failure as she poured more focus and energy into getting the forest to move over away from the dangerous fire to prevent any more spreading. While crossing her UI for her spell she noticed something new had appeared and took the risk of casting the spell. The forest seemed to shake before more trees moved at one time and Alice took a knee from the strain it caused, it was better and faster but there was only about two more cast of that spell before she would blackout.
@Claire Thalassa

 

85/100 HP

She could do this. She could. Claire took a deep, shaky breath as @Solaria and @Alice left her field of vision. Thy were within earshot. It wasn't like they were gone, they were right there, a fact that would be immediately obvious to Claire if she turned her head.

Claire ignored the trembling of her fingers as she continued tracing the runes of her water spell in the air. Taking another deep breath didn't help. After a while she tried convincing herself that the shaking was just due to exertion, but the game seemed determined to disprove her self-delusions: her energy meter was still only about a third depleted.

After another jet of water put out this latest patch of forest, Claire was halfway to the point of hyperventilating. She was alone, the others were gone, they weren't there, they left her and weren't ever coming back-

Okay. Okay. She'd just- go and check up on the others. It was a logical thing to do. She hadn't heard from the other two in a while, just going over to look what they were doing was only rational.

But it didn't look like all was well. Alice was kneeling on the ground, looking halfway to passing out. Damn it, she was a fool for ever suggesting they split up. Eyes widening, Claire called out to Solaria to catch her attention. "Solaria! Something's wrong with Alice!"

 

85 / 100 HP

The water putting out the flames was a great relief, especially as she found her sword getting tangled in a rather bizarre twist of fate. A plant she'd moved to cut had a strangely tight hold of her sword, which took more power to slash through than she expected. As she broke free, she heard her name being called, and glanced towards what she'd felt sounded like a panic-stricken ally.

"Huh...?"

The fire was mostly out, but it seemed Alice was starting to join it in fading. Paranoid, the elf rushed to the side of the small faerin, wrapping her arms around the body she felt going limp. "I got her!" She called to @Claire Thalassa, fear eminent in her eyes. She prayed softly as she cast a healing spell.

"I think she used too much energy, but to be honest, I can't say for sure what's wrong... Her health meter is around the same as ours, but she might've put too much effort in too short a time. Her body's like a log to me." She shook the smaller girl gently, hugging her as she did so. "C'mon, @Alice, wake up. Don't make your friends worry like this. You're not alone, so rely on us some and tell us what's wrong, okay?"

 

_____Alice did not want to admit she was having more trouble than the others. Her body however was not allowing her much motion as she struggled against the strain the new magic left on her to recast the spell and move the remaining large forest pieces from the fire before she started to fade and flutter her eyes. Slowly with the last bit of her focus she tried to point to the remaining fire before her arm fell down and she started to snore lightly.

_____She would stay knocked out for some time, maybe a good ten minutes before she woke up and felt her head sieging each side of her brain. Moving to hold her skull as she tried to stand up and looked towards the hopefully finished off fire with a weak smile. If it was still burning she would try to cast her spells again only to fail and fall on her butt panting. Overlooking her UI it seemed the spell she was casting was unlocked, but had conditions due to her lower magic mastery.
@Claire Thalassa | @Solaria

 

Huh. Looked like @Alice was asleep. Now that the overwhelming urge to reunite everyone was lessening, Claire could finally feel other emotions again aside from blind panic. Relief, that Alice didn't seem too injured, and that nothing had happened to @Solaria either. Then the slight annoyance, that it seemed to only be a mild case of exertion. That kind of melded together with her general annoyance regarding the tunnel incident.

But looking down at Alice's sleeping form, Claire sighed. She couldn't keep a grudge forever, though the unreasonably petty side of her mind was definitely raring to give it a try. And Alice was just a child, children do stupid things.

Claire looked back up to the fire. It was mostly contained by now, as Alice and Solaria had done a good job of clearing way any dry material that might have been unfortunate enough to turn into kindling. What was left to douse wouldn't take up too much time or energy. "I'll leave Alice to you," she told Solaria. "I'll handle the rest of the fire."

 

Smiling gently as @Claire Thalassa gave her input on how to take care of things, Solaria couldn't help but agree. There was no reason not to give her attention to @Alice. She held no malice to the girl, having felt her own death was justified in the tunnel- she'd saved the girl, and was more than happy seeing her alive and well. But that just made her need to protect this girl all the stronger.

"Yep, leave Alice to me. We're counting on you, Claire." Her smile included her eyes, which had a glint of strong desire in her eyes. Protecting Alice, at this moment, was her priority. As Alice seemed to stir and look at the fire, she hugged the small girl close to her. "Leave the fire to Claire, Alice. You've worked hard, so now it's time to rest. I'll be right here with you, okay? So let's not worry anymore. It's all over now."

 

_____Even after the fire was out Alice still had work to get done here. Moving towards what was left of the burnt area to try and clear it away or cast magic to heal what damage to the area she could currently. No doubt she would be spending the next few days resting here and working on the area until it was restored and hopefully set to burn less rapidly. Looking over to the others when she did not have the energy to keep working she smiled faintly, still a bit weak from her newer spell.

”Thank you for helping out… I should be able to handle the reforesting over the next couple of days… Least I can do since I was not much help and did not stop the fire before it got to hard to contain…”

_____Alice turned to the burnt forest, some smoke still rising as she felt her heart sinking, if she just acted fasted she could have saved the area, if she was better with her magic she could maybe have stopped the fire sooner. If she was just a bit braver she could have approached the fire and used herself to put it out maybe over letting it grow. Overall it was her fault the first suffered and she needed to do what she could to help make up for the damage caused. Sitting down and resting, she needed to get her energy back before doing a bit more and then getting off to take her medicine most likely.

 

As the last of the fire went out, Claire wiped the sweat from her face and grimaced. Not the most pleasant of exercises, and she was all covered in soot. All her clothes would need a good cleaning. But, it appeared that everything was finally dealt with. The forest would regrow in time, and it appeared that through a stroke of luck nobody was in the burned area so there were no injuries, either.

Well, that was that, then. Claire found her way back to the others, relaxing when she saw that nothing had happened to them. Alice looked awake again, which was relieving. "That's it," Claire announced. "No more fires, as far as I can tell. Hopefully that won't happen again."

So, there wasn't really any reason to stick around anymore. But Claire still found herself lingering, not wanting to be the first one to leave. It was a relief when Alice logged out. Or, well, not as much, since the nervous fidgeting returned when she registered that Alice logging out meant one less person in the area. Ah well, blessing and curses. Giving a quick nod to Solaria, Claire logged out as well.

 

Alice's internal conflict wasn't as easily seen as Solaria's, most likely. At the very least, Solaria was certain her worries were showing upon her features. Whether it was the water she felt in her eyes or the way one of her hands clenched to the point she could feel her nails digging into her palm slightly.

When Claire opted that things were over and she could leave, the Yladian merely waved goodbye, sticking close to Alice in concern for the girl's energy. She hugged her lightly, letting go of her gripped fist and focusing on the young faerin's vital signs.

"You've worked hard, Alice. It's okay to rest. I'll help with tending to the forest- I can't help things regrow, but I'm sure my sword can help even in gardening, sometimes."

A sound caught her attention offline, ringing lightly into her dive gear. "Though...I might not be able to stay right now to do it. It's getting close to one of my classes. But I want you to promise me you'll contact me if you need help, okay Alice? I'll find a way to help you even if I'm in a lesson!"

With a soft grin, Solaria stood tall and held a hand to Alice, but because of timing, merely made sure that if she wasn't already she'd be added to her friend's list. "See you later, Alice. Time to set out!" Hurrying, the green haired elf soon disappeared in a digitized puff of smoke, logging off and leaving the world she worried for to its own devices.

--Solaria Exit--