Kennedy Cavan
Paris had gotten hurt again. Kennedy's fellow new hires seem to be heard every other day or so. It probably didn't help that Paris had a knack for approaching the various creatures in the park, and treating them in the same manner a cartoon character would. This generally meant that Paris had about as much chance of, say, hugging a vicious man eating creature as he did singing a sweet song to some benevolent fairytale.
"I swear, this one looked particularly harmless," promised Paris, fighting a whimper as Kennedy used some of the med kit to begin cleaning out the bite mark around his hand. The teeth looked like they more closely matched an herbivore, sure, but clearly Paris had done something. Kennedy gave his coworker a concerned look, and the pretty young man shifted nervously. "I did the song that's supposed to sooth them and everything. Honest, Kennedy, I don't know what got it all upset! It even looked like a unicorn, and I'm usually great around horses."
While Kennedy didn't really want to say it, he had some doubts about Paris's claim. As far as he could tell the only thing Paris was actually any good at was getting people like him. Well, supposedly the pretty young man had a knack for composing poetry that came out so bad it turned around the other side and became good again, but Kennedy hadn't exactly heard any of that. No, Paris usually got along with people simply because he had that earnestness about him that drew them to him.
"Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I was supposed to be giving the unicorn it special medicine," suggested Paris, stroking his chin as he did.
"Special medicine?"
Paris nodded. "They said I needed to medicate the unicorn properly because there's been some sort of illness circulating throughout the park that's affecting certain creatures more than others. I certainly hope the unicorns okay," he shifted making Kennedy's job awkward as he tried to look towards the unicorn glade.
Yes, the unicorns had their own glade. It seemed as if most magical creatures had their own little sanctuary here. And since there were so very many creatures that meant that almost every section of the park had several different dens. Quite a few of those creatures seem capable of handling themselves without any outside help, but several seem to need help from various workers. Some genius had decided that Paris would be an expert at this.
To be fair, Paris usually did better than a lot of people. He certainly would be a good fit for Kennedy's job, which didn't seem to actually have something of a title. Basically, Kennedy got to run around "fixing things." This often meant doing things like this, patching up the various "family members" whenever they got new a scrape. Sometimes it meant going to actual attractions or even some of the creatures and attending to them. Someone had found out that Kennedy had some basic medical training, something he'd gotten because it had become something of necessity where he grew up. If everyone knew that he would stay low and patch them up, then he could avoid certain… other activities. At any rate, that training made him a good candidate for this sort of job, particularly when they offered him even more training. Training and apparently some various devices and medicines that did an amazing job at what they were supposed to do.
"Medicine might've upset the animal. Maybe next time make sure I'm around," suggested Kennedy. He reached into the box of supplies a given him, pulling out an ointment. Kennedy rubbed it on to his fingers, before moving to spread along the wound. He knew you didn't actually want to touch the wound itself, partially because that was a bad idea even with the gloves Kennedy was wearing, and partially because the medicine work best if you massage the flesh around the world instead of wound itself.
"Well I didn't want to disturb you. I know that you do quite a lot here in the park particularly for someone as new as I am," as Paris said this Kennedy could swear he saw his eyes light up a little bit. "Everyone's already saying that you're a shoe-in to be the best of the new Family Members, if not one of the best of the family here at the park overall."
Kennedy let out a small dry chuckle at that shaking his head.
"It's true! I mean, I couldn't work the stuff as well as you could," he said flushing slightly. Can the only had to give him a look for him to start correcting himself, "yes, yes, I know, I'm not the best that much of what I'm doing. But you seem to have a special knack for it."
Kennedy just shrugged. He finished smearing the ointment and then wrap some of the provided cloth around it. Kennedy settled back on his haunches looking over the general area. "Everything looks good. Keep this on till the end of the day, and the ointment should do its job."
Paris beamed at him. "Thank you so much! Now if you'll excuse me," he rose up pushing off the bench even sitting on, "I need to finish giving the unicorns their medicine." He grabbed a flash that looked uncannily like you'd expect a potion from a videogame to look and hurried off.
Kennedy hesitated for a few moments. He was seriously considering following Paris. Not that he didn't think the young man could handle a job as simple as giving medicine to a couple of "unicorns." But he literally just done some first aid, and that protectiveness within him wanted him to make sure that he wasn't tending to Paris as well as in just a few more days.
Just as Kennedy had more or less decided that he should probably go on to his next task, which likely meant doing some basic maintenance in the bathroom (since it seemed that the bathrooms in the park required some basic plumbing about every other hour or so), he heard an increasingly familiar voice chirp: "Oh wow you handled that guy super well. I probably would just want to suck it up and give it a few kisses or something. Then again, my kisses would probably have a little bit more effect than yours."
Kennedy let out a snorting laugh as he gathered up his kit. Sure enough, Raelena St. John was leaning against a nearby snack stand munching on something that looked entirely unhealthy and covered in sugar. Kennedy honestly didn't know how the rock star maintain her trim figure or managed actually look as good as she did considering the utter trash she often shoved into her face. As per usual, he didn't mention that instead just gathering his things.
"You off to do anything fun?" Rae asked pushing off of the stand as she did. She gave the girl behind the stand a quick wink, which probably meant that she flirted her way into whatever it is she clutched her paw instead of paying for it. Not that that was any of Kennedy's business.
As for her question, Kennedy shrugged. "You find bathrooms fun?"
Rae smiled a downright devilish smile. "Kinda depends on what you're doing and there doesn't it? I got into it a lot of fun in the bathroom before," Kennedy swore she followed up with something like a purr as she winked. She slinked beside him as he started walking, clearly determined to ease her boredom with her apparent "friend."
"Cleaning it. Which involves work," Kennedy raised a brow as he looked at Rae, not feeling that he really had to expand on that.
"Oh ugh, you said the W word," Rae pulled a face before taking an altogether too big bite of her potentially deadly snack. "You have far too much work ethic Cavan."
Weirdly enough, Kennedy almost agreed with that statement. Of course, he actually knew where the work ethic came from and he hadn't quite gotten to the point where he felt like sharing that with Rae. He did admit that he enjoyed hanging out with the rock star, if only because she was so drastically different from anyone else he knew. True, she had a tendency to get him into trouble but it wasn't the kind of trouble that really got anyone into any big messes.
Plus, if she was hanging out with him, she wasn't bothering anyone else.
While they'd walked Rae had prattle about a few different things. Apparently Mikki was still bothering her to change her sets up, which did make Kennedy a little curious, since as far as he knew the park coordinator had quite a lot on her hands as it was. There was probably something else going on there, but he wasn't about to point it out to either party. Instead he just treated Rae as background noise as he moved around his day.
They shifted away from the more forested area to what amounted to the mountainous portion of the park, as much as it was. This is where the various dwarf mines, the Dragon caves, the Griffin nests another such mountainous related activity happen to be. From what Kennedy had heard, it was also one of the better places in the park if you are into rides and attractions of that ilk. Probably due to its placement near the forest, which was filled of nice passive areas on purpose. Or just to help with the weird geography of the place, since seem to be half animal sanctuary in half fantasy themed amusement park.
"Have you actually thought to go on any of these rides?" asked Rae looking around at the various mountain coasters.
Kennedy shook his head, but couldn't quite help but look around as well. The coasters weaving in and out of the various mounds were rather impressive. You could see various loops made of wood, metal, and plastic weaving in and out of the terrain with expert precision. Several showed loops that seem to Kennedy like they should be rather impossible. On top of that there were a few creatures that flied in what were apparently enclosed areas nearby. The sounds of laughter mixed with the cries of various creatures in the constant hum and thrum of an amusement park adding a soundtrack that even Rae would appreciate.
"See, that's something of a shame right there. How are you supposed to know what they're like for, you know, functioning purposes and entertainment value if you haven't actually been on any of them?" Rae nodded sagely. "I'm thinking we need to get your butt on one of those coasters pronto. Necessary education for the job."
"Kinda currently on my job," Kennedy pointed out though even he couldn't put much fight into it. Even hard workers such as him didn't want to go scrubbing toilets or repairing busted sinks.
If Rae heard him, she chose to ignore him. Instead she let her gaze sweep across the various attractions landing on a nearby map. Kennedy doubted she actually needed it but she sauntered up to it anyway. Rae ran her fingers over the various attractions and as she did the park's writing scale lit up with these little swirls of light around her finger. I was another bit of technology that Kennedy had quite figured out part of him almost wanted to get into. He'd seriously considered asking a sister about it, but she'd been notoriously tightlipped about everything here in the last time he'd asked a question she'd insisted that "everything would be explained in good time."
He watched, passingly interested, though we also made sure to look around to see if anybody need their immediate help. After a bit Rae's finger lingered on something called the "dwarf mine explosion."
"Yeah, this is definitely the one for you," she said tapping the map a few more times. As Rae tapped the Sparkles swam around her fingers. Kennedy could see that there appeared to be about three perhaps three and a half of them, which put it slightly above the mid-rank on the park's thrilled meter. "Not exactly the most exciting thing in the area. But something tells me that the death-defying mountain swoop might be a little too much for your poor fragile Constitution. This thing's got some cool effects anyway, which about makes it better than some of the looping ones. Plus," she gave him a smile that was downright sultry, "it's a good one if you ever actually decide to take a girl to the park."
"Nice to hear you finally admit you're not a girl."
Rae stuck her tongue out at him, but it a flashing a quick smile. He already had a feeling he was gonna go along with this. Her reasoning wasn't the worst in the world for one thing, and part of Kennedy did sort of want to blow off his current task. If there was such a thing as quotas he was definitely ahead for today, and he was pretty sure that he could just admit to keeping Rae out of trouble which was just about a job in itself.
Which went a long way towards explaining why he was standing in line next to a rock star moving through a rather intricate maze of stone and rock. Rae entertained herself with the acoustics sing a song that Kennedy didn't recognize. "Every day I walk down the street, I hear people say' baby's so sweet'."
Quite a few people were definitely getting into it. As per usual, Rae's voice was rather impressive. Plus, she was demonstrating to great degree how well the acoustics were in the enclosed area. But Kennedy found his gaze moving towards the walls, which were carved in various ruins that were supposedly the dwarf language. English translations ran along them, insisting that this was something of a mixture of a reenactment of some part of dwarf history and a test of dwarfen courage.
Seem like a lot of trouble for an amusement park ride, but at least it was in theme.
By now Rae had gotten the crowd as amped up as if this was a little concert, which he might as well have been at this point. Admittedly the park itself did quite a lot to making the line move at a decent rate, and unlike several other amusement parks Kennedy had been in, not that there were that many, the various pictures and things were somewhat amusing and at the very least distracting. Still there was nothing quite as distracting as a lanky woman with rainbow colored tips at the end of her butt length hair using the various cordons as staging equipment for her own personal rock show.
However, Kennedy found himself pausing at one of the particular glyphs. It seemed as if the glowing symbols were moving as he read. This wasn't quite like the others because it almost seemed as if the glyphs were being written while he watched. At first it appeared that language he didn't understand, so it wasn't as if he could really tell what they were trying to communicate. But the English translation soon followed: be warned that the daring tests of fire and lava have been slightly off, and that were not sure that the magics will completely hold them back. The emergency anti-lava equipment is stashed---
"Hey Kennedy," Rae tugged at his arm pulling Kennedy's attention away from the possible warning, "we can actually see the ride, so stop staring at the scenery." She again threw her arm around his shoulder using one hand to direct his head towards the car.
It was clear they'd designed the roller coaster to look like mine carts. Each had that boxy wooden shape that looked almost ripped out of some kind of old-fashioned movie. Harden metal that Kennedy guess to be iron or some sort of mixture held it together and bolted it to a state-of-the-art looking track. In fact, the track seems so futuristic that it almost blended in with the mountain, as if the steel itself had been warped into the rock. Closer inspection showed that the mine carts had some unique straps that were almost guaranteed to hold someone in place. Kennedy couldn't help but be impressed by all the safety measures in place, but he supposed that just made sense given that this was an amusement park with a stellar record. Glyphs ran along one wall under which were several cubbies were people had clearly stashed possessions that they were worried would fall out somewhere along the ride. Rattling noises that came with every coaster filled the echoing hallway, accompanied by whooshing noises and flashes of heat that likely indicated some pyrotechnics somewhere.
A young looking person who had to come up to about Kennedy's waist stood where the line dumped out into your usual several lanes for different parts of the carts. Save for the height and bulkiness, he looked every inch the bored teenager you often saw running this sort of thing. He did however perk up when he saw Rae bounding in as bouncy as ever.
"Oi tha's got tae be Rae St. John doosn't it?" He asked bounding forward. As he approached Kennedy's could see a name tag that read "Sheamus." "I love your music I do. Some righteous stuff in there. Shame tha' they didnae let ye go as hard-core on tha' show."
Rae smiled, leaning against one of the railings. "Don't let me go all that hard here in the park either. Guess we'll have to let other things get there eh?" She gave a suggestive wink accompanied by hip waggle.
It did seem to have the desired effect on the young man, though Kennedy had to wonder why. Wasn't as if people didn't know that Rae wouldn't be interested in anyone with Sheamus's equipment. Still, he supposed if you are interested in skinny white girls, she probably did it for you. That attitude would work if nothing else.
Sheamus nodded, turning and giving them the basic safety spiel as well as repeating a lot of what Kennedy had read on the way there. Currently Rae was less interested in the history of the ride or what she'd have to do to keep herself safe then in craning forward to try to get a peek down the ride.
"Haven't you seen this before?" asked Kennedy.
Rae giggled. "Well, yeah, looking towards the flames is kind of the fun part. This is the hottest right in the park after all." She tilted her head, tapping her chin a few times. "Well besides the ones with the dragons, but I hear those around for maintenance or something right now."
Sheamus waved a handful of people in front of them on through before Rae and Kennedy could go on themselves. Naturally Rae led them right to the front of the coaster and several people were more than willing to let her drag Kennedy towards the front. A few teenagers were in front of them, clearly excited to get on the ride, and Kennedy was pleasantly surprised to see that Rae wasn't about to boot them to move up a few more spaces in line.
In fact, as the girlfriend recognized her and started squealing Rae actually offered to take some selfies. The rock star held the camera with obvious practice giving her trademark smile as she clicked away. She offered a few tips for the girl adding things on Instagram before suggesting that the boyfriend listen closely knew what delighted screams actually sounded like from his girl.
The giggling team slid to the front of the car, with Kennedy fighting his own amusement. He looked ahead watching the flashing flames as the cart ducked just under it. He could've sworn based on the way the flames were jetting that they should've actually hit the cart. But it seemed as if something direct them just a way. It was another one of those details that just impressed can be about the whole place. Yet he also swore he could see something near the track where the wheels met the rails, something like sparks or flashes of light that probably weren't a good sign.
Everything must've been all right because the next set of carts had already started rolling on in. Thrilled people were leaving babbling about how the flame had to surely have since their hair and eagerly squawking about getting pictures and whatnot.
"Hope you're ready to actually have some fun," teased Rae. She started sliding over into the cart, plopping on down into the seat. "Photos at the big drop right after the explosion when we hit outside. Can't miss it," and she reached up to poke Kennedy's chest as he slid to the seat beside her, "and I expect you to actually crack something resembling an expression when we hit it. Flashing lights equals expression on Cavan's face, capiche?"
"I make sure my eyes are closed," said Kennedy as he adjusted the belts around them. Again, they seemed almost magically slide the place the two separate seats both adjusting to their vastly different body types.
Another short teenager, female this time, came along to check everything pulling near their fasteners. Once more Kennedy swore he could actually see flashes of light instead of the usual tugs or what not but Rae had squealed and already started throwing her hands up in the air distracting him from really getting a good look.
Just like that the cart started moving forward. Kennedy braced himself along the safety railings locking eyes ahead. Just as he'd expected a burst of flame shot down from above them barely licking against the cart. He swore it actually touched his hair; he could certainly feel the heat washing along his body.
Instead of some immediate turn or a drop or even some slow crank up words they started moving almost at a casual pace through several tunnels. More of the glyphs line the walls reminding them of their courage and how they needed to demonstrate their strength through yelling and so forth. Booming voices with that strong accent read the instructions allowed. Hammers and singing filled the air as the cart started moving faster and faster. Jets of heat started erupting behind them with sparks flying as well. The hammering grew more and more sparks and flames shooting out everywhere.
The cart whipped around the corner and immediately jolted upwards. Kennedy had expected a nice slow incline like so many other roller coasters so when he found himself yanked upwards his large body slammed into the back of the cart and he swore the whole coaster yanked back in response. Rae giggled beside him gently nudging him before throwing her hands in the air again.
Figuring he might as well play along Kennedy raised his own arms. As he did, he felt the flames again licking his fingertips before the accident voice warned them that the bridge ahead had indeed fallen out. No sooner had he told them to pull back from the track ahead dive down at a sharp and sudden burst. Rumblings reverberated around them as they dove downward into the pure dark. Only the lights of orange flame lit them from around.
Kennedy did see a flash of orange coming from just under the lip of the cart in front of him during one of the dimmer parts of the flame Jets. The cart whipped them around and he found himself letting out a grunt as Rae whooped. They zigzagged at speeds that probably should've given them whiplash had the safety restraints not kept them locked tightly in place.
The warning said something about an explosion and sure enough there was another shower of sparks before they dive down yet again. Soon after this being steadily upward and upward, with an audible creaking noise accompanied by the sound of hammers and various pics against stone. Rumbling music imitating some sort of mining song shook the walls around them and naturally Rae had to sing along. Her higher pitch harmonized greatly with it actually seemed to restore some strength, stabilizing Kennedy's gut before they whipped around again.
Warning glyphs flashed along the side telling them to hold their breath, before a blast of water hit them hard. A puff of scented air soon followed as they twisted around, and seemed to slow to a stop. The air continued to puff the sulfuric, rotten egg smell around them. Kennedy figured it was to start getting them lightheaded, or for one of those odd effect you often saw on rides.
"Okay," Rae said, "I know I'm usually a little out of it during this part of the ride. But I'm pretty sure were supposed to jet right past this into another explosion followed by several explosions as we rocket upward and outward in all that jazz. Plus, is it just me or did the music get a little creepy, unleash the horror from the deep, beware the incoming fire?"
The music had dropped in pitch, rumbling near Kennedy's lower gut, but he hadn't really thought anything of it. After all they had clearly thrown a lot of effects at them in the last few minutes so we figured this was just one more. But Rae continued look confused.
More worrying still was the sounds of coughing from a couple of people behind them. Kennedy twisted in his seat and could see a middle-aged couple sitting there. The long-haired man was coughing into his fist while the woman, probably his wife, looked on with evident concern. Behind them Kennedy could just see a few children that were barely tall enough to be on this ride looking more than a little nervous and antsy.
"I'm thinking that something's wrong with the ride," he said turning to look back at Rae.
She coughed into a fist. "Yeah, we've been stuck here for a few minutes now. Could've gone through the ride twice by this point." She slid her hands along the restraints frowning as she did. "We're workers here right? Does that mean we should be allowed to get out and see what's really going on?"
Kennedy reached over and placed his arm across her chest. "Probably not a good idea," he said. "Best to stay put and wait when they send professionals to come get us."
Rae coughed again, before jerking her thumb behind her. "Yeah that's gonna work out real nice for the dude behind us or those kids. Plus, this is probly gonna affect my beautiful singin' voice and you can just hear Mikki whining about that from here can't you?"
Kennedy frowned staring at the size of the wall again. The glyphs had reappeared, but this time they were saying that the test had gone awry. There was something there about how the magics weren't working out like they were supposed to. That probably meant there was some sort of technical failure, which jived with what was going on around them.
"Hey, isn't that your name?" asked Rae pointing in the opposite direction where Kennedy had been looking.
Kennedy twisted and looked. Sure enough, there was his full name written out on the glyphs along with what appeared to be other instructions. Kennedy Cavan, protector and caregiver of the secret lands, potential Candidate, we expect you to use the magic both within you and embedded within the ride alongside the magic of fellow Candidate Raelena St. John to safely carry yourself and the passengers off this test. Against our wishes are magic has gone Uncoordinated. As someone possessing the great strength of spirit we ask that you aid us in our hour of need.
"Are we being punked?" asked Rae. "Because my superpowers of song and sex won't exactly to get us out of this poisoned—" a series of coughs interrupted Rae's quip.
In truth Kennedy wasn't so sure himself, but he could hear the people behind him getting worse and the air was clearly starting to get to Rae as well. That really only left in one option. Remembering that weird light from just under lip of his cart he reached forward and pressed. A small box fell into his lap, seeming to spring forth and expand to about the size of a long slender toolbox. Kennedy popped it open seeing what appeared to be a small metal rod along with what appeared to be a few charms that would likely go along a bracelet.
The Rod had his name embossed with the plaque next to it; the charms, Rae's. There was also a small scroll, which Kennedy unrolled.
Your tools of focus. Grasp them and you'll know what to do.
"Oh yay, saved by jewelry and a sex toy," joked Rae, but that didn't stop her from grabbing the charms. As soon as she did, they flashed and seemed to suddenly appear along her bracelet clinking against the various rainbow charms that already dangled there.
Kennedy reach for the Rod and instantly felt a tingling sensation his hand as he wrapped around it. It almost felt like being electrocuted, but not quite at the unpleasant intensity that it should be. What was more surprising was that it just felt… Right in his hands. Like been using in his entire life, or that it had been designed to fit him.
Curious, he tapped it against the restraints. As soon as he did, he felt a surge coursing through his arm, again like that electric feeling, and the restraints flashed. He felt that giving way, allowing him to sit up straighter.
Rae, ever willing to try what she saw someone do, tapped her bracelet against her own restraints, and popped immediately upright. For a moment, Kennedy almost wondered if she was going to take off and start shimmying down the track toward safety. However, while she popped up easily enough and started balancing almost immediately, Rae instead looked over the various other passengers in their train.
"No need to worry 'bout a thing, current and/or future fans," said Rae nodding with the utmost confidence, "Kennedy here's an expert at fixing shit around the park, and I've got more than enough confidence to spare." She likely would've continued on with her rousing speech, but she immediately started coughing instead.
While Rae spoke, Kennedy looked around the area. He levered himself up only slightly surprised to find that he actually had the clearance to rise fully. Both he and Rae were relatively tall, and this had clearly been designed with the shorter "family members" in mind. He leaned slightly and glanced down seeing a drop that he could probably do, but he wasn't sure he wouldn't end up hurting himself in the process. The track ahead didn't look electrified anything, which meant it was potentially safer walking. Where were the safety railings? The inevitable bits that were left so people could perform maintenance on the track.
"Got a plan yet?" asked Rae looking up at him.
Kennedy shook his head, but pointed towards the walls. "Should be maintenance tunnels or railings or something. Need to head for that, and get outta here that way."
Rae bobbed her head, scanning the walls herself. "Really wish I could read those weird mumbo-jumbo letters that keeps crawling everywhere."
Kennedy scanned the dwarven ruins again. He could see English lettering appear underneath indicating that the safety tunnels just needed the magical inclination to appear. He glanced at Rae. "You can't see the English translation?"
Rae snorted. "Thing isn't being shoved through Google translate. Just a bunch of gibberish. You seeing a translation?" She shot him a side eye before coughing again. By now she definitely wasn't the only one coughing, and Kennedy was starting to get seriously concerned about some of the passengers behind them.
Really only left one option, which was for him to get out of the cart and balance along the track. He settled as best he could feeling the track supporting his weight easily enough. The hard stone and wood beneath him felt almost reassuring. Still have the small problem though: he couldn't reach any of the walls to try and use the "magical" rod he'd been given.
Rae had clambered out and fall along the track beside him. She squinted towards the walls, and nodded in their direction. That nod clued Kennedy in even before Rae started speaking: "there's a kinda--"
"I see it," Kennedy said. Rae mumbled some protests, but they were cut off by coughing. Point was that Kennedy could see the lip extending just near the wall. It was more of a stone shelf than anything, but it looked sturdy enough. Thing had enough width for even Kennedy to stand comfortably. Trick was still getting over there.
Rae shuffled to the end of the track leaning over dangerously. She glanced over her shoulder towards Kennedy then looked back towards the lip. "Yeah, I'm thinking you're gonna have to toss me like a dwarf," she said this with a wry smile. "I'd offer to toss you but--" coughing cut off her no doubt witty remark.
Kennedy wasn't exactly thrilled with the plan, but he knew they had to act fast as he could already hear the children getting more intense with their coughing and he didn't want even think about was going on with that middle-aged man. So, he just nodded and moved over to grab Rae around the waist.
"Gee, took you two weeks to finally make a move Kennedy," drawled Rae.
"Go limp."
"Just like all my dates," teased Rae but she actually obeyed his command or at least went along with him loosening her muscles and making her an easier load. Even then, Kennedy found himself grateful she was all limbs and elbows. That leanness might help with her actually reaching it.
Kennedy lifted her easily enough; wasn't as if Rae weighed a lot. For one she actually fell to something like silence, probably realizing that if he missed, she was going to end up crumpled several dozen feet below with an actual chance of death. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he shouldn't see if there were somebody else who is willing to do this. Just when he did, he felt her tapping against his arm.
"Don't worry, I got over the whole death wish thing a few months ago," she said giving him an almost weary smile. "We gotta do this before my new fans back they cough their lungs up, or even worse," she looked up at Kennedy expression falling to the utmost shock and horror, "my voice might be damaged!"
Kennedy only just managed to suppress his chuckles as he lifted Rae up further. He levered her as best he could and aimed carefully towards the wall fighting his own urge to cough. He mumbled a quick count under his breath and then flung his friend towards the wall with all his strength.
It turned out that Kennedy probably could've thrown a little less hard, as Rae smacked against the other side of the wall hard enough to bounce backwards. Her arms windmilled for a few moments and he swore that the charms along her bracelet glowed with a rainbow light right before she was able to right herself. She smacked her hands against the wall and he saw both the charms and the runes glowing in resonance with each other.
"Okay, first, ow," said Rae shuffling along the lip. And he thought he heard something about safety concerns as she managed to at least let go of the wall. "Second, I'm not sure what exactly I'm supposed to be doing over here." She waved her hands at the wall a few times before looking left and right. "Hey look, I could go shimmied a safety and abandon everybody here to their fates. Wouldn't that just be the supremely assholish thing for me to do?" She even did a few shuffles that direction but of course stopped before she got any real distance away.
Kennedy kept reading the runes, noting the translations that seem to appear just moments after the more complex stuff. It appeared to be a series of instructions about channeling magic and wanting to parts stone. "Says you have to focus your magical energies on making the stone part before your will."
Rae snorted and coughed a few times. "Gee, and here I was thinking I should use my magical energies to just fly us all the safety. Don't suppose you have any actual helpful instructions? Or a secret wizard hiding in those pants of yours?"
Kennedy pointed towards where the ruins seem to be circling but not quite forming a steady pattern. "Tap your stupid bracelet--"
"It's not stupid!" Rae sang out.
"Tap the very smart bracelet along in a circle in that area," Kennedy instructed generally gesturing as he did. By now the acrid air had grown even worse with literally everyone coughing including Kennedy himself. He grasped his Rod for a moment and looked at the off-color air around him. He could hear Rae tapping her bracelet along the wall and see of the corner of his eye that the stone seem to be shifting before her, though not with any real speed. Which meant they still had this gas and while they probably get out of here quick enough in may cause some real damage to some of the people.
The rod thrummed in Kennedy's hand. Feeling something like desperation, and hoping that this worked in the same way as some of the medical kits he'd been using, Kennedy raised the rod and thought hard about protecting the people around him. He pictured some way to purify the air, to make it at least breathable for the few moments it would take Rae to fully get the platform and tunnel together. As he did, he saw the rod sparkle and swirling lights danced about the air. They flashed a soft green color and as they did the air nearest Kennedy became easier to breathe.
Kennedy started walking awkwardly along the cart waving his Rod dismissing as much of the toxic air as he could, trying to focus on the people who needed the most. He glanced over at Rae as he did, seeing her impatiently dancing about. As she often did when she was impatient or nervous, Rae started singing under her breath growing louder and louder as her nerves started taking hold. Kennedy didn't recognize the lyrics, but they appeared to be something about opening up making a path. It sounded vaguely like some sort of Disney song that he didn't quite know or maybe something from a musical. The tunnels offered her decent acoustics so they could all hear Rae's voice quite clearly.
More importantly, the more Rae sang the more her bracelet started glowing. "Rae! Sing louder and focus it on what you're trying to do!"
Rae snapped her attention back on Kennedy, smirking as she did. "Oh gee that's just ever so easy with this…" She looked around her as Kennedy waved his Rod in her general direction. "Never mind I can see that your magic Rod has solved my coughing problem. First time that's ever happened," she turned back to the parting stone and started singing at the top of her lungs about opening up and forming a new path and forging ahead. Kennedy thought she mashed a couple of songs together as he heard something about "open trails" and "being open to new ideas" and "going on the road again." As he'd half expected, the stone moved with great speed eventually forming a path not only as a tunnel that led out but also a little stone outcropping that connected the track to the lip where Rae stood.
Kennedy wasted no time. He immediately started helping people up and out of the carts shuffling them along. Rae sang encouragement waving people long and making them focus more on her performance then the fact that one wrong slip could break a neck. Even though Kennedy knew what Rae was doing, he still found his spirits buoyed by her words. Within a matter of moments that evacuated the entire set of carts and Kennedy was working his way along the narrow path himself.
"Look at us big-time new heroes with all special gear. Dibs on being the hot one," joked Rae.
"I'm more the strong silent type anyway," replied Kennedy gesturing for Rae to head onward.
She started laughing, but went right along with it anyway, swaying her hips as they walked in the safety.