Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ameh 
Raiden stayed on the tree before the lily pad for far longer than he'd stayed on any of the others. He was debating with himself. His wand was very, very close, and he hadn't squashed the bugs in his pocket - he'd been very careful to meet the tree with his opposite hip, to avoid reducing his offering to bug paste. If he dropped the branch... he'd have to do the last few trees in the dark. Which wouldn't be any kind of fun.
Either way, he had to move. He wasn't doing anything by just standing here.
Taking a deep breath, the boy readied himself, body tensing as all muscles prepared to jump. Last time, he'd not quite managed to get up onto the tree, and had had to struggle to pull himself up. This time... this time he couldn't do that. He had to get on the tree right away, and he had to do it without dropping the branch of light and without squashing his bag of wood lice.
Jump.
His foot made a splash as it connected with the lily pad and the water rippled around it; without hesitation, he pushed, feeling the thing give way as it had before. Left hand scrambled against the bark, and his left foot found purchase against a root. He wobbled off-balance for a moment, as his closed right fist scraped against the trunk, unwilling to extend fingers to gain a better grip.
His balance was precarious for a very, very terrifying moment.
And finally, his right foot found a root and slammed down on it, and his left side smashed against the tree almost painfully as he forcibly leaned into it.
NOT. FALLING. NOW. Far too close for that.
He held onto the tree, drawing ragged breaths to ease the panic that had gripped him for the few seconds he teetered on the brink of tumbling into the water.
It took him a few minutes to recover his calm, but eventually, he loosened his grip on the tree, straightened himself up, and carried on. So, so close.
He reached the tree he'd been at before.
Your woodlice are mostly preserved, the mashed variety only a small portion, and ground nicely into the shirt.
The bowtruckles are, again, extremely agitated as you return, scrambling to and fro in the branches of the tree that holds your wand.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BanaBatGirl
The light that burns twice as bright burns half as low...... and Fletcher could see something illuminated in the light now... a long, thin outline... but what could it be? Is it some new disease? They call it....
"MY WAND!" he yelped excitedly, nearly falling off the tree he was straddling as he tried to reach for it. Grabby!hands! He snatched and he snatched at the empty air and knew full well that there was no way this was over so soon.
Of course not. There had to be tree wand guardians. Magical creatures. Great. Bowtruckles were about as bad as dugbogs in Fletcher's most educated opinion. Sighing to himself, the boy shook his head and knew what he must do.
Turn around. Yep. He had to go back and get something to distract the bowtruckles with. They didn't happen to eat gillyweed, did they? Halfheartedly, the boy pulled a great big lump of the rat-tail lookin plant out of his pocket and leaned toward his wand, offering it up to the bowtruckles.
It was worth a shot. "Pleeeeeeeeease?" he pleaded with the little stick-like creatures. "Be niiiiiiiice?"
As you approach, the frenzy in the tree escalates, the bowtruckles alerted to your presence first by your light and then by your flailing.
Reaching out to them in their agitation was a mistake. One bowtruckle leaps toward your outstretched hand but instead of taking the gillyweed, it rakes its sharp fingers over the back of your hand.
The way you came is much the same to double back by. The lilypads you sunk have returned to the surface.
But you might want to hurry. The tree guardians are approaching.