• Closed • [Immortals' Tongue] Normalcy

[Vega]

105th Vhalar, 717

Immortals' Tongue.

It was somewhere where there were a whole load of shrines to the Immortals and, apparently, the Originals. Vega still wasn't entirely sure who they were, but they were beings who had shrines here and that Arlo studied. So, she'd decided that they needed to get out of camp, stop mooching around and get on with something. That being the case, yestertrial she'd gone into town, ostensibly to do some shopping. When she'd come back, she had announced that she'd gone into the library to take back some books. He knew she didn't have any, but she charged on regardless - it wasn't a lie. She'd gone in and borrowed them ten bits before, she just didn't tell him that. Whilst she was there, taking back these books, she'd seen a book on Immortals' Tongue. Of course, she'd seen it because she'd been looking for it after eating a significant portion of Humble Pie with Rose the librarian. She didn't tell him that either.

"Anyhow," she'd said, the trial before. "I booked us a trip there tomorrow. I'm bored of sittin' around camp. I thought we could go an' have a looksie." She'd not pushed the last few trials, but Vega was starting to get the sense that he needed to get out, get moving. Get back to some sense of normalcy. So, Vega had clenched her jaw at Rose's sanctimonious speech and had just got on and done it. Because, whatever else she could say about Arlo Creede, and she didn't want to go there, he was her irritating, annoying, pain in the ass. He was bossy, difficult and hard to live with, argumentative and stubborn but he was her friend and Vega knew that right now it was her job to look after him.

So, she pretended she didn't still feel a bit seasick, worried that she felt more than she had and didn't put together the simple fact that it went with her emotions, not the motions of the waves. And she got on to the boat to Immortals' Tongue with him, determined that they were going to get back to some kind of normal. If she had to desecrate a few shrines or kick an Immortal or two to do it, that was fine.

It was snowing, of course, and there had been blizzards for the last few trials. Soon, Vega thought, there'd be no way that they'd be able to leave here to go anywhere else. But maybe, he needed a bit of time to just be still, somewhere where they could explore, but still stay still too. It was a difficult juggling act, but she didn't mind.

"So, you've been here before, aye?" Vega had asked and looked at him as though expecting him to take charge. It was what he needed, she thought. "I mean, Cassion an' U'frek, Xiur and.. do they have shrines for mortalborn?" That was what Jesine was, after all. Looking out at the boat as it left the place she gave a grin. "That's it, Arlo Creede, I've got you now. We're stuck here for the night. So come on, then, you've been here before. Apparently, there's weird lights, bad weather, shrines, ruins an' all sorts of weirdness. Where'd you wanna start?" She couldn't help the grin on her face. It was genuine, but a little reserved. Vega didn't do reserved well, but she didn't want to push him too hard, too fast. Yet equally, she thought he needed this and she knew she did.

[Arlo Creede]

There were a lot of things Vega didn't tell him. Arlo knew that and rarely questioned her, unless it was something worth teasing her about. Another trip to the library under ordinary circumstances would have been one of them. But lately, he'd been off his game a little. If it had been any other trial, he might even have insisted on going with her so he could bear witness to the consumption of humble pie, and tease her all the more for it. That was just their way.

He'd spent more time around camp lately than his usual. But it didn't mean he'd sat around doing nothing or staring into empty space. He'd made a handful of arrows. He'd prepared and preserved foods that would keep through the winter and wouldn't need cooking again before consuming them. All things that didn't require much thinking. But while she was out, he'd also slipped away and visited a few local shops. Though he hadn't told Vega he did. "A looksie?" he said when she suggested a trip to Immortal's Tongue. He'd grinned, just slightly and briefly at her choice of words. But eventually he'd agreed.

The oppressive heat of Saun was just a memory now and Vhalar had brought the cold back with a vengeance. If he was honest though, Arlo preferred it to its extreme alternative. He was dressed for it though and was grateful once they were aboard the boat and he had the frigid breeze in his face. He was also grateful, though he hadn't said it, for Vega having convinced him to get out of camp and get moving again. "I got you something," he said, reaching into the sack that she'd given him for his birth-trial. Pulling a large bundle wrapped in butcher's paper out of it, he handed it to Vega. It was a full set of leather armor, sturdy but flexible and comfortable. Made especially for women. He grinned a little once again and shrugged. "Maybe it'll prevent some of those bumps, scrapes and bruises you attract so easily," he said. In short, it was a thank you.

"You do I s'pose," he said when they got off the boat and she said that she had him. "But only so long as you don't treat me like I'm broken. Cause I'm not." It was the last thing he wanted, people walking on eggshells around him or looking at him funny. "I guess there must be temples to all of them here." The Immortals he meant. "But not Jesine I don't think." Probably none of the mortalborns. But plenty of mysterious things too. "We do weirdness fairly well. When I was here before, we only visited the temple to Fei. How 'bout we look for one dedicated to U'frek, and Cassion?" he suggested, and having identified what must have been a main path that led further in from shore, Arlo figured that way, might be the best direction to head off in.

[Vega]

"A looksie. You talk dead funny, you do. A looksie. Look. See. Looksie." She was entirely serious when she said that, though she gave a grin as she considered that maybe it was her that spoke oddly. She'd never admit it though.

The weather had turned and Vega had dressed for the cold. With less than twenty trials of Vhalar left, snow was a common thing and whilst this island was interesting in the extreme, it was also bloody cold. Vega preferred the heat, frankly. In the heat she could wear short shorts and a crop top and that was quite nice. Although, she didn't like the fact that her freckles got worse in the sun. However the cold was just.. cold. So, she was there in her elephant-ear flap hat, warm scarf and was generally wrapped up. So, she was prepared and she liked to think that she was prepared for most anything.

Except, possibly, for him giving her a gift.

"What did you do that for you idiot boy?" Vega looked at him with an expression of surprise and pleasure on her face. "You need to keep yer money an' not go spendin' it on me." When she unwrapped it, though, her face broke into a grin. "Arlo, you shouldn't 'ave done that. But thank you. I was supposed to get a job, an' get us both this. Did you get some for you?" If he hadn't, she determined, she was going to definitely pound him. When he said that it would help protect her against the bumps and scrapes she got, Vega gave a good natured grin. "It's cos I'm all elbows an' knees is why." She wasn't any more, but she didn't know it, firmly believing that she very much still was the awkward long-limbed girl who had stepped off her father’s ship.

When she went to try it on, Vega was delighted that it fitted so well. It was comfortable too, she declared and, more importantly, it was warm. ”An’ it’s made for a girl and in my size, too. It’s like you bought me a dress.” She was teasing him about the dress, but it was true – that he’d thought about her and considered her was very touching.

Watching the boat leave and listening to his words, Vega glanced at Arlo and shook her head. ”You’re not broken, Arlo. I know that. It’s just… well, it’s like I was after the snake, innit? Bruised and battered. Not broken, just need a bit of rest. You’ve ‘ad that so now we’re here.” Vega’s grin was crooked as she looked at him but her gaze was fond. There was more that she thought, but she didn’t say anything at this point, instead choosing to focus on the direction they went. The path led into the wooded area and then split into two forks. One to the left and one to the right.

Vega glanced at him as the snow started really pouring down. "Right, so, do you got a map?" He'd had one, she knew, when he was here because he'd told her so. Assuming that he produced said item, she frowned and considered it. "So look, accordin' to this, Cassion's right ahead of us. Or, you know, his shrine is. U'frek's over the water, an' Xiur's right over the other side of the island. We could make our way to Cassion and then camp there, explore from there, if you want?" It was strange, Vega though, how unnaturally quiet the place was. She had to admit, it gave her an uneasy feeling.

"You know, this place gives me the jeebies." Vega said, with a nod. "It's... creepy. I dunno. Yeah. Creepy." Glancing at him she raised an eyebrow, wondering if he felt the same.

[Arlo Creede]

Looksie. "Is that Biqaj?" Arlo teased her without missing a beat. He might still be grieving the loss of his mother somewhat, but some things never really changed. Of course he knew it wasn't any part of Vega's native tongue. But if he didn't tease her about it, then it wouldn't have been them. And it was a part of them that, no matter how nonsensical, Arlo enjoyed. "I've got to spend it on something don't I?" he argued when she told him he shouldn't have. "Besides," he added when she opened up the package to see what was inside. "It's an investment."

They had a knack for finding trouble, the two of them. As often as not, it was the kind of trouble that could end you up dead. Together, all the better chance of living through it. "I got me a set too. You're welcome. And look," he added with a wide grin, pointing at the piece that would cover her torso. "It's got bumps there." Made for a woman, and he hadn't been able to resist. "Course you are and will always be." Elbows and knees. Except that she wasn't anymore. Arlo wasn't blind or lacking in the usual male impulses. He couldn't have missed it, that over the past arc she'd filled out and rounded up in a number of interesting places. And it wasn't his cooking that had done it. He wasn't about to tell her that though, or that he'd been looking. Better then, elbows and knees.

"It'll be fine though," he said when she maintained that she didn't see him as broken. "I'm not moping around. My mother would hate it anyway, if she was ever to know." So yes, he had a map, and stopped to dig it out of his sack and hand it over to her. Given to him by his classmate, and created by the man with terrible penmanship and worse drawing skills. It sufficed, though. "Cassion first then," he agreed, and with her, began walking in that direction. It might in fact be a good place to set up camp, a sort of base from which they could explore the rest of the island. And he had a token now he thought of it, that he'd like to leave behind.

The trail that led to Cassion's temple was narrow, winding and for the most part, headed uphill. There was a strange feeling in the air as they went, much different than on the main island. "I felt it last time I was here too," he uttered. "According to the notes on the map, near the shrine to Moseke there's some moss on the trees, that if you touch it, spreads and grows on you. Like a healing sort of thing," he guessed. But it was more than that. He'd heard that at night, there were strange lights about. "When we were at Fei's shrine, I thought I heard something. Like whispering. A conversation between several people but it was faint and nonsensical. When I mentioned it, most of the others said it was just the wind." Like he was just hearing things, he meant. As if his imagination had got away from him. Except Arlo remained convinced that it hadn't.

[Vega]

"Well, that's handy, cos I have too," she said when he said that the armour had bumps. "Sometimes, you're such a dweeb. It fits good, though." She grinned when he said that she would always be elbows and knees. "You know, my Pappa tells me that my mother was like that, but she grew into this tall, graceful woman. It's not fair." She wasn't actually concerned about it any more, although she had been. "The Sev'ryn have this willowy grace that I just don't got. The Biqaj 'ave this physical presence and dexterity, which I don't got. Life, my friend, is hard." It didn't seem to be judging by her grin and she felt quite content, it was true. Arlo was alright, or as alright as he could be at this point, for which Vega was glad. They were off having an adventure together, which they did so often and so well and she had some new armour.

They agreed that Cassion's shrine was the one to head to and Vega was happy to walk with him in a companionable mostly-silence. Arlo was clear that he wasn't broken, but also that he wasn't prepared to mope. Vega nodded. "She jus' wanted you to be happy, Arlo. That was all she wanted for you an' from you. Best thing you can do, if she's watching, is do what makes you happy. But don't forget your manners while you're doing it." Vega grinned slightly, remembering the formidable woman who could fix Arlo with a gaze if he wasn't being quite polite enough for her. He must miss her dreadfully.

Still, there was no point to saying it again. He knew, she knew, that was all they could do. She'd offered to bunk in with him again the night after he'd found out, but he'd been quick to say no. Vega suspected that she knew why and she wasn't quite sure whether she was supposed to know this already, but she asked anyhow. "Do I snore?" It must have come from nowhere, far as he was concerned, but still. She probably did and that was the last thing he needed to be listening to if sleep was a bother for him anyhow.

But the place gave him the creeps too? Vega looked at him, wide eyed, when he said that he'd heard a conversation on the wind. "Spooky," she said, with an expression which was clear. Spooky was not a bad thing, not at all. She didn't doubt him, he said he'd heard it then he had and the people with him were idiots. Simple. "I keep 'aving this dream about my familiar. She's drivin' me potty." Vega smiled and shrugged. "I keep seein' her an' she's callin' to me, but where she is, I dunno. She's mixed, like me. Not one thin' nor another, but a mish matsh. She's all elbows an' knees too, I guess." She sighed slightly, and then shook her head. "Sorry, Ramblin'. I just.. it feels a bit familiar here, too, pardon the pun."

As they walked, though, the cold wind whipping around them and Vega buried her face in her scarf. "We're gonna have to wrap up warm here tonight, Arlo. This wind is blowin' from all directions, so shelter's gonna be 'ard to get to." Snow, at this point, was a very real possibility. There were tracks here and there and Vega stopped to look at them. "So, like, no one lives here? Who looks after the shrines?" As Cassion's shrine was about to come into view, she wondered about that. Was it people like them? The shrine to Cassion here was a low stone table-like in shape and Vega couldn't help but grin. There was a tree next to it on which were hanging tokens and such and a pit for a campfire there, too. She grinned. "Yeah, he'd like it here, fair dos."

She glanced at Arlo then and wondered. "Want to set up camp first? Or d'ya wanna explore then do that?"

[Arlo Creede]

Elbows and knees, willowy grace, presence and dexterity. The string of descriptives was littered with any number of things Arlo might have grabbed on to and run with, in order to tease her. That was how they were and had always been. It didn't matter if the teases and taunts were true, in fact they most often weren't. It usually only mattered that they were there, and something to bother the other about. He hesitated though, frowned in thought as they walked, and she talked. Seemed distracted, or more likely considering some other alternative, then ultimately after a longer than usual pause, uttered. "It is," he agreed. Hard, unfair. And more than both, tricky. Or so he'd decided lately.

Strangely, the topic of his mother's death seemed like a more comfortable one, at least at the moment. Arlo grinned and shrugged, picking his way over a rocky patch in the path that led uphill. "If I didn't mind my manners, she'd probably give me a cosmic pinch on the ear or the stink eye from the other side." The other side, he guessed, meaning wherever souls went when they died. Did she snore? The question seemed to have come out of nowhere. But quick as a wink, as if on impulse Arlo grinned and shot back. "Of course you do. Why do you think I threw you out of my tent?" Instantly he regretted it saying it. It wasn't true. And it wasn't what he really wanted to say.

His mother had died too soon and too young, and the thing that bothered him most, maybe, was that had he known, he'd have said or done things that now, he'd never have a chance to. He'd been thinking about that a lot, since his mother's death. And for reasons that went beyond losing her. "It's a she?" he asked when she talked about her familiar. The subject was a good distraction. He frowned curiously, just as they caught a glimpse of Cassion's shrine through the trees at the top of the hill. "It makes a funny sort of sense that she'd be here, wouldn't it? She's a part of you, something that needs to be found for you to be whole. Maybe we should look for her," he suggested. Then again, it might be something that required Vega, all on her own to do it.

The shrine was a rough and simple thing that looked like it belonged out in the wilds. As if it was part of them. He agreed with Vega. It seemed more than fitting. "I brought the sacks of orange sand," he said. "It ought to help keep us warm and we can find a place to set up the tents that will make a good windbreak. Maybe the shrine itself," Arlo suggested. Cassion had a fondness for mortal travelers after all. Surely he wouldn't mind. "I think there's keepers, maybe priests that care for the shrines," he added distractedly when she asked. "We can decide in just a bit?" he asked when Vega wondered, what next.

In the meantime, he asked her if he could have just a bit or two at the shrine along. He didn't explain why alone exactly, though he dipped into his pocket to retrieve a token that he intended to leave on the tree. But Arlo had something else in mind. Something he wasn't ready to explain, just yet. With a handful of yards between them, he placed his token on the altar and stood there quiet for a few trills, as if he was wrestling with something. He'd planned on a prayer to the Immortal, though it was probably unlike most prayers that travelers offered up.

"I know this isn't the sort of thing you're usually interested in," he whispered. "But if it isn't too much trouble, I could use a little help. I think I'm about to do something that could go alright or it could go sideways and end me up walking home alone. It might be the best or the stupidest thing I've done and I don't know which it'll be." He said it all, maybe in hopes that the Immortal might actually speak up and offer a word of wisdom, forewarning, give him the ability at least temporarily to see into the future. It didn't happen and Arlo frowned and grumbled, "Fine then. Lot of help you are."

Stepping away from the stone table, he rejoined Vega. "Maybe I ought to get us a fire started," he suggested. "We could at least get warm and have something to eat while we decide what to do next?" If it was alright with her, he'd gather up some wood and start a fire, and when it was caught and burning steadily, he sat down on an old log that some traveler before them had dragged up and put there. He was quite for a long few bits before shaking his head and looking up at her. "There's something I want to tell you. I've been thinking about it for a long time wondering if I should or shouldn't. But I have to."

"I lied to you," Arlo said. "About a couple of things." First, he admitted, when she'd asked him if there was a girl he was interested in, he'd lied when he'd told her there wasn't. "There's a girl. I never said anything to her, because we're friends. Good friends. First I wasn't sure because something that started out one way, changed without me knowing it. Then, I was worried that if I said anything, and she didn't feel the same, then things could go sideways and the friendship would be done for too." He was halfway there, but to stop now would only result in a misunderstanding that would be far worse than if he'd said nothing at all.

"I didn't throw you out of my tent because you snore," he said. "You don't. I threw you out of my tent because you're not all elbows and knees, because I'm not a kid anymore and haven't been for a long time, and because it's not a girl at the university that I'm interested in. You said I could say anything to you. So I'm saying it. It's not any other girl I'm interested in. It's you." He hadn't planned to say it so bluntly there at the end. Then again, Arlo hadn't exactly mapped out what he'd say and somewhere along the way, he wondered if he was making any sense at all. But there it was. He'd said it in spite of knowing that once he'd done it, there was no going back.

[Vega]

He was distracted, not like himself. Normally, he wouldn't be able to pass up such a good opportunity to torment her. Whether he believed the torment to be true or not, that didn't matter. So long as it was good enough for them to tease each other, then it was good enough. She missed it, Vega realised; missed them. Still, he just needed time and she just had to be there for him. Part of which, she believed, was to talk about Nella. He certainly became more grounded, more there and paying attention when they did speak about her. What he said provoked a grin and when he shot back that of course she snored, Vega chuckled. She thumped him, too, because that was important and part of who they were, so she gave him what she considered a gentle pat."Cheeky." Yet, there was a sting in it for her. Whatever that was a pang of, she ignored it and grinned at him.

The shrine was very Cassion but Arlo seemed distracted again, wanting some time on his own. "A'right. I'll grab up some wood from nearby. We'll need that," she said and moved to do that. He joined her fairly quickly, and she nodded. Once he'd started the fire, he just sat and stared at it and Vega watched him and tried not to worry but failed. It hadn't been long, yet he seemed to be going further and further inwards. There were a hundred thoughts going through her head when Arlo shook his and said that he wanted to tell her something. something that had, apparently, been on his mind for a while. Vega looked at him and nodded. "A'right. Wassup?" she sat and listened to him. "Lied? About what?" Vega leaned forwards and then sat back. She heard it all, everything that he said, but Vega processed it in two parts. The first bit was very much first and it was that which she reacted to.

"I bloody well knew it you steaming ass." When she looked at him her eyes were flecked with crimson and turquoise. "Why'd you lie to me? I thought we were friends. Arlo, I'm only ever gonna wish you good luck an' hope you're happy." Though quite why she was upset, she didn't know or didn't want to think about. She felt tears prickling in her eyes and so she focused on the angry rather than anything else, yet still the tears remained and she wiped them away, angrily but more of them appeared. Then, of course, she started thinking. When they'd talked about it, he'd done this whole thing of they went where they went together. "Oh, you... " he'd said more, but Vega wasn't thinking about that yet and frankly, she didn't care. It was almost certainly more of the same. Anger bubbled in her at what she was realising and she grabbed her bedroll and threw it at him. Hard. She wasn't a bad shot, must be said. "I've done this, come 'ere cos I thought you needed to get back to normal, an' I've been worried sick about you. You're all distracted an' I thought it was cos of your mum, but it's not, it's cos you wanna be off with someone else. Jus' go if that's what you want, I don't care. Jus' go an' be with who you want to be with. What?"

Vega would be the first to admit that she wasn't academically bright and her way of thinking was not logical. But he'd said all these things, and then said more things and there were just a lot of words but then there were the last words. It was her? Why didn't he say that first? She couldn't sit down, that meant being still so she stood and she paced. "I.. me?" Vega breathed in, turned and walked to him, then sat on the log next to him. "It's us, an' we're best friends." There was no doubting that, or at least she hoped there wasn't. "But why didn't you start with that end bit? I thought you were tellin' me that we're not gonna be together no more" She couldn't hide the emotions she felt and suddenly, a half-dozen or more apparently unrelated memories fell in on her and Vega's eyes swirled in confusion.

"You threw me out cos you wanted me to stay in there with you?" Vega looked at him and her frown had never been deeper. "That's bass ackwards, innit? Mind you this is you we're talkin' about, I s'pose. A'right, well. Let me tell you where I'm at." Soon as she worked it out, he'd be the first to know, she thought. But then, she took his hand like she had that trial he'd found out about his mother. Then, he'd yanked his hand away, out of her grasp like she'd burned him. "I'm afraid. Of two things, I guess. First, that if we mess this up, then we mess us up, an' I love us." She was trying really hard to be clear, here, but it was tricky. "I 'ate the idea of there bein' a girl at the university. Or anywhere. It makes me wanna find her an' pound her face in jus' cos she's breathin' and clever and beautiful. An' she probably speaks proper too. But I could pound her face in just for bein'." She'd pictured what she'd do but Vega thought now probably wasn't the best time to tell him. Or ever, really. 'Love me, I'm a psychopath' probably wasn't endearing. Instead, she squeezed his hand and stood again, needing to move, to pace.

Because there was that second fear. That was a different thing. "But, Arlo, 'ow long have you been feelin' this? Cos, you know, you're in grief an' it does weird things. It's not long since your mama died an' your emotions are all over the place. An," she didn't know quite how to say this. It was probably better coming from someone else, anyone else. Someone eloquent or able to string together sentences. "An' I don't wanna 'urt you, an' I don't wanna 'urt me." Her eyes were a half dozen different colours each when she spoke. "Cos you know, if you're grievin' an' just feelin' weird, tha's fine. We just need to know, 'cos I wanted to pound your non-existent girlfriend long before yer mother died." Sitting back down next to him she took stock of her emotions. She was still angry at him, she realised and her voice shook with the emotions which she was feeling. "I don't know whether to thump you or kiss you, you idiotic man. I thought you were leavin', Arlo. Why didn't you start with it's me?" In the end, she went with both options, simultaneously. Her punch was not gentle at all, but when she kissed him, it was as fierce as she ever was and she was loathe to break away. Her eyes were deep, solid indigo when she did, though and she looked at him with a question in her gaze. "I know this might seem contrary," she said, her voice dropped to a whisper. "But Arlo, you need time to grieve an' I don't wanna complicate that. This'll be here then, but righ' now, you need time." She firmly believed she was right, but damnit, his timing sucked.

[Arlo Creede]

"What? Wait, no," Arlo tried in an attempt to slow Vega down some. "That's not what I mean." Looking back, and in fact looking at right then judging by the look on Vega's face and the glistening of her rapidly shifting eye color, he figured that the way he'd chosen to start out hadn't been the best way. Chances were he couldn't have picked more poorly. He'd expected Vega to respond in a logical, sensible, not volatile way, and patiently hear him out. Stupid really, come to think of it.

No, he didn't want to go off with anyone else, he opened his mouth to say. But he couldn't get a word in edgewise. When she picked up her bedroll and threw it at him, and he threw up his hands to stop it hitting him in the face, Arlo realized that maybe this was going worse than the worst case scenario he'd worried about. No wonder Cassion hadn't answered his prayer. The Immortal was too busy laughing at him. "Of course it's you," he grumbled when finally she'd slowed down to listen. "If you'd waited till I was finished..." Nope. Better to keep his mouth shut now. He'd developed a knack for reading her eye color...when it shifted slowly or stayed still. The swirling was trickier though, like a gambling wheel spinning round and round. Nobody knew where it would land for sure, win or lose.

"You were jealous?" he asked impulsively when she mentioned the girl at the university. There hadn't been one, but still he almost grinned in response. He wasn't about to admit that he'd had similar thoughts when she'd told him about Bert. He'd wanted to punch Bert on impulse. But he'd never admit it now, not after she'd told him that it wasn't a living, breathing man but a stuffed childhood toy. "I don't want to mess it up either. But you said it yourself didn't you? Remember the fountain of youth? You said people ought to take risks..." The last thing Arlo wanted was for this to break them apart. But more and more, it was a matter of not being able to keep it to himself.

He didn't want to hurt her either, or be hurt in return. But he hardly had time to say that before she hauled off and hit him. "Ow! Hey!" he said and grabbed his arm. And then she kissed him like he'd never been kissed before. Arlo forgot the throbbing in his arm in the blink an eye as he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. There'd been girls before. But with them, it had been a physical attraction and nothing more. This was different and that kiss reflected it. But then she pulled away again. "You think this is because my mother died?"

"It isn't Vega. It's been a lot longer than that. I can't say when exactly. Maybe it's bad timing," he admitted. "I wanted to tell you before though. Behind the waterfall, when we were soaked to the skin?" Arlo reminded her. "But if I'd told you then, you'd have said it was because I could see through your shirt." She'd have been right, at least about the wet clothing. And the view had been better than all the walls that looked like starlight and the all the glowing moss on Idalos. "But it was before then too."

But what was she if not contrary? "If you weren't," he started but then paused to think. Maybe contrary wasn't quite the right word. "You've got a temper like nobody I've met before. I like it," he admitted. If he was more eloquent he'd be able to make it sound more romantic and used words like spirited, magnificent...or something. 'You're not like the girls that flutter their eyes and pretend their heads are empty or they're helpless. They're boring."

"I guess I could have picked my timing better," he agreed when she suggested that all of this might be because he was grieving. Except that she was wrong. It probably made it hard for her to believe him though, and there was no cure for that but time. Time for her to see. "It's not cause I'm grieving, and I don't want to wait," he admitted honestly.

"But I will. What I'm feeling isn't going to change no matter how much time goes by. How 'bout," he suggested. "Well, you know now and like you said, it'll be here. So when you're convinced that I mean it, that I'm not leaving or changing my mind, then you let me know. Or if you decide that it's not how you feel and you'd rather just be like we've been all along, then that's what we'll be. Like we've always been. Alright?"

It was a gamble that, if he was honest, Arlo would say he didn't care for a bit. It was time that she could spend thinking about it. Time to really think and realize that she didn't feel any of what he was feeling. They'd still be friends but she might decide that knowing this had changed that too. But his timing had been bad. It wasn't fair to her. But he'd rather she know than not ever. So, he figured, it was worth the risk.

[Vega]

"No, I just like to pound random people in the face," Vega snapped back at him when he asked what was, to her mind, the stupidest question in the world. "Yes, I was jealous. Happy for you, too, though. I mean.. it's complicated." And if he dared ask more she'd skin him with a toothpick, she determined. Breathing out, she motioned to the bedroll which had been aimed straight at his face. "Sorry," she admitted. Thankfully, he'd defended and she hadn't knocked him cold. Although, even in this moment she had to admit it would be moderately funny. She had said that people should take risks, she remembered. "Life's too short. Immortals, I'd never 'ave said that if I'd known what was going to 'appen with your mother, Arlo." She couldn't know, of course, but still. Risks, though? There were definitely varieties of risks - differences in size and this was big.

Yet she was her usual, impulsive self and she thumped and kissed him. Ignoring his yelp of protest at the first, she couldn't hide her response to him, or her relief when he kissed her back. His hands cupped her face and she felt herself leaning into him, her own hands moving to his hair, burying in there until she forced herself to pull back. It wasn't easy and it wasn't what she wanted to do, but she knew that she had to. It wasn't right or fair of her to take advantage of his grief and she knew, she knew that she had to say that.

He denied that it was about his mother, claiming that he'd been thinking and feeling this for a long time. When he spoke about the fountain of youth a frown creased her forehead as she thought about it. That cleared quickly as she grinned at him when he said that she'd have said it was because he could see through her shirt. "I'd 'ave been right, too," the thump was much more her usual, gentle nudge. But she remembered that trial and started putting together aspects of it. "You were lookin' at me funny, an' you were distracted. Like you've been to-trial," But before then, too? Vega looked at him in some surprise and her smile lit her face, but she replied as she always would. "It's the ear-flaps, innit? They drove you understandably wild."

When he told her that he liked her temper, though, Vega couldn't stifle the grin. Without any remorse whatsoever she poked him in exactly the spot on his arm she'd punched him just moments before. "You sure? Cos, you know, it's not likely to get better." But then, he knew that too. It wasn't like they were just meeting and neither of them was likely to change any so they both knew what they were getting into. When he suggested that when she was convinced that he meant it then she could say so or not if she wasn't, Vega considered it for a moment. "No, I don't wanna wait," she said with a firm shake of her head. "If you tell me it's what you want, an' 'as been for a while, then I believe you. An' it's what I want, too. I'm not changin' my mind on that." Her grin was lopsided when she considered that really, if they messed this up they were in all sorts of bother as far as their friendship was concerned.

Of course, she had to admit that messing it up was a very real possibility. Especially when she conidered her track record. "The first time someone kissed me, it was Cassion in Desnind," she said, with a quirk of her eyebrow. "An' the second time was jus' now. I've never 'ad a boyfriend or nothin' an' I'm not plannin' on followin' any rules of bein' together anyhow, but it's a good job, cos I don't know 'em." It was as simple as that but that was alright, she knew that. He was completely aware of her lack of experience, or so she thought. Maybe he'd assumed things or just not considered it. Either way, he knew now. "So, now we've got that out of the way," her lips lifted in a rather ironic expression, "Explore now, or set up camp?"

[Arlo Creede]

"'s'alright," Arlo responded when she apologized for throwing the bedroll at him. Truth was, he hadn't been all that concerned with the thing injuring him, so much as catching and rolling down the hill, should it have fallen into the fire. The way this trial had been going so far, would have been just their luck. As for the rest, he frowned, looked at her then shook his head. "Why wouldn't you have said it? Life is short. My mother is proof of that. My stepfather used to say that whether you live ten trials or a hundred, it's short." He used to think his stepfather was mad for saying that, considering that in Arlo's mind, anyone over thirty was ancient. But his mother dying, well, maybe Jonas wasn't so dumb after all.

But the earflaps, he teased her. Sure. It was the only logical explanation. "Brings out the color in your cheeks." But all their teasing aside, and he hoped it was never any different between them, when she poked him, and said she didn't want to wait after all, Arlo couldn't believe his luck and grinned. Maybe Cassion wasn't laughing at him after all, and he ought to leave something extra special on the altar before they left. "Are you sure?" he asked. The last thing he wanted to do was rush her, or make her feel as if it was a now or never sort of thing.

As for the reminder of Cassion, and the kiss, Arlo snorted. "Now it's in the past I'll tell you. Even back then, when he took the liberty of kissing you...Well," he admitted. "It's not like you were mine but I sort of wanted to punch him." Not the best thing to do, he figured. Especially when he was trying to earn the Immortal's favor. On the other hand, Arlo figured that Cassion might just understand and appreciate the sentiment. So long as he hadn't actually done it.

"I've never had a real girlfriend either. Except I guess when I was little. About three or four I guess. I only know I did because the little girl at the next farm with the curly hair, told me I was her boyfriend." He'd spent a lot of time back then, trying to outrun that little girl. So far as he knew, she'd grown up to marry a banker and had moved to Rynmere. "Rules are boring, and we've never minded them before. I don't see any reason to start now," he insisted.

In her usual style however, she charged right ahead. Arlo made no show of any surprise. In fact he wasn't surprised at all. Smiling as he looked around, then up at the sky through the trees, he shrugged. "According to the map, it's a bit of a hike to U'frek's shrine. If it's not dark by the time we get there, would be soon enough. Maybe we ought to stay here the night," he suggested. "Set up camp, having something to eat, then start out early in the morning?" If she was agreeable, then he'd get started on feeding them, and she could set up the sleeping arrangements however she pleased.