Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

It wasn't very often that the two of them just stayed around camp, not going anywhere in particular or as a result, as good as looking for trouble. Or going out and about where it could find them. But there was plenty they could do around camp, especially considering it was positioned far enough from the gates of Rharne where there was plenty of open ground around them, and open skies above.

Vega was fiddling around camp, maybe messing with her instruments, and a handful of yards away, Arlo had saddled up Peg and had just come back from a good, lively run that she hadn't gotten in a while, and the exercise had served to get some of the mare's usual spit and vinegar out of her. She'd even tried to throw him once or twice, just because she thought that maybe she could. But by the time they returned, she worn herself down into a favorable state of complacency. Just the way that Arlo had wanted her, for what he had planned.

It had been some time, he'd been thinking of combining his acrobatic skills, his weapon skills and his riding ones into something more interesting. And useful too, he hoped. Some people just rode in the saddle and that was more than enough. Others learned to ride one handed or no handed in order to use or fire their weapons, just as Arlo had learned to do already. But he figured he and Peg could improve on that, so long as the mare was willing to learn and indulge him.

So there, a stone's toss from camp where he and Vega could hear and see each other, he had Peg walking in a large but regular circle. It was a start, the basics, as Arlo slipped his feet out of the stirrups, slid his hands to the ends of the reins to add as much length as was available, and in one fluid motion, hoisted himself up so that he was standing in the saddle rather than sitting.

Of course Peg reacted just as he'd expected her to and lurched forward with ears pinned. But this was the sort of thing that Arlo was able to ride out well enough, and it only took adjusting his balance a little as he got her under control and began to guide her onwards round and round, finally urging the mare back into a slow trot.

The weather was heating up, predictably as it always did every arc. Which was why, even though Arlo had begin this exercise with Peg while wearing a light cotton shirt, he'd peeled it off at some point and was now going without. It was less to get in the way besides, when otherwise the fabric might have caught on the saddle horn or other things while he tried out a new trick or two.

There was a certain fluidity required to do what he was doing. Arlo was well equipped for that. His acrobatic skills served him well. Slightly bent knees once he had both feet planted on the saddle, far enough to keep him on board but not so far as to cause him to slip off either side. From head to toe, he had to go with the motion of Peg's movements, rather than a more common impulse to fight against them. And all the while, best be able to readjust should she do something unpredictable.

'Not that hard really," he called back and grinned when Vega called him a showoff. There was an element of 'hey look ma, no hands!' to it. It was only natural. Arlo was all male and not immune to the idea of showboating now and again. "Of course you can play the piano," he said as he lowered himself back into saddle, changing positions in order to consider a different maneuver. "You're a natural with musical instruments." Still, her hair? "You have very good hair," he quipped.

"Maybe she's jealous of it or thinks touching it is good luck?" Superstition, that was. When he'd been a kid, Arlo told her and might have told her the same before, any number of old woman seemed fascinated his curls and were always wanting to touch them. He'd hated it, but of course that didn't need saying. Then Arlo snorted in amusement as he swung his outside leg over the saddle so that both were on one side while Peg continued to move. "If you were to ask? Partly I'd say that it's because I can."

With that, while keeping hold of the reins and the saddle horn with his right hand, he dropped to the ground, taking hold of the back of the saddle with his right hand as he leaped a few paces forward with Peg, and mounted again on the move. In a sense, he'd pulled the trick off, managing to dismount, and mount again on the move. The technique though, new to him as it was, was undeniably clumsy and would need some work. "Lots of folks can fire a bow from horseback. Even fight with a sword. This though? Even better."

Slowing Peg down to a walk then and riding normally, his aim was to let the mare cool down and relax before stopping completely. "You know, if you're playing quietly because you want to, all well and good," he told her. "But if you're doing it for mine and Peg's sake, there's no need. In fact the more distractions she learns to ignore, the better."

Make him fall off? Arlo knew what that meant, what Vega would do in order to make it happen. He knew her too well, not to, but also knew that she wouldn't do it. It still didn't stop him from teasing her, as he'd settled back into the saddle. "You sure you want to do that?" he shot back with a suggestive lift of his brow. "Might break something important you know. Or at least bruise or bend something that would surely put a kink in things for a while." Meanwhile, he'd slowed Peg down to a leisurely walk in order to cool her off before dropping to the ground for the last time.

As for her hair and what she might do with it? Call him a boy if she liked, but he'd rather she didn't cut it off. It suited Vega perfectly just as it was. Vibrant and shining, wild and untamed much of the time. Contrary as often as accommodating. Would he love her just as much, was she to cut it all off or it fell out on it's own? Of course he would. He'd just like it better if she didn't. Arlo knew better than to say so however, Vega might just take it as a challenge or dare if she did. Sometimes the less said the better. "Probably just superstition then," he added, referring to her music tutor's obsession with her red locks. Or maybe her own mother or grandmother had had hair that color and it was a sentimental thing. Women were strange creatures and often did curious things. Far be it from him to try and explain them, when he too often didn't understand them himself. And apparently, half the time they didn't understand each other.

"You should always do what you love. it's usually what you'll do best," he said as he pulled Peg's saddle off, replaced her bridle with a soft rope halter and began to brush her before turning her loose. He'd never seen or heard anyone playing a harp however, but only seem pictures of them. He'd seen one in a store window once when he was younger too, but hadn't known what it was. But Vega had a real talent, and he could only imagine that she'd handled one well.

He got that though, wanting to get the hang of playing more quietly. He'd done that himself with his gittern, though he wasn't nearly as devoted to playing as she was. In a sense, as a storyteller, his own voice was his primary instrument. "And I'm the man with the luckiest ginger on Idalos at his side," he teased once he'd sent Peg off to a nice patch of grass, and sat down beside her. "And the luckiest man too, who smart enough to know it," Arlo added and kissed her before pouring himself a cold cup of water.

It was a wonder, he said when she played the instrument that seemed to twinkle with starlight all the while. "It was generous of her, and suits you perfectly." He remembered though, that trial in the water, the waterfall, the small chamber behind it. "It was a brilliant move, pulled off like a professional, that fountain of water on your head. I don't think you could ever replicate it. Bet you can't in fact," he said. A challenge of sorts, and an invitation. There was the river just down the hill, a shady still place along the shore that was perfect for swimming. And him? Enough riding for one trial, and enough of the heat that was only going to get worse once Saun came along.