Moose in New Mexico? I managed to fit it in anyway :-P
Moose The ground caught us, and in retrospect that was a good thing: missing the ground would mean something else had gone wrong -- the basket breaking and the balloon flying away was wrong enough for now. But at the time the ground was hard and unyielding and rocky and generally not something you wanted to hit from any height, especially not when you had sideways velocity like Ben and I did. Thankfully we had only just bumped the ground with the basket, so we fell maybe two metres, three at most, but we hit the ground and spun along our long axes. The world went from sky to ground and back and forth for what felt like forever. After the third, or maybe fourth, rotation, I was starting to feel nauseous and the whole reason I wasn't crying out in pain at each bounce on the rocks was because I didn't want to lose my breakfast. Not that I'd had any breakfast, but you get the idea. I rolled to a halt against an orangey-brown outcropping, and took a moment to thank the gods, who were clearly enjoying a bit of fun at our expense, that I hadn't had to bounce over that as well, and just lay still for moments, listening to my body report in. Everything was complaining and the noise was so overwhelming that I couldn't quite figure out if I was actually hurt or not. Eventually a shadow fell over me, and I squinted, looking up. The person was in silhouette with the sun pretty much directly behind them, but they looked to be the wrong shape to be Ben. “Moose?” I guessed, only partly to be difficult. "We saw the balloon over in Elizabethtown," said a familiar voice, but my brain was just getting reports from my knees that they might be bleeding. "No-one knew what to make of it, but I figured that if there was any outlandish mode of transport heading our way then there were only two people like to be in it. And... I was right." They stuck out a hand, and I levered myself up onto an elbow (ouch) and grabbed it. It was warm, calloused, and the person it belonged to pulled me with just a little bit of a grunt. Which I matched with my own, because it turns out my spine hadn't reported in with its complaints yet. With the sun out of my eyes I could see Jimmy standing in front of me, grinning so wide it was a wonder that his head didn't split along his mouth and the top part roll off down to his feet.
"Ben," I said, and stopped. I needed to say "Ow" quite a lot, but I didn't want to do that in front of Jimmy. "Of course," he said, snorting with laughter. "It's only a wonder that he didn't strap his horse to the bottom of it as well." That idea beat out all the notions of pain I had. "Don't you go suggesting that to him!" Jimmy gave me a thumbs up, still laughing. "I best go find him. You might want to pull your tatters about you, Red; that landing's done you no favours." I looked down; sure enough, my boots were scuffed to high heavens, my jeans were ripped at the knees and... I patted behind me, yep, ripped at the behind too. My jacket had borne the brunt of the landing up top, and looked as battered as my boots, and at least I did still have my hat. Small mercies. "I can stand without help, boy." Well, that was Ben, as gracious as ever. I looked around and realised that I could see the top half of Jimmy and none of Ben, so he must have gone off in another direction and bounced behind his own outcropping. I sucked in a huge breath and let it out with a shudder. Sadly, it didn't take all the pain with it, but it did make me feel a little better. And I noticed that there was a strong taste of copper in the air. I sniffed, a tad more carefully this time, and noticed smoke, and not just wood-smoke, and something acrid. "Jimmy?" I hollered. "This here a mine?" "Ayup," he yelled back. Ben's head appeared above the rocks, and he slowly heaved himself upright. "Copper mostly, but there's tell of other metals if you know where to look." "And do you know where to look?" Ben was business the instant he heard it. "Not yet," said Jimmy. "But I think I might know how to find out."
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Moose in New Mexico? I managed to fit it in anyway :-P
Moose
The ground caught us, and in retrospect that was a good thing: missing the ground would mean something else had gone wrong -- the basket breaking and the balloon flying away was wrong enough for now. But at the time the ground was hard and unyielding and rocky and generally not something you wanted to hit from any height, especially not when you had sideways velocity like Ben and I did. Thankfully we had only just bumped the ground with the basket, so we fell maybe two metres, three at most, but we hit the ground and spun along our long axes. The world went from sky to ground and back and forth for what felt like forever. After the third, or maybe fourth, rotation, I was starting to feel nauseous and the whole reason I wasn't crying out in pain at each bounce on the rocks was because I didn't want to lose my breakfast. Not that I'd had any breakfast, but you get the idea.
I rolled to a halt against an orangey-brown outcropping, and took a moment to thank the gods, who were clearly enjoying a bit of fun at our expense, that I hadn't had to bounce over that as well, and just lay still for moments, listening to my body report in. Everything was complaining and the noise was so overwhelming that I couldn't quite figure out if I was actually hurt or not.
Eventually a shadow fell over me, and I squinted, looking up. The person was in silhouette with the sun pretty much directly behind them, but they looked to be the wrong shape to be Ben.
“Moose?” I guessed, only partly to be difficult.
"We saw the balloon over in Elizabethtown," said a familiar voice, but my brain was just getting reports from my knees that they might be bleeding. "No-one knew what to make of it, but I figured that if there was any outlandish mode of transport heading our way then there were only two people like to be in it. And... I was right." They stuck out a hand, and I levered myself up onto an elbow (ouch) and grabbed it. It was warm, calloused, and the person it belonged to pulled me with just a little bit of a grunt. Which I matched with my own, because it turns out my spine hadn't reported in with its complaints yet.
With the sun out of my eyes I could see Jimmy standing in front of me, grinning so wide it was a wonder that his head didn't split along his mouth and the top part roll off down to his feet.
"Ben," I said, and stopped. I needed to say "Ow" quite a lot, but I didn't want to do that in front of Jimmy.
"Of course," he said, snorting with laughter. "It's only a wonder that he didn't strap his horse to the bottom of it as well."
That idea beat out all the notions of pain I had. "Don't you go suggesting that to him!"
Jimmy gave me a thumbs up, still laughing. "I best go find him. You might want to pull your tatters about you, Red; that landing's done you no favours."
I looked down; sure enough, my boots were scuffed to high heavens, my jeans were ripped at the knees and... I patted behind me, yep, ripped at the behind too. My jacket had borne the brunt of the landing up top, and looked as battered as my boots, and at least I did still have my hat. Small mercies.
"I can stand without help, boy." Well, that was Ben, as gracious as ever. I looked around and realised that I could see the top half of Jimmy and none of Ben, so he must have gone off in another direction and bounced behind his own outcropping. I sucked in a huge breath and let it out with a shudder. Sadly, it didn't take all the pain with it, but it did make me feel a little better. And I noticed that there was a strong taste of copper in the air. I sniffed, a tad more carefully this time, and noticed smoke, and not just wood-smoke, and something acrid.
"Jimmy?" I hollered. "This here a mine?"
"Ayup," he yelled back. Ben's head appeared above the rocks, and he slowly heaved himself upright. "Copper mostly, but there's tell of other metals if you know where to look."
"And do you know where to look?" Ben was business the instant he heard it.
"Not yet," said Jimmy. "But I think I might know how to find out."
Greg - shrug. I thought maybe you could use it as a nickname?
Hah, I like how Red's body reports in after his landing finishes.
And hurray, Jimmy has entered the story!
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