Mysteries of the Desert (Open)

[silvermoondragon]

(( oh yes, definitely some nice fun time spent with the family! ))

      Blue lifted one of his front hooves from the water and examined it for a little while. "Hmm, I'm thinking that youyr hooves might be betteyr at digging foyr all youyr yrunning thyrough the desert sands. Maybe you can be the main diggeyr and I can woyrk on moving the sand and yrocks away from youyr feet so you can keep digging."
      He then looked over at Wave, tilting his head slightly, "Peyrhaps you might be betteyr able to tyry and move away some of the sand that we will inevitably stiyr up while digging. Do you think that would be possible?"
      "Well," Wave replied, "I might be able to yremove some or the stiyryred up sand from view, but things move styrangly beneath the wateyrs and I don't think I'll be able to yremove it all. Yremembeyr too, the hayrdeyr you woyrk, the sooneyr you will need to come up foyr aiyr. Woyrking sloweyr may not appeayr to yeild many yresults but will save time in the long yrun."

[Origami_Dragon]

As Blue raised his hoof from the water to look at it Searing examined it from a distance as well. He'd never really had occasion to look at the hooves of non desert dwellers before. They didn't look that different from his; not like Wave's finned feet did. They were just a bit smaller, maybe narrower. But the desert stallion nodded his head in acceptance as Blue declared that Searing would likely make the better digger. "I have neveyr tyrely attempted to dig seyriously befoyre, but I will tyry." It couldn't be that different from shifting sand to make a more comfortable sleeping spot or to unearth the water holding roots of certain desert plants, could it? And this was his idea after all.

As Wave cautioned against trying to work too fast Searing nodded again. "Speed also seemed to stiyr the sands moyre. So while I am known foyr speed, I shall agyree to leave the speed foyr yrunning, not foyre in the wateyrs." A faint grin appeared on his face. Though normally he was in near constant motion, he rather doubted that he had given the impression of a speedster here to these two. "Just as in that long yrun you must pace youyrself, moving as fast as possible isn't always best. Ayre we yready to tyry this again?" He glanced over at the two, breathing slowly and deeply, mentally preparing himself for a long stretch of holding his breath again.

[silvermoondragon]

      Their agreement was unanimous, both Wave and Blue were ready to once more attempt to move the boulder and set Wave free. This time, Blue did not disappear beneath the surface instantly with a splash, he instead slowly sank down in a careful controlled manner. "Afteyr you", Wave called out to Searing.

[Origami_Dragon]

With a nod to Wave, Searing drew in one last long, deep breath and then tried to sink. It seemed a little harder this time. Maybe he'd drawn in too much air? Well, he'd deal with it. The stallion forced himself down, reluctantly letting a little air leak out of the corner of his mouth until his body stopped trying to bob up. His eyes closed automatically as he submerged, but opened again soon as he studied the boulder once more.

Coming to rest a few feet away from the stone, Searing crept closer, still fighting to keep himself underwater as he approached. Carefully he scraped at the sand around the boulder's base, shaking his head in a slow but constant motion to keep the drifting strands of his mane out of his eyes. His tentative approached still stirred up a fair amount of grit, but most of it stayed low to the ground rather than rising in huge clouds. Encouraged he began to work in earnest, though at first he could only dig with one hoof at a time as lifting two legs from the ground meant he drifted around too much and couldn't really dig.

Slowly the soft sand and muck was moved away, and larger pebbles and bits of earth that lay under it followed as the air steadily leaked out of Searing's mouth. From time to time he looked over to see how Blue was doing at clearing away the debris that he was chipping loose. But Searing still hadn't managed to make a channel even half a Sam's body length before he began to feel the desperate need to return to the surface for air.

[silvermoondragon]

((yay headshots!))



      Wave followed Searing down to the depths below, and watched as he struggled to get to the bottom before releasing a little of the air he had held captive. When he finally reached the bottom she stuck close by, carefully fanning the waters with her fins to remove any sand particles threatening to obscure all visibility. She floated gracefully above, long practiced skills allowing her to stay suspended.



      Blue waited while Searing made his way back to the boulder resisting the urge to kick at the sand as he waited. He tilted his head a little, watching how Searing attempted to move the sand, sort of scraping the sand along the bottom away from the large boulder. As soon as Searing had brought a small pile of sandy dirt far enough and returned his concentration to the sand still laying around the boulder, Blue slowly and reached out a hoof and attempted to continue it's journey away from the boulder.
      Blue exhaled a few bubbles in annoyance as the gritty particles wedged their way between the cloves of his hoof but continued his job. Slowly he began to see the channel beginning to form and noticed as they were clearing out more small rocks around the base of the boulder rather than just sand. He noticed that Searing's movements were getting a little more hurried and assumed he would be ready to return to the surface soon since he himself was also beginning to feel the itch at the back of his throat signaling a lack of oxygenated air stored in his own lungs.

[Origami_Dragon]

((I'm going to skip ahead to when they have a long enough path to think about pushing again...otherwise I think this will get entirely too repetitive. Hope you don't mind.))

Despite Searing's determination to stay under until he'd cleared another hoof length of path for the boulder the need for air was getting overwhelming. When it started to feel as though he was about to choke he backed up, looked to make sure that Wave wasn't above him as she fanned the fine grit away, and floundered his way back to the surface. He made the mistake of trying to breathe a little too soon, while the water was still streaming down his face, and coughed a time or two before sighing and taking another deep breath. Making sure he wasn't going to descend onto someone he went back down again.

Several more times he repeated the journey up and down, each time clearing a little longer of a path. Finally though the muck covering the sand began to grow too deep and attempting to dig only stirred it up without leaving a clear path. Once he determined that further digging out wasn't going to work Searing tossed his head towards the surface, attempting to indicate that they should go up once more, and headed up himself. By now his surfacings had grown a little more practiced and he was no longer attempting to swallow water on his first breath. Taking slow, steady breaths, relieved to be regularly breathing again, Searing waited to see if the others would come up too. This working without breathing stuff was harder than he'd expected, and while he knew Wave wanted out...he wanted a breather before going back and attempting to shove at that boulder.

[silvermoondragon]

((That's fine with me.))



      As Searing made his way back to the surface, Blue took advantage of the little air he had left to claw away a bunch of the sandy muck he had been unable to clear away with Searing standing there. It didn't take long before he too bobbed back up to the surface to join Searing for a few quick seconds before returning to their task. A quick little check with Searing confirmed he was doing the right things and they were good to go. Ducking under and kicking his feet hard, he was soon back on the oasis floor helping to clear away more sand.
      After a few more trips up and down for air, they had finally gouged out a wide enough channel. A quick motion of Searing's head caught Blue's attention and snapped him out of the repetitive task of shoveling sand. He was suggesting a trip up to the surface and with a quick glance at the channel, he realized that they had dug out much more than he had expected. He nodded back to Searing and with a push of his legs he was heading back up to the surface where they would determine the next section of their plan.



      Wave's excitement grew with each trip back up to the surface. Each trip got them closer and closer to her freedom and she could almost taste the slight taste of salt from the watery channel she knew lay just behind the boulder.
      When Searing motioned to return to the surface, much sooner that the usual trip to the surface, she knew they were almost finished the task. Hopefully their plan would be successful and she would be swimming free in the ocean before the sun set that night. Following the desert Samanayr back to the surface, a happy grin spread across her face as her head broke the surface.

[Origami_Dragon]

From the surface it was still possible to see the path they had cleared, and Searing briefly hoped that they were not going to destroy this precious pool of water in freeing its prisoner. But life in the desert was tough and sturdy and resilient. It should be able to survive even with the changes to this particular oasis. He didn't have too long to think on the matter though as very soon after he had resurfaced he was joined by the others. And the sheer joy on Wave's face made it very hard to think poorly of this effort. He only hoped that his plan would continue to work. He bobbed his head at both of them as they surfaced nearby.

"I think we have cleayred all that may be cleayred foyr a path. The centeyr of the wateyr is coveyred by too much soft muck to dig fuyrtheyr." He hesitated, looking back and forth between the two Sams and the boulder below. "The bouldeyr will pyrobably get stuck in that" He paused again, wondering if he dared suggest stopping for a bite to eat before making the final push. On the one hoof, they were so close now and it seemed a shame to stop now. But on the other hoof...he at least wasn't used to this sort of work over the course of the day and would feel more confident in his ability to help after a rest and snack.

[silvermoondragon]

((totally forgot about needing food XD))



      In the silence after Searing's comment, Blue's stomach broke the silence with a large unhappy grumble, putting a voice to Searing's silent wish. Blue looked down at his stomach and broke out into a small grin, "I guess a bite to eat might be a good idea befoyre heading back down again."



      "I guess it's hayrd to ayrgue with an empty stomach," Wave replied nodding her head.
      She herself was not very hungry having caught a few of the small water plants that had been displaced by their digging. She was not one to turn down food that came to her. Staring out at the sparse greenery ringing the small oasis, she continued, "once you've finished eating we can go back down and tyry pushing the bouldeyr along ouyr path."

((feel free to skip over to when they head back down again if you want.))

[Origami_Dragon]

Searing was saved from having to decide about food when Blue's stomach asked the question for him. With the issue raised and no one objecting he nodded agreement. Tilting one ear at Wave a faint frown crossed his face. "Don't you want something too? Oyr can you not yreach the gyrass?" He looked over, judging that at least some of it should be within reach from the water.

While waiting for a reply Searing slowly waded his way back onto dry land and stood there, dripping, on shaky legs. He felt...heavy. Neither the fact that all the water in his fur added weight or that his legs weren't used to working the way they had while swimming occurred to him. Instead he stared in bemusement at them for a moment before beginning the serious work of grazing swiftly. He kept one eye on the sun and one on his companions as he plucked the blades furthest from the water, leaving those within reach of Wave for her should she desire, and the more tender shoots for Blue, figuring that neither of them was familiar with the dry foliage of the desert. Even what he was eating seemed quite lush and tender to him.

Soon enough the pause would be over, and Searing was trying to nerve himself for what they might find when they moved that rock. He had no experience with how things worked underwater other than what he had acquired today, and he was more than a little nervous about what came next.

[silvermoondragon]

      Wave nodded thanks to Searing, "Thanks foyr the thought, but the wateyr holds many treasuyres and in stiyryring up the sands I had quite a few tasty plants floating yright by me."



      As Searing left the waters to graze, Blue followed giving himself a huge shake spraying water droplets everywhere. He mantled his wings in an attempt to dry himself a little in the sun. He knew he was just going to get wet again but it didn't stop him from trying anyway. Next step was to satisfy his hunger. Blue leapt over to a patch of tender green shoots struggling to survive in the rough hot sands and started nibbling on their tips, savoring their sweet taste.
      After they had eaten their fill, Blue questioned, "So, ayre we yready to go back down?"

[Origami_Dragon]

((Sorry...lost all drive to RP for awhile. Still not quite feeling it...but I'm going to try and get this moving again so that poor Wave can escape her desert prision.))



Searing remained uncertain of just how much food could have been kicked up in the water, but he trusted Wave to know best if she needed to eat or not. When Blue finished and indicated his readiness to return to work Searing lifted his head with a mostly stiffled sigh. Unease flickered briefly in his eyes as he stopped stalling and somewhat stiffly nodded, stepping away from the grass he had been nibbling at without really eating. Reading to face the complete unknown under that rock? Not really. But as much as he was going to get.

At the edge of the pool he stopped, staring down into its sparkling depths. "Yright...we go down, we push fyrom the top, and it moves. Should be easy..." Despite his carefree words and the fact that he really did want to help wave, the desert stallion continued to hesitate on the sandy shore, waiting for Blue to make the first move to return to the strange underwater realm of the oasis.

[silvermoondragon]

((That's ok, feel free to take your time, I'd rather it be fun than a chore.))



      Blue could tell Searing was a little nervous about returning to the bottom of the oasis and decided to take the first step. "Ok, follow me. We'll go down, I'll push on the left side of the bouldeyr, you Seayring, on the yright, and Wave, you can go in the centeyr. Is that all yright with eveyryone?"
      He waited patiently for everyone's response before jumping in the the water with a small splash, disappearing beneath the surface.



      Wave could hardly contain her excitement. Little ripples were radiating outwards from her body as she squirmed in the shallows. As Blue laid out the plan, she listened intently, fin ears sticking straight up. "Sounds good to me," she called out before following Blue, turning her head back for a second to check if Searing was coming.

[Origami_Dragon]

As Blue vanished and Wave turned to look at him one more time, Searing nodded. Nerving himself to make the plunge once more he murmured softly under his breath, "Ok, you can do this Seayring. Just...go." Drawing in a deep breath he waded in, pinching his nostrils shut as the water closed over his head once more.

The desert stallion paused midway down the pool to study the boulder and the path one last time from afar before kicking his way over to his post on the right hand side of the stone. He wedged himself in as best he could, hind legs braced against the side of the pool and broad front hooves seeking purchase on the boulder itself. But the pose felt awkward, as though he would have no great push. With a shake of his head to indicate that he wasn't ready, Searing reversed himself.

It was still awkward, front hooves jammed into the side of the pond, head at a strange angle to see the others, and hind feet braced to kick out at the boulder, but it felt better than before. He was more familiar with kicking than shoving. Now settled into the best position he could come up with, Searing waited for the signal that all were ready to push. He nodded to signal his own readiness, hoping the others would be set soon, before he lost it again.

[silvermoondragon]

((There, mostly done, just the finishing up and goodbyes left to do))



Gliding into position at the boulder, Blue looked around to gauge the situation once more. He followed suit with Searing, turning his back to the boulder, also thinking that pushing the boulder with their hind legs would be much more successful than attempting to push with their heads or front legs.



Since Wave's fins would not allow her to push the same way as the others, she instead held back a little giving the signal to start pushing once the other two were ready. Her plan was to wait until the others had lifted the boulder slightly, and then swim at full speed towards it and use her momentum to hopefully push the boulder the rest of the way so it could roll down the channel they had dug for it. Then she might finally be free and able return to the ocean she had been away from for so long. She watched, unblinking as the two stallions pushed against the rock with all their might. Watched, excited as the rock, as though in slow motion began tilting back until it reached her required height. With a strong kick of her back fins, she was off, her aerodynamic body and fins rocketing her through the water to slam up against the boulder. The force of her blow knocked some of the breath from her lungs and it danced upwards in a stream of bubbles. The she waited, as she and the boulder rolled until she felt a slight jolt as it fell snugly into the channel and continued its roll down their carefully constructed path.

At long last, the channel to the ocean was open and she was free. Despite her instincts to get out to the ocean as fast as possible, to escape her watery prison, but she knew she would have to thank the two stallions who had done so much to help her. She turned to look at them, glad to see they had not gotten caught in the boulder and were safely making their way up to the surface. She followed them to the surface, leaping from the water in joy to do a small backflip.



Blue was first to bob to the surface, climbing up onto the shore and giving himself a hearty shake. He stood, mantling his wings in the sun to dry off as the other two breached the surface. He watched, awed as Wave leapt out and a spray of rainbow water droplets fanned out around her. "It appeayrs we ayre victorious, the bouldeyr yrolled exactly as we planned. Hopefully you will be able to escape now Wave.

[Origami_Dragon]

At Wave's signal Searing lashed out, kicking at the boulder repeatedly, feeling it slowly begin to shift more and more under the constant shoving and kicking. Gradually he began to have to lash further and further out to make contact. Just as he was beginning to loose effectiveness as the stone was too far from the wall to easily stretch, Wave came swooping by to slam into it with the full force of her body. Searing lost purchase, felt himself being tugged away from the wall by the currents for a moment before they began to attempt to swirl him down into the newly reopened tunnel under the desert.

The desert stallion felt a moment's panic as he flailed for the surface, the panic lending him strength to break free of the water's tug. Moments later his head broke the water's surface, gasping for breath as soon as his mouth was free of the water. Streams of water ran down his face, pulling his mane down into his eyes, making him cough as a few drops trickled down into his nose and throat. He was glad they had been able to help Wave, for the desert was no place for an aquatic. But underwater was likewise no place for a desert Sam.

Slowly swimming for shore, Searing too hauled himself out and stood there dripping and trembling, sides heaving as he gladly drew in sweet, sweet air. "Victoyry indeed, but I shall be glad to do no moyre with wateyr than dyrink it foyr the yrest of this tuyrn of the seasons and moyre...," the stallion murmured to himself before raising his voice again. "I will yremembeyr you well Wave, and should I have foals of my own they shall heayr of the day an aquatic came to the deseyrt sands. I wish you well on youyr voyage back to the endless wateyrs." He bowed his head to both of them, trying hard to hide how much he wanted to go stretch out on the lush grass and sleep until night returned to the desert.