Log:Wildfires

Wildfires
They've stopped yelling for help. I can't hear if they're breathing or not through the sounds of the fire.
Participants Catherine, Velvet, Toby, Weaver Utridge	19 May, 2018 Three Changelings stage an impromptu rescue.
Location Old Mill Road
The fires started not too long ago, but it spread the way that fires do, fast and fierce. It looks like after all his talk of fire, Weaver is finally getting his wish. But there's plenty of animals and innocent people that could be trapped in there. Along the farmlands there are plenty of older farm homes with older farmers and tons of animals, which is why that's one of the first places that Velvet decides to make an appearance. The woman is dressed in yoga pants, a black tank top and *gasp* sneakers! Who knew that she actually owned a pair of those? The farmhouse she's chosen is already half lit up in flames, animals fleeing and panicking as a skattering manage to escape their barns. Others whining from where they are trapped and can't get out. But Velvet is focusing on the people. the old couple that lives inside the building, probably already unconcious from smoke inhilation, if not already dead. She's on the roof, away from the flames as she stares at a window with fire licking out of it. Catherine is arriving in her truck, looking at the blaze. Coming to a stop, she opens the door and hastily unbuckles as she steps out, "...Shit." she says, "Did they get everyone out?" she asks, "I'm hoping they did, this is... Well, relatively close to my house. I might have to find a place to crash if that fire spreads west." she observes. Weaver had to be dragged out, and when they do get there he's a bit too mystified. All of that fire, and it just looks so beautious to the dragon. "Oh God," he mutters. Then Velvet's off and up and he snaps back to reality. "Right. People. Saving. Free." That last word sends a shiver down his spine as he rolls up his sleeves. Unlike Velvet the man hasn't dressed down. He's wearing a black dress shirt, grey tie, black slacks, and black loafers. "If it comes down to it you can always rent a room at the Red Clover Hotel." "They're still focusing on the main fire. They haven't gotten the the spreading yet," Velvet calls over the crackling as she glowers at the window. "They've stopped yelling for help. I can't hear if they're breathing or not through the sounds of the fire." It's beautiful, but damned if it isn't deadly. A lot like her. "Cat! Are you able to calm the animals and get them out of their barns? They're just going to burn to death or kill each other at this rate. Weav, are you able to withstand fire?" She starts to bound across the roof, getting closer to the window with the flames. "What the hell is she doing?" Catherine asks, then notices the animals. "Hey, heyheyheyheyhey." she says, trying to get their attention, rounding them up. She's certainly fast, but not animal fast. "Calm down, guys." she says, leveraging her connection with animals to pull them over. "Come with me, we can get you to safety... It's going to be OK." she says, in a soothing voice. "No!" Weaver shouts up there, "But I've suffered worse." When it looks like he's gonna go through the fire he starts moving forward, and looses his tie. "Point me where you need me, and I'll be there." Then to Catherine he turns, "Fuck if I know, but I trust her." "I'm going to try to make sure these people don't die!" With very little consideration for the flames themselves. She has no immunity to fire, but she does have a ridiculously high pain tolerance. "I'm gonna go in through the window, can you bust the door in and come in through the bottom? Hopefully we can trade off at the staircase and you can get them out?" Some of the animals seem happy for the help, rushing towards Catherine as she starts to free them. But some just start to panic and all out run off towards the street and further down the farm away from the flames. "Would that I could be in two places at once..." Catherine says, looking at the animals fleeing from the farm. "Well, at least they're heading away from danger." she observes, shepherding the animals towards the other humans or changelings nearby that are helping to fight the fire. "Well. Haven't seen you use that trick before," Velvet calls out, distracted for a second before the fire licks near her again. With a growl she's back into attentive mode, staring at the flames in the window. She takes a deep breath and then leaps, bounding off of a cloth awning and flipping up and threw the window itself. She rolls up to her feet inside, hissing as the flames dance so close to her. She drops low, starting to carefully crawl through the room as she looks for the people. She finds the wife first, wrapping her hands around the woman's arms and starting to drag. Outside, more of the animals come stampeeding towards the door, threatening to trample Catherine in their path as they race towards freedom. There's a little mewl, almost impossible to hear, coming from the rafters above her. "I'll getcha." Catherine says, hefting herself up and leaping over to the rafter that the cat or perhaps kitten is on. "Come here, little one." she says, urging the cat to come closer to her. The dragon takes a hold of the door handle, and the heat has him shouting in pain initally. He may like the look of fire, but it hasn't graced his skin in a while. Weaver shuts out the pain as best he can, and soldiers on. A foot comes up, and within the next breath he kicks at the handle of the door until it comes down. "Send the to me when you can," he shouts up to Velvet. He goes further in, eyes gleaming by the fire. "This better be worth it," he grouses as he goes forward. A tiny head pops out to look at Catherine, then another. Two kittens are trapped up in the rafter, probably helped up by momma cat which is no longer anywhere to be found, and unable to get down. They're still very little. They mewl again as Catherine talks to them. The woman moves to hop up onto the rafters, but the wood starts cracking underneath her and causes her to fall right back onto the floor. "Mew!" More insistant this time. Velvet has made it to the top of the stairs with the woman being dragged with her. She coughs, soot covered as she starts to move about halfway down the stairs. "I'll make it worth it," she chokes out as she trades the woman over towards Weaver before racing back upstairs. A gust of flames hisses out from the room, forcing her to drop with a "Shit!" before crawling forward and back towards the room. "I'm not letting you go." Catherine says, "...Time to cheat." she observes, invoking the wyrd for a short boost of grace as she leaps up and sails over towards the kittens. "Shhhh... It'll be OK." she says, scooping up the two kittens close to her chest and looking about from her vantage point for a moment to check for other kittens or animals, then assuming she finds none dropping down with a crouching landing, trying to shield the kittens from impact and flame alike. "Shit," Weaver growls as he makes his way to the top of the stairs. It creaks under his weight, but he doesn't stop for a moment. He reaches out for the woman, ready to lift up the woman and carry her out. "Watch it out!" as the flames eat up more of the house. "How many more?" The kittens are shaking and mewing loudly as Catherine manages to get them down with that single hop. It looks like most of the other animals have fled by this point, but there are a couple of them that were injured and even killed in the rush to escape. The fire is starting to reach the barn, so chances are that it's best to get out of there before it really sets off. Velvet crawls the rest of the way into the room and wraps her hands around the farmer's arms, struggling to move his weight to the stairs. It's slower, thanks to the smoke inhaled, the burns, and the fact that he's not a small guy. "I think this is it, haven't checked other rooms," she yells to Weaver between grunts. The stairs under Weaver are starting to groan, threatening to give way any moment. "We're getting you out." Catherine says, sprinting at top speed to get the kittens out. This is a tad unusual, considering she's moving rather rapidly, a speed perhaps suggestive of an athlete rather than a humble huntress. Gently placing the kittens in her truck bed, she invokes the wyrd once more for a burst of speed and barrels back into the fire nearly falling to all fours in the process. She is straining herself as fast as she can, perhaps hasty in nature perhaps simply panicked for the well-being over the other animals as she sprints back to the barn. Weaver hefts the woman onto his now broad shoulders, and as the strairs struggle to keep both their weight he growls. He slowly makes his way down, careful of each step. When down he lets the woman off his shoulders, and goes right back to it. "Let's keep it going, then!" he shouts when he rushes back into the house. "I can carry them all out if that's what it takes!" "I'm trying!" Velvet calls out. She's strong for her size, but it's still a grown man that she's dragging out of the room from an awkward position, trying to keep low to avoid the smoke. The female of the pair of farmers is set on the grass outside, letting out a racking cough. As Catherine starts racing back towards the barn, she spots what is probably the momma cat, on her side and slowly moving with a wicked limp. It looks like one of the other animals might have stepped on a paw during the trample. "Here!" Velvet calls down to Weaver as she shoves the man onto the top stair, causing a little thump thump as his body starts to roll downwards. "I got your kids out, let's get you out hm?" Catherine asks the cat, assuming that it will understand her on account of her currently invoked connection to felines. "Us cats have got to stick together, especially at times like this." she says, kneeling down to scoop up the cat and run back to the truck. He probably didn't enjoy his rolling down the steps until Weaver got to him, but the look he shoots the farmer is one that simply states that the dragon is more than willing to take him back into the fire. "C'mon," says when getting the man up, and moving to either carry or walk him down. "Is there anyone else inside?" The cat lets out a pained noise as she's lifted up, but makes no attempts to stop Catherine as she's run towards the truck. Reuinited with the babies, she instantly wraps herself around them with lots of mewing and crying being heard from the three. Momma will need a vet soon, for sure. But for the moment, she seems happy enough to be with her babies. Velvet leaves the man with Weaver so that she can dip low once again and start rushing from room to room. She comes out of the last one with a dog in her arms, rushing for the stairwell after Weaver. "It's clear," she huffs as she hurries for the door. The older man isn't in much of a position to move, but he does what he can to help stumble himself out at Weaver's side. Looking back to the other Lost nearby, Catherine nods. "Good work." she says, looking at the people nearby. "I'm glad they're OK, I herded what animals I could towards town. They'll be captured and recovered. It's hard enough to farm in this day and age without a fire destroying your home." she says, sighing. When everyone is safely out Weaver goes about dusting off as much soot as he can. The illusion of the larger man holds, although it appears odd as he brushes at bare arms. "Yes. Good," he says when turning to Catherine. He listens to the cats constant mewling for only a few seconds before he sneers, and then looks to Velvet. "Are you gonna volunteer for the firefighters?" Not long after everyone is out of the house, there's a loud pop as the fire rushes faster and hotter, caving in that part of the house with it. "Holy shit," Velvet mutters as she puts the dog down and drops her weight forward onto her knees as she hacks and coughs. With each cough her mien is changing, shifting between kiths with no control between it. Which, of course, means that Velvet has no control over it. As the coughing slows, so does the shifting, a glare shot up towards Weaver at his teasing. "Well damn." Catherine says, looking at the fire, then to Velvet as her eyebrow raises. "And you are doing... What exactly?" she asks. Once it looks like Velvet's safe Weaver turns his attentions back on the fire. He stares at it even as the house collapses in on itself. THe glare he gets from Velvet does draw him away from it, if only briefly. He then extends a hand down to the woman to help her up. Cahterine's question gets a shrug. "I've no idea, really." The coughing finally stops and Velvet manages to get ahole of herself. She takes Weaver's hand in hers and starts to stand up, eyes staring up at the fire. "Wow. Well, you asked for fire," she tells the man beside her. The sounds of sirens in the disance means that help is finally on the way, thankfully. She glances to Catherine with a thankful smile for her help. "Me? I just heard yelling and wasn't about to let innocent people die if I could help them," she shrugs. "I meant the shifting thing, but that's for another time." Catherine says more quietly to avoid the people in the distance hearing. "Anyway, glad you're all here. I'll look after the cats, and return them when the owners have a place to stay if that's alright." she observes. "Got to get momma cat to the vet after all, too." "Me?" he asks with a quirk of his brow. He tilts his head then, and slowly nods. "Sure. Another time." Then back to Velvet he looks, and steals a glance at the farmers. "They're lucky you came through here. Extremely lucky, to say the least." Velvet glances to the people and then back to Catherine. "It wasn't on purpose," is all she offers as explanation, knowing she can't really get into with the mortals around. "I think that's a great idea," she rasps with a nod. "Though if you ask me, you may end up needing to find a new home for them." She watches as more of the house flls in on itself. "Might be time for these guys to collect insurance and retire." She squeezes Weaver's hand and shakes her head. "Lucky we came through here. No way could I have gotten them both out myself," she murmurs. "I definetly couldn't have gotten to the animals either," she says with a nod towards Catherine. "Hey, working with animals comes naturally to me." Catherine says, "Just be sure to inform the couple where their little cat family is when they wake up, same with the dog." she says, patting the likely knocked out or at least sluggish from smoke dog. "I hope they recover well... All of them." she notes, "...Actually, I'm good with animals. Do you want me to take care of the dog too? Though I think Fido ought to have more immediate medical attention with smoke and heat." "No," Weaver responds flatly. "You. I would have simply stayed here to watch." He shrugs without a care. "Even if they screamed it's something you get used to anyway. There's probably a vet among us you can take the dog to." This said with a motion to the dog. "The most I can give it won't be pleasant." "Yeah. You take him and we'll leave a card or something with the police to make sure the folks know who to talk to when they are ready to get their animals back." Velvet leans against Weaver's arm with a wince, eyes going back to the flames. "Alright, well, good point," she smirks. Catherine goes to remove some cushions and a blanket from the front to make a makeshift location for the mother cat and kittens, while hailing the emergency services or firefighters, "Hey, hey! Got two people and a dog that need oxygen!" she says, "...Took first aid, after an incident like that you will NEED oxygen, no ifs ands or buts." "The smoke's fine," say the man that breathes it out. "It's the fire. I haven't been that close to it in ages, and it felt damned good." A shiver goes down Weaver's spine, and it's clearly a feeling of pleasure as he turns back to the fire with a smile. Velvet nods to Catherine "Once they're loaded up and oxygenated, I could probably use some too. I'm resilient, but I can't breath smoke like some people. Not without blackening my lungs to the shade as my heart," she jokes. Velvet steps out of the way of the ermegency services as they move towards the farmers and the dog, tugging Weaver along with her. "See? You got something out of it too," she offers. The group are standing near a barn that's half collapsed and engulfed in flames. Emergency personal are dealing with two unconcious people on the group while the trio of changelings linger nearby, watching. Velvet tugs at her white hair, noticing the black smudges and seared ends with a wrinkle of her nose. "Shit." "Well, it'll wash out and regrow." Catherine says looking over at Velvet. "...Any idea how this started?" she asks, "I know wildfires can start more or less spontaneously, but this doesn't look like the right conditions for a brushfire." she notes. Weaver asks "You can't change it on a whim, huh? And what, anyway, did I get out of it?" He nods then, and goes about looking over her hair as Velvet tugs at it. "Anyway, it looks kinda cute," points out with a chuckle. Catherine's question gets a shrug. "Maybe some kid got happy with the matches, and brought us this beauty." Toby takes a bit of time to get on scene, it looks like he's a little out of breath when he comes up. "Oh shit." His ears drop as he looks towards the barn. "When I saw your truck, Cathy, I didn't think this was where it was gonna lead." Toby says walking over towards the trio. And his first thought, "Is everyone alright?" Toby seems quite a bit startled. It's not everyday that he sees things lit on fire. "Eh, I can change it. I just like not having to do anything to my hair if I don't have to. It's a point of pride." But she went and wasted it trying to save lives. Stupid humans. Velvet beams up towards Weaver when he says that it's cute. "You think everything about me is attractive, so that doesn't really help. But it's sweet." She lifts up onto her tiptoes to kiss his jaw before dropping back down. "I have no idea what started it, just that it spread damn fast." She glances towards the unfamiliar Toby, lifting a hand in greeting. "Alive," she assures when he askes if everyone is alright. "It's near home." Catherine says, "Not at home yet, and I believe they'll keep it contained but... I might need to crash at the dojo for a bit." Catherine says, looking back to Toby and hugging him. "Good to see you though. I've got a few friends to take care of for now." she says, gesturing to the truck bed and the mother cat with two kittens. "The mom seems like she's got a bum paw, and the dog's probably going to need emergency care but the firefighters and EMTs are on that. Limited care like oxygen and stuff is universal to living things." she says. "I'm good," Weaver's quick to point out to Toby. After answering he has to look around for a beat to see Toby when he looks down, but is soon distracted by Velvet. "That's not completely true. The dislike of burnt food isn't cute." Then back to Toby he turns his gaze. "Are you a firefighter, or did you get here by flapping?" Toby hugs! And he relaxes, middling out his ears. "At least everyone's safe anyway." Toby runs a hand through his fair before giving a little wave to Weaver and Velvet. "Hey. Um, I'm Toby. And I didn't fly, I kinda ran." Toby shrugs, "Probably less of a run and more of a jog, so, yeah. I'm her friend-" Toby points an ear at Cathy. "I saw her truck and smoke in the distance and thought it might be a teeny tiny good idea to follow." "But my dislike of burnt food means that you can have the food all to yourself," Velvet laughs before choking on another cough and eventually fading back into silence. That's going to be annoying. "Pleasure Toby, I'm Velvet. Good instincts, but sadly you're a little too late." "Mhm." Catherine says, "We... Escaped Arcadia together, whoever was screwing with us. I just recall I followed his memories back to Earth, so I guess I have him to thank for getting out at all." she explains. "'Course that meant heading from Southern Cali to here but that was a fun trip." "So you say, Vee. So you say." The second bought of coughing elicits a brief bit of worry from Weaver as he puts a hand on her back. "You might wanna go over there to get some o2 yourself. Maybe-" He shakes his head, and looks over between Toby and Catherine. "If you're as fast as her I wouldn't be too surprised if a jog kept you up with her truck. And, man, it's been too long since I've been in California." Toby smirks a little, perking his ears up. "I'm not really quite as fast as she is, not by a long shot. I'm a little more... batty?" Toby pivots an ear, glancing up at it, "These aren't for show, for sure." Toby giggles a little, doing a little twirl, and ending the twirl with his arm at Cathy's back. "We followed Zach back. And then we walked the countryside!" Toby smiles brightly, "Tho Cathy didn't seem to adventure as much as me and Zach, we got into some pretty interesting situations as we went and tried to, well, help with stuff. It was fun." Toby stretches a little. "And you're welcome to stay at the Dojo anytime you want Cathy, you know that." "Ah yes, Arcadia. That's that new bar in New York City, right? With the maze to get out that really screws with drunk people? Or was that in California too?" The Autumn's lips thin a little bit as her eyes wander over to the mortals that are close enough to be concerned about before Velvet looks back towards the others pointedly. "Once they've got the people loaded up and the dog taken care of I'll make sure to get some oxygen for myself," she promises Weaver at his concern. "Yeah." Catherine says, realizing what she jsut said, "So uh... Such as it is, we've been friends ever since that bar crawl." she explains, "I wouldn't recommend Arcadia though, too crazy for my tastes." Weaver leans down to lay a brief kiss on Velvet's forehead. As he stands back up straight he points out with a whisper, "They don't see me for me." His smirk turns into a cocksure grin after that, but he's quick to add, "I'd like not to drive to the hospital later on because you wanted to make sure those others got help first." Toby nudges Cathy a little. "I swear only Zach was sober enough to get us home." Then Toby yawns a little, "If we're gonna be heading to the dojo, I'm guessing you'll be taking your truck?" Toby considers, rubbing his chin, "It's been a while since I've been in it at all. I think I'm going to go reacquaint myself with it." And with that, Toby darts over to Catherine's truck, climbing into the passenger's side. "Yep." Catherine says, "Cats and all." she notes, getting into the other side. "See ya!" she says, waving to the others nearby. "Yeah, it's a real bitch," Velvet agrees regarding Arcadia, giving Catherine a knowing grin. The grin melts into something a little more rare, more of a soft smile. "Yeah yeah. I didn't just inhale a metric ton of smoke to let them die because I want the oxygen first, either. If worse comes to worse, you can just give me CPR," she says, nudging Weaver's ribs. "Nice meeting you," she offers to Toby, waving.