[KQ] sunny side up

- NATE -

Just how deep do you believe?
Will you bite the hand that feeds?

Honestly, if things went his way, Nate would lead the giant chicken into the mouth of Apopo and end the problem that way. If he had his way, this would be over, and the people of Haulani would be eating like kings for the next week. But he hasn’t gotten his way.

Instead, he’s on the back of a giant hen, running up the beach. Great, fine.

The chicken has a mind of its own, but it doesn’t stop Nate from trying to influence it, tugging at feathers and skin, trying to for e it this way or that. Trying to prepare for when he needs to tug hard enough to stop it from eating one of his idiot accomplices.

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Nate continues to ride the chicken and tugs on feathers/skin/comb to figure out how to direct it

Will you chew until it bleeds?
Can you get up off your knees?

Well, he was in it now. There was nothing for Theo to do at this point but keep running and try to reach the jungle -- to lose the giant hen in the trees, he hoped. He wasn't sure whether she was chasing him and Ray for the food they carried or because she saw them as food, and he didn't really want to find out. He'd heard somewhere that despite their reputation for cowardice, chickens could be quite vicious to small, edible creatures, and he really didn't want to be a small, edible creature.

The worst part was trying to keep his hold on the fruit he carried, but he didn't want to drop any and potentially distract the chicken from her forward path. Better to keep her moving until they reached the jungle and then maybe provide a feast to get her attention while the four of them slipped away.

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Theo keeps running towards the jungle!

Theo

"Poker" by ND Strupler is licensed with CC BY 2.0.

CLUCK CLUCK

Y'know what?

Fuck it, you manage it. True, it's not elegant, and there's a lot of, er, flailing on the part of Miss Cluck, but she reaches the safety of the jungle and she's out of here. Ray and Theo manage to stay out of danger, Harper gets swatted out of the sky (sorry) and as for Nate...?

It's a tree that attacks Nate, ultimately, an overhanging branch swiping him clean off the back off the chicken to land in the thickets of plants and vines and other undergrowth. The monstrous mother clucker charges away, deep into the Oerwoud, never to be seen again. Maybe. Probably. It'll be fine. It'll be fine.

She doesn't leave without a parting gift, though. Those efforts at making her roost were apparently very successful and there are not one, not two, but three ENORMOUS eggs left warming in the sun on the sand.

The best part about all of this?

All of Torchline saw it.

~FIN

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Congratulations! You have successfully(?) completed this KQ and will all receive credit for it.

On the sands of Torchline are three gigantic chicken eggs. Do with them what you will.

Nate has received a Legend Title as a result of this KQ: The Lone (Free) Ranger

Get it? Free range eggs? Lone ranger? Get it? Get... never mind.

END HP:

1. Ray 20/26
2. Harper 55/72
3. Nate 56/70
4. Theo 18/22

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!