Disembarking

[Perdita Westcott]

Arrival

1st Cylus 720

A

lighting from the ..... creature, Perdita looked around and sighed. It was 'dawn' on the 1st Cylus, but there was no dawn, of course. It was just dark. And cold. Very, very cold. There was so much that she wanted to say, but she had not spoken a single word of criticism or complaint during the journey. After all, her parents had taught her that she must be responsible for her own choices, and they had warned her, had they not, about the dangers of ever, ever making choices which involved a boy. But that was exactly what she had done and now, just as they'd said, she was repenting at her leisure. But she wouldn't say anything to Eli, no. He, after all, was responsible only for himself. She had been an equal and willing participant in That Night, and now ~ and forever more, she considered gloomily ~ she was paying the price of her reckless and foolish actions.

During the journey, Perdita had considered where she'd first gone wrong and her conclusion had been that she should never have left the house that trial. There were other decisions, further along the day, where she was more in control of her fate ~ the most noticeable one being where he grabbed her hand and they ran into an alleyway, hiding from the guards ~ just remembering that caused a flush of shame to redden Perdita's cheeks. She'd spent a lot of time on this journey in the belly of a large flying moth blushing, trying not to blush and failing dismally. No matter which way she looked at it, she couldn't actually bring herself to hold Elijah responsible. He had helped her in the marketplace, he had pulled her out of trouble with the guard. They had run together, and she had to admit to being just a little surprised at her reaction to him holding her hand. But, hold her hand he hand and they'd run as fast as they could through the winding streets. Perdita was utterly lost by the time they finally slowed, but she had leaned forward, breathless, and looked up at him with a grin. It had been ~ she admitted to no one save herself ~ exhilarating.

But, she'd been battered and cut and Eli had frowned and insisted that her wounds needed cleaning up. She had admitted that she didn't have a first aid kit or such in her house and he'd said that there were supplies in his, so they'd gone there. He'd cleaned up her cuts and, in that process, had discovered that Perdita Westcott was an absolute baby. There had been cries of "No! It hurts!" At one point she had hidden from him - or more precisely from the lotion he used to clean her wounds. Eventually ~ or in fairness, quite quickly ~ Eli had given her a cup of something to drink. Perdita had sniffed it and asked "What is this?"

Had he answered? She wasn't entirely sure. But he'd grabbed hold of her and steered her to a chair, where he sat her down and then started cleaning her wounds again and so, Perdita had drunk it. All. "It burns," she'd said with a wrinkled nose and look of disgust, and then finished the mug. There'd been more in there, though - although how it got there she didn't know - so she'd drunk that too and then things really got blurry. They'd laughed a lot about something, she couldn't remember what, and over the course of the next few trials she had recalled flashes of moments, but they were jagged and not pieced together well.

What she did know was that, when she woke up the next morning, she'd been curled up, fast asleep in Eli's arms .... in the body of a very large flying moth. Her head had been pounding and she felt sick, her mouth was as arid as the deserts of the Hotlands and she'd looked around in surprise. She must have woken Eli up, and she hoped he hadn't noticed that she'd been totally wrapped up in his arms, her head on his chest and her arms around his waist. "Where are we?" Perdita had asked, blearily.

And from there, it had all gone downhill.

So now, they got off the flutterbus and Perdita turned to look at her unexpected companion on their unplanned journey. "Are you alright?" Perdita asked, quietly. She'd managed to make eye contact with him roughly five times during their journey, and she'd blushed almost constantly. When people also on the inside of the moth (that had really made her uncomfortable - they were inside a moth. A big moth, but a moth) had tried to speak with her, Perdita had done her best to talk, but she was ~ quite obviously ~ very shy. The cramped conditions hadn't helped and, just once, she'd whispered to Eli with a very genuine expression of horror, "It's a moth." She'd shuddered as she said it.

But now, they were on firm land once again and they were, apparently, in Desnind. At no point throughout the journey had she blamed him, berated him, or said anything at all. She had simply remained quiet, almost aloof, but close to him if she could be. Perdita was quite happy with quiet - and she figured that was a good thing; she had never met anyone who could talk as much as Eli did. He talked, he designed widgets and whirligigs in his notebook, he showed her the designs for said widgets and whirligigs, and he insisted that he could replace horses. He'd seem to take her assertion of the usefulness of horses as some kind of personal affront.

As long as he didn't replace them with moths, she thought, pulling her cloak close around her as an involuntary shudder overtook her, that would be fine. No, she hadn't once told him that it was his fault, that her parents would be worried about her, that she was afraid and had never left Rharne before, she never told him those things, but she kept herself to herself, and yet kept close to him too. Looking at him now, Perdita managed to make eye contact as she almost pleaded. "Lets get food?" They'd had bare meals on the flutterbus and the realisation that they were eating when the moth was had made her eat very little. She was hungry enough to eat a horse - that would be a good use for them, she thought - and then, another thought crossed her mind, and she smiled a beaming smile. "And a bath!"

[Elijah Lamoreaux]

Somewhere between Viden and Desnind; Eli with sleep still fogging most of his faculties; had cracked one eye open, just a little, and had taken in his surroundings. He was seated in an upright position in cramped quarters, shoulder to shoulder and across from complete strangers, if somewhat disgruntled ones. And whatever he was sitting on, or in, was moving both forwards and in the slightest of up and down ways. The most remarkable thing however in his half wakeful state, had been that a pretty girl, a familiar one, was curled up next to and around him, her cheek resting gently upon his chest. He'd grinned.

Must be a dream, he'd thought, and having decided that, and that all in all it was a desirable one, he'd taken pains to get right back to it. Except that a half break later when he'd opened his eyes once more, nothing had changed and the memories had come rushing back in. Such as they were somewhat scattered and muddled as a result of overindulging in what he'd had no business indulging in in the first place. And now here he was in the belly, or the backside of a giant moth, heading for Desnind. Or so the seatmate to his left had told him.

By the time Perdita had woken up and asked him where they were, he'd had a lot of time to think and remember what he could of how, and why they'd gotten into this fix. There must have been some sort of planning involved, since he appeared to have taken the time to pack some belongings. They were stuffed into a sack and stored beneath his feet. He was what he was by nature however and his curiosity grew regarding their current mode of transportation. Too bad there weren't any windows. They were flying! and yet there was no way to look out or down as they went. But he guessed that it wasn't the usual for giant moths to have windows along their sides.

Which made him wonder. Were they in the belly? Or further back in it's....Well never mind, but how had they gotten on board? Questions a would be inventor would love to ask and understand, but his fellow passengers didn't seem interested in chatting. Shame, in that instant his immediate interests had shifted from horseless carriages to machines that could fly. Perdita was being awfully quiet, her cheeks were their usual flushed pink, so Eli entertained her and himself by sketching out all sorts of ideas for flying machines that could carry one man or more. From the ridiculous to the not so impossible. It made no difference to him.

But then of course another thought had struck him, and this was a worrisome one. The last he remembered clearly in Viden, they'd been running and hiding from the Knights, having been mistaken for ne'er do wells. He'd had Perdita's hand gripped in hers and must have appeared to have been pulling her along. Now they'd left the city behind...."Did you tell your family you were going?" he'd whispered to Perdita, hoping that the answer was a resounding yes, of course I did. But Eli definitely hadn't left a note for his boss, who'd eventually fire him in absentia, at best. Or, when Perdita's parents reported her missing, and the Knights put two and two together and went looking, then assumed...

He looked back at Perdita and silently cursed. I've kidnapped a girl, he thought to himself and his imagination ran wild with the possibilities. Unpleasant, all of them. That's what they'll think..." He'd be a hunted man, on the run with a pretty girl. Assumed to have lured her away into a life of crime and adventure. Much like the story he'd read arcs ago about a pair named Sunny and Hyde. If he remembered the ending of that story correctly, though they'd attained mythical status among the general hoi palloi of the land, it hadn't turned out well for Hyde. Or Sunny either for that matter.

He hadn't completely banished the thought when they finally arrived in Desnind, and put their feet back on solid ground. He was hungry though and he took her hand in his, having come to the conclusion that no matter how they had gotten here and under what circumstances, he was responsible for her welfare. As duty went, he could hardly complain. He smiled and nodded. "Let's find somewhere to get a good meal then, then a room to rent. When we get a chance to sit though, maybe you should write to your parents?" So they wouldn't worry, of course. Or at least not send the authorities after him for spiriting their daughter away in the night.

[Perdita Westcott]

Arrival

1st Cylus 720

W

hen Eli had asked her about whether she'd left a note for her family, she'd nodded. However, her expression did not seem to suggest that this was a good thing. "I left a note," Perdita said softly. For a moment, she said no more than that, almost as though she'd finished telling him. Then, she lowered her hand and spent a moment rifling in her bag. "I don't remember," she explained, but she pulled out a notebook and opened it on a page. There was a place where a page had been torn - nay, ripped - from it. Perdita Westcott, it was safe to assume, did not go about ripping books. Ever. But, Perdita Westcott also didn't go about getting drunk and therein was somewhat of a greater problem.

She'd taken her pencil and lightly rubbed over the page underneath the one she'd torn off. It was there that she opened the book and that page she showed him. "Eli and I are going away. Please look after my cat." Perdita looked at him levelly and said, quite calmly "I'll write again," as soon as they got off this damn moth. And that was another thing. Why was Eli so interested in the moth? It was... well, she didn't really want to think about where in it they were. Belly was bad, but equally, there were worse options - and come to that if they were in the worst option, how did the moth do what it needed to do?

Perdita would have asked, if only she was brave enough.

But they got off the moth (out of the moth?) and Eli took her hand and started to move. Perdita considered that he'd gotten very informal with her hand. He grabbed it without a by-your-leave, held on to it without permission and, all in all, he was very loose of morals with her hand. She'd be sure to tell him off about it at some point, but until then her fingers entwined in his and tightened, as they moved out of the way of the crowd (not that it was hustle OR bustle compared to Rharne) and he agreed. They should get a meal and a room... a room? What would people think? Perdita felt a blush making its way from her chest, up her neck and over her face and she knew that he could see it. But she nodded. "A fine idea," she said, softly. He spoke of writing to her parents and she nodded. "The letter's ready." Perdita considered and stopped him, just for a moment. "I'll send it now?" That said, she made her way and arranged for her letter to go right back in the moth-bus. This letter was much more fulsome, more honest, more true. She'd met a boy, the boy and she were going on an adventure to Desnind. She was fine, she'd arrived. She was very sorry if they'd worried, but everything had been such a rush. All very clear and precise.

So, once that was done, they got directions to the Inn and Perdita was happy to walk with him. Although, as they walked, he hadn't taken her hand back, so she put her hand in his and didn't seem to notice. "I'm so hungry," she said and suddenly a smile lit her face with absolute delight. "Real food, Eli." Food aboard the moth-bus had been not great at best. Now, they could have a meal. They made their way to the Inn and, as they did, Perdita looked around with wide eyes filled with wonder. It was all so new and different and unusual and she was ~ completely ~ entranced. They climbed the stairs to the Inn together and got a room. Perdita looked at everything with amazement, her hands going to feel the wood of the walls, the fabric of the bed-sheets (on her bed, not his..) and she turned to him with an expression which was both amazed and terrified. "I've never left Rharne, Eli," she said. There were still the smallest traces of the bruises from where the man had tackled her and Perdita had bitten him. Outside, it was dark and it was going to stay dark for thirty trials. The coldest season was upon them and here there was....

... new things. Possibly wonderful things. She looked at him and grinned. "Lets eat first?" She'd carefully put her three dresses in the wardrobe, her nightgown was folded on her bed (oh-so-carefully) and her slippers were just where she'd need them when she woke up. Looking at him, Perdita held out her hand for him and grinned. Somewhere between Rharne and Desnind, she realised, she'd started to be able to look Elijah in the eyes. Her hand held out in mid air between them, she did her usual thing and spoke barely, or not at all. That it was an adventure, she didn't doubt. That it was madness, she was in absolute certainty about. But equally? It was something she'd never have dreamed of doing.

"Eli?" Perdita asked as he took hold of her hand and her grin softened into a smile. As their digits entwined together and she held on to his hand, feeling the ever-more-familiar sensation of tingling as she did, she asked him the thing that was - absolutely - foremost on her mind. "What part of the moth were we in?"

[Elijah Lamoreaux]

She said she had left a note for her parents. Eli would have been immediately relieved, had she not sounded quite so, well, less than confident about whether she had or she hadn't. His concern grew when she'd given voice to that uncertainty, and the visions that he'd previously entertained of being hung by the neck until dead for kidnapping, returned in full force. Ultimately then he guessed he should be grateful when finally she dug up some evidence of having written...something. Not much. But at least it decreased the likelihood that he'd be tracked and hunted as a felon, while increasing the likelihood that her parents would up and decide that their daughter had lost her mind. There was that, and admittedly Eli was grateful.

"Probably best," he said when she declared that she'd write them again to explain, and they could send her message back aboard the moth. If she had any misgivings about him taking her hand, however, Eli thought nothing of it. She didn't pull away after all. And considering that he'd decided that she was prone to blushing if he was so much as to look sideways at her, that too he thought little of, and smiled when she intertwined her fingers with his. All the better, after all, to discourage other men from assuming that she was a young woman out in the world alone. Pretty, naive, and easily taken advantage of. It was only expected that he should take charge, and clearly she recognized the wisdom of that.

He'd hardly touched anything they'd been given aboard the moth, and couldn't quite recall the last thing he'd eaten back in Rharne. "I guess we'll get to try out the local tastes," he said while steering them both towards the inn. Or at least where he'd been told a good one was. Either way, he was starving. He'd never left Rharne either, same as her, and the sights and sounds of Desnind were a long way from there. "It's not as modern as Rharne. Like it's hard to tell the difference in some places between the buildings and trees."

Would Desnind make for good inspiration when it came to an interest in engineering and invention, the same as Rharne? He wasn't sure, but then he wasn't one to let a little thing like location get in the way. Pulleys. They needed more pulleys and lifts, he decided once he saw the inn they'd be staying at. Like a giant tree house wrapped around the trees. The glimmer of excitement in Perdita's eyes put all his concerns to rest. And made him grin a little as well. "Let's get that room," he said.

It might not be the nicest room she'd ever stayed in, though he was only guessing. As for him, it was definitely an improvement over the Dust Quarter shack he'd grown up in, where his parents, him and his siblings had all had to sleep in one room. Perdita was fastidious though, where Eli was not. She lined up her slippers at a perfect ninety degree angle to the bed, and laid out her clothing neatly on the bed. He tossed his coat across the back of a nearby chair, and his bag into a heap in the corner. He did however sit down on the edge of the bed that she hadn't chosen, gave it an exploratory bounce and deemed it better than what he'd slept on before.

"We've even got our own place to wash up," he declared then, having ducked a head into an adjacent room. "No having to trot off down the hall." That was new for him too, if not for her. So, it was eat first, and after that? Who knew? "I heard someone talking along the way, that they've got a good library here. You might want to see that, yeah?" Not that Eli spent overly much time in libraries. But seeing as Perdita liked writing and books, he figured that libraries must be high on her list.

First things first, however, and hand in hand they made their way down to the dining room. He held onto that last question, even pondered it some after they'd found a table to sit at, before grinning and shaking his head. "It probably doesn't warrant thinking on to heavily. I've tried to figure what the least objectionable part would be to ride in, inside a moth. But all the parts I've thought of are troublesome ones. Better not to ask, I guess," he declared as he picked up a menu.

And a split trill later, he frowned and whispered, "Who would have insect stew?" he asked incredulously. Probably though, the same sort of people who traveled regularly via moth. Eli liked a good adventure. Loved to try new and interesting things. This was a step too far however and he ordered a tankard of fresh cold milk, the venison entree and a fruit tart.

[Perdita Westcott]

Arrival

1st Cylus 720

H

ad Perdita even had an inkling about Elijah's thought processes regarding her accepting his wisdom, she would have demonstrated an aspect of her personality which he had never, as yet, seen. Sometimes, she laughed so hard she snorted. However, she didn't know and so she walked along with him and looked around with wide eyes. "It's very different," she agreed, and got back to looking around. He was right, it was difficult to tell where one thing ended and the next began. Nature and manufactured things seemed to exist in a sort of harmony which she had never seen and Perdita was entranced. "I can draw this," she said, softly, speaking more to herself than anything else. They were here for the winter, after all. Chances were there would be wonders here, amazing things. She beamed at him, but then realised that she was beaming and so turned her gaze away as the familiar blush hit.

The room was nice, and she got her things sorted quickly, then looked over at his. A jacket on a chair, and his bag in the corner. "Aren't you unpacking?" Perdita asked, and if it sounded like she was a little bit horrified that she had to ask? Well, she was. "Shall I?" And then, the very genuine slightly pained addition, "Please may I?" He couldn't leave his things in a bag. On the floor. Whatever was the world coming to, she wondered. Once her clothes were away, she put out her few books and inks and things and then, if he let her, she'd happily put his things away. Otherwise, she thought, she was going to need to put that bag in the wardrobe and put a chair in front of the door before she slept. "Oh, that's good!" She said, in response to having their own place to wash up. Having emptied her bag completely, Perdita then turned it inside out, and cleaned the inside of the bag. She could feel him watching her with that look on his face but she ignored it and cleaned her bag. Then, she folded it neatly and put it in the wardrobe and closed the door.

Then she was ready to go downstairs. "A library? Yes," she replied, nodding her head and smiling slightly at the thought. Although, it did worry her a little, she'd had a plan. She was going to be Ilaren's historian and chronicler. What would this do the plan? Considering it, she walked with him, slightly distracted. She could probably move some things around and end up with this only costing her maybe thirty trials out of the plan. Maybe. She would need to focus while they were here, though, and make sure that she learned everything she could. From everyone. As they walked to the main dining room, she had a look of faraway concentration on her face, but she pulled herself back to paying attention to the room once they got into the dining room. They sat, greeted by the very lovely Sev'ryn woman, Nae'ila, who fussed around them and was generally very helpful. And there, they faced the menu, Perdita looked at him and smiled. "I've never eaten insects," she said, and promptly ordered the insect entree, and the fish main. Then, a fruit tart to finish and she had water to drink. She looked at him and shrugged at the face he pulled. "If not now," Perdita asked with a slight smile. "when?"

Of course, pride would stop her from ever admitting anything else, but she told him that the entree, when it came (which seemed to be insects on toast), was "Not too bad," although, quietly she added to him, in a conspiratorial whisper. "It's a little salty," she admitted, but she politely ate it all, and politely thanked the nice woman, Nae'ila. The fish was much more to her liking, and she ate that enthusiastically. Sitting together, as they waited for the fruit tarts to arrive, Perdita gazed out of the window. She understood what he said about the moth, and she was excited about this. It was a new journey, a great adventure, but equally, she had never left Rharne before and here she was with a boy she barely knew. They'd slept in the same space on the flutterbus, but then so had everyone. However, she had also remained close to Eli and she watched him, carefully, turning her eyes to examine him carefully. They were where they were, but suddenly it seemed a touch more real. Maybe, she considered, it was because they had stopped. Now, she was able to look around and take stock and to realise, in fact, just how far away they were from the only place she'd ever called home. However, she knew that she was in the place she was.

Pointing out of the window, though, from where they were, Perdita motioned to him to look where she was indicating. "Look, Eli," she said, gesturing towards the stars. "They're so bright here!" They were, too. She smiled at him. "Tonight's parade?" she said, they'd been told about it - how there was a festival parading the iyo in lanterns. Apparently, they'd all turned red, but Perdita didn't really know what that meant. However, she smiled at Eli and reached over the table to take hold of his hand, which she squeezed encouragingly. "Shall we go?"

In for a copper, in for an onyx, after all. They were here. It was time to blend in.

[Elijah Lamoreaux]

Once they'd found themselves a table and were waiting on their food to arrive, no matter the flow of conversation, Eli couldn't help but think back on their exchange, once they'd settled into their room. It was the settling in part and how it differed for both of them, that brought something of an amused grin to his face. Perdita was....particular about things to be sure. Fastidious maybe? He wasn't sure that was the word for it. He considered himself to be an innovator, something of a dreamer but definitely not a wordsmith. Definitely particular though.

He'd thought she might descend into a fit of vapors, had he not picked up his bag and stored it away. He'd gone that extra bit by turning it bottoms up into a drawer inside the wardrobe, though he wouldn't like to make a habit of it. It would set a precedent, then he'd be spending more time tidying up than innovating. Especially after witnessing the job she did on the lining of her own bag. Didn't surprise him though. It made a measure of sense for someone who liked books and scribing as much as she seemed to.

And yet for the differences between them, he liked her all the more. Especially the way she took his hand, stole glances at him and turned pink cheeked even now. "Maybe they've got some books there on physics, science, that sort of thing," he considered when a visit to the library came up. He didn't read much for the sake of it. But when it came to familiarizing himself with the mechanics of turning dreams into reality, books were in their way a necessity.

But as daring as he tended to be in a caution to the wind sort of way, digging into a plateful of bugs was a step too far. He watched with morbid fascination when the stuff was put down in front of Perdita and she proceeded to eat the stuff. He frowned and even cringed a little. Salty? That was the least of it surely. "Don't the legs get stuck between your teeth?" he asked. It was probably just another of the odd and interesting things they'd discover, so long as they were here for the winter anyway. He could learn a lot, Eli figured, and maybe Perdita could too, so long as they knew where to look.

The stars themselves fascinated Eli, as they would anyone with his particular interests. And considering the season, they'd have plenty of time to gaze at them in between blizzards, which it was almost inevitable there'd be once in a while. But for now, the skies were clear and it would be a fine night for a parade of any sort. "We should go," he agreed, having just finished of his meal and turned to the fruit tart. "We'll have to find ourselves a couple of those lanterns. While in Desnind as they say. We can make like the natives."

As for why the iyo were red this arc instead of their usual color? They were too new to the place to hazard a guess. But he liked a good mystery and likely, Perdita did too.

[Doran]

Perdita:

Knowledge:
Resistance x3 (alcohol & motion sickness)
Drawing x 2
Endurance x 2

Loot: -
Wealth: -
Injuries: -
Renown: -
Magic XP: -
Skill Review: Appropriate to level.
Points: 15

Eli:

Knowledge:
Engineering: x2
Endurance x2
Design x 3

Loot: -
Wealth: -
Injuries: -
Renown: -
Magic XP: -
Skill Review: Appropriate to level.
Points: 15

- - -

Comments: This was a very entertaining thread!

I couldn’t help but smirk a little when I read that Perdita’s parents had warned her about the dangers of ever making choices which involved a boy. Perdita and Eli are so cute together though even though he kind of kidnapped her!

Good job, and enjoy your rewards!