Hunter Exam, Alluka's World, Monday

[that_oldsaying]

The horn blew, signalling their rest period being over. Alluka looked up from rebraiding her hair as another Hunter—this one a girl, with hair in strange spikes, shorts, and a t-shirt waved to get their attention.

"Hello, everyone!" she called. "Congrats on making it through the first test! We've lost some of you but who cares about that? We're focused on you lot!"

Alluka swallowed a giggle, casting a side-long look at Ringo.

The run up the mountain hadn’t been that hard, not really, once they'd gotten the hang of looking out for ice patches that led to loose rock and avalanches. The trees and roots and even the wildlife hadn't bothered them much.

"Some of you tried to get around to the other side of the mountain," the Hunter continued, "and today you're going to see why we didn't let you! Come on, get up, follow me!"

They were led, with some rumblings of discontent due to the slow start of the exam, to a river that poured out of an ice-peak of the volcano. Alluka was pretty sure that didn't work at all by how volcanos worked back on the island, but no one else seemed to have a problem with it, so she figured that was how it worked around here. Also laid out, on their side of the river, were a series of rafts.

"Each of you grab a raft," the Hunter said, "and get to the bottom of the river in twelve hours. Your raft must be in one piece and still able to float by the time you get down there or you're automatically disqualified. And your twelve hours starts… NOW!"

The horn sounded again.

Comments

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo took off toward a raft, glancing over at Alluka as she did so. "I think it's going to be a bit trickier to stick together this time around," she pointed out with a half-amused, half-worried grin. "But we should totally still try, right?"

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka couldn't help but giggle.

"How, though?" she wondered, darting after Ringo. "Stacking them on top of each other?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo giggled. "Somehow I suspect that'd result in at least one of us drowning." She shook her head. "Maybe just... try to keep each other in sight? It's probably too dangerous to actually, you know, tied ourselves together or something."

[that_oldsaying]

"That's probably the best way to do it," Alluka admitted. "Since the only way to be even a little safe with tying ourselves together would if we were first--or last."

And they definitely didn't want to go last!

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Hey, we made it up the mountain okay. So let's be there for each other on the way back down." Ringo looked around. "Now time's a wasting! Let's get on the water!"

[that_oldsaying]

"I'll race you down," Alluka decided, bouncing over to the raft she was claiming as hers. She looked back at Ringo. "After all, you beat me up the mountain! I'll beat you down it!"

And, with that, she shoved her raft into the water, hopping on it.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Good luck with that!" Ringo laughed, splashing into the water only a couple of seconds behind Alluka.

"Whoa! That's colder than I'd expected." Which really made sense given that it was, you know, a mountain. Even if it did have improbable geography.

The water snatched at her raft, causing Ringo to clamber on awkwardly. "Oh, wow. And a lot faster."

[that_oldsaying]

"Make sure your phone is safe," Alluka called back, as she shook water off her boots, not willing to concede that Ringo was right, the water really was freezing. She clung tight to her raft with her hands, shifting to see how it steered as the water dragged them forwards.

The answer was: not great, but not too terrible either.

"We've gone faster! This is nothing!"

Well. Not nothing but after dancing up a mountain by AirTrek, what was a little rafting without safety gear anyway?

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Exactly!" Ringo declared. And if her smile was a bit forced, well, sometimes you were stuck in a raft that didn't maneuver particularly well planning to ride it to the bottom of a mountain.

And she was sure that this was going to involve some rapids.

[that_oldsaying]

It wouldn't be much of an exam if the whole way was smooth sailing now would it?

Alluka's eyes narrowed as shrieking rose up ahead--too far ahead to see what was causing it.

"Be careful!"

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo giggled and looked over at Alluka. "I'm kinda glad that we're not at the front." Being where they were gave them a much better preview of what was ahead.

"We can let other people find all the surprises!"

[that_oldsaying]

"But we don't want to be too far back!" Alluka sang, wobbling a little as another raft bumped hers. "Because then people might set traps too!"

And that would be terrible.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Oh, good point." Ringo shivered as the cold set in a bit more, especially where her legs dangled off the raft in the water.

She kicked lightly, trying to drift over a little closer to Alluka.

"Want to see if we can catch up a bit?" But before she could really finish the question, they'd come around a bend to see part of the reason for the shrieking: the river was speeding up. And there was a massive rock right in the middle that split it into two flows.

"Which way should we go?" That question came out in a bit of a rush because it was definitely more urgent.

[that_oldsaying]

If they had more time, Alluka definitely would have wanted to take it, to consider the possibilities, instead of making a rush decision. She didn't even have time here to confer with her bunny (tucked safely inside her backpack) and part of Alluka hated that.

Another part of her, the part she was going to listen to, was the part that skipped a beat--out of excitement.

"Right!" she shouted, shifting to try and angle her raft for that way. "We go right!"

And this was based on absolutely nothing than a half remembered story that, when under pressure, most people chose left.

Hunters probably knew that, right?

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Got it!" Ringo kicked her legs harder to catch up to where Alluka was.

She was a lot less worried about whether they managed to go right as that they managed to stick together. It felt a little early to get split up, after all.

The current was definitely speeding up, too. The people ahead of them were getting farther away pretty rapidly.

"Looks like things are about to pick up," she called over the rushing sound of the water. "Do you think we should try to stick to one side or the other?" It might make it easier to stick to one direction if another split came up.

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka's braid was whipping out behind her; she was grateful she'd tied it back. Her usual styles would have been in her way for this.

"Won't a lot of people stick to the edges?" she asked, raising her voice to be heard over the water. "So, so it'll be less crowded if we don't!"

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo thought about that, her eyes scanning the other rafts spread out across the river.

"You're right. Less crowded is better."

She kicked to sort of spin her raft in place for a moment. "Want to try to stick to the middle?"

She'd managed to get within a couple of feet of Alluka's raft which meant she didn't have to yell quite as loud anymore.

"Oh, we also seem to be going faster here," she pointed out as she realized they were beginning to pass the people sticking to the sides.

[that_oldsaying]

"We're probably going to die," Alluka predicted, but she giggled, then, since she didn't really think they would. "And, and going faster means you shouldn't have to get as wet. You can stay out of the water a bit more, right?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Way to look on the bright side!" Ringo giggled.

She pulled herself a little more onto the raft because Alluka was right that the speed made it a bit more practical.

"Though," her eyes got a bit more serious, "we'll have less time to make decisions the faster we're going. I have a feeling that there are going to be a lot more surprises on the way down."

Almost like that was the point.

[that_oldsaying]

And... she couldn't argue that.

"It's fine, though, as long as we're alive and our rafts are okay," Alluka said, after a moment of making sure there wasn't anything immediately coming to bash them. "Rather than worry about what's right or wrong, why not just worry about them as they come? I made this last decision, you make the next, and then we'll trade and see what happens?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"You know what?" Ringo looked over at Alluka thoughtfully, then nodded. "I like that plan."

"For now let's just make sure that we don't fall off our rafts. That'd be embarrassing."

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka giggled, not sure what to make of Ringo's thoughtful look and so choosing to ignore it.

"You're the one that keeps swimming," she pointed out.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Well, it's easier to steer if you have something stuck in the water, though maybe I shouldn't have my legs hanging off in the water as we speed up. Wouldn't want to hit a rock."

Ringo chewed on her lip thoughtfully before taking a couple of seconds to pull herself fully onto the raft.

[that_oldsaying]

"Maybe we'll be able to grab a branch or something to help us steer at some point," Alluka offered, wanting to be helpful.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Oh, that's a good idea." Ringo's eyes swept the banks of the river. "Let's keep our eyes out for something like that. Might also be helpful if we get into some really fast rapids and need to push off of rocks or something."

At least that's how Ringo imagined rapids worked.

She shot Alluka a grin. "I'm glad we're doing this together." In case she hadn't said.

[that_oldsaying]

Rapids were probably going to be a nasty shock to both of them.

Alluka beamed back at Ringo.

"Me too," she began, before her attention was drawn abruptly to the front. "Where is everyone going?"

They seemed to just be... dropping off... the edge of existence...

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo followed Alluka's glance, then blinked.

"Um."

She gulped.

"Do you think there might be a, um, waterfall?"

[that_oldsaying]

That...

Alluka's look at Ringo was betrayed, mingled with alarm.

"Ringo, that sounds bad!"

[soniaroadsqueen]

Yeah, Ringo's adrenaline was pumping, too.

"Would it be louder if it were a big one? That makes sense, right? So it's probably not too bad?" Her eyes swept back and forth in a bit of a panic.

"Oh! There's a big rock over to the left, about halfway to the bank. Let's see if we can grab onto that and get a look over the edge before we decide to go over."

She wasn't sure they could even reach that rock in time, what with the current, but it seemed better than just going with the flow. Given where the flow was going.

[that_oldsaying]

And given that they'd just decided that they each take a turn making decisions, Alluka wasn't going to argue with Ringo's choice here.

Besides, it wasn't like she had any better suggestions!

"Okay!" she said, grimacing because the speed they were moving at meant that getting into the water wasn't going to be the easiest thing to do, but there was no other easy way to move the raft. "I'll meet you there!"

Then she slipped off the side of her raft, surfacing after a moment, clinging to it (she didn't want to lose it!) and kicking fiercely in the direction of the rock.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo had already done pretty much the same thing. Just sticking her legs in the water and kicking wasn't going to get them close enough given how fast everything was going.

One of Ringo's legs knocked against an underwater rock, causing her to grimace, but not to slow down.

Then there was the awkward scrabble to find a way to actually hold onto the rock without losing her grip on the raft itself.

"Made it!" she finally exclaimed, breath coming in gasps as she finally took the chance to look around to see how close Alluka had gotten.

[that_oldsaying]

This was one of those times where Alluka's slight weight and small stature were definitely more of a hindrance than a help.

Rather than be able to scramble up the rock, she crashed into it, with an oof that knocked the breath out of her, loosening her grip on her raft briefly.

"No!" she lunged for her raft, and away from the rock.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo hadn't managed to fully settle onto the rock either, which meant she had one hand on her raft and one on the rock, and none free to grab at her friend.

"Alluka!" she yelled desperately, twisting and trying to stick her leg out toward the other girl in case that somehow ended up being helpful.

[that_oldsaying]

It might have, had Alluka had a little more time, but it turned out that lunging after her raft--at least she managed to grab onto it--meant that the current, which already was becoming far too strong to swim against easily, just grabbed her, as she was completely off balance, and her raft.

And swept them towards the waterfall.

[soniaroadsqueen]

It all happened so fast that Ringo couldn't do anything about it. Not something she was used to. On solid ground, with ATs, it would have been easy to figure something out, but not in this situation.

"I'll catch up to you at the bottom!" Ringo yelled desperately after Alluka. "Just take care of yourself!"

And just like that, they were already separated.