"Well, now for the hard part.  Carrying them even farther than we already had to carry them."

Lucky is so relieved and so creeped out by Robo Emmy slumping over he can't hold back the tears and reaches out to hug Emmy.

"I'm so relieved that you're ok!  When I first saw her like that, I thought for sure you were dead.  And to think you died from nightmare poison...  It was overwhelming.  I was ready to carry your body back home so the others could say goodbye.  I'm so glad we'll be carrying living people instead!"

Emerald looks from Joe to Lucky and back. "We don't have to carry them. Now that they are here, we can simply wake them up and have them carry themselves."

Emerald then hugs Lucky back. Lucky can feel a relatively tight grip from her. "I'm happy to be alive also... thank you for your concern." she puts on a sad smile. "Let's get these people awake."

Soon, the badgers are awake and make their way to Channelwood with the group. Emerald idly pets Lucky as they head there. "Sorry for snapping at you earlier. It's been a very rough 36 hours. I have lost some people I cared about... and haven't slept."

  It's clearly that lack of sleep that was the biggest hardship.

  "Well, hopefully you'll get a chance to soon.  You know, after all the busywork of getting these new people sorted."  Live people are more work than dead ones.  Unless it's zombies.

Lucky gave Emmy a sad smile too.  He'd figured she might be dealing with loss already.  Did she have a telepathic link with her double?  More likely a radio link.  That must be how she learned about the dead.  He purrs from the pets and snuggles her side to try and help comfort her.

"Already forgiven, Emmy.  I understand.  Love you!"

"You, me, and the others can help get 'em situated while Emmy rests.  I'm sure she can tell us on the way about any special needs the badgers are unable to tell us themselves for whatever reason.

But Lucky seriously doubts Emmy will be needed so badly that she can't sleep when they get back home.  "...and this child is mute.  And I'm the only one that knows all of her 400 food allergies."

Emerald doesn't really have any special needs to inform Lucky and Joe about.

Soon, the group are coming up to where Channelwood is and Katy spots them coming. Apparently, either Katy is not sick anymore, or she overheard what is going on. Either way, the coon rushes to glomp Emerald. "Oh Emerald... you're OK! I'm so glad you're back!"

She looks past Emerald to Joe and Lucky... and the village worth of badgers. "....what's with all the people?"

Emerald quickly answers, "They are refugees who just lost their home. Found them in need of a new home. Figured here was a decent place to start. And thanks, Katy... I missed you too."

Soon, Katy recalls the search parties with a signal Michael had set up.

Now home and knowing everything is in place and that her friends will help her other friends, Emerald falls unconscious. Michael quickly has the doctor take her and care for her.

  Joe sighs (Once, not twice, no snorting).  "Right, Lucky, you take care of obsessively worrying about Emerald while he gets some rest.  I'll pretend I'm not just as concerned as you are and help the new arrivals get settled."

Sure Lucky doted over Emmy like a mother hen, but he did make an effort to brag to the badgers about how amazing awesome the people of Channelwood are.  To hear him describe it, you would think the place a collection of noble heroes...  which is pretty accurate, really.

To Joe's comment he looks confused. "You're too modest, Joe.  Pretending to be less concerned won't fool anyone after you risked your life to help find Emmy.  Sorry for freaking out earlier over touching the book... that secret thing we're not supposed to talk about.  Your instincts were right that doing what you did would lead us to her.  Still think we shoulda at least left a note if not told someone...  but I guess then Emmy's big secret would gotten out."

He sighs.  "I guess common sense breaks down when 'dangerous to even know' things are involved."

He'll continue to help the newcomers get situated while Emmy rests, and will use that as his excuse for not giving specifics on what happened if anyone should ask.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:46, Fri 11 Sept 2015.

Katy busies herself with the badgers and certainly puts Joe to work on that.

It's late evening and the badgers have been pretty much given temporary housing where they will be each sharing huts with everyone else in Channelwood. Katy heads over to Joe. "Thanks for all the help with the new comers. Sorry to ask after all this, but I have something I need you to look into: Aquarius sent a brief distress call before it got cut short. I'd go, but I need to tend to Channelwood now more than ever."

(Lucky can easily overhear this if he likes)

  "Can hardly blame you there Katy."  He doesn't bring up that they are heading for a water themed place after leaving somewhere with murder water.  Because Lucky can work that out all by himself.

  So proud.

  "Anything specific, or was the call so short that all we got out of it was distress in general?"

Lucky was wiped after all that happened but tried to help out anyhow.  It didn't take long before he was assured that he wasn't needed and sent to bed.  Upon waking he had a late dinner then went looking for Katy to volunteer for anything else that needed done.

"Oh dear.  I wonder what could be wrong.  Hopefully its only technical problems with the radio."

To Joe he asks, "Have you had any rest today?"

Katy says, "The call was Shelly saying something about being trapped in Aquarius and for us to please send help. Then it got cut off."

  "I got enough rest between badgers to deal with this, at least.  Besides, not like you wouldn't go if you missed naptime, right Lucky?"

  He'll get going as soon as narratively convenient.

(Narration is moving this along. Joe and Lucky are heading to Aquarius. Up to you two if you want to RP en route, or for me to go ahead and get the other thread started)

"If they're trapped because they're surrounded by robo-sharks, there won't be much just the two of us can do to help them.  I'm at a loss for what could be done for them even with lots of people without much stronger weapons.  Maybe... if we take a big team with lots of ropes... we could tangle up the enemy?"

To Joe he answers, "Well sure... but after what happened to Emerald, I've become extra worried about people putting themselves in danger due to lack of rest."

He'll try and recruit as many as he can to come along with ropes and any weapons they can carry unless a better idea is presented.

  "Don't worry Lucky, I only act like I have self destructive tendencies." Then again, he also considers doing life threatening things to save others suicidal tendencies, so his outlook is probably a bit skewed there,

Lucky quickly discovers the results of having a whole village of strangers suddenly enter Channelwood: Nobody is available to help with the latest non-Channelwood crisis because they are too busy helping their own home in Channelwood.

To be fair, a number of Channelwood citizens sound like they WANT to go help, but just as they are about to, something comes up.

Autumn: "Oh... I don't know how much help I'd be. But I'll be happy t-" CRASH! "...oh dear. I think that was the kitchen... If I don't fix this, the town will starve in the morning..."

Benjamin: "Sorry. I'm on watch duty for the next 12 hours. I tried finding someone to cover for me earlier, but everyone's busy."

Daemon: "I'm kind of busy decoding this message we intercepted from Middletown. Katy says its probably important, so I have to stay on task..."

Mika (covered in children, half of which are badgers): "With Emerald out and Autumn handling the kitchen, I'm pretty much it for watching the children..."

Maverick: "I'll help how I can if I'm allowed to go with you..."

OK, so Lucky finds ONE person.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:35, Tue 22 Sept 2015.

Lucky chuckled at Joe's answer and gave him a smiley nod.  He's not surprised at the lack of available backup because he trusts that if there was much to be had Katy would have already asked them to go too.  But circumstances change, so thaat's why he bothered asking around.  He's of course sure to thank those willing to help.  And the one able to.

"You're very brave, Maverick," Lucky compliments, "Thanks for offering!"

Maverick stabbing a cyber shark into submission is probably something that hasn't happened yet, but Lucky finds himself able picture it anyway for some reason.

  It is true that there is no evidence that maverick tore the jaw off a cyber shark and stabbed it in the head with it. That we can find, at least.

  "Well, I'm not stopping you at least."

Maverick gets payed in BLOOD... or cuddles. He likes him his cuddles.
And yes, he can make robots bleed.

Maverick smiles from being called brave and not being denied access to the latest mission. He proceeds to follow Joe and Lucky.

(Skipping ahead)

The trek to Aquarius is lengthy as usual when the group doesn't have a vehicle handy. But Maverick doesn't complain, at least.

As the trio get closer to Aquarius, they can see the entire lake is frozen over.

Lucky is sure to get caught up with Joe and Maverick about how well the badgers have been settling in so far.  And of course he'll be more than happy to give his favorite overlander orphan an advance on his cuddles.  When he arrives at the frozen lake he stares and gawks in surprise.

"What the...  I've never heard of a lake freezing over so fast that the AFF wouldn't be able to prepare an exit...  Poisonous oil-slick would be more believable and up Robotnic's alley.  So I'm thinking magic is involved here.  Which means you turn to ice if you touch the lake or look at your reflection.  Let's test things before getting any closer."

He pulls up a nearby weed and tosses it at the ice to see what terrible thing happens.

  "It really hasn't been a good couple of days to live near large bodies of water, yeah."  His player tries to remember if there were any notable entry methods to Aquarius that don't involve swimming, though it's been probably literal years since Aquarius has turned up in posts.

Maverick, of course, soaks up and returns any and all cuddles. His only weakness. :3

The weed flops onto the ice and... nothing happens to it.

Reminder to players: There was an elevator that lead outside; it rose up from the ground.

However! Maverick goes to the location of said elevator, and pulls the secret lever inside a tree stump. Nothing. The elevator doesn't come up.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:15, Wed 07 Oct 2015.

To Joe Lucky nods.  "For real...

"If you haven't heard, Mav, the badgers fled an ocean turned deadly."

Lucky is ready to shoot whatever monster emerges from the ice.  And when Mav tries the elevator, he's ready to shoot whatever monster jumps out from the elevator.  But nothing happens.  So he relaxes his bow a bit. "Well I guess that was to be expected.  So what now?  Should we try and force it open and climb down?  Or experiment with the ice more first?"

  "Elevator is the most practical option.  Not like there is any lack of elevator shaft crawling experience among us."  Though normally it's not for places your friends live.

  He'll get to working towards a more forced access to the elevator.