[Rosebay] Catch 'em all

[Elowen]

Stormwastes...a place where there should be no life. Or so Elowen imagined. But that couldn't have been further from truth when she was at last approaching Rosebay. The settlement that Eseld told her about and the man within it who could help her.

She was travelling with a caravan that was in fact originating from Rosebay and it was now on its return journey there. In that slow and swaying tempo, as caravans go, Elowen considered the defensive wall, the lake that glittered nearby and strong sense of deja vu that she just wasn't able to shake off since she had been offered a ride. Either way, she was glad for it. Thanks to the kindness of a stranger, she wasn't going to be as tired as if she had walked the whole way. Elowen shifted in her seat. The higher exposure to people since Meira's death was challenging certain preconceptions about others that Elowen did not even know she had until now.

But there was no time for the girl to consider the brewing inner battle since they had soon arrived in Rosebay. Elowen hopped off the wagon and then more as a force of memory she didn't quite recall and a strong sense of a must, Elowen took a few nels out of her pouch and offered them to the driver. He took them with a smile and a nod, then pointed at a long single story building with rammed earth walls.

"Whatever you need here, best start in there," he said. Elowen got the gist and a fine excuse to make herself scarce. That's all she needed.

This trip to Rosebay was the first big adventure outside of Mistral Woods. The first time she had been away from the shack for more than a night. She was filled with that nervous energy to the brim that kept her on a constant edge and made her look at everything with an expression of fascination with a tinge of fear. Yet, she shouldered her back pack regardless stacked and equipped for a trek of multiple days. She headed the way she was shown.

The inside of the building was a single space of many functions. Elowen halted at the door. There were people inside. Of course... The girl frowned and looked at the ground. It shouldn't have been a surprise. This was a settlement after all. There would be inhabitants.

"Welcome!" There came a warm call from somewhere within. The girl looked up and scanned the area. She noticed an elderly woman with some grey in her red hair. Elowen's eyes went wider but as always she dropped her gaze soon after. She had seen people with coppery hair before and every time she questioned why they were walking around without a covering. How was their situation different to hers?

The elderly woman smiled. "Are you alright there, child? Come. Come in. You seem to have had a long journey."

Elowen took a few steps further into the house but she kept to herself, avoiding physical contact. The woman seemed to understood rather quickly. Her smile stayed but her expression grew pensive. "Help?" She asked as though testing the waters.

The girl shook her head. "Dandelion," she said. That's all she needed. Dandelion. So she could talk to him about traps, maybe work on an improvement and then leave. It wasn't that she didn't like Rosebay. It looked like a fine place. A little oasis even. It was her lack of tolerance for company of others.

[Dandelion]

58 Ymiden 724

Dan was down by the lake when the supply caravan arrived back in Rosebay, checking on bedding that had been washed and spread to dry, while the weather was warm enough not to need all of it at night. He collected any that was already dry, folding it neatly into a basket, and turned any that wasn't, so that both sides could dry evenly. It was nice to be working alone for once, away from the bustle of the main settlement.

With that task finished, he headed back up the slope towards Rosebay with the basket of clean laundry on his hip. When the supplies arrived back, everyone that could went to help unload them, and he was no exception to that. He was almost to the wall when Agnes emerged, and headed for him with a young woman in tow.

"Came in on the supply train," Agnes told him, in brisk Common Sign, "and asked for you by name. Spoken, not Signed."

The young woman was not someone Dan recognised. A new settler, perhaps? They often arrived with the supply train, but then so did visitors, since the supply train was currently the most reliable (if not always the fastest) way to reach Rosebay.

Dan was aware that he didn't exactly stick out of the crowd the way that many leaders seemed to. His shirt and trousers were the same plain, hard-wearing, linen as most of Rosebay wore, and mended more than once. He wasn't so tall that he stuck out that way either. Only the sun-bleached curls of his hair stuck out, looking just like the dandelion clocks he had named himself after.

Nonetheless, he turned to the young woman with a smile as Agnes explained her presence, and set down the basket so that he could sign freely. "My name is Dandelion," he told her, keeping his signs slow and simple. "I am the leader of Rosebay. How may I help you?" If she didn't understand Sign - well, Agnes was right there and able to translate if necessary.



"Signed words" Spoken words

[Elowen]

Agnes looked at her for a moment longer before nodding. "Well, the caravan just arrived. All free hands will go and unload it. Dandelion is bound to be there or somewhere nearby."

When Elowen kept standing without response, Agnes chose another simple word. "Follow." That the girl understood and could do.

So they left the hall and went outside. And as per the woman's words, whoever had a chance was at the wagons, passing parcels to each other. Agnes seemed to know exactly where she was going and shortly after, Elowen saw why. The older woman was heading straight for a man with a tuft of sun-bleached curls. The girl could understand his name.

Elowen herself was dressed for travel - light clothes that allowed free movement but protected her from most elements. These were also mended but clean, or as clean as they could be after three or four trials on the road. She also had a backpack with provisions and equipment for camping in the wilds. It may have looked comical on the girl, given her size, but it was packed with what seemed to be a considerable level of experience.

She watched the two interact and struggled to hide her surprise. This was the first time she had come across a sign language. At first she thought they were just gestures, which they were, but they did not immediately mean language to the girl.

It was only when Agnes explained that she was there to translate that Elowen caught up on what was happening. She did not know that the trapper of Mistral couldn't hear. A moment of panic zipped through her. This was unexpected, but she was there and had to adapt on the spot. Then Dandelion directed some of those gestures her way. Her blank face said it all and Agnes stepped in as she said she would, putting words to it all.

Elowen nodded, understanding. She did not look at Agnes, nor directly up into Dandelion's face when she spoke. But it was clear that her responses were directed at the man but no disrespect to Agnes. Elowen just found it easier to focus at one person at a time and Dandelion was, after all, the reason she was there.

Pointing at herself, the girl said: "Elowen." Then she took her pack down and from a side untied what looked like a trap. It was a square contraption of all wooden walls perhaps a foot wide and long but only a palm tall. There was an opening at the top not bigger than half a fist which seemed to have a sliding door to close it. "Need help with trap. Eseld, from Mistral, say you good trapper. I need catch more grasshopper. Have ideas." She tried to come prepared as best as she could so as not to waste anyone's time or having to spend more time away from the shack than necessary.

But it was also very clear that the girl was not very well versed in social interactions. Others may have waited until after the caravan was unloaded or even offered help before requesting something for themselves. But Elowen was purpose driven with socialization skills equal to that of a doe in hunter's sight.

[Dandelion]

Dan kept his main focus on Agnes as she translated, but observed the young woman out of the corner of his eye.

Her hair was covered by a scarf. She was dressed and packed for travel - well, she had just arrived, but she seemed to know what she was doing there. She wasn't like some of the settlers, those who had never set foot outside of the Dust Quarter before coming to Rosebay. She was very focused on what she needed, the sort of focus common to those who had only themselves to rely on, and no time to waste. Having lived alone in the wilds for most of his life, Dan was famiiar with that kind of focus and didn't bother trying to divert it. He simply beckoned the newcomer and Agnes off the main track so that they weren't blocking anyone else - a common road courtesy among travellers - and returned the focus on what she needed.

Which was, apparently, to catch grasshoppers? Dan knew how, but hadn't done it often. He didn't like grasshoppers enough to spend the time and effort required for scant result (grasshoppers were so small, and they didn't keep well) when he could get a better result of more food (for him, stocking up for the cold seasons) by putting that time and energy into other things.

Her name, she said, was Elowen. (Agnes spelled it out for him.) He repeated it carefully, unsure if he had got it right, then eyed the trap that she was holding out. Still, she had ideas of what to do? He wanted to hear those first, before he showed her the way that he prefered.

Show me, he said, one hand held out towards the trap, as he deployed one of his few memorised phrases of Common and then elaborated in Sign. "Show me your ideas." It wasn't that he couldn't hear Common at all, but trying to decipher it was like trying to decipher birdsong. He ended up getting by by learning to mimic a few key phrases (like mimicking the birdsong it resembled to his ears) and relying on Sign for the rest.




"Signed words" Spoken words

[Elowen]

The girl followed Dandellion and Agnes away from the main thoroughfare. She watched the interaction between the man and the woman, tried to deduce the meaning behind the hand signs, but it was like watching water flow whilst being submerged. Still it fascinated her and made it easier for her to look since it did not involve looking at someone's face.

When she was prompted to show her ideas, first by Dan and then by Agnes, Elowen nodded though she pressed her lips together for a moment. This was another thing she was not used to - collaborating with strangers. For a moment, hesitation poked her in the ribs.

She knew she wouldn't be able to describe what she needed in Common so she had an alternative way showing what she thought of. Setting the trap on the ground and taking the backpack of her back, Elowen dug around for a trill or two, until she pulled out a folded piece of paper. She held it close to herself, second guessed her idea and how she captured it, triple guessed whether this was worth disturbing the man for.

But she was here and he was here and Agnes was here and so she had dug herself a hole, stepped in it and was now looking over the proverbial edge at the pile of dirt of embarrassment waiting to cave in on her. With a decisive breath, she pushed back to standing and jutted her hand with the paper towards Dandellion.

"Drawing," she said and her voice dropped to a whisper. There was some discomfort in her body, but if Dandelion was to take the piece of paper, there would be no resistance and Elowen would give it up quickly.

If he then took a look at it, he would find a crude drawing of the box the was at their feet. Though proportions were not entirely correct, it was clear that it was drawn with care. Elowen took many breaks to get it right. Beyond that, the drawing may had lost all sense as four lines extended out of the four top corners of the box. The were joined only three top points and those new 'square' were then filled out roughly.

Elowen dared a glance at the man's face, trying to gauge his understanding. But it was only a brief moment and not enough to be sure at what she saw. Her heart was also starting to beat faster, her hands sweated a little. Perhaps to work off some of the nervousness or to make sure her point came across, and whether Dandelion was looking at the drawing or not, Elowen dropped back down to her trap.

"Four points," she started and drew a line with her fingertips from each corner of the trap, same as on the diagram. "Then....fabric?" She tried in Gernevoir and looked at Agnes. The woman's face was blank. The girl pressed her lips together. What was she expecting...? "Then..." and the palms of her hands faced outwards and moved only over three sides of the box as if trying to illustrate something stretching outwards. "Something...cotton?" She tried again, pulling on her sleeve. "So grasshopper goes..." she pinched her thumb and forefinger together imitating the insect hopping over ground, then up. "Hit the...this..." she imitated the barrier again. "And then grasshopper..." Elowen tried to show it sliding into the hatch.

She had no idea if any of it made sense. The lack of Common irritated. Why did it feel so familiar on her tongue yet came so hard ot be spoken? It took all she had not to grunt in frustration. So she sank into the crouch, crossing her arms on top of her knees and frowning at the thing at her feet. Really...she must had been very desperate to do all this just to keep a wild bird happy. But she knew that wasn't it. She liked his company and he liked grasshoppers. In her head, it was a done deal. In her head, she didn't need more reasons or more digging into what really drove her. At least not that trial but many, many trials later.

[Dandelion]

Dan took the paper gently when it was held out to him and studied it, his eyes flicking from the careful picture to the actual trap on the ground. It probably would work, it was well thought out, but there was another way, one that was simpler to set up and take down. One that relied on a more obscure piece of information and sometimes got overlooked when more inexperienced hunters got stuck on the idea that a trap had to look like a trap and couldn't be anything else. In fact, all you actually needed to catch grasshoppers was an ordinary blanket.

He dropped into an easy crouch on the opposite side of the trap from Elowen, bringing himself down to her level and offering her the paper back. He had noticed that she didn't seem to like looking at people's faces (and he knew from experience how hard it could be just being around people when you were used to being alone, as well as trying to comunicate ideas to someone who didn't speak your language) so he gave her and approving thumbs up as well as a smile. "Well thought. But look."

He pulled a blanket out of the basket of laundry that he had been carrying, and laid it on the dry grass. It was slightly fluffy for warmth, and he mimicked the same hopping motion with his fingers that she had used. He hopped his fingers onto the blanket and mimed getting stuck in the fluffy fibres.

"Wool," he explained simply. "Scatter breadcrumbs or other bait on it. The grasshoppers jump on to get the food and get stuck in the fibres. But you're bigger and stronger. You can pull them off and keep them. And the blanket is bigger, so you can catch more this way." He shifted his weight, doing his best not to crowd her as he waited to see if she understood.



"Signed words" Spoken words

[Elowen]

She watched Dandelion from the corner of her eye. A mixture of nervousness and curiosity was constantly washing over her. Was he studying the drawing because it did make sense or it did not? And in her mind, she went over the details that she could have added or removed, the different ways in which she could have drawn the whole thing...had she had the skill.

When he came down to her level and handed her the drawing, Elowen took it. She dropped her knees to the ground so now she was sitting on her heels, frowning. But then, he said what she did was good. The idea she had was good! She experienced an inner leap of joy and her gaze flitted from him to Agnes and back, to make sure she heard correctly.

But for whatever reason, although her idea seemed to be ok, it wasn't the one that Dandelion would pursue. That surprised her and intrigued her at the same time. Elowen did not mind correction in topics she did not understand. She would always defer to the more knowledgeable party. So she folded the paper and placed it back in her back pack before dedicating all her attention to the man in front of her, wanting to see what was his idea of a grasshopper trap.

When he pulled out a fuzzy, yellow blanket, Elowen could not help it. A certain amount of scepticism entered her features and she shifted a little. In the course of hearing the explanation, disbelief gradually replaced the doubt. Could it really be that simple? Could that really work? Perhaps traps did not need to be elaborate. She looked at Dandelion briefly before looking back at the blanket. Not moving yet. Not answering.

The man who sold her the wooden box trap swindled her for a few extra nels according to Eseld. He was a stranger not to be trusted. Dandelion...was also unknown to her. But he used to live in the woods. Though she never met him there, she had heard of him and she trusted the woods judgement of a man. Her intuition told her that the mistrust she was experiencing was not directed at Dan himself. It was about the idea that something this simple could work.

But she nodded regardless. What did she have to lose? A few fuzzy blankets were cheaper than a wooden trap. And if it didn't work, she could use them to in the shack to transfer Pea's nest off her own pellet and reclaim the bed. Or she could use them during the cold cycle.

"Must be yellow?" she asked then. "When best to set?" Though she wasn't planning to keep the grasshoppers, but to roast them and turn them into Pea's favourite snack, she wanted to maximize her chances of success. She wanted to tap into all that the man in front of her knew, to store it in her mind and access it again at later point.

[Dandelion]

Dan watched the expressions shift and change across Elowen's face. As someone who relied on Sign to communicate, it was as natural and habitual as someone who used spoken language listening to the tone of someone's voice.

"Yellow will get you the most grasshoppers," he told her, "but any colour blanket will do. Grasshoppers like yellow things for some reason. I like to put the blanket out in the afternoon and collect it the next morning, so that I get both the dawn and dusk appearances. The thing about using a blanket trap, though, is that you can use it at any time of day. If you see a bunch of grasshoppers somewhere, just put the blanket down near them and chase them onto it. They will get stuck and then you can do whatever you want with them.

He straightened so that he could more easily fold the blanket and put it back in the basket with the rest of the clean laundry. He ought to be getting on. Work never really stopped while the sun was in the sky, but - "You'll stay overnight?" he asked, trying to find out her plans. "The Inn may not be finished yet, but we have spare beds for visitors in the Hall." He waved a hand towards the centre of Rosebay. "And I can answer any other questions you have over the evening meal. This isn't an area that is safe to set out in at this time of the trial. It's better to set out early in the morning, have a full trial of travel, and camp somewhere a bit safer." He tipped his head on one side, and raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to respond. If she agreed to stay, he would assign Agnes to take her back to the Hall and get her settled, while he went to see what else needed doing with the newly arrived caravan.



"Signed words" Spoken words

[Elowen]

Rewards Requested

Notes/Warnings: N/A

Thread: [Rosebay] Catch 'em all
City/Area: The Stormlands

Renown: None for Elo, but some for Dandelion for helping her?
Do you want this to be considered for Mark Progression? (Y / N)
If so - which mark.
Peer Reviewers: Please give feedback as to whether you feel this is appropriate for Mark Progression.
Once feedback is received, player should then post in the PSF.
If any PC in this thread is in a faction, please list them:
Faction Points:
Wealth Points: (how many and for what?)
- If you are claiming Wealth Points, please link to your Wealth Thread for this season, as Wealth Points can not be awarded before this is completed:
Collaboration: Yes
Local Language Thread? No

!	Message from: Pig Boy
	Done!

[Pig Boy]

Elowen

Feedback

Elowen had a simple task for coming such a long way, but then I suppose she stands to gain a lot more than just better grasshopper traps. Broadening her horizons with some travel into unfamiliar places is a good start to that.

The blanket trap for grasshoppers seems to be a sound idea, a woolen blanket trap for their little legs to get caught in. Very interesting. I don't know much of such things, but it stands to reason that getting caught in some fabric might be a common problem for grasshoppers. Just watch you don't catch any undesirable creepy crawlies too!

GOod writing.

Rewards

• XP: 15

Knowledges

• Socialization: x1
• Socialization: x1
• Art: x2
• Discipline: x1
• Art: x3
• Field Craft: x1
• Meditation: x1
• Research: x1
• Discipline: x2

Dandelion

Feedback

I might've included Teaching as one of the skills used by Dandelion, as he was instructing Elowen on better grasshopper traps.

I like the way Dandelion's mind works, always minimalist and deductive in the way he approaches problems. Never really getting fancier than he has to.

The blanket trap for grasshoppers seems pretty smart in that way. When I hear trap I think more often something complex like mousetrap. Or something mechanical, but Dandelion is showing that simple solutions are just as viable.

Good writing!

Rewards

• XP: 15

Knowledges

• Detection: checking to see if bedding is dry
• Leadership: be aware how you come across as a leader
• Detection: observing two things at once
• Leadership: meeting someone where they are, rather than expecting them to be someone they are not
• Logistics: be sure that what you put in is worth what you get out
• Field Craft: grasshoppers can be used as a food source
• Hunting: a trap doesnt have to look like a trap
• Field Craft: blankets can be used to catch grasshoppers
• Intelligence: steering the conversation towards the information sought