[PRP] Up A Tree

[Catzandbirdz]

Rouge held up and pondered the cracker. "Very nice chat. They said hi. I said bye." Rouge nibbled thoughtfully at the cracker again. "Or maybe it was the other way..." The clown shrugged and took an actual bite. "Either way, the Tauros shall be behaving again."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Inigo finished setting up the tent and returned to sit near the clown, and his hand hovered over the sandwiches uncertainly before he picked one. "Yeah?" The Tauros Rouge always talked about suddenly made a whole lot more sense. "Sounds like they didn't have anything nice to say, though." With their fists.  

[Catzandbirdz]

"Hmm... Nope. Can't say they did." Rouge munched on another cracker, not letting a single grain of salt escape. "Very rude, they are. All moo moo moo. Or... y'know... whatever that sound is that Tauros make. You know the one. Very annoying." The free right hand that wasn't holding a cracker shifted just the slightest bit, hiding a glimpse of white showing from under the black left side of the suit, the fabric torn-- or cut-- just above the waist in a short line.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"The loud, obnoxious one?" Inigo supplied, a half-smile finally appearing on his face. Yeah, he thought he knew the one.

He pulled the chosen sandwich from its plastic shield, and raised the defenseless deliciousness to his mouth where he paused, his gaze attracted to a rather white section on an otherwise darkly clothed individual. He took a bite of his sandwich and, after chewing and swallowing, said, "You uh, you got something right there." He gestured vaguely to his own side, near his waist, to indicate where the offending thing was. The grunt also was suddenly curious to know what it was. It didn't exactly look like any undershirt he'd ever seen..  

[Catzandbirdz]

"Hmm?" The masked head turned to fully look at Inigo, then to where he was pointing. For a second, the clown's features tensed. The hand clasped fully down upon the tear, hiding it from view. "There, uh... May have been pointy things involved..." Rouge's voice trailed off into a reluctant murmur. "Or shooty..." That last part was definitely said as an undertone. Not like it was a big deal or anything. Though, knowing Spanish, he'd probably make it one before the night was out.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Inigo's mouth formed a line at Rouge's words, but to be perfectly honest, he wasn't at all surprised. He knew those thugs toted weapons around and got rather violent, and he also knew that the jester wasn't afraid of them. Or, at least, didn't appear to be afraid. He took another bite of his sandwich instead as he reached for a water bottle. "Well," he began with a sigh after swallowing some delicious sandwich, "I can't say I'm surprised, but at least you're alright. I know you're going to keep wrangling with Tauros whether you plan to or not," the grunt added as he took a sip of water, then, "so if you could at least promise me you'll be careful..." Either in plain English or in Rouge-lingo - he was starting to understand the latter a little better the more he hung out with the clown.  

[Catzandbirdz]

Rouge smirked and gave a small mock salute with a cracker. "Aye aye." The smirk faltered a little as the clown paused. "Careful as a... somethin' that's careful..." the clown tapered off while raising the heel of a palm to press against a hidden brow. Rouge tried shaking it off and sitting back up straight from where there had been a forming slump. "Bumps and bruises, 'tis all. Mama Mini took care of the rest. And what about you?" The clown crossed its arms and all too happily turned the shove attention back to Spanish. "Mr. Hypo-what-its-face."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Even if Rouge's tones were joking, Inigo took it as genuine and offered the clown a smile and a chuckle. "Yeah, I dunno what sort of thing is careful either." He offered a shrug as he finished off his sandwich. The correction of the slump made him frown a bit, but he was distracted by the sudden shove of attention. "Huh-- Wha-? What hypo-what?"  

[Catzandbirdz]

"You know! The uh- the uh... The shiver thing! When it's cold!" Rouge flipped a hand, as though trying to summon or wave away words. Except... Oh right, that wrist was probably bruised and sore as well. The clown covered the suddenly still hand by going for another cracker. "Hypo-what's-it-called!""  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Oh." He pursed his lips and focused on his backpack. "Hypothermia? Nah, I'm fine. I got sick for a while after, but I'm fine now. Didn't die or anything." He certainly thought he was going to die. Convinced, even. Ugh.

"Anyway," he said, changing the subject abruptly and gesturing with his water bottle towards one of the sandwiches, "help yourself. Seriously, I can always go get more. Saltines don't really make a very filling meal."  

[Catzandbirdz]

"Yeah. Yeah, that thing. Hippotherma." Rouge paused again at the offer of sandwiches in place of crackers, before making an indignant squeak. "But they're yummy!" Nonetheless, the clown twisted a face and set the crackers aside to instead go for... the chips. Light foods. Easy to stomach. Zero huffed but was ignored by his owner. The bottle of water had been set aside unopened back while Inigo was setting up the tent.

Rouge looked around at the bags. "You sure pack a lot, Spanish." It was pretty much a Rouge attempt at idle chit chat... a.k.a. more distractions.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The butchered word 'hippotherma' quirked his lips up into a smirk. He noticed the reluctance to take a sandwich though, to which he shrugged and said, "Seriously though, help yourself to whatever you want. I'll probably resupply in Jinko."

Sandwich devoured and water finished (for now), Inigo pushed himself up and loosed his newly evolved Vaporeon. "Help find some firewood, alright?" He asked of it, to which Nerius replied with a complacent "vaaa" before the pair wandered off in different directions, though the water-type obviously couldn't carry as much at a time as Inigo. "I was planning to camp for a few days," he replied to Rouge as he rummaged for sections of branches, though he accepted sticks too, and began piling them in a spot nearby. "I packed enough to last at least two days, but like I said, I'll just get more stuff in Jinko. Maybe Makko," he added with a shrug. Not Sandalwood, though. Despite its closer proximity to their current position, he didn't want to risk going there again. At least not yet.  

[Catzandbirdz]

Rouge simply continued to nom on chips as Inigo went back to work, still ignoring the sandwich offers and only half listening to Inigo talking camp things. The clown's body had gradually started to slump forward again, and behind the mask there was a struggle going on to stay among the awake. It was a losing battle.

Zero whined faintly as Rouge carefully scooted the short distance to the side to lean against the bags that had been piled there. Even that small movement hurt, judging by the stiff movements and grim frowns. The small dog nudged carefully at a gloved hand, earning a short-lived scratching of an ear. In no time at all, though, the clown was out like a light.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Inigo and Nerius continued back and forth collecting firewood, though Inigo began to instead collect medium-sized rocks which were put in a separate pile. He knelt down to organize them and happened to glance over at Rouge, and he couldn't help the smile that tugged at his face when he realized the clown must've fallen asleep. Not passed out though, he was sure - Zero would've probably been all kinds of upset had his owner passed out. The grunt gave the Zorua a scratch behind the ears before he arranged the stones in a large circle, and deftly set the wood up in a cone-shape. Once finished, he beckoned Sonata over, and the shiny Rapidash easily set flame to the dried wood.

Once finished, Inigo scooted back to sit near the bags with a sigh, his gaze partially focused on the blaze but his mind was elsewhere. Sonata laid down nearby, and the Vaporeon curled up to sleep beside her as the sun slowly began to set.  

[Catzandbirdz]

Zero positively beamed at the attention. He stayed positioned right by his owner the entire time, but he kept an attentive eye on Inigo as the other human moved about.

By the time Rouge started to stir from the impromptu and entirely unintentional nap against the very lumpy and stiff bags, the sky had lost almost all of its remaining light. At first, the only hints that the clown was waking up would be the twitch of a finger, or tensing of the jaw. The eyes were hidden safely behind the mask as a briefly disoriented Rouge took in the situation.

"Mmf." With a grunt and deep inhale-- the inhale cut off short as a pain flared through the abused ribcage-- the clown eased itself back to a sitting position and again pressed a palm to the forehead. Zero yipped happily, earning another groan and a scrunched face at the sound. "Wha' 'appened...?"