Rainy Days

[Nayt]

Nayto: "Whot do you mean, you don't have any vacancies?"

"I'm sorry, sir. We're full up. We've had a lot of travelers coming in this way."

"You know this is the only inn for, loike, miles, roight?"

"Yes. I'm sorry, sir."

"Foine, foine . . ."

Daniel left the two story in, smack in the middle of nowhere, right on a lengthy stretch of road. It was at a crossroads, probably intentionally placed. One road lead into two roads. As they'd heard about it in the last town, the three travelers figured it was about the area that they might split up. It was kind of a weak justification, though.

Nervously, Daniel scratched the back of his head as he returned to his friends outside. The idea was that they were going to get a room here, rest up for the evening, and go their separate ways. That just wasn't going to work out as planned, it seemed. Everett was probably going to be fuming about that. Well, maybe. Manny hadn't caused any trouble or anything, and he wasn't expensive to keep around at all! They'd traveled through two towns with him so far, total. The first town where they met him, then the next, but as they were all on one road, there really was no option to go separate ways unless Manny just opted to go the opposite way as Everett and Daniel, so they kept on going.

"No vacancies, guys," Daniel admitted with a hint of nervousness as he reached Everett and Manny. He hadn't a clue how Everett was going to respond to this . . .

Manda: Everett was in a better mood today than she had been before. Still, a good mood for Everett was still a pretty bitter mood by normal standards. She leaned against the Inn’s wall, under and awning, looking up towards the ever darkening sky.

“It’ll be dark sooner than usual” she muttered.

Manny, who was knelt on the ground next to her, haphazardly bit as his fingernails and scratched at his ears: a new habit he’d picked up lately. He tilted his head up to her curiously.

“Why’s that?” he asked softly.

“Might be a passing storm a few miles from here.”

“Oh…I don’t like the rain all that much.” he admitted. “But I’ve mostly had to sleep in it. It’ll be nice to be safe from it for a change!”

Daniel met the two with the bad news, instantly causing Manny to droop a bit, and Everett to just sigh with her hand on her head.

“I knew we should have left sooner. There’s not even a basement or anything we can crash for the night?”

Nayto: "No . . ." Daniel sighed, "The guy said they're full up, and that's all there was to it."

Even he was a little disappointed. He could see the storm in the distance, and while a storm wouldn't be too too terrible, it'd be a horrible inconvenience at the very least. Daniel glanced around. Half a mile down the road was the crossroad, but neither of those two roads split off into something outside of the near endless plain they'd found themselves on. This was kind of horrible, actually. They didn't even have any trees they could possibly hide under.

Daniel glanced back towards the town they'd come from. They could always go back and stay there for another day, but they had already walked a good six hours to get here. While the three of them might have had an almost unnatural stamina for walking exceptionally long distances, they still needed to stop and rest every so often, and that was going to be difficult in the rain probably.

"Bloody hell," Daniel muttered as he realized the gravity of the situation, "Well, whot should we do now? We could always walk back to that town, uh, whotever it was called . . ."

Daniel was terrible with names. He and Everett seemingly moved from town to village to town and so on, rarely ever hitting cities. Daniel remembered the names of cities pretty well, but if a place didn't have either a number of attractions for him or assist Everett on her quest, whatever that may be, then he was hard pressed to remember the names of veritable pit stops.

Manda: “No.” Everett quickly interjected. “We aren’t backtracking. Not that far anyway. We can’t loose that much time. I’d say the safest bet is to cling to the outside of this building until the storm passes.” She looked up to the sky with a squint, not liking the color the clouds were turning on them.

“But what if there’s something out there that would be better to protect us?” Manny interjected. “Like a patch of forest or something! Or a house we can ask the owners to let us stay in! Or even an abandoned shack!”

“Traveling without protection towards an unreliable goal would be stupid.” She spat. “If the lightning starts to strike we’d be dead out there. And there’d be no one around for miles to find us.”

“But what if there is!” He pleaded

“Impossible, I’m not going to discuss it with you. We’ll vote. All in favor or staying close to the building raise their hands!”

Obviously her hand shot up while Manny’s stayed scratching his ears. Daniel would have to be the deciding factor in this battle.

Nayto: Daniel glanced behind him again. Staying here really didn't seem like a good idea. What if the innkeeper had a problem with it? He really wasn't keen on Daniel even hanging around inside, in the lobby. It was also going to slow them down tremendously. They hadn't a clue where the next town was, and they were still on backroads. Just a single road leading from small town to small town, breaking off into two more backroads. That's all it was. How exactly they'd gotten on this route, Daniel wasn't sure. It started off with a talking dog. How it ended, he couldn't remember really. All that mattered was that they had clearly failed to stay on a main path.

Hell, they didn't even know what country they were in anymore! No one did. All these places were like city states, except they all seemed to lack a militia.

Daniel didn't raise his hand, in the end.

"oI'm gonna have to agree with Manny here," he reasoned, "There moight be a house or a village or whotever up north. Or where ever these paths lead."

Speaking up, they were probably going to have to make a choice soon. Daniel started to walk forward, figuring Manny and Everett would follow behind.

"The faster we go, the better off we'll be, oI figure."

Manda: Everett sighed, in no mood to fight. “Fine” she said, adjusting her sword and trailing behind Daniel. “I’m sure the boy’s still trying to kill us, why not let the elements get to us first.”

Manny hopped up from the ground excitedly and pranced next to Daniel’s side. It made him feel good that someone listened and respected his opinion. He felt like a real person with real ideas that mattered! And just wait, Everett would see! They’d find a play to stay and she’d have to like him then! Manny could feel it. Something important was just down this road.

Nayto: "Ehhhh, Manny's cool," Daniel waved off the suggestion yet again.

He had taken to a habit of repeating himself with things like that, particularly because he didn't know what else to say. It was kind of an all around thing, really. Just saying "Manny's cool" was a good way of saying that Daniel trusted the kid. Daniel didn't think Manny could hurt a fly, really. It was probably a good thing he was traveling around with them. Everett could kind of take care of herself, and Daniel could definitely take care of the both of them if need be!

On instinct, as Daniel walked, he openly considered the path to take. "Hey, let's take the right path."

Daniel pointed towards the right most of the two roads that their current road split into. This was bound to take them east. Not knowing where he in the first place, though, Daniel couldn't claim to have the faintest idea where it was going to take him. All he knew was that if one were to go east far enough, one would hit water, and that'd just be dandy.

However, if there were any objections, he'd be glad to hear them.

Manda: “You’re sure?” Everett asked, a little weary of the whole situation. She had no idea where she was either, but it was nice that Daniel could pretend to take some initiative sometimes. With a shrug of her shoulders and a sigh she’d let out and exasperated “Fine” and walk wherever Daniel lead her. They were bound to end up somewhere at sometime. She was a minority among fools in her group so she tried to keep her wits about her while they traveled.

Manny on the other hand boldly followed Daniel’s leadership. He had yet to lead him astray and the boy was building up a bit of an idolization for him. Like the smart, rich, older brother he never had. At this point Manny would feel a little crushed if Everett forced him away, but he always kept the notion in mind. Some sort of instinct in the back of his head told him to never get too close. But Manny rarely listened to those dark things.

Nayto: Daniel nodded a bit when Everett asked if he was sure. Of course he was sure! These two paths had to go somewhere. Taking one was, without a doubt, bound to lead them somewhere, sometime! Daniel could only hope that luck was on his side with this choice . . . but unfortunately, lady luck was kind of a bitch to him. Maybe her feelings for Daniel had changed, though? One could only hope.

And unfortunately, after about forty minutes of walking, they were still amidst the nigh ending rolling plains . . . and the sky above them was getting a lot darker.

They'd feel a bit of a sprinkle at first. Not a good sign. Not a good sign at all.

"The sky's not too bad!" Daniel decided to take the initiative and calm the oncoming shit storm before it started, "oI think it'll prolly just sprinkle for a few, and--"

Daniel had a habit of opening his mouth and declaring something as fact at the exact wrong times. This was characterized immediately, as Daniel's sentences was cut off by what'd feel like the downpour of the century. It was immediate and it was hard. For some reason or the other, the heavens had taken a serious dislike for them.

Daniel sulked his shoulders and sighed. "Oh, balls."

Manda: They were surrounded by the never-ending crashes of rain that stretched for miles as the clouds completely swallowed up the sky. Instantly the trio was drenched, clothes clinging to them in darker shades with twice the weight. Everett held her arms to her chest and hunched to keep the water from her eyes. She glared at Daniel with an unhappy expression.

“Well now what.” She sneered, noting their options looked grim. Walk with the storm, or sit and wait and be drenched and loose time? Manny looked up to the sky, the rain was parting his hair and pressing it to his cheeks. For the first time the two others would be able to see Manny’s full face and eyes. His freckles were everywhere, it seemed, and the dotted especially heavily around his wide, vibrant green eyes. He seemed transfixed by the downpour, and also a little frightened.

Nayto: "I, uh . . ." Daniel trailed off.

He didn't know, really. Stay put or keep going? Either way they were going to get soaked to the bone. Or, well, at least two of them were. Manny had some new clothes, and Daniel had his hooded sweatshirt back. He could have popped his hood up and over his head, and been a little better off than his friends, but that was a little selfish.

"Let's keep going," he declared louder, his voice muffled a bit by the downpour. But first . . .

Daniel reached back to grab the back of his sweatshirt and pull it off. He wasn't going to use it for the rain, but one of his friends could. It was better that way. Who to give it to, though, hadn't inspired a single thought. Without a doubt he was going to give it to Everett. He and Manny were men! They didn't need anything to keep the rain away! Under his sweatshirt, Daniel was less clothed than Manny. He had only a white muscle shirt on beneath, and not really an excessive amount of muscle to boast it. He was average for his age; he hadn't an ounce of fat on him, but wasn't scrawny either. Daniel said nothing at all, only handed the sweatshirt to Everett, expecting her to take it, before he motioned down the road.

Instinct commanded him to run for it when it was raining, and provided his friends were behind him, he'd do just that . . .

[Nayt]

Manda: Everett accepted the already soaking sweater with a less than enthusiastic expression. She draped the wet cloth over her head and held the sleeved close to her hunched body. Luckily their meager supplies wouldn’t be too damaged from being dragged through the rain, but they would most likely have to stock up on food in the next town. The meager bits of bread they carried were going to be ruined in no time. They were probably ruined now.

Manny threw up his hood and held it over his face. He decided just now that he really didn’t like the rain. Being in the middle of it was not fun at all. The water fell so fast and hard that it felt like he was being pelted by a million tiny stones that broke upon impact with his body. He whimpered a little, but tried to keep his pace with Daniel. In the end it was Daniel in front, Manny in the middle, and Everett close behind, never letting either of the boys out of her sight.

Nayto: Usually when it rained this hard so quickly, it was a flash rain. Essentially, it would rain hard for up to two minutes before suddenly coming to an abrupt halt. That, unfortunately, was not this kind of rain.

Content that his friends were behind him, Daniel ran about as quick as he could. In the rain and mud, he couldn't use any form of special ability to move any faster, leaving him no better than Manny and Everett. To use his particular ability to quadruple his speed and manueverability, he needed to be on a flat or at least somewhat smooth surface. The ground was fine, but not when it was wet and muddy.

As they ran, it would become increasingly evident that they were getting close to something. Trees. Now, they weren't as good as buildings were, but the road they were on seemed to cut through a small conglomerate of flora; it wasn't a full forest, but past this, it looked like there were more trees dotting the plains. Daniel pointed towards the trees and shouted something, but as he was a little further ahead than his friends and the rain was muffling his words, it was impossible to hear what he said.

They'd just have to bare with the three minute run to get that far, and maybe have at least a little bit of relief from the falling water . . .

Manda: “I told you!” Manny yelled out, voice drowned by the rain.

Everett couldn’t here him gloat, but he was just beaming when he saw the trees ahead. The mud seeped between his uncovered toes and shot up all around his legs, covering him in the cool filth. Running didn’t bother him now that he could see his goal, but he noticed he was trailing a little more behind Daniel than before, Everett’s hand met his back and she began to push him forward, urging him to stop being distracted with his happiness and speed up. He did so, running as fast as his short, muddy legs would take him until he, Everett, and Daniel all found shelter under a tree.

“I knew there would be one!” he’d grin once under cover. “I just knew it! And you were all worried.”

He pulled down hid hood and let his wet hair fall to the sides of his face, slightly covering it again. Green eyes met their friends with supreme joy, and a goofy smile accompanied it.

Nayto: Once under the tree, Daniel took a deep breath and let out a strong exhale. Running like they did, after walking for so long, hadn't done too well for him. Daniel ran his fingers through his hair shortly thereafter and considered himself lucky to be under here, beneath the cover of the first tree on the path, and a fairly large tree at that.

"Whew," Daniel sighed in relief, "Good thinkin', Manny!"

Daniel held out his hand to give Manny a high five. After the fact, he relaxed his back against the tree and took in another deep breath.

"Well, oI'm thinking we stay under this big bastard for a bitty," Daniel remarked as he pointed upwards. The tree wasn't blocking out all the rain, but it was enough for a breather, at least. <e>

Manda: “Haha yeah.” Manny smirked breathlessly while returning the high-five. It didn’t take him long to catch his breath. The boy was used to running for his life, after all. He stretched his arms a little and shook the droplets from his hair.

Everett on the other hand was less than amused by the display. They wasted precious energy and were now wet and cold, leaving them exposed to the elements. What was stopping a bolt of lightning from destroying this tree right now? She knew running was reckless and stupid.

“I knew running was reckless and stupid. Where are we anyway?”

Nayto: "oI'm not too sure," Daniel replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "oI'll check our map, though."

Yes. Yes, they had purchased a map. It was a crudely inked map, and didn't scream reliability, but they had anticipated the tavern at the crossroads, at least. That made it a little reliable, at least. So, the town that was after this would probably be on it.

Daniel reached back to his pack. Daniel and Everett had their own packs, at least. Daniel had carried the map in his, as he'd been the one to purchase it. However, as he reached back into it, he found only a soggy mess. Not realizing the horror that had stricken him until it was too late, he withdraw the map and unraveled the dripping mess of paper and ink.

Nothing.

All the ink had run off.

". . . shit."

[Mandaz]

Everett’s hands were immediately upon Daniel’s throat, tackling him into the ground and wringing the air from him. Not enough to kill him, of course, but scaring the shit out of him would be nice. She could form no words, only an unbroken battle yell. Which in turn startled Manny right out of his non-existent socks.

“The middle of nowhere!” could be heard through her screams “No map! No clue!”

He watched in horror as Everett charged Daniel. She was like a wild animal going after his best friend! Immediately he snapped into action, wrapping his arms around the girl’s torso. He began yelling too, until both he and Everett were both wailing at the top of their lungs. Everett out of pure rage, and Manny out of fear and confusion as he tried his best to tug the crazed girl off of Daniel.

[Nayt]

Daniel stared at the ink-less map for what felt like hours, trying in vain to make out maybe a few outlines here and there--but alas, there were none. The map was completely blank; all the ink had been washed away by the rain, which was complete and total horse shit. Who made maps like that?!

Just as Daniel felt dejected in his choice in mapmakers, he was surprised to find himself tackled to the ground by someone throwing her hands around his throat first and foremost, before anything else. He hit the ground kind of hard and was lifted up and down by the throat.

"Ahhhh--ahhhh--ahhhh--" Daniel let out a long cry of surprise, momentarily (almost) as loud as Everett and Manny, shifting in pitch every time Everett pulled and pushed at his neck, a completely automatic reaction.

Everett wasn't squeezing his neck that hard, so he wasn't losing air or anything, nor was his life in any danger, but her pulling and pushing like that was kind of making his dizzy, and after a few seconds of it, the whole world was starting to spin around like a bad carnival. He turned his head to the side slightly and looked to the path they'd deferred from to hide under the tree, a tree which wasn't helping them much in the rain anymore, and he watched as it rose and lifted and spun and lengthened and shortened all at once.

Oh God whot the bloody hell is--

Were Everett to stop anytime soon, Daniel would lay limply for a moment, head half cocked, staring out at the path, as his eyes tried to catch up with the images his mind was processing.

[Mandaz]

Manny nervously threw his arms under Everett’s shoulders to attempt to tug her away. The girl was strong and set in her ways, but after some coaxing and a lot of hoarse shouting she released Daniel from her grasp. She fell back onto the tiny hobo, who writhed and struggled to roll her off of him. Everett stood, a wild look in her eye, staring down at Daniel who had ONCE AGAIN delayed her quest through some completely avoidable means. She heaved, breathing heavily, but surprisingly feeling much better after her display of violence. Manny pushed himself out of the mud, shaking the loose droplets from his shaggy hair similar to an animal shaking off the rain. The grime didn’t bother him, but the feeling of his drenched clothes sticking to his body was uncomfortable.

“Hey Daniel?” he said, braking the awkward silence that had developed. “You okay?”

[Nayt]

The path continued to jut up and down and all around in Daniel's eyes, and further confounded him as he progressively lost more and more air. Anything he took it just escaped by virtue of momentum, of being pulled up and pushed down so rapidly that he couldn't keep his breath.

For a second there, he was pretty sure he saw a white rabbit. Yes, yes, he had definitely seen a white rabbit. It was kind of a large white rabbit, with big, floppy, perky ears, and it seemed to have a monocle and a bow tie. What was even stranger was the notion that rabbits had the same eye problems as human beings, and thus could have use of something like a monocle. What was even stranger than that was the fact that the rabbit wore a monocle rather than just a simple pair of glasses, but Daniel supposed in that minuscule time frame that the nature of the white rabbit's ears was not conducive to holding up a pair of glasses.

Before he was brought out of his dizzied delirium, Daniel could have sworn he saw the white rabbit follow the path in a needlessly rushed way.

Shaken out of his delirium by Manny, Daniel blinked and looked up. He couldn't really remember why he was on the ground, but he held his hand up in hopes that Manny would help him up, anyways.

"oI think," he coughed, before deliriously adding, "we should keep on goin' . . ."

[Mandaz]

“Oh. Okay that’s good.” Manny sighed, glad to hear his friend was all right, even though he really didn’t answer his question at all. Daniel didn’t seem completely out of it, just a little shaken. His eyes seemed glued to the path, as if he were following something. But when Manny looked the road was empty, pooling up with cold rain and mud. No person in their right mind would be out on this lonely path on a day like today. It was a good thing that none of the trio had right minds, and were traveling blindly onto any path they came across.

“Of course we should keep going.” Everett huffed, the flush of her angered cheeks finally starting to dim. “We’re getting nowhere under this tree, pathetically hiding from a little rain. I’m not afraid of some water. And lightning doesn’t scare me either. You’ve got a better chance of being mauled by me than you do of getting hit by lightning.” She voiced her opinions aloud, almost as if trying to convince herself of her non-existent fears. Manny watched her curiously, saying nothing, but eyeing her suspiciously as if he could smell the lies pour off of her. In the meantime, the smaller boy pulled his friend out of the muck, straining with the effort.

“Jeez, man. You’re damn heavy”

[Nayt]

"Heh . . . all muscle, bro," Daniel replied lethargically.

Which was kind of true. Although tall and slim in stature, Daniel was fairly well built by this time in his life. He was built like the kind of guy who'd run around with his other male companions, all shirtless, with their toned muscles gleaming with sweat as they passed between them with excessive aggression a frisbee, or in the best case scenario, a handball. That'd be Daniel's kind of play.

For some reason, Daniel couldn't bring himself to walk all that well. He lazily leaned on Manny. Manny wasn't too much younger than himself, so he'd definitely be able to hold him up--but Daniel wasn't thinking that tactically now. His thoughts were suddenly on the rain, and how strange it looked. He'd never seen it like this before. It was like the clouds were filled with all sorts of dyes and they were all mixing together and forming some sort of rainbow in each and every drop that fell--each slow and steady drop, that Daniel briefly witnessed as if time itself slowed for him.

Except there was only one dye in the clouds and it was clearly green. Daniel lifted his hand to rub his eyes. Yes, as a matter of fact, the water had a very distinct green tint to it.

Daniel sloshed his tongue around his mouth. It all tasted funny. Lying like he had when Everett tackled him, he took in a few dozen raindrops or so. With his finger, he caught a raindrop, barbarically jammed it into his mouth, and sucked on the tip of his finger for a second.

This water tasted weird.

"Oi, guys--somethin' up with the rain?" Daniel asked slowly.

But, of course, it was likely they'd see the water just fine, like normal, average water . . .