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Summary: The Blackbird brings a team of superpowered adults and teens to the lush rain forest of Cross River State, Nigeria. However, the group quickly learns that Africa isn't quite so docile as New York.
Date: Wednesday, January 19, 2011. 3:45pm
Log Title: Welcome to Africa
Rating: R (Violence)
Nigeria - Clearing in the Rain Forest
The terrain isn't level, and so neither is the Blackbird. It sits in all of its majesty like strange monument to another culture in the green high grass of the clearing. The door is down, allowing passage to and from the monolithic plane. The breeze sweeps across the grass, warm and inviting even during the winter months. Great birds of prey hunt the field mice, large cats visit to investigate the disturbance on their territory. It's best not to wander too far, this beautiful country is also very dangerous.
It is time to take off to Africa! David Alleyne, aka Prodigy, had been in the hangar all day, loading the Blackbird with various medical and food supplies. Also, as the passengers arrive, he makes final checks for the medical information provided to him by Hildegard regarding the shots and vaccines that everyone needed. The first to arrive are Jericho, Star, and Connor who are coming as part of a field trip that David has organized for Xavier's and Barnes. With everyone onboard, David takes his spot in the pilot's seat. His yellow cybershades have been connected to the Blackbird flight system, so he can control all the systems on the jet. With the passengers finally arrived, He sends out a message through the com system,
"Alright, we are ready for take-off. The flight should take no longer than a few hours courtesy of the Blackbird. Sit back, relax, and enjoy your flight. There is no movie or meals on this flight." He says a silent prayer as the engines start up and the plane takes off at a surprisingly quick speed. Within seconds they are over the Atlantic Ocean, the skies are clear and there are no problems.
A few hours into the flight, the African coastline can be seen. David remains silent as he takes in the beauty of it all and after a few moments of silence. He smiles and in an overly excited tone, the Xavier's Teaching Assistant speaks over the com, "If you look to your left, the first signs of the African coast can be seen and in two minutes we'll be over Nigeria. As he is flying, a holographic map of Nigeria appears pointing out the best to land and the quickest route to the village.
Hosea has been with David as well, making certain that the necessary medical supplies are present. He also has purchased several toys for the children of the village. Mostly soccer balls, some board games, plastic cones, and other diverse playthings. These kids don't get a lot. Bibles from his church are loaded, donated by the church. There has to be a good couple hundred simple hardback black covered copies of Scripture, nothing fancy, but durable.
Hosea's mother, Hannah, has also come. Remarkably different from her mountain of a son, Hannah is quiet, almost mousy. She's small, and has a fair complexion. All the same, there is a certain fire to her. Despite her stature, she carries herself as someone with a fierce yet quiet determination.
Since he's not one of the staff, Hosea has been in the back of the plane, rather than the cockpit, knowing that he may well be asked to come help find the village once they reach the rain forest. It's not exactly the type of place you can find easily.
Rashmi, it seems, has brought along a friend from Barnes. The pair had arrived early, with Rashmi as well-packed as someone who'd never left the City can be. With the permission of staff, she had given Travis the nickel tour of the Mansion, chatting amiably while helping to load the supplies as best she can, lacking powers to make the work easier. During the trip itself, her silence is notable; not avoiding conversation, and chatting when engaged, but apparently given more to worrying about what they might find when they get there. And that her vaccinations can hold up. And whether or not tigers are actually man-eaters. Little things.
Hildegarde arrived early to help with the loading process. She was able to lift all of the gear onto the plain with extreme ease given her mutation. She has spent much of the trip in the back of the plain with the students reiterating safety procedures and trying to drill caution into the heads of those present. She occasionally switched her speech to information about local tribes and ancient history of the area. Anyone trying to take notes will find the information the woman is giving to be extremely capricious. The woman is wearing a bit of her old clothing from when she worked in the field. Currently she is dressed in a short button-down khaki dress with combat boots.
This is his first time experiencing the Xavier's Adventure. He got permission from Barnes and his Mother to come on the trip and has tagged along with Rashmi. Along with his personal effects he's also brought a some of his personal carpentry tools just in case. The day has been interesting, if not a bit overwhelming, but in a good way. The six armed teen been sticking close to Rashmi as he doesn't know anyone else. Travis' been fairly quiet on the trip as well from a mixture of fascination from the view from the window, from listening to what Hilde is saying and not sure what kind of conversation to start up. He's been asking necessary questions but not much more than small talk.
While Blank helped with some of the packing, Robin did nothing in that time but stand there with a blank expression on her face, and for the duration of the trip has made some motions to spark conversation, though falling silent whenever Hildegarde speaks, to listen to her words. Now, as directed, Robin looks towards her left. She is sitting next to her puppet, who is standing (and remaining perfectly stable), and Blank also turns her head to look out the window. Squirt. Some sunscreen is applied, since she doesn't have the complexion of someone who can easily withstand the rays of the African sun. She came with in order to support a teammate in a time of crisis, as well as help out with charity work. She taps her mouth lightly with an index finger as she looks down and says, "I wonder if we'll see any wildlife."
As the Blackbird zips through the sky and over the horizon the lush deep and rich rain forest can be seen. Herds of various wildlife can be seen such as zebras galloping along and a herd of elephants bathing in a small lake. There are some lions relaxing on the Savannah. The beauty is presented to those seated by windows.
David plugs in some coordinates and finds a clearing large enough for the Blackbird to actually land. David finds a spot, but the land itself is not level. Thankfully the Shi'ar technology controlling the jet is able to compensate. However, the alarm systems goes off as a sudden blast of energy strikes the Blackbird. The Blackbird is shaken to its chore as supplies and thrown about. David shouts to everyone, "Buckle up!" As alarms go off on the Blackbird and David begins to take some quick actions trying to take control of the jet.
Outside the window a small group of soldiers can be seen rushing into the vast expanse of the rain forest, seemingly rushing away from the jet and away from a village than can be seen far off.
Hosea, notably, unbuckles when the strike hits the Blackbird. "What was dat?" he asks, looking out the side of the jet's windows. For those who look, they may find that the plains of Nigeria give way rather quickly to the Cross River state rain forests. It is hard to see anything but trees.
And smoke.
Black plumes billow up from the canopy. It's isolated, but intense. As the jet passes over the village, it's clear that not all is well. There are people lying on the ground from the retreating soldiers. Unfortunately, it's also clear that the only clear landing location is hardly close by. It will take time to get back to the village from where the group is. "Hah, dey are under attack, we must land quickly," he urges, clapping David on the shoulder. Unfortunately, while they are in the air, there is little that can be done to help those on the ground.
The blast to the Blackbird pulls a startled cry from Rashmi as her body jerks hard against the straps. "What's happening?" she calls up to the cockpit, not particularly expecting an answer given the circumstances. Her eyes turn to the window, wide with worry at the plumes of smoke, and she draws in a deep breath. "Oh God, this is going to be bad… Can we carry the supplies through that?"
Hildegarde actually stopped talking once they passed into Africa. She watches out the window as they fly over the Savannah, taking in the scenery it seems. Once the plane is struck by the energy blast she does exactly the opposite of what David tells her. Rather than sitting down and strapping in she gets up and moves to the front of the jet. "David! What was that? Did we hit something?" She glances out the window as they pass over the village and narrows her eyes. "This isn't a village…It's a war zone."
As the alarms start going off a curse of panic escapes Travis' lips as the Blackbird is struck. He reaches out with all six arms to brace himself and lucky for him he's still buckled up. "Whose under attack?" Travis asks as he isn't sure if he wants to look out the window or try to get away from it in case of another strike. "Alright…stay calm." He mutters to himself. "We gotta do something." He says but what is that something.
The passengers will find themselves being flung about as the blackbird begins to descend in a tailspin. "Dammit!" David screams as he removes his cybershades and assumes direct control of the Blackbird. <God, please!> He thinks to himself as he takes hold of the steering device and is able to regain control. He lets out a sigh of relief and speaks out into the com system, "I have control, but strap in. It's going to be a rough landing."
Spotting an uneven clearing, the jet veers into it cutting off branches of trees and finally coming to a complete and abrupt halt as David presses on the brakes. Coming to a stop, David rushes out of the cockpit to find the main body of the plane a mess with boxes thrown about. "Is everyone alright?" He shouts out as he moves towards the passengers. The emergency landing has left thema bit of ways from the village, but apparently also away from any immediate danger.
The hard landing knocks the African off of his feet, and he tumbles back between the seats with a grunt, just in front of Travis. That didn't feel very good. That's what he gets for not wearing his seat belt, though. He starts to get back to his feet. "Dere are soldiers attacking da village," he explains. "We must be quick, da village has no weapons." Hosea's demeanor had been rather upbeat until now, but with the rather unfriendly turn in events, he has become much less…upbeat.
Hannah peers out the window. "Oh dear," she says in her quiet tone. "We have to help! It's such a long walk through the forest." Her hand is on her face in almost a cliche movie pose, but the concerned look is quite real. Of course, Hannah would hardly be of help in a fight, it doesn't take a professional combatant to see that.
The decision to wear a seat belt was a wise one, it would seem, and the worst injury Rashmi suffers, a hard knock on the head against the window frame. As the plane settles into stillness, she scrabbles at the straps, unbuckling herself with as much alacrity as she can manage. "How far away? Can we come back for the supplies after?"
Hildegarde looses her balance when the plane tailspins and falls onto the floor of the Blackbird with an audible clang. The landing causes the woman to get thrown back into the rear of the jet and knock the boxes around further. She stands after a few moments and dusts herself off, apparently unharmed. "Oh my. Is anybody hurt?" She moves around the plain to make a quick check that everyone is OK.
Hilde turns to Hosea after she is certain that no one needs medical attention. "This is not what we were expecting when you told us about the area. What's more, I am almost certain that if Ms. Frost had known about these specific dangers then she would have sent a different team if anyone at all." She shakes her head and looks back out the window, cursing in German. It would appear that the woman is conflicted. On the one hand the people in that village need help, but at the same time she cannot allow these children to run into harm's way.
Travis is bounced around in his seat a bit but there's no injuries. Once the Blackbird is landed he unstraps himself and stands up. "I'm sorry Miss, but we're the ones that are here." Travis says as he looks to the others. "I'm fine." He says to Hilde as he nods with Rashmi's words. "There are people getting out there, we have to get to them to help. Does anyone know how to get there?"
Robin unbuckles her seat belt after the harsh landing, loosening control of her puppet. She looks around and stands up before resuming her puppet control position. "I can scout ahead if you need me to," she offers, looking towards the others. As Hosea would know from squad, that has the advantage of moving very fast, while having the disadvantage of leaving Robin's actual body behind.
"Priorities first, everyone! We're not going anywhere until the area has been checked." Looking at all the passengers, David moves through the cabin. He first moves to Hannah, the only known-powered person on the jet once she is fine. David orders "Hosea, you know this place better than anyone else. I need you to phase yourself and Blank through the hull to the outside. Hosea teleport to the village if you can and see what is happening there. If there is any attack, then do not engage and port back here. Robin, have Blank check the immediate area for any danger. If it is clear than we go outside and only then!" David shouts the orders. "Hilde, Rashmi, and Travis, stand by the hatch. Once we have the go ahead, clear out and heads towards the village. The others on the plane he asks to check on the supplies as he intends to get them to the villagers through hell or high water.
Hosea brings himself to his full height. "Dis is Africa," Hosea states toward Hilde. "Everything is dangerous." It was his own reservation about others coming on the trip in the first place. "Dere is no e-mails from dis place, no electricity. To know what is happening here can only be known by looking at it."
"Do not worry," the Nigerian tells Travis. "I am vedy familiar with dis place. I grew up in dese forests." He nods toward David. "Robin, is it all right if I do dis?" he asks, waiting for her approval before proceeding. Once he has it, he takes Blank in his arms, and steps through the side of the plane, out into the grass, and then teleports in the direction of the forest as far as he can see. From there he starts running, leaving the others to explore at their discretion as he phases through the thick brush before him, making a bee line for the village.
Robin keeps her hands up and, using Blank's strength, speed and stamina, does a quick scouting of the near area before the teen says emotionlessly, "It's all clear. Shall I continue exploring ahead, or should I come with you?" The previous 'I' means Blank and the latter means Robin herself.
Rashmi ducks out of the plane once the area is deemed safe, eyes flicking left and right. "Okay, Travis, ma'am," she calls back to Travis and Hanna, "we should probably stick close to Ms. Von Reigenleif… If something really wrong happens, she's the best equipped to keep us safe…" The redhead is more than a little scared, by the looks of it, far out of her depth and hoping she can trust her training to keep her and Travis intact.
Hilde seems a bit taken aback by David's ability to take control in this situation. She nods and moves toward the door, preparing to exit the Blackbird once the coast is clear. She jumps out of the plain after Rashmi and lands with a loud thud, her feet sinking several inches into the ground. She glances around the forest and closes her eyes, taking a deep breath. Glancing at Rashmi, "I can only do so much. I am not immune to bullets…" She suspects that whoever attacked that village had guns. "Be careful where you walk. There are so many poisonous things here…I really don't want to have to figure out how to administer anti-venom out here."
Travis sticks close to Rashmi as he steps out of the jet and looks around outside. "I got your back Rashmi." He says in an attempt to make her feel a bit better but Travis is quite nervous and scared himself. On his uppermost right arm a blueish shield forms out of energy and he keeps it ready just in case. "Don't worry Ms. Von Reigenleif, if anyone gets sick, my powers can heal them." Though he can't heal himself.
With the knowledge that it is safe outside, David removes his cybershades and hands them to Hilde, "Hildegarde, use the cybershades. I have already plotted out a route to the village." David looks back in and asks all the others in the plane who came with them to follow Hilde and the others towards the village. "I'll stay here with the supplies. I'm best suited to deal with any dangers that may arise." He offers, "Plus I'll organize it and make it ready once they are safe to transport" He takes a look at the Blackbird and shakes his head, "I should be able to repair it, but it may take some time." He sighs as he mumbles, "Emma and Scott are going to kill me." Once everyone has stepped off the jet, he moves back to the hatch.
And finally answering Robin, "Robin, go with the others. It's best that the students stick in numbers and groups."
Robin lowers her hands at being told what to do, and the puppet reappears next to her and she nods once, "Okay. Well, good luck staying behind." She glances around to the others to try and take more stock of what's happening, and decides to keep quiet for now and follow along with the rest.
The air is hot and muggy. It's winter, yes. So it's really only about 95 degrees. A cool day. The humidity surges into the plain with the opening of the door, an instant reason for any normal person to sweat. Life can be heard throughout the forests. Colobus monkeys, birds, insects, and many other difficult to define creatures can be heard in the forest.
At the edge of the forest, a carcass hange from a tree, the dead animal drying in the sun. The killer of said animal is also visible. A leopard, lazily watching the group. It's a good distance off, and seems rather unaffected by the noise from the jet's landing, or from the many people who have proceeded from it. The tall grass twitches from small animals that scurry about, none of them coming close to the plane. The course from the cybershades leads into the forest, but the only problem is…how do you get through it? The thick brush seems rather impassable. Fortunately, Hosea knew enough to bring machetes.
Hilde takes the shades from David and smiles slightly, "Oh, but they'll clash with my outfit." She puts them on and pulls a box out of the plane. The woman opens it up and passes machetes around to the group before turning in the direction charted on the map. "I shouldn't have any trouble communicating with you back here at the Blackbird, right? Not that it makes a difference now…" She turns back to the group and waves her arm forward, "All right, kiddos. We're going to move forward single file. Keep your eyes and ears open, and if you see something say something. I'm glad we've got Travis here to fix us up if we need it, but I'd rather conserve his abilities for the people in the village."
Hilde starts forward, moving toward the forest with purpose. She glances at the Leopard and seems to consider it for a moment before turning back to the plain. "Hey David? You might want to keep that door closed. Don't want any unwelcome visitors." She turns back toward the trees and moves forward, swiping her machete downward and clearing a large swath of forest with great ease.
Nigeria - Rain Forest
Whether day or night, the sounds of life fill the rain forest here in Nigeria. The visibility range is very low, thick brush inhibiting sight more than ten yards in almost any direction. There are a few footpaths, but nothing like you would see in America on a hiking trail. They require a machete, and much hacking to get through them. A single road passes through the forest, scarcely used as well, only accessible by a four wheel drive vehicle.
At night, the sounds of animals still fill the air, eyes glint in the light, and most of them that you would see will eat you. Great caution is advised.
Travis follows behind Hilde taking one of the machetes. Sure he can make his own energy sword but he can't keep the shield up at the same time so the physical blade is preferred at the moment. He eyes the leopard and keeps going forward. "Lets just hope we don't get eaten by an animal before we get there." He mutters as he looks around as he hacks down what he can to make a path.
Rashmi bobs her head in answer to Hilde's orders, guiding Hannah to walk by herself and Travis, behind the teacher. "Here… This is probably the best place, ma'am, and I wouldn't want anything to happen to you either…" Drawing in a deep breath, she sets off along the column, spheres fading into view and holding a very tight orbit over her head, as her eyes flick left and right into the bush. "I am *so* out of my depth,*" she murmurs to herself…
Nodding at Hilde's advice, David watches as all the passengers go off following Hilde. He winces a bit as he is not used to being without the cybershades and the last time he was in a hellish demon's dimension. Once they are out of sight, David looks about, "OK. Alone in an unfamiliar country surrounded by carnivorous animals and deadly soldiers. He is confident the students will be alright, but still he cannot help but be a little afraid. He sighs as the further the students go the less he can 'feel' their presence through their skill sets. He exhales as he enters the jet and holds his arm. It got hurt during the emergency landing. He lets out a small groan of pain as he closes the hatch and prepares the supplies for transport and to start repairs on the Blackbird.
Robin starts to just follow behind the others, taking her puppet's hand. There is no need for this except for the small amount of contact with her spiritual manifestation can bring.
The brush is thick, but Hilde is strong. Before long, the group comes across a path, seemingly well worn and easy to follow, making it much quicker to travel. However, to one side of the path, there seems to be crushed portions of foliage around, as if something was sleeping in it. A lot of somethings, and large somethings.
Hildegarde steps out onto the path and wipes the blade of her machete on the heel of her boot before tucking it into her belt. She steps forward a ways and waits for everyone else to step out onto the path. After everyone is on the path she double checks that she will be able to find her way back with the use of the shades before stepping over to the path they just cleared and shoving over a small tree to block the path. "Just in case. I don't want those soldiers following that path back."
Hildegarde turns back to the road and nods, "Alrighty. Looks like…Something was over there. So let's continue to be vigilant, shall we?" She steps to the front of the group again and proceeds forward. Small creatures move about along the edges of the path. Students looking down will see a multitude of spiders, small frogs, and millipedes. Once or twice they pass by trails of leaf cutter ants. There are random noises in the forest. Occasional grunting, loud squawking, and at one point a troop of fruit bats flies overhead. Hilde seems generally unconcerned with these noises.
"Oh, ew," Rashmi mutters, mincing about the bugs as she's able, face twisting in disgust when it proves futile. "Did I tell you about that huge beetle at the Coldstone, Travis…? This is… ugh… kinda like that…" Her cheeks flush deeply as she realizes what a horrible city girl she's acting like, but eighteen years of reflex are hard to train out in less than an hour…
Travis is trying to be tough about things but some of the little noises are making him jump. Maybe he's too alert but it's hard not to be. "How much longer to the village?" He asks taking a deep breath and just walking forward, following Hilde. He tries to be quiet as to not disturb large sleeping beasties but it's hard when crunching through leaves. "Yeah, I'm trying not to look at the bugs right now." Travis says giving a faint smile.
Robin seems only a little bit troubled by all the creepy crawlies, and generally only the larger ones, but at least they're not on her face or in her shoes. That would be worthy of a freakout. She ducks slightly when she notices the bats, but rises when they're gone. It's a good thing she's the last link of this lineup. "Yeesh, I'm no queen of the jungle…" she mumbles.
As they follow along, Hosea suddenly appears before them. "What are you doing?!" he asks in a frantic whisper. "Dis is not a safe place to be. Come, dis way." He waves for them to follow, directly away from the nesting. "You must stay neah me," Hosea instructs the group. "Dat was a gorilla nest. Dey would kill you for being so close. You are blessed dat dey seem not to be home right now." He shakes his head, and continues to make his way directly away from the nest.
The walk is long and difficult, and only mildly follows the path the cybershades suggest. Another path is found, much less friendly, but the Nigerian seems to be much more content with it, though. "Da soldiers are gone. It will be difficult to bring da supplies through heah, but we must manage. Da village is not in a good place anymore."
Hilde seems slightly startled when Hosea appears. She glances back at the nest and nods, reaching up to pull a frond out of her hair. "I doubt they would have managed to kill us, but I'd rather not have to harm an endangered species." She follows behind Hosea as he leads them down the next path, taking note of their position as opposed to the one the shades have displayed. "It may not be too difficult to move the supplies, it will just take several trips. If you can do that phasing trick with me I can simply walk them through the forest."
There is a small jump from Travis as Hosea appears and he starts to go on the defensive before he realizes who it is. "Thanks Hosea." He says as he doesn't want to become pounded on by a Gorilla. "So how are the villages?" He asks since that's the reason they're rushing over there.
The news of nearby gorilla nests has Rashmi paling, and without another comment she ducks her head, following meekly behind Hilde. Her eyes flick back and forth through the bush as the path is followed, spheres whirling in a tight ring around her head, the redhead almost looking too hard for trouble, as shown by the occasional stumble over a rough patch on the trail.
Robin almost lets out a squeak, but Blank quickly puts her hands around the girl's mouth to muffle it, at the revelation that gorillas that want to beat her to death are nearby. She shakes her head and then follows along with the rest of the group.
Nigeria- Rundown Village
The lush green trees of the rain forest hide the small village, with only one road that leads out. The road clearly doesn't get much use, high grass growing up the center. It's nestled next to a beautiful river, flowing with the clean source of water. Still, it is a good walk down a slippery slope to get there.
The village here is poor, but hardly unpopulated. There is one solid building standing at the middle of town, and that's the church, though even that is a rough stucco building. It also seems to double as a clinic. There is no steeple, it is a simple block building, but a cross stands high over the main entrance of the building. There are no white people who live here, a dark shade of black on the skin tones of each inhabitant. Though it is small, there are people who live and play. Children run amidst dogs, the women wash clothes and cook while men bring in the food. Some traces of civilization can be found, playing cards and checkers seems to be the popular activities among the elderly, and they can be found in the shade of any of dozens of trees or around the large fire kept burning at the center.
The rest of the buildings in town are all the same. They are grass huts, and offer little privacy. None of the inhabitants seem to mind, content with their community life. This might offend some of the sensibilities of Americans, but they don't seem bothered by such things.
Travis' question is answered soon enough. The rain forest gives way to the clearing that is a rather large village, as far as small villages go. Hosea looks across the rushing villagers, most of them rather occupied to be their normal helpful selves. The place is in a state of complete panic. several of the grass and stick huts are burning. Mothers hold onto their children, some of them living, some of them not. The men throw large buckets of water onto the fires, trying desperately to put them out. The supplies may have to wait.
"Avraham!" Hosea calls out, rushing to a man in the village. Many of the people wear rather absent clothing, but this man seems notable by his more 'civilized' garb. A simple pair of gray pants and a dirty white polo cover him. "Hosea!" he calls out, racing toward him. "Praise be to God." Hosea doesn't ask what happened, though, instead, "What shall you have us do?" Abraham looks over Hosea's shoulder. "Your friends?" he asks. "We could use help wit da fires, and we have many wounded."
Abraham motions for the group to join them. "Any of you who are strong, we must get da water from da river to put out da fires. And we must get da injured into da church so dat we can stop dere bleeding. I am sorry dat you must see us in such an inhospitable time, we must have a better welcome for you later."
Hildegarde stops near the edge of the clearing, looking around the villaige and assessing the situation. After a few moments she removes her shades and hands them to Rashmi. "I'm going to get water for those fires. I don't want to get those wet. Travis, do you think you could help with the wounded?" She dashes off toward one of the huts and picks up a rather large bucket, one that does not appear that it is meant to be carried by a single person. She turns and dashes toward the river, fills up the massive bucket, and begins moving back up the hill. A few of the villaigers actually stop for a moment to watch the woman, but they resume their duties when they see her moving to put out the fires.
Rashmi barely pauses to take hold of Hilde's glasses before she's off to the largest concentration of wounded, waving Travis after her every step of the way. "While she may not be a healer, she paid close attention in her emergency first aid classes and does her best to put that training to use, trying hard to keep her voice soothing and reassuring as she gets her hands bloody. Which is a task all its own, but she manages.
Travis can't help but wait for the looks as he's a stranger in this land whose not only white but has six arms. He knows it's going to be awkward but taking a deep breath he looks to Hosea and the man called Abraham after nodding to Hilde. "If anyone is seriously injured, I can heal them and make sure they're okay. So just let me know which one you want me to do." Since if anyone is in danger of dying, he can make sure that they live. Once directed to the wounded, Travis starts to heal as many villages as possible.
Robin raises her hands in the air and closes her eyes, and Blank's 'eyes' open. She opts to also help with the retrieval of water, controlling her puppet to do it for her. Blank is, after all, much stronger and faster than she is.
The heat near the fires is intense, enough to make a person somewhat faint, and Hosea joins in moving the wounded. Inside the church, several people are already lying on mats. Some of them are quite terribly wounded, missing arms, large gashes, gunshot wounds. A white man and woman are inside, a surprising sight, since everyone else is most decidedly African. "Rashmi, we shall need gauze," he tells her. I will return shortly with all dat I can carry." The smell of blood is rather thick. There is little sterilization, and the white couple hardly look up as Travis joins them in the healing process, they are busy tending to a gunshot wound on a young man, maybe fifteen years old.
The fires rage, and the men carrying the buckets watch as the blue puppet joins them. Most of what they are saying, however, isn't English. The tribal men jabber at one another in an African dialect, and…begin to sing? Yes, in the midst of this terrible and violent situation, the men who are moving the water along have begun to sing some sort of African tune. It's even a merry sounding one.
Rashmi glances up as Hosea makes his stop, nodding shortly. Until the gauze arrives, she busies herself splinting bones and tying tourniquets her face set in grim concentration. Until, that is, the song of the villagers pierces her focus, and while she only looks up for an instant, the upbeat voice does a great deal to ease the tension from her back and shoulders, pulling the shudder from her voice as she explains what she has to do for a six-year-old with a broken leg. Whether her words are understood or not, her tone is gentle, hushed, and the nearest ambulatory woman is motioned over to help hold the child still.
Soon the fires are out, the wounded who have survived have proper medical attention, and those who have been doing the intensive labor have come to rest. In all, twelve people are dead, another fifteen are missing. Three homes were lost, and nineteen are wounded. A certain exhausted silence falls over the people of the village, drained from the day's dramatic events.
Welcome to Africa.
