I don't see three ships a-sailing, a-sailing out to sea.

[Vega]

Vega snorted loudly at Arlo's suggestion that witnessing his thought process was like watching brilliance in action. "Steady on, there, you. Give yerself another compliment an' you'll be gettin' delusions of adequacy. Behave, or I'll 'ave to bring you down a peg." The banter they shot back, one to the other, was as much a part of their relationship - marriage now, she supposed - as any romantic gesture. In many ways, it was their romantic gestures in action. "An' come to that, you know it's been your turn for date night for nearly three arcs now?" Prone to exaggeration? Perhaps she'd have to admit that. "It's all part of you likin' to live dangerously, it is. Will you be bloody careful up there!" That was at him moving too suddenly to grab his hat.

With the slightest grin, Vega turned her full attention to the steering of the ship. When she had been a child, Vega had seen her father and uncle get a 'sense' that something was wrong on a number of separate occasions. She had never understood how they could do that yet, as she developed her skills of sailing, she had developed her own sixth sense and right in this moment, she was clear. "Yeah, I don't like this, not one bit," she muttered.

They made their way through the strange, unseen and intangible barrier. Silence fell on them and Vega glanced up at Arlo. "No, I can't hear anythin'," she replied, frowning slightly. "This is like the sound you get jus' before the riotous laughter when someone asks to borrow money off of Charmin' Dust, or whatever his name is." And she did not like it one bit.

But then, there was the ships.Surprised as she was to see them, Vega's attention was more taken by the shoreline and she looked over at Arlo as he asked about it. "It's exactly that. It's like.. we're turned around an' inside out?" Not entirely accurate but it was what he had described. "An' it's shiverin' my timbers a bit, I gotta say. It's unnervin'."

The ships, though, were there and Vega frowned. "The Flyin' Castle. That's one o' the ones we're lookin' for." As Arlo called over, a return call came and, within a few moments they were greeting a tall biqaj man who had the sort of air of laconic confidence which Vega found really irritating among her people. However, the story was simple. They'd got here, got turned around and had since been unable to get out as, when they crossed the invisible point where things got strange, they got turned around again.

"It was some Blackbrine ships we saw, and they flagged us this way. Curse them, they're long gone," he said. Vega looked at Arlo and shrugged slightly with a grin on her face. "We'll jus' have to fix this, then. Whatcha think?"

[Aegis]

Date

From his seat in the crow's nest, Arlo would find a quite strange thing happening. His hat was growing excessively large. It grew wider and wider, yet could not be removed from his head by any amount of force or any sort of action. It was surely stuck there. As it grew and grew, it swallowed up Arlo, wrapping him up completely within its leathery embrace. That's when the Arlo that was taken out of time was returned to the Arlo that was within time, and along with it, every memory he'd had from the ordeal.

The hat opened up and disappeared, completely and utterly. And for the first time in a truly long time, Arlo was hatless. But he could still feel the hat's presence out there. Somewhere. The direction of it was not clear but his hat was not gone, simply not with him now. Perhaps it was on its own journey. But for now, the wind whipped through Arlo's hair, completely and truly.

Vega would not have these same memories, not yet, no matter how much Arlo might try to explain them to her. These memories were his, and his alone. For her story was not yet done.

!	Message from: Aegis
	This is Arlo's exit from the Call Event. From this timestamp forward, Arlo has memories of what he witnessed and experienced up until the point of departure. I will not be posting again here. This thread may be reviewed like any other and does not require a mod to do it.

[Arlo Creede]

"With you and me, every night is a date night," Arlo teased, leering down at her, grinning, and he couldn't resist waggling his brows a little. She couldn't get at him, her down there and him in the crow's nest. It made him a little bolder and more likely to tempt fate. And be careful, she said? He agreed that he would, though he was being as careful as he ever was. Being Cassion's spawn however, his was a very loose interpretation of caution.

Not that whatever they were slowly sailing into wasn't potentially a dangerous place to be. It very likely was, and in spite of all the teasing, he was alert, watchful and prepared, he hoped, for whatever lay ahead of them. But they should have heard night bird calls in the distance, the lapping of the water against the ship's hull as it sliced through, no matter how calm the service. The utter, deathlike nature of the silence was unnerving and it raised the hairs on the back of his neck. When she described what sort of silence it was, he couldn't help but mutter, "or the sort of silence you get when you tell a joke that falls flat." One that the teller had thought would bring back riotous laughter.

What they saw though, the world as if it was all turned around, inside out and mirrored, made the silence seem small in comparison. "It's like an alternate...something." There simply wasn't any other way to describe it that would make any sense. But at least the ships weren't ghost ones. The men on board were flesh and blood and not the souls of those departed. The sense of relief that Arlo felt when spotting and hearing the Biqaj call back, took the edge off the man's apparent arrogance.

So, the Flying Castle. At least this was one of those they'd been looking for. "There's got to be a way back," he called back to the man, and already he'd pulled a rolled chart from out of his pocket to have a look. It might not do them any real good, considering that things seemed to have...moved, and according to the Biqaj, might just keep doing it. "Have you considered unwinding, against the tide's current spiral pattern?" From an ordinary sailor's perspective, it might not make much sense. But these weren't ordinary circumstances and he was hoping that Vega might have some input on that.

And then? Suddenly something even stranger began to happen. His hat didn't fit right. Arlo immediately sensed it, due to how much a part of him the thing was. Not too small however, inexplicably...too large and he reached up to readjust it. It wouldn't budge. "What the..." he muttered, frowning as Lyova, startled, swooped down off the brim and clung to his shoulder instead. That was when something even stranger began to happen. He knew things he didn't know before. Remembered what he couldn't fathom had ever even happened at all, and then his hat was gone. But...not gone. "My hat...I don't know what it is, but I felt it. Did you feel it?" he called down to Vega but if she hadn't felt, didn't know, didn't remember, then this probably wasn't the time to focus on his hat, his memories that he shouldn't remember. Probably better that they figured out how to get themselves back home.

[Vega]

She'd have managed to be stoic and maintain her elegant composure (or so she told herself) but he had to go and waggle his eyebrows. Arlo Creede had eyes for which Vega was truly grateful; they were dark and soulful and she could drown in them. When he waggled those brows, though, Vega could not help but snort loudly. "Ev'ry night's date night? Only if yer a cheapskate, Creede. Only if yer a cheapskate." It was true, far as she was concerned. He had ducked out of their agreement to have an actual date, once a season, after he'd nearly had to get a job just to pay for the first one. True, that had been an amazing restaurant and, he did actually have a job - but still. "Shurrup," she said, eloquently, and grinned at him.

They saw reality behaving in a way which was, quite frankly, unreasonable. So much so that he didn't burst into guffaws of laughter at what was obviously her excellent joke. Vega found it exhausting, frankly, that Arlo was so appreciative of her sense of humour that she had to just keep making up new - and always better - jokes, just for him. Of course, Vega was entirely aware just how awful her "sense of humour" was - but this too was a thing between them. She told bad jokes, and he loved her for them. He just... didn't love them, but there was no accounting for taste.

" 's not my fault you used up all yer good taste in the pursuit of women, is it?" Vega mumbled and grinned up at him, hopeful that she'd unnerve him, just a little. However, he came up with a good plan - unwinding, against the current spiral. Vega considered it for a moment and nodded. "That's a crazed idea! I love it!" It might work, she considered, but they'd have to match their speed at the exact opposite of the speed of the spiralling water. "Alrigh' Cap'n we're gonna try somethin' a little bit wild a'right?" That, of course, she said with a grin on her face. Who knew it, she thought, her no-good, useless, did-I-mention-annoyin'-an'butt-hole-ugly father was going to come in handy here. Because, of all the things, there was something that Vega understood - on a fundamental level. "An' it's all about the rhythm. We're gonna get these 'ere ships bow to stern an' we're gonna do somethin' completely counter-intuitive. But it'll unwind us, he's right."

Then, from up in the crow's nest, Arlo started talking some nonsense about his hat. She glanced up at him "Where's yer 'at?" No sooner had she said it than she flapped her hand and dismissed it. "Not now, Arlo!" Her grin up at him was half amused, half exasperated. Him and that hat. Anyhow. "I need you to show me the speed, Arlo, o'the spin. Exactly. A'right?" And to the captain, she gave a gentle (ish) shove. "Gerron, then, quit lollygaggin' aroun' here an' lets get goin'." He looked outraged, and he turned a stern gaze to Vega. Who beamed at him. "Or, we can stand here an' debate my lack o' manners. Or better still, Oh Cap'n my Cap'n, you can decide to give me a thump an' teach me a lesson. Yer first mate'll thank you." When he got to be captain, that was.

He turned and started to make his way back to his ship and Vega nodded. Sensible lad. Then, she looked up at Arlo. "I need it exact, Arlo. Any rhythm, any slight variation. If you mess up, we'll all die, an' it'll be your fault an' you'll have to die without your hat, too." She was worried, and it showed in her behaviour. "An' strap yerself down, hold on tight an' do not get hurt, Arlo Creede! You hear me?"

That said, she went to the wheel and, when the two vessels were indeed bow to stern, she began.

[Arlo Creede]

Cheapskate indeed, another lift of the brows as he leered down at her, implied. As if he wasn't just skeptical, no, he flatly denied it. In truth he'd give all his worldly belongings and the last coin in his pocket, just to see her smile and make a fuss. Location and circumstance was what had gotten in the way most times. They seemed to have a knack for finding trouble. Or mostly, it finding them. This wasn't the time for that debate, however. Unless they intended to stay stuck in this place out to sea forever.

He simply snorted and looked keenly out to sea when she talked of pursuing other women. How or why would he, after all? He had the best he could ever hope to do, right there with her. It was settled then, they'd unwind themselves right out the fix they were in. It was a ludicrous plan, which meant it might just work. Clearly, the captain of the other ship hadn't thought of or tried it, and it was worth a go. First though there was the strangeness of the hat business, nd then no hat at all. It probably rattled him more than their current predicament did.

"I don't know where it's gone...It is, but it isn't," he called down, trying to explain the sense he was having about it. "Like it's only out of reach, adventuring and enjoying itself." The important thing was that it was his hat, and he wanted it back. First they had to get back to shore. Of course, Vega's manner with the resistant captain might have done with a lighter diplomatic touch. Pride. It was as much a thing with a man as his mind or his heart. On the other hand, Vega had a way of getting results and there was no time to waste on the stroking of egos. It worked.

So, if he messed up, they died. "Thanks, I'll remember that," he muttered dryly while making sure he was secure and didn't tumble out of the crow's nest into the drink if they listed too far one way or the other. And mostly, he watched the waves while Vega navigated. He relied on his sense of movement, as an acrobat, to feel the rightness of speed and direction. In this case, it was better than any instrument or pen and paper on which to record the particulars.

They had to unwind. Which meant they had to travel against the spiral, and with a precision that was beyond perfect. Their speed needed to be enough, he told Vega, to be able to move against the grain, but not so much that they disrupted the pattern. If they did that they'd end up back where they started. And the other ship needed to remain directly in their wake, never venturing out from it, and they'd have to maintain the same speed as well. With that in mind, he called out the instructions as they went. Slow down, speed up, a bit to one side or the other, and so on. And he did it loudly enough that the other ship could hear him as well. It appeared to be working.

[Yrmellyn Cole]

Thread Rewards

Overview

Two people in love sailing into a place of mystery and danger while they chat about their immortal fathers who disappeared after "starting them", the mortal fathers who raised them and shaped them, their potential similarities with their immortal fathers, their own views on getting children ... and all the time they sail on.

I liked the way you weaved the relationship into the adventure.

Then the bomb interrupted it - if I got it right Arlo exited from the event into this tread - and a few posts later it ends, right after Arlo has recognized that if he will mess up they are going to die! As you said in the request it “kind of fizzled out there”. Sometimes that happens, but it was still a good story and a good read as long as it lasted!

Vega

Rewards and consequences

Points: 15

Knowledge:

Fiddle: x 5
Singing x 5
Seafaring x 2

Renown: No

Loot: No

Consequences: No

Skill Review: Appropriate

Arlo

Rewards and consequences

Points: 15

Knowledge:

Acrobatics x 4
Navigation x 4
Detection x 4

Renown: No

Loot: No

Consequences: No

Skill Review: Appropriate

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