Belle wished she could say she was surprised to see a giant crocodile blocking the path but after everything else they had seen thus far it was strangely fitting. The rest of the zoo was alive with noise and creatures she had only ever seen in illustrations - and the hieroglyphics that decorated some of the Egyptian artefacts she had seen in museums - so a crocodile, even if it had appeared where a crocodile most emphatically oughtn't to be, was not overly surprising.

What was shocking though was Miss MacKay's extraordinarily foolhardy offer.

"Surely there must be another way?" She asked incredulously. The girl had been level-headed thus far, probably more than the rest of them put together, but putting herself directly into danger was a ludicrous thing to do! "We're hardly in a position to help if you're not as fast as you think you are."

  

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Lady made me sexy <3

It was no small measure of relief when they exited the zoo without further incident.  He didn't exactly breathe easy, the strange atmosphere was obviously not contained to the zoo, but at least there was less of a trapped feeling.  

He spotted the creature at much the same time as everyone else and sighed.  This was absurd right?  Was he crazy for thinking this was absurd?  This was Irvingly!  He'd been in the Expeditions that had found the little town and somehow he was just supposed to accept that it was now the new home of all of Africa. Of all the challenges he thought he might face in his life he felt like he'd been more prepared for feindfyre to eat one of his limbs than he was facing a crocodile in the middle of the street.  

He almost wanted to ask his companions if they found this as surreal as he did but they were already discussing how to proceed.  "I suppose its out of the question to just... go around?" he muttered mostly to himself.  But when their only chance of survival volunteered to distract the thing he looked openly alarmed "And what if it doesn't vanish like the bull?"  he asked Miss Mackay in an almost demanding tone.  "Can you out run it because I am not certain I could."  He internally winced, calling himself out for being a liability in the group was not ideal but he had to be honest.  If It came down to running his best hope was it got a hold of his fake leg first.

The following 1 user Likes Edmund Grimm's post:1 user Likes Edmund Grimm's post
   Eavan Miller

As much as he didn't relish the idea of challenging a crocodile, he was willing to offer himself as tribute as he suspected himself to be one of the faster runners there, if not the fastest. It's legs looked rather short and stubby anyway, surely it couldn't be any faster than a lithe human?

"I'll do it." Unlike earlier when he had volunteered to lead the party, he sounded resigned and serious. "I'm used to bein' chased, less so gettin' caught so I figure the odds are more in my favor than any of you slow pokes." Even if he did have a good track record of escaping he was still nervous, he'd never run from anything with so many sharp teeth. He'd take a rabid dog over a crocodile any day.

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Eyeing up this magnificent set eh? MJ sold her soul to Satan's graphic designer. I wish he'd take mine too.

Finnian had never claimed to be the smartest of the bunch, but he now figured that he wasn't the dumbest—only someone truly stupid would offer to wrangle the creature. They'd all been relying on Miss MacKay to know her way around, and losing her to the jaws of a crocodile would likely lead to everyone else's demise.

"I say we send Spryly after it," he piped up, eyeing the younger boy. Not only was he younger and thinner, but he wasn't their greatest asset. "I don't think we should - well, Miss MacKay doesn't need to do it."

He took a few step backwards, positioning himself next to the Mrs. Bones once more. There was no reason for him to be at the front of the group, especially if one of their members decided to.....rush it?

"While you do that, we should start scoping out another path."

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— set by MJ! —

☙ Post Log ❧

Eva sighed when the discussion began.  She caught Mr. Grimm's words and let a small smile grace her features, but she wasn't so sure it would be that easy. This would be a hell of a lot easier if they only had magic. She reached out to squeeze his arm gently before letting it drop. "Whatever is controlling this fog keeps setting up specific obstacles." Eva wondered just what exactly the end game was here, but she really wasn't in the mood to spend however long trying to find another way.

"Who knows what else is in the fog that we can't see, Africa's got some incredibly dangerous creatures, the croc is pretty tame. Comparatively speaking."  There were other things that were a hell of a lot more deadly lurking in the plains and rivers of the continent than they could even imagine. "And I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm kind of tired of wandering around aimlessly, this seems like a pretty clear path." She was just trying to be reasonable and practical. Nobody else really knew what they were dealing with and while Eva didn't have any firsthand experience either, she did know what she was talking about.

"Besides, I have help and he's pretty quick." She motioned to the stubborn diricawl beside her, watching the croc carefully, likely calculating how close he could get before it got angry. If they were lucky maybe it would disappear like the water buffalo. It couldn't possibly be really real. Nile crocodiles did not just wander out of evergreen forests in the middle of Scotland. Not to mention, once they really left the zoo she would likely no longer be the expert. Who knew what was beyond the crocodile, but some of them had to get there to find out.

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The following 1 user Likes Eavan Miller's post:1 user Likes Eavan Miller's post
   Edmund Grimm

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This was actually happening, and Jeremiah had no ideas for an alternative. “You are both quite brave, and I wish you the best of luck.” He commented. It was obvious that he doing want anyone to die. Had the Ministry thought that it would be this dangerous? Why hadn’t they sent those of more experience to handle this?

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Pretties by Bee

Annabelle Bones Finnian Byrne Jeremiah Tatting @"Eavan Mackay" Questor Spryly Edmund Grimm

The croc makes a rattling sound. Mackay or Spryly or both, someone has to make a move.

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The next 'prompt' post will be after either 48 hours have passed from the time of posting (1:30 PM EST on July 16th) or after every member of the party has posted one time if this occurs before that deadline. Please remember that you must post within 72 hours to continue participating. :)

  

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Are your characters stuck in the smalltalk loop?
Does your imagination feel like it just can't perform as it used to?
Mid-thread crisis getting you down?
Unable to get that post up?
Is your relationship suffering because of your inability to satisfy your partner?
SUFFER NO MORE!
With a little intervention from The Suggestionizer your RP life could be back on track in no time!

--> Click here for more details <--

Known side-effects include: chronic ridiculousness, immense satisfaction, itching, uncontrollable laughter, burning, deep regret, despair, shock, horror, incidental dismemberment, joy, and death. Use at your own risk!

The young lad's speed made him a better option in Belle's estimation and even though she agreed with Miss MacKay that this was the clear way forward she still wasn't certain she favoured the idea of the young woman being the distraction. It wasn't that she doubted Miss MacKay's abilities per say but if they encountered anything else along the way she would rather have the girl still with them rather than languishing here with bites and only a diricawl for company.

On the other hand one of them needed to do something before the crocodile grew tired of staring them down. Reaching out she caught hold of Mr Byrne's sleeve and tugged him sideways.

"If we go one way and the rest of you the other we'll have a better chance of at least some of us getting there," she frowned down the path, knowing Salem Square was where they were being pushed but unable to think of a reason why. "Are we all ready to get moving?"

The following 1 user Likes Annabelle Bones's post:1 user Likes Annabelle Bones's post
   Edric Umbridge

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Lady made me sexy <3

He had to give the woman credit for her valor but this was possibly the only way he might end up useful to the group and what good would she be in the belly of the crocodile if more beasts awaited them wherever they ended up?

Spryly turned to Eavan. "Don't you dare follow me or else I'll spend the rest o' my afterlife makin' yours a blood hell!" Despite the initial harshness of his tone, he ended in a small, crooked grin. "I'll catch up with you lot later an' when I do I wanna find all of you alive with the same number o' limbs as you got right now." He could feel the blood draining from his face as he turned his back on them and faced the probably hungry crocodile. That'll make two of us. The best case scenario would be that in an hour he'd be trying to figure out how to spit roast a crocodile. The worst case... The worst case scenario wasn't worth thinking about too hard.

He took a deep breath and ran at it. "OI, TOOTHY!" Before he could get within snapping range, he veered off away from both it and the group because he wasn't that suicidal. "GRUB'S UP, COME AND GET IT!" At least if the crocodile ate him he wouldn't have to worry about finding a new place to live and getting rent money, that was a small relief. If he came back as a ghost his living expenses would be cheaper than they'd ever been.

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Eyeing up this magnificent set eh? MJ sold her soul to Satan's graphic designer. I wish he'd take mine too.

As soon as Spryly snapped, Finnian slid his hand into Mrs. Bones' and tugged her down the path. He really didn't want to die. He didn't. Not in a zoo, not in the jaws of a huge-ass crocodile, and not with Mrs. Bones watching him. He wanted to be a protector, yes, but not a human sacrifice.

"Yes, all ready to go. Let's get a move on, fellow group-ees," he rushed, turning his head back only once to flash an urgent look at the other members of the group. Maybe, when they escaped this Africa-invaded hell-hole, they'd all find a nice place to curl up and he might get a cuddle buddy for the evening.

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The following 2 users Like Finnian Byrne's post:2 users Like Finnian Byrne's post
   Edmund Grimm, Elladora Black

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— set by MJ! —

☙ Post Log ❧

Oh fuck it.

Eva's mouth feel open as Mr.Spryly admonished her and took off.

"Move!" She shouted at the remnants of the group with wide eyes as she followed the young blonde toward the croc. She whistled for Bastien to follow her, but he was already running off in that direction.

This was ridiculous, but yet here they were! "Come on then!" She had to do something, she couldn't just let the kid get himself eaten!!

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Trying to stay in the section of the group that was away from the crocodile, his main concern at this point was the hopes of trying to get home to his wife and children. The moment he got home would be the moment to which he would apologize repeatedly for all of this insanity that he had put himself through. For the risks he had taken by making this journey.

How come the actual Ministry officials had not handled this? Had they simply wished to risk civilian life rather than risk the lives of their trained professionals? Or had they simply not known that it would be this risky?

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Pretties by Bee

Ed couldn't help but feel like it should have been him that volunteered.  Hell, he wanted to.  In his youth he would have.  But now... he wouldn't even make a good distraction.  He'd be too slow to be a proper distraction and no one would get away.  He was almost glad to see the kid take off - not that he wanted him to die but happy that if he couldn't step up to relieve the pressure on Miss Mackay someone was.

With the distraction in place he took off with the group, swinging wide of the crocodile and moving as fast as he could.  He had moderately better luck running this time, the last time being a dash of panic and this a conscious decision, still it was a jolting and graceless gait and not nearly as fast as he would have liked.

  

Annabelle Bones Finnian Byrne Jeremiah Tatting @"Eavan Mackay" Questor Spryly Edmund Grimm

The croc moves for Mr. Spryly. Miss Mackay was right - he's fast - and he snaps for Mr. Spryly but misses, instead latching onto his jacket and dragging him to the ground. The croc thrashes Spryly by the jacket, and likely would have done worse - definitely would have done worse - were he not distracted by the advancement of Miss Mackay and the diricawl. He lets go of Mr. Spryly, lunges for the diricawl, misses, and swings his tail at Miss Mackay, lashing at her legs.

He lunges for Mr. Spryly again and locks onto his leg.

---

The next 'prompt' post will be after either 48 hours have passed from the time of posting (3:40 PM EST on July 17th) or after every member of the party has posted one time if this occurs before that deadline. Please remember that you must post within 72 hours to continue participating. :)

  

---

Are your characters stuck in the smalltalk loop?
Does your imagination feel like it just can't perform as it used to?
Mid-thread crisis getting you down?
Unable to get that post up?
Is your relationship suffering because of your inability to satisfy your partner?
SUFFER NO MORE!
With a little intervention from The Suggestionizer your RP life could be back on track in no time!

--> Click here for more details <--

Known side-effects include: chronic ridiculousness, immense satisfaction, itching, uncontrollable laughter, burning, deep regret, despair, shock, horror, incidental dismemberment, joy, and death. Use at your own risk!

Oh this was going to be a wild ride.

Eva watched as it snapped ahold of Questor's jacket and thrashed him around. Bastien was in his glory, trying to antagonize the beast as best he could and it let go, going after the diricawl instead. Eva winced, it was a close call, not sure what else she could do.

Trying to get its attention Eva wasn't watching the tail and the next thing she knew her legs were swept it from under her. Landing flat on her back, Eva saw stars and the wind was knocked from her lungs. Dazed, she tried to scramble to her feet quickly. She looked around to find the thing now had Questor by his leg. Shit shit shit. Eva grabbed the nearest log she could lift and whacked the croc over the head with it with as much force as a tiny redhead could muster.

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Even after the warning of its deceptive swiftness, Spryly was still not prepared for how quickly it lashed out. He thought he'd just gotten away from it when he felt an unwelcome tug on his clothes. Before he knew what was happening, he was on the ground and being whipped around like a rag doll. Unless the adrenaline had completely covered up any pain he ought to be feeling, he was at least not in any pain which meant he was hopefully uninjured.

"GET OFF!" he howled, trying to gather his wits just enough to throw his whole weight away from the beast and separate himself from his jacket. Before he could make any kind of move the crocodile was disorientating him with another thrash of its head. If he somehow got free without losing a limb or his life it would be beyond miraculous. Hope was restored when a chubby bird seemed interested in getting eaten too. Spryly didn't need a urging to take advantage of the crocodile's distraction.

As he threw his weight away from the crocodile, he spotted the red head falling on her ass. What might have been an amusing sight ordinarily, was both alarming and frustrating - she should have gone while she had the chance! But also he'd probably be a bloody pulp inside the crocodile's stomach were it not for her and her feathery sidekick. Once he was on his feet he could admonish her and try and rectify the situation that had so quickly gone south.

As if the overgrown lizard was capable of telepathy, it seized suddenly upon one of his legs eliciting a shrill screech of pain from Spryly who, as it turned out, was not incapable of feeling pain at that present moment. "It's got me!" he wailed, eyes watering with pain as he tried to drag himself away, despite his leg's present engagement with the crocodile's powerful jaws. What could he do to save himself? Suddenly the pain seemed to intensify tenfold, it was biting down harder! Spryly howled in pain again and found he was sobbing profusely. "My leg!" He tried to look over his shoulder to see the damage for himself, but instead he found the woman stood of the thing with a log in hand and the crocodile appeared to have stopped moving its jaw. "Is it dead?" If he tried to prize his leg free would he be likely to lose his hands in the process?

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Eyeing up this magnificent set eh? MJ sold her soul to Satan's graphic designer. I wish he'd take mine too.