[Scalvoris Mountains] Different strokes

[Vega]

4th Cylus 718
following: this

"Mornin'," she said, still half asleep as she curled into him with a smile. She'd said it a hundred times before, every morning they'd woken together, but then as consciousness came to her, Vega almost tensed except his arms tightened and pulled her closer. The memories of the fire demon thing and the death forged rose returned to her and she looked at him with concern at the realisation that she had slept, and slept well judging by how she felt. He had been there when she fell asleep, his arms wrapped around her and whispered reassurance in her ear and, as she woke, he was still there. "Arlo?" Vega was more awake now and aware that she had slept a long time. "Arlo, how long have I slept? Oh, I'm sorry, have you slept at all? Did I start to change at all?" She pulled herself close to him and kissed him. "I missed you so much. An' why are you wearin' your hat in bed?" Her eyes darkened and her smile changed. "I like it," she mumbled and it seemed that she really was well rested.

"I bought these before I left," she said, once they'd got dressed and she'd more or less dragged herself out of bed. It had to be said, Vega was amazed at having slept for pretty much twelve breaks solidly ~ it wasn't something she'd ever done before but then, she'd never stayed up four nights without sleep either. She was delighted, she told him, at how much better she'd slept as well as just how much longer - he knew because he'd been awake just how disturbed and nightmare-filled her night had been but she seemed not to remember it at all. Either that or it had previously been a whole lot worse. Either way, she was happy. "An' a good job, too, since I can't skin anythin' I caught. One of these, apparently, feeds you for three trials." She handed him a small round sweet cracker-like biscuit. "Or so they told me. When the fire is out, afterwards I feel incredibly 'ungry an' tired. Like I've burned through a full trial in a break. I imagine that's what you experience every trial. They don't taste of anythin' but they took the edge off. Whatcha think?" It was, indeed, a tasteless experience, but filling.

Vega sat, lacing up her boot and she didn't look at him as she spoke. "I feel so much better. Thank you." Her hands were busy, focusing on what she did, but it gave her the space to speak. "I'm sorry. I am. I should 'ave thought about jus' how bloody stubborn you are." Just how much he loved her, of course, was what she meant. "An' I hope you know, Arlo." Stopping, her hands froze still and she lifted her head to look at him. "The only reason I'd ever leave is because it kept you safe. That's more important to me than anythin' or anyone. You are." Lowering her head, she got back to the job at hand. Xiur had been with her all her life, U'frek too but there was nothing like Cassion for her. Cassion was, and always would be, Arlo's priority and that was fine. It changed nothing for her or how she felt because she knew just how much he loved her and how the feeling was returned. Relationships, she decided with a slight sigh, were tricky things.

Once they'd got themselves sorted, Vega sighed slightly albeit entirely unconsciously. There was no doubting what she had to do but she found the listening to the voices, all trial long, exhausting. Still, they'd worked out a way that she could begin to control it, so she needed to make sure that she did that. "I'm gonna spend the trial doin' this. It's probably gonna make me twitchy, but jus' ignore me." She frowned slightly, as she tried to explain, "I know that they're playin' on my fears, Arlo, you know. I know that they're sayin' what I'm afraid of an' I know everyone's got those." She shrugged slightly. "But it's why we don't talk about 'em or shine a light on 'em. But they're jus' a bunch of asshats with no bodies an' nothin' to do but try an scare me. Try an' break me so then I'll be like them. But I won't be, so they can jog on." Still, she couldn't say that she was relishing the idea. Vega gave a slight smile. One night of sleeping and two good hot meals and she was getting lazy. "What're you gonna do to-trial?"

[Arlo Creede]

Every time she stirred or uttered troubled murmurs in her sleep, Arlo pulled Vega closer in his arms and sometimes placed a kiss on her forehead. He'd done it any number of times through the night. But with each night that passed it was becoming less frequent. As if she was becoming less troubled than before. At least while she was sleeping.

"Morning," he said when she finally opened her eyes and looked at him. "I slept a little," he lied, and Vega knew that he did. And why not his hat, he asked her when they kissed and he held her closer. After all, it was as much a part of him as anything these trials, and considering where it had come from, he liked to think that Cassion was lending a hand in all this. Maybe more so, he thought to himself, after the night he'd spent in communion with the Immortal. Much of it focused around that hat.

"You did just fine, much better than the night before. No tossing and turning, just a murmur now and again," he said as she handed him the biscuit. Arlo eyed it suspiciously, but then again his appetite and sense of adventure were both such that he'd try just about anything. His verdict? After he bit off the corner of one, he frowned. "Good thing I'm here to fix us a proper meal," Arlo declared and then grinned a little. "These taste like rubbish." Still, he ate the thing.

She didn't need to thank him, he told Vega as he got dressed and gathered up his weapons to put in place. Never step out without them, he'd resolved long ago. And she shouldn't be sorry either. "You did what you thought you needed to at the time. And you did it for me. I can hardly be angry about that." So far as the voices, he told her, from his perspective looking in, they were like devils on her shoulder. The sort that everyone had in a sense, but not nearly to the extent that she was experiencing. Hers were more real. But not to let them have any influence or power over her, that was the trick. And it wouldn't come easy.

As for him? "First I'm going to fix us some of that hot chocolate I've got in my sack," he told her with a grin, "and something decent to eat. Then I should probably do some hunting. I've got enough supplies to keep us sustained. But a little fresh meat would be nice." That was the plan anyway, a little hunting that trial. "You want to come along?" he asked. "Or do you need to stay behind and focus with me out of your hair?"

[Vega]

4th Cylus 718
following: this

She worried about him needing to sleep and yet, his presence and his comfort and reassurance really did the trick in terms of her being able to. There had to be some kind of middle ground, though, Vega thought but right now it was what it was and he wasn't going to hear any different because of it. When he described her sleep pattern, she nodded and commented as she watched him nibble the biscuit. "I was better cos I've got you there. It's blurry an' weird, but I know you were there. You kissed my forehead, an' whispered to me." Smiling, she looked at him and chuckled. "It is, Arlo Creede. It's a good job I've got you to cook a decent meal. I think I might well starve without you." Or live on those biscuits, she added. That was really what Arlo had done, of course, she considered. He had introduced her to good food, then great food and it was that level of delicious which made the biscuit almost entirely unappealing.

"I 'urt you," she said, softly, her eyes shifting colours and swirling like a whirlpool. "or I would 'ave if you'd had to come searchin' for me. Now that I'm able to think straight, I know you'd 'ave come lookin' an' if it was reversed, if you'd done what I did?" Vega shrugged slightly and got back to her shoes. "I wouldn't stop until I found you. Then I'd punch you an' mean it for bein' such an idiot as to think I'd let you go through this on yer own." It was entirely hypocritical, she knew, but there it was, how things were. That being said she lifted her gaze to him briefly. "If you want a scrap, I'll go easy on you." It was watered down compared to her usual, but it was more her. She felt more herself than she had since walking into the Order of the Adunih.

"It's ironic, really, innit?" Vega considered. "I went there to stop us gettin' into one kind of complicated situation an' I end up gettin' us in quite another." He was right about the voices, whatever they were. Vega had been starting to think about that, about what they were, or who they were. "I think it's a store, you know. Or somethin'. Cos it was the Prince of Eternal Mercies an' he didn't die, did he? He went on an' killed that bloke in the Inn an' then disappeared." Maybe it sort of soaked up personalities, Vega wondered aloud. That would explain why it had talked to her as her.

"You brought the hot chocolate? Oh, Arlo, I don't know what I did, but you're amazin', you know." Hot chocolate was something he'd introduced her to and she loved it. That and something to eat, then he was going to hunt. She looked at him and what she wanted to do was obvious. She shook her head, though, "I focus better when you're here." Vega looked at him as she said that, the truth of it in her expression. "I'd like to come with you, get out of here for a bit an' think about somethin' else, you know?" Shrugging, though, she pointed out that she'd be very little help if they were anywhere wooded. Or grassland. Anywhere flammable, really. "But, I 'aven't got my bow any more." Shrugging, she looked vaguely embarrassed. "It's a weapon. Made of wood. You can work out the rest. An' I melted one of my boots, so I'm gonna 'ave to buy some new ones." She gave a slight grin and then motioned up the mountain. "There were goats up that way yestertrial. Rabbits. What other things live up mountains?" She wondered and then frowned, trying to put into words what she was thinking. "I might not be any 'elp. In fact, I might be the opposite. But I'd like to get out of here for a few bits." Apparently, she said, there were tribes in these mountains and she'd seen some tracks which suggested people, but it had been on her second trial of climbing up here. She'd purposely gone in a different direction. "Wanna go on a Noobab hunt?" Vega asked, entirely and genuinely seriously. The Noobab, she told him, was the name her father gave to land dwelling critters no one really knew the name of. If he was good with her coming with him, she wondered just what he'd like her to do if they came across something.

"I could let you take it down, or I could spontaneously burst into flames an' cook it for you," she said, belting her sword belt with a slight and rather self-depreciating smile. "So, which way? Tribes, goats or Noobabs?" Noobabs, it seemed, lived further up the mountain, whereas goats and tribes were in an over there or down-that-way direction.

[Arlo Creede]

If it was all Arlo could do, to keep Vega fed and to keep her safe while she did what she needed to do, then he'd consider it sufficient. But sufficient wasn't good enough. He wanted to do more and always would. Somehow he'd like to take hold of the disembodied voices that haunted and tormented her and wring their necks. If only he could. Still, together they'd find a way.

"If I was honest, I might have done the same," he admitted, referring to how he might have reacted had he been confronted with the same choice as her. But he also knew that she would have come after him, and not rested until she found him. They understood each other very well that way. "I wish that night I'd realized that it was more than a case of a kid delirious with fever and a wild imagination," he said, frowning deeply as he gathered together his weapons and strapped them on. "If I'd known, if I'd seen you before Schubert came for me, it might have been different."

But there was no point in wishing the past was different. It wasn't, and what they had was now. Arlo also knew she was torn. Go with him on the hunt, or stay behind. He wouldn't press her, so while she made up her mind and told him what they might find in the surrounding area, he made sure she had a mug of chocolate in her hands, a plate of fried eggs and thick bacon, a chunk of bread, in her lap. "Whether a help or no," he said with a shrug once they'd eaten, "We won't starve. We can make do with what we have." It would be good to get out and do something regardless.

Rabbits, mountain goats, foxes maybe, Arlo considered. No tribes. He was firm on that point. He'd rather avoid two legged opponents if they could that trial. He grinned though when she told him about noobabs. "I'm fairly sure your father was pulling your leg," he teased. He'd never heard of such a thing, and it sounded ridiculous. But moreso that oh deer? Not really.

Higher up then, he suggested, above the tree line, though there'd be nothing to stop the wind up there. But if they didn't come across any of these fabled noobabs, at least there'd be goats. "So what are these things supposed to look like?" he asked with another grin as the two of them set out for higher ground.

[Vega]

4th Cylus 718
following: this

In the same circumstances as she'd been in, he might have done the same? That provoked a look from Vega which was as complicated as her feelings. "If that ever happened, Arlo, I 'ope to all the Immortals that I could make the difference to you that you've made," that bit of it was not complicated at all. "I was losin' hope," and then, he'd brought it with him. His faith and belief in her was much stronger than her own and she would do anything rather than let him see her lose this fight. As for what happened that night? Vega shook her head. "You had things to do, things more important than me, I was here when you got back." Cassion, and what he needed or wanted Arlo to do, had to come first she said and that was a given between them. "Besides, it's good of 'im. It feels like he's on our side in this. He brought you 'ere, an' that camp is amazin'." Not something that they'd use often, she thought, but when they did it would be because it was incredibly welcome - a very real blessing as it had been the night before.

The food, and the hot chocolate especially, were welcome and warming and delicious so Vega took her time eating. Looking at him, she shook her head, "I dunno how it is you're not gettin' chubby, you know." But he wasn't, far from it. In fairness, Vega knew that she was biased when it came to him and what she really thought, but he was very aware of just how she felt about him, so she concentrated on eating the bacon and dipping her bread into the egg, relishing it. "Damnit, Arlo, if I didn't love you for you, I'd love you for this." She really should learn something useful, she considered and not for the first time. "An', see, that's not fair now." Non-sequitor it might seem, but in her head it all made logical, consistent sense. "I learned carpentry, an' fletchin' so's I could be useful to us not just a bum who eats your food, drinks your 'ot chocolate an' stuff. But no, now I burst into flame an' the wood burns. It's not fair."

He doubted the Noobab? Vega looked at him and shook her head in apparent disappointment at his lack of faith. She wasn't fooling him, though, she knew. Tapping her nose as she listened to the idea that her father might have been pulling her leg, Vega simply replied with "You wait, Arlo Creede. Biqaj know things that you 'umans don't. Like the stars an' the seas, stories you've never 'eard. An' we know the Noobab." One eyebrow raised, she smiled at him and slipped a hand, briefly, into his.

What did a Noobab look like? Vega rolled her eyes as though in exasperation. She was doing her best, trying to tease in the way that she normally would. It was a poor imitation, but it was a start and it was a lot more than she could have managed the trial before. "No one really knows," she replied, deadpan. "They're shape shifters, see." As they started trekking up the mountain, she wrapped her scarf around herself a little tighter and explained, "But you'll know. Once you've fought one, you'll always know. 'That', you'll say in a voice filled with wonder an' a little bit of biqaj wisdom, 'that, was a Noobab', an' then, we'll take it back to camp an' cook it."

It was good to get out of the camp, she had to admit and she felt better than she had in a long time. Staying close to him as they walked, she helped and was helped in the climbing. The further up they got, the more the wind raged around them. They saw more than a few sets of prints, indicating goats and rabbits and so on, but as they moved another set of tracks caught Vega's eyes and she motioned to him. "Either," she spoke in a soft voice to Arlo, "I'm goin' mad or those look like Aye-Aye tracks. But Arlo, they're like... giant Aye-Aye." That, she suspected, was not good. Not good at all. Vega's thoughts on it...

"Bloody Noobabs."

[Arlo Creede]

More important things than her? Arlo frowned and shook his head, disagreeing with Vega. "It wasn't as if he'd asked me to save the world in his name. It was a competition, and I was representing U'frek. I can't say how he'd have taken it, but I think Cassion would have understood If I'd stayed behind." And if he'd known then what was going on with her, he would have. She was right though, he believed his Immortal of choice was on their side. He'd never really thought much either about needing a safe camp and had wondered if he'd be using the ability much. But in this case? All the better to keep her warm and safe while she struggled with this.

"Cassion's blood in my veins, I guess," he'd admitted with a grin, a shrug when she wondered about his appetite and the absence of ill effects that often came from overindulgence. The Immortal himself after all had large appetites of all kind. And yet he didn't seem to be any bigger round the middle as a result. But as they set out on their hunt, he bumped her shoulder gently when she worried about her usefulness under these circumstances. "Well I can imagine that being able to spontaneously burst into flames might just come in handy," he teased her. He wouldn't have, just a few trials ago considering how troublesome this business was. But she was becoming better at controlling it and soon enough, they'd be rid of the problem.

He snorted though when Vega elaborated about the noobabs, still unconvinced there was anything to it. In the meantime, the climb up the mountain wasn't an easy one and more than once, one had to offer the other their hand to manage it. Plenty of goats around though, more than a few hares had darted across their path. If they didn't find anything more interesting, there were always those and there'd be more if the time came. But then she stopped, and he dropped down on his heels beside her. Noobabs? Not likely. However, he said with a deep frown, "They look like aye aye tracks, but if they are, this one's got to be as big as a horse. A draft horse even."

Some of the ugliest things Arlo had ever seen, aye ayes. Over sized rats, mangy looking, and those out-sized, perfectly round yellow eyes were unnerving. And how could one get so big? Diet? Particularly successful at avoiding predators? "Not sure I want to eat one of those. Like eating rats," Arlo declared. But strangely, he was curious to find out if that's what it was, and discover how it might have gotten so big.

[Vega]

4th Cylus 718
following: this

She didn't answer when he argued with her about how Cassion would have felt, had he stayed behind. Vega's concern was with how Arlo would have responded, not the Immortal and there was no point in getting into any discussion about what could have happened or should have been. It had worked out and that was all that mattered. Besides, there was nothing that he could have done, so she was much happier that he'd done what Cassion had asked of him. Still, there was no point arguing with him, it was done and that was it.

As they made their way out, though, he bumped his shoulder against hers and quipped and Vega looked at him with colours swirling in her eyes, which glistened at the edges with tears. Not bad ones, though, judging by the violet of her eyes. However, she had a role to maintain and a reputation to uphold. "Yeah, it might. Better watch yer step, Creede, or I'll be givin' a whole new meanin' to the phrase hothead." Her hand moved out and grasped his, just briefly but with a tight and intense grip, and when she spoke, her voice shook slightly with emotion. "An' that'll shock a short kid like you, so it will."

Climbing was easier with two and, in fairness, Vega was very much of the opinion that everything about this was easier with two, and so she watched her footing, held on to his hand when she needed to and offered her hand to him when he did. It felt almost normal, almost just like the two of them usually did and the spring in her step showed it. Of course, it was also horrifically cold and she was well wrapped up, but as they walked together, she felt lighter - it was the only way she could describe it. Hankering down on their heels, side by side, she glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. "You are just a noobabinic. It's a disease we know about, you know. Those what do not understand the noobab. Don't worry, I think yer about to be educated." But surely, she said more seriously, there couldn't be aye-aye that large? The things were pests, as was, but big ones? No. Just wasn't possible.

On reflection, she considered, as they moved further forward and heard movement ahead of them, she really shouldn't have said that. Fate was bound to have a laugh at her expense and she sent a prayer to Xiur, asking that he protect them both, and save them from any wild noobab. Then, she shook her head slightly, aware that she was starting to buy into it. Frankly, that was a worry since she was quite sure that her father was talking nonsense. Anyhow, onwards but more quietly as they heard the sounds in the area in front of them. It was her instinct to draw her sword, but she did not. It was not her instinct to stand behind Arlo and let him take point, but she did.

She hated this.

However, they moved forward and there, in front of them from the treeline burst what seemed to be a mini-stampede of rabbits, hares and then some goats charged out. They were undoubtedly running from, not towards and what they were fleeing from became apparent a few trill later as it, too, burst through the treeline and then skidded to a halt.

It was like an aye-aye, yes. But also, not. It was roughly the size of the draft horse Arlo had suggested, maybe a little bigger. And it was beautiful. Like someone had taken all the rough, rat-like qualities and turned them into a beautiful, but very dangerous looking beast. Yellow eyes glared out from beneath sleep black and grey fur, teeth which were as sharp as razors and where there had once been wiry tufts of fur - or where those would exist if this wasn't a very different mutated aye-aye - sharp pin-pricks like a hedgehog might have stood. But much bigger than a hedgehog, of course.

It spied them and hissed, then just as Vega said "Want me to fight with you?" it charged. She, of course, was not going to stand there and let him fight. It wasn't happening. So, her hand fell to her sword and if he didn't object immediately, she'd be fighting alongside him, albeit with a flaming, molten blade.

[Arlo Creede]

Everything looked normal, probably from the outside looking in at least. Sounded normal too. Walking and working together, talking, teasing, picking. But they both knew things weren't their usual, and that this outing was just a much needed distraction, a diversion, a way to bring some sort of normalcy to what wasn't in any way, normal at all. But Arlo believed Vega needed that, just for a little while.

Quirking a brow at her while they knelt side by side and examined the tracks, Arlo snorted and shook his head. "I'll believe it when I see it," he said, referring to the fabled noobab. In the meantime, he added as he stood up and loaded up his short bow, chances were that somewhere nearby, there was a very large aye aye, or a normal sized aye aye with very large feet Either way, ugly things.

The higher they traveled, now following the tracks, the further away the treeline and the more rocky the ground. The wind was whipping at their faces and clothing, but when Arlo looked down at the ground, he could still see signs of tracks. "Has to be that it's been here in the last few bits. Otherwise the blowing snow would have covered it's tracks over," Arlo told Vega. But then rabbits, goats, even a lone fox burst out of the trees, running towards and past them.

Arlo didn't fire on them, in fact he just stopped and watched while they darted a path around himself and Vega. When he was a boy, his stepfather had always told him that if you didn't know which way to run in the event of some natural disaster...watch the animals and follow them. They knew the quickest and best way to safety. Then again, his stepfather probably hadn't ever heard of aye ayes. And certainly not giant ones. "Aelig's nuts, that thing's big," Arlo muttered under his breath to Vega when the thing emerged from the trees.

It was big alright. As tall as a draft horse though probably not quite as heavy. And while it was still a rat, it was as if someone had tried to dress one up and put a little fancy on it. It had worked. Arlo still didn't want to cook an eat rat. But he wouldn't mind having that hide. Did he want her to fight with him? He glanced at Vega with a crooked grin, just as he raised his bow and the thing charged. Was he supposed to believe that she'd be willing to stand back and do nothing?

Arlo knew better and he fired off a shot with his bow that would have pierced the creature's skull between its eyes, had it not glanced off those strange quills and flown wild. The trick would be shooting somewhere else, or shooting against the grain of those things and not with them. In a flash, Arlo loaded another bolt and fired at the base of the creature's throat.

[Vega]

4th Cylus 718
following: this

He needed this, Vega thought as they knelt next to each other and examined the noobab tracks. It wasn't real, or it wasn't really them, but it was closer than they'd managed and seeing him like this, quipping and teasing, bumping shoulders and having the chance to be themselves, it was what he needed more than anything. Her too, she knew, but it did her good too and just for a brief time, it would reap benefits for them both, she was sure. Her smile to him when he said he'd believe it when he saw it was genuine and she shook her head. "You'll be eatin' crow, Arlo Creede." Glancing at him, she wondered if he realised. "You know you can call yerself Lei'nox among biqaj, now? Part of papa's clan, so can do." Shrugging, she wondered why he would bother, frankly, but whether he knew it or not meant the difference between him just choosing not to and simply not knowing.

"You are seq'at, to my papa an' the boys, I guess. Cousin, or.. well, one of us." she shrugged and said the word that he knew already from the conversations with her father and her, previously. "Qy'akot to me." It was a serious point, but still normalcy was good for them. "You remember that? It's biqaj for 'irritatin' short kid', yeah?" She gave him a gentle shove as they got up together and made their way up the mountain.

Then, as they moved there was a mini stampede and Vega watched them run past with some interest. Predators and prey, running together. That must mean, she figured, that there was a Much Bigger Bad chasing them. And then, right there, was the noobab to end all noobabs. Arlo muttered about how big it was and Vega, with her usual genteel grace agreed wholeheartedly. "Crap, Arlo, I didn't think he was right!"

She asked if he wanted her to fight with him and his grin told her everything she needed to know. Pulling her longsword, which immediately turned to the solid molten lava Vega stepped forward, to the side of the creature. Arlo's second shot, the one to the throat, hit it and it reared up like a horse would, on it's hind legs. Blood poured and it howled. The sound was enough to make the hairs on their arms rise, but Vega ignored it and swung. Her aim was to slice with her sword, opening it up across the stomach, but she hadn't taken into account the fact that the blade was molten lava and it sliced half way into the creature, and it's howl turned into a scream. The smell of searing flesh was all-pervading and Vega wrinkled her nose in disgust.

What might be most surprising, though, was that the damn thing just... kept going. Screaming in pain, it's guts falling out and blood pouring from it's throat, it landed it's front legs on the ground and kept charging. The surprise and the force of its movement caused Vega to let go of her sword in surprise which, of course, immediately stopped burning and yet remained embedded in the thing, the hilt sticking out of the side of the creature, just in front of it's rear left leg. It continued it's charge and it seemed that it's intention was to bite Arlo's head off. It had the yellow aye-aye eyes and a lot of very, very sharp teeth and for all that it was obviously dying, it was not yet dead and didn't seem inclined to stop until it was.

[Arlo Creede]

"Sure, I know," Arlo had revealed with a shrug as they'd trudged along together through the deep snow. He'd known, or at least believed that if he'd chosen to, he could refer to himself as a Lei'nox. "I'm grateful for that," he'd added, and felt that for her family, it was a genuine sign of welcome and acceptance. On the other hand? "I might sometimes. But I don't know really. Creede is what I grew up being. Maybe I'll try the other on now and again for good measure," he'd told Vega with a grin. "But still, always a Creede."

So was she, in turn, Qy'akot to him? Or was that a masculine thing, he wondered, and there might be a feminine form too. But then they'd come face to face with a rat the size of a very large horse, and all of the rest was forgotten. The problem however was that after two bolts from his bow, one that ought to have been a fatal one, and a deep gash from Vega's sword that should have killed the beast again, it just kept coming. It's screams filled the air and mingled with the sickening smell of seared flesh. Not to mention the grisly specter of the aye ayes innards being dragged across the snow.

Arlo's mind raced and he took a quick glance around him. A bolt from his bow wouldn't work. If Vega's burning sword hadn't done the trick, his own would be as good as useless. But behind him was a natural feature that just might do the beast in, if used to proper advantage. He and Vega were standing on the top of a mountain after all, nearby a rocky cliff that was very high up, making it, ultimately, a very long way down. "Be right back," he whispered to Vega and turning on his heel, Arlo dashed towards the edge of the cliff with the aye aye in quick pursuit.

When he got near the edge, Arlo changed his course just slightly...but not enough to alert the aye aye, ducked, rolled and reached out for the edge as he tumbled over. Just like he'd hoped would happen, the ferocious but not terribly clever beast fell for the ruse and continued charging towards sheer a drop off of several hundred feet. And in an instant the aye was gone. Arlo might have liked to see the expression on the thing's face, but he was too busy dangling off the cliff and gripping the edge with his gloved fingers, which were probably all that Vega could really see from her vantage. "Little help?" he called out.