[Scalvoris Mountains] At what cost freedom?

[Vega]

5th Cylus, 718

He was out hunting, and Vega had been sitting on what was very much her rock, meditating on the scar on the palm of her hand. Focusing, listening, controlling what it was that needed to happen. It was tiring work and she was quiet, subdued and in a place of holding on the best she could. Of course, how she felt was a whole lot better than she had just two trials ago, when he had appeared here. Now, she'd had two nights of better sleep, but she was worried about him. Every time the nightmares fell in on her - and that was the only way she could describe it - he was there. His arms around her and his voice in her ear, his lips gently kissing her forehead. But that meant that he was not sleeping and that morning she'd insisted that he got a few breaks of sleep. He'd told her he was fine, but she'd done something which she really didn't think she'd ever do. She had asked him if he would, please, for her. She couldn't be worrying about him, too, she said. She just couldn't fit worrying about him, too, so would he please.

It wasn't even manipulation, and Vega had told him that. It was just the truth.

So, he'd slept that morning while she had meditated, focused. Not on the voices, she had promised him that, too, while he was sleeping, she was just going to try and build up her concentration, her focus. Generally. But now that he was up and about, and always she suspected in yelling distance, she was focusing. If asked to describe it, Vega could not easily do so, except to say that she could not hear herself think. She had become ~ in these moments ~ the quietest voice in her head and she was focusing on just trying to stop that. To grow louder until she was heard.

But first, she had to still the cacophony.

"That's the best you can do, mongrel child? Tell him to sleep"
"You're not going to win. You're too weak, girl."
"You're going to die up here, and take him with you. You're going to hurt him."
"You should have sent him away. How could you do this? How could you? To him?"
"It'll break. You'll break it. You always do"
"Eva, don't listen to them, it's me"

That last, a voice she recognised. Iris. Her familiar. Vega looked up as Arlo walked back into camp and the conflict raging inside her was evident on her face. But she couldn't hear her, distinguish her voice from the rest, no matter how hard she tried. Vega had, in their time together both as friends and lovers, turned some pretty astonishing frowns on Arlo. Yet the expression on her face was clear - she had never, not in all her trials, fought this hard. The noise was enormous, she couldn't hear the wind blowing in the the snow-ridden mountains, though she could see the flakes flying around him as he walked into camp.

And at the sight of him, just for a trill her mind stilled and she heard, as plain as ever it had been before this, before the death forged rose, before anything.

"I need you to hear me, Eva. You have to find a way to hear me. Clear your mind"

"DAMNIT!" Vega cried in pure frustration as she flung the knife she was holding, watching it with vivid red eyes as it thudded into the trunk of a tree, flung with such ferocity that it embedded in there to the pommel. She lifted a shaking hand to her forehead, pressing the heel of her palm against her temple as though trying to force something into her head. She was, in a way, trying to force order and silence. "It's Iris. She's.. I can't hear her, Arlo," Vega was angry, there was no doubting it, but who she was angry at was also very apparent. "I can't hear her, an' she says I need to. But I can't.. it's so loud, I can't even 'ear myself. I think she's tryin' to 'elp me, maybe or.. damnit all why I am so bad at this?!" She was frustrated and really wanted to punch someone, or hit them with a weapon, but then the weapon would burst into flame and it all just went round in a circle.

So, she breathed in, forced herself to try and calm down, though the colour of her eyes told a very different story, and spoke with at least a semblance of less angry. "How did the huntin' go? It was seein' you that let me hear her at all, you know," she said, pulling her shawl around herself and wondering if her leg would burst into flame if she started kicking things. It was almost worth finding out. "I'm sorry I'm not helpin' out more. I'll do that." She wanted to cry and kick and shout and scream, but she wasn't giving in to any of that. Not her. She was Eva Lei'nox and she was not giving in to it. Unfortunately, she thought with a cynical twist of a smile, she also wasn't beating it.

"I don't know what to do, Arlo," she said, "she told me to clear my mind. It's not for lack of tryin' you know?"

[Arlo Creede]

In spite of insisting that he was fine, and that he didn't need to...that he catnapped now and again when she wasn't looking, Arlo had finally given in to Vega insisting that he take some time to sleep. So he had, a little, inside the safe camp while Vega was outdoors doing whatever it was she needed to. He rested fairly easy, considering that for him, Lyova was keeping an eye on things.

Even when he'd risen, made sure that Vega was fed and then had gone off hunting, his little diri friend had stayed behind. Arlo knew that if anything happened while he was away, no one could find him or bring him back quicker than Lyova. Eventually, not long in fact, he came back on his own, having tracked down and killed a wild turkey that he'd clean, truss up, and roast over the fire for their supper that night.

Judging by the knife that came flying past and embedded itself into a tree, things had gone as smoothly as Arlo had hoped they would. If this struggle of hers was a matter of warring tempers, woe be to Vega's adversaries. Eventually she'd best them, it was only a matter of how long. "You've got too many voices in your head at once, too many things going on," he said, a gross understatement as he dropped the turkey near the fire and sat down beside her. It wasn't surprising that one, her familiar, was having difficulty being heard.

"Is anyone good at this?" Arlo asked, smiling and teasing her a little when she said it. "I can't imagine there being a host of others who've had to contend with this." But his hunt went alright. There was the turkey after all, large enough to feed a crowd, was it not just the two of them. "Maybe you heard her when you saw me, because for just that trill your mind was focused on something else and it quieted the crowd?" he suggested.

He knew she was trying, he added. But, "Maybe you're trying too hard?" Sometimes, he explained while at the same time, digging through his sack in search of his gittern; when he played, his mind stilled. And if there'd been a problem that he'd been trying to work out, a solution came to him during those times. Times when he wasn't thinking about it. Strumming a note or two, he shrugged. "Maybe you ought try something like that?"

[Vega]

"You'd be better at it," Vega shot back, immediately. "I'm not disciplined or clever or any of the things that'd be useful. An' I've got no patience. Anyone'd be better at it." She was quite prepared to have a full on huff, Vega decided and she might actually descend into a total tantrum. "An' stop bein' so bloody reasonable, it's irritatin'." Yet, despite the anger and frustration and unmitigated fury she felt, when he teased her she grinned. "Shurrup."

Glancing at the turkey she thought it might take them a few trials to eat that, but then Vega considered that the way Arlo was just lately, and likely would be from now on, that turkey would be bones and nothing else by the next trial. He was more hungry, more passionate, more curious and more.. everything. She grinned at him, despite herself and shook her head. "I'm wallowin' in self pity right now an' I don't need reason or anythin' like it. If you could heap on sympathy, that'd be great, ta." Vega's grin was genuine, more so as she spoke to him. Come to that, sympathy would be awful and she'd hate it.

Breathing in, she bumped her shoulder against his as they sat together, side by side. "Iris is right clever, you know. She sounds dead posh, too, not like me at all. She's got this smooth voice an' she's right pain in the posterior. Think's she a sight cleverer than she is, an' she's sarcastic too." She gnawed slightly at her lower lip and then spoke her fear. "I don't want them to hurt her, Arlo." Whether they could, or would, Vega did not know but what she did know was that she couldn't hear Iris any more and that had happened since she'd left Scalvoris Town. "Last time I heard her properly was when I went to the Wanderlust," she explained. "She told me leavin' was a bad idea an' that you should make yer own mind up. Then, she told me she didn't know what you see in me." It was a strange relationship, Vega said, it was like they were two distinct people but also, very much not. It was hard to explain, but that was because she didn't understand it, just accepted it.

He had a good insight, it had to be said, on why she had suddenly heard Iris' voice from the loud and overbearing crowd. Because her attention hadn't been on them? Vega nodded, that made sense to her and it fitted with how her mind worked on any given trial, too. Then, he pulled out his gittern and Vega looked at him in surprise and delight. "Arlo, before you arrived, when I was climbin', I danced." She shrugged slightly, apologetically almost, then explained. "I was talkin' to Xiur, an' told him that I was bein' consumed by the spirit of the Great Wussie an' I'd shake it out." That had led her to remembering, she said, teasing him about shaking a tail feather back in Desnind, when they'd gone to that dancing class together. So, she explained, she'd danced. Not the dance of the Sev'ryn woman, but the dances she'd seen and done as a child, biqaj dances. And it had worked. It had quietened the voices, made her feel more like herself.

"How did I get so lucky as to 'ave a man so clever an' so handsome all at once?" Vega grinned, kissed him and stood up. "Play for me?" He hadn't spent evenings with biqaj who played and sang, she knew, but she also knew that he was damned good at that instrument and so she listened to what he played, how he did as she warmed up. Stretching, bending, making her muscles work, she considered carefully and then added. "I need to dance like water. It'll quiet the fire, Arlo. Can you do that? Fluid an' flowin'? It can be notes or a story, don't matter."

Assuming he did, Vega danced. When they'd danced together last, in Desnind, she'd fallen over her feet and landed on the floor whooping with laughter and totally uncoordinated. Not so any more. She shrugged off her coat, moved to the middle of the a space of land and she began to dance. At first, her movements were slow, gentle and flowing and then she started to speed up, to lose herself in the movement and the music. Somewhere, between Desnind and Scalvoris, it seemed that Vega had learned to dance and not told him. Or, maybe it was just the changes in her, in her physicality, strength and flexibility. Moving with the music, she punctuated every beat, moved with the notes he played. Her feet landed in time with the beat, and her arms moved in fluid gestures. She had no shame about dancing, nor would she ever, she simply did it and as she danced, her face lit in a genuine smile even though her eyes were closed.

Then, without warning or apparent reason she stopped and dropped to her knees. Looking up at him, her eyes were black and Vega looked stricken. "She's... Arlo she's gone. They.. she.. oh damnit." Kneeling for a moment, she stopped talking and just went inwards, trying to calm herself. She succeeded to an extent and she breathed in. "She wanted to let me know. That some of them, the voices, they want to be free. Want to help. They say I can set them free." Vega looked at him, determined and stubborn no doubt, but pale of face and black swirling in her eyes. "If I lose, I jus' become another voice, make it 'arder for the next person, an' so on. But then there was a roar, an' she screamed an' she's gone." She forced herself to think, as logically as she could. "I don't think she's dead, is she? I mean, I'd know, it's be worse if she was, wouldn't it? Arlo, they've 'urt her an' she's let them just to give me information." And more than anything, Vega was afraid that with all the information and all the love and all the support she had, she'd still fail. Fail the voices, the orphaned boy, Iris, herself and him. She didn't say that, of course, but she didn't need to.

He knew it, she knew.

[Arlo Creede]

"I doubt it," Arlo maintained with a shrug, when Vega insisted he'd do alright with all those contrary voices in his head. "I'm not really the patient sort, not much for moderation." Having failed at trying to threaten and drive them out by force, they'd probably drive him mad. But he also knew that Vega would be there by his side all the while.

It's what he did, that was him, he quipped, grinning in response to her thinking he was the reasonable kind. He wasn't, really. Not from his perspective. Sympathy though was not what she needed. But would the voices hurt Iris? Arlo couldn't begin to guess. He had Lyova of course. But while Lyova was unique in any number of ways, she wasn't a familiar. "I think she's got a mind of her own you know," he told Vega seriously. "And I think that she'll do what she believes she needs to on your behalf." While being completely aware of the consequences he guessed.

"She knows," he added then, smiling at her. Iris he thought knew exactly what he saw in Vega. It was her way, he guessed, her own sense of humor and way of being with Vega. That was a concept he grasped completely. He might be the only one who could actually see his diri companion, but she was her own self all the same. Her own quirks, her own way of being. "You're just extra lucky I guess," he said, grinned, and began to play. Not singing, no storytelling, just strumming, chords and notes...Something fluid and easy on the ear.

And Arlo kept playing while Vega danced. He'd opted out of using a pick and used his fingers instead. From his perspective it was a softer sound it produced. Almost more organic or at least it seemed that way to him. The tune that he mostly improvised though was changeable enough, tempo and so on so that it suited Vega's movements. "What do you mean she's gone?" he asked when she stopped abruptly and dropped to the ground. And his own fingers stilled on the strings of his instrument.

When she told him what she'd learned though, Arlo frowned but nodded as he set his gittern aside. "She's not dead. She loves you and she sacrificed to tell you what she knew. I think she knew the consequences, and I think she'll be back." Maybe Iris only needed to regain her strength he suggested. And, he told Vega, she and her familiar had that in common. Their strength, that was. And she wouldn't fail. He was with her, so they wouldn't fail either.

[Vega]

"I didn't say you'd be good at it, did I?" Vega bit back at him. "I said you'd be better than me. Which you would, 'cos yer cleverer. And also because I say so. An' if you're not gonna give me sympathy when I need it, why do I keep you around?" She was teasing, there was a grin on her face although it was more tense than usual and the sheer number of colours which swirled in her eyes was rare, too. Still, he was right in that sympathy would be the worst thing for her right now and their usual banter was much more in line with what she needed.

Her smile was more genuine, though when he said that Iris knew what he saw in her. "I know she does. She's just bein' a dweeb." There was no doubt in Vega about who they were, how much he felt for her or her, him. They were where they were by their own choice and therefore she couldn't doubt that she was very much his choice. Just as she knew he understood that he was hers. If it was a strange relationship, Vega didn't know. Snorting at his comment that she was 'extra lucky', Vega made no other comment. Let her derisive snort speak for itself, she decided and she moved to dance.

It allowed her to quieten her mind, still the voices both real and imagined. Rather than think, Vega felt and she focused on that. She had always been a fundamentally physical individual and the release from worry and concern, the freedom to simply move and enjoy the movement was more than relaxing - it was exhilarating.

Until, that was, there was a scream from her familiar. She explained the situation to him and Arlo listened. He spoke about what he thought, agreeing that Iris probably wasn't dead but that she'd made a choice. Iris was strong, there was no doubting it and she was stubborn too. Vega's lips more or less disappeared as she pursed them together. "You know, Arlo, I'm gettin' really irritated." It probably didn't need telling, in fairness. "I mean, I was 'avin' a lovely time, enjoyin' my life an' livin' it the way I want. Then along comes this Death Forged Dweeb an' suddenly I'm 'alf way up a mountain dancin' to try an' hear my familiar." No, she was not happy with this situation. "When I get face to face with this thing, I'm gonna kill it an' then ask Xiur to bring it back so's I can kill it again." She shook her head as she realised something. "I fluctuate, you know, between bein' scared witless and bloody furious." There was more furious every trial, she said, since she'd gotten sleep and was fed. Also, since he'd been here, of course, but she didn't mention that. It didn't need saying.

"I'm bored an' irritated. I wanna go back to our life, Arlo. This is.. so, alright. What might these voices be able to do? The ones that wanna help, I mean. I don't wanna even start thinkin' about them overpowerin' the others or anythin' like that." Because then, she said, it meant that these things stayed inside her. But they wouldn't. They would not, because she was getting them out and that was that. One way or another way, this was stopping. "A'right, so seriously, now. You're the one what sees spirits an' stuff. Have you even tried that around me?" With a sudden, genuine grin, Vega motioned to his hand with a nod of her head. "Don't make me flick yer fingernail when you're not lookin', Creede"

Assuming that he checked, and since she wasn't surrounded by spirits, Vega sighed. "Alright, so once I've got this controlled, what are we gonna do? I mean, I can't live the rest of my life bein' able to control the fire that spreads up my arm." With a quirk of an eyebrow, Vega pointed out. "I'm not above gettin' roarin' drunk an' you know I'm an Immortals-awful show off at the best of times. I get worse when I'm drunk," It was a flippant delivery of a fair point, but there was no doubt that, whilst Vega's emotions were fluctuating all over the place at the moment, she was getting more and more irritated and that could only, in the long run, be a good thing. "So, we need a plan. There's these spirits or souls or whatever they are in me. 'ow're we gonna get them out if I can't do it?"

[Arlo Creede]

"My rapier wit, my artistic genius and my Immortal like physique," Arlo hadresponded without missing a beat, when Vega asked why she should keep him around. He was teasing of course and she knew it, though it wasn't his tone or expression that gave him away. It was only her, knowing him.

But he played, she danced, and somewhere along the way, Iris was lost. But only temporarily, Arlo was sure of it. Not gone, just resting and out of reach. She was irritated though? "Who says life's fair or that you're guaranteed smooth sailing?" None of them were promised that and they both knew it. It did seem lately though that she was receiving more than her share of troubles. Therefore him as well. And he knew, Arlo told her. She was scared, angry and a lot of other things in between.

"We'll get through it," he promised as he put his gittern away and picked up the turkey again in order to process it. "We'll do more than that. We'll beat it." As for him being able to see and communicate with what was plaguing her? He was skeptical that it would work. "There's no question that they're aware of me," he considered, "but I doubt they're the same as ordinary ghosts." But just in case, he tapped his finger on a stone by the fire, and just as he'd suspected, nothing.

"Well you can't do it alone," he said when she asked what they'd do. "I can't either. Together? Maybe." The honest truth was that he didn't know. Maybe, if she continued to meditate, dance, whatever it took, maybe she'd come to find that her own state of mind very much affected the inclinations of those voices inside her. Meaning that maybe she could find a way of being that would calm the negative, in order to allow the positive to come forward and better be heard.

What he could do, and do very well, was keep Vega fed. The turkey he'd brought back was a large one, and it took a good deal of time just plucking and cleaning it. Rather than preparing it for a roast over the fire, instead he cut the thing open along the backbone, removing that and the ribs so that he could flatten the meat out. He flattened the breastbone so that the thickness of the flesh was consistent. Then he secured the legs and laid the thing out on a piece of dragon wood near the fire. He'd grill it, but slowly considering the size of the bird.

The skin, he'd left on and brushed with some brown butter that he kept in a jar, and rubbed salt and other herbs into the stuff so that at the end, the skin would be crisp and flavorful, along with the meat. As cooking work, it was easier than some things but more labor intensive than others. But hard work had never bothered Arlo and in fact now, it was a welcome distraction. Truth was he felt helpless, as if he was on the outside looking in. Truly, there was nothing he could do but stay close, offer his support, and do what he could so that Vega could concentrate on what needed all of her focus.

It took some time for the turkey to finish, and in the meantime, he roasted potatoes in a pan along with onions and peppers. Cooked up some greens flavored with bacon fat, and even poached a couple of pears that he drizzled with caramel and topped with cream. To say that he was frustrated was an understatement. So frustrated in fact that it never occurred to him that was he was preparing wasn't exactly camp food. It was more along the lines of a local eatery, and there was sufficient enough of it to feed a crowd. But at the least Vega would eat well.

[Aegis]

Your Thread Review is Here!

Dance Dance Revo... Meditation! Fun thread, apologies for ya know... hurting your soul mate there... At least you have turkey! And Arlo's Immortal like physique! Well done!

Vega

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Approved Character	✓	--
Updated Thread List for Previous Season	✓	--
Updated Skill Point Ledger (Raw, Adjusted, Thread Earned)	✓✓✓	--
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Review

Requirement	Fulfillment	Comment+
Solo or Collab	Collab	+8 Skill Knowledges
How many posts?	3	+0 skill knowledges
How many requested?	8	--
Are all posts greater than 250 words?	✓	881 1049 735
Is the thread greater than 1500 words?	✓	--
Knowledges appropriate?	✓	--
Loot appropriate?	N/A	--
Renown appropriate?	N/A	--
Injuries appropriate?	N/A	--

Below is your well deserved loot. If you have any questions, please PM me. Also please add the provided stamp to your review request found here and please update your CS with all of this information.

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      [center][img]/gallery/image.php?album_id=39&image_id=12064[/img][/center]

Loot

Reward	Amount	Comment
Skill Points	+15	--
Magic Points available?	N/A	--
Renown	N/A	--
Injuries	N/A	--
Iris' Insight	Ashan 48, 718	Iris is completely disabled from use until Ashan 48th. No communication, no appearance, no use whatsoever. Vega can feel that Iris is still alive, but nothing more. When Iris recovers at that date, she will have no memory of that time, no memory except for darkness.
A coma that she could remember the darkness and emptiness from. As such, when Vega enters particularly dark places (caves, basements, etc),
Iris will likely disappear, so as to not feel as if in a coma again.

Knowledges
Skill Knowledge:

1. Dancing: Dancing with movements like water
2. Dancing: Changing tempo mid-dance
3. Dancing: Punctuate the notes
4. Dancing: Punctuate between the notes
5. Dancing: An uninhibited dance is more fluid
6. Meditation: Allowing silence into your mind
7. Meditation: Familiar surroundings help meditation
8. Meditation: Much easier when comfortable

Non-Skill Knowledge:

Arlo

Your word count came to 1496. That's close enough that I won't withhold the review, but please, sprinkle in 4 more words.

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Approved Character	✓	--
Updated Thread List for Previous Season	✓	--
Updated Skill Point Ledger (Raw, Adjusted, Thread Earned)	✓✓✓	--
Updated Purse (Seasonal Expense, Wage, Thread deductions)	✓✓✓	--
Updated Renown Ledger & Table for threads	✓✓	--

Review

Requirement	Fulfillment	Comment+
Solo or Collab	collab	+8 skill knowledges
How many posts?	3	+0 skill knowledges
How many requested?	8	--
Are all posts greater than 250 words?	✓	408 439 647
Is the thread greater than 1500 words?	X	1496
Knowledges appropriate?	✓	--
Loot appropriate?	N/A	--
Renown appropriate?	N/A	--
Injuries appropriate?	N/A	--

Below is your well deserved loot. If you have any questions, please PM me. Also please add the provided stamp to your review request found here and please update your CS with all of this information.

Code: Select all

      [center][img]/gallery/image.php?album_id=39&image_id=12064[/img][/center]

Loot

Reward	Amount	Comment
Skill Points	+15	--
Magic Points available?	N/A	--
Renown	N/A	--
Injuries	N/A	--

Knowledges
Skill Knowledge:

1. Cooking: Turkey, Roast and Greens
2. Cooking: Poached pears with caramel
3. Fieldcraft: Preparing a turkey after killing
4. Musical Instrument: Gittern: Combine strum and pluck for a diverse melody
5. Musical Instrument: Gittern: Playing music for dancing
6. Musical Instrument: Gittern: Changing tempo mid-melody
7. Musical Instrument: Gittern: Playing as a meditative tool
8. Musical Instrument: Gittern: Not using a pick produces a softer, more organic sound.

Non-Skill Knowledge: