Arkcology

[rubyrubyruby]

The bad-idea rope bridge has been reduced from three lines to one. Where once there were essentially two hand-holds and a place to place a foot, there's just one tenuous rope. The Magic carpet was rather deftly piloted by the Barber-Surgeon, Sidonie. Her two passengers, Merrisol and Ruby, were safely pulled from the national geographic feeding frenzy happening between sea and sky. The Fellicans were the victors, gulping more missile-like barracudas. The latter managed to spear and pull down some of the airborne predators, but nature favoured one side over the other.
Betting sailors exchanged money when folks were deposited on the Ark, it of the rather strong primal scent. Yarrr, there be animals kept here.

When there is a break in the storm of scales and feathers Chase makes a dash for the deck and turns a baleful gaze on the magic carpet and it's occupents. "What the HELL!"he rumbles.

This Ark is positioned so that it doesn't get a face full of the belching smoke of the Forge-Ark. Previous formations resulted in the worst kind of braying and stomping, threatening multiple decks with internal damage from spooked critters. The sounds they made ensured certain late night watches wouldn't nod off.
The ship has a large number of portholes and hatches that can be opened and closed, for both stable-keeping matters (yuck, pitch that over the side), and to circulate some air when the sea isn't too rough. There's a ton of metal rings bolted onto the side of the hull for speculative reasons. It's also the slowest of the Arks, determining the overall speed of the fleet. There's be a lot of grumbling about this throughout the fleet. Its manner of propulsion is said to be weird daisy wheels along the bottom of the keel, sort of like a Mississipi steamboat. Hard to tip this sucker over, but not the best for ocean voyaging.

Sidonie managed to not crash them into the side of the Ark, or the ocean. She also did fly them close enough to Merrisol to pull him away from the flying and swooping death beasts. Overall, that's good, right? As soon as they land the magic carpet on the deck of the (Noah's) Ark and Ruby and Merrisol's physical integrity is confirmed, the surgeon clambers up to the railing to gawk at the feeding frenzy below. "Hell is right!" she exclaims, grinning like a madwoman, at Chase's rumble.

Merrisol makes like one of the four-legs upon spilling from the downed carpet, which is at least a step up from the slithery no-legs critters. He levers back onto his haunches - unf, and feels randomly around his person, checking for secured pockets as well as intact limbs. His soaked coat is shellacked with said scales and feathers, some fish entrails, and some runny plops of bird manufacture. "All accounted for?" he pants, referring to the other crossers now. Looking up at Chase as the drake lands, he searches for a quip to laugh the ordeal away, but ends up directing his gaze elsewhere with a cough when Sidonie leaps in with one. He hups to his feet and begins brushing away some of the gunk with the help of the rain.

Ruby gets the heck off the collection of flyin-fibers, catching her breath after the aerial antics. "Sooner we get out 'o this realm, tha better. This thing still feels like it gots plenty 'o charge." She wipes those tentative questing fingers from the landed rug to her own thighs, as if they were sticky." Composing herself, she heaves herself upright and notes the lack of loose change. "Alright, good. Any landin I can run away from is a win. S'funny, I could never get tha bloody thing tah do moves like tha. It must know I 'ate it. Good job, Sidonie." Huffing and puffing, Ruby starts towards the nearest door.
"Everyone gots nose plugs?"

Chase shakes out from tail tip to nose his form blurs somewhere along the way when he comes back into focus a man runs his hands through his own sodden hair.

After watching the carpet flitting dizzily across the gap between one ship and the other, after making sure that Merrisol, Ruby and Sidonie area up and moving, and seeing Chase land, Maggie leaps up onto the railing of the Beast. Narrowing her eyes against the spray, she inhales deeply, then leaps out onto the rope streetched between the two. Landing, she runs along the length of it as though running across the rigging of the Wave Dancer. The waves and swooping Fellicans, the barracudas leaping toward her, only to be snatched out of the air by the fell birds leave the rope slippery and Maggie's way hazzardous. Just before she makes it to the Ark, she slips, one foot sliding off the rope. Pushing forward with the other foot, she tries to use he momentum to make it the last few feet. Catching the Arc's railing, she grunts in irritation at her own clumsiness as she hauls her body over the railing to puddle, gasping, heart pounding, on the deck.

"Right as rain!" Sidonie calls out to Merrisol. The adrenaline rush of flying in the air on a MAGIC CARPET is a bit hard to shake off, but she tries, first by tearing her gaze away from the scene between the Ark and the Beast. This of course means she misses the sight of Captain Flame's leap onto the rope and the start of her perilous journey. Back to Maggie, the surgeon beams at Chase, Ruby and Merrisol, particularly at Ruby. "Thanks, Captain!" she says a bit loudly, as if maybe there was still roaring in her ears. Then in a lower voice she adds, as she pushes off the railing, "No, I don't--" Then a gasp when she sees. "Captain Flame!" she exclaims as Maggie hauls herself onto the Ark's deck.

Merri nods and seconds, "Good flying, Docs. Much obliged." He gives his lapels and coat tails a last shake, then searches an inner breast pocket while stalking after Ruby. "Assuming you brought in a team of vets and handlers for the two transports?" he inquires. "I'd like to see about some manner of sedation for the animals before the big push. The stress of the voyage itself is bad enough, but calm critters make for steadier sailing.. paddling.. or whatever." He is at the doorway to the interior when the renewed whistling and screeching drags his attention back to the rail. "Maggie!" he breaks away to stride past Sidonie to join the tightrope walker and offer support if needed.

Ruby greets one of the crew members of Ark numero Uno. Exchanging the briefest of pleasantries, and brushing an iridescent scale from her shoulder shed from a near-miss, she urges everyone inside. For some reason, there's less beastly smells from the cabins on what would be considered the main level, though it's more the people smell variety. Cooking and washing up. The ever-present creaking of the deck is contested by the yapping and squawling sounds that are familiar to the lower quarters of a large town.
Ruby turns just at the threshold of a set of large double-doors to regard the dramatic arrival of Maggie, and Merrisol's recommendation. "Sedation? Droogs? Well, you can 'ave a peek, cause I ain't stoppin ya from such. I gots some people tha say they know what they doin, but I can barely stand tha smells an sounds an bloody animals. I don't gots time, tah be Frankie for a moo-ment." She puts a hand on her hip. "Come on out 'o tha rain, an I show you reasons this big 'orrowshow boat be in tha middle 'o tha fleet."

Maggie accepts Merrisol's assistance in rising, one hand clasping his. The other lifts to pull a curl of glittering intestines from her hair. It draped itself down around one ear like the trailing tail of a single earpiece. That is flung over the side, the movement quick. Stepping away from the railing, she lifts her head to the rain to let it wash some of the pearlescent scales from her skin. Lowering her head, she smiles only a little shakily at Merrisol, then to Sidonie. "Right, then." Nodding toward Ruby and the doors, she indicates her intention to follow, only belatedly remembering to offer to release her mate's hand. Leaning closer to him, she speaks quietly, but briefly.

Sidonie was about to help Maggie up, but the dashing Merrisol took care of that! That was quite a scare! After seeing that Maggie is up and doing well, the surgeon walks over to Ruby and the entrance to the Ark's lower decks. "I don't know very much about animals, Captain, but I've got some sedatives that might do the trick, if the handlers need them," she says rather offhandedly, now distracted and intrigued by whatever Ruby is about to show them.

Merrisol leans down a bit to hear the whisper, nods thoughtfully; but as their hands disengage during the walk back to rejoin the others, he says, "But I can see why you wouldn't." A lean of his head back the way they came, the groups of sailors still chatting up the spectacle of the Captains'n'Surgeons Crossing. Falling into step behind the others, he offers a short and belated response to Ruby, "Drugs were not what I had in mind, but might come to that." He nods to Sidonie, "Something soluble with the drinking water would be convenient."

Ruby ventures past bulkheads and passageways. There's a large series of steps leading deeper into the hold, and there's definitely a more barnyard scent coming from there. Ruby gestures, "Tha zoo be down there. Shepherds be down there, with tha animals tha ain't fond 'o swimmin...Or boats. Aye, if there be a quick an dirty way tah dope them, I not one tah say...naaaay." Ruby gestures onwards and pushes into a larger communal room with a high ceiling. "This is me first stop, for reasons. Just warnin ya...It ain't for the faint 'o 'eart. One 'o tha reasons this ship is in tha center 'o tha fleet and needs protection."
Inside are kids! A creche of children that range from ankle-biters to shin-kickers. There are also some very harried Nannies and wet nurses. It's loud. The room gives Ruby the heebie-jeebies and psychological discomfort. "Eggs all in one omelet, right? S'like nature, tha is. Truth. I gots a nest ready. As luck would 'ave it, you wouldn't believe tha amount 'o kids dragged along on sea voyages."
While it's not quite Lord of the Flies in here, it might give someone the idea to never ever hold a birthday party or mass gathering if they can help it.

Maggie frowns slowly at something as she lets Merrisol's hand go. Her attention slowly rotates to Ruby, her pace increasing slighty. Walking behind Captain Incarnate, she unconsciously takes note of their path while preoccupied elsewhere. The frown remains, angling toward the way down to the menagerie with its animals and handlers. The expression eases over time but does not clear until they reach the room with all of the children. Then it is replaced by astonishment. "Oh, no," is whispered as she slowly makes her way into the room. With the noise, it is unlikely that her comment will be heard by anyone.

Sidonie nods back to Merrisol in agreement. "That might be one way. I wonder what the dosage would be for something really large, like a horse..." she muses, thinking out loud. This thought leads to others like, how much to give a dog? Or a lizard? Or a lamb? And off Sidonie's curious mind goes, until she sees the kids. A whole slew of them! Her face lights up in direct contrast to Ruby's discomfort. "No wonder," she says, wonderingly. "That's some cargo, Captain."

Half of Captain Merrisol is totally affronted by the very idea of sailing a for-serious fleet with kidlets along for the ride. The other half is totally guilty of that very thing. He regards the entire playgroup with a tense, darting gaze. Maggie's displeasure has not been entirely lost on him, however the Ark is a huge distraction of sounds, smells, and feels, and with this first stop, everything else slips away. "They all have families traveling shipboard hereabouts, then? That is what you're saying, yes?" he quizzes Ruby, because.. because.. if this barge is filled with things meant to populate some far off homeland... some /nest/...
[Public] Keryk says, "HuzzAH!"

A small child detaches from the rogue orbits of running kids and digs deep up a nostril while contemplating the assortment of folks peering in on their domain. A true philosopher in the making, the pig-tailed princess levels her glance on you all and then graces everyone with a raspberry before rejoining the perpetual motion machine. The little angel inspires some of the impressionable boys to follow suit, and offer raspberries as they pass the guests.

Ruby slowly closes her eyes and counts to ten. Three times. "Aye, tha's right. For some reason...Bog knows, there be a growin concensus tah keep them all as safe 'as 'ouses durin tha big battle. Was supposed tah be just shepherds, but when someone proposed all 'o them on biggest 'arddest tah sink ship, I didn't fight it. So I figure, if I squeeze out one 'o me own, there be a 'erd 'o them. Will be like a bunch 'o them striped 'orses. Tha ones tha can't decide if they
"That's... well." Sidonie is not put off by the raspberry chorus. In fact, she has to work pretty hard to not laugh and she succeeds, barely. "That's one way to do it, I suppose?" she tries. Her eyes stray to look at the kids, assessing from afar now out of habit. "If they must come along, this would be the safest place."

Merri contemplates the growing parade of rude noises with a somewhat blank expression, well, perhaps there's some straightmanliness to it also which would only encourage the most incorrigible imps. "Fair enough," he breathes more easily after Ruby's explanation. His gaze now tracks Maggie while she moves among the small fry in attempts at communication. "Only further outlines the need to keep these boats running at consistent pace with the fleet." Then, he double-takes at Ruby. "If you...? Is there a new timetable for that, ahhh, Incarnate..?" he waves vaguely in the direction of her spawn-to-be.