Cris was free falling down the hill with Bay and Jasmine when he heard someone yelling out that they had to move to the sides of the slide.

The sides? Was there even one? Cris thought to himself as he raised his head to look. All he could see were trees and boulders. But then he saw it. The ground where it was more solid. Cris maneuvered his body by pointing his legs and body towards the sides. He used his hands like rudders to help with the momentum.

Were they moving to the sides? Cris couldn't tell. "Use your body to moves towards the sides. Try to angle towards it," Cris called out to both Bay and Jasmine.

So grateful that Cris had managed to grab ahold of Bay. "THANK YOU" he yelled as there were sliding down this crazy hill. Seeing that Cris was being the hero of the day grabbed on to another person, a girl.

Wait what was he hearing, did Professor Romanos tell them to get to the sides. "I'm going to let go to turn myself around" he warned Cris and the other person.

Wiggling around he tried his best to turn on his back so he cold at least use his arms to direct himself, after a few minutes of struggling Bay had managed it. "Yes" he said as he then started to use his arms to get to the sides, kind of like backwards swimming.

Now that he was near the sides, things were a bit better plus he was going down on his back so he could see what was coming. Looking back he hoped that Cris and the girl were managing okay.

Still sliding he waited to hear if Professor Romanos was going to suggest anything else.

Oh yep...definitely...

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAH!!!

While the astronomer subconsciously was thinking of the perfect song for this situation, he was more concerned with the well being of the students. Mud slides were no laughing matter. He had seen research sites destroyed by them. Somehow keeping his wits enough about him to cast a Gripping Charm on his hand to keep a firm hold on his wand, Airey aims it behind him and next began casting an especially strong Hot Air Charm to, er, turn himself into a makeshift wizarding rocket.

*SCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

The spell propelled the man forward - a man who was very much resisting the urge to raise both hands above his head like he was on one of those muggle rollingcoasters - until he was far enough to the side that the ground beneath him was stable enough to stand. ROPES! He needed ropes!

Conjuring several, he attached them to the trunk of a tree and tossed the other ends towards those still stuck in the slide. "Grab hold!"

Ropes!! They were appearing out of nowhere but Cris wasn't complaining. Since Bay had let go off his hand, Cris now had a hand free to grab madly for one of those ropes. His finders brushed against one but failed to hold on. So he tried again. This time his fingers had a firmer hold.

The moment he grabbed on, he continued falling a few feet more before the rope picked up the slack and straightened. Cris could feel the tug and immediately found himself sliding towards the side...dangling by the rope but no longer falling.

Breathing heavily he held on tight to Jasmine, hoping the rope would hold both their weight.

Bay kept sliding what else was he supposed to do thats when he heard Professor Flamsteed yell something… what was it… HOLD? hold onto what, thats when he was hit by a rope..

A ROPE!!!! HE WAS SAVED!

his fingers were having a tough time trying to grab a hold of the rope that hit him because of the mud but he managed. Staying put as the Mud rushed by him he looked up.

"THANKS PROFESSOR" he yelled as he saw other students including Cris grab ahold. phew they were saved for the time being, so did they just hold on and wait for it to stop or climb up or down the rope to safety?

"what do we do now?" he cranked his neck to ask Professor Flamsteed, hopefully he had some ideas.

One minute she was in the mud, next she was being stood back up straight. By Declan. "Thanks, I think I'll be..........."

But before she could finish that thought, she was tumbling down again. What?! Was the mud really that slippery? And why was she going downhill this time? Then she heard it. The word that struck fear right into her very heart. She'd heard of mudslides and the damage they could do before, especially if one was caught in the very bottom of one. She really didn't want to experience that. Nope. She started doggie paddling through the mud, searching for something to use as a sled, when she heard who she thought was Professor Romanos yelling to get to the side of the slide. Okay, that made more sense.

And random rope. Layla grabbed hold of it, tugging to make sure it was secure before reaching out to grab whomever was nearest and pulling them with her to the side.

He wasn't too sure, but it felt like half his body was under mud. This was it. This is how he was gonna go. Samantha hated him. His parents were distraught. Rorie won't speak to him and now this. Before he could even go to school! He was actually pretty excited to go to SCHOOL! That didn't happen too much, Hogwarts! Oh, yep. Mud was up to his chest now. Dec pulled his arms above him, so that at least someone might spot his hands when he went under. GOODBYE CRUEL WO--WHAT? What was that?? He opened his eyes to see Layla's hand in front of him. Grabbing a hold of it, he pulled himself out of the mud enough to grab the rope she was holding in her other hand and not pull her down with him.

Once he had a secure grab on the rope, he just...started laughing. Laughing louder and louder until he couldn't breathe, "Please tell me this isn't just like another day at Hogwarts."

Jasmine heard Professor Romanos yell for them to get to the sides of the sides of he slide. Then everything happened all at once. The boy that Cris was holding onto let go and tried to get to the side by himself. Cris started maneuvering his body in that direction and yelled for Jasmine to do the same. She tried to position herself so that she was angled toward the side and hoped that the mud would take her there.

Suddenly a rope appeared and when Cris grabbed it, they began to slow down. Finally, they came to a stop. Releasing her death grip on Cris, Jasmine grabbed the rope, held on and started to pull herself in the direction of more stable ground. She looked behind her to make sure that Cris was OK and following her. What do you say to someone with whom you've shared a near death experience? "Thank you", was all she managed to say.

Mo heard Professor Romanos yelling, and even if he didn't understand precisely what was happening, he understood the gist - secure your person as quickly as possible and then try to help those around you. It did credit to his years as a mishandled younger sibling that Mo had his wand out of its holster moments later, and he cast the first thing that he thought of at the mud sliding beneath his feet. "Arresto Momentum. Duro!" Anything, really, to get a firm footing as Mo dove for the trees just off the path.

When he scrambled to his feet, his classmates were still sliiiiiiiiiding, though, disappearing down the hill in a tumble of trees and rocks and lots of MUD. How was he supposed to help them when they were so far away and continuing to move past? For all that quick thinking, Mo had the sudden sad thought that he might have to figure out how to get home alone unless he could help the group stop their fall... and then there was Airey with his ropes.

ROPE! "Incarcerous. Incarcerous." Mo shot rope after rope from his wand, wrapping one end securely around trees further down the slope and tying them off to a tree by his side before casting again. Maybe he could catch someone who couldn't reach any of Airey's ropes?

With muddy hands that were beginning to slide down the rope, Cris was glad for Jasmine's quick thinking as she grabbed a rope and pulled herself away from the mudslide. Now that he had both hands free he was able to pull himself up and away from the slippery mud and onto more solid, even though it was still slippery ground.

He heard Jasmine thank him, and believe it or not, he still had time to blush, before saying, "You would have done the same too," he smiled at her.

Then his attention was on the boy who had given him a hand up, trying to catch some of the students with ropes he was casting from his wand and Cris decided that he needed to help somehow too.

Quickly wrapping one end of the rope around his waist, he tied a knot and then he grabbed a couple more ropes before stepping back into the sliding mud again as he tried to reach out to grab anyone who was sliding by him.

"Quick, grab my hand!!," he called out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cedric

Schuyler was a mud mess. A mess of mud. And maybe a hot mess.. but it was hard to tell under the poncho and mud.

From down in the gushy earth, she looked up when she heard a voice offering to help her. Not just any voice, but the headmistress' voice. .....And was she stifling a smile? Her eyes glanced to her extended hand, then up to her face again. Hmmh. Those hands looked a little too clean. Actually, all of her did. She smiled and reached out, "Thank you, Headmistress...." Aaaaand when she took the proffered hand, she MAY have tugged on it more in an attempt to drag the woman down than in an attempt to get up.

And oh look, there went that kid Cris tumbling uncontrollably. And there was another one. And another one..

It was just a mudslide sort of day.

Annie's precious Valentino boots were stuck. STUCK in the MUD on a random hill in Merlinknowswhere, Peru. She was taking deep breaths to calm herself when she saw a rolling human cannonball (Cris) coming her way.

"EEEEEP!" the redhead braced for impact and covered her face with an arm, but the impact never came. Whaa? Oh, the Emmons girl was taking her hand! Finally! Annie didn't realize how STRONG Schulyer was, apparently, and the tug on her hand was more than enough to pop her OUT OF HER BOOTS and into the mud.

Greaaaaaaat. "Just greaaaaaaat," the redhead moaned to herself as she wiped brown FILTH out of her eyes. She started to reach for her still-stuck boots when there was a rumble, and the boots actually started to move her way. Uh? UHUHUH??! WHY WERE THEY SHOUT---

"MUDSLIIIIIIIIDE!" Annie SCREAMED for dear life, grabbing her precious boots with one hand and pressing them to her chest, and scrambling for the Gryffindor girl beside her with the other. "SOMEONE ARRESTO OUR MOMENTUM, PLEEEEEEEASE!"

Obviously her wand arm was incapcitated because boots! BUT REALLY, HEEELLLLLPPPPP!!!!!!

All she could see at this point was mud rocketing by them as they too rode the mud down the hillside. Or was that...the Astronut?!!

Seeing the Headmistress coming towards him, Cris immediately took out his wand and cast the spell,"Arresto Momentum....Arresto Momentum....Arresto Momentum," at her and some of his fellow classmates hoping to slow their downward momentum.

"Come on...come on...grab my hand," he called out as he leaned forward to catch.

There were ropes! Ropes oh thank you ropes…reaching her arms up above her head she tried to get contact with at least one of Professor Flamsteed’s spiderman web ropes. One rope brushed through her fingers.

It took almost all of her energy for her to shift to the left so she was sliding down the hill more than playing her hand at being Wesley. All she needed to do earlier was cry one “As you wish” as that was to date one of the only movies she had finished.

“ROPE!” She called out happily as one shot out next to her, her hand instinctively shooting out as it had those terms before for Quidditch. Thank you quaffle-catching-skills! “Thanks for the Rope!” She called out as she tipped her head up and spotted Mo, Macabre had saved her life…well possibly. For all she knew they could have been tumbling into a ravine full of fluffy puppies…but the likelihood of that was beyond slim.

Even with the rope in her hand she kept slipping. Hand. Burning.

She heard the voice. A really deep voice at that…a nice voice. Saying to grab the voice’s owner’s hand. Sure. The voice had her at Quick, grab my hand! And so she did. She reached her hand out and clung onto the guy’s arm with a strong vice grip.

“Thank you for the hand” she called out nervously to Cris who she had barely even said a word to before. Sure she had known his brother, somewhat…if bowling and a failed attempt at a duel was considered knowing someone. “THANKS FOR THE ROPE MACABRE” she also called out before taking her own wand out and casting her own ropes.

Hopefully Kaiden would get one. She would not be happy if something happened to him…or if he died. That would be sad.

Finally grasping the wand, she flicked it up in a hurry. A small portion of the mud in her path shot up and hardened into a smooth looking flat mud statue. With the momentum she had, she kicked it down and stood up in one fluid motion. Mudboarding anyone?

Easily boarding towards the side of the mudslide, she stumbled off the mud piece and took a deep breath. Holy mother of hippogriffs.

Spinning back around, she stood close to one of the trees, searching for those who still needed help. Ropes? Oh, slava bogu, good good. Smart move. Did any of the students or professors NOT grab a rope though? How many of them had fallen!? And why did her shoulder ache something awful? Casting "arresto momentum" at the portion of mud in front of her to catch anyone who missed a rope, she leaned against the tree and glanced up to those who were more or less safe.

"Did anyvon see if someone missed a rope?" Or was currently stuck? Kinda hard to tell from her position.

Ooowwwiee!! Cris didn't expect the vicelike grip of the girl who had somehow grabbed hold of his arm. He quickly grabbed onto her pulling her close...enough to give her a rope.

"No problem. Here grab this. I'm going to push you over to where Mo is," at least he figured that was the boy's name. The one who had sent out those ropes for people to snag onto.

Cris waited for the girl to grab the rope before heaving off and pushing her towards safety. Then he turned his attention back onto the others. He heard Romanos asking whether they had seen anyone miss a rope. Had there been people in front of him when they all fell? Cris looked down the hill trying to see but he couldn't tell from where he was. He called out shaking his head.

"I don't know. I can't tell. If it's okay with you, I'm going to stay here a while longer to see," he told her as he turned to look back up the hill.

Wow, wow! And she thought SHE was having problems going up the slippery hill.Turned out people had it worse. So as people skidded and slipped, she tried to stay away and clear the way for them to flail or even fall. They were welcome. Because really, her trying to catch someone would only end in her falling with them if not ON them. And everyone knew that the more weight the dangerous the fall would be. See, she was thinking ahead. She was also impressed by herself and thought that she was cut out for this life in the wilds.

But that thought evaporated immediately when they stepped in whatever that they stepped in. Was this the ground even? Couldn't be, she liked the ground because she could stand steadily on her without this feeling of sinking she was experiencing right now.

They definitely shouldn't have stepped in here. Yup. Wrong move. Where was their so-called guide again? Hmmm?

ROPES! Now those were awfully helpful when flailing and trying to to get to the side like whoever was shouting. Sounded like Romanos.

Cassia held on to a rope and with all her strength pulled herself to the siiide frantically while her feet kicked off lots of mud in merlin knew whose direction. But good news she was now on the side. Tapping her feet lightly to the ground, she made sure that she wasn't on the mudslide anymore and allowed herself to let got of the rope.

"....I am here," In case they were wondering. And Romanos was asking so yeah. But she didn't know about the others. WHERE WAS LEX? Who would be having lots of fun right now, as the snake assumed.

If this is some horrid nightmare from the indigestion of last night's meal... Huxley would really like to wake up now.

So come on.... WAKE UP!

But all the stinging and smacking from the debris all around her kinda makes it hard to keep thinking none of this is real. She felt like she was drowing-- worse! She was suffocating.

Her arms were flailing in the sorry attempt of trying to grab hold of something to arrest her fall when pain shot through her wrist. She shrieked again. It had hurt and it took her a few seconds to realize that someone was holding onto it. "Whut? Whuuutt??" she coughed and spat amidst the mud still raining around her. Kinda hard to talk and understand anything when one is concentrating on not getting mud down your gullet.

But then something else hit her smack on the face. Several something elses. Another shrieking spell, but now realized what they were-- ROPES! The brunette seized one and gripped her hands around it, with the singular goal of pulling herself to safety. She was too young to dieeeee [/dramatic]

She finally collapsed on more solid ground and finally looked up. Oh so it was from this boy (Cris) she didnt know. She didnt really care. She was SAVED! A glance to her side and she saw that the girl that nearly broke her wrist was her fellow Claw girl (Lily) and Mika was just a few yards away. Sighs and gasps, head plops back on the muddy foliage, but nice and unmoving this time.

The shriek that had come from Huxley as she’d grabbed her wrist almost caused Lily to lose hold, simply because it had reminded her of what she’d wanted to do when she’d pulled her legs up to try and slow her momentum earlier. She hadn’t wanted to hurt the other girl, just keep her from ending up lost in the mud and debris that was still trying to sweep them down to the bottom of the hill. She hadn’t figured out how she was going to move toward the trees to try and grab onto one of those with her other hand, either, so it was all just hoping that she hadn’t broken anyone’s wrist and that they’d stop moving eventually. At that point, she couldn’t even say she was worried about injuries. The pain she’d felt in her hips had lessened significantly, so she figured that meant she hadn’t actually done damage. She just had to hope they wouldn’t end up slammed against a rock or something.

She’d gotten confused for a second when she’d felt like they were slowing down, wondering if that meant the mudslide was winding to a close. With all the shrieks from Huxley and everything, she’d missed the spells that had been cast, and between all the rest of the distractions, she wasn’t sure what was up and what was down anymore. Aside from obviously knowing that they were headed down the hill. Except for the fact she could still see and at least mostly hear, she almost wondered if she’d gotten hit on the head at some point, especially as she’d suddenly not felt the other girl’s wrist in her hand anymore. The confusion got even worse when she’d stopped sliding altogether, and it took her a moment to scramble back to her feet and look around. It looked like everyone was accounted for. The group was all much more spread out than they’d been before, though, so she could have been missing people. “I’m here too,” she said, almost randomly as she’d heard Cassia speak. At the sound of her own voice she’d snapped out of her haze, too, and immediately spun her pack around and dug inside to check on her guitar.

At least that was still in perfect condition, unlike what she felt like. She’d left a few smears of mud on the outside of the guitar case, but aside from that, it was fine. Poking her head back out, she closed the pack and swung it back to her back again, noticing Huxley and Mika several yards away. “Are you guys okay?,” she asked, gingerly stepping over to them. There was no telling if the ground was going to fall out from under her again. She was crossing her fingers that she’d at least get to them safely, however, and she breathed a sigh of relief as she did.

As with all good things, this mudslide had to come to an end. Yeah. That. She must have tumbled a bit and could feel some general discomfort but nothing like when her joints were saying no back at school so this was FINE. Nothing broken, just sore.

People were slowing the mud and ooo lookit, rope! Nifty things they were when you were fast hurtling down a hill with NO IDEA where you might land. Personally she wouldn't have objected to falling in a dragon lair but it didn't look like they'd get that chance, not when protective measures were being put into place like these here ropes that Lex grudgingly and maybe with some relief ahem grabbed hold of.

From her position she tried glancing around and up and the others. Didn't look like anyone was still free-tumbling to their doom but you know, she could be wrong. Some people were good at dying quietly. Considerate little buggers they were.

Lex managed to settle herself on the no longer moving earth at which point she made wobbly steps over to the others. "Here. With rope. Yes. Can I fly like Professor Airey just did?" Please? They were getting in experiences, yes?

Orsino had held himself back from the Group for a brief moment a couple of yards back just before the hill. He could have sworn he spotted a Beehive high up in a Tall Tree. Not wanting to miss this chance in that it could possibly be the Stingless bees he had heard so much about, the Massive Groundskeeper took out his wand and placed the Griping charm on his hands.

Scaling the Tree and about halfway up Kirby looked down in the direction of the Students went. He didn't want to get to far seperated from them. He wasn't going to place this Beehive above the Trip if it ended up being to far for him to get too and he lost sight of the Group...

MERLIN WHAT!?!?!

He was only away from it all for a few minutes...He watched with his eyes nearly popping themselves out of his aviators. Undoing the charm on his hands. Kirby did something similar to a Ground Pound on landing and rushed to the top of the Hill. "EVERYONE OKAY!?" He barked in a worried tone of voice. His eyes moving around frantically behind his shades attempting to make a count of everyone. "I can pull you all up!" Or he could go join them....in a less life threatenly Muddy sort of way.

Was Flamsteed Flying?

Well he was not dead and wished he had a what do you call it..oh a mountain board. But that probably would not take on this mud and would be a horrible idea. Shame. It would have been fun. Still what Flameo was doing was something not even Nigel thought about doing. That was impressive. He was just zooming on down.

Oooo a rope.

Nigel grabbed on reluctantly. Since he had no idea where the slide ends. The only thing left to do was avoid what guys usually do when they find a rope to swing on . Making tarzan noises and pretending they are in a jungle. Though this time Nigel did not have to pretend. The sad part was he could not really swing on it. It was just there to hold on to.

"Present and how did Flamsteed do that?"

Nigel said planting his feet on solid..semi solid ground.

Cris was glad to see that many of the students and staff has grabbed onto the ropes and were now pulling themselves to safety. The mudslide was slowly losing its momentum. The disaster was over.

He pulled himself over to the safe side before untying the rope from around his waist. Then he collapsed to the ground, his legs trembling and weak. Breathing heavily he looked over at his fellow expedition mates. Except for being covered in mud, everyone looked alright.

Thank Merlin! He thought to himself as he looked back up the hill wondering what had caused the mudslide.

Fly like...Professor Flamsteed? Did she miss something?

Mentally keeping count of those who verbally noted their presence, at least the ones she could hear, she squinted up the hill once she heard Orsino and almost managed a smile. A sigh of relief, yes. Oh thank Merlin, at least one person didn't land in this mess. "Backtrack vest a dozen feet or so before climbing." she called out, holding her left shoulder. Ouchie. "The mud is too soft here." Another mudslide? No thank you.

Glancing down the hill, she gingerly picked up her mudboard with her right arm, and caaaarefully moved down from tree to tree, on the lookout for anyone stuck. She'd catch up with the others in a few minutes.

Come on, grab my hand! Annie reaaaaached and reaaaaaached for the young man's hand, but her fingers just slipped past him. Well, she had saved her boots and a Gryffindor, at least. Anastasia wouldn't consider that an entire loss. Plus, like, they had gotten to ride partially down a mountain on a giant pile of mud! Wasn't that just AWESOME?

Not. Annie would have taken solid ground over this mess any day. YUCK. Thank Merlin for magic, though, because without that arresto momentum... they probably would have still been sliding. Once they came to a stop-ish at a tree, the redhead let go of Schulyer's arm and tried her best to stand up from the mud. Only... it was very sticky mud. VERY sticky mud, and every time she gained a bit of traction on what she thought was the ground, she lost her bare feet in the mud again.

"UGH!" the Headmistress let out a screech of frustration. Where was the big burly groundskeeper? Hadn't she hired him to keep her out of messes like this?!

There was no way that a British Owl Post owl would be able to make it all the way to Peru, nor would Quincy send one that far for fear of loosing one of his prized owls, but he did elect the assistance of wizarding post offices around the world, passing the letter from office to office until it had managed to make it to the school group in Peru.

The Buff-fronted owl zipped and zoomed across the under the treeline, eyes searching for the headmistress until.... there! He'd found her!

Swooping down, he landed on the tree beside her, holding the leg with the letter attached to it.