Sand In All The Wrong Places [Blue!]

[Tally]

Cameron made good progress through the desert until he sank up to his chest in a sink hole.

"Hm."  He'd really thought it just some deep sand at first.  Even when it had come up to his thighs, he'd still managed fine because there was solid ground underneath him.  He'd lost that solid ground, and with nothing to push off against, the unnatural strength in his artificial limbs did him zero good.  Only his shoulders and his head remained above the sand, and although he'd stopped sinking he certainly wasn't going anywhere either.

He'd managed to toss his detached wing to safety, but now what did he do?  Even the AI offered him no ideas, and it had wireless access to all publicly available accumulated knowledge of the human race!

Evening fell when Cameron settled on the only course of action he could think of.  He took a deep breath and yelled.  "Excuse me is there anyone out and about maybe?!"

[Blue]

“…Well that’s quite th’ predicament ye’ve got yerself into there.”
A gruff voice came from behind Cameron, outside his currently…ah…rooted line of vision. Mikko’d been on his way back to a nearby frontier town when he’d heard a rather loud bit of shouting.
This was not what he’d expected to see. Folks getting robbed, bandits setting up a trap…sure. But some kid up to his shoulders in fine red sand? Not so much, no.

Sighing and shaking his head, the large Mordecai carefully made his way around the edge of the sink hole, marking out roughly where the nasty pit of death ended and where was safe to walk. Once he was directly in front of Cameron, he simply crossed his arms over a broad chest.
“Yer lucky anybody was out this way t’ begin with. How thick do ya gotta be to walk into one of these? Fool boy. D‘nno how yeh even got out this far into it.”
He was talking to cover for the fact he wasn’t entirely sure yet just how he was going to get the kid out of this mess. And yes, he WAS going to help him - you didn’t just leave people out here to die like that, wasn’t right and it didn’t sit well with him.

It only took a few more minutes of carefully figuring out the dimensions of the sinkhole to know he was going to need a few things before this was going to happen.

[Tally]

His detection hardware knew something was coming, but not what.  Hopefully not something that would want to eat him.

Ah, thank the gods it was a human voice!  Cameron craned his head about but couldn't see the fellow.  "Hello, sir.  Yes, I'm in a bit of difficulty here."

His rescuer—oh please let him be his rescuer!—walked about into Cameron's view.  This was rather embarrassing, caught like this in a situation that was really so avoidable by paying attention.  Or, rather, by not being overconfident.  "Ah...well you see, sir, I just...thought I could walk on through.  I made it half way!"

[Blue]

Mikko let out a gruff sound that, to most people, probably seemed like he was just clearing his throat of some particularly unpleasant phlegm. In truth, it was a choked laugh - he didn’t exactly want to reinforce this kid walking into quick sand, but he had to admit, the boy’s answer was rather amusing.
“That ya did boy…”
He just couldn’t decide if it was impressive, or plain idiotic. He was more comfortable with the second option, honestly.

“Well, gettin’ yerself halfway out puts us in a bit of a difficulty. I can lasso ya up easy, but getting’ ya out is another thing. I’m gonna need a horse I reckon.”
With a snort, he turned and began walking away.
“Ya sit tight a minute longer boy! Try n’ look unappetizing to the critters about, and I’ll be back soon!”
Not that most native creatures would also be reckless enough to wade out into quicksand, even if there was a quick meal waiting in the center.

It took little time to hoof it back to his nearby camp and retrieve his horse, as he’d only been doing a bit of light recon before settling down to a meal. Now it seemed his dinner would have to wait, as he had a git in a hole to save.
Mikko arrived shortly thereafter, a large dappled grey mare led along beside him.
“Awright, meet Hurricane. Yer gonna owe her after she pulls yer sorry butt outta that pit.”
His horse was mellow and strong, and hopefully between the two of them, they’d have the oomph necessary to yank the boy out of the sand (if only he knew that boy had a few extra pounds of metal as well).
True to his word, Mikko wielded a lasso with precision, and soon Cameron had a loop of cord around what bit of his upper body was visible. Tying the other end to Hurricane’s saddle, Mikko then wrapped his calloused hands around the rope as well and prepared to pull.
“Well, here goes nothing boy.”

[Tally]

"Yes, sir.  Though, I don't think I have to worry about animals so much.  I don't know how any would get to me, and...then there's..."

The fellow wandered away so Cameron trailed off and lapsed into silence.  For funsies, he activated his mics and narrowed the range down to just the man so he could follow his movements.  There was little else to do, being stuck in a sinkhole and all.

It didn't take long at all until Cameron had a rope about his torso, the other end tied off to Hurricane the horse.

"Okay, I'm ready."

Not that there was a whole lot he could do to facilitate this process, but he did what he could to try and propel himself forward.

[Blue]

Ready indeed. Hurricane began to walk backward as Mikko instructed, but the strain quickly had her nickering in dubious uncertainty. Mikko didn’t blame her - he was a strong man in his own right, but lordy, this kid was stuck in there.
“What have ya been eatin’ boy.” He muttered between grunts, straining along with his horse to drag Cameron’s sorry behind out of the sand. The dark blue shirt he was sporting was quickly growing darker with sweat, and Hurricane wasn’t thrilled with the situation either - but they were making progress.

Ten minutes and a stream of cursing later, and there was a sudden release of tension as they finally yanked the poor  young man out of the sink hole and back into more ordinary ground. Leaning over and placing now-sore hands onto his knees, Mikko took a moment to get the wind back into him.
“Ya got lead boots on or somethin’??”
Well, you’re close at any rate Mikko.

[Tally]

It was slow going.  The sand was so thick!  Cameron inched forward and could do little to help without some solid ground beneath him.  Finally his feet found purchase, and from there it was considerably easier.  His mechanical leg powered him forward far faster than the horse and the man could pull him.

All three of them were winded by the time he was out, and Cameron was covered in wet sand from the chest down.  "Lead?  Um, well...no."

[Blue]

The wheezing subsiding, Mikko straightened and quirked an eyebrow at the sand coated man.
“That was a joke, boy.”
He asserted with obvious amusement, shaking his head shortly after. Sighing then, he put up his rope and gave Hurricane a pat on her thick neck. He then gave himself and the young man a once over, before snorting.
“Well don’t we look the mess. Awright boy, let’s get back to my camp and get you dried out.”
Luckily it was a relatively short walk back.

[Tally]

"Oh."  Cameron said.  He thought about it some more but...nope.  Still didn't get the joke.

"Ah!  Yes, sir!"  He fell in beside the gentleman, but it made him all kinds of fidgety and nervous to just follow along being useless.  "Do you need me to carry anything?"