Lost is a Four-Letter Word, Too.

[Vega]

15th Trial of Cylus Arc 717

What just happened!

The trial was continuing on and they were still very much lost. Vega glanced at Arlo, just making sure that he was alright and not in a state of panic or too tired or anything. "Your hat's got a twig caught on it. You look ridiculous." Just in case he thought she was at all concerned or anything, she figured it was best to nip that in the bud and quick smart. Still, she figured that times were desperate and so she handed him her flask. "It'll warm you up."

As they walked, she thought about it. He was a dreamwalker and Vega was starting to come to the conclusion that maybe her father was, too. "A few trials after my fourteenth birthtrial, we docked some place. My father and I went ashore and I decided I was going to ask about my mother." She shook her head at the brash child she had been. "He wouldn't answer me. He never answered me, Arlo, it drove me mad. So I told him so. We ended up shouting at each other in the middle of this street." It didn't matter, they both knew it she explained, this was how they argued. Shouting, screaming, nose to nose fury and love. "But some bloke saw a man yelling at a young girl an' he intervened. So he got in my Papa's face, I got in his. It all went downhill pretty quickly."

Moving a tree branch out of the way as she ducked under it, she carried on. "Papa grabbed my hand, we legged it. Into the woods. Got completely turned around and lost and got out ten trials later. Survived on slow moving rabbit and dodgy mushrooms." She grinned at the memory. "We used to play a game, pass the time. Two truths and a lie. I tell you two truths and one lie about myself. You've got to work out which is which. Then it's your turn and I guess which is your lie." She grinned at him and raised an eyebrow. "Wanna play? The better the lie you make up, the harder it is."

Assuming that he did want to play such a game, Vega considered for a moment. "So, my three facts are. First, the only thing I really know about sailing is how to tie knots. Second, I left home because if I didn't I'd be expected to get married and my father had a fella lined up. Third, I have a naturally good singing voice." With a smile she carried on walking, making her way and keeping her eyes open in terms of some sort of clues or something.

Would he work out which it was, she wondered. It seemed likely to her that he would and she thought that his choice would be good and tricky to work out too. If there was one thing that she could say with absolute certainty, it was that Arlo Creede had a good imagination. So, she waited to see what he came up with in terms of both an answer and a series of three himself.

She thought that she caught glimpse of something, off to the side, but stopping and examining there was nothing there, so she assumed that it was just her own imagination playing tricks on her.

[Arlo Creede]

With one hand Arlo plucked the twig out of his hat and took the flask with the other. He couldn't say he was developing a taste for whiskey, except for cooking. But it did chase the cold away and keep it at arm's length, at least temporarily. "I thought I might start something. The next fashionable trend around Desnind," he said as he handed the flask back. "Most women I've met like those fancy, sweet wines," he remarked. "Not whiskey." Then again Vega wasn't like most other women he'd met.

They were lost. Good and lost and each break that past was another closer to nightfall. Not that there was much difference, here in the dead of Cylus. Dark was dark after all. But when she talked about her father, their argument and their time lost in the forest, Arlo went quiet and listened while studying the section of forest they were walking through, hoping to see something, anything, familiar. At least they weren't going in circles. That was some consolation.

"You haven't lived an ordinary life," he observed, then stopped, thinking he might have heard something. Then he rejected the thought and they moved on. "If you live an ordinary life, you have only ordinary stories to tell. And it takes imagination too, to tell a good story. It's one of the things Jesine likes most too. A good imagination." Staying back on the farm, raising sheep and tending chickens. That would have been ordinary. "Two truths and a lie? Alright," Arlo agreed.

He felt fairly sure that he knew which of her statements were true and which one's weren't. You didn't grow up aboard ship without picking up something more than tying knots. The second one was trickier. She was marriageable age, he guessed, though she'd claimed she didn't want to marry. The question was whether or not her father would have arranged one for her. And from what she'd told him, it didn't strike Arlo that she would. As for the third, he'd only heard her sing in a dream of her own, where she'd dreamed a number of things that weren't at all like her.

"You can't carry a tune were you to have a pail with a lid on it," he said, deciding that it was the least likely of three supposed truths. "So, once when I was seven I decided to go traveling, and left home to go into the woods. I spent three trials there before going back home." Next? "I once met a man in the forest who claimed he was the king of Rynmere. I served him roast chicken by the fire. And I once helped a traveling peddler sell his potions to farm wives. We told them they were romantic potions to keep their husbands at home. But they were only sugar, whiskey and colored water."

But there it was again. Something faint, but this time he was sure he heard it. He stopped when Vega did and fell silent himself before also sniffing the air. "I'm sure I hear voices," he finally said. Just barely, but he was sure they were there, caught up on the breeze. The faintest hint of smoke in the air and looking around them, squinting through the trees he tapped Vega on the shoulder and pointed. There in the distance was a flicker of light. "A campfire, maybe," he suggested.

[Vega]

The thought of a Desnind fashion was one which made her grin and she watched his face as he took a swig of the flask. "That, Arlo Creede," she informed him loftily, "is because you haven't met Biqaj women. Probably a good job, too. Your mother wouldn't have let you off the farm." She grinned at that truth, not at all concerned at how her people were seen by others.

She told him the story from her childhood and Vega gave a deep chuckle as he said that she hadn't lived an ordinary life. "It's all just perception, isn't it? I mean, you talk about your ornamental pond, your chickens and barns, schools and skeeterwampulus and it sounds so strange to me. Not ordinary at all." She shrugged slightly and a thought occurred to her, so she said it. "I suppose that's what we've got in common. What would be ordinary to us, normally, we don't want or don't fit into or whatever it is." It was how and why they were both here, as she saw it.

At his guess, though, Vega laughed and shook her head. "I thought you'd go for the knots. The knots is true. Twenty arcs old and it's all I've ever learnt." With a glance at him she gave a slight shrug. "I was so busy not fitting in and letting everyone know I didn't, eventually they stopped reminding me I did. So, I sulked through my childhood and therefore, the knots is true." She smiled at him, it was what it was and it was how she had been; her family loved her anyhow and her, them. "As for my singing voice? Well, my father would never force a marriage on me, he's too respectful of my freedom to choose my life, and I've been told all my life that I have a good singing voice. So, totally wrong, Arlo."

But then, it was his turn and he gave her three options. The first one seemed most likely to be true, she thought, so it was between the next two. Thinking about it, she came to a simple enough conclusion. "The middle one, the king of Rynmere. That's true, I reckon. Plus, farm wives around where you lived would know you too well to fall for buying a potion off you. That third ones the lie." In truth she was nowhere near as sure as she sounded, but the middle one she thought was just about outlandish and crazed enough that it might be true.

When he stopped, though as well as her and sniffed the air she wondered if she had seen something. Then, though, he pointed and she grinned. "I see it." She didn't hear anything, but there was definite flickering of something and she nodded, pleased that they'd found someone. "That way then? If it's the King of Rynmere, he's going to have to dine on turkey tonight." Moving forward, pretty soon the sound of voices was unmistakeable and the flickering of the fire was obvious. There were no traps or lookouts, but the sound of voices grew to the point that it became obvious that it was two people, a male and a female, having an argument. If they stopped to listen, the gist was clear pretty quickly; he wanted to try and keep going, she thought they should camp for the night. They had no food, he said, but she pointed out that there were wolves in the forest and they were both exhausted. It descended into him being an idiot for getting them into this situation and her being a nagging harpy who insisted on worrying too much.

Vega looked at Arlo and raised her eyebrows, as though in question.

[Arlo Creede]

"She would have," Arlo argued. His mother letting him off the farm that was. "She said she always knew I'd go off wandering," he explained. "That I was born with it in my blood. She was only surprised I waited that long. It was my step-father who hoped I'd stay put. But he knew I wouldn't either."

And trust him, he added. Life on a farm was more than ordinary. It was dull. The most exciting thing that ever happened was the neighbor's bull getting out and rampaging through every other farmer's fields and impregnating every willing cow he happened across. It was an event, considering all the ruined fences and gardens he left in his wake. "I think if I'd been raised on a ship I'd have grown up wanting to be a pirate. But then I'd have been bored of it in a few arcs, and wanted for some roads to wander on."

But her truth and the lies were a definite surprise. "How can you only know knots? I'd have thought you'd absorb some of the other like a sponge. Like me and birthing lambs. Hated it," he remembered, "but couldn't escape knowing it anyway." So, he'd guessed wrong. And he'd have liked to maintain that she'd been wrong too. He could have lied about that in fact. Easily. But for whatever reason and they'd remain Arlo's own, he didn't.

He shook his head, grinned and shrugged. "The peddler picked me up on the road, the time after I'd spent three trials in the forest. He was the one who gave me the book of maps. Told me stories, let me drive the horse. But didn't let me help sell his potions. Said I ought to grow up to be the honest sort so he wouldn't be including me in that."

"I did meet a man who claimed to be the king of Rynmere," Arlo admitted, and grinned as he recalled it. "He even had himself a crown made of tin. But no pants. Just a pair of long underwear under his topcoat."

But if they were lost, then at least it appeared that they weren't completely alone in the forest. He'd stopped, waiting to see if Vega heard, smelled and saw what he did. And as they got closer, he remained quiet and just observed. To him, it looked and sounded like two people who shouldn't have been out in the forest in the first place. Though he wouldn't say it, considering that he and Vega were also lost, and they'd been out in it a number of times.

When Vega looked his way, Arlo shrugged. They might as well. They'd need to stop soon anyway to get some rest, maybe start fresh in a few breaks. So leading the way, he stepped out in the clearing, pausing there a trill or two to make sure that nobody was going to get funny and draw any weapons. Instead, while the pair, the man and the woman were clearly surprised to see them there, they also appeared relieved.

"Hello," he said, and when the man looked like he might do something in his and the woman's defense, Arlo was quick to add. "Just two travelers, out doing some hunting. We don't mean any harm but wouldn't mind sharing the fire. We've got game," he added, jerking his chin towards one of the turkeys hanging over his shoulder. "I'm Arlo, this is Vega. Are you hungry?" he asked. Seemed like they might be lost too, but he'd rather they brought that up and not him.

[Vega]

"A pirate?" Vega let out a brief burst of Rakahi which, judging by her expression was far from positive. "You'd make a lousy pirate Arlo and that's the nicest thing I've ever said to you." She was about to continue when, in a rare moment of self restraint, she stopped herself. With a glare which told her disapproval of his career choice, she contented herself with speaking a few, quiet words. "I've seen what they do." Nothing romantic or glorious about that and if it was the nicest thing she'd said to him? There was a clear opinion for the young redhead; it might well be the stupidest thing he'd ever said to her. Still, her irritation disappeared as quickly as ever as she contented herself with a semi-gentle punch on his shoulder before they carried on.

Vega laughed when he seemed incredulous about the knots. "If you're so sure that the knots was a lie, why didn't you pick it you contrary creature?" Shaking her head, she felt it only fair to explain. "I think you misunderstand what a horrid child I was, Arlo. Constantly seasick,I spent most of my time chucking up. When I wasn't hurling, I was hating everyone for being a proper Biqaj and reminding them that I'm not every available moment." She gave a rueful grin at the over exaggerated story she told, but she would be lying if she said she was exaggerating a lot because she wasn't. "I got better as a person after the ten trial in the woods. Too late for anything except knots."

When she guessed his lie correctly, though, Vega beamed. "You're an open book, Arlo Creede. Whereas I am a conundrum." Considering it, she couldn't lie to him and had to admit, "I'd love to meet the King of Rynmere. Not the real one, the one with the tin crown. He lost his pants, too. Seems like we're in good company at least." She couldn't resist it, though. "'course, you already were."

All joking fled, though, when they heard others. Arlo seemed to be able to smell them and when he continued to sniff at the air, Vega looked at him. "Can you smell something or are you channelling your inner bloodhound?" Her voice was a whisper, but she wondered what on Idalo he was snuffling at. Strange boy, she thought and looked at him almost affectionately. Almost. The couple seemed to be a human pair and, as they stepped in to the clearing, he stood up. The pair of them looked tired and not entirely equipped for this. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, they were well dressed and warm, he was armed and they both had backpacks but there were no tents, no blankets or that kind of thing, Vega spotted.

"Hi. Nice to meet you both. I'm Stu, this is Jeannie. We're..." he gave a smile and nod, "yes, we're hungry and we're lost. I think we've come miles out of our way. We're trying to get back to Desnind."
Jeannie nodded her head and smiled in absolute relief. They both looked tired, Vega thought. "We slept in the woods last night," Jeannie explained, "we only went looking for mushrooms and herbs, we never go far."

Vega nodded her head and smiled. "Well, you've got a campfire going, and we've got the turkey, so why don't we combine resources. Arlo's a damn fine cook." In comparison, the boy was a genius.

"Come and sit down, the pair of you." Jeannie said and Vega shrugged slightly and gave Arlo a grin. "Want me to pluck and prepare it while you get ready?"

"So tell me, then, what's a nice young couple like you doing out all alone?" Jeannie asked. She was looking at Arlo and Vega didn't seem to have heard. Stu also looked at Arlo and he might have imagined it, but there was an almost apologetic expression on his face.

[Arlo Creede]

She hadn't thought much of the idea, about him growing up to become a pirate. That much was clear and Arlo shrugged. "I guess if I was I'd be the exception among pirates. They'd either find me so lacking in the right way of being that they'd toss me overboard at the first sign of a squall. Or," he considered, and grinned when Vega bumped his shoulder. "They'd all aspire to be like me and start politely robbing the rich to give to the poor."

Landlocked children were told different stories about pirates than those on the sea, he told her. When he was just a boy, there were numerous times he and other boys wrapped rags round their heads, put patches over their eyes and sparred with wooden swords atop an old ruined wagon in his step-father's back pasture. "I believe you," he'd quipped then, and bumped her back. "Only a horrid child would have a contrary streak as deep as yours when she's grown up."

So there they were, lost in the cold and dark, but at least it appeared they'd have company. Hungry too, and they had that in common all four of them. "We've come from Desnind ourselves," Arlo said, and turned his head off in the general direction of the city. "Out hunting. It's a ways back though and not a good idea to travel the woods at night." It might be hard for the four of them to tell the difference between the trial and the night here in the dead of Cylus, he explained. But the other hunters that tended to come out at night, such as wolves, knew the difference very well. Better to stay close to a fire till morning.

"I can cook us all something if you're hungry," he added and dropped his sack. "In fact let me take a look at the mushrooms and herbs that you've got." But if Vega didn't mind plucking and gutting one of the turkeys, he could take care of the rest. With that in mind he made quick work of gathering a handful of sturdy sticks to make a spit out of, and sharpened his knife to set it aside.

He was busy digging through his sack for a few ingredients he could use to prepare their supper, and looked up in surprise when the woman asked about the pair of them, him and Vega. He grinned and shook his head. "A couple? No, not us. Not like that I mean. Just travelers and friends out hunting. Where have the two of you come from? Ever been to Desnind before?"

Meanwhile, once Vega returned the plucked and cleaned turkey to him, Arlo would set to work on it. With his knife good and sharp, he de-boned the turkey, leaving just the meat and skin behind so they laid out flat. Only the wings kept their bones by the time he was finished. "A whole turkey takes a long while to cook over the fire. This one will cook quicker," he explained.

He'd taken the mushrooms and herbs the couple had given him, diced them up, added some salt and paprika from his sack and made a paste from it all to smear on the meat and under the skin. Then he took the thing and used twine to wrap it around one of the sticks he'd found, and sat that across the fire on two supports.

That done, he found a flat stone that he could push into the coals at the edge of the fire to get it good and hot. And when the time came he'd crack open a couple of the eggs to go with their supper. He'd have to keep an eye on it, so in the meantime he sat down by the fire to warm his hands. "It shouldn't take long," he told the three of them once Vega returned to the fire.

[Vega]

The turkey needed plucking and cleaning and Vega was more than happy to oblige. Arlo got himself sorted and ready and was soon the recipient of first one, then a whole series of questions from Jeannie. She seemed to be a woman blessed with a very healthy sense of curiosity and since she'd found what seemed to be a willing victim in Arlo, off she went. Where was he from, what did his parents do, how long had he been in Desnind, did he have siblings? Vega, who somehow managed to hold an air of amused, kept her head down and focused on the turkey.

She really focused on it and there was no evidence that she was going to lift her head at all as Jeannie got into questioning him with real enthusiasm. Just about any and every question that it would be appropriate to ask someone you've just met, and she was really dancing right on the edges of appropriate, Jeannie asked it. From wondering whether he had a nice girlfriend back home to whether he had any pets. The thing was, she was kind and seemed genuinely interested in what he had to say.

Meanwhile, Stu had moved over next to Vega and was helping with the bird, clearing away the feathers and such. We'll keep those, if you could separate them out?" Stu nodded, quietly. Judging by how much Jeannie was talking, Vega would have been surprised if he wasn't quiet. Able to get a word in, more like. She glanced up as Arlo got questioned about his imaginary girlfriend, then and Stu caught her glance and smiled. Vega grinned. "Got any children, Stu?" She asked the question, just loud enough that Arlo would hear it. "Yes, just the one. A daughter. Coming on sixteen."

Vega chuckled and nodded. "Lovely. Here we go, this bird is sorted. Thanks, Stu." She moved back over to where Arlo was and her purple eyes were amused.
"Lets leave them to cook, Jeannie," Stu sounded like he was pleading.

"So, come on then, boss. What's next?" Vega watched him taking the bones out of the turkey and asked questions here and there, then helped with the preparation. Stu and Jeannie lapsed into a low conversation and Vega took the opportunity to speak to Arlo with a more serious tone. "So, we're staying here tonight? It makes sense, but we're going to be mighty short on blankets. Maybe you and I should let them have a nights sleep squashed in together and we take turns? That way one of us is awake to keep the fire going, too, otherwise, we're going to freeze."

Smelling the food, Vega couldn't help but smile. "You know. Somehow, this smells lovely. You're a clever lad, despite what they say." Softly, she added, "I'll miss you when you're wed to a mini version of Jeannie, so I will."

[Arlo Creede]

"You'd best not cackle to yourself too much," Arlo told Vega once they were left alone at the fire, and once she'd begun teasing him about the woman's line of questioning. "Carry on," he warned, "and I'll tell 'em you're engaged in a desperate hunt for a husband. Something tells me that woman would enjoy making a match for you." Whether she liked it or not, Arlo figured.

As she helped him get the meal on to cook, he explained that by applying the seasoning to the inside of the meat, the part that wrapped around the spit, and under the skin rather than on it, you could stop most of the flavor from dripping off into the fire. "You should leave the skin on when you can. It helps the meat stay moist, and if you cook it right, it gets crisp and that's the best part."

Then taking a small cup from his sack, after the turkey had cooked a little he caught some of the fat that was dripping away, and poured it back over the turkey. He'd used some of too in order to cook the eggs at the last.

"I don't mind taking a turn at keeping watch," he added, agreeing with her suggestion of how best to pass the night. "Things might look more familiar too after a night's rest, easier to find our way back home."

So by the time the couple returned, Arlo was just pulling the turkey off the spit and giving it to Vega to cut into portions while he cracked a handful of the eggs and cooked them on the heated stone. "A simple feast for four," he told them all. "Prepared and served in Cassion's name." As promised, the flesh of the turkey was flavorful and moist, while the skin was nice and crisp. It was a simple meal all told, but the best Arlo could do under the circumstances.

As for conversation, he'd done his best earlier to answer most of Jeannie's questions while ducking and weaving around the more personal ones. Now though, it was Stu sitting next to him and they talked about where the couple had come from, and why they were headed to Desnind. And since he'd heard some of the earlier conversation between Vega and Stu, Arlo was careful to avoid any references to daughters and their prospects.

And later once the couple had retired, warm and comfortable with what Vega and Arlo could provide for them, Arlo would take the first watch and let Vega sleep as long as she wanted to. After all, there was little chance of him nodding off with Lyova around to keep him company.

[Vega]

"Why would you do that? You just want to share the suffering. Mean, mean, Arlo Creede." Vega grinned at him when he threatened to tell Jeannie that she was hunting for a husband and nodded her head. "Fair enough. It was fun while it lasted." She behaved herself, though, mostly and it must be said that she was intrigued by how he cooked the turkey. "It smells good, Arlo, it really does." He did better than she could ever manage and, although she wouldn't go so far as to tell him that, he also cooked better than her father did. She wouldn't be mentioning it to him or her father, she considered.

He was agreeable to taking turns to watch, the two of them and Vega grinned at him. "Have you noticed how life is never dull just lately? I bet you things will look more familiar in the morning, too." The pair of them seemed to get into one scrape after another just lately, although Vega was more than fairly sure that it was all Arlo's fault she was also sure that he probably felt similarly about the fault being hers. Serious eyes turned to Arlo, which was a tricky expression considering they were a deep pink, "Arlo, what they told you about pirates?" Vega seemed personally affronted by what he'd said. "It's like. Well, it's a bit like you hearing that Biqaj children play at being serial killers or something. We don't. And what the eye patch is about I have no idea."

The food was delicious and she told him so. "Prepared in Cassion's name, you did him proud. Thanks." Evidently, her mood was good as she shared her flask, although Jeannie refused with a delicate wrinkling of her nose, Stu made no such gesture and took a good swig. Jeannie explained, amidst the stream of talking that the woman did, that she preferred sweet wine and Vega shot Arlo a grin. After twenty bits of explaining to Jeannie that it was because she had silver blood that there was a slight tinge to her skin, that under the starlight it was at it's most noticeable, that it was a Biqaj trait that, yes, she was half Biqaj and then having her own barrage of questions flung at her, Vega just looked at the woman and said, bluntly "You ask a lot of questions, you know. I'm done answering them. Stop asking." She wasn't so much trying to be rude as just bored of being polite, was how she described it to Arlo later.

Jeannie looked more than a little horrified. Stu tried his best to look the same but couldn't hide his amusement and Vega didn't really notice if anyone looked anything. "Right. You pair are done in. Go to sleep, we'll tidy up and keep watch." Neither of them argued, although Jeannie still had a mouth slightly agape. Vega was happy enough to sit on a log with Arlo for a while, keeping him company before she slept for a few breaks. She made sure that she got back up and relieved him, though, so he could sleep. When the morning came, she let him sleep in as much as they could and then, it was time to get on to the task of finding their way back.

[Edalene]

Congratulations!

Vega

Knowledge:

• Arlo Creede: Good Imagination
• Arlo Creede: Met A Man Who Claimed To Be The King of Rynmere
• Arlo Creede: An Open Book
• Arlo Creede: Would Make A Lousy Pirate
• Arlo Creede: A Clever Man
• Cooking: Plucking and Cleaning A Turkey
• Deception: Telling Lies for the Sake of a Game
• Game: Two Truths and a Lie
• Storytelling: Recounting Anecdotes

Loot: No.
Injuries: No.
Fame: +1 General Good Deed (Helping Strangers)
Devotion: No.
Magic: No.

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 5/5
Structure: 5/5

Comments: I like how straight-forward and blunt Vega is, especially to meddling strangers!

Arlo

Knowledge:

• Cooking: Deboning Turkey
• Cooking: Making A Spit From Sticks
• Cooking: Making A Meat Spice Rub
• Cooking: Leaving the Skin on Helps the Meat Stay Moist
• Deception: Telling Lies for the Sake of a Game
• Game: Two Truths and a Lie
• Vega: Likes Whiskey
• Vega: Not Like Most Other Women
• Vega: Knows How To Tie Knots
• Vega: Hated Not Being A 'Real' Biqaj
• Vega: Will Miss You

Loot: No.
Injuries: No.
Fame: +1 General Good Deed (Helping Strangers)
Devotion: +3 for Jesine (Game of Imagination), +2 for Cassion (Prepare a Feast for at Least Four People)
Magic: No.

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 5/5
Structure: 5/5

Comments: Arlo's food made my mouth water... invite me round to dinner sometime.

Comments

This was a cute thread, guys! Well written, nicely paced, simple, and joyful. There were a few formatting errors, but that's it. Keep an eye on typos. I know you asked for Cassion devotion, Arlo, but I felt I couldn't give it to you for having an adventure. While this thread was cute, it wasn't really an "adventure" - they walked through the woods, then found another couple, ate dinner and slept.

Please PM me if you have any questions.