[MINGLE] Great Shakes

[sixthiteration]

WHO: EVERYBODY
WHERE: EVERYWHERE
WHEN: 13 July (afternoon, main quake) - 14 July (morning, last aftershocks)
OPEN TO: ALL - MINGLE
WARNINGS: Potential injuries, PTSD, and anxiety

---

The sun is still high when the earth begins its initial, almost benign sway, but seasoned villagers know well enough that what follows will be far from gentle. Vibrations ramp up swiftly, exponentially, until within the space of a few seconds, the whole world is shaking — Dishes pinging down from shelves, young trees sifting free of the earth, shingles dislodging and tumbling like rain.

After 20 seconds, the worst is done, and after 30 the shaking has ebbed completely. Some will have escaped relatively unscathed, but others will not have been so lucky...

...and the aftershocks are still to come.

Comments

[quinientos]

"You're not staying here, a wolf will probably come along and eat you," Vasquez says bluntly, as if there are even wolves out here. Maybe it won't be a specific animal, but it's going to come and eat the man, he knows that. Vasquez lets the rope loose when the man is clear, looping it to tuck it back into his belt.

When he gets to his side, he crouches and nods with his head. "Come on, I'll help carry you back to this Steve," he says. "Tell me where he is. Can he help your leg?"

[dann_0]

"Do we even have wolves?" Danny mutters. And when the man comes closer he moves to try to stand. He is going to need help to walk back but at least this he can do.

He shakes his head. "I live with Steve. The inn is probably better. Claire might be there, she is a nurse. Steve's just a SEAL"

[quinientos]

"I don't know, do we? I figured I heard things moving in the woods, why not wolves?" Vasquez reasons, with a shrug, seeing as he thinks that's pretty basic as far as he's concerned. He's not sure who a Steve is, but he knows Claire.

"We go to Claire," he says with a nod of his head. "She can do anything," he praises, despite only barely knowing this version of her.

[dann_0]

Danny smiles. "Feels like it at least." He reaches for Vasquez to wrap an arm around him to keep the weight of the leg as they head for the inn.

"Sorry. Didn't get your name. I am Danny. I live over in the other village but I was trying to practice my archery."

[quinientos]

"Vasquez," is all he says, because he's not about to give away first names, not to strangers, but he can help someone that's been hurt. After all, it's not like he's that much of an asshole. At least, not today.

"You ever done archery before?" He'd much rather be practicing with his gun, getting as accurate that way, but they didn't let him have that when he got here.

[dann_0]

"Some, enough to figure I could be useful when it comes to hunting. That's why I wanted to practice more." He is happy to talk about something else as they make their way towards the inn. "Not something I ever expected to need like this though."

[quinientos]

"No? Didn't expect the earthquake?" He's being fairly blunt with his comments, but it's not like he's trying to make Danny feel worse, more like pointing out how ridiculous all this is. Lucky for them both, Vasquez has very long legs and it's not far to get him back to town and where Claire might be.

"I figure, no one needs my marksmanship, so instead, I can offer farming skills. It doesn't make me break ankles so much," he brags, like that's somehow something to be proud of.

[dann_0]

"No, hasn't had one like that before as far as I know. What you did?" he frowns at the next bit of comment. Breaking ankles, well that could mean a few different things. Most of them are not good.

"You know how to farm them? I am born and raised in cities so I can't help out there."

[quinientos]

"No," Vasquez replies serenely, like he didn't just get called out for bullshitting his way about an earthquake, but if Danny's in pain, then maybe he doesn't notice or won't care. "That's how I got by, when I left home," he says.

At least, until he'd needed to start robbing and thieving to feed himself because he never got paid enough money. Then his skills had turned much more to the violence side. "I can teach you to milk a cow, it's not hard."

[dann_0]

"Yeah? Cows are those big furry things right?" Danny is exaggerating some, he does know what a cow is but he's never thought he'd be the one milking them. Or even that it was done by hand anymore. "Maybe not a bad idea. I do want to help out more."

[quinientos]

"Or lasso a goat or a bull, but those are more difficult," he admits, which is more thrilling to him. He never did work on the rodeo circuit, but Vasquez thinks he could probably hold his own if it came down to it. "Once you heal this leg of yours," he points out.

"We can't have you going into any kind of shock, no," Vasquez notes, because he's seen enough injuries to know it's a concern.

[dann_0]

"Or some of the other crazy animals out here. You're a cowboy then?" They are mostly a thing of the past by Danny's time. Well, there are still people dealing with cattle but calling them cowboys might be a stretch. "Wild West and all?"

[quinientos]

"Something like it," Vasquez agrees, because he thinks a vaquero is closer to what he is, but to most Americans, the definition is the same one, so he shouldn't be so picky. He eyes the other man as he carries him along. "I was in California before this. Rose Creek, you ever hear of it?"

[dann_0]

"It's near San Diego, right?" He glances over at him. "I've been in California a few times, I live in Hawaii though." He makes a grateful sound when he spots the inn. "Finally. Too bad we don't have painkillers. At least I don't think we do"

[quinientos]

"Maybe? I was mostly there for a short time, I preferred Texas and Houston," he admits, because even though he hadn't been home in a long time, it was still closer to where he'd grown up. Besides, he'd always thought maybe he would go see his sisters again.

That didn't work out so much, so Rose Creek had been the place for it. "I was in the mountains, more than San Diego, before Rose Creek."

[dann_0]

"Yeah? I haven't been there much. I am from New Jersey really. Moved to Hawaii when my ex wife took our daughter and moved there. I wanted to have Grace in my life." He smiles fondly, his daughter is important to him. "How was the mountains?"

[quinientos]

"Who's Grace?" he asks, trying not to immediately get lascivious about it, but as he holds back the waggle of his brows, he knows that it's a near thing. For him, most times when men talk about the women in their lives, it's not so much anything but their mistresses or wives.

"What's Hawaii?" he asks, with confusion, because this man, he looks and sounds American to him. "I don't know about the mountains. I never really went outside."

[dann_0]

"Grace is my daughter." It is a good thing Vasquez doesn't say anything more about her, because broken leg or no, Danny is protective of his daughter. A bit much if you ask her. "She stays with me half the time."

He frowns a bit at the next question. "It is one of the States. It's a group of islands out in the Pacific."

[quinientos]

Well, that's definitely not what he was thinking about. He also hasn't seen any children here, so Vasquez suspects that he's not exactly keeping her here with him, because she's...well, not. "Never heard of it. California is the furthest one I know."

Then again, he is from the 19th century, without much willingness to start learning too much more, so maybe that's his own fault. "Is it nice?"

[dann_0]

"It came about because of a bunch of vulcanos. It's... not bad. Sunny and nice a lot. Tropical. The beaches are lovely. The jungle not so much. Unless you happen to like the jungle. They do have this weird habit of putting pineapple on pizza which is just..." Danny shakes his head. "Wrong. It's just wrong."

[quinientos]

It's all a lot of things that sound like Vasquez wouldn't like, but he's used to farms and open space and mountains. The kind where winter is an awful thing he has to contend with, yes, but that's his home. Shifting the man, he sees the inn coming up.

"Where's Claire stay?" he asks, like he doesn't already know plenty of her habits. He just doesn't want to come off like that sort of man. "We'll get you there soon."

[dann_0]

"Not sure. I think as long as I get to the inn it is good. She'll know where to find me then." He smiles. "Thanks."

He grits his teeth for the last little bit and sinks into a chair as soon as they are inside the inn. "Do you know where she is?" He glances up at Vasquez.

[quinientos]

Should he admit it? He thinks in an earthquake like this, where would Claire go? "She's probably at the hospital," he admits, but of the two of them, Vasquez has the legs that work and Danny? Well, Danny doesn't. "Stay here," he advises.

"I'll go find her, bring her to help." He looks him over. "Maybe don't do anything stupid," he deadpans.

[dann_0]

Stay here? Like Danny could go anywhere even if he wanted to. But he nods. "Will do." It is not like he can do much stupid either, but instead he just leans back in the chair and closes his eyes, trying to ignore the pain.